The August 1970 cover-date saw Marvel begin a steady expansion. From here on out, I'll probably be doing at least 2 pages per month just for Marvel books.
FANTASTIC FOUR 101
cover design sketch by MARIE SEVERIN
The FF learn their building has been bought by The Maggia-- who've torn up their lease and ordered them to get out! Reed says he'll let their lawyers handle it, but he suspects real danger. While on an outing to Central Park, a Maggia copter lands and a group of thugs invade the building, bent on taking Reed's inventions, secrets, weapons, and figuring anything they do against the FF can be considered "protecting their property" and "legal". Yeah, right. After telling Sue to take Franklin and stay out of it, "no matter what", Reed, Ben & Crystal head back to the HQ, where Johnny has already gone and gotten himself promptly captured. Overcoming the rest, the thugs put them in concrete coffins and dump them in the river! (The BASTARDS!) Getting free, they head back-- where Sue-- apparently on Reed's request (??) is already taking on Maggia thugs, and doing a very effective job of it, before her team-mates even show up. The #2 man, surrounded, desperate, is suddenly shot dead by the building's doorman-- "doing his duty". But Reed figures better, and unmasks the guy as "Top Man", who spent weeks familiarizing himself with the building's layout before trying to take down the FF "legally". But, as Reed points out, in the end, he "reverted to type-- like all the others". Sue ponders, WHY must their son grow up in a world filled with crime and fear? Reed reminds her, "That's why we fight, my darling-- to change that world-- as much as we can!"
DAMN! This was the BEST issue of this book in maybe a YEAR!! The basic concept of the story may seem way-out, but far less than almost every episode involving, for example, The Mad Thinker (who also wanted to take over the HQ, since way back in his 1st appearance). You know, with all the appearances of "The Maggia" so far, the scene at the "sleazy" resturant may have been the first time they actually looked-- you know-- Sicilian! (heehee) I wonder how many fans when this came out realized Jack Kirby had spent a LOT of time doing violent crime comics in the late 40's? The usual character flaws turn up again-- Reed, not wanting to worry anyone with his suspicions (rather than getting them better prepared for what in fact was coming), Johnny, running off like the hot-head he is and getting himself captured. On the other hand, Crystal rescues herself AND Reed, who only then is able to save the others, and Sue almost single-handedly takes out ALL the bad guys-- I especially loved it when she put her force-field around "Gimlet" when he opened fire, and the bullet bounced around inside it, almost hitting HIM. Sue showing up after Reed told her not to could have been him changing his mind, or, her defying him on her own (the dialogue should have spelled this out). For once, Reed's speech in the final panels really sounds "right", as it sums up the very character of this book FAR more than anything in the 100th issue did. YES-- they're in this to make the world a better place!!!
The cover's "okay". That's about it. I've seen Marie Severin's actual design for it, which Jack followed closely. I still don't see the point in getting one of the best "designers" the comics industry EVER had to work from someone ELSE's designs. Surprisingly, this one's signed, "Jack & Joe". In future, Joe Sinnott would begin regularly signing his covers, as Dick Ayers had been doing already for at least a decade. That "fat" logo continues to bug me-- plus, the blurb "Shock follows shock as DEATH strikes at night!" and the 2 word balloons seemed uncalled for. (HOW MANY 70's covers had the word "DEATH!" on them??) I wonder if Jack knew by this time he was leaving? The word balloons, reading "The Battle is ended! We've won!" and "The F.F. are BEATEN at last!" almost seem to suggest this is their LAST issue. As it is, it would have been a really good place to end the series. Instead, like too many TV shows that went on too long, the quality would begin to plunge after this...
And what's this "Bedlam..." title? That's ALMOST exactly what was used on FF ANNUAL #3! "Ye editor" really was out of ideas by this point, wasn't he?
(7-18-2008)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 87
cover by JOHN ROMITA
Pete, so dizzy he can't even use his microscope, seeks out Curt Connors for help-- but he's packed up and gone back to Florida. Passing a jewelry store, Spidey remembers he forgot to get something for Gwen's birthday-- and almost runs off with a necklace before he realizes "WHAT AM I DOING???" After most have gone home, Pete finally turns up at Gwen's birthday party, Spider-Man's MASK in his hand, saying Spider-Man's career is over-- and he knows-- because HE's Spider-Man! After he runs off, Gwen is in shock, can't believe what's she heard, and then Harry relates a story he heard (probably from Flash-- heh) about how Pete once impersonated Spider-Man and was unmasked by Doc Ock (way back in ASM #12). But Gwen asks, what if it WASN'T an act that time? MJ gets REALLY, uncharacteristically snotty toward Gwen this time, and I have to put it down to either REALLY bad writing on "ye editor"s part-- OR, that, deep down, she's really hurting because the guy SHE liked so much the moment she met him has been with this stuck-up #*@#% all this time. (I'll go with that one. But that's me.)
Spidey makes it to a hospital, where a doctor ignores the duty-nurse's concerns about his costume and finds him a bed. Not long after, he returns, telling Spidey he has one of the worst cases of the FLU he's ever seen... almost at once, Spidey's up out of the bed, energized again and thrilled to learn that's ALL it was! As he makes his exit, the doctor says, "If you slip off that wall, forget it! A BONE man I'm not!" Suddenly remembering what he did while he was delirious, Pete hatches a scheme (in the best/worst Superman or Batman tradition) to protect his secret identity, and finds Hobie Brown-- The Prowler-- out washing windows. Hobie figures he owes the guy a favor, after Spidey DIDN'T turn him over to the cops, so he agrees to POSE as Spidey, while Pete is at Gwen's house, to convince everyone that Pete CAN'T be Spidey. After bringing up the "deal" about splitting the take on Pete's photos (Stacy seems rather "slow" when he says "Then you and Peter DO have a deal!"), "Spidey" leaves. Deleriously happy again, Gwen somehow completely forgets her earlier demand that Pete "never again" have anything to do with Spidey, but at that moment, he's just happy not to be "low man on the totem pole of life".
A mixed bag. It's almost silly that in a book drawn by Jim Mooney, who spent so many years at DC (especially on SUPERGIRL) that Spidey should wind up pulling the kind of stunt Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent spent years having to do to get people like Lois Lane and Vicki Vale off their backs. My favorite scene was the one with the doctor-- it's so refreshing to see someone so reasonable in a Marvel comic (he's almost out of place here), and I wouldn't have minded if HE had his own series, or at least became a regular in one. Gwen making such an unreasonable demand last time, AND, completely forgetting about it this time, doesn't improve her standing in my eye one iota, to say the least. And I'm really trying to cut "ye editor" some slack here as far as MJ is concerned. She was one of my very favorite characters from her first appearance, but over the last couple years of this series "ye editor" & Johnny (mostly "ye editor", I think) allowed her to fall by the wayside and appear to become even more shallow than she SEEMED. Later writers, in ill-advised attempts to "explain" things, only messed her up, more with each era, from Wein to Wolfman to Stern to DeFalco (I might say ESPECIALLY DeFalco, except he did so MUCH so bad with Spidey, his efforts with MJ pale by comparison).
My 1976 MARVEL TALES reprint is a lot sharper than the previous issue, though it is missing a page. Only one, as Marvels had dropped their page count to 19 pages a few months before this, and in a SNEAKY way-- by cutting a page in the middle of the story in 2 and printing them as 2 "half-pages", each with their own number, so at the end, the last page would still say "20" instead of "19".
One unusual thing I noticed as I flipped thru this again... this time out, I can't detect any noticeable John Romita touch-ups on faces. Apart from plot & layouts, Jim Mooney seemed to finally do this one all on his own! It's very nice... but NOBODY draws MJ like Romita.
I know what's coming next... and I don't think I can stand to plow thru them again. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN now strikes me as one of those series that outlived its shelf-life. You know all those TV series that went on too long-- like ALL IN THE FAMILY, and M*A*S*H, NIGHT COURT, and THAT 70'S SHOW? When I look back at the entire run, I think AMAZING SPIDER-MAN should have ended right here. YES, RIGHT HERE. I spent DECADES, off and on, "putting up with" various incarnations of the characters, in a growing number of books, always waiting, hoping it would get better. I'm sure countless fans will disagree with me, but... IT NEVER DID. It actually took the Fabien Nicieza-Steve Rude mini-series of about 10 years ago before I realized this. The 3 issues they did were SO good... so PERFECTLY captured the Romita era... I realized that, from the time Romita stopped doing the book, it had really gone to hell, by comparison. EVEN the Roger Stern run SUCKED-- by comparison-- and HIS was by a MILE way, way better than anything else since. So, while I may continue with my re-reading, I think I'm gonna save myself a lot of aggravation and frustration (and probably the ire of tons of Spidey fans) by just giving the rest of his comics a pass. I can always go back and re-read Ditko & Romita's runs again. Or, better yet, dig out my 52 episodes of the 60's cartoon. It may seem strange... but after all this time, I've come to love THOSE more than ANY other version-- including Ditko or Romita!
(7-18-2008)
IRON MAN 28
cover by Marie Severin & Mike Esposito
CAPTAIN AMERICA 128
cover by Marie Severin & Joe Sinnott
Cap wants to ditch it all, and almost toss his costume in the incinerator... but instead, he buys a motorcycle and (following several pages of WW2 flashbacks involving Bucky's death-- AGAIN), he hits the road. In a small town, a cop arrests him for driving without wearing a motorcycle helmet! (Some laws, supposedly meant to "protect", are really stupid... and mostly set up for the sake of insurance companies; they wind up, more than anything, giving cops "excuses" to hassle otherwise law-abiding people.) Turns out a biker gang is hassling the town, and they break Cap out of jail once they hear a fellow biker was arrested. But he stays behind to help an injured cop, inspiring hatred from the bikers. Later, Cap breaks things up when the gang hassles a local rock festival, and the gang leader goes to pieces when his younger brother accidentally gets hit by his out-of-control bike. At that point, watching on a remote monitor, The Red Skull announces "At last I've found my most hated enemy! He'll never escape me again!"
It's funny... I've been watching my GET SMART collection, and in the last week, during the 3rd season, I've seen a "biker" episode and a "youth movement" episode. Gary Friedrich did a "youth" story in NICK FURY #11, now "ye editor" does a "biker" story. I guess it was bound to happen. Really takes you back in time... The whole Cap-Sharon-SHIELD thing that's been dragging on lately has been a real downer, and I can't imagine it ever going on-- or going on this long-- if Kirby were still plotting the book. Following 2 issues inked by Frank Giacoia and one gloriously polished by Wally Wood, this time out it's almost a slap in the face to see Dick Ayers on inks. Every panel of every page is RAW, CRUDE, almost BRUTAL. Considering how outstanding Gene Colan's style is, this is really a 50-50 battle for attention between styles-- and I think, like last month, the inker is "winning". I admit, I've never cared much for Ayers' inks-- heck, HE never cared for inking other people's work! The only exceptions for me are when he was teamed with Jack Kirby and, surprisingly, Werner Roth. Other than that, it tends to be disappointing. Like the time he filled in (presumably at the very last minute) for Giacoia on DAREDEVIL, this issue looks like it might have been a rush job. If so, who was he filling in for-- Giacoia again-- or Wood?
Despite the crudeness of the art, overall, it "works". The ONE thing that really bugs me about the story is the last 3 panels. Suddenly shoving The Red Skull in there as a "teaser" for next issue was TOTALLY uncalled-for! I never liked it on LOST IN SPACE, I don't like it here. It completely ruins & throws off the rhythm and mood of the end of the story, and removes any feeling that should have been there of a proper "The End". (What, just slapping a "next issue" blurb at the bottom like usual wouldn't have been enough??)
Once again, Marie Severin & Joe Sinnott supply the cover-- I wonder how many of these Joe was working on, and if that might not be why he suddenly wasn't able to do 2 full comics a month? I must admit, I LIKE this one-- in fact, I like it so much, it's so full of both "excitement" and a sense of "fun", it makes me wish Marie had DONE THE WHOLE BOOK!!!
You know... it just hits me. I can see why somewhere down the line Gary Friedrich took over this book from "ye editor". Now that Cap's got a cycle, Gary fit right in! (He later co-created one of the few true ICONS of 70's Marvel-- the Johnny Blaze GHOST RIDER!)
(7-18-2008)
SUB-MARINER 28
cover by Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito
CAPTAIN MARVEL 21
cover by Gil Kane & Dan Adkins
Seconds before pounding Rick into the dust, Hulk stops, not wanting to hit someone who can’t fight back. Next thing, he calms down and changes back to Banner. Rick fills him in on the situation, and Bruce spends the next few days working himself to exhaustion trying to come up with something that might help both of them. Bruce thinks of a nearby colleague who might have some ideas, but the college where the man works is having a student demonstration, which is turning violent. Angry at this, Bruce turns into The Hulk (who didn’t see THAT one coming?). CM tries to stop him, but Hulk knocks him out, trashes all the equipment they spent so much time working on, and then heads off to teach the rioting students a lesson. WHOA! CM follows, but is still unable to stop The Hulk-- but he switches with Rick, who just barely manages to stare Hulk down until he wanders off.
So, one more depressing episode with Banner trying to cure himself, and failing. Only this time, 3 people were severely disappointed. Anyone besides me get tired of this sort of nonsense?
Once again, CM is cancelled, and these last 2 issues, along with the 3 before them, are referred to as “try-outs”, future installments pending reader reaction & sales. In any case, this was the last (of 5) for Kane & Adkins. 2 months later, Gil Kane made his debut on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and pencilled at least half the issues from #90-124.
I got this from Mitch for $2.50.
(7-2-2004)
"HERE COMES THE HULK!"
Bent on murder, Hulk stops short when he realizes Rick Jones is helpless. He decides instead to wake him, and make him tell WHO sent him to "spy" on him. But he turns back to Bruce Banner, who welcomes Rick, and begins working feverishly on a project to break the dimensional barrier into The Negative Zone (while complaining that Reed Richards, who considers it "too dangerous" for further research, seems to consider his own "private domain"). Wanting help from a colleague at a local college, Banner finds the man is under siege by students protesting what they believe is military research going on at school grounds. Enraged, Banner turns into the Hulk, unthinkingly destroys days of work-- and the rest of his lab-- and heads off to the college to wipe out the students as well! Captain Marvel, who was unable to stop him in the lab, is again unable to do so at the college... until he switches with Rick, who simply stands there unmoving, until the Hulk turns around and walks away.
Well, this was another completely pointless exercise. Not only can't Banner find a cure for himself, he can't find one for Rick now either. Every panel of every page continues to have Gil Kane's stretched-out figures and ugly faces, and Dan Adkins, for all his efforts, just isn't helping. And when Roy Thomas has the characters begin quoting obscure poetry (whose relation to the story I can't grasp even after repeated readings), you know this book is heading for a crash. Which, it does. Touted as the end of the "2nd trial run" of the "new" CM, reader response is strongly requested. I don't think it was forthcoming. It would take 2 more YEARS before the next issue finally mnaterialized, done by an entirely different creative team (Roy would be involved, but only as editor). In the meantime, CM turned up in more Roy Thomas comics, beginning with SUB-MARINER #30 just 2 months later, and then a stretch of AVENGERS issues... But for now? GOOD RIDDANCE. Was there ever a character so totally driven into the ground by talented people who should have known better?
(7-19-2008)
THE INCREDIBLE HULK 130
cover by HERB TRIMPE
THOR 179
cover by Neal Adams & John Verpoorten
(alteratins by JOHN ROMITA)
The Asgardians, worn, weary & beat, return home from their victory over Surtur... 2 issues ago. Thor is unable to spend time with his beloved Sif, as All-Father Odin sends him to Earth to round up Loki, who LET the whole mess happen in the first place (and tried to dispose of Odin in the process-- kinda hard to let a thing like that slide). Hiding out in a swank hotel, Loki has Igron create a mystic mask-- then, as a "reward", banishes him to the Troll kingdom to become one of their slaves! (NICE guy!) Hoping to get the drop on Dr. Don Blake, Thor fakes him out by waiting in Blake's office in his godly form. But to no avail-- Loki catches him off-balance anyway, and uses the mask to exchange appearances with Thor! From his sick-bed, Balder rises, and, with Sif, races to Earth to aid Thor. But when they arrive, they behold "Loki"-- CLAIMING to be the Thunder God! Naturally, nothing he says can convince them otherwise, and as the real Loki watches from a distance, planning to pillage all of Earth and have it blamed on Thor, Balder is ALMOST killed. But when "Loki" weeps for Balder-- instead of running away-- Balder & Sif realize there must be more to his words than madness. "Loki" declares, "There is still hope!"
In a completely unprecendented move (and a TOTAL SHOCK to Jack Kirby, apparently), "ye editor" swapped books between Jack & John Buscema, so Jack could do one issue of SILVER SURFER, and John could see how he'd fare on THOR. I don't have that issue, but based on this one, it must have had NOTHING to do with the ongoing continuity! This one picks up exactly where the previous Kirby episode ended 2 months earlier. Except for the splash and page 19, the entire book is done in 3 tiers, as "ye editor"s "one-issue story" edict forced his creative people to CRAM more story into the same amount of space. (Seeing as this was the first of a 3-parter, that seems a bit silly in this case. But whatever.) The art is really on the "rough" side this time, like #177, and it's hard to tell if Jack's pencils were just knocked out faster and with less care, or if Vince Colletta wasn't holding up his end either. Which may have been the case, as pages 6, 14. 18 & 20 are CLEARLY done in an entirely different style! I'm guessing page 20 was inked by John Verpoorten, but the other 3 looks REALLY rough, so either they were done on an incredibly tight deadline, or there may be a 3rd hand involved here.
It's a shame "To End In Flames" wasn't the end of it, because this issue, the beginning of a 3-part sequence, was Jack Kirby's LAST issue of THOR. It just doesn't seem right for him to leave in the MIDDLE of a story-- but as I understand it, he worked out a contract with DC Publisher Carmine Infantino, without telling "ye editor" (or giving him a chance to match or beat the offer), and after handing in his last job, called "ye editor" up on the phone on a Sunday night to tell him he quit, and was starting work on his DC books the next day. "Ye editor" must have been in a state of SHOCK, to have his #1 guy jump ship like that, without any warning. Considering all the wrong moves "ye editor" had been doing already around this time, maybe he really needed a wake-up call. It didn't help. Things only got worse.
The cover was by Neal Adams & Joe Sinnott, who wound up doing the next 2 issues. Neal did some great covers for DC, and Marvel. This one's AWFUL. There seems to be no proper sense of depth or perspective, as Thor, who's standing in front of an attacking Balder & Sif, seems smaller than them, rather than larger. Also, the lines on the pavement below don't match the buildings in the background-- unless that piece of sidewalk has been lifted up at about a 30-degree angle. To make it worse, Marie Severin & John Verpoorten did touch-ups-- I believe all the background figures on the right side are by them. Maybe the buildings as well. It's like 2 completely different drawings were shoved together, and the result is a mess. Add to that, no less than 4 word balloons, AND a lengthy blurb, which has part of its text continue behind Thor's left leg. What an ABORTION! Sad way for Kirby to leave one of his best series ever.
(7-21-2008)
THE AVENGERS 79
cover by JOHN BUSCEMA
The group is concerned over the capture of The Black Panther, and the suspicion that The Man-Ape is not working alone. They're right-- 4 other previous foes have all joined forces as The Lethal Legion, and plan to take down the entire group. The Grim Reaper in particular planning to kill them all at once, and in his case, in revenge for the "murder" of his brother Simon Williams (Wonder Man, WAY back in AVENGERS #9). He allows The Panther to "escape" in order to contact the group-- and thus set up a pair of traps. One amusing scene has The Vision, in disguise, make excuses for the absence of teacher "Luke Charles" (The Panther). Power Man & Swordsman take out Scarlet Witch & Goliath, while Man-Ape & Living Laser takes out Captain America & Quicksilver. Power Man, who then went to ransack Avengers Mansion, returns with an unconscious Vision, along with some "personnel" records of the group. The latter shocks The Grim Reaper, as he learns the memory patterns of his brother were preserved, and used to form the basis of The Vision's personality! Exciteable & unstable as ever, and fearing HE will now be responsible for his brother's "death", The Reaper shatters the hourglass-shaped death-trap before the poison gas can kill the heroes. We then find The Vision somehow exchanged places with Power Man-- no doubt bringing the records with him just to shake up The Reaper. The team clobbers the baddies, saying they were "never" really helpless, but only faking to capture the whole group at once. They congratulate The Vision as the hero of the hour, but he says the Reaper was wrong-- he is NOT his "brother"-- nor is he human at all-- and has concluded he must leave the group-- which seems to really upset Wanda. As he flies off, he ponders, "Can an android truly be-- alive?"
GREAT, magnificent issue all-round!!! John Buscema made it back in time to polish off this 2-parter, and did one of his best jobs yet, teamed with Tom Palmer, who appears to have done the bulk of the polishing. Even Roy Thomas seems more inspired than usual-- I can't recall any outstanding bad dialogue for once (heehee). This was actually the very 1st issue of THE AVENGERS I ever bought new, and while I admit "nostalgia" may play some part in it, re-reading the entire run of stories in sequence doesn't change my feeling that this was one of the BEST of this part of the run. Looking back, it's interesting that, earlier, Roy had followed the introduction of The Reaper with the formation of the "new" Masters Of Evil. In this 2-parter, he somewhat repeats himself, combining both in one. For a long time, I was under the impression that Buscema had done a lot more issues than he had (that would come later, in the 80's). Suffice to say, he SHOULD have. I might have been very happy had Don Heck stayed on this book "forever", especially with better inkers (like George Klein, Sam Grainger, Tom Palmer, all of who worked with Buscema), but once Buscema was firm in place, he should have been allowed to STAY here. Most of the "side" projects "ye editor" kept yanking him away for (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, SILVER SURFER), by comparison, weren't worth his time. here, he was a PERFECT fit.
One minor question: It was SO COOL when the Vision "traded bodies" with Power Man. But now I'm wondering-- did he EVER do this kind of thing before-- or since?? It almost makes him seem like Dr. Strange-- or Deadman!
Hmmm... I think this gets my vote for BEST Marvel of the month!
(7-18-2008)
DAREDEVIL 67
cover by Marie Severin & Bill Everett
(Continued in August 1970, Pt. 2)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
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