NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD 2
cover by JIM STERANKO
Synopsis:
Jimmy Woo goes thru a death-trap laden "fun house" as his initiation as a SHIELD agent. Later, in his apartment, Fury & Val get romantic. The next day, off the Pacific Coast, en route to the Heli-Carrier in a bizarre twin-bodied jet, Fury & Jimmy are knocked out of the sky and wind up on a volcanic island transformed into a "Garden of Eden" and biological laboratory by "Centurius"-- formerly Dr. Noah Black, a scientist who disappeared in the 1930s when his theories were scoffed at. After creating both new & extinct forms of life and sending them into space, he plans to rain down fire on the entire Earth, for forty days and forty nights, cleansing it so his creations can start anew on a world "without the threat of mass murder, intimidation, fear". With the help of a visiting movie company and their robot gorilla prop, Fury & Woo put the kibosh on his plans. Centurius dives into his own evolution ray, devolving into protoplasmic slime, while his "A.R.C." (Automated Rebirth Colonizer) inexplicably crashes straight into the dormant volcano that served as his lab, wiping out the entire island. Fury muses, "Let's just say some greater force in the universe handled it his own way!" Actors Brad & Tiffany, who've been fighting on every movie they've ever made, suddenly find love.
Indexer notes:
Centurius becomes the 3rd Steranko villain to use the phrase "Parable Of Doom" (see page 10, panel 9), though to date there appears no connection whatsoever between him, Baron Strucker & Scorpio. Last panel on page 5 altered due to the Comics Code Authority; inadvertently, the new panel is far more "suggestive" than the one it replaced! Original panel restored in 2000 reprint. Jack Abel (longtime friend of Frank Giacoia) assists; Fury's face in page 10, panel 7 is clearly his work.
(2007)
"SO SHALL YE REAP... DEATH" begins with Jimmy Woo in a deadly fun house which turns out to be a final test for new SHIELD agents. Fury seems to be the only one who isn't having second thoughts about him joining, but en route to California, their jet is shot out of the sky over a volcanic isle. There they find a long-missing Nobel Prize winning scientist who's got plans to wipe all life out and replace it with new life in 100 years, after the devastation he intends has passed. Meanwhile, a movie crew is shooting a film about a giant ape, and unexpectedly come to Fury's aid. The visuals are cool as usual, but Steranko's storytelling here is more awkward, confusing and stilted than any previous issue. Maybe if he wasn't trying to cram an "epic" into 20 pages... (Unfortunately, THIS is probably the issue that later SHIELD creative teams most tried to emulate. Oy!)
(5-23-2008)
DR. STRANGE 170
cover by DAN ADKINS
Doc, still recuperating in Tibet, find his mentor the victim of his old enemy-- Nightmare-- who has entered the real world and impersonated Hamir the Hermit. It's a cool if "minor" story, the best feature once again being Dan Adkins' spectacular art.
(5-23-2008)
FANTASTIC FOUR 76
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
This is really a misleading title, as the FF deliberately go there in search of the Silver Surfer, and do not lose their way even by story's end. Ben & Johnny repeatedly ignore Reed's orders and attack the Surfer to no good end, and then at one point a robotic servant of Psycho-Man (last seen in FF ANNUAL #5) attacks, and it's only observing how desperate they are to save Earth that makes the Surfer realize he must give up his new-found "freedom" and return to Galactus. Because-- in TOTAL VIOLATION of his own sworn oath in FF #50-- Galactus, somehow unable to find another planet to eat without his herald, is planning to destroy the Earth! This just seems so forced and contrived re-reading it now. Reed's desire to locate and defeat the menace of Psycho-Man (on the loose since his prevous appearance) actually is the most interesting, compelling part of the story.
This is the only section of this 4-parter I have an original issue of. Good thing I have at least this, the reproduction quality's pretty fuzzy on the MGC reprint, and, it's missing 2 pages of the story!
(5-23-2008)
MARVEL SUPER-HEROES 15
cover by Gene Colan & Frank Giacoia
It is absolutely bizarre that Medusa should make 2 appearances in the SAME month, and, in each one, wear an outfit that she was never seen wearing before or since! While that would be par for the course for many women, especially affluent ones, it goes completely against-the-grain for comic-book heroes. There's no clue anywhere as to which story took place before the other, but, I'm betting on this one taking place before her appearance in ASM #62. The reason for this is, once the new Captain Mar-Vell series was given its own separate title, EVERY solo spotlight story that appeared in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES, on quick inspection, appears to have been "inventory" material, work done and then shelved, unused, for one reason or another, until finally published here. It's like the much-later MARVEL FANFARE series, more than a decade before-the-fact. Considering the big deal so many make about Marvel's "continuity", every one of these stories is a continuity nightmare looking to happen.
(9-6-2018)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 62
cover by JOHN ROMITA
This has the lady with the long, long hair come to NYC on a mission to learn if "humans" are ready to accept her people, or not. First thing she does is nearly knock a swinging Spidey out of the sky, then cause a panic on the streets. But things take a bizarre twist when the owner of a hairspray company wants to use her as the model in his new ad campaign. The guy reminds me of that movie director way back in the 1st Green Goblin story-- in other words, a real NUT. Meanwhile, Pete stops by Gwen's but she "never wants to speak to him again"-- and he, incredibly, STILL can't find a way to explain things to her. After he leaves, her Dad, recovering from the earlier brainwashing, says, "I thought you said he was... the one?" A bit later, Medusa, bored, leaves, and the ad guy goes nuts, telling Spidey she's "threatened to destroy the city" (SAY WHAT??). He tries to talk, ANOTHER stupid fight erupts, but when Spidey realizes what's really going on, says HE'LL take care of the ad guy, and does-- telling the press how "completely uncontrollable" Medusa was, which costs the guy his job (why can't this ever happen to JJJ?). As Medusa departs, she declares her people will "never" have anything to do with "humans"!
As the story ends, MJ shows up, saying she heard Pete has finally "come to his senses" about Gwen... but he's too depressed, and she suddenly realizes he actually MISSES Gwen. (Poor MJ...)
The Heck-Esposito art continues over Romita layouts. Nice stuff. I STILL wish Romita had done it all himself.
(5-23-2008)
I remember in the old days, one of the earliest Romita interviews I ever read, he said he was particularly proud of "Vengeace From Viet-Nam", a 2-parter he did in between Gil Kane's 2 runs on the book, as it the "one time" he wrote the story entirely on his own, and his boss "only wrote the dialogue".
So what a shock to find he was LYING-- that Romita had been doing the writing starting with ASM #39.
"Ye editor"'s main "contribution" was as a back-seat driver, giving Romita orders which-- and I feel very strongly about this-- IN EVERY SINGLE CASE-- went completely against Romita's own instincts as a writer, and mine as a reader and fan.
"Make Gwen nicer."
"Make Gwen prettier."
"Have Pete & Gwen get serious."
...and when the FANS continued to PREFER MJ...
"Make MJ less attractive."
There's one issue where, at a point where Pete's on the outs with Gwen, because she jumped to an erroneous conclusion and JUST LIKE A WOMAN!!! (well, just like a "ye editor" woman) she REFUSES to talk to him and NEVER wants to see him ever again, MJ comes around, waiting to see if Pete has come to his senses yet, or not. She's got high heels, really tight pants, and short, curly hair. She looks like a HOOKER. Allegedly, "ye editor" was frustrated, because EVEN THEN, the fans kept writing in saying they preferred MJ.
I suspect all those fans who, decades later, have some kind of romanticized, idealized view of "GWEN STACY!" as the one and only most important girl ever in Pete's life, are just BRAINWASHED L** fanatics who can't think for themselves.
(3-31-2014)
By the way, someone at the GCD noted the following: "The Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 appears about this time." That may be true, BUT, if you're actually following the horrible soap-opera B***S*** between Pete & Gwen (who is becoming dumber by the issue), you'd realize there's no way that magazine takes place anywhere near this issue, or later.
(9-6-2018)
IRON MAN 3
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG
CAPTAIN AMERICA 103
cover by Jack Kirby & Syd Shores
This has Steve & Sharon Carter (he finally knows her name!!!) on a date at a fancy resturant, when some neo-Nazis storm the palce and make off with her. Reporting to their ruthless leader, The Red Skull, one of them describes how her "tall blonde escort" was stunned before he could do anything. The Skull is PISSED!!! --and chews the guy out, informing him that the "escort" was CAPTAIN AMERICA-- who he had a chance to KILL, and didn't! This is the problem with blindly-obedient underlings, he thinks-- sometimes they can can't think at all!
With SHIELD's help, Cap single-handedly invades The Skull's latest island fortress (HOW MANY does this guy have???), home of "The Exiles"-- a group of Nazis who escaped the Allies at the end of WW2. Some were children, now grown to adult nastiness. Others are old men-- and what an UGLY, SICK bunch they are!! Cap, captured & imprisoned, finds Sharon, the two escape... but it's exactly what The Skull wanted, as he's secretly placed a strip of "nuclear tape" on the back of Cap's neck, which he can DETONATE any time he wants! Holy cow!
The Kirby-Shores art continues to thrill, strange as it is. I'm just glad to see that Kirby still manages to include humor in his stories. What gets me is how these "Exiles" believe they're the "only ones" who deserve to rule with the entire world as their slaves... as if their fellow neo-Nazis in HYDRA, led by Baron Strucker (the ones who revived The Skull from hibernation in the first place) just didn't matter. Talk about an overblown sense of self-importance!
(5-23-2008)
SUB-MARINER 3
cover by John Buscema & Frank Giacoia
THE INCREDIBLE HULK 105
cover by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia
CAPTAIN MARVEL 3
cover by Gene Colan & Vince Colletta
This wastes almost a third of the issue on flashbacks, as The Super-Skrull probes Mar-Vell's mind to learn the details of his mission on Earth. CM escapes-- just barely-- and-- just barely-- makes it back to his orbitting spaceship, "The Helion" (name revealed for 1st time). Yon-Rogg hoped he'd die in space and save him any more worries about their rivalry... then refuses CM's request to return to Earth, until CM contacts the Imperial Minister directly, who's convinced only because the Kree DON'T want the Skrulls establishing themselves on Earth, no matter how "unimportant" it is.
The Skrull impersonaltes CM and gains access to the missile base, hoping to get his hands on the Kree's "ultimate weapon"-- the Sentry-- but CM attacks, and manages to beat him with The Skrull's own power of super-hypnosis! A flick of a switch-- which none but a Kree could have done-- de-activates the bomb, saving all. Overall, one of the better episodes so far.
The inks continue to be AMAZINGLY clean and slick-- except for a few pages in the 2nd half, which only reinforces my belief that there were 2 different guys inking this book, and the "good" pages WEREN'T done by Colletta! (Now if only I knew who it was!)
(original KLORDNY article / 5-28-2008 ?)
THOR 154
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
Last time I re-read this was when I bought the ESSENTIAL book. This time, I dug out the TREASURY edition. WHOA! What visuals! I don't think I realized just how many inter-related plot-threads were going on when this thing "started". In my index, I'd listed the previous storyline as a 9-parter, followed by this 4-parter-- but there really isn't a break in the momentum. I suppose it could be viewed as a 13-parter!! Odin has stopped the Thor-Loki battle. Hela returns, and shows Thor what he's giving up by not coming with her, and he sees a vision of Valhalla, where warriors happily fight endless battles, including his old foe Harokin. But Thor rejects it, feeling battle must be for something, not just the sake of itself. Sif, recovering in the hospital, is greeted by Dr. Blake, and this time she knows exactly who he is. Ulik, in his blind arrogance, has unleashed a monstrous entity known as the Mangog-- who appears to be a menace to "all who live". On reaching Asgard, Loki finds everyone preparing for battle, but doesn't care. He figures, Odin will handle it. Guess again! Odin is SLEEPING! This means... as of now, Loki is on the throne! (And he intends to STAY there. Yeah, right.) Karnilla threatens to make Balder one of the "Legion of the Lost" if he doesn't return her love, while he says love not freely given is a travesty! (How true) Thor encounters some "drop-outs", and tells them philosophically that when things get their worst, THAT's the time to dig in and fight for what's right. Free of the pit, Ulik wishes he were dead-- rather than having unleashed Mangog. Watch out, Asgard!!!
Kirby has been running non-stop here with the action for 10 consecutive issues now, and appears to be building toward a crescendo. But we're not there yet! Wow.
(5-23-2008)
THE AVENGERS 54
cover by John Buscema & George Klein
This sees a re-forming of the team's opposite number. Initially, the MoE were all counterparts of the good guys, each one a villain of a particular hero. In this case, we have Klaw, who's the Black Panther's arch-enemy; Whirlwind is Giant-Man's; but what are The Melter (Iron Man's foe) and Radioactive Man (Thor's foe) doing here? What's funny is when The Black Knight shows up-- and they don't seem to realize (at first) that he's NOT their old member with a new costume! In fact, he went undercover to get the goods on them, having received his uncle's invitation, but somehow they figure it out before long. What gets complex is when the Avengers' butler-- Jarvis-- BETRAYS the secrets of their updated security systems to the baddies, then appears to be the one in charge in the first place (rather than this weird-looking robot calling itself "The Crimson Cowl"...)
The part that I don't get (among other things) is how Jan, being an Avenger, could hire a chauffer without doing a proper investigation of the guy. I mean, having a known super-villain posing as your driver just makes her look STUPID-- and nothing in all the Kirby-Heck-Ayers episodes of her & Hank's old series ever suggested such a thing to me.
(5-23-2008)
DARDEVIL 42
cover by Gene Colan & Dan Adkins
This begins a multi-parter which I just happen to have every episode of! It starts out with a would-be actor who's been laughed off the stage and degraded as being a comedian's stooge, who wants the "laughs" to now be at everyone else's expense. Costumed identity created, crime wave started, and you have the Marvel Universe's answer to Cesar Romero's Joker! Meanwhile, it seems Karen & Foggy are upset with Matt (again!), this time because he doesn't seem to be reacting to-- get this-- the DEATH of his brother Mike, alias Daredevil. What they don't know is, Mike doesn't exist-- Matt made him up! I'm STILL shaking my head at the outrageous absurdity of this already long-running sub-plot. Next, to confuse things, we have the crooked politician who appeared in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 (still on sale several months later), who decides it would be a good idea to hire The Jester to "convince" Foggy to drop out of the race for the D.A.'s office. Which he does, by kidnapping Matt. Matt, with his usual quick-thinking (heh) tells everyone that before he "died", Daredevil secretly trained his own replacement! And whatta ya know, at The Jester's hideout, Matt disappears, and the "new" Daredevil appears. Someone-- please-- tell me how this guy is SO STUPID he didn't figure out Matt & DD are one and the same??? Anyway, DD chases The Jester across town to the politician's home, only to find the guy's dead (which readers of SPEC. SM #1 would have already known). Matt realizes, "there must always be a DD", but The Jester's still on the loose.
Dan Adkins inks Gene Colan this time, and unless my eyes (and the printing) are playing tricks on me, it looks like it took him half the issue to figure out how the hell to ink Gene's pencils! The 2nd half of the book ain't bad at all-- but the 1st is just awful. It really looks like someone else's work, but then everyone always says Colan is a real challenge to ink properly.
(5-23-2008)
X-MEN 46
cover by Don Heck & John Tartaglione
(Continued in August 1968)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
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