NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD 10
cover by FRANK SPRINGER
(alterations by JOHN ROMITA)
Synopsis:
December 24, 1968: Fury heads home, thinking how for some, holidays "can only hold the empty void left by a tragic past". After a mugging attempt in which he sent his attackers packing, Fury arrives at his apartment and is surprised by Laura Brown, who tells him since neither one of them have families she thought it would be a good idea to spend the holiday together. Their celebrations are interrupted by a "condition red" alert. Aboard the Heli-Carrier, Fury finds Sitwell, who was given two days off for the holidays by Tony Stark, and decided to drop by to see if he could be useful. They've intercepted a transmission from The Hate-Monger, who intends to drop a "Germ Bomb" to wipe out the entire population of NYC! Fury takes the "Self-Orbiting Attack Craft" to a huge scientific complex orbiting the Earth. Fury tackles a large number of The Hate-Monger's men single-handed, but is eventually brought down by numbers. On awakening, he finds himself imprisoned inside the capsule containing the "Germ Bomb", as The Hate-Monger explains that once NYC has been wiped out, it will "set all the nations of the world against each other", resulting in a nuclear holocaust that will "purge Earth of all living beings"-- save those in his orbiting colony. One of their aircraft follows the capsule down to make sure things go right, but a mysterious unidentified object zips at incredible speed between them, causing a collision which sets the bomb off prematurely, allowing the germs to dissipate & die in the upper atmosphere! Fury manages to find the ejector button, parachutes to safety, is picked up by the harbor patrol, and makes it home in time to finish off his celebrations with Laura. As the sun comes up, Fury wonders what it was that caused the collision, thinking, "Who knows-- maybe there IS a Santa Claus!"
Indexer notes:
Part 2 of 3. Jasper Sitwell last seen in a SHIELD episode in STRANGE TALES #159 (August 1967). "Self-Orbiting Attack Craft" last seen in NICK FURY, AGENT OF SHIELD #2 (July 1968). 3rd Hate-Monger appears in this story; it's clearly not Adolph Hitler this time, as he has no moustache! Hate-Monger's scheme of germ-induced mass murder, provoking a nuclear war and a new population riding out the holocaust aboard a space station was mirrored to varying degrees in the plots of the 007 films THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) and MOONRAKER (1979). To date, this is the only post-Steranko SHIELD story of the 1960's to ever be reprinted.
(9-15-2007)
Fury is mugged on his way home, then finds Laura Brown waiting for him to celebrate the holidays. But a call from SHIELD puts that on hold, and up in the Heli-Carrier, he finds Jasper Sitwell spending his 2 days off from Stark Enterprises hanging around trying to be helpful. (I suppose after the Whitney Frost thing, he wanted to stay busy.) It seems The Hate-Monger has threatened to kill everyone in NYC with a poison gas bomb, launched from an orbitting laboratory (that looks like a poor cousin to the Space Station in 2001). WHY Nick Fury goes on a mission to stop the guy SINGLE-HANDEDLY is never addressed. Was everyone else at home with their families and no time to call them in? Is he just suicidal? Anyway, he's caught and stuck in a "pilot's seat" of the missile containing the gas-bomb, then launched downward, while a pair of The Hate-Monger's aircraft follow it down to make sure it hits its target. But on the way, a mysterious object buzzes by at unbelieveable speed, causing one of the aircraft to go off-course, hit the missile, and make the bomb go off so high in the atmosphere it dissipates harmlessly before it ever reaches the city. Fury finds a parachute, and before you know it, he's back home to finish celebrating with Laura-- all the while wondering if maybe there IS a Santa Claus?
Though we saw The Hate-Monger killed DEAD for the 2nd time last issue, he (or someone in his costume) is back this time. I suspect this is a different guy, because this one doesn't seem to have a moustache. After nearly killing every person in New York, you'd think they would have knocked that space station out of the sky-- but there's not even a hint! Is SHIELD really that badly under-budgeted at this point?? Johnny Craig inked this issue, and as with the episodes of Iron Man where he inked Gene Colan, he does a fine, professional job, but his incredibly precise, razor-sharp lines are just totally clashing with Frank Springer's art, and considering Frank's own inks, teaming up these 2 guys is just a waste of BOTH their talents! The Hate-Monger's poison-gas-from-space plot was reused almost verbatim as the climax of the 1979 movie MOONRAKER.
This is one of the few SHIELD episodes from this period to ever be reprinted, in MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #8 (1975), a "Christmas" special.
(6-17-2008)
It seems very obvious to me that the "mysterious unidentified object" that zipped "at incredible speed between them" was probably The Silver Surfer. If so, he saved all of New York, and nobody ever found out.
(10-11-2018)
DR. STRANGE 178
cover by Gene Colan & Tom Palmer
Doc travels to England to enlist the aid of Victoria Bentley. It seems (if this point was mentioned last time, I missed it), the only ones who know how to reverse the spell that freed Ymir & Surtur are the other members of The Sons Of Satannish-- and Azmodeus didn't so much KILL them as banish them to the dimension of Tiborro (last seen in a Steve Ditko episode!). And the only safe way to go there and return is with the help of another mystic, or one with mystic powers, of sorts. Victoria's having a party, and who happens to turn up but The Black Knight-- in costume-- and his magical sword makes him a better candidate for this mission than Doc's English lady-friend, so BK gets recruited fast. One dimension-hop and one fierce battle later, The "Sons" are rescued, though it takes some more fighting to "convince" them to help!
Thomas-Colan-Palmer are really in a groove here. This isn't really one of their best issues, but it's still better than 90% of the comics Marvel put out this month. WOW!
(6-17-2008)
THE AVENGERS 61
cover by John Buscema & George Klein
...SOME SAY IN ICE!"
This issue opens with a pair of full-page title spreads showcasing Ymir & Surtur. Dr. Strange shows up at Avengers Mansion seeking additional help and soon The Vision, Hawkeye & The Black Panther join him. It seems between episodes, The Black Knight was seriously injured, and the only one who can save him is Doc-- who's nervous, because he hasn't used his hands for a surgical procedure since his car accident many years before! But BK pulls thru, and soon (in the tradition of Gardner Fox), the quartet breaks into teams, one to face Surtur in Antarctica, the other to face Ymir in Africa, each giant demon causing weather patterns to reverse what they normally are. The heroes are merely a stall, while Doc can put the reversal spell into action. At the climactic moment, Surtur (and his foes) are transported to Africa, and the 2 giant demons' power cancel each other out, sending both of them back to where Odin originally banished them!
Roy Thomas, John Buscema & George Klein are really on a roll here. The usual annoying traits of Roy's dialogue have nearly disappeared at this point, and Buscema-Klein are just KICKING ASS, Buscema's figure-work and storytelling vastly improved from when he started on the book, and Klein giving it a sharp, precise polish that captures Buscema's own style better than most, but "cleaner". This is a team that really should have stayed together a LOT longer than they did!
I originally bought DR. STRANGE #178 along with the rest of that run, in the late 70's. I got the 2nd half here about 15 years later. This is the first time I managed to read both parts of the story together in one sitting!
(6-17-2008)
The fact that the AVENGERS issue has a cover-date of FEB while the "earlier" DR. STRANGE issue has a MAR cover date is a blatent example of how several books Marvel published had cover-dates that were consistently ONE month out of synch with the rest. When I did my re-reading project, I addressed this by having those books-- AVENGERS, THOR, DAREDEVIL and X-MEN-- at the end of each month's set of books. This usually worked, but you can see here where there must have been more of an overlap in some cases. This problem was finally straightened out in late 1972! No kidding.
(10-11-2018)
FANTASTIC FOUR 84
cover by Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott
The FF are "returning home" in a bizarre "gyro-ship" given them by Black Bolt, and passing thru Tibet, when they're intercepted by a squad of fighter-planes from SHIELD. Nick Fury tells them they've run across a "secret army"-- of robots-- and suspect Dr. Doom to be behind it. Though in a hurry to see his wife & new baby again, Reed agrees to help. Next thing, driving a car into Latveria, they're attacked, captured, knocked unconscious... and wake up in a luxury apartment. (Say what?) All around them, the citizens of Latveria bid them welcome, and have a "Fantastic Four" celebration day. But when, to prove a point, Reed makes a dash for the border, he's knocked back by its hi-tech defenses, and a TV image of Doom tells him, NOBODY ever leaves Latveria. You either be happy... or you DIE!
It's funny, in another comic, a reader this very month suggested Marvel do a take-off of the tv show, THE PRISONER, and the reply said "Marvel prefers to come up with its own plots". Then how do you explain this one, which is OBVIOUSLY a "tribute" to THE PRISONER ? The idea of Doom being such a "robot" specialist, I don't remember ever coming up in the FF before, though Jim Steranko did introduce the idea in STRANGE TALES #167. Is it safe to assume that Nick Fury & co. may have figured out by this point who built the robot Yellow Claw? (If so, it's never made clear.)
Something early in this issue really bugged me. There's no need to have tied this issue into the last one, and it's a bad habit of "ye editor"s. As they pass thru Tibet, the natives refer to the "mysterious city" of the Inhumans, "to the north". NOWHERE in the previous 2 issues-- or in ANY previous comics, period-- was it ever once hinted that The Great Refuge of the Inhumans was in The Himalayas! It had always been in The Andes!! (Well, except for HULK ANNUAL #1 a few months earlier, when Gary Friedrich had it in Central Europe. You SEE why I think he took too many drugs??) I think Reed was just taking that gyro-ship out on a round-the-world test-drive, and "ye editor" NEEDLESSLY tied it in, and FORGOT where The Great Refuge was supposed to be!! After all, just 2 issues before, "ye editor" also FORGOT that it was Black Bolt who freed his people from "The Great Barrier", not Reed & co. It seems to me "ye editor" could have really used an editor...!
What to say about Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott's art? IT'S THE BEST-- PERIOD!!!
(6-17-2008)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 70
cover by JOHN ROMITA
Pete hides the stolen tablet-- which the cops now think HE stole-- in his apartment, while he tries to figure out what to do next. Gwen is clearly pissed when he meets her, but to his shock, says she'll wait until he's ready to tell her what's going on. He can hardly believe it-- she actually TRUSTS him! (It seems so unlike her... heehee) Meanwhile, Kingpin ESCAPES from jail, sets a trap for Spidey which he naturally falls into, big fight starts, but then Jameson shows up, gets in the way, a mysterious WOMAN in a limo shows up, and tells Kingpin to get in, which he does, and as THEY get away, Spidey can just take no more from his psychotic tormenter, and closes in on Jameson-- who, in a panic, faints dead away, leaving Ned Leeds to ask, "What did you DO to him?" (How annoying and stupid can one reporter be?) Spidey flees, worried that he may have actually become the menace JJJ always said he was. Oy.
Not too crazy about this one... but at least JIM MOONEY's art (over Romita's layouts) continue to dazzle.
(6-17-2008)
IRON MAN 11
cover by George Tuska & Johnny Craig
The latest (and leastest) Mandarin story concludes, as Tony Stark uses a SHIELD L.M.D.-- of himself-- to meet with reporters, while he confronts The Mandarin. Infuriated that his entire scheme to bring down Stark is in jeopardy, The Mandarin goes to the mountain shack where "Stark" is meeting with reporters, with IM following close behind. As the LMD collapses (its job done) IM has to beat his foe before the guy realizes he's been had. He does, the entire place blows up, and IM and Janice (who showed up just in time to temporarily become a hostage-- AGAIN) escape, not sure the baddie is dead this time, either. But there's still a major problem, as medics haul away the "dead" Tony Stark to a hospital, unable to detect a heartbeat, and now IM has to figure a way to get out of this before EVERYBODY figures out he's really Tony Stark.
Goodwin-Tuska-Craig, if anything, were a pretty consistent team, knocking out issue after issue with hardly a fill-in to be seen. I appreciate that. I just wish they'd been a little more "inspired". I'm afraid I'll never see Tuska as anything more than 2nd-rate, and of all the comics I've read by Goodwin, this one series-- the one he stayed on the longest-- seems the least-inspired.
(6-17-2008)
CAPTAIN AMERICA 111
cover by JIM STERANKO
Synopsis:
Lured to an arcade by a faked message, Cap is ambushed by HYDRA assassins, who point out that since his identity is known, he's an easy target. After they fail to kill Cap, the one in charge of the hit is punished by Madame Hydra. Cap & Rick watch films of Cap & Bucky, then go to the gym for more training. But Rick feels overwhelmed and inadequate. Rick picks up a drugged message meant for Cap, and finds himself in a hallucinogenic landscape. Cap discovers the message, but too late to stop Rick's abduction. Cap returns to the arcade, and is attacked by the Man-Killer, HYDRA's newest robot. Rick escapes & tries to warn Cap, just as he takes out the robot, and Cap realizes Rick has what it takes. Then, abruptly, he appears to leap from a rooftop into the river, straight through a barrage of HYDRA gunfire! The police only find his costume-- and a mask with the facial features of Steve Rogers, which suggests "Rogers" was a fake identity!
Indexer notes:
Part 2 of 3. Page 9 contains Steranko's 2nd tribute to Salvador Dali (following the cover of NICK FURY #7). The "Spectro-Ray", which reveals no hidden weapons on Rick, is strikingly similar to the effect used by Infinata in the 1968 ROCKET ROBIN HOOD cartoon "Revolt In The Fifth Dimension" (and its 1969 SPIDER-MAN cartoon remake). One of the kidnappers on page 11 bears a striking resemblance to S*** L**!
(2007)
Cap is ambushed by Hydra goons in an arcade. Later, he tries to teach Rick some fighting manoevers, but Rick's so overwhelmed by the "shadow" of Bucky Barnes, he wonders if he'll ever measure up. Later, a drugged card arrives for Cap, Rick gets it, and he gets kidnapped by Hydra goons... BUT NOT FOR LONG! Cap tracks them down to the waterfront, does battle with a "Mankiller" robot, realizes he never should have given up his "secret identity" (it's too easy for his enemies to track him down, knowing he's Steve Rogers)... and the last thing we see, is the figure of Cap, diving off a rooftop into the river, STRAIGHT THRU a hail of Hydra gunfire!!! (It's "Scorpio" all over again!) The cops scour the water, and find his bullet-hole-ridden uniform-- as well as, strangely, a face-mask in the image of Steve Rogers, which suggests that "Steve Rogers" may have been a FAKE identity! What th'...?
I'll put it simply. This is Jim Steranko's MASTERPIECE. Of his entire comics output, this single issue may be the single greatest episode he ever produced. The Steranko-Sinnott team was the best his art ever looked, he did some terrific multi-panel "effects" in here, an incredibly dynamic 2-page spread, and one of his best covers yet-- which included a new logo, basically reusing the design for the one from SILVER SURFER. The new logo would be used, off and on, for decades after.
Oh yeah, and right in the middle of the story, there was a panel where we see silhouettes of Cap & Rick superimposed over a big movie screen as they watch films. I KNEW I'd seen that in some Steranko comic! I just swiped the idea a couple weeks ago for one of my own pages without even looking it up. Thanks, Jim!
(6-17-2008)
SUB-MARINER 11
cover by George Colan & Dan Adkins
This had me walking into the middle of a 2-parter involving "Cap'n Barracuda", a modern-day pirate with a beard, an eyepatch, and a terrible habit of speaking as if he stepped out of some 18th-Century pirate movie. As this episode starts, Namor, trying to get his hands on ANOTHER "helmet" (I had to check elsewhere to find out it was the Serpent Crown of Lemuria, not Destiny's helmet) is suddenly faced with the "choice" of capturing Barracuda, OR, stopping an atomic torpedo from wiping out a US Destroyer. Though he has no great feelings for surface-men of any stripe, he goes to stop the torpedo, which explodes near the Destroyer anyway, with a decidedly "normal" (NON-atomic) warhead. (Tricked again!) Unfortunately-- for everyone involved (especially the readers), the next 3/4ths of the comic is one long fight between Namor and the US Navy, who believe HE set off the explosion, trying to destroy them. And, as usual with his "Imperius Rex" attitude, we get over and over "The fools will not listen!"-- as he keeps clobbering people one after another. (sigh) What a WASTE of a good character.
Meanwhile, Barracuda breaks into a naval base and steals a device which can redirect the course of torpedos by remote control. As he's making off with it, he accidentally turns it on, causing a torpedo meant for Subby to instead take out HIS OWN submarine! The Navy, SUDDENLY realizing, hey, maybe Namor was on the level, try to get his attention that things are okay, but by this point, he's just pissed, and heading out to sea to get to Lemuria (for next issue).
According to the Bullpen page, John Buscema decided to focus all his energy on THE AVENGERS and SILVER SURFER, and so Marie Severin stepped in to take over SUB-MARINER, starting with #9. So how come Gene Colan drew issues #10-11? This issue is terribly uninspired, and somehow screams "rush job" to me. Also, George Klein, who made such a good team with Gene on DAREDEVIL #46 (the only one of those I've seen), here makes all the figures look like they're made out of rubber-- except for pages where there's almost no detail at all. I was extremely disappointed with this issue. Something wasn't right here.
(6-18-2008)
THE INCREDIBLE HULK 113
cover by Herb Trimpe & Dan Adkins
CAPTAIN MARVEL 11
cover by Barry Smith & Herb Trimpe
Mar-Vell is saved from the Kree firing squad by-- incredibly-- the last few remaining Aakon warriors, still seeking revenge for the death of the C.O. caused by Yon-Rogg. Everything's out in the open now, with Mar-Vell & Yon-Rogg no longer putting on any pretenses, it's just a matter of who can kill the other one first now. But then Una is hit by a stray shot, and Mar-Vell abandons the fight to get her help. But... that doesn't happen. Instead, he STEALS a moon-rocket from the Cape. But before long, Una dies... and he lands on an asteroid to create a monument for her. As he departs, his stolen spaceship is grabbed by The Hellion's tractor-beam, and hurled at faster-than-light-speeds into the furthest reaches of space. After about 100 days alone, he's pulled into the orbit of a tiny planetoid, and encounters a bizarre alien that calls itself "ZO", who claims to have somehow engineered everything that has happened to him. He screams this is madness (NO KIDDING!) but "ZO" offers him REVENGE-- if he'll serve him. Mar-Vell agrees, and "ZO" then imbues him with all manners of super-powers, whic allow him to destroy the unbreakable wrist-monitor Yon-Rogg has always kept track of him with, as well as the power to fly faster than light-speeds (SAY WHAT????). Mar-Vell gladly says he'll serve "ZO", once Yon-Rogg has paid for his crimes.
This is a tough one. I suppose I should point out this was advertised as "a new storyline", and in fact, is the first of a 6-part "story arc" involving this "ZO"-- thing. The first time I read this, I couldn't believe what I was seeing-- and in retrospect, that was the right reaction. This issue, strangely enough, is rather similar to Jim Starlin's "Metamorphosis" episode 4-1/2 years later-- except Starlin did it at least 10 TIMES BETTER. Mar-Vell meets ultra-power alien entity who grants him great power. Beyond that, the issues could hardly be less alike.
After 6 issues of Arnold Drake introducing all kinds of interesting elements to the proceedings, this issue goes COMPLETELY NUTS. I gotta be honest. I DON'T BELIEVE Arnold wrote this. It feels nothing like his previous 6 issues, but it feels EXACTLY like the 3 issues credited to Gary Friedrich. As they changed writer & artist when Arnold & Don Heck came on, I think it's perfectly believeable that they did it again here. Arnold does have this noticeable quirk of breaking sentences up in the oddest place between word balloons, and I did find that here in the first 5 pages... but once he steals the moon-rocket, not again. This suggests to me that Arnold may have written the first 5 pages... and then gotten KICKED OFF the book. Hey, Arnold once wrote an episode of DEADMAN for which he was neither paid nor credited-- this could be the reverse of that, him getting credit ("BLAME"??) for work that wasn't his.
The Bullpen page says Dick Ayers was getting tired of doing both SGT. FURY and CAPT. SAVAGE, and wanted a break, so "ye editor" "switched books" between him and Don Heck. What the hell is Don, a ping-pong ball that he can be bounced around like this? Can there be any more indignities they could toss at him? A couple issues down the line, some readers said they couldn't believe Ayers did such a BAD job as he did here-- there's no detail, no feeling, the storytelling is just BAD. And Vince Colletta doesn't help one bit. His brief foray into "slicker" rendering is GONE now, he's back to just thin, scratchy lines. So this issue LOOKS bad, FEELS bad, READS bad, and makes NO F****** SENSE at all!!!
5 issues down the line, Archie Goodwin wound up somehow writing the concluding episode of this storyline... and MADE it make sense. If you read this one in light of what Archie wrote, just about everything in this episode takes on a completely different meaning than what Friedrich apparently intended. Archie did such a good job, he ALMOST convinces you it was "always meant to be this way". But I don't buy it. I think "ye editor" didn't get along with Drake (politics were involved), he kicked him off the book, brought in Friedrich, told him to do something "different" in the hopes that a radical shake-up might save the thing, except Friedrich didn't know what he was doing, and concocted this rambling, incoherent MESS. No question. THIS gets my vote for the WORST comic Marvel put out that month-- if not that WHOLE YEAR. (The Barry Smith cover is nice, but doesn't help much. Too bad HE didn't draw this issue. As crude & raw as his art was at the time, it would have been a big improvement.)
(6-18-2008)
MARVEL SUPER-HEROES 19
cover by Barry Smith & Herb Trimpe
Here we have the 1st-ever solo outing for Marvel's half-witted Tarzan rip-off character. Well, that's how he seems to me, anyway. Back in England, we find Ka-Zar's brother "Edgar" (I thought it was "Parnival"-- but what kind of name is that anyway?) is OUT OF JAIL ON PAROLE. Now wait a minute... this guy was damn near single-handedly responsible for destroying Prince Namor's Atlantis and starting a war between the US and the Atlanteans, and was last seen in a sub that got blown up... (if memory serves). How did he get in jail, let alone, after all that, how did he get out ON PAROLE? The parole board system in the Marvel Universe must have some SEVERE problems to be having all these super-villains running around scot free.
"Ka-Zar" (Kevin Plunder) has apparently "given up" the title to his estate (so WHY is he still hanging around there?) and brother Edgar ("The Plunderer") is plotting every way he knows to have him run off, or killed, or both. A neighbor lady and her father interests Ka-Zar briefly (after he interfered with the local "sport" of fox-hunting), but before long a race is on back to The Savage Land. Edgar wants to get control of the strange destructive mineral element discovered by their father, but needs the other half of an amulet to unlock the chamber it's kept in-- and Ka-Zar left his half back in Antarctica. It's chaos once everybody (including the lady and her father) show up, especially once the older gent gets killed trying to defend his daughter. Before he died, the guy tried to write a message in the dirt, indicating that Ka-Zar's father was NOT the villain he's been led to believe-- only EDGAR is really a villain-- but Edgar wipes the message out before it can be read (shades of Dr. Zaius in PLANET OF THE APES).
Under a nice cover by Barry Smith & Herb Trimpe (2 guys who are "doing" Jack Kirby's style), the interior art is by George Tuska and, surprisingly, Sid Greene, who gives it a nice, "polished" look. (The lady Ka-Zar takes a liking to looks really pretty, something I don't see that often in Tuska art.) Unfortunately, the "storytelling" is very choppy and at times nearly incoherent. Arnold Drake & Steve Parkhouse are both listed as writers. I might guess Arnold came up with the story and Steve did the dialogue, except the first few pages do bear Arnold's "trademark" style of dialogue, so maybe Arnold plotted the whole thing, but got replaced on dialogue some pages in. Poor guy, he never could seem to get a foothold at Marvel, and for the most part, kept getting saddled with the "2nd rate" artists. I wish I could say I enjoyed this, but it just seems a waste of paper.
The biggest problem I have with most of these early Ka-Zar appearances, frankly, is his entire background, origin, and family relations. "The Plunderer" is a villain who gets old-- fast, and the way he goes around the first half of this story, as if he somehow weren't a full-blown maniacal career criminal, is exasperating. Why is this guy on the loose, let alone even still alive???
(6-21-2008)
THOR 162
cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
Thor & The Recorder are returned at high-speed by Ego to Rigel, where Thor pleads that The Recorder has "life" and should not be "shut off" now that his mission's over. In a flash, Thor then returns to Asgard, where Odin & co. are still concerned about the looming menace of Galactus. Using his mystic power, Odin peels back the curtain of time and they witness the "first" planet Galactus ever attacked, which was being invaded by aliens. The locals activate a "birthing chamber" and unleash whatever unknown being was inside it-- which turns out to be Galactus, who takes out the invaders, then the entire planet that "awoke" him, as living energy is what he needs in great supply. Although this new info still leaves countless questions unanswered, Thor is called to other matters, as Sif has gone to Earth-- and disappeared. Meanwhile, Balder is tormented, as it seems he HAS, against all his better judgment and wishes, fallen in love with Karnilla, his sworn enemy.
This is a "nice" issue, but somehow comes across as "filler". I understand "ye editor" tampered with it-- A LOT-- before it saw print-- and the story readers got to see may have had almost nothing to do with anything Jack Kirby intended when he WROTE and drew it. For one thing, there's a full-page shot of a destroyed city in here that, to my eyes, appears to be HALF of a 2-page shot of a destroyed city-- the other half appearing in the following issue! WHAT th'...? Strange things were going on behind-the-scenes...
(6-18-2008)
THE AVENGERS 62
cover by John Buscema & George Klein
The Black Panther "rescues" himself & his comrades from the freezing wastes caused by Ymir, and zips them by aircraft to his "hidden" land of Wakanda, where they're met by gunfire. It seems T'Challa's "old friend", M'Baku, who he left in charge while he went to America, has gotten power-hungry, and during a feast, drugs his "visitors". On awakening, The Panther sees his "friend" garbed in the "forbidden garb" of the White Gorilla, and calling himself The Man-Ape! A fight is on to see which will rule the kingdom, as M'Baku is determined to kill his king, take control, wipe out all the advances of technology and return the land to its original, primitive state. Things don't work out that way, and as M'Baku winds up buried under the rubble of the Panther statue, T'Challa laments that M'Baku was an "anacrhonism" who couldn't deal with change.
Like the last few, this issue is GLORIOUS. Roy Thomas, John Buscema and George Klein, all at their PEAKS!!! Nearly every panel is worthy of being a pin-up, and Roy's keeping his usual bad writing habits under control. I have this as a reprint in JUNGLE ACTION #5 (1973), where it was touted as the "beginning" of the new Black Panther solo series. HAH! That actual series began in the following issue, kind of absurd to "start" a series with a reprint. Anyway, the art reproduction in that was MUCH better than in the MARVEL SUPER ACTION reprints of AVENGERS from 7 years later. Go figure. I actually read this years before either half of the "Fire And Ice" 2-parter, and the opening pages left me wondering about that for quite a long time. I didn't read the stories in sequence until I got ahold of the ESSENTIAL AVENGERS volume. But it's way better in color!
(6-18-2008)
DAREDEVIL 50
cover by Barry Smith, Gene Colan & Johnny Craig
(alteratins by JOHN ROMITA)
X-MEN 54
cover by Barry Smith & Vince Colletta
(alterations by JOHN ROMITA)
This introduces Scott's never-before-mentioned younger brother Alex, who's graduating from high school, and apparently has no knowledge that both he and Scott are mutants. That changes quickly when a gang of thugs decked out in "Egyptian" outfits tries to kidnap him, led by a baddie called "The Pharaoh"-- who claims to posess "magical" powers, but is obviously a mutant like the X-Men. Alex is proud to learn his brother is leader of the group, but before long a 2nd kidnap attempt proves more successful. Cyclops faces off against The Pharaoh in a museum's "Egyptian" wing, but is knocked unconscious. On awakening, he finds Alex gone, and the cops are accusing HIM of KILLING the Pharaoh! Figuring Alex might have done it and run off, Scott escapes the cops, and now a city-wide manhunt is on for him. Abruptly, we cut to an underground cavern Cyclops is searching, where he runs into-- the Pharaoh, still alive, and arrogant as hell!
Now THIS was a return to form. I was beginning to think Arnold Drake had lost it, as none of his X-MEN issues up to here really "felt" like his work. This does, and also reminds me a lot of the earlier Thomas-Roth issues, except Drake actually did have the team fighting a mutant menace. Apart from introducing Alex' brother, Arnold also gives us a new baddie who seems to be Marvel's "answer" to the BATMAN tv-show villain, King Tut-- only with super-powers.
I kinda wonder why this issue appeared a month late. Did they just really wanna show off the Barry Smith fill-in? Or was this episode somehow running late? I think that's a legit question, as Werner Roth is missing from the credits. George Olshevsky's index lists him as "uncredited", but looking over the art, it looks to ME as if it's just Heck & Colletta, and after Don did layouts for 7 previous issues, I'd almost have to guess he did the same here, with Vince Colletta doing pencils AND inks ("finishes"), as he's much more overpowering than usual here. Some might think that a bad thing, but this issue "feels" more on-track than the last several, and that includes the ones done by Jim Steranko AND Barry Smith.
"THE MILLION DOLLAR ANGEL"
Here begins the origin of Warren Worthington, the perfect little rich kid who had no fear of heights and kept giving his parents worries every time he'd climb trees and such. He became a star athlete at the private school they sent him to, but at one point suddenly discovered he was growing WINGS out of his back, and found a way to get himself a private room so no one would find out. During a fire, he put on a disguise and saved several lives by pretending to be "an angel"-- I guess the name stuck. Some fellow students are determined to find out who the guy with the wings is.
As usual, Drake, Roth & Colletta (him again?) do a solid job all-round. Unfortunately, without warning, this would be Arnold Drake's last X-MEN issue, as sales were apparently in a bad state, and "ye editor" got Roy Thomas to come back in a desperate effort to "save" it.
(6-18-2008)
(Continued in April 1969)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
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