STRANGE TALES 162
cover by DAN ADKINS
Synopsis:
The Gaff presents Fury with his new car-- a Ferrari 330/P4 Berlinetta, which is made entirely out of clear fiberglass, making it "completely invisible" from 100 feet away! It's also equipped with a color-changing rheostat, and vortex beams to replace the old mach-pressure fanjets. Fury & Val go to SHIELD's rebuilt ESP Division. There, Jimmy Woo detects that The Yellow Claw is in Chinatown (big surprise?). Nick tells Val it's his job now, and goes there alone. After a harrowing encounter with a pair of Claw goons, Fury impersonates one of them, and in a darkened shop, meets "Fang-Chu" (The Claw) face-to-face. But Voltzmann gets the drop on him, and an instant later, he falls thru a trapdoor into the tentacles of a "monster cephalopod" (octopus).
Indexer notes:
Part 4 of 9. 2nd appearance of The Gaff & Val. 1st appearance of Fury's new car, and the new ESP Division, replacing those destroyed in STRANGE TALES #153 (March 1967) and the flashback in #160 (September 1967). The Claw having Fury fight a giant octopus pays tribute to the Ian Fleming James Bond 007 novel, DR. NO (1958). James Bond finally got a car capable of invisibility in the film DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002).
(2007)
"FROM THE NEVER-WORLD COMES... NEBULOS!"
Synopsis:
Nebulos commands Strange to take hold of his "Staff of Polar Power"-- which places Strange under the alien's control. He then sends Strange back to Earth, where he battles Mordo, whose power is absorbed by the staff. Strange hurls a spell of "Cosmic Banishment" at Mordo, who like Strange before him, is cast "through endless galaxies, to the ultimate reaches of boundless time and space". Strange goes to Stonehenge, relieved that the Sands of Doom have not finished running out, but confused as to why the hourglass is still there at all. When he tries to cast it from Earth, he and it are pulled back to the Planets Perilous by Nebulos, whose staff returns to him on its own. Nebulos says Victoria was his hostage to ensure Strange's return, and that the staff could have saved them both had he known. But just then, Strange sees (off-panel) the approach of The Living Tribunal...
Indexer notes:
Part 16 of 22; part 5 of the Living Tribunal sequence. Several panels based closely on Steve Ditko panels; the effect resembles Ditko pencils plus Wood inks. 1st 2-page spread in a Dr. Strange story!
(2007)
"SO EVIL, THE NIGHT!"
This one has Steranko NOT inking for the first time, with interesting (if mixed) results. With Frank Giacoia on board (at least for a couple episodes), the series looks at once more "alive" and more "cartoony" somehow. There's a page where Fury drives thru Chinatown with multiple panels where Giacoia's inks only add to the feeling that I'm staring at something WILL EISNER might have done! (Was Frank chosen for this very purpose, perhaps?) The splash page is bizarre-- because it was apparently drawn at TWICE the size of every other page in the book, as all the lines and lettering are SMALLER than usual. Maybe this was the only way Steranko could cram ALL THAT fine detail in there? The new Ferrari is a riot. While Fury's previous car could fly (and the way the wheels turned reminded one of the car in "THE SPY WHO LOVED ME"), this one can turn INVISIBLE. Bond didn't get one of those until "DIE ANOTHER DAY"!
"FROM THE NEVER-WORLD COMES... NEBULOS!"
Speaking of Bond, Jim Lawrence becomes the latest writer to dialogue Dr. Strange-- not long after this, he would begin a LONG run writing the JAMES BOND 007 newspaper strip, doing mostly new stories but also a few of the later adaptations, in each case making major expansions and IMPROVEMENTS over the Ian Fleming original stories! But near as I can tell, Dan Adkins is running the show-- a later episode actually had him credited solo with "plot", and I'm wondering if that wasn't the case in ALL his episodes, which seem to have a science-fiction bent to them (a pretty odd mix with it being a "supernatural" series). With that sort of arrangement, Lawrence may have wondered why he was even there, which may explain why he only did a couple episodes.
(5-16-2008)
Incidentally, I view ST #147-168 as a single 22-part storyline. That said, you have "bookend" sequences with Kaluu (4 parts) and Yandroth (5 parts). But, like watching DARK SHADOWS, it just rambles on and on without a break anywhere in the middle.
It's long been a pity Masterworks Vol.23 didn't include the ENTIRE Steve Ditko run. Then the 2nd DS volume could have been "simply" these 22 episodes, nice and neat.
(11-25-2015)
FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL 5
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
You know, I've read this several times over the years, and for the life of me, I still can't figure what the heck the title "Divide and Conquer" has to do with the story (other than Ben & Johnny going off while Reed & Sue stay behind). Someone made a big deal about Crystal being surgically removed from the art in the 2nd half of the story. Maybe, but I don't see where she could have had room to add anything to the action if she had been there. WHY did Frank Giacoia do this-- while Joe Sinnott did the MODOK story in SUSPENSE?? Just for a "change of pace"? Everyone who loves to go ON about Mike Royer oughta take another look at this. The art reminds me a LOT more of Kirby's 70's stuff than the usual stuff inked by Sinnott or Colletta. I also see NO evidence of Joe Giella in the lead story-- though I do believe at least HALF of the Inhumans pin-ups were inked by Joe, not Frank. And there's a 2-page FF pin-up inked by Sinnott. Huh.
It's fun to see the FF's "extended family" all guest-starring together-- Ben, Johnny, Black Panther and ALL the Inhumans, while Reed & Sue are apparently planning to become stay-at-home types once it's announced Sue's having a baby. (Someone suggested this probably takes place between pages 2-3 of FF #68-- too bad they couldn't have managed it neatly BETWEEN issue, huh?) I've always loved Psycho-Man's "costume", though his sidekicks look like rejects from old Steve Ditko Spidey comics.
Not to be left out, Silver Surfer gets his 1st solo story in the back. No clue here, but if memory serves, somewhere it was revealed that Kirby wrote the dialogue on this one himself. (True or not?) I noticed this time just how much he played with the whole "Hunchback of Notre Dame" bit in the action & body language of "Quasimodo". A shame anyone ever had the urge to bring him (IT?) back after this one story. (Just seems like with some characters, every rematch is less effective.)
(5-16-2008)
Comicsdad:
“Yes! Enforcers. What was Black Panther actually doing in the Caribbean?”
(11-22-2015)
No doubt that was explained somewhere in the 12 pages of Jack Kirby's story that were CUT at the very last minute to make room for the SILVER SURFER back-up that was originally intended for TALES TO ASTONISH.
(1-20-2016)
FANTASTIC FOUR 68
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
I know some people look down their nose at this whole storyline, but I disagree. Sure, it's a "grudge match". Sure, we've seen the villain-- and his androids, and his computers before (did anyone REALLY not figure it out by page 3 that it was The Mad Thinker???). And, we've seen Ben turned into a murderer intent on killing the rest of the F.F. But think about this... Sure it screams "sequel". But compare this to ANY other straightforward action-packed super-hero comic of that entire era. Doesn't it STILL manage to make whatever ANYBODY else was doing back then look SICK? These are good comics... I think anybody looking down their noses at them is setting their standards TOO DAMN HIGH!
By the way, I have all 4 parts of this in the MGC reprints-- AND the originals. My copy of #71 was only the 2nd FF comic I ever owned, I got parts 1-3 in the 70's in MGC, and over the years since, I managed to pick up ALL 4 original issues. (My initial copy of #71 was missing half the cover! Then again, my MGC version of #69 is missing the entire cover... go figure!)
(5-16-2008)
TALES TO ASTONISH 97
cover by MARIE SEVERIN
This is probably the exact point where I felt like both Subby & Hulk started rambling. Roy Thomas switched "his" artists around. He wanted John Buscema on AVENGERS, so Don Heck took over X-MEN, and Werner Roth suddenly was on Sub-Mariner! The Plunderer has a run-in with the Swamp Men, and Skull Island is destroyed, while Subby saves the leader of the Swamp Men and a feast is held in his honor. (The feast, unfortunately, was one of the scenes CUT from the MARVEL SUPER-HEROES reprint. Lucky I got myself a copy of TTA #97 real cheap a couple years back!) I keep thinking I might be able to take the Plunderer & his men more seriously if they'd had the more "pirate" outfits Jack Kirby intended, instead of these generic "super-villain" suits John Romita designed back in DAREDEVIL. (I mean, what's with the CAPES???)
"THE LEGIONS OF: THE LVIING LIGHTNING!"
And, while Atlantis falls under the mistaken impression that Namor has allied himself with The Plunderer, that rat Major Talbot stumbles onto the lair of The Living Lightning, just as the leader of this criminal gang is convincing The Hulk that they're his "friends". Oy! At this point, it seems Talbot wants Hulk out of the way more because he's a romantic rival than a public menace.
(5-16-2008)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 54
cover by JOHN ROMITA
TALES OF SUSPENSE 95
cover by Gene Colan & Dan Adkins
"IF A MAN BE STONE"
A THOR villain, The Grey Gargoyle, attacks Stark Industries, so he can steal a weapon that will allow him to defeat Thor. So, in his eyes, Iron Man's nothing more than a momentary distraction. Sheesh! Jasper Sitwell shows up, on direct orders from Nick Fury, and now Tony Stark has to deal with this skinny underage over-achiever. Gene Colan somehow makes him look a lot younger than he ever was in SHIELD-- as if he were still in high school! Stark has no idea who he is when they meet, which seems wrong, as I'd SWEAR Stark was there in the Heli-Carrier shaking Sitwell's hand over a year earlier. (Maybe he just repressed the memory?) The first time I read this, I found the minor "crossover" intriguing, as it seems the very moment that Iron Man almost got killed by the GG was when Doc Ock decided to attack the factory over in ASM #55 (and nobody but Spidey figured out he'd do it). I mean, what are the odds?
"A TIME TO DIE-- A TIME TO LIVE"
Steve Rogers goes out on his first offical "date" with Agent 13-- and he STILL never finds out her name! I'm reminded of one of the later episodes of GET SMART, when someone asks Max, "Why do you call your wife 99?" "Because I don't know her name!" Steve wants to propose, 13 lets her career get in the way... so STEVE quits HIS job! Does this make any sense? It seems rather contrived to me-- especially the abrupt bit where he lets the newspapers know what his "real" identity is under the mask. You get the feeling he didn't think this through. Nick Fury & Dugan turn up, and Nick-- as drawn by Kirby & Sinnott-- is his old self, square jaw and unshaved. Makes you wonder if the "Burt Lancaster" Fury that Jim Steranko was drawing over in STRANGE TALES might be an imposter! (Despite several repeated references on the letters pages, Clay Quartermain does NOT look like Burt Lancaster-- with that jaw, that smile, and that hair, he looks like Kirk Douglas!)
(5-16-2008)
Comicsdad:
"There's something quite off about this story."(12-4-2015)
It's a shame we'll never know what was going on behind the scenes. Because the guy who wrote the story wasn't allowed to write his own dialogue, and the guy who wrote the dialogue probably didn't give a S***, and is a habitual lier when asked any questions at all.
I mean, there's NO WAY to know what got lost in the "translation" since whatever Jack Kirby had in mind may have been completely mutilated at the dialogue stage by the guy who kept claiming he was the writer.
Perhaps this story was Jack Kirby making a statement about the way that, SEVERAL times by then, he had wanted to GET OFF the CAPTAIN AMERICA series... but his "editor" (and boy do I use that word loosely) repeatedly proved incapable of finding anyone capable of stepping into the breech and writing stuff as good as Kirby was writing. Dick Ayers, George Tuska, John Romita (all 3 worked over Kirby's stories), Jack Sparling (presumably over Roy Thomas' story-- God help us!!!) and finally Gil Kane ("ye editor" hated his art so much, after the first 2 episodes, he yanked JOE SINNOTT onto the book to try and make it look prettier... which is how Sinnott wound up inking Kirby on several CAP episodes after Kane bolted back to DC.
About a year later, when it looked like Jim Steranko was all set to begin a LONG run on CAP, things went sour very quickly when his 3rd episode was held back both to make minor changes on it, and to insert an all-flashback story (by Kirby, who else?), which inspired Steranko to QUIT a series for the 2nd time in about a year. Then you had in quick succession George Tuska (his story was rejected outright and not even published!), John Romita, John Buscema & Sal Buscema...before Gene Colan finally stepped in and did 22 issues in a row. (Boy, was that guy DEPENDABLE or what???)
(12-5-2015)
You know... it occurs to me... the MAIN reason S*** L** DROVE Steranko off of CAP was because as long as Steranko was on the book, L** couldn't collect a writer's fee for it.
(12-5-2015)
Would you believe, when I wrote my new comments about the CAP story, I didn't even realize it took place the SAME month that Kirby had Ben Grimm go BERSERK and try to kill HIS BOSS? I think I may be onto something.
As it turns out, looking around the Nov'67 issues, a LOT of stories that month had things in them that just didn't make any sense.
This was the same month, for example, that The Wasp hired a chauffer and let him wander freely around Avengers mansion WITHOUT first bothering to check his credentials (and it turns out he was a super-villain scouting the place for a full-scale villain-team invasion).
You know... when people insist they "really love the characters"-- it makes you wonder. Because way too many of the characters in the Marvel Universe-- and I mean especially the "heroes"-- act like MORONS on a regular basis!
"Hard to see how that scene could have been made to make sense."
Again... there's no way to know what Jack Kirby might have had in mind when he wrote the story, because the guy who wrote the dialogue was somebody else. Who, by this point (the company was on the verge of being sold) had a vested interest in making Kirby look bad... and replaceable.
It should NEVER be a case of a 2nd writer trying to make a 1st writer's work make sense. Especially when there is NO actual "collaboration" going on.
(12-6-2015)
Allen Smith:
"Don't you mean, 2nd rate writer, profh?"
Nah. "2nd-rate" would have been an improvement.
What Marvel really needed was an editor. You know... a REAL one.
That's somebody who gets the right people in place to do the work, and then gets out of their way and lets them do it... DOESN'T tell real writers what to write or how... FINDS and fixes ACTUAL problems (rather than creating problems that didn't exist before he interfered)... and who doesn't take credit and pay for OTHER people's work.
(12-7-2015)
THOR 146
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
"IF THE THUNDER BE GONE"
This installment has Thor working for... oh it's almost too painful to say it... The Circus of Crime. The Ringmaster (who reminds me a bit of Hans Conreid-- or maybe David Carridine, heh) gives him a "Thor" costume to fit the name he's using. Princess Python asks him what his "real" name is, and he says some things are best left unsaid. Oh, the ignominity! They put on a show, and NOBODY in the audience is aware that they're really "The Circus Of Crime". They must have records by now-- how is this possible? They pull off their big crime-- but it goes awry, and Thor comes out of the trance he was in, as the bullet go flying. Sif & Balder are unable to help, while Odin merely ponders his son must go thru his "pennance". Hmm.
In the back, Kirby's teamed with Joe Sinnott on the new INHUMANS "Origins" series. As one might expect, the art is spectacular, as we look back into the dim recesses of history. This advanced race of scientists create an island refuge away from the savage primitive humans, known as "Atillan"-- makes me wonder if there's any possible connection with the "Atlantis" seen in TALES OF ATLANTIS (the back-up in SUB-MARINER). I'm wishing I had all of these. Unfortunately, I'm missing a few, and they were not included in the ESSENTIAL THOR reprint book.
(5-16-2008)
THE AVENGERS 46
cover by John Buscema & Vince Colletta
"THE AGONY AND THE ANTHILL"
Jan hires a chauffer, carelessly bringing him inside the Mansion with her where he can scout out its security, and not check references enough to realize he's Hank's old enemy, The Human Top. Except, as part of Roy Thomas' overall make-over of the book, he's got a new costume & name--Whirlwind. The Galactus-like head-vanes look to me like they'd get in the way of his "spinning" power. How does he DO that without getting dizzy, anyway? It's finally suggested that his power may be from his being a mutant. Had to be something, I guess. I still think he's one of the dumbest villains in Marvel history. Strangely, Quicksilver doesn't remember him, even though he CLOBBERED the guy in F.F. ANNUAL #3. George Roussos has been replaced by Vince Colletta... par for the course?
Meanwhile, Pietro's impatience with "humans" is growing, and Hercules decides to shave off his beard. For good or not, Roy was clearly out to make THE AVENGERS his!
(5-18-2008)
DAREDEVIL 34
cover by Gene Colan & John Tartaglione
The former Human Torch baddie (who has a really inflated opinion of himself) decides to unmask DD on television. It reminds me of the the 1st Joker story on the BATMAN tv series, which is probably fitting, as the tone of this series is one that just cannot be taken seriously.
I know I have the reprint of DD ANNUAL #1... but it's misplaced at the moment. (Grrrrrrrrrrr.)
(5-16-2008)
DAREDEVIL ANNUAL 1
cover by Gene Colan & John Tartaglione
DD takes on an entire squad of "losers"!! This book really worked best in this period when it was played for laughs. It's the closest Marvel had to the BATMAN tv show.
Also, in the back... someone has a fetish for re-using the title "AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT" (I've found the same guy used it at LEAST 3 times over a 10 or more year period). This vignette is also played for laughs, but if you read it, really read it, and pay attention... it's telling THE STONE-COLD TRUTH. It's positively mind-boggling that so many people have read this thing over the years, and not realized that it WASN'T A JOKE. And it's right there, IN PRINT.
(4-18-2015)
X-MEN 38
"THE SINISTER SHADOW OF... DOOMSDAY!"
This brings us real close to the climax of Roy Thomas' "Factor Three" story. And once again, in the middle of a multi-parter, they've played "musical artists" as Ross Andru is replaced by new regular Don Heck, along with his recent AVENGERS inker George Roussos. It's a HUGE improvement over the Andru issues (especially the previous one which Heck inked so badly), but still only serviceable. Meanwhile, Werner Roth is back-- in the back-- beginning the brand-new "Origins" series. Inks are by newcomer John Verpoorten, who does some solid, bang-up work. We finally get to see how Prof. X got involved with those guys from the government-- who were a little too quick on the draw for my tastes. It also suggests that putting together the X-MEN was equal parts altruism and government conspiracy. If the Feds were involved in even a small way from the word go, WHY has the group had so much trouble since they went public?? "Consistent" this book AIN'T.
(5-16-2008)
GHOST RIDER 7
cover by Dick Ayers & Vince Colletta
(Continued in December 1967)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
No comments:
Post a Comment