December 1970, Pt. 3

(Continued from December 1970, Pt. 2)

JIMMY OLSEN  134
Published cover by NEAL ADAMS

Fantasy cover

"THE MOUNTAIN OF JUDGEMENT!"

This was, ironically, the LAST issue of Jack Kirby's run of JIMMY OLSEN I got ahold of.  I never found the first 2, and got the 1st one in SUPERMAN IN THE 70's (2000).  3 years later, JIMMY OLSEN ADVENTURES came out, and despite having all but one of the episodes already, I sprang for both books.  They turned out to be wonderful packages, and between having all the episodes in one place, NO ads, brighter paper, and no Golden Age reprints to get in the way, I enjoyed the run MUCH more than I had years earlier.  (Of course, as of yesterday, I've confirmed it for myself, the line reproduction IS better in the originals-- but the difference isn't nearly as bad as 95% of Marvel's reprints over the years.

Once again, the cover reads "Superman's EX-Pal, The NEW Jimmy Olsen".  It would go back to normal with the next issue, once this initial part of the "biker" storyline ended.  It also has "A King-Sized KIRBY Blockbuster!" on the top.  Was there anyone else at DC who got this kind of promotion?  I keep reading how some of the old-timers who remembered the late 50's (or even the early-40's) felt resentment against Jack in general, for the special treatment & he & Joe Simon got way back when, for the way they TWICE failed to show "company loyalty", for the way Jack DARED to try standing up to Jack Schiff (who was screwing Jack out of money on the SKY MASTERS newspaper strip), and for the way Jack had done so much to make that miserable upstart of a company, Marvel, into such a TOP competitor.  Having Jack back at DC, and having his NAME plastered in ads and on covers must have REALLY rubbed some of those guys the wrong way.

In a complete reversal from the wild kinetic energy of #133's cover, #134 is dark, moody and solemn.  And for the 2nd issue in a row, I find the word balloons really work well.  "Now our road is fast and clear!", says Jimmy.  Not your average dialogue, but seeing as this story is centered on "counter-culture" types, very fitting.  A LOT of people, in real life, talked "FUNNY" in the late 60's!!  Check out any TV show from the period that did episodes about hippies or bikers for proof.

Looking at this cover, I can't help but wonder... would DC and its readers have been happier, in the long run, if Jack had done what he really wanted-- WRITING-- and NEAL ADAMS had done the art?  (Let's face it, while Jack is one of the BEST-- and certainly most unique-- writers in comics,  Neal is one of the WORST-- and teaming up 2 guys as different as they were might have had very interesting results.)

This is funny, but seeing those vehicles gathering on that huge tree stump on page 2 reminds me of part of The Batcave from the Tim Burton movies.  Kinda dangerous place to park your car, if the brakes ever give out!

Once again, Superman sticks his nose in where it isn't wanted, and this time pays for it.  He certainly DOES seem to know more than he's letting on, although as the story progresses, we find that there's a LOT about "The Wild Area" he DOESN'T know, and I suppose the differences are telling.

The 2nd panel on page 6, where Yango blasts Supes, is so slick, it almost reminds me of something Frank Giacoia might have done.  Throughout this run, I feel, is some of the BEST-looking inks Vince Colletta ever laid down over Jack's pencils.  Although, according to Mark Evanier, he had HELP on some episodes.

The scene on page 7 where the Whiz Wagon drives at full-speed right INTO the side of that mountain reminds me of 2 things I've seen in movies many years later.  One, the scene in BUCKAROO BANZAI where he uses his "Oscillation Overthruster" to penetrate another dimension; and two, when Michael Keaton's BATMAN, with Vicki Vale in the passenger seat, drove into the Batcave.

From the moment they enter the underground road, "The Zoomway", the book becomes NON-STOP HIGH-SPEED action!!!  The comparison I made to Jules Verne's "The Terror" (from the book MASTER OF THE WORLD) continues as we find the Whiz Wagon ALSO operates UNDER water!  Reed Richards could have sure used a vehicle like this one-- might have saved him a lot of room taken up by all those different flying machines.

The photo-collages on pages 12-13 are nothing short of mind-blowing.  The reproduction in the reprint book is INCREDIBLY clear.  Usually, when Marvel would reprint something like this, it'd wind up looking even worse than it did the first time.  I wonder if someone one of these days might take the trouble to re-photograph the collages (if they still exist) and actually print them IN COLOR?  The only time I've seen this done so far was in the final issue of CAPTAIN VICTORY, and THE HUNGER DOGS.

A friend of mine, more than once, told he he "heard" that Jack Kirby "couldn't draw pretty women".  Look at the first panel on page 14 to put the lie to THAT belief!!

I LOVE the sequence on pages 15-17 when Superman first encounters "THE MOUNTAIN OF JUDGMENT"!!!  For the first time, Superman actually came in handy being around in this story.  It becomes clear at this point that Supes DOES know some of what's going on, but obviously not all.  After he saves everyone from the bomb, at last Jimmy shows some gratitude.  Of course, it might have helped if Superman had CONFIDED in his "pal" a lot earlier than this.  This attitude of his about being the "only one" who can handle certain things has continued and increased over the decades, to the point where under some writers, he's become insufferable.  (Then again, that's nothing compared to what certain editors & writers have done to Batman.  Remember when both those guys used to be LIKEABLE?)

After all these years, it finally hit me that "Hairies" is somewhat of a variation on the word "Hippies", except in this case referring to "hippies" who are super-geniuses.

It now becomes clear that the entire first 2 episodes were nothing less than a plot by Morgan Edge to DESTROY The Mountain Of Judgement (and possibly most of The Hairies as well), with no regard to how many others might get killed along the way (specifically, Jimmy & The Newsboy Legion).  Superman seems VERY aware of this fact-- I'm wondering, will he DO anything about it?

From 1986 on, when SUPERMAN was completely rebooted from scratch, Lex Luthor was changed from being a scientific genius to the evil head of a corporation.  Seems to me Jack Kirby beat Marv Wolfman to that by 15 years.  Unlike the Post-Crisis Lex, who seems self-made, in this case, we find out Edge is working for someone else, who appears in exactly ONE tiny panel, on a tv screen... "DARKSEID".

As Jack says, "The outline of a VAST, OMINOUS intrigue begins to take shape!"

Apparently, the first thing Jack did when he started at DC was the first issues of his new books.  But then, for "commercial" reasons, he was asked to do something that was a "sure thing" FIRST, to help justify his contract.  Drastic changes to a series are often done when sales are plumetting, but often don't work out. I wonder, did sales of JIMMY OLSEN go up when Jack took over-- stay the same-- or continue to drop?  The book DID continue after he left it... but not for that much longer (well, 15 more issues,  I guess that's longer than some books' ENTIRE runs!).
     (6-13-2011)


(Continued in January 1971)

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

December 1970, Pt. 2

(Continued from December 1970)

ASTONISHING TALES  3
cover by MARIE SEVERIN
     (alterations by JOHN ROMITA)

"BACK TO THE SAVAGE LAND"

"DOOM MUST DIE"

As the rebels attack Dr. Doom's castle, he faces The Faceless One and The Doomsman-- who, because of the conflicting orders, breaks free and decides to act on its own decisions.  At that point, because Doomsman was created with Doom's own brain waves, he's able to assert total control over it, and has it attack The Faceless One.  His body held in a steel-grip, The Faceless One suddenly reveals he (it?) is an alien, with a spherical body and spider-like legs!  It crawls away, then has its "body" explode" as a diversion.  As Doom fights off the rebels single-handedly, The Faceless One takes control of the castle's weapons-systems, and attacks Doom with electronic bolts of energy, causing him to vanish.  The rebels' seeming victory is short-lived, as Doom returns, announcing machinery beneath his castle (built on a fault line) has activated, causing an earthquake which levels the castle!  The rebels flee for their lives.  Doom calls The Doomsman back, and "tests" it against one of his most powerful robots.  Realizing his androids are too dangerous, Doom abandons his hopes of creating an army of them.  As The Doomsman tries to attack him while he sleeps, Doom gets the better of him, sending Doomsman into another dimension.  He then calls all the able-bodied people in his kingdom together, and has them begin work on re-building the castle-- while he departs, until it's finished.

Whoa.  MIND-BOGGLING that all this fit into only 10 pages.  Wally Wood continues to work wonders, while Larry Lieber supplies the dialogue this time (I doubt he had any more than that to do with it).  I notice the robot Doom had Doomsman fight at one point was identical in design to one Wood had painted on a pulp magazine cover sometime earlier (or was it later? hard to tell).  Both Doomsman & The Faceless One would eventually return... as would Rudolpho... but that's standard procedure for Marvel.  This was the last episode reprinted in THE MARVEL COMICS ART OF WALLY WOOD (1982), probably just as well, as while Wood did the 4th episode, he left in mid-story.  (I hate when that happens.)
     (7-27-2008)


CONAN THE BARBARIAN  2
cover by BARRY SMITH

"LAIR OF THE BEAT-MEN"

Wandering the snowy wastes, Conan is lured by a lone female into a trap, and captured by some man-like apes dressed in armor.  Taken to the underground city of Brutheim, is awakens to learn he's become one of the "beast-men"'s slaves, and will be so until he dies.  Naturally, this doesn't sit with him, and he tries to escape at the first opportunity.  Condemned to die in an arena as a result, he's given a knife by the "chief thrall" Kiord, to save himself the pain.  Instead, he uses it to kill the "snow-lion" they send at him, and as a squad of beast-men rush the arena, the slaves, inspired by his example, finally revolt!  With both leaders dead, the beast-men flee into the wasteland, as Conan honors Kiord, who at the last, died as a man.

Roy Thomas describes how this story was inspired by a brief passage Robert E. Howard's article "The Hyborean Age".  Apparently, Martin Goodman didn't like the splash page, which had Conan kill a bear and take its pelt for a fur coat; as a result, Barry Smith had to redraw part of the page to show a dead beast-man, effectively blowing the surprise of their appearance 2 pages later, and some dialogue was re-written to accomodate it.  (Sheesh.)  This issue was nominated for "best story of 1971" by the Academy of Comic-Book Arts.  (Are they still around?)  After some initial concern abut the "stiff" art in CONAN #1, Barry Smith relieved everyone's worries when the art for #2 arrived, a VAST improvement.  While there's still bits of Kirby influence here and there, he was already developing his own style.

I dug out my copies of CONAN CLASSIC for comparison' sake.  I must say, while I initially liked the clean, "flat" color in these, I find the coloring job on THE CHRONICLES OF CONAN to be vastly superior.  The color choices seem better in every case, they seriously aid the storytelling rather than detract from it.  Although, I would have liked to have seen THOSE colors done "flat", instead of everything being overly-rendered with airbrush.  Comparing an online scan of the cover with the one reprinted in CONAN CLASSIC, none of the colors match at all.  Wouldn't you think somebody doing reprints would at least LOOK at the original to see what it looked like, instead of doing the whole job completely over from scratch?

The only surprising disappointment in the CHRONICLES books (other than the "overdone" coloring) is that they didn't include the covers.  I mean, COME ON!!  In addition, CONAN CLASSIC actually included rare or unpublished art as extras.  #1 included the unused splash, and a page worth of panels cut when a new splash, plus a new page 2 was added.  #2 includes the pencils for #1's cover, a half-page house ad for #2, and a piece Barry Smith did when the story in #2 was reprinted in CONAN SAGA #1 in 1987.
     (7-27-2008)


WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS  3
cover by DICK AYERS
     (alterations by HERB TRIMPE)

For the 2nd issue in a row, the Carter Slade "Ghost Rider" is the ONLY new feature in an otherwise all-reprint package.

"THE MAN CALLED HURRICANE" clocks in at 10 pages.  According to the GCD: "The story was originally announced for Ghost Rider (Marvel, 1967 series) #8.  When the book was cancelled the story may have been partially completed.  Note that the first five pages are inked by Vince Colletta and lettered by Artie Simek, while pages 6-10 are inked and lettered by Ayers; he may have completed the story for this issue.  Info per Nick Caputo."  DICK AYERS supplies story & art, Gary Friedrich does dialogue, and Vince Colletta & Dick Ayers split the inking duties.  Makes me wonder why this wasn't used in WG #1 instead of #3.

The rest of the book is 41 pages' worth of reprints, featuring APACHE KID, WYATT EARP, BUCKSKIN BILLY, WESTERN KID and "BLACK MASK" (originally THE BLACK RIDER, inexplicably re-named for the reprint), plus 3 more miscellaneous stories.  I'd actually say this would be a nicer package if it had been ALL-reprint, but that's me.
    (3-27-2014)




(Continued in December 1970, Pt. 3)

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

December 1970

(Continued from November 1970, Pt. 2)

FANTASTIC FOUR  105
cover by John Romita & John Verpoorten

"THE MONSTER IN THE STREETS!"

Crystal collapses abruptly.  Johnny races her to Reed, who discovers that due to her having lived so long in The Great Refuge, she has not developed an "immunity" to the pollution in the outside world, and must return there to rebuild her body's immune system... at least for awhile.  Reed also finds something in her blood that may be able to help with his attempts to "cure" Ben, and Ben gets all excited about it, despite the total ANGUISH going on with Johnny right in front of him.  Meanwhile, a strange energy field is moving thru the streets of the city, causing destruction wherever it goes.  Sue runs into Dr. Zolten Rambow, an old colleague of Reed's, who in the worst 50's sci-fi tradition wants to "study" the phenomena, not destroy it.  The figure of a man appears with it, and Johnny, trying to focus on action rather than having just lost his girl (AGAIN!) is helpless.  Only Sue is holding it back with her force-field, and Johnny races to get Reed's help.  Except, Reed has just started a new and very dangerous experiment to try and cure Ben, and if he leaves, Ben could be killed.  His wife or his best friend-- which should he save?  Hmm...

Okay, I thought the Sub-Mariner-Magneto 3-parter was bad (AND IT WAS!) but this is MUCH worse.  This gets my vote for the worst FF comic ever published (at least up to this time).  Romita's storytelling is stiff, exagerated & over-the-top, Verpoorten's inks remove all trace of the mood and "style" Romita usually has and make the whole thing look like a cheap Saturday morning cartoon, and "ye editor"s dialogue... good grief.  Has this guy actually read any of the previous issues?  He doesn't seem to know how "his" characters are supposed to talk... or act.  Ben is way out of character when he pushes Reed to do the experiment seconds after Johnny flies away enraged, Johnny is made to look like an immature idiot, Crystal is just a "stiff"...  The whole thing with her having to return home is just so CONTRIVED.  It's like, "Oh, we need to dump some new problem on the young lovers... I know, let's say pollution in the air is a problem! Then we'll have soap-opera AND environmental consciousness."  As for the "monster"-- totally unidentified, unexplained-- and this "Dr. Rambow"-- man, I'd rather watch anything American International put out in the 50's than this.  Even the ones Roger Corman DIDN'T do.

3 word balloons and 2 very wordy blurbs don't ruin the cover-- the design killed it first.  How did this thing ever NOT get cancelled???
     (7-26-2008)


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  91
cover by Gil Kane & John Romita

"TO SMASH A SPIDER!"

On the way home from Stacy's funeral, Gwen tells Pete she HATES Spider-Man with every fibre of her being.  (Or something to that effect.)  She wants to see him "brought to justice" so much, she volunteers to help in the campaign of "law and order" candidate Sam Bullit, an ex-cop (she doesn't seem to realize he's an EX-cop because he was THROWN OFF THE FORCE) who decides to use Spider-Man as a big part of his politcal campaign.  Jameson gets onboard when Bullit promises to "deliver" Spidey-Man, and soon a "Crush Spider-Man" campaign in in full swing.  Joe warns Jameson that Bullit is a "fascist", and it's proven when 2 of Bullit's thugs, wanting to know Spidey's whereabouts, beat Peter up badly, figuring as the photographer who's taken so many shots of the guy, he must know something.  Spidey clobbers the thugs in return, but on returning to his apartment, finds Gwen-- and Bullit-- waiting.  Bullit says, "We thought there was a connection between them-- now we have proof!"  Yeah, right-- as if 2 previous stories in which Spidey openly admitted to the Stacys he & Pete had a "deal" somehow never happened.  (Doesn't "ye editor" read his own comics?)

The art's not bad, but the story is only beginning to take a dark tone here.  The cover's just AWFUL, though-- words, words, words, everywhere!  And as Spidey is hassling a thug, a whole line of characters are just standing there, watching, including Harry & MJ, who aren't even IN this issue!
     (7-28-2008)


IRON MAN  32
cover by Marie Severin & Mike Esposito

"BEWARE THE MECHANOID"


CAPTAIN AMERICA  132
cover by Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia
     (alterations by JOHN ROMITA)

"THE FEARFUL SECRET OF BUCKY BARNES!"

This opens with the blurb: "In this epic issue! Exposed at last: THE MOST DIABOLICAL PLOT OF ALL TIME!"  Well, that and the cover ("Bucky" about to smash Cap with a rock while saying "I've waited 20 YEARS to do this!") kinda blows any surprise at what follows.  (But we knew that since the last panel of the previous issue, so...)  As "Baron Strucker" is hauled away, reporters have flocked to the scene, wanting details on Bucky's miraculous return.  Watching the news, The Falcon thinks how he'd hoped maybe HE and Cap could become partners someday, but now...  At SHIELD HQ, Sharon hopes that Bucky's return may help wipe the guilt from Cap's heart, and maybe he can "lead a normal life" now.  Fury responds that a guy like Cap is who he is, and she can't expect him to quit.  (Though not stated, he may also be thinking of the irony that she wants Cap to quit being a hero, while the whole "problem" with them was HER refusing to quit being a SHIELD agent!)  Fury also says she'll probably "hogtie" Cap eventually-- but a guy like that can't be rushed.

Gene Colan then spends 2 whole pages setting up for readers the secret island fortress of AIM, where MODOK thinks on how his schemes have been going lately.  It was MODOK who had his agents infiltrate the college where the riot started, which Cap helped stop.  His men also watched as "Baron Strucker"'s man urged Cap to appear on TV, and then sent Batroc & his flunkies after Cap while he was on the air.  Mentally eavesdropping on "Strucker", MODOK learned he wanted to PERSONALLY bring about Cap's downfall... and that's when MODOK hatched a devious new scheme.  Contacting Dr. Doom-- who considers himself a "master of robotics"-- MODOK challenged him to-- you saw this coming, right?-- build a ROBOT duplicate of Bucky Barnes.  His ego unable to turn down the challenge, Doom not only built a robot that would have Bucky's features & voice-- but his personality as well!  Then, MODOK mentally placed the idea in "Strucker"'s brain to find someone to impersonate Bucky.  MAN!  This explains SO MUCH about all those "coincidences" that kept building up and up and UP last issue!  (But not all...)

MODOK muses that while Cap escaped "Strucker"'s trap, he still doesn't realize his companion is a robot-- under MODOK's control.  And at that point, he has "Bucky" attack Cap.  The attack is brutal-- and Cap can't bring himself to fight back, as he feels Bucky doesn't know what he's saying or doing-- and HE feels responsible for what he's become!  But then "Bucky"'s expression changes-- as Bucky's memories take over, and the robot can't continue trying to murder Bucky's friend.  MODOK realizes Doom made the robot TOO well (perhaps deliberately, as a private "joke" and a way to "stick it" to a potential rival?) and its "automatic destruct control" will be activated-- before he can stop it.  (What's a robot designed with one of those for, anyway?)  "Bucky" explodes-- and "dies".  Cap realizes it was just an imposter-- an "android" ("ye editor" LOVED that word...).  But as he cradles the body of the "android", Cap muses that "not even a REPLICA of my long-lost partner could bring himself to HARM, me! It's as though-- BUCKY HIMSELF --reached out from the past --just when I needed him most!"  Okay... if he wants to think that way...

MAN, talk about convoluted!  I have to admit, for what it is, it was rather well-done.  Gene Colan's art is terrific, he really gets across the emotion and anguish, and Dick Ayers REALLY does a nice job on the inks as well.  "Ye editor"s dialogue isn't bad, either. It's just the THINKING behind the story that wasn't-- QUITE-- fully worked out.  And this goes beyond the fact that The Red Skull had ALREADY pulled this EXACT same stunt with a Bucky robot back in TALES OF SUSPENSE #88-89 (Apr'May'67).  It's the "Baron Strucker" thing.  (Quotation marks intentional.)  See, he was FRIED to atoms back on Hydra Island, before the whole place went under and EVERYBODY there died thanks to their own "Death Spore" bomb, in STRANGE TALES #158 (Jul'67).  It was a MAJOR event in Marvel history!  MAJOR!!  Because HYDRA, and A.I.M., and The Secret Empire, and The Red Skull (revived from suspended animation due to A.I.M.) and The Super-Adaptoid (built by A.I.M.)--well, it just got into everything there for awhile.  And when Strucker got KILLED-- HYDRA totally disappeared off the comics map for over a year-and-a-half, until Jim Steranko brought them back in CAPTAIN AMERICA #110 (Feb'69).  A.I.M. had branched out on their own, and had been around a lot, but HYDRA itself had laid low for awhile.  Both groups continued to come back in the 70's, again and again and AGAIN, usually in "lesser", inferior stories that were a pale shadow of the glories of the 60's epics.  The thing is... here, "Baron Strucker" is found to be alive-- there is NO explanation-- and with all this HYDRA and A.I.M. activity in the 70's, NOT ONCE does "Strucker" enter into the picture!  I mean-- imagine it-- if you were some high-ranking HYDRA official.  You've learned that your SUPREME COMMANDER is still alive-- sitting in some jail cell.  Wouldn't you go out of your way to rescue him?  NOBODY ever did!  WHAT th'...??  Just goes to show how chaotic Marvel got in the 70's-- doesn't it?



And now, I must address some long-term, very convoluted "continuity".  Following in the "fanboy" footsteps of Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart was a writer who really knew how to take "continuity" problems and turn them into terrific stories.  I'd say he was much better at it than Roy.  Following in Steve's footsteps, the early-80's saw both Roger Stern and John Byrne as "continuity" fanatics.  Stern's other specialty was taking overused worn-out characters and making them "fresh" again.  Byrne's "continuity" obsessions would get the better of him over time, leading him to feel he "had" to change things on every book he touched.  But that came later.

Stern & Byrne took over CAPTAIN AMERICA with issue #247 (Jul'80), and in the first few pages, cleared up a mystery about Cap's memories of his early life before he became a superhero that had been hanging around for over 2 YEARS by then, ever since Roy Thomas decided Cap "couldn't remember" his past life.  Over 2 YEARS that thing was left hanging!  And Stern & Byrne cleared it up in a FEW PAGES!  Wow.  Well... that was NOTHING.  In the SAME issue... Nick Fury FINALLY goes to visit "Baron Strucker" in a SHIELD holding cell.  In comics-buyers time, it's been 9-1/2 YEARS since he was arrested.  (I believe in the story they said he'd been held for "2 years"-- that's comics-time for you.)  In all that time, "Strucker" had refused to talk.  But Fury no longer cared (or so he said), as he'd gotten extradition papers from Israel to have "Strucker" hauled back there for "war crimes" dating back to the 1940's!  Whoa!  And at that moment, "Strucker" reached into his shirt (or was it his CHEST?) and pulled out a weapon, overpowered Fury, stole his Porsche, and attacked Cap with it.  In the end, he was overpowered, and before Cap & Fury's eyes, he raised his arm in a Nazi salute, yelled, "SIEG HEIL!"-- and EXPLODED!  "Strucker"-- the guy they had in that jail cell since C.A. #132-- all along, had been a robot!

Now THINK about this!  MODOK gets Dr. Doom to create a Bucky Barnes robot-- who doesn't know he's a robot.  And uses it to fool a "Baron Strucker" robot-- who doesn't seem to know HE's a robot, either!!!  Isn't that just NUTS?????

You can SEE where all that stuff on the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA came from, can't you?

The next issue, "The Gaff" (Sidney E. Levine) examines the remains of "Strucker" and describes it as the most advanced robot he has EVER seen, saying it makes SHIELD's L.M.D.'s look like "tinker toys".  The person who built it turns out to be "Machinesmith", a mysterious robot-builder who had debuted in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #47-48 (Jan'Feb'79).  In the last-panel shot of C.A. #247, we see Machinesmith's lab-- and in the background, he has, laying around, robots of Iron Man, The Thing, Spider-Man, The Manipulator, and Magneto.  WHOA!!  In ONE panel, without any words to the effect, we find out THIS is the guy who built the Magneto robot that appeared in X-MEN #50-52 & 58 (Nov'68-Jan'69 & Jul'69).  The question of THIS long-hanging mystery had already been dredged up in X-MEN #112 (Aug'78), when Magneto told the X-Men he had "never met" Mesmero, who had been working with "Magneto" in the "City Of Mutants" story.  So it's obvious that John Byrne had been thinking about this for some time.

"The Manipulator"-- a VERY weird villain with 2 faces (one in front, one in the back-- I'm not making this up, although years earlier I HAD done a villain just like that in one of my own comics) had appeared in 2 VERY bizarre stories, in AVENGERS #178 (Dec'78) and CAPTAIN AMERICA #242 (Feb'80)-- both edited by Roger Stern, so I can see where THAT piece of the puzzle came from.  Without re-reading my ENTIRE collection, I can't for the life of me figure out which stories the Iron Man, Thing or Spidey robots appeared in... but I'm sure somebody out there must know.

Well, it gets MORE complicated.  "Machinesmith" is revealed to be "Starr Saxon", who murdered "Zoltan Drago"-- the 1st "Mr. Fear" from DAREDEVIL #6 (Feb'65) and took his place as the 2nd "Mr. Fear" in DAREDEVIL #54-55 (Jul-Aug'69).  He fell to his DEATH... but his robots, programmed to preserve his life, transferred his mind into a COMPUTER... and built other robots into which he could transfer part of his consciousness, and walk around, eventually making the robots looks more human and calling himself "Machinesmith".  He was so good at building robots, he did it both on comission, and for his own amusement.  His whole existence slowly drove him INSANE... and he wanted an END to it, so he deliberately sent the Strucker robot after Cap so Cap would track down its creator-- and put him out of his misery.  It just took LONGER than he probably hoped it would.  SHEESH!!!

But WHY did he send a Strucker robot after Cap-- and not Fury??  NO CLUE!!!

By the way, Stern did NOT mention "Starr Saxon" by name, OR which issue of DD he died in.  THAT, I had to look up in the George Olshevsky DD Index.  (It's not mentioned on the GCD either, so nobody doing indexes there apparently has any idea of all this.)

Now, the fact that the 2nd Mr. Fear got killed in comics that came out AFTER the "City of Mutants" story came out (in fact, he was killed one month AFTER the "Magneto" robot was revealed to be a robot), I suppose, just has to be glossed over as one of those things where comics don't all take place in the order they're published... even though that's EXACTLY what "ye editor" & Kirby made a whole POINT of in the early-mid 60's.  It had, sadly, fallen by the wayside as soon as Cap, Thor & Iron Man ALL started making regular appearances in THE AVENGERS again in the late 60's, and after all, when Stern & Byrne wrote their story, over a DECADE had gone by in publishing time.  I guess continuity fanatics just have to allow a bit of fudging on something like that.

Incidentally, in C.A. #249 (the 3rd part of the story), we see a robot of Gabriel, The Air-Walker, who appeared in FANTASTIC FOUR #120-123 (Mar-Jun'72).  I believe Gabriel was revealed IN that story to be a robot... by WHY in all the universe would GALACTUS get an earthman to build HIM a robot???  (Maybe I'll figure it out if I can bring myself to keep re-reading the FF.  We'll see.)

Oh, and since I've brought it up, there were at least 2 OTHER guys who called themselves "Mr. Fear"-- the 3rd one was Larry Cranston, in DAREDEVIL #90-91 (Aug-Sep'72), the 4th was Alan Fagan, in MARVEL TEAM-UP #92 (Apr'80).  Daredevil seems to have a high turn-over rate for some of his villains-- there's also been 2 Ox's, 2 (or more?) sets of "Unholy 3"s, and then there's The Exterminator, who died and came back as The Death-Stalker, who at one point impersonated Death's-Head, yet another DD villain who died.  You really need a score-card to keep track of some of these things...
     (7-26-2008)


SUB-MARINER  32
cover by SAL BUSCEMA

"CALL HER LLYRA, CALL HER LEGEND!"
Namor, frustrated at not finding any "allies" in his quest to save the planet from pollution, decides to return to Lemuria in the Pacific to seek an alliance with Karthon (last seen in SUB-MARINER #13).  But on arrival, he's taken prisoner and hauled before Lemuria's new ruler-- Llyra, whose origin is strangely similar to his own (Lemurian father, surface-woman mother).  Llyra has the ability to control monsters of the deep, and desires an alliance with Namor to conquer the surface-world.  As he now desires only peace, he turns her down... at which point, she has him imprisoned in a glass tube at a surface Oceanarium filled with chemicals which sap his super-strength.  Llyra's twin sister Laurie-- who looks fully human-- appears, but is too afraid of her sister to help.  But the older woman attending the exhibit does help him escape, and when Llyra is killed in a resulting fight involving a sperm whale (says Roy-- Sal drew a blue whale-- I know the difference!), she turns into Laurie.  The older woman reveals she's Llyra's mother, and that "two daughters shared one body", but only Llyra knew the truth.  As Namor swims off, he ponders what might have been, under different circumstances.

Well, having been kicked off AMAZING SPIDER-MAN after having done so much wonderful work there (thanks to the chaos "ye editor" instigated following Jack Kirby's departure to DC), Jim Mooney makes his 3rd appearance as inker on this series (following #24 & half of #25), replacing Mike Esposito who'd done 6-1/2 issues in a row.  It's a nice but minor improvement, his inks have more "feeling" to them than Esposito, but Sal Buscema just isn't as good on this series as quite a number of others were.

A relatively "minor" story, I was surprised at the ending, mostly because Llyra at some point made a comeback and appeared in dozens (if not hundreds) of later stories (or it sure seemed that way).  The cover, with Namor in a glass tube on display, is like a remake of the cover of FANTASTIC FOUR #104-- only a month earlier (except there, it was Sue & Dorma on display).
     (7-27-2008)


THE INCREDIBLE HULK  134
cover by HERB TRIMPE

"AMONG US WALKS... THE GOLEM"

The tiny, backward country of Morvania is ruled by ruthless dictator Draxon, who (in the previous issue, apparently), had a run-in with The Hulk.  Now he uses news of The Hulk to keep his people even more in terror than usual.  Except for a very small young girl, who befriends Hulk and invites him home.  It's like that scene in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN... or something.  (heh)  Her parents are terrified, naturally, so he runs off.  Her father tells the legend of The Golem, and wonders if The Hulk might be the legend come to life.  Having had enough, the rebels decide to fight-- or die, and Draxon is only too happy to make an example of them.  Until the little girl begs The Hulk to help save her father's life.  Against his own best instincts, he does.  Draxon is killed when his "ultimate weapon" (a huge tank with tentacles) is destroyed, and the girl's father gives The Hulk the amulet which according to legend marks the King of Morvania.  But he destroys it, and departs, wondering what a "Golem" is.

The usual ramble from Roy Thomas & Herb Trimpe, with Sal Buscema on inks this time.  I can't tell if it's an improvement or worse than Trimpe's inks at this point, because the reprint I have, MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #17 (1978), the reproduction is so bad.  Since Bruce Banner's life continued to be so hopeless during this period, maybe it's just as well he didn't even appear in one panel this time.
     (7-27-2008)


THOR  183
cover by John Buscema & John Verpoorten

"TRAPPED IN DOOMSLAND!"


THE AVENGERS  83
cover by John Buscema & Tom Palmer

"COME ON IN... THE REVOLUTION'S FINE!"

The Wasp pays a visit to Avengers Mansion (she's been on leave for some time now) and discovers, in progress, a meeting of "The Lady Liberators", made up of Black Widow, Medusa, Scarlet Witch, and some Norse Goddess-looking blonde babe with a spear calling herself The Valkyrie.  Arguing that the "men" have made all the decisions and taken all the credit, she urges them to come with her and "take down" The Avengers-- and The Inhumans will be next!  LET'S GO, GIRLS!  At the annual Rutland Halloween party & parade, The Avengers show up (as does Roy & Jean Thomas-- heh), on a tip about a kidnap plot.  Sure enough, who shows up but The Masters Of Evil-- Radioactive Man, Whirlwind, Melter & Klaw, and before you know it, BIG FIGHT erupts.  Things go either way, until the ladies show up and put the finish on the baddies.  And THEN, attack the good guys!  WHAT th'...?  Valkyrie attacks Vision & Goliath with a blast from her magical spear, as she yells "UP AGAINST THE WALL, MALE CHAUVINIST PIGS!"  They locate Dr. Erwin, the apparent kidnapee, and "take him into custody" (??), then go to his lab, where he's built a "parallel time projector"-- which is all "The Valkyrie" really wanted to get her hands on all along, as she reveals herself to be The Enchantress (one of the members of the original Masters Of Evil-- how about that?).  It seems following the failed coup in Asgard in HULK #102, she & The Executioner were banished to the "nether worlds", which wasn't so bad, until her male cohort fell for the female ruler of that realm, and as SHE had been throwing herself at Hercules earlier, he figured fair was fair.  Or something.  So now, the Enchantress has a mad-on against ALL men-- but as she's about to blast everyone with a magic bolt, The Scarlet Witch hits her first with a hex that turns her power back on herself-- sending The Enchantress to parts unknown.  It seems the women were all under a spell which depended on trust to work, and that was blown when The Enchantress called The Wasp a "wench" (in the exact tone she had used in an earlier appearance).  All's fine, until Clint opens his big mouth and starts knocking "women's lib", at which point Wanda really starts to get mad.  Jan looks on, amused.

Well, in various comics around this period we've had "youth movement" stories, "biker" stories, "black power" stories, I guess a "women's lib" story was bound to happen.  I'd say it was kind of overdue, in fact, as DC's LEGION had "The Mutiny Of The Super-Heroines!" already back in ADVENTURE COMICS #368 (May'68), 2-1/2 YEARS earlier!  (Come to think of it, the girls in that story were mentally taken over, too!)  Fun, offbeat story, a nice break from some of the world-shaking gloom-and-doom stuff that was going on at the time.  I notice that both The Black Widow and Medusa were moonlighting here from their own series, both in AMAZING ADVENTURES (this story no doubt taking place between AA #4 & 5).

Tom Palmer manages to make John Buscema's Black Widow look a LOT better than she did in her own series (in the episodes Buscema pencilled), while in general the Buscema-Palmer team continues to do not only top-notch work, but each of the women have their own distinct look.  Only The Enchantress seems a bit "off" to me.  I mean, she's pretty-- downright cute-- but doesn't seem at all the SAME tall, imposing gorgeous stunning blonde that Jack Kirby first came up with way back in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #103 (Apr'64).  I do wish more artists would take the trouble to look back at certain characters' earliest stories and at least TRY to stay "on-model".

I first read this story in MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #7 (1975), and I suspect the fact that it was reprinted before may explain why the stats on this particular episode are not quite as good as most of the rest in ESSENTIAL AVENGERS Vol.4 (2004).
     (7-27-2008)


DAREDEVIL  71
cover by Marie Severin & Syd Shores

"IF AN EYE OFFEND THEE"


(Continued in December 1970, Pt. 2)

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

November 1970, Pt. 2

(Continued from November 1970)

AMAZING ADVENTURES  3
cover by John Buscema & John Verpoorten

"PAWNS OF THE MANDARIN"

Iron Man's arch-enemy, The Mandarin, has a party of men excavating near The Great Refuge, which causes The Inhumans to attack to chase them away from their land.  The Mandarin appears to take a personal hand, defeating each Inhuman in turn, until Black Bolt disrupts the powers of his rings, and burying him in the ground!  But it was only a robot, which the Mandarin used to discover what their powers were.  And now, curious about the dig, they are doing his job for him-- uncovering an ancient, buried temple, within which is "The Eye Of Yin", which The Mandarin describes as "ultimate power".  Deep underground, in the head of a 4-armed idol, the "Eye" opens, and someone yells, "Anything can happen now!"

Probably the last remaining Jack Kirby story to be published after his abrupt departure, this one's not bad, considering the high number of panels crammed into only 10 pages.  Chic Stone's inks aren't as refined as Sinnott or Grainger, but looking this over a 2nd time, it's not as bad as I remember.  Fans of Mike Royer's inks would probably like this, as I suspect it's "purer" Kirby than most fans of this time were used to seeing.  Things really pick up both story-wise & visually when The Inhumans enter the underground temple, and I find myself wishing there'd been more room to do it all justice.  There was one more Kirby-Stone episode, which unfortunately I'm still missing.  Considering Kirby apparently wanted to have done more IRON MAN stories than he did, and probably designed The Mandarin (he certainly did all the covers with the guy when Don Heck was on the series), it's crazy this is the first time Kirby got a chance to use the villain, outside of the briefest of cameos in FF ANNUAL #3.

I'm wondering where this "robot" thing came from.  One fan I know said "ye editor" was "robot" crazy, noting how 60's Marvel was completely over-run with them!  Jim Steranko introduced the idea that Dr. Doom was a "robot master", next thing Doom was using them all over the place in FF, his own series in ASTONISHING and even in CAPTAIN AMERICA.  Now Mandarin has joined the club.
     (7-26-2008)

"THE WIDOW AND THE MILITANTS!"

This has J. Jonah Jameson more interested in The Black Widow than even Spider-Man, and he tells Parker not to come back wthout pics of her.  At The New York Press, Paul tells Natasha he'll do what he can to show her in a better light, and refers to Jameson as "a MADMAN".  Her "militant" friends intend to fight to stay in the building they've occupied, even fight police if they have to, fighting "for what is rightfully OURS under the United States Constitution!"  (Boy, does this guy have his ideas screwed up...)  Natasha is knocked out when she gets home & wakes in her apartment confronted with a group of thugs led by a masked man who says he intends to convince the public that the "militants'" actions were "Communist inspired"-- by her.  The Mayor appears on TV urging the "militants" to find legal means to settle their problems, but they're more determined than ever to "fight!"

The completely-uncalled for appearances of Jameson & Peter Parker notwithstanding-- and despite the fact that the story continued to not be all that great shakes-- this episode is a HUGE improvement over the previous ones, due to a change in artists (ALREADY???).  Taking over from Buscema & Verpoorten are Gene Colan & Bill Everett.  John Romita's BW may have been sexy-- but she was more "cute" than impressive.  Colan's BW is definitely impressive-- beautiful AND tough, someone you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of.  It's a shame she never turned up in Iron Man when Gene was doing his series, considering she made her debut there.  Bill Everett's complex fine line rendering is once again a perfect match for Gene's pencils, almost like Vince Colletta if Vince knew what he was doing.  If only for the art, AA #3 was a big step up.  Gene would eventually draw a LOT more of Natasha... when she turned up in DAREDEVIL.

According to my index, this was Gary Friedrich's last episode of BW.  The next one was written by Mimi Gold... I'm not sure who that is!  Geez, they lost their penciller after 2 episodes, their writer after 3... that can't be good for sales, let alone "consistency".  The cover, another "split" one by John Buscema & John Verpoorten, isn't so bad this time... it just looks like a Saturday morning cartoon compared to the interior art!
     (7-26-2008)


TOWER OF SHADOWS  8
cover by BERNI WRIGHTSON

"SANCTUARY!"

This story opens with the warrior-king Hamand and his troops in pitched fighting atop some castle battlements as they defend against a horde of not-quite-human attackers.  After, in a dream, he's visited by someone he thought dead, and thinks back to when he first conquered the ancient land of Cybernia.  A rebel had informed him that his people could serve no one who didn't wear the "crown of the ancient kings", which rested in the "Dragonhenge".  He revealed its location in exchange for his life-- and as soon as he had the info, Hamand ordered the man killed.  (NICE guy!)  With his elderly wizard advisor Abarac, Hamand went to the cave, entered and found a vast subterranean city.  In a tomb sat the bodies of 5 long-dead "druid kings", and as he took the crown from the central figure, its EYES opened!  The dead druid king is the one who's come to him in the dream... and before long, attacks begin on all fronts.  In between battles, Hamand has the castle repeatedly fortified, until his own chamber is completely impenetrable except by a secret doorway-- and he kills the workers who built it to ensure its secrecy!  But once "safe", "Abaric" appears-- revealing he's really the dead druid king, and has been impersonating his friend ever since returning from Dragonhenge (where the real Abaric was killed).  Trapped inside a tomb of his own making, Hamand screams, his men fleeing the castle in terror.

WHOA.  What a downer, man!  WALLY WOOD strikes again with his 4th (and final) "fantasy" story for this mag, and as usual it's an awesome display of artistry and storytelling the likes of which Marvel rarely ever saw.  At least this time, Wood's story was the one featured on the cover-- but it was under a Berni Wrightson cover, not one by Wood himself.  It's marred by 2 word balloons, one of which reads, "The Demons Of Dragonhenge!"  Below, the blurb reads "They Lurk Within The Tomb!"  (Well, NO, they DON'T, if anyone read the story, but now we have 2 "alternate" titles, neither of which match the actual story title inside.  I wonder how the HELL Wood managed to have his title "Sanctuary" left intact when "ye editor" insisted on replacing Jim Steranko's story title back in TOS #1?)  To make matters worse, "Sanctuary" was the ONLY new story in the book!  The rest consisted of no less than 3 reprints (3!!): "Behold! I Am The Master Of Time!" by "ye editor" & Ditko from TALES TO ASTONISH #14 (Dec'60), "I Found The Hidden World!" by ? & Don Heck from TALES TO ASTONISH #13 (Nov'60) and "My Touch Means... Doom!" (ditto) from TALES TO ASTONISH #16 (Feb'61).  7 NEW pages for 15 cents?  What fan of the time would NOT think this was an almost total rip-off?

Maybe it's my imagination... but with that moustache & beard, Hamand looks a LOT like "ye editor" did around this time.  Considering the events of the story... could "Sanctuary" have been a really nasty shot at "ye editor" for what was going on at Marvel at the time?
     (7-26-2008)


(Continued in December 1970)

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

November 1970

(Continued from October 1970, Pt. 3)

FANTASTIC FOUR  104
cover by John Romita & John Verpoorten

"OUR WORLD ENSLAVED!"

As Magneto holds the armed forces at bay with his greatly-increased power, the FF and Sub-Mariner have teamed up to defeat him.  Reed has to remind the perrenial hothead that Dorma's life is at stake (don't you hate when "heroes" look that stupid?) and he convinces Namor to pretend to go along with Magneto to gain time.  Back at the HQ, Reed is chewed out by Nixon for failing to stop the menace.  As Namor's troops swarm the streets, rounding up stray residents, Magneto puts Sue & Dorma on display in glass cylinders, and has "his" troops invade the Baxter Building.  Reed finally attacks Magneto with an "electronic converter" which turns Magneto's own power back on himself, trapping him in a cone-shaped energy prison.  Despite their mutual victory, Namor tells Reed they can "never" be friends as long as air-breathers hate and distrust all who are different.  He takes his people and returns to Atlantis.

Once again, the general plot isn't bad-- but the execution is AWFUL beyond imagination.  John Romita's storytelling is stiff, overly melodramatic, while the art itself by contrast is far too "cartoony".  And "ye editor"s dialogue is just DREADFUL.  Has this guy completely forgotten how to write natural-sounding, believeable dialogue?  Just a tiny example-- Crystal telling Reed "I will not fail you!"  I've just re-read every appearance of her since her debut, and this girl does NOT talk like that!  It's like writing all those issues of SILVER SURFER has permanently damaged "ye editor"s writing skills.  Flipping over this entire 3-parter, I also noticed that Jack Kirby NEVER designed any Atlantean cruisers like the ones Romita drew.  John's look like badly-designed kids' toys from some cheap manufacturer, compared to the imaginative craft Kirby came up with.  The cover sums up exactly how bad this issue is.  For the 2nd time in 3 issues, the entire FF (plus Sub-Mariner) have their BACKS to the readers, and there's 4 very awkward, "flat"-sounding word balloons: "ATTACK me and those you love most will DIE!" "NOTHING must stop us!" "We have NO CHOICE..." "The HUMAN RACE is at stake!", all above the title "The Conqueror Says Die!" Someone at Marvel seems to have decided it was a good idea for the "titles" on the covers to NOT match the ones on the story inside.  And all this under that ugly "FAT" F.F. logo.  How can a series that had been so great sink to such depths so fast?

Hey, was this the 1st time Magneto was ever captured by the authorities?  If so, I suppose you could say his menacing all of NYC here and being captured for it served as part of the inspiration for the 1st X-MEN movie!  (Except, the movie was about 100 times better than this.  How often does THAT happen?)
     (7-25-2008)


AMAZING SPIDER-MAN  90
cover by Gil Kane & John Romita

"AND DEATH SHALL COME!"

Spidey barely escape alive... and plants a tracer on Ock's arms.  On the street, bruised & dizzy, he runs into Captain Stacy, before collapsing.  A cop helps Stacy get Pete back to his house, where he wakes up to the site of Gwen.  I gotta say, having John Romita doing the inking, Gwen looks better than she has in some time.  (At least, more "on-model" somehow.)  Stacy's not looking so hot...  Back home, Pete shows off his skill as a budding scientist (something he used to do a LOT on the 1st season of the cartoon show), by coming up with something specifically designed to beat Ock.  Halfway thru the issue, he finds him, and ANOTHER long, brutal fight scene starts.  This time it goes in Spidey's favor, because he sprays the arms with a chemical that actually disrupts the mental connection with their master, and they begin to attack HIM!  But in the ensuing chaos, a chimney is broken off a building, and almost falls on top of some little kid who's watching the fight... until Stacy pushes him out of the way, and gets hit himself.  Forgetting everything, Spidey races to help Stacy, and tries to get him to a hospital.  As he does so, the crowd-- who were STUPID enough to be watching the fight so close (WHERE was that kid's mother? NOWHERE to be seen!!!) all somehow think it's Spidey's fault Stacy got clobbered.  On a rooftop, Stacy says he has to tell him something.  He says Gwen will have no one now-- "No one, Peter, except you. be good to her son. She loves you-- so very much."  Stacy dies, and Pete realizes that Stacy may have ALWAYS known his secret-- but kept it to himself.  Now he wonders, what will Gwen think if she learns her father died "because of-- me?"

Talk about over-blown melodrama.  This was COMPLETELY uncalled-for.  I feel this is the EXACT point where AMAZING SPIDER-MAN "jumped the shark" as they say.  NOT when Gwen died-- here.  For 3 years they built up this thing with Stacy, and just when it looks like Pete might FINALLY have someone he could really confide in, who might help him become a more confidant, mature, grown-up person, WHAM.  It's "Uncle Ben" ALL OVER AGAIN.  This is just SO wrong.  The "great tragedy" that set up Spider-Man career as a crime-fighter was the death of Uncle Ben.  When Steve Ditko did the 3-part "Master Planner" story in ASM #31-33, most of the story revolved around whether Aunt May might ALSO die.  Because of GREAT, MONUMENTAL effort of Spidey's part-- SHE DIDN'T!  It really would have been too much if she had.  It was a real turning point in the guy's life and career.  It was magnificent.  There's a reason it's considered such a great story.  Now, THIS thing comes along-- and just destroys it all.  I can't say for sure, but it's quite possible that, if I had been reading these when they came out, I might well have STOPPED buying the book, right here... permanently.  (As it is, I never "met" Stacy until a few years after he was so pointlessly killed... so going thru all these in reprints, in the mid-70's, didn't have quite the same impact on me.)

All this would be bad enough... having the public somehow think it was Spidey's fault, just turned the whole series into a dark nightmare that just never wanted to end.

And you know what's REALLY stupid?  3 issues of Doc Ock on the loose... and we NEVER see him captured by the cops at the end!  I don't even know if he WAS captured by the cops.  I read 5 issues in one sitting (no kidding) and the next 2 issues, there was NO mention of it.  Everybody blames Spidey, WHAT ABOUT DOC OCK??  That's just unforgiveably SLOPPY writing.  It's such a damn shame, because the way Pete screwed up the guy's control of those arms, it could easily have been his greatest TRIUMPH, something that might finally make the world (and the cops) realize what a real "hero" he was.  Instead... we got C***.

The cover, a redo of one of the interior panels, with Spidey carrying Stacy up the wall as the crowd shouts, "It's all his fault! He's a murderer!" was okay.  They REALLY should have reused it on THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN STACY reprint (2000) instead of the stiff, completely style-less cover supplied by Sean Chen. I loved that guy's work on IRON MAN, but that cover just SUCKS.  It's like a BAD imitation of Frank Miller-- if you know what I mean.  At least the quality of the line reproduction inside was much better than it had been in earlier years.
     (7-28-2008)


IRON MAN  31
cover by SAL BUSCEMA

"ANYTHING FOR THE CAUSE"


CAPTAIN AMERICA  131
cover by Marie Severin & Joe Sinnott

"BUCKY REBORN!"

This opens with one of the better covers from this period: Cap, tied to a giant clock, while the villain gloats, and "Bucky" races to help.  The blurb reads, "NO! Your eyes are NOT DECEIVING you!! Don't Dare Miss: 'BUCKY REBORN!"  Below, a 2nd blurb reads, "In this issue: Learn the true identity of THE HOOD!"  In a twisted sort of way, this issue has a special place in my memory, because it was the 1st issue of this series I ever got new when it came out!  I was still some years away from getting any comics on a regular basis, so it's quite possible the cover really grabbed me.  Of course, it gave the impression that The Hood had been around for some time, when really, he'd only been introduced-- and badly-- in the previous issue.  But I knew who Bucky was (thanks to the reprints in AVENGERS ANNUAL #3), so I'm sure I wanted to see what was up.

The Hood studies photos of Cap, looking for some clue, some idea that might bring about his downfall.  A pic of Cap & Bucky inspires him...  He begins scouring gyms looking for someone athletic with the right look and approximate age, who might fool Cap into thinking his dead partner was still alive.  He's astonished to find just the person he's looking for, and rather quickly-- and not only does he look almost exactly as Bucky might, years later, but he has amnesia, causing him to wonder, "What if he really IS-- the long-lost Bucky Barnes?"  In a San Francisco coffee shop, the bike-travelling Cap hears a news report that Bucky Barnes has been found alive, and he races to the seaside home of the man who "found" him.  There, the Hood is subjecting "Bucky" to intense brainwashing, having him repeat over and over, "I am Bucky Barnes. I am Bucky Barnes."  All this build-up seems a waste, as no sooner does Cap enter the darkened house, when he faces Baron Strucker, "the ex-Nazi master Of Weapons!"  Cap THEN sees "Bucky", who appears in a trance, and his continual concern about the young man distracts him enough for Strucker to over-power him and strap him to the face of a giant clock.  When the big hand reaches 12, Cap will be electocuted!  But Cap appeals to "Bucky", urging him to put everything out of his mind-- except ATTACKING--now!  Which he does, freeing Cap, who clobbers Strucker.  As they stand over the fallen man, the youth repeats "I am Bucky Barnes."  Cap replies, "Maybe-- just maybe-- you are!"

First off, this issue is another example of how Gene Colan's art often stands as a masterful triumph of "style" over "substance".  Many times, Gene's visuals are so powerful, so dynamic, they make you forget-- or not notice-- if the story you're reading actually makes any sense or not.  I keep comparing it to watching the movie YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, one of the most visually-spectacular "007" films ever made.  Long a favorite of mine, in recent years I've really noticed how every time I watch it, the flaws in the story become more and more apparent.  So it gets worse on repeated viewings, not better (as, say, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE-- possibly the best-written "007" film ever-- does.)  I don't know how much of this story is a result of "ye editor"-- or Gene Colan-- but Gene was definitely inspired.  It's some of his best storytelling from this period, not a bad panel anywhere.  And you know what?  Dick Ayers did a DAMN good job on the inks, too!  Oh, sure, at least half-a-dozen other inkers might have done it better-- but I have no complaints about the art here.  (Meanwhile, Marie Severin & Joe Sinnott's cover is outstanding as well.)

We only met The Hood in the previous issue.  We don't know who he is, of why he wants Cap dead.  He seems really obsessed with it.  He hatches this scheme rather abruptly-- then, even he can't believe his luck when he not only finds someone who looks like Bucky that fast-- but the guy has no memories.  It's a case of "too good to be true".  (AND IT IS!)  Cap never questions the news story about Bucky being "found"-- there were no details.  Even The Avengers wanted to know who the guy in the red-white-and-blue costume they found floating in the ocean was before they accepted it as fact!  "I know it's IMPOSSIBLE-- It MUST be some sort of TRICK!"  But of course, he goes anyway.  And after all this build-up, when we expect him to find "Bucky" and somehow get taken in by him, instead, the villain just turns on the light and faces Cap.  On the RIGHT-HAND page, where the surprise is BLOWN for readers, who see "Baron Strucker" before they ever get a chance to endure the suspense of the previous page on the left.  BONEHEAD blunder!!!

I had never seen or heard of Baron Strucker before when I first read this.  In fact, it's becoming more and more frustrating that to this day, I have never read even one of Baron Strucker's appearances in SGT. FURY AND HIS HOWLING COMMAODOS.  But I do have every one of his appearances in the Nick Fury, Agent Of SHIELD series in STRANGE TALES.  Strucker was not only leader of a Nazi commando squad, and part-time concentration camp recreational director (as Arnold Drake might have put it, heh), he was one of the chief architects of HYDRA, who at least twice at this point made major bids to CONQUER the entire planet!  HYDRA, whose scientific division A.I.M. split off by itself and, like the main organization, has been a recurring menace to civilization ever since.  Strucker, who, when he masqueraded as A.I.M.'s "Grand Imperator", was personally responsible for locating, reviving and recruiting The Red Skull-- who has been a MAJOR menace to world peace EVER SINCE!  Strucker DIED, along with every single other person on Hydra Island, when their "Death Spore" biological warfare bomb-- which could NOT be defused-- detonated inside their impenetrable barrier.  There is NO explanation for his being alive here!  In fact, there is NO mention of HYDRA or AIM!  And WHY would Strucker have an obsession with killing Captain America-- who he never met?  If this had been a story about Nick Fury, I could see it, but CAP?  WHAT th'...???

It also seems to me, if The Hood-- or whoever-- wanted to lure Cap into a trap, a news story alone would have sufficed.  There was NO NEED to go thru all the trouble of finding a "Bucky Barnes"-- especially as "Bucky" didn't do much except sit there in a trance for most of the time.

Again-- Gene's art & storytelling is SO good, you don't really worry about it while you're reading.  It's only after that you're left wondering, "WAIT a minute..."  Of course, the blurb at the bottom of the past page doesn't help:  "Next: THE HOAX and the HORROR!"  If that doesn't mean something's NOT on the up-and-up, I don't know what does.

Incidentally, The Hood's line, "He shall be the first to see me-- WITHOUT my hood!" would take on MUCH greater significance-- 9-1/2 YEARS later.  But if "ye editor" or Gene had any deeper thoughts on it when they did this, there's no hint of it here.  (OR next issue.)
     (7-25-2008)


SUB-MARINER  31
cover by SAL BUSCEMA

"ATTUMA TRIUMPHANT!"


THE INCREDIBLE HULK  133
cover by Herb Trimpe & Bill Everett

"DAY OF THUNDER, NIGHT OF DEATH"


THOR  182
cover by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott

"THE PRISONER, THE POWER AND DR. DOOM!"


THE AVENGERS  82
cover by Marie Severin (layout), John Buscem & Tom Palmer

"HOSTAGE!"

Manhattan is invaded by a mercenary army, a force field preventing troops from entering, and 4 of The Avengers-- Thor, Quicksilver, Iron Man & Captain America, prisoners of the group they were trying to track down-- ZODIAC!  Their leader, Aries, is demanding a ransom of one BILLION dollars, or he will exterminate every person in the city!  The team that went west, Goliath, Vision & Scarlet Witch, are stuck outside the city, as are the FF, while Spider-Man, as Peter Parker, is looking after his Aunt May and trying to keep her from watching the news and finding out what's going on.  Apparently, the only super-heroes in all of Manhattan still on the loose are The Black Panther and Daredevil-- who team up AGAIN (following their adventure in DAREDEVIL #69 last month) to tackle Aries.  In retaliation, and to make an example of them, Aries announces he will execute the 4 captive Avengers, and herds helpless captive residents into a sports arena to force as many people to witness it as possible!  (What a cold-blooded bastard!)  Matt Murdock causes a disruption, Aries decides he'll be killed with the others, but Matt manages to damage the device holding the other heroes helpless, and next thing, it's a free-for-all.  As Aries tries to escape, Thor blasts his aircraft to atoms, and his mercenary army is quickly captured.

Back at Avengers Mansion, the entire team confers, and discovers that the 3 separate missions they went on were all in fact related, as Van Lunt was using the Indian land to build & train the mercenary army, while the Thunderbolt gang DD & BP fought were also hooked up with Zodiac.  As he leaves, DD compares the situation to the story of blind men trying to describe an elelphant... but only The Panther gets the reference.

An extremely ambitious story-- it's amazing Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Tom Palmer were able to pull this off in only 19 pages!  Of course, the whole thing really took 4 issues-- 3 of this series, plus the issue of DAREDEVIL.  It also tied together several previous issues involving Van Lunt & Zodiac, who had basically done next-to-nothing in their initial appearance.  Only Aries appeared in this episode, but that still left a huge menace laying around loose, considering there's at least 10 other members still unaccounted for.  Having the team split off to tackle 3 different missions simultaneously was just the latest tribute to the Justice Society Of America by that eternal Golden Age fanboy, Roy Thomas!  (It wouldn't be the last-- to say the least!)

The only thing that lets this issue down is the cover-- which has no less than 6 (6!!!) word balloons, and 2 blurbs, one of which says "Guest-starring Daredevil!" --as if readers couldnt' SEE him right there.   "Ye editor" said he'd instituted a "new policy!" of heroes making guest-appearances in each other's books, I guess this was one more example of such shameless cross-promotion.
     (7-26-2008)


DAREDEVIL  70
cover by Marie Severin & Joe Sinnott
     (alterations by HERB TRIMPE)

"THE TRIBUNE"


(Continued in November 1970, Pt. 2)

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

October 1970, Pt. 3

(Continued from October 1970, Pt. 2)

In June 2011, my "Jack Kirby re-reading project" finally reached the point where Kirby went to DC Comics.  I discussed this at GREAT length over at the "Captain Comics" message board... at least, until the entire group of so-called "editors" running that site decided to "permanently ban" me from there.  Some deranged lunatic brainwashed comics fans just cannot deal with anyone saying things like...  "Jack Kirby wrote his own stories".



JIMMY OLSEN  133
Rejected cover by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer

Published cover by Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta
     (alterations by AL PLASTINO)

FANTASY cover!

"JIMMY OLSEN BRINGS BACK THE NEWSBOY LEGION"

Someone (?) at DC wanted Jack Kirby to do SUPERMAN-- or at least, A Superman book-- right?  Was it that JO was losing its then-regular team, or did it have the lowest sales, and this was a way of showing what Jack could do, take ANY lousy piece of junk and turn it into a success?  (He had tried that before with GREEN ARROW, heh.)

I believe the Superman line in general was being, or about to be, revamped about that time.  Any knowledge one way or the other? I find it wild that such a MAJOR change as transferring Clark Kent from his NEWSPAPER office to becoming a TV ANCHORMAN should happen first in, of all places, "SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN".  Did it never even occur to anybody at DC to change to NAME of that book, at least, to something less unwieldy, like, say... "JIMMY OLSEN"?

I love how Jack had fun with the book's hokey title, plastering "Superman's EX-PAL, Jimmy Olsen" on several covers, and later, on the inside, "Jimmy Olsen's Pal, Superman".  THAT's putting big blue in his place!

How likely-- or believable-- was it really, to have a newspaperman suddenly become-- AGAINST HIS WISHES-- a TV anchorman?  Was his boss aware of his dual identity?  We know he had ulterior motives for much of what he did.  After all, in Jack's very 1st issue, the guy tries to have Clark Kent KILLED by having him run down by a car.  What kind of management-employee relationship was this?

Morgan Edge-- apparently-- was NOT meant to be a clone (as later revealed), despite all the focus on clones in so many of these issues.  He was supposed to be a VILLAIN, period.  Why did DC back off from this?  In a way, Edge (or whichever real-life person may have inspired him) may have been the inspiration for the villain in the James Bond movie, "TOMORROW NEVER DIES".  That title doesn't make any sense, by the way.  You can tell because it was originally gonna be "Tomorrow Never LIES", a reference to the name of the newspaper, "Tomorrow".

The Whiz Wagon naturally reminds one of the "next generation" of the Fantasti-Car.  While John Buscema was stripping the edges off the vehicle in the FF book (to make it easier to draw-- WHAT OTHER possible reason could there have been?), Jack was unveiling what Johnny Storm PROBABLY would have, if "ye editor" hadn't been so insistent on POINTLESSLY giving him heartbreak by coming up with a totally-contrived reason for Crystal to no longer be able to stay in NYC.  Stupid SOAP-OPERA writing!

MY question in all this is... WHAT is the point-- if any-- of The NEW Newsboy Legion?  Teaming a "Newsboy Legion" with a reporter like Jimmy sounds like an idea that works when you say it, but not when you try to think it thru.  Plus, there's TWO "Newsboy Legions" in this story.  The new kids, who, AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, don't sell newspapers-- and the originals, who no longer do that either, as-- against any rational expectations-- they've ALL become genetic scientists.  HUH?????  Also, is it reasonable at all to call the originals the "fathers" of the younger ones?  Maybe I'm putting too much thought into this.  After all... it's "just" a JIMMY OLSEN comic!

Now, let's get to the cover.  "JIMMY JOINS A BIKER GANG!" might have made a better title.  It would have fit in perfect in Uncle Mortie's run, wouldn't it?  Meanwhile, while one may "gun" an engine, it would have made more sense for Jimmy to say "RUN him down", as that's what you do to pedestrians. An earlier, unpublished version of the cover had someone HOLDING a gun, and in that case, "GUN him down" would have made sense... but only if it shot energy rays or kryptonite bullets.

I'd also like someone to explain how those bikes are TURNING to the right in mid-air after they leave the take-off ramp.

Annnnnnnnnnnd... WE'RE OFF!
     (6-11-2011)


JIMMY OLSEN #133  /  Oct’70 -- “Jimmy Olsen Brings Back The Newsboy Legion”   (Part 2)

Yesterday, I did an off-the-cuff review of JIMMY OLSEN #133... without actually bothering to RE-READ the thing.

This morning, before I even put on the TV, I dug out the 1st volume of JIMMY OLSEN ADVENTURES from 2003, and re-read the 1st episode.  With help from the list in AMAZING HEROES, I got ahold of most of the Fourth World books back in the early 80's (before NEW GODS was reprinted), but I never quite tracked down several of the books.  This included the first 2 JIMMY OLSENs.  Most frustrating.  Starting to read with the 3rd episode is like walking into a 2-hour movie 40 MINUTES LATE.  I finally managed to read the 1st episode when it was reprinted in SUPERMAN IN THE 70's (2000), but they only included the 1st one, not the 2nd.

What a JOLT this must have been.  As awkward & stilted as the book's regular logo was, it got worse when the words "EX-" and "THE NEW" were added, making it "SUPERMAN'S EX-PAL, THE NEW JIMMY OLSEN".  Of course, that wasn't the REAL name of the book... You know, these 2 JIMMY OLSEN ADVENTURES books actually show how good a JO cover can look when it isn't bogged down by "too much", and when the "SUPERMAN'S PAL" sub-logo is removed.

Jack tosses the readers into the deep end RIGHT from page 1!  No prologue, no segue, no symbolic splash, no preparation of any kind.  Jimmy's in a garage in a slum neighborhood, where, INEXPLICABLY, he's having a meeting with a group who are-- GET THIS!-- the SONS of THE NEWSBOY LEGION, a group of kids who had adventures in the early 1940's.  I suppose in a JIMMY OLSEN book, "unlikely" is NEVER a consideration.  I mean, think about it-- 4 guys who are friends, all have kids, and the 4 kids ALL hang out as friends 30 years later.  Only in the DC Universe?

It gets stranger, because one of them has designed a vehicle that would give The Fantastic-Car a run for its money-- "THE WHIZ WAGON".  It's quickly explained that Jimmy's new boss, media mogul Morgan Edge, on seeing the plans, had the car BUILT, and offers it as a gift to its designer, IF the "story" he sends them & Jimmy out to get works out.  Strange-- but not completely inconceivable.

Shock follows shock, as we learn the Daily Planet has been BOUGHT by Edge (yes, the day of "corporate buy-outs" had arrived).  Edge is a DEAD RINGER for Kevin McCarthy, and if you've ever seen him in the Weird Al Yankovic film "UHF", you have a good idea what this guy is like. (Funny thing, that movie came out 19 YEARS after this comic.)

There's a lot of set-up in this initial episode, and a number of mysteries tossed out which aren't explained right away (or even in this issue at all).  Like, WHAT is Edge after when he sends Jimmy & these teenagers on what apparently is a DANGEROUS story?  Clark Kent, who comes across as a nice guy here (what else), shows concern, and the immediate result is Edge calling up "INTER-GANG" (shades of 8TH MAN and "INTER-CRIME"!) and putting out an order to have Kent BUMPED OFF!  Is this any way to treat the "star reporter" of a newspaper you JUST acquired??  Shocklingly, Clark Kent becomes the victim of a viscious, deliberate HIT-AND-RUN... but while a crowd of onlookers is astonished that he wasn't killed, he's so focused on what happened and why, he doesn't even attempt to come up with the usual lame-A** excuse.

In the tradition of Jules Verne's "The Terror", the WHIZ WAGON proves itself capable of operating on land, in the air, and in the water!  (I don't believe the Fantasti-Car was ever shown having the latter ability.)  It's arrival and immediately being spied upon reminds me a bit of the scene in "RETURN OF THE MOLE MAN" (seen on TV as "MENACE OF THE MOLE MAN") when the F.F. arrive at that island.  Quickly, our heroes are under attack, and wind up in a life-or-death struggle.  I might take this a bit more seriously, except I'm trying to figure out WHY the BLACK kid goes around wearing a scuba-diving suit-- ALL THE TIME.  Maybe he has a super-hero fixation?

It is almost funny when 2 outlandish BIKERS named "Yango" and "Flek" show up, and when Jimmy insists on talking to their leader, he's told it was their leader he just beat the CRAP out of! And so... JIMMY is now their leader.  That's right!  "JIMMY OLSEN-- BIKER GANG LEADER!"  Hey, maybe this isn't so different from all those earlier issues of this book after all?

Clark switches to his Superman identity, and exhibits a talent I've never seen him use in ANY other story-- using his "heat vision" to trace "after-images" of things, like the WHIZ WAGON.  Anybody know-- has this talent EVER turned up in ANY other comics, before or since?

Supes discovers an hidden entrance to an underground tunnel (straight out of BUCK ROGERS or THE TIME TUNNEL), and then encounters some very peculiar characters.  I'm a bit confused as to the topgraphy, as it seems there's grass and plants underground, but the way the sky is colored, it looks like he's still outside.  First there's some "hippie" type who's meditating, then a pair of soldiers hunting hippies, who-- and I find this hilarious-- mistake HIM for one of them, who just happens to be wearing a "Superman" suit.

Things get all crazy when the BIKE GANG arrives, and like a scene right out of "THE WILD ONE" with Marlon Brando, they ride in circles around Supes, stopping only to reveal that Jimmy is the one in charge.  It's at this point big blue develops a REALLY bad attitude.  There's an entire website devoted to the theme of "Superman Is A Dick", showcasing endless examples of how badly the big "S" has treated Jimmy (and just about every other "friend" he's ever had in his long history), and it gives one the impression of some seriously BAD relationships.  Presumably, Supes & Jimmy have known each other for HOW long by now? --yet, Supes comes across with the attitude that Jimmy is TOTALLY out of his depth, and ONLY HE (Superman) can handle-- WHATEVER it is they're looking for (even though, at this point, almost nobody seems to have any idea what that might be).

Al Plastino seems to have goofed up on page 18, as Supe's EYES are wide open even though it's clear the guy has been knocked unconscious by Kryptonite gas!

On page 20, we see "The Habitat", a small town built entirely out of GIGANTIC tree trunks.  I've always figured Metropolis was on the East Coast, but this would make more sense if it was taking place on the WEST coast.  In fact, the whole thing with hippies and bikers feels like a West Coast thing, especially as that's where Jack & Roz were living when he was doing this story.  I've actually SEEN a mobile home built into the trunk of a giant redwood tree.  THEY EXIST!  Kirby took this to further extremes, obviously.

What's interesting is Supes' comment, "I can't conceive of a DROPOUT SOCIETY being THAT industrious!"  As "Big Words" explains, it was built by someone else we haven't seen yet, and the bikers just took it over.  As Supes leans against the wall and says, "Go on--" you can just SEE the "attitude" on his face.  Only Yango has a clue what they're looking for, and this makes Supes exclaim, "I'm more the ever CONVINCED that it's my duty to do everything to STOP you."  What a JERK!   Or... is it possible he knows MORE than he's letting on???

It took me so long to get my hands on the whole thing, but when I did, I was completely blown away.  This story does not read like any normal, average kind of comic-book or comic-book serial.  It doesn't feel like anyone else's type of multi-part story.  It actually reads like A MOVIE!!  But this only becomes obvious when you've read all 6 parts.  This wasn't the last time Jack managed something like this, either.  I got the same feel of reading a "MOVIE" with the first 5 chapters of the "MADBOMB" story, the first 6 issues of CAPTAIN VICTORY, and the 6 issues of SILVER STAR.  In effect, these stories could easily be turned into feature films-- AS IS.

The cover used was re-worked and re-worked, and an earlier, unused version actually turned up as the cover of JIMMY OLSEN ADVENTURES Vol.2 (but would have made more sense on Vol.1!).  On that, Yango is pointing a GUN at Superman, so when Jimmy says, "GUN him down!", it makes MORE SENSE.  All the changes and endless fix-ups, and somehow, someone at DC let the finished cover go out without fixing that ONE word on the cover so it would read, "RUN him down!" (which is what you DO to pedestrians).

I dug out my Fourth World comics today.  It wasn't easy, there was about a 2-foot-high STACK of magazines piled up on top of it that I had to move first before I could open the long box.  Anyway, it's free now.  It was already several years ago I started a chronological re-reading of ALL the Jack Kirby comics in my entire collection, and after about a 2-YEAR break (not counting the time I spent reading early-70's Marvels AFTER Jack had left the company), I FINALLY got back to Kirby today.

One thing that surprised me, flipping thru a couple issues of JIMMY OLSEN... when the JO ADVENTURES books came out, I said I thought they looked BETTER than the originals.  I take it back.  The coloring is more intense, but while the line reproduction is VERY good, it's a BIT darker than the originals.  So, yes-- the originals DO look better.  If you ignore the paper slowly turning yellow.

Most of these comics I have only ever read ONCE, a little under 30 YEARS ago.  Having read endlessly about them, in THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR, and at the Kirby-L yahoo group (now gone), I'm really looking forward to experiencing these again, now that I'm older and have a much more highly-developed sensibility with regards to art and writing-- especially the latter.
     (6-12-2011)


(Continued in November 1970)

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