Friday, September 14, 2018

December 1968

(Continued from November 1968)

NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD  7
cover by JIM STERANKO
"HOURS OF MADNESS  DAY OF DEATH"

Synopsis:
Nick gets into a fight at an unnamed foreign embassy, and winds up being injected with a drug that will cause hallucinations, "hyper-intense paranoia", and death after 6 hours.  He wanders the streets of NYC, hoping to reach a set rendezvous point for a scheduled pick-up via the Heli-Carrier's vortex beam.  However, he's mistaken by a cop as a drunk, and when his felow agents show up, the drug causes him to see them as 3 of his worst enemies!  Jimmy Woo comments that other agents have been going berzerk, which was what Nick was investigating in the first place.  Nick is found by Sister Angela, who offers to help get him to the pick-up point.  However, they're intercepted by 2 of the spies, who tie them up and send their car racing downhill on a dangerous mouontain road!  Dum Dum, Jimmy & Gabe, who've been following in their van, almost crash head-on, when suddenly the vortex beam picks up both vehicles!  Onboard the Heli-Carrier, a doctor about to inject Nick with an "antidote" turns out to be the same spy who drugged him in the first place-- and at the last second Nick turns the tables, the spy dying by his own needle.

Indexer notes:
Archie Goodwin's only solo SHIELD story.  Frank Springer illustrated a parody of NICK FURY #3 this month in NOT BRAND ECHH #11.
     (9-15-07)

This is Archie Goodwin's sole solo outing on this series.  Investigating agents who have been drugged & killed, Fury winds up the latest victim, and spends most of the issue stumbling around trying to hook up with SHIELD so they can give him an antidote to save his life, and so he can finger the culprits responsible.  He has a mid-town run-in with Dugan, Gabe & Jimmy Woo (nice to see they're remembered again), but hallucinates and thinks they're old enemies attacking.  He eventually gets help from a "sister of mercy"-- who almost winds up becoming a victim along with Nick when the bad guys catch up with them.  Rescued at the last minute by the Heli-Carrier's vortex beam, Nick still almost buys it when the SHIELD medic giving him the "antidote" turns out to be the ring-leader of the spies.

Frank Springer does a nice job with wild layouts, but his Fury still doesn't seem like the "real" one (either Jack's OR Jim's).
     (6-9-2008)


DR. STRANGE  175
cover by Gene Colan & Tom Palmer
     (alterations by Marie Severin)
"UNTO US... THE SONS OF SATANNISH"

This reveals an entire cult beneath the streets of NYC following the same demon the guy in the last issue made that deal with, and their leader, Azmodeus, is watching Doc & Clea's every move.  The happy couple wander the city, Doc still trying to explain to her that she can't go displaying her magic like she used to back home.  Fighting off an attack during a cab-ride to her apartment, Doc races home afterwards, only realizing that the cabbie knows Clea's whereabouts-- and soon finds the poor guy in a trance. Clea, meanwhile, is pulled into an alley by Azmodeus, who claims to be a "friend".  YEAH-- RIGHT.

The Thomas-Colan-Palmer teams continues to dazzle.  On the letters page, some readers express missing Dan Adkins greatly, though Colan is definitely picking up admirers.  And someone actually says they think Roy Thomas "finally learned how to write" on this series.  Between this and The Vision's debut on AVENGERS, it would seem that Thomas has finally managed a jump in quality!
     (6-9-2008)


NOT BRAND ECHH  11
cover by MARIE SEVERIN
This was the only issue of this I got back when (without a cover), the fact that it had a parody of a "famous monster" movie as the lead story probably had a lot to do with it.

"KING KONK '68" deals with Hollywood's thing for doing updated remakes of old classic films.  Of course, this was 8 years before Dino DeLaurentiis actually did HIS version!  In this one, the cast includes Liz & Dick, and Hugh Hefner, not to mention half the superheroes of the Marvel Universe (or parodies of them, in any case).  I've often said Roy Thomas has no sense of humor, and judging by 99-9/10ths of his output, that would seem true, yet he proves me wrong with this single story, illustrated by Tom Sutton & Marie Severin.  The scene where Konk walks past The Baxter Building and then Avengers Mansion seems to have "inspired" an almost identical visual in the monstrously-stupid American "GODZILLA" movie decades later.

"Look...out the window! I, the Visage, see a giant ape's foot!" "What be-eth so unusual about that?" "We're on the 17th floor!"  And of course, my favorite line involves Goliath... "...and some nut TOLD me that Konk was climbin' the CHRYSLER Building! Ever since I lost my own series, I get nothin' but BUM STEERS!"  A lot of the jokes in here make a lot more sense to me now than they did back then, strangely enough, considering how much they related to the time it came out.

"SUPER-HERO DAYDREAMS" features a scene that has always stuck with me, a little kid in the local store harrassed by the owner, who bellows, "HEY! You gonna READ 'em or BUY 'em?"  Marie Severin supplied both the art AND script, with nice inks by John Tartaglione, who, like several inkers whose work I haven't liked over the years, seems MUCH better suited for "humor" art than "superhero" stuff.

"DARK MOON RISE, HECK HOUND HURT!" is another major highlight for me, as Arnold Drake and then-current SHIELD artist Frank Springer (with inks by Tom Sutton) parody Jim Steranko's NICK FURY #3, and as I read this some 8 years before reading the original, I've always preferred the parody to the "straight" version!  The infamous 2-page title spread features a huge image of Snoopy chewing his way thru some bagpipes as their Scottish owner cringes nearby.  My favorite bit is when "Knock Furious" rushes to crash thru a door, only to have the butler open it one second before he hits.  As he dashes thru the room out-of-control (like a hard-boiled Inspector Clouseau), he yells, "What pea-brained, sieve-headed, vacuum-skulled idiot opened that D-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-R?"  The villain of the piece turns out to be "Colonel Von Twothreefour", and as Arnold puts it, his plan is "simplicity itself, but we must complicate it because jaunty JIM STERANKO loves long, wordy captions."  The story ends when Furious attacks Arnold Drake & Frank Springer in their office for dumping too many cruel, brutal torturous dangers on him.  As he walks off thru a graveyard, he says, "ANOTHER job well done-- another BLOW struck for freedom and decency and western democracy and baseball and drive-in movies and American womanhood and the return of the FIVE-CENT chocolate bar!"  To date, this is the ONLY feature from NBE to be reprinted, and on a trip to NYC, I had Arnold sign it for me.

Other highlights include "How To be A Comic-Book Artist" (by Marie Severin, uncredited), "Prince No More, The Sunk-Mariner" (Drake & Sutton parody politics with a race between Subby and Aqualung-Man, with "Floyd Britches" as a write-in candidate), and "The Amazing Spidey-Man" (Drake, Severin & Tartaglione look at fame & fortune in the super-hero biz).


Somebody needs to collect & reprint this stuff... if they can do a decent job reproducing the art!  (The 1984 "DARK MOON RISE" reprint in CAPTAIN AMERICA SPECIAL EDITION #2 kinda sucked on that score.)
     (6-11-2008)


FANTASTIC FOUR  81
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
"ENTER THE EXQUISITE ELEMENTAL!"

Crystal dons an "FF" uniform and suggests she take Sue's place now that the new Mom has a baby to watch after.  Reed says he'll have to think about it...  Meanwhile, The Wizard, as he promised, has created a new set of power gloves, and immediately attacks the group, drawing them away from their HQ this time.  Johnny flies out on his own, followed by Reed, Ben & Crys in the Fantasti-Car (which we haven't seen in ages!).  The fight takes half the issue, during which time Crystal takes every opportunity to show just what an asset to the team she can be, both in power and strategy.  (Strong, pretty, AND smart!)  The Wizard can't believe this "mere girl" is beating him so thoroughly, and only barely escapes at the end after falling into the river and swimming away.  For the 2nd time in a row, Reed seems less than concerned, but now happily welcome's Johnny's girl to the team.

As always-- the Kirby-Sinnott art is a wonder to behold.  One of these days, I just gotta get my hands on an original comic.  This MGC reprint is just too fuzzy.
     (6-9-2008)


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  67
cover by JOHN ROMITA
"TO SQUASH A SPIDER!"

This concludes the Mysterio 2-parter as Spidey spends most of his time running and fighting for his life in what appears to be a incredibly-detailed (and extremely DEADLY) table-top amusement park.  The sub-plots continue: Norman Osborn now remembers he's the Green Goblin, and wants revenge, but doesn't remember on who; JJJ is pissed that nobody has word or pics of Spider-Man OR Mysterio; Joe calls up Stacy again for another chat; and Joe's son Randy turns up (making his debut) with some problem his Dad tells him to share with him.  Back at the tv studio, Spidey gets tired of running and wondering why Mysterio keeps vanishing whenever he gets close, and bets everything that it's ALL an illusion.  This proves correct-- Spidey HASN'T been shrunk to 6 inches, it's a full-sized deadly amusement park (presumably built inside the tv studio as a "film set"), and he finds the regular-sized Mysterio running the show inside the parachute jump tower.  After clobbering the bum, Spidey can't help but gloat, and his foe asks him, "Just call the cops, OKAY?"

Jim Mooney returns for his 3rd episode, and begins what turned out to be quite a run on the series, doing pencils & inks over Romita layouts.  NICE, dark, "moody" stuff.
     (6-9-2008)


SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN  2
cover by JOHN ROMITA
"THE GOBLIN LIVES!"

"The gang" watches a lecture on crime by Captain Stacy, which focuses on Spidey & The Green Goblin.  BAD idea-- as it's the final straw that sends Norman Osborn over the edge, and causes his memories of BEING The Green Goblin to finally return.  He returns home, and invites Pete, Harry, Gwen & MJ to a "party"-- at which he can barely restrain himself from revealing to everyone the TRUTH about himself and Peter ParkerPete manages to set a fire in the next room and sneak away, followed by Osborn as now all facade is brushed aside.  The entire 2nd half of the book is dedicated to one LONG battle between Spider-Man and The Green Goblin, who's determined not only to kill his foe, but also reveal his identity to his Aunt May!  (The BASTARD!!!)  It's a "hallucinogenic" pumpkin that finally turns the tables, as once Spidey overcomes its effects, he realizes it may be hs only way out of this mess.  Sure enough, he uses it on The Goblin-- who's mind is so tormented by visions he tears the Goblin costume off, and within minutes, can't seem to remember anything about Spider-ManPete helps him back to the hospital, where Harry soon arrives.  At the end, Pete walks off with both Gwen AND Mary Jane on his arms, and though MJ thinks it's a hoot, inwardly Pete isn't in the mood for celebrating.

As if the continuity between SPECTACULAR and AMAZING wasn't confusing enough last time, the first half of this issue apparently winds its way in and out of SEVERAL consecutive issues of ASM, as Norman slowly regains his memory.  Once he gets it all back, the rest of the story can only fit right after the Mysterio 2-parter.  The 2nd issue was printed in color, but it must have been a late decision, as the early pages have MUCH more line-rendering detail, suggesting it was gonna be B&W before someone changed their mind.  Tragically, I only have this as the 1973 ANNUAL reprint, which has, apparently, a LOT of pages missing, and some narration at the start and end morbidly talking about the death of Gwen Stacy and The Green Goblin in ASM #121-122 (thank you, Roy Thomas!!!).  I'd love to see what this looked like originally when it was magazine-sized.

Some other fan not long ago (I think) suggested that, in a better world, this would have been the LAST Green Goblin story, ever.  Spidey worried for almost 2 years that he might get his memory back, and here he did-- then, lost it again.  It was a well-told story.  There was NO NEED to tell it again-- but they brought him back TWICE more, before killing him off.  One of countless reasons I'm beginning to wish the Marvel Universe had just come to a stop when Jack Kirby left the company.
     (6-9-2008)


IRON MAN  8
cover by George Tuska & Frank Giacoia
"A DUEL MUST END!"

This installment reveals the "origin" of "Big M", as we see how Whitney Frost grew up living a charmed life, a girl who had everything-- until the man she thought was her father died, and she met her REAL father-- Count Nefaria.  Once word of her family's crime connections reached her fiancee, he left her, causing her in despair to go along with her father's ambitions to train her to take over his criminal empire.  Because this was never reprinted for decades, I spent many many years reading stories about her without ever having read this important story.

Anyway, The Maggia's raid on Stark Enterprises continues, Iron Man manages to get Janice Cord & her lawyer to safety, then head for the factory, where a free-for-all erupts between him, The Maggia goons, The Gladiator-- and Jasper Sitwell & a squad of security men (the ones who were gassed turning out to have been a squad of L.M.D.s!).  It seems ever since Whitney started getting so inquisitive about Stark's security, Jasper got suspicious of her, and decided to let it play out so he could nab the whole mob.  (Stark sure is surprised to learn this!!) But Whitney escapes at the end, because Jasper can't bring himself to shoot her in the back... something Stark understands, only too well.

The Goodwin-Tuska-Craig team continues, and on the letters page several fans rave about what a big improvement Tuska-Craig are over solo Craig, or even Craig inking Colan.
     (6-9-2008)


CAPTAIN AMERICA  108
cover by Jack Kirby & Syd Shores
"THE SNARES OF THE TRAPSTER!"

Cap engages in a really dangerous workout session, before being interrupted by another SHIELD man, who tells him Sharon Carter's disappeared while on assignment.  Knowing Cap would be interested, he hands him a homer, which indicates she's still alive.  Racing to find her in a slum building scheduled for demolition, he finds she's a prisoner of The Trapster, who's trying to get his hands on some secrets Sharon was transporting.  A fight takes up half the issue, during which The Trapster is repeatedly confounded that his super-powered glue keeps disolving too soon.  After revealing The Red Skull was paying him to get ahold of the secrets, the baddie is thoroughly beaten-- and Cap discovers the "prisoner" was really an L.M.D. (another one???) whose programming has shut down now that the real objective (learning the Skull was involved) has been accomplished.  While a fake Sharon was imprisoned all this time, the real Sharon was using chemicals to water down the baddie's glue.  She tells Cap she really wanted his help anyway, as she knew he had the best chance of beating the guy.

After 2 issues in a row of Steve stupidly deciding he wanted Sharon out of his life, last issue he seemed desperate to find her again, and this time, he has.  Is this nearly-schizo behavior the fault of "ye editor", or Jack Kirby?  We may never know, though as Steve's "I must get her out of my life" only really manifested itself in the DIALOGUE, I think we can make a good guess.  (Bad, editor! BAD!!!)

Syd Shores continues to kick A** on the inks, in some panels giving the art a quality almost similar to Gene Colan's art (wild as that sounds, considering it's Kirby).

Something I forgot to mention... isn't it funny that in 2 Kirby comics in the SAME month, we see returns of The Wizard AND The TrapsterMedusa is up for next month's FF (along with the rest of The Inhumans), but I wonder what The Sandman was doing about this time?
     (6-9-2008)


SILVER SURFER  3
cover by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott
"THE POWER AND THE PRIZE!
"DUEL IN THE DEPTHS"

This begins with the Surfer using his power to heal the woman who was victimized by The Badoon in the previous issue.  But the whole time, the cops are trying to kill him, thinking he's trying to kill HER!  It gets to him so much, he goes on a mild rampage, "Day The Earth Stood Still" style, bringing technology everywhere to a halt, before calming down.  All this comes to the attention of this "demon of the lower depths"-- Mephisto, who decides he cannot abide someone so "pure" and "good" and "noble" getting in the way of the world where so many of those who people his nether-realm come from.  Wanting to find a weak spot, he travels to Zenn-La, and urges Shalla-Bal to make the trip to Earth to be reunited with her beloved.  She does, but soon becomes a pawn in Mephisto's game to turn The Surfer into his slave.  It goes on and on and on, until finally, Mephisto whisks Shalla-Bal back to her home planet.  On the one hand, The Surfer is glad that now she's safe, but on the other, he may never see her again.

I wonder what was going on that 2 different manifestations of Satan turned up in Marvel books within a month or two of each other-- Mephisto here, and Satannish in DR. STRANGESattanish is the lesser-known of the two, but he sure seemed more "traditional" and scary to me.  The John Buscema-Joe Sinnott art is, if anything, even more spectacular than before.  I may not be crazy about the stories, but the art's sure nice to look at.  Between certain quotes in some of his scripts, comments on the Bullpen page, and this entire issue, "ye editor" seems to be on some kind of a "Jesus" kick, in this case with the Surfer filling in for Jesus and Mephisto filling in for Satan-- especially in the scene where he "tempts" him with riches, and power, and women.  Some fans in various mags wrote in to complain, accusing him of pushing a Christian agenda (and here, I thought "ye editor" was JEWISH!).  I kinda wonder what kind of reaction this sort of thing might generate nowadays?
     (6-10-2008)


SUB-MARINER  8
cover by John Buscema & Dan Adkins
"IN THE RAGE OF BATTLE!"

This has Namor's foe Destiny-- or, Paul Destine, dead from his own power, and the helmet he wore, which drove him insane in the first place, in the hands of the authorities, who want it taken to a place of safety where it can be studied safely.  On hearing this, Namor is outraged-- he feels if the thing isn't destroyed, or hidden back where it was in the first place, it could prove dangerous enough to start it up all over again.  The Thing is called in to transport the helmet, so, naturally, HALF the issue is dedicated to a Thing-Sub-Mariner fight.  It gets more and more destructive on both sides (Ben really gets irresponsible without the rest of the FF backing him up), until a very old friend of Namor's-- "Mrs. Prentiss"-- shows up and pleads for him to just stop destroying buildings and leave!  He wants to talk, but she disappears, and he takes the helmet and goes.  As it turns out, it was Betty Dean-- much older, and sad to see the man she once loved so deeply again for only such a brief moment, especially as he hasn't aged a day while she has.

It seems that despite his perpetual hot-headedness, Namor continues to be some kind of babe-magnet, as we have 3 women in this one issue who he means a lot to-- Dorma, injured in a previous issue, Diane, a new surface-woman friend, and Betty Dean, who was a regular in his series in the 40's AND 50's.  The Buscema-Adkins art is nice, but I could really have done without another pointless hero-vs.-hero fight.
     (6-10-2008)


THE AVENGERS  58
cover by John Buscema & Frank Giacoia
"EVEN AN ANDROID CAN CRY"

Iron Man, Captain America & Thor turn up to help weigh the decision of whether The Vision should be made a member of the team.  The problem is, he has no memory of his origin... or, he doesn't until he makes a concerted effort to dig back thru his memory banks.  And what a twisted, convoluted, far-fetched story it is.  It seems Hank Pym, after baby-sitting Diablo's Dragon Man, became interested in artificial life, and began doing some crude experiments on his own.  He build a small robot, but was shocked when it suddenly turned itself on, and in a matter of minutes went from speaking like a baby to a full-grown intellectual adult.  But this "adult" was of a definitely HOMICIDAL variety, and wanted to KILL its "father".  FOR NO APPARENT REASON.  Not satisfed with its then-current state, it deliberately induced partial amnesia in Pym, ordered him to board up his house in the suburbs, then split-- returning later to "complete its own creation".  Having done so, it became ULTRON-5, attacked the team several times, and then, in some mysterious fashion, created some artificial life of its own, in the form of The Vision-- as seen in the previous issue.  And it seems the guy has the "brain patterns" of Simon Williams-- alias "Wonder Man"-- which were recorded for future reference just before he died.  (HUH???)  NONE of this makes any sense-- AT ALL-- but the team accepts it, and The Vision, who walks off, is overwhelmed with emotion.

It sure seems to me there ought to be some as-yet-unexplained story behind HOW in the hell a scientist who specialized in one field could tinker around building a robot which would come to SENTIENT LIFE, and go on a murderous rampage.  Allusions to "Frankenstein" aside, it just seems to me there almost has to be more to it than that... yet, after DECADES, I don't believe anyone ever delved into it, and each time Ultron returns for another bout makes me shake my head more than the last time.  (Even The Red Tornado got a better-thought-out origin than this... EVENTUALLY.)

If nothing else, the John Buscema-George Klein art may be some of the best ever seen in the series yet.  I'm definitely seeing better art than writing in general from Marvel at this point.
     (6-10-2008)


THE INCREDIBLE HULK  110
cover by Herb Trimpe   (rejected)
     (note, corner box paste-up is incorrect)
cover by Herb Trimpe & John Severin
"UMBU, THE UNLIVING"


CAPTAIN MARVEL  8
cover by Gene Colan & Vince Colletta
"AND FEAR SHALL FOLLOW!"

Arnold Drake kicks things into high gear!  We meet the Aakon, a yellow-skinned alien race who are deadly enemies of The Kree-- who have engine trouble and land on the Moon's dark side for repairs.  But Yon-Rogg, seeking GLORY (BWA-HA-HA!) orders an attack, almost getting his sorry self killed in the process!  Though he's tried repeatedly to kill Mar-Vell and spent this entire manouever knocking every move the guy makes, Mar-Vell-- in what can only be considered a feat of pure STUPIDITY-- saves the guy's life, then leaves another officer in charge of the ship until he or Yon-Rogg takes command again.

As if that weren't enough... trying to fulfill a promise to Carol Danvers to look into the mysterious background of Dr. Walt Lawson (a bizarre assignment as you can get, considering the guy's DEAD and Mar-Vell has been impersonating him for quite some time now), Mar-Vell finds Lawson has a fancy, expensive mountain-side house and laboratory, a secret lab, and evidence of something HUGE he must have been building.  "What were you UP to, Lawson?" he asks rhetorically.  The answer comes soon.  Of all the people Mar-Vell could have impersonated, it seems Walt Lawson was a renegade scientist, backed by a criminal gang called "The Organization", whose "Number One" (no relation to "Number One" of Hydra or The Secret Empire) had him build a giant robot assassin who could take out any potential enemies.  But it gets stranger!  The robot, which has not turned up in all this time, suddenly does-- and it seems it was programmed, for some inexplicable kind of "test run"-- to KILL Lawson (not realizing he was its creator).  This is so wild, so out-of-left-field, yet so creative, it positively blows my mind.

So of course-- what happens?  We wind up with a free-for-all between Mar-Vell, Organization hoods (out to find Lawson who they suspect has skipped with their money), the killer robot, and the Aakon.  Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed...

On top of all this, Vince Colletta returns, and for the 2nd time on this series, his taking over on inks proves a MAJOR IMPROVEMENT!  (Who'da thunk it?)  Colletta often overpowers whatever artist he's inking over, but in this case, as it was with Gene Colan, it's in a "good" way.  As he was on THOR for some issues where some fan accused him of trying to be "Joe Sinnott", his inks here are much slicker and bolder than his usual, allowing Don Heck (YEAH-- Don Heck!) to shine.  It's almost too bad these 2 guys weren't on this book from the very 1st episode.
     (6-10-2008)


THOR  159
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
"THE ANSWER AT LAST!"

Don Blake lets his mind drift, and it appears Thor enters Asgard-- but is it reality, or just a dream?  Odin knows what he wants to know-- and at long last lays out the facts.  In long days past, following a peace treaty, a young a headstrong Thor wandered into Niffelheim to bring down a dangerous bird-creature, not caring that he was violating their land and Odin's treaty.  Fighting breaks out, Odin has Balder drag Thor back home, and before long, Odin tells his son that the one thing he's really lacking in, which he cannot possibly learn AS a God, is humility.  And so, in an instant, Thor finds himself transformed into a frail mortal, "Don Blake", as he enters medical school, with NO memory of being Thor, and under a spell whose nature makes him never question why he has no memory of his own past as Blake!  Years went by, and he became a healer, helping others for the sake of helping, until eventually he came across the hammer, hidden in a cave by Odin who knew he'd find it there.  At last, he realizes, he always was Thor, and his heart is glad.

The Kirby-Colletta art is the usual brilliance, though less slick than some recent issues.  Someone pointed out that having Mangog turn out to be a creation of an Odin-spell, and Don Blake also turning out to be the creation of an Odin-spell, was a good example of thematic consistency-- but that, if it was, it seems to have gone right over "ye editor"s head.  Oh well!
     (6-10-2008)


THE AVENGERS  59
cover by John Buscema & George Klein
"THE NAME IS... YELLOWJACKET!"

A new hero debuts, catching crooks for the cops who aren't sure whether to thank him or clock him one for his "attitude".  He then shows up at The Mansion, wanting to become a member.  This would be "nerve" enough, but then the guy CLAIMS he "polished off" Goliath.  SAY WHAT??  It's flashback time as we see a big fight between Goliath & Yellowjacket, the latter using shrinking gas on the former, leaving him helpless without his ant-communication headgear, at the non-existent mercy of the insects.  Before long, he kidnaps The Wasp, and in a truly bizarre moment, plants one on her.  When the team finally tracks them down, they're casually walking out of City Hall... and Jan tells everyone to back off, because she's planning to MARRY the guy.

I suppose if ever an AVENGERS comic felt like one had walked into an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, this is it.  Or maybe it's like a super-hero version of THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, come to think of it, because "Yellowjacket" comes across one HELL of a lot like "Buddy Love".  I guess that should have been the tip-off to anyone reading this when it came out.  I had the "surprise" ruined for me by reading later stories first.  Oh well.  The Buscema-Klein team continues to do some of the best art yet.
     (6-13-2008)


DAREDEVIL  47
cover by Gene Colan & George Klein
"BROTHER, TAKE MY HAND!"

DD goes to Viet Nam to entertain the troops, and his biggest fan is a wounded soldier who's on the verge of losing his sight.  Back home, we find the guy was an ex-cop, framed of taking a bribe by some gangsters.  Taking the advice of social worker Karen Page (so THAT's where she's been hiding) he hires Matt Murdock to clear his name.  The gangsters don't like the idea, and try to make sure it never gets to trial-- until DD-- in the dark-- convinces them that his client can more than take care of himself!  After, Matt reveals that he, too, is blind, which gives the guy renewed hope that his life isn't over after all.

The Colan-Klein art continues to be gorgeous and slick, while the cover sports a new variation of the previous DARE- DEVIL logo.  "Ye editor" was apparently proud of this story, as he picked it for inclusion in SON OF ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS, which is where I have it reprinted.
     (6-10-2008)

X-MEN  51
cover by JIM STERANKO
"THE DEVIL HAD A DAUGHTER"

This has one huge fight between The X-Men and Magneto and his mutant army in the southwest desert "City of Mutants".  As some have pointed out, without Professor X, the team, and in particular, Cyclops and Marvel Girl, have really come into their own!  I've never seen Scott so aggressive, and angry, being really fed up with Magneto and all his murderous evil C***.  With overwhelming odds, the team is lucky to escape, though Magneto's legs get paralyzed when a pile of scrap metal falls on him (can you say "IRONY"???).  Iceman is pissed that Cyclops feels he's "too involved" emotionally with Lorna Dane, who appears to have sided with her father Magneto, and he storms out.  (Gee, it's the early Johnny Storm Human Torch thing all over again!)  Scott reveals he has a "plan", but doesn't give details... and a couple days later, a mysterious, powerful new entity, "Eric The Red", turns up at the City of Mutants, shouting out a challenge to Magneto.

I'm wondering where Mesmero was while all this was going on.  But the main point of interest is the art.  The credit actually reads, "Do we really have to tell you?", but it's obvious it's Jim Steranko.  Well, barely.  John Tartaglione, who did such a wonderful job on NICK FURY #5 (almost shockingly good) does an equally MISERABLE job here, and the closest thing it reminds me of was that issue of MASTER OF KUNG FU when Paul Gulacy's pencils were murdered by the inks of Sal Trapani.  (That's just what it looks like!!)  I strongly suspect Arnold Drake supplied Steranko with a very detailed, written plot, if not a finished script, as the designs of the pages are almost "normal" given who the guy was drawing them, and the pacing and storytelling is almost completely different from anything Steranko did before this, or after.  For whatever reason, this would be his last X-MEN issue (#2 of 2, collect 'em all) and on the Bullpen page "ye editor" has already announced Steranko's already working on something "even better!"
     (6-10-2008)


As I learned sometime later, when "ye editor" announced he was going to insert the Roy Thomas-Frank Springer redo of STRANGE TALES #135 into NICK FURY #4, Jim Steranko took back the pages of "WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO SCORPIO?", and re-inked most of them himself.  So, those pages didn't look like they were inked by John Tartaglione, because Steranko "fixed" most of the pages himself.  Considering what X-MEN #50-51 looked like, BOY, was that the right thing to have done!  Otherwise, my favorite issue of NF would have looked like CRAP.

It has been further suggested that "ye editor" YANKED Joe Sinnott off of NICK FURY so he could use him on SILVER SURFER, which he wanted more than anything else in the world at that moment, to be a major "showcase" for how great a comic book HE could do.  And that, further still, he shoved John Tartaglione on Steranko, knowing how bad it would look, to "show him who was boss" and "put him in his place".  YEAH-- REALLY.
     (9-15-2018)


"THE LURE OF THE BEAST-NAPPERS"

This has this criminal gang trying to blackmail Hank McCoy into working for them, by kidnapping his parents and threatening their lives.  (That's not cricket, old chap!)  Meanwhile, Cylcops, Iceman and Angel (whose origin we haven't seen yet) have become aware of the situation, and are preparing to step in.

This here's an example of how some artists' styles mesh better-- or worse-- than others.  Once again, John Tartaglione is on the inks, but over Werner Roth, it looks GREAT!  Go figure.
     (6-10-2008)


(Continued in January 1969)

All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

Thursday, September 13, 2018

November 1968

(Continued from October 1968)

NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD  6
cover by JIM STERANKO
"DOOM MUST FALL!"

Synopsis:
Fury is summoned by a condition red priority alert to the "Observatron" chamber.  An asteroid is being drawn off-course directly toward Earth, impact only hours away!  Fury & Cliff Randall (SHIELD's top ace pilot) race to the projected impact point, the Central Andes, hoping to find whatever is pulling the asteroid from its normal orbit.  There, they find a hidden base built inside a mountain, run by a group of other-dimensional beings called "The Others".  Twenty years earlier, the tyrant of their dimension, facing revolt, set off an "Impact Inducer", which would destroy everything.  Survivors escaped in a ship when the force of the destruction opened a dimensional doorway to Earth.  Knowing it would take twenty years for the "reverberations" to still, they built a base and sent out "prodigals" to gather intelligence about Earth, whose memories were blanked-- and it turns out Randall was one of these all along!  Now, to duplicate the exact conditions that opened the dimensional gateway, they plan to use the asteroid to destroy the entire Earth, just so they can go home!  SHIELD's ESP Division informs Fury a psychic shield surrounds the entire base, preventing them from targeting the device pulling the asteroid.  When the rocket carrying the "collective intelligence" that is "The Others" launches into space, Fury fears all hope is lost.  But Randall's humanity wins out, as the rocket veers off-course and hits the asteroid, destroying both and saving the Earth.

Indexer notes:
1st original post-Steranko episode.
     (9-14-2007)

An asteroid has pulled out of its orbit and is heading for a collission that will destroy all life on EarthFury and an ace SHIELD pilot race to the Andes to track the source of whatever is pulling the giant rock our way, and find the hidden base of "The Others" a group of exiles from another dimension who escaped tyranny, and now wish to return home-- but the only way they can do it is by recreating the cataclysm that allowed them to escape.  That it means the death of an entire planet doesn't faze them, so Fury has no choice but to stop them.  Turns out his pilot is actually one of them, brainwashed into forgetting his own identity so as to spy on the "humans" all these years.  Nothing seems to be able to stop the baddies, and things look utterly hopeless... until their gigantic spacecraft veers off-course and hits the asteroid.  Fury figures he must have gotten thru to the "humanity" of his pilot after all.

Not counting NICK FURY #4 (the origin flashback issue), the post-Steranko era really begins here.  Roy Thomas plots, Archie Goodwin dialogues, and full art is by Frank Springer, whose aircraft continues to be very impressive, much more so than his people.  If I have any problem, it's that too many stories from this point try too hard to imitate the kind of writing Steranko did in issues #1-3, with dazzling art trying to make up for disjointed plotting, and cramming way too much story into only 20 pages.  It's like a Will Eisner SPIRIT story on steroids-- or something.  Steranko supplies the very Wally Wood-like cover of Fury in space in front of an exploding Earth-- an image that has been paid tribute to on an issue of ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, and possibly, the cover of Yes's album FRAGILE.
     (6-6-2008)


DR. STRANGE  174
cover by Gene Colan & Tom Palmer
"THE POWER AND THE PENDULUM"

Doc receive a call for help from a fellow mystic in England, and decides to hop a plane there to conserve his power.  As Wong helps Clea acclimate to Earth (she has trouble understanding that's it's not a good idea to use magic openly!), Doc and Victoria Bentley pay a visit to a mysterious castle, and soon find themselves in the grip of yet another ambitious madman.  This one's made a pact with a demon called "Satannish", who's agreed to give him power & fame for one year, which he may keep permanently ONLY if he can find someone to take his place.  A desperate battle ends when the baddie finds Doc used a spell to accelerate time-- and Satannish calls in the debt earlier than the guys expected!  Moral: NEVER make a deal with the devil-- or any reasonable faccimile.

The Thomas-Colan-Palmer team continues to dazzle.  This is good stuff!!
     (6-6-2008)   


FANTASTIC FOUR  80
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
"WHERE TREADS THE LIVING TOTEM!"

Wyatt Wingfoot asks for help with a problem he found visiting his tribe while on vacation from college.  Despite waiting for Sue to give birth, Reed quickly agrees to go, and the three speed off in their pogo-plane.  Wyatt finds something he can't bring himself to believe-- "Tomazooma, The Totem Who Walks", or, as it calls itself, "The Death Who Walks".  A giant in the form of his tribe's ancient legends is determined to destroy everyone and everything in its path, but Wyatt's uncle discovers that the oil company who's been trying to buy their land is in fact an agent of the Soviet Union.  He passes up help from the military, feeling it's his tribe's responsibility to take care of what is really a big disguised ROBOT.  With Wyatt's help, Reed manages to dispatch the machine, and feels sorry that the tribe's belief in their legend has been destroyed.  But the Chief says not a bit of it, as in the distance they see, in a haze, a gigantic form wandering away.  The Chief says Tomazooma WAS there, ready to help, until he saw it wasn't needed, and he now returns to where he came from, until his help is summoned again.

The Kirby-Sinnott art is stellar, as usual, though I wish I had the original of this instead of this very fuzzy MGC reprint.  Funny thing, in some panels, the design of Tomazaooma makes me think this would have made a great Saturday morning cartoon.
     (6-6-2008)


FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL  6
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
"LET THERE BE... LIFE!"

Sue & her baby are endangered because of the cosmic radiation in their blood, and Reed decides he must deliberately enter The Negative Zone to find something that may act as an "antidote".  Naturally, Ben & Johnny insist on going along, and this time, they take backpacks which serve as propulsion thru the alien space.  It's clear Reed has continued to work on the "safety locks" leading to the other universe portal, and I found myself wondering, how much of what he built actually exists in "our" universe, and how much in the "other" one?

Before long, the trio run afoul of a big, bat-winged man-sized insect named "Annihilus", who calls himself "The Death Who Walks" (wait a minute, I thought that was Tomazooma??).  This viscious creature takes pleasure in destroying all life it runs across, as it somehow feels it's the only way to insure its own "immortality".  Captured and thrust into an arena, Reed recognizes the "cosmic control rod" the alien wears may be the very thing he's searching for that could save Sue (talk about a wild coincidence!!).  After a fierce battle, Annihiulus is knocked out, Reed swipes the rod, and the three make a run for it, as Reed finds the rod can be used to channel mental energy to power a vehicle, as well as individual flight.  Annihilus sets after them in a "gunship", blowing them out of the sky.  Reed somehow manages to return the favor, then is horrified to find they're all trapped in the "debris belt" where he almost got killed TWICE before!  ("Ye editor"s editorial notes only mention one previous episode, but my memory's probably better than his.)  Once Reed realizes he can siphon off some of the rod's power (into a capsule he conveniently brought with him on his quest), he works a trade-- the jet-backpacks for the rod.  The four go their separate ways, the three heroes all hoping they never run into Annihiulus again.  (In the Marvel Universe?  FAT CHANCE!)  Back home, following more than the usual tension, Sue gives birth, and the media goes wild.

In some ways, this was a major turning point for the FF.  On the one hand, Reed & Sue are now parents.  On the other, Annihiulus was one of the last "major" characters created by Jack Kirby for the series (or Marvel in general).  After this, it was mostly a series of "rematches", which probably made "ye editor" happy.  After all, he probably figured fans love to see bad guys come back, and it's probably a lot easier to "write" when you don't have to come up with any "new" ideas.

The Kirby-Sinnott art is spectacular-- as always, puncutated by several full-page shots, and a 2-page spread featuring one of Kirby's photo-collages.  Some fans in recent years have expressed a wish that Marvel could find a way to re-photograph these things, and reprint them IN COLOR, as opposed to B&W, which was the only way they could be back when the stories were originally done.

Inexplicably, Kirby's magnificent cover was replaced on the 70's "GIANT-SIZE" reprint by a Buckler-Sinnott cover, which just didn't cut it somehow, and was made worse by word balloons (probably by Roy Thomas) which said "Annihilus! He's BACK!", suggesting the story was a sequel, not a reprint of his original appearance.
     (6-6-2008)   


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  66
cover by JOHN ROMITA
"THE MADNESS OF MYSTERIO!"

Spidey's old foe has escaped from prison and is ready for revenge!  This is a pure "grudge match" with nothing else to get in the way.  Well, almost. Pete recovers his clothes & camera from the rubble on the roof of The Daily Bugle, finds JJJ turns him away (though Jameson almost immediately finds his staff photo screwed the job over), is low on cash and has to sell his motorcycle... but then he runs into Gwen, who tells him her Dad explained everything, and suddenly, despite all his troubles, all seems right with the world.  Her Dad, meanwhile, has lunch with Joe Robertson, trading notes about Spidey, who's saved both their lives, and who they both suspect knows them personally.  Joe also says he'd love to convince JJJ he's wrong, but his hatred is "almost psychotic".  (What does he mean, "ALMOST"??  The guy needs psychiatric help-- BAD!!!)  Harry's Dad is still missing, and we find he has become The Green Goblin again-- though his memory has not entirely returned yet.  As Pete goes to visit Aunt May, he hears a cry of terror, crashes in thru the front door, and finds she's watching the TV-- on which, Mysterio is threatening to DESTROY the entire city, if his arch enemy doesn't come to face him, "At a place only we know".  Determined to make his Aunt feel safer, Spidey races to "the place we had our first battle"-- the now-abandoned tv studio.  (NOT true.  That would be The Brooklyn Bridge!  The TV studio was where he first DEFEATED Mysterio.  I guess "ye editor"s memory really IS that bad!!)

I love this...  Spidey crashes in, and his foe says, "So soon, Spider-Man? Why in such a hurry to face your final waterloo? Or do you HAVE to rush because you RENT that corny costume by the HOUR?"  A fight ensues, Mysterio shows Spidey a table-top model of an amusement park, aims a strange "weapon" at him, Spidey gets dizzy... and on regaining his sense, looks up, and sees, to his disbelief-- that he's now 6 inches tall, on the table, with a gigantic Mysterio looming over him, bragging how "In the last remaining minutes left you, you will never know what has really happened to you, or how, or why!"

Definitely one of my favorites.  My earlier mistake-- Don Heck & Mike Esposito returned here for ONE more episode, and it's one of their best.  I guess If John Romita somehow wasn't able to handle full art or even full pencils, at least they had some decent guys around to pick up the slack.  Not long after I first read this (in the 70's MARVEL TALES reprint), I found out it had been adapted for one of the 3rd-season episodes of the cartoon show.  While most of the sub-plots were removed, the main action was left pretty much intact, right down to using some of "ye editor"s dialogue VERBATIM!  So when I re-read this, I can really "hear" the characters speaking in my head.  The strange thing about that cartoon... I suspect the dialogue was recorded at Grantray-Lawrence just before they went belly-up, as it was one of the FEW 10-minute cartoons done by Krantz Films in NYC.  Also, it was unusual for Krantz to feature actual super-villains from the comics.  Further, there's a line where Spidey refers to Mysterio as "bowl-head", which makes sense in the comic, but NOT the cartoon.  For, in some utterly bizarre, inexplicable reason, Gray Morrow COMPLETELY redesigned Mysterio for the cartoon!  Instead of the Steve Ditko outfit that would have looked at home in a DR. STRANGE story, Morrow came up with a guy in a business suit, smoking a cigarette in a long holder, with shell-rimmed glasses, green skin and orange hair!  I think someone once suggested he looked a bit like Roman Polansky on psychedelics.  In any case, both the comic and cartoon remain among my faves.
     (6-6-2008)   

Watch "THE MADNESS OF MYSTERIO" on Dailymotion!


IRON MAN  7
cover by GEORGE TUSKA
"THE MAGGIA STRIKES"

This turns out to be one complex story from Archie Goodwin & George Tuska.  "Big M"'s goons insist she mount the raid on Stark's plant, even as she's feeling regret for ever having started a criminal career, and how it will hurt JasperThe Gladiator, fresh from multiple defeats at the hands of Daredevil, pushes his way into things, figuring he can re-establish his rep, and maybe push "Big M" (Whitney Frost) out before long.  Meanwhile, Tony Stark can't believe it when Jasper is so lovesick he actually blurts out some classified security info to his girlfriend Whitney-- who Tony's beginning to get suspicious of.  Later, he has a meeting with Janice Cord-- daughter of a late rival of his who hated him bitterly and was killed recently.  Tony's offering to buy out her father's company for a very reasonable sum.  However, it's at this point The Maggia makes their move, and grabs Tony, Janice and her business advisor hostage.  Tony learns his supicions about Whitney were justified, as she leads the raid personally, without even a hint of disguise.  The Gladiator wants to fight Iron Man, but for this to happen, Tony has to put his life and the others at risk-- to ESCAPE!   He does, the fight's on, but before you know it, his repulsor rays get damaged, leaving us with a tense cliffhanger.

When I got my hands on this (and a few other issues from this part of the run), these stories had not yet been reprinted-- which after several decades, really started to seem absurd, considering the multitude of later stories involving Whitney Frost, The Maggia, etc.  It's crazy that many fans have grown up reading "sequels" without ever being able to read the "originals".  Which, combined with the popularity of a few later runs (notably those by David Michelinie & Bob Layton, and Kurt Busiek & Sean Chen), helped jack up the prices of these back-issues much higher than it seemed reasonable to me.  I managed to get these fairly cheap, but I've seen them going for as much as $80 apiece!! --which is really nuts, when you consider Kirby-Sinnott F.F. issues from the same period were going from $10-20.  (I wonder if the prices have come down now that these have finally made it to both ESSENTIALS and MASTERWORKS?)
     (6-8-2008)


CAPTAIN AMERICA  107
cover by Jack Kirby & Frank Giacoia
"IF THE PAST BE NOT DEAD--"

Cap is apparently having nightmares & hallucinations about WW2 and Bucky, who keeps saying, "How could you save so many but let ME die??Steve's now seeing a shrink, a tall, very large Central-European looking guy with a handlebar moustache and a bad haircut named "Dr. Faustus" (you'd think with a name like that anybody would get suspicious).  Faustus-- OF COURSE-- is an enemy spy, out to break Cap as none before him have-- psychologically.  (His henchmen ask, why don't we just shoot him while we have the chance?  NO!  He does not WORK that way!  BWA-HAHA!)  Things reach a critical point when, after taking the Doctor's presciption pills, Steve wakes up having aged decades overnight.  But it's a con-- he had SHIELD examine the pills, and had them work up a mask and gloves so he'd look old-- before clobbering the ones responsible.  Faustus boldly tries to tackle him single-handedly.  That turns out to be a waste of time...

Between the title and the "Bucky's dead!" theme, this story feels like the work of "ye editor".  I wonder who was mostly responsible for Dr. Faustus, him or Kirby?  In either event, he's one of the last new villains Kirby would do in a Cap mag until the mid-70'sSyd Shores returns to inks, somehow a lot slicker than before-- perhaps he's gotten the hang of the smaller art board size?  There's a rumor that "ye editor" was grooming Shores to take over from Kirby, but somehow it never happened, as apparently "ye editor" decided at some point he just wasn't happy with the "look".
     (6-8-2008)


SUB-MARINER  7
cover by John Buscema & Dan Adkins
"FOR PRESIDENT, THE MAN CALLED DESTINY!"


THE INCREDIBLE HULK  109
cover by Herb Trimpe & John Severin
"THE MONSTER AND THE MAN-BEAST"


CAPTAIN MARVEL  7
cover by JOHN ROMITA
"DIE, TOWN, DIE!"

Mar-Vell is ONCE AGAIN undergoing intense scrutiny by Yon-Rogg and Ronan The Accuser, back on their homeworld, having been transported there by some faster-than-light teleportation beam (shades of DC's Adam Strange!).  Still unable to prove he's a traitor, Ronan orders a "test"-- Mar-Vell must use a toxic poison to kill everyone in a small town of his choosing.  Returning to Earth orbit, then to Earth, Mar-Vell is just in time to save Carol Danvers from a murderous attack by Yon-Rogg, who wants her snooping stopped at all costs.  Yon-Rogg then has Una view her lover and the Earth-woman together, trying to destroy her faith in him.  Thru all this, Yon-Rogg's megalomania keeps growing, and he doesn't even seem to consider Una an important part of his ambitions anymore!

Things get real strange when Arnold Drake brings in Quasimodo (no explanation for how this "living computer" is alive and kicking after FF ANNUAL #5) who had developed the inexplicable power to control all mechanical devices-- even rifles, which fly out their wielder's hands.  (Never mind how Superman can fly-- somebody try explaining THIS phenomona!!)  CM winds up battling him, and it spills over into-- of all things-- an amusement park inhabited by animatronic "people".  Una sabotaged the viewer just long enough for Yon-Rogg to miss part of the action, and by the time he gets it going again, he witnesses CM destroy Quasimodo-- and apparently, EVERYONE in this "small town".  Frustrated that his arch-rival is still in the clear, Yon-Rogg is simultaneously stunned that Mar-Vell actually managed to slaughter that many "people".  (Little does he know...)

As with so many episodes before, it takes almost halfway into the issue before this month's main story finally kicks in.  I find myself wishing they'd have either focused on the "big" story, or else do these "smaller" stories better.  At any rate, it's interesting to compare Don Heck's work in here to that in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.  Over there, he was working under John Romita's layouts, Mike Esposito's inks, and Romita's touch-ups.  So it looked nice, but it was hard to see any "Heck" at all.  Here, Heck's storytelling is obvious, making me wonder how it might have been if HE had been doing the plotting over on ASM.  The problem, as with the 2 previous issues, is John Tartaglione seems to be adding nothing.  Judging by those AVENGERS issues Don inked himself, it looks as though Tartaglione could be just TRACING Don's pencils.  I look at some of these pages, and I find myself thinking, I could have done a better job on the inks!!
     (6-8-2008)


MARVEL SUPER-HEROES  17
cover by Howard Purcell & Dan Adkins
     (BK figure by JOHN ROMITA)
THE BLACK KNIGHT--  "??"


THOR  158
cover by MARIE SEVERIN
     (paste-ups by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta)
"THE WAY IT WAS!"

This issue starts out with what many consider one really UGLY cover (Marie Severin and some incredibly rushed-looking Colletta inks), followed by some rather static Kirby pages and average-at-best Colletta inks.  On the letters pages, for months, a controversy had been building, concerning Thor's history.  It seems when the series started, the concept was, Don Blake was a surgeon with a lame leg, who found the hammer of Thor, and became the Thunder God.  But then they started introducing Loki, Odin, etc. etc... and at some point, the concept seemed to change, and it became that we were reading about the "real" Thor.  Which made many question, WHO was Don Blake?  Was he real or not?  If he was real, did he somehow replace the "real" Thor, and if so, what happened to him?  Well, this issue tackles that question HEAD-ON!  Actually, the bulk of the issue is a reprint of the very 1st episode from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83, right down to the Joe Sinnott inks (his inks are on most of the pages, and he's not even mentioned in the credits!  Nor is Larry Lieber, who wrote the dialogue for that episode.)

By the issue's end, Thor himself is wondering, WHO is he really?  Interestingly enough, one of the readers on the letters page pretty much spells out EXACTLY what the truth is... as would be revealed in the following issue.

While it's possible this issue was put together to give Jack Kirby extra time to do the FF ANNUAL, it's also been speculated that he had been planning on actually destroying Asgard and killing off all (or most) of the cast, and taking the book and its "GODS" in an entirely "NEW" direction.  But then, he changed his mind at the last second, and insisted "ye editor" start doing more of the plotting himself.  I think at this point, THOR was one of the only books left that hadn't had a retelling of the "origin" story-- so, in this case, we got a REPRINT-- and in the next issue, a major reinterpretation of same.
     (6-8-2008)


DAREDEVIL  46
cover by Gene Colan & George Klein
"THE FINAL JEST!"

DD sneaks out of his cell, disguises himself as a doctor, and gets out jail just before anyone wises up.  He buys a bum's clothes in a trade, and makes it back to the office, claiming he got "mugged".  Back home, in his private gym, he finally feels the weight of the world lift... and realizes he recognizes the after-shave of the guy he ran into on that subway (and the voice that went with it) belongs to the guy he was supposed to have "KILLED" on the George Washington Bridge!  Putting 2 and 2 together, he figures out what's been going on, and hatches an outrageous scheme to clear his name.  Next thing, The Jester turns on THE TONIGHT SHOW, and sees-- HIMSELF-- telling Johnny "And that's how I beat Daredevil."  Incensed that anyone would try stealing his glory, he races to the TV studio to confront his imposter-- who, of course, is DD.  A fierce fight ends when The Jester is unmasked-- on LIVE TV-- and everyone watching (including the NYC Police) recognize him as the who whose "murder" DD was accused of.  They cart The Jester off, telling DD, "Great job. Sorry about the mix-up."  Hilarious!!

Now if only they didn't have this incredibly stupid and annoying sub-plot about Karen Page having left Matt because he refused to get serious and get married, and how Debbie Harris knows where she is but promised not to tell, and how Foggy thinks Matt is nuts (clearly he is!!!), and how Matt is thinking how lucky Foggy is to have someone like Debbie, and he hopes he never loses her...  Well, at that point, the first thing that crossed my mind was, HE DID-- eventually-- in an incredibly painful, humiliating, degrading fashion-- THANK YOU, DENNY O'NEIL.  But that was a lot of years down the line.

George Klein steps in on inks, and does one of the SLICKEST jobs this book has seen since Wally Wood!!  Whatta guy.
     (6-8-2008)


X-MEN  50
cover by JIM STERANKO
"CITY OF MUTANTS!"

The book opens with a recap of last issue's finale, as a group of "latent mutants" (again the term "Demi-Men" is never once used) captures The X-Men and Lorna Dane, and ship them off to a futuristic town in the southwestern desert run by an army of mutants under the command of Mesmero, a desciple of the "late" MagnetoJean, via her newfound telepathy (a "gift" from the "late" Professor X?) realizes their best bet to rescue Bobby is to allow themselves to be captured.  Using a "genetic accelerator", Mesmero activates Lorna's latent mutant ability-- magnetism-- and reveals she's actually the DAUGHTER of Magneto!  Ordering her to attack, she does-- but it's Mesmero's goons she takes out.  Just as it looks like the tables are turning, to everyone's shock-- Magneto turns up apparently very much alive.

So, the team's back together, it looks like they may have a potential new member, we have a great new menace, and it also looks like their arch-enemy is back for more.  (Well, Fu Manchu never stayed dead either...)  The big visual shock this issue begins on the cover-- a spectacular illo by Jim Steranko, who also did the pencils for the lead story, and, designed a BRAND-NEW LOGO, which is still being used to this day!!!  (The fact that DAREDEVIL's logo also changed 2 months earlier makes me wonder if Steranko might have designed that one as well.)

Steranko has gone on record saying he doesn't consider this issue (and the next one) part of his "resume", probably because HE didn't write it-- or ink it-- or, I'm guessing-- COLOR it, either.  The figure work's nice, but John Tartaglione doesn't do HALF the job he did on NICK FURY #5 two months before.  There's a couple spots that look like they would have contained "special effects", but didn't, which is one of the reasons I suspect someone else colored this.  Arnold Drake mentioned in an interview he had a lot of respect for Steranko as an artist, but I do find myself wondering how he wrote this-- "Marvel style", or full script?

The funny thing about this story (well, one of many, but I'll get to the rest later), considering the much-later revelations about Magneto and his supposed history as a "Holocaust" survivor, is how the mutants in this "City" of theirs all give each other NAZI salutes!

"THIS BOY-- THIS BOMBSHELL!"

This covers Hank McCoy's early life from toddler to high school football hero.  He winds up single-handedly stopping a gang trying to steal stadium receipts, and comes to the attention of some other criminals with much bigger ambitions.  Ohhh boy...  Werner Roth & John Verpoorten supply some "nice" art here, though I admit, in spots, I almost thought I was reading a "DC".
     (6-8-2008)


(Continued in December 1968)

All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

October 1968

(Continued from September 1968)

NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD  5
cover by JIM STERANKO
"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SCORPIO?"

Synopsis:
Val reads Nick's horoscope in the morning paper, which says "Someone in your past will return today.Nick pays a visit on Pickman, who's helping him locate someone, and he doesn't want SHIELD involved.  The ESP Division picks up "possible danger", sending Nick to a seemingly-deserted warehouse-- and straight into a trap set by ScorpioNick's Farrari is destroyed, and Nick is captured.  While unconscious, Scorpio creates a face-mask to allow him to impersonate Nick, then goes in disguise to view the test of the latest model of LMD.  But as it begins, no one else realizes the robot has been replaced with Nick, drugged so he can't speak!  Miraculously, Fury manages to dodge one death trap after another, then faces his would-be killer.  Val, trying to save Nick's life, shoots at the "LMD"-- but hits Pickman instead, who found his way in via a secret passage.  Nick pursues the escaping imposter, who tears off his mask, revealing his true identity to Nick-- just before being caught in a hail of gunfire from a group of SHIELD agents!  After, Nick stands alone on a dock, looking out over the water, wondering if the man who tried so very hard to murder him is still alive...

Indexer notes:
Identity of Scorpio revealed by Roy Thomas in THE AVENGERS #72 (January 1970), reprinted in ESSENTIAL AVENGERS Vol.4 (2004).  Pickman based on Robert Morley.  More details revealed when Scorpio returns in THE DEFENDERS #46, 48-50 (April, June-August 1977).  Full background of character not revealed until flashback in FURY #1 (May 1994).  Steranko repeated the gimmick of ending the story by having a character diving into water thru a hail of gunfire in CAPTAIN AMERICA #111 (March 1969).  Nick's Ferrari, which he's had since STRANGE TALES #162 (November 1967) is destroyed; he gets a replacement in NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD #8 (January 1969).
     (2007)

"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SCORPIO?"

This begins with Nick & Val having breakfast at his apartment (what is this, an episode of TV's THE AVENGERS ?) as Val reads Nick's horoscope, which says, "Beware, someone from your past will return today.Nick goes off alone and consults with a shady underworld type named "Pickman" (a dead ringer for actor Robert Morley), for help locating someone (he doesn't say who), having to do with something he can't involve SHIELD with.  Pickman sneaks into a mysterious building, and discovers that someone has gotten their hands on top-secret SHIELD documents, which would be priceless on the black market to any spy.  Fury, meanwhile, gets a message to investigate a warehouse... and drives straight into a deadly, cosmic-powered trap of SCORPIO!!  His car demolished, Nick unconscious, the villain (now sporting an entirely different outfit) reveals he survived the explosion in NF #1 via the "solar force" of his "Zodiac Key" (the effect on the previous page would seem to bear this out).  Scorpio makes a mask of Nick's face, and takes his place, then arrives at a special SHIELD warehouse outfitted to test the latest model of L.M.D. (a follow-up to last month's issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA, it would seem).  But what nobody else realizes is, the "L.M.D." is really a drugged Nick, who can't speak, and who must face the deadly obstacle course meant to test a robot.  Barely surviving, Fury manages to escape the danger room, tackles his doppleganger, and is about to get shot by an unwitting Val when Pickman finds a secret way into the building-- and gets shot instead!  Fury chases after his foe, who tears off his face mask and reveals his identity to a shocked Nick-- seconds before getting mowed down by a hail of SHIELD gunfire.   After, standing on the pier, Nick wonders if he's seen the last of his murderous foe...

After a string of questionable stories with increasingly bizarre writing, NF #5 is a return to form.  By a mile, this is my favorite issue of Nick's own book.  The art is among Steranko's best-ever, between the drawing, the page layouts, various design elements & "special effects".  And surprisingly, this book also features the BEST inks I have ever seen from John Tartaglione!  Dozens of books with dodgy or downright miserable inks, but somehow he must have been really inspired this time, because I could hardly believe how DAMN GOOD it looked once I realized who'd finished the art.

The contents of the story probably remain a question to many fans & pros alike.  The "clues" continue from NF #1 as to Scorpio's identity.  Was he Julio Scarlotti, the race-car driver?  The letters page says YES-- but questions if that was really him, or only "one of his many identities".  Was he Jimmy Woo?  I've read this MANY times over the years, and only this week finally noticed the bit of dialogue where Val says "Jimmy called to say he'd be late."  As with NF #1, he's not around, and some SHIELD agents were worried about his vow of vengeance in STRANGE TALES #166.  Several other clues point to something more personal.  Once again, Nick talks about his family.  When Scorpio is putting on his disguise, he thinks, "...and I AM Fury-- and who is to say I'm not?"  When the disguised Scorpio enters the warehouse, he says "I might have a twin brother nobody knows about."  And during the fight, he thinks of Nick, "He always was the LUCKY one..."  All of which makes me REALLY wish Steranko had done a 3rd installment of this storyline.  Tragically, this was it.

More than a year later, shortly after Fury was apparently killed in the last issue of the book, Roy Thomas stepped in to solve the mystery.  In that story, we find that under the mask of Scorpio was... Nick Fury, who faked his own death to infiltrate a crime cartel named "Zodiac" (what else?) and kidnapped the Avengers JUST so he could get their help taking out the gang.  (What, he couldn't have asked nicely?)  In Roy's story, it appears very much that Scorpio was in fact KILLED at the end of NF #5-- and Nick reveals that it was his brother, Jake, under the mask.  But Roy gave NO details, NO explanation.  Maybe he hoped Steranko would fill in the details eventually.... he never did.

It wasn't until 7 years later that David Kraft & Keith Giffen FINALLY started filling in the details in DEFENDERS #46-50.  According to them, the "real" Scorpio was Count Julio Scarlotti, the race car driver AND a charter member of ZODIAC.  And unlike Roy's story (and Steranko's), Scarlotti WAS killed in that massive explosion at the end of NF #1-- and replaced by Jake Fury in NF #5, who only claimed to be the same baddie.  I wonder what Steranko might have thought of all this?

The "real" details-- or what passes for them-- would not be finally explained until FURY #1 came out in 1992.  One of these days, I gotta re-read that comic...
     (6-2-2008)   

It came out at some point that when "ye editor" deciced to interrupt Steranko's NICK FURY run by pointlessly inserting a Roy Thomas-Frank Springer retread of the series pilot, since Steranko suddenly had nothing to do for a whole month, he TOOK BACK the pages of the 2nd Scorpio story, and RE-INKED most of them from scratch.  THIS explains why "John Tartaglione"'s inks looked so good over Steranko... THEY WEREN'T HIS!

This is just one more glaring example of how, anyone who think's Marvel's editor from the 1960s was good as his job and knew what he was doing, is just not looking at things objectively.
     (9-12-2018)


DR. STRANGE  173
cover by DAN ADKINS
"WHILE A WORLD AWAITS!"

This has Doc single-handedly (well, almost) trying to stand off The Dread Dormammu-- reportedly more powerful than he ever was before-- and his army of other-dimensional monstrous followers-- from storming the portal to Earth's dimension and invading the helpless planet.  Dormammu orders his sister Umar to stay behind in the "Unknown" dimension, as only HE can rule over the Dark Dimension (and Earth).  Back on Earth, a former colleage of Doc's storms his house-- demanding to see him, and claiming he will not leave until he has convinced Strange to give up his life as a "charlatan" and take a position as a medical "consultant" (something he refused WAY back in the Steve Ditko origin story).  Following a mental message from Doc, Clea & Victoria join forces to send Dormammu a mental suggestion, which causes him to invade Earth's dimension, just as Strange blocks the portal, leaving him on his own.  In some fashion, Dormammu invading Earth-- in direct violation of his OWN "sacred vow" not to do so-- somehow drains him of his own power, and he's forced to flee back to his real home in the Dark Dimension, where, he vows, he'll never rest until he finds a way to avenge himself.  Exhausted, Strange returns home to confront his doctor colleague, who, despite his earlier words, easily gives up any hope that Strange will ever come to his senses to "help humanity".  Roy's narration suggests (in typical Roy Thomas fashion) that Doc can never escape the eternal loneliness of his existence... WHAT, with not 1 but 2 gorgeous babes waiting for him in the next room???  Is he KIDDING???

The Bullpen page raves about the art team of Gene Colan & Tom Palmer, saying "If ever a pair of artists were BORN to work together".  OHHHHH yeah!!!  Boy does this book look INCREDIBLE!!!  I didn't mention it before, but Colan-Palmer redesigned Clea's outfit a bit, and now she's wearing what appears to be a "fishnet" body-suit.  YUM.  The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the cover-- by Dan Adkins, oddly enough.  He inked Gene's cover last time, but next issue it's Colan-Palmer all the way.  These stories took a LONG time to get reprinted.  I've had the originals since the late 70's.  (Though, I admit, I haven't re-read them SINCE then.  Well, I'm making up for it now!)
     (6-2-2008)   


FANTASTIC FOUR  79
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
"A MONSTER FOREVER?"

This has great art, cover-to-cover... but I'm really wondering about the story.  Ben goes on a date with Alicia, terrified that she won't love him as "normal, dull" Ben Grimm.  Meanwhile, the police are ransacking the HQ of The Mad Thinker, and find a very human-looking "Android"-- which comes to life, begins talking non-stop (it's as bad as its creator, referring to itself as "his greatest creation") and goes on a rampage to find the source of a strange signal it senses.  Inexplicably, Ben has brought The Wizard's "power-gloves" with him to the restuarant, and, just as inexplicably, THOSE are the source of the signal the "Android-Man" is picking up.  It's mission-- to DESTROY whoever holds the gloves.  HUH?  First Ben gets swatted aside, then it goes for Alicia, who of course can't see what's going on.  Ben, thinking a sudden surge of energy is what turned him back to Ben, figures another one will turn him back into The Thing.  He puts on the gloves, activates them... and BAM!  The Thing wipes up the place with that freakin' android.  Johnny arrives too late to help, and is concerned that Ben is The Thing again.  Ben tells him, don't sweat it, he PLANNED it this way.

Apart from this being another one of those "the guy with the affliction will NEVER be cured" things (which over the decades, got VERY tiresome over in THE INCREDIBLE HULK), something about this issue just doesn't "feel" right to me.  I've read in several issues of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR how, around this period, Kirby would plot one thing, and "ye editor" would script SOMETHING ELSE entirely.  Like how, in the INHUMANS back-up in THOR, the story with the Kree Sentry had an entirely different meaning from what Kirby intended by the time "ye editor" got done putting words down.  I don't believe I've ever read about this issue being that way, but I have a strong suspicion something like that may have happened here.

For one thing, WHY is Ben carrying the Wizard's gloves?  WHAT possible purpose, subconscious or other, could he have, unless it was, as suggested on the last page, that he "planned" to use them to turn back to The Thing?  If I go purely by the pictures, and ignore the dialogue, I might think that Ben, now "helpless", going on a date with his sweetie, might have taken those babies along for PROTECTION!  After all, The Wizard almost single-handedly beat 3/4ths of the FF using those gloves.  Surely, Ben might have thought he could use 'em the same way?

Second, WHAT's with The Mad Thinker?  NEVER before had he created an android with a human face-- nor one that could talk.  That 12-foot-tall monstrosity from FF #70-71 sure as hell seemed like his "ultimate creation" to me-- not THIS ugly sucker.  And how-- or WHY-- could it POSSIBLY be attracted by a signal from The Wizard's gloves? I mean... WTF???  As The Wizard was on the loose just last issue, it would make much more sense to me if it was The Wizard's hideout the police were raiding, while searching for him, and ran across one of his recent experiments.  If the "Android-Man" were a creation of The Wizard, it would make PERFECT SENSE for it to be drawn to whoever had the gloves-- and destroy them.

Following the above hypothesis, I'd say that what Kirby intended was for Ben to try using the gloves-- but somehow, it backfired, turning him into The Thing again.  Not expecting this, he'd be PISSED-- and lay out that bastard android the way he did.

Sometimes I think certain "Marvel" comics oughta have their dialogue replaced...
     (6-2-2008)   


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  65
cover by JOHN ROMITA
"THE IMPOSSIBLE ESCAPE!"

An unconscious Spidey is saved from a mob wanting to unmask him by Captain Stacy, who has him shipped by ambulance to a prison hospital.  Gwen searches for the missing Peter, who disappeared from the rooftop while taking photos.  Spidey wakes up, begins to recover, and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a prison-break, with cons using Stacy as a hostage!  He bluffs them into thinking he doesn't care about Stacy, and tells them "Now THIS is what we're gonna do..."  He knocks out the lights, and begins picking off the cons one by one in the dark... until an emergency generator kicks in, he tells Stacy to duck, and clobbers the ring-leader.  Stacy says he KNEW Spidey wasn't bad, and offers to testify in his behalf when it comes to a hearing.  But Spidey declines to stick around, and hi-tails it for home, where he knows a worried Aunt May is wondering why he hasn't called for so long.

A brief sub-plot involves Harry, worried about his Dad, who's been "sick" lately, and getting worse any time Spider-Man or The Green Goblin is mentioned (is that the sort of thing that comes up in common conversation very often?).  Harry's so upset, he completely ignores MJ, who calls him a "real drag".  You KNOW Harry's upset. MJ's dressed like a hooker in this episode, and he doesn't even notice!!!

John Romita continues on layouts, but the new art "team" is JIM MOONEY, "the" SUPERGIRL artist, and fresh off SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1.  With Romita doing touches-ups on faces to maintain consistency, the big difference in the art is that Mooney manages to make everything look so dark, "moody", and even "spooky"!  Apart from Romita's earlier solo work (or that with Esposito), this part of the run contains some of my all-time favorite Spidey art.  What's interesting is, almost the exact same time Mooney replaced Heck & Esposito in the comics, Grantray-Lawrence went belly-up and were replaced by the new Krantz Films studio on the cartoons-- with Gray Morrow doing the designs & layouts.  So on 2 fronts at once, Spidey suddenly got a whole lot "spookier".

And speaking of the SPIDER-MAN cartoon show, this comic wound up being adapted only about a year after it came out as the 2nd season finale, "To Cage A Spider" (ep.38).  The intro made a lot less sense (without the lead-in with The Vulture), but overall it followed this fairly closely and I see even contained some of "ye editor"s dialogue verbatim.  Not to mention, some terrific "crime drama" style music that sounds like it would have been at home on THE UNTOUCHABLES.  That cartoon marked the 1st (of 3) appearances on the show of Stacy, though oddly enough, he was married, and talked on the phone with his wife-- rather than his daughter.
     (6-2-2008)   

Watch "TO CAGE A SPIDER" at Dailymotion!


IRON MAN  6
cover by George Tuska & Johnny Craig
"VENGEANCE-- CRIES THE CRUSHER!"

A villain who by rights should never have come back from the dead comes back from the dead.  Seems that "Professor" from some un-named Spanish Commmunist country (but let's just call it Cuba, heh) after becoming so heavy he fell straight THRU the Earth's crust, found himself in Tyrannus' underground city, by which point the effect of the ray wore off.  Somehow he managed to tunnel his way back to the surface, then forced the spies who brought him to the US in the first place to take him to NYC again-- at which point, he sank their boat, then invaded Stark Industries-- AGAIN.  (Can you say... "REMATCH"??)  The Crusher wants the weapon Iron Man used on him-- so he can use it on Iron Man, and make HIM know what it feels like to be trapped miles beneath the Earth.  While this is going on, Whitney Frost ("Big M" of the Maggia) is wrapping Jasper Sitwell around her finger, trying to get her hands on Stark's secrets.  She becomes a prisoner of The Crusher, at which point the only way IM can stop Jasper from getting himself killed trying to save her is to clobber the poor schlep.  IM causes the weapon to explode, then manages to fly off with his super-heavy foe in tow, until, due to his own struggling, he falls into the ocean... and sinks like the stone he is.  Back at the plant, Jasper wants no apology, he's feeling embarrassed enough as it is.  And Whitney, she's getting confused, as she's starting to have feelings for Jasper a crime boss in her position shouldn't be having.

By this point, someone decided Johnny Craig wasn't cutting it as Gene Colan's replacement on pencils.  Instead, after he'd been bouncing around for many months, George Tuska finally got himself a STEADY GIG as a penciller, and, as they said on the Bullpen page, "in a fit of inspiration", Craig was teamed up with him as inker.  WOW!  I thought Craig's precise, razor-sharp lines were all wrong for Colan-- but on Tuska, it's a match made in heaven.  Over the decades I've read countless books pencilled by George "blunt instrument" Tuska, and far too many of them had inferior inks (often by Esposito or Colletta).  But Tuska-Craig is something else!  All the same, I'm not really crazy about the plotting, but I guess you can't have everything.  I'm now well into Marvel's period of "expansion", and a number of their top-rank artists have been replaced with 2nd-tier guys.  It's not that I haven't enjoyed some of Tuska's work over the years, but even some of the letters around this time were saying his art was "too cartoony" compared to both Heck AND Colan.
     (6-5-2008)   


CAPTAIN AMERICA  106
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
"CAP GOES WILD!"

Cap fights some Chinese agents who are out to steal the technical specs on SHIELD's latest L.M.D. (seem to be a lot of those going around the last few months).  They get away, and the next thing you know, a shadier-than-usual SHIELD agent is showing Cap a movie about his exploits in WW2-- in which he's shown to be ruthlessly killing an unarmed prisoner!  Wanting to get to the bottom of this, he flies to Hollywood to confront the producer of the questionable flick.  Unknown to him, the head of the tiny Infinity Studios has struck a deal with the same foreign power.  For enough money to make a big-budget sci-fi film, all he has to do is stand aside as Captain America is murdered by a lookalike enemy L.M.D., who'll then take his place and ruin his reputation.  Turns out the guy's doing it so he'll have money his brother needs for an operation-- but the other brother wants nothing of the scheme!  As Cap winds up fighting for his life against the murderous Steve Rogers robot, the sick brother steps in, allowing Cap a needed break while getting killed in the process.  The L.M.D. suddenly self-destructs-- and that shady SHIELD guy turns up to tell Cap it was an "untried" model they deliberately let the Chinese steal the specs for.

You know, this may be the first example I can think of of a much "darker" side to SHIELD that other writers would expand on far too much in the 70's & 80's.  If so, I'm guessing this was "ye editor"s story, not Jack's.  I just CAN'T see Jack Kirby EVER dumping "real world" shades of gray onto any of "HIS" heroes.

Frank Giacoia returns to ink Kirby on this issue, and it continues to be obvious just how much Kirby's art keep changing.
     (6-5-2008)


SILVER SURFER  2
cover by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott
"WHEN LANDS THE SAUCER!"

Norrin Radd seeks a place on Earth he can live in peace with the humans, but everywhere he goes, it's mistrust.  In the Balkans, from "villagers" who think he's a demon from hell, in NYC, it's people who remember how he attacked the world only a few months earlier.  Next thing, an alien spacecraft approaches, containing lizard-like members of "The Brotherhood Of Badoon".  They claim to be here in friendship, but a female prisoner reveals they're really out to conquer the Earth (get in LINE, man!).  They decide to "toy" with The Surfer, and attack him in the skies over NYC.  Because the Saucer is invisible, nobody believes The Surfer's claims they're being invaded; and once the fight starts, everyone think's HE's attacking the city on his own!  Before long, the Air Force gets involved, and he tricks them into firing missiles which wind up chasing the Badoon off the Earth.  But as far as mankind is concerned, HE's the menace-- and when he tries to bring the injured female prisoner to safety, he's accused of trying to kill her.  Some days you can't win...

The John Buscema-Joe Sinnott art's pretty impressive, but "ye editor"s plot & dialogue really got tiring after awhile.  Did anyone REALLY want a book where the hero was so miserable ALL the time back then??

The Badoon would return in Arnold Drake's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY series-- though it would take some years before anyone got that going past its initial episode.
     (6-5-2008)   


SUB-MARINER  6
cover by John Buscema & Dan Adkins
"AND TO THE VANQUISHED, DEATH!"


THE INCREDIBLE HULK  108
cover by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia
"MONSTER TRIUMPHANT"


THE INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL  1
cover by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia   (rejected)
cover by JIM STERANKO
cover by Gil Kane & Klaus Janson   (1975 reprint)
"A REFUGE DIVIDED!"

The Hulk stumbles upon The Inhumans' city, somewhere in Europe...  SAY WHAT??  According to the Inhumans' back-up series in THOR, their original home was on an island; in FANTASTIC FOUR, it was somewhere in the Andes.  Did Gary Friedrich bother to read those episodes at all, or was he just makin' it all up as he went?

Anyway, what we have here is a complex story where a group of renegade Inhumans are sentenced to imprisonment in another dimension for trying to overthrown Black Bolt's power.  His brother, Maximus, decides to take advantage of it to recruit them to his cause, since HE still wants to take over.  The Hulk finds himself imprisoned with the renegades, who spend much of the story trying to convince him they're his "friend" as he keeps repeating he has "never" had any friends (shows what he thinks of Rick Jones, don't it?).  Between Hulk & Maximus, the group manages to escape, then Hulk gets into a running battle with the city defenses, when all HE's trying to do is get outta town!   The renegades finally seem to convince Hulk to join with them, and deep underground he helps Maximus get his hands on something that could, potentially, destroy the entire planet (way to GO!).  But it backfires, and the renegades are captured again... only Hulk, feeling betrayed, won't stand for it.  HE wants to clobber them FIRST!  Gorgon tells the guards to stand back, maybe they'll all just destroy each other.  It's only when Black Bolt arrives that he finally realizes The Hulk is an innocent in all this, and offers him friendship.  Hulk realizes THIS person could be trusted-- but as everyone else in the city already hates him, he leaves, once more frustrated & lonely.

Marie Severin & Syd Shores do a bang-up job on this.  The credits say "and almost the whole blamed bullpen", but frankly, the only other inkers whose work I can make out is Frank Giacoia (and maybe Joe Giella).  It's possible there's some Everett or Colletta in here as well, and maybe even some Romita or Severin, but if so, I'd guess it's only on touch-ups, not whole pages.

Overall, this was overlong, and not very memorable.  Perhaps the best part of the book was the cover by Jim Steranko, showing a struggling Hulk straining under the heavy weight of his own rock-like logo.  For some reason, the face was replaced by Marie Severin, but she swore it was on "ye editor"s orders!  I believe Marie did a cover for this herself, but it was only used on a foreign reprint.
     (6-5-2008)   


CAPTAIN MARVEL  6
cover by Don Heck & John Tartaglione
"IN THE PATH OF SOLAM!"

This begins with Mar-Vell engaged in a periodic battle simulation as part of a medical exam.  Naturally, Yon-Rogg orders it cranked up to the max, far past safety limits, and Una can only comply as he's the C.O.  For the 2nd episode in a row, Arnold Drake has added an extra complexity to Yon-Rogg's motivations.  He's not just jealous of Mar-Vell because of Una, he's also jealous of him militarily and maybe even politically.  This guy isn't just love-sick, he's also power-mad!  Somehow, that makes him a better villain in my eyes.

Down on Earth, "Walt Lawson" is asked to consult on a bizarre experiment involving solar power, and as a Kree (in disguise) he recognizes the very deadly danger it presents-- but can't do anything about it for fear of revealing his true identity, and of incurring the wrath of his already-murderous C.O.  When a giant monster is unleashed as a result of the experiment, nobody at the base questions it when "Captain Marvel" shows up to help, and seems to know just how to stop the thing.  The base commander's grateful, but Yon-Rogg only wants his death all the more.

John Tartaglione did a somewhat better job on the inks this time than last issue, which only strengthens my feeling that the previous issue he was trying to beat someone else's blown deadline.  Even so, he could have been TRACING Don Heck's lines, the way this resembles Don's own really bad inks from AVENGERS #32-37.  I just feel that for a science-fiction book, they really should have had much slicker inks than this, and the overall look is just dragging everything down.  On the upside, Drake's dialogue isn't annoying like Roy Thomas' was, and the "big story" seems to be moving forward a bit more than it had been before.
     (6-5-2008)   


THOR  157
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
"BEHIND HIM RAGNAROK!"

The Mangog FINALLY reaches Asgard, and draws the Odinsword!!!  Horrors!!  Along the way, The Legion of the Dead awakens due to Balder's nobility, and Karnilla is forced to allow all of them to leave, though she's heartbroken knowing the only man she ever loved may never be hers.  Loki runs for the hills, as Thor tells him that if Asgard falls, there will be NO safety for him anywhere.  And, as all seems on the verge of total destruction, Thor unleashes a gigantic storm-- which has the effect of safely WAKING his sleeping father, Odin, who reveals that The Mangog's power was all an illusion-- for his race was not dead, but in fact imprisoned in his living form.  As he'd done earlier with Thor himself, Odin declares that Mangog's people's "pennance" is over, and he returns the entire race to life, to live in peace, as the destructive creature fades away to nothingness.  The danger is passed, all hail to Odin!

I dunno... it sure seems like an out-of-left-field ending to me.  And what about ALL those Asgardians who got killed trying to stop that monster?  Was THAT all part of Odin's plan as well?

Oh well, at least the Kirby-Colletta art is stellar.  The covers confuse me a bit... between THOR #156 & 157, it seems as if the covers could have been reversed.  The cover of #156 has Thor and his friends defending the Odinsword, a scene which takes place in #157.  On the other hand, the cover of #157 shows Thor grabbed by The Mangog, which takes place in both issues, but is almost identical to the first page of #156.  On the other hand, with all the fire and destruction in the background of #157's cover, I guess it made for a better "finale" cover.

Was this intended at any point to actually END the THOR series?  We may never know for sure... but if it was, someone certainly changed their mind at the last minute.
     (6-5-2008)   


THE AVENGERS  57
cover by JOHN BUSCEMA
"BEHOLD...  THE VISION!"

A mysterious super-powered artificial man tries to kill The Wasp-- then the rest of the team-- before revealing he's been programmed to do that by their robotic enemy, Ultron.  Taking them to his underground hideout (hidden in a deserted ruins in the middle of the city), they quickly find themselves captured and about to be killed... until The Vision (as Jan called him) escapes to confront his "creator"-- before destroying him!  The group still has NO idea why Ultron wants them all dead.  And all that's left is pieces, but the head is notably missing.

The first time I read the ESSENTIAL AVENGERS reprints, I got the feeling that THIS issue was the one where, FINALLY, Roy Thomas came into his own.  Somehow, all the pieces finally fall into place here, and the book begins to feel like Roy has managed to make it his own.  John Buscema & George Klein are superb on every page, and even Roy's dialogue is less annoying than usual.

Roy, with his great love for all things "Golden Age", had originally wanted to bring back the Golden Age Vision (a character created by Jack Kirby who was a lot like DC's Spectre, only less defined).  This would explain the "clouds" on the cover, as the original Vision always appeared in our dimension via smoke.  "Ye editor" preferred he go the Gardner Fox route instead, and create a NEW character with the same name.  And, as "androids" were "in" about that time, that's what we got.  I find it interesting, re-reading all these stories in chronological sequence now, that several elements that Roy used in this story had already been used in other stories over the previous months-- something that tends to be forgotten if one only looks at THE AVENGERSThe Fourth Sleeper (in CAPTAIN AMERICA #101-102), for example, could alter its density and walk thru solid objects.

Funny thing about this story... 2 MONTHS earlier, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA featured an android called Red Tornado, named after a Golden Age hero, who was created by a villain to kill the JLA-- but who turned on his evil inventor instead, and then joined the group.  That doesn't seem like it could REALLY be a "coincidence"... could it??
     (6-5-2008)


DAREDEVIL  45
cover by Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia
"THE DISMAL DREGS OF DEFEAT!"

D.D. spends the entire 20 pages on the run from the cops, trying to get back home to switch back to Matt Murdock, and running into police dragnets everywhere he goes.  At one point, he knocks out some poor schlep and takes his overcoat (leaving money in the guy's pants to pay for it), then hops a subway.  But what are the odds-- The Jester turns up on the SAME subway, and the hunt is on again.  He finally gets caught and tossed in jail, where some con decides it'd be a good idea to find out what's under the mask.  (Gee, didn't this just happen the month before in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #65?)

Gene Colan continues to have a blast, and Vince Colletta's not doing bad either.
     (6-6-2008)   


X-MEN  49
cover by JIM STERANKO
"WHO DARES DEFY... THE DEMI-MEN?"

The Angel visits The Mansion, closed down now that Professor X is dead and the team has split up, and find that Cerebro has automatically activated on finding a massive reading of mutant activity.  A group of mutants are pooling together to form an army, apparently under the command of someone called Mesmero.  While this is going on, Bobby befriends a girl named Lorna Dane, who it turns out has green hair.  A group of Mesmero's thugs attack, but strangely, bow down to worship at Lorna's feet.  WHAT the heck is going on here?  (More, what does the title refer to, as the phrase "Demi-Men" appears NOWHERE in the 15 pages of the story?)

"A BEAST IS BORN"

The X-MEN ORIGINS series continues by giving us the background on Hank McCoy's parents; his father worked at a nuclear research facility, and helped shut it down during a dangrous accident.

Art on the lead series is Don Heck (co-plot & layouts), Werner Roth (pencils) and John Tartaglione (inks); the back-up features Roth & John Verpoorten.  Both nice, but nothing really special.  Of special note is the cover-- by Jim Steranko!!  I'm still trying to figure out what the heck that big "mask" is supposed to be.  It looks a bit like Mesmero, but it's colored red instead of green...

Arnold Drake is clearly setting up the reformation of the team, having walked in on what may have been the series all-time low point.  But nothing here is really that impressive.
     (6-6-2008)


(Continued in November 1968)

All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa