NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD 5
cover by JIM STERANKO
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 Scorpio! Nick'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
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
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
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
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 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
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
THE INCREDIBLE HULK 108
cover by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia
THE INCREDIBLE HULK ANNUAL 1
cover by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia (rejected)
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
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
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
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 AVENGERS. The 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
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
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
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