FANTASTIC FOUR 99
cover by Marie Severin (design), Jack Kirby & John Verpoorten
Reed interrupts Ben's plans for a ski trip because Johnny, heartsick from missing Crystal, has gone on his own to confront her family and "force" her to come back. When he reaches The Great Refuge, he goes berzerk and has a running battle with almost every Inhuman he crosses paths with, including the Royal Family. On arrival, Reed breaks it up, then we finally hear the explanation, that Black Bolt had been stricken with radiation sickness following an experiment, and Crystal's power was needed to help him until his health could be restored. Crystal reminds Johnny that if he loves her, it must come with compassion & understanding. He asks forgiveness, and Ben thinks he may make that ski trip after all.
Not especially bad... just one of the DUMBEST stories in the book's history. Johnny is made to look like a complete idiot, but I have little more sympathy for The Inhumans, who could have saved everyone a LOT of trouble if they's just told Johnny what was going on in the first place. Talk about a "contrived" situation! My favorite part of the book is when a meteor shower forces the team down in Tibet, and Sue makes friends with some of the natives. But it's marred by an inexplicable bit where Ben has to help "launch" the saucer... HUH??? Oh well, at least for once we had an Inhumans story that DIDN'T involve Maximus...
The Jack Kirby-Joe Sinnott art is STUNNING-- as usual. One thing I'm wondering (not really related to this issue), if Reed has this flying saucer (the one from Planet X in FF #7), why did he use that rocket in the previous issue? Oh well, that story was a lost hope no matter how you look at it...
(7-17-2008)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 85
cover by JOHN ROMITA
The Kingpin discovers his wife Vanessa hiding in the secret hallway, saying she just wanted to get away from the fighting. Racing thru the snowy streets, The Schemer cracks up his car. The Stacys visit, Gwen's Dad asking how is it Pete gets all those shots of Spider-Man. When Spidey comes in thru the window talking about how he & Parker split the take on his crime photos, Pete hopes it's thrown them off the scent. The Kingpin is shocked when photos of the fight turn up in the Bugle, as he was "sure" there was no photographer in the area. One of the pics reveals Vanessa helping the Schemer to escape, and he demands to know what's going on! Spidey tracks down The Schemer & captures him, then brings him to the address where the reward was offered, before realizing it's NOT a police station-- but one of The Kingpin's hideouts! The Schemer reveals he's really The Kingpin's son, Richard, in disguise. He faked his own death when he found out his father was a criminal, and everything he's done was to bring about the "end" of his father's career in crime. Feeling he's lost his son even more now than when he believed he was dead, The Kingpin goes into a catatonic shock... and Spidey leaves, feeling there's no more punishment the guy deserves than what he's already gotten.
Not bad. The whole bit with the "reward" doesn't seem well-thought-out, and Spidey seems really dumb going there without wondering about it until it's too late. I'm still wondering what John Buscema is doing back on this book, although this was his LAST (of 10) issues. Somehow, everyone in the book seems dumber and more one-dimensional lately...
(7-17-2008)
SUB-MARINER 26
cover by Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito
IRON MAN 26
cover by Don Heck & Johnny Craig
"DUEL IN A DARK DIMENSION"CAPTAIN AMERICA 126
cover by Jack Kirby & Bill Everett
(alterations by JOHN ROMITA)
Cap is in Harlem, helping the Falcon who's been framed by a gang he's been trying to bring down. He describes The Diamondheads as a "black KKK" who "hate whitey" and don't care who gets hurt. Cap discovers the masked gang-leader is really "Rocky The Lynx", a Maggia hood, who wanted to disrupt the area bad enough that his outfit could move in and take over. Cleared, The Falcon tells Cap, "Your skin may be a different color... but there's no man alive I'm prouder to call... brother!"
Looking over this issue makes me think Gene Colan would have been right at home on an issue of HERO FOR HIRE, as he does "down-to-Earth" and "gritty" neighborhood scenes with the best of 'em, and his black characters all look like "real people", not cartoony charicatures. Frank Giacoia's on hand again, giving everything a "rough" look that goes along well with the tone of the story. The Falcon was also mentioned in the latest AVENGERS, and it seems they were trying to decide what to do with him, and when. This wouldn't be his last appearance here-- TO SAY THE LEAST! Cap's ongoing "soap-opera" completely took a back seat here... it'd be back next time (sadly).
Jack Kirby returns for the cover, inked by Bill Everett (touch-ups by Romita), which somehow looks far more "cartoony" than usual for Jack (I'm guessing Marie did the layout again) and totally at odds with the interior contents. Stranger & stranger...
(7-17-2008)
SILVER SURFER 17
cover by Herb Trimpe & Dan Adkins
The Surfer searches Earth for Shalla Bal, but unable to find her, resigned that he must obey Mephisto's demand to "destroy SHIELD". The dark lord admits they mean nothing to him, they're just a tool to get what he wants-- The Surfer's soul. SHIELD is already bothered by The Surfer and sends out jets to track him down, just as he thinks of a ploy to outwit Mephisto-- destroy only their HQ, but not the people. He discovers Mephisto has cheated on the "bargain", when he discovers a mesmerized Shalla Bal inside SHIELD HQ. Swearing the deal is off, he attacks Mephisto, but the SHIELD personnel, who can only see him attacking empty air, let him have it, and he flees back to space.
The misery continues. Chic Stone's inks are doing no service to John Buscema's pencils, and the storytelling, and dialogue, are just unbearable. Even the cover by Herb Trimpe & Dan Adkins is average at best, and marred by 2 blurbs AND 2 word balloons. Nick Fury continues to be portrayed very badly, an increasing occurance since his series was cancelled. Sales on this book must have been plunging, as drastic steps were planned to change its direction next issue.
(7-17-2008)
THE INCREDIBLE HULK 128
cover by HERB TRIMPE
CAPTAIN MARVEL 20
cover by Gil Kane & Dan Adkins
“Back by popular demand!! The Hero Who Wouldn’t Die!” That’s what it says on the cover. I dunno… Only 6 months after cancellation, this came out, and I’ve no clue if it hadn’t just been sitting in inventory. Some early pages look as if Dan Adkins decided to lavish more love & care over Kane’s pencils than usual, but the 2nd half of the book looks like a rush job. Oh well.
Rick’s been playing music in a bar for a few months, when CM manages to contact him by appearing in a mirror (shades of David Carridine’s SNL appearance). Boggs turns up, still wanting to manage Rick’s music career, but is turned down a 2nd time. Rick tries to stop some thieves in his building, but they’re too much for him and so despite his hurt pride he unleashes CM to finish the job. It’s after this pointless interlude they latch onto the idea that a nuclear physicist-- like Bruce Banner-- might be able to resolve their current shared existence dilemma. So it’s off to the desert, but en route CM runs into an area hard hit by a tornado, and helps out victims as well as takes down a group of looters called The Rat Pack. The episode just seems to ramble from one incident to another, until CM finally approaches Banner’s lab, whereupon he collapses from having stayed in our universe too long. Banner sees the now-unconsicous Rick on a video monitor, but while wondering what brought him there suddenly changes into The Hulk, who decides Rick, like so many others, must be hunting him down to persecute him. Leaping into the desert, The Hulk hurtles down at the unconscious Rick with murder in mind!!!
The letters pages says, “The concept of Mar-Vell… was never consciously changed. It was intended to go the way it did from the very start; in this case, the road chosen merely turned out to be a dead end.” I find this HARD to believe (see my comments on earlier issues). “Since science-fiction books are almost always notoriously poor sellers, we were forced to play down the s-f elements”. No kidding. It then goes on to CLAIM “the last 3 issues of “the sensational NEW Captain Marvel” were a sales blockbuster”. If so, WHY was it cancelled? Honestly, sometimes HYPE is just sickening…
I originally read this as a reprint, in GIANT-SIZE CAPTAIN MARVEL #1, 1975. But it’s nice to have the original, with clearer line reproduction and no pages missing. Mitch sold me his for $3.50.
(7-2-2004)
This begins with Rick Jones playing music to a star-struck crowd of nubile young females... hey, who needs the super-biz anyway? He once again turns down would-be manager Boggs, saying he needs to get his life together first. 3 whole pages are wasted on flashbacks as Mar-Vell-- trapped in the Negative Zone (which is beginning to remind me more of DC's Phantom Zone at this point) reviews Rick's "career" up to this point. When a resident of his building is mugged, Rick tries to help, but gets knocked about for his trouble. Switching places with Mar-Vell, CM returns the favor. Suddenly thinking of scientist Bruce Banner for the first time in months, the pair realize he might be able to help them with their "joined existence" problem. But en route, CM is detoured by helping tornado victims, fighting a group of scavengers called "The Rat Pack", and helping wounded people-- all the while, Mar-Vell thinking this is what he plans to spend the rest of his life doing, once he's freed from the Negative Zone. On reaching Banner's underground lab, Banner sees Rick on a video-monitor, and he wonders if Rick might be in league again with The Avengers, who he just spent time running from in his own book. Before you know it, he's turned into The Hulk again, and leaps toward Rick (unconscious after Mar-Vell over-exerted himself), with MURDER in mind!
Man, this books just rambles from one thing to another to another, in a real stream-of-consciousness way. No way to know if this was done after a break, of if Gil Kane's art had been sitting around since the prevous cancellation, but Dan Adkins seems to have put far more effort, detail & "polish" into this issue than the 3 previous ones combined. All the same, he's STILL no Wally Wood, and I'm afraid it would take somebody like Wood to have really "smoothed over" Kane's art, which keeps getting more "extreme" with every issue! I'm compelled to say this book feels like it could have used an editor-- the story is so disjointed, it just seems directionless, and once again, unpleasant.
On the letters page, we're told "the concept of the original Mar-Vell was worked out primarily by Stan, and later, Roy-- and it actually was never consciously changed. It was intended to go the way it did from the very start; in this case, the road chosen merely turned out to be a dead end." As science-fiction books have "never" sold, it was decided to focus on the "down-to-Earth" super-hero elements instead. I really think these guys are missing the point. I doubt it was the "sci-fi" stuff that sank the book-- it was just HOW BADLY the whole thing was done. To my eyes, it's FAR WORSE at this point than it had been before.
(7-17-2008)
THOR 177
cover by Jack Kirby & John Verpoorten
Here we have the last part of a 3-parter, which feels like a retread of the "Mangog" story. While Odin slept, Loki took over, and this time, he had Odin banished to "The Dimension Of Death", from which there is no return. Of course, right then, Surtur, The Fire Demon, attacked, and Loki, far from worrying about his "subjects", fled like a rat on a sinking ship! So the story is split between Thor & the forces of Asgard fighting a desperate, hopeless, LOSING battle against Surtur, and Sif & Balder trying to find Odin. Loki's ally Igron only too happily sends Balder after Odin, feeling he'll DIE before he can accomplish anything, but while he comes very close to death, his very presence is enough to awaken Odin, who returns with Balder (whose life-force he saves & restores), then single-handedly imprisons Surtur "in the bowels of the earth", as a worn, weary, beaten army hails him.
I wish I could say I enoyed this. Somehow, this has just about the crudest, UGLIEST art I have ever seen from Jack Kirby on THOR -- and that includes the episodes George Roussos worked on. Vince Colletta returned to Marvel at this point, and sure enough, "ye editor" immediately stuck him back on THOR. But whatever was going on with Kirby's pencils at this point, it was too much for Colletta to "clean up". The cover, at least, is nice, as John Verpoorten (whose inks on Kirby closely resemble Joe Sinnott's) does his best to disguse the "roughness" going on in the pencils.
This almost seems like it should have been Jack Kirby's FINAL issue on the book. He did ONE more... but not until "ye editor" had John Buscema take over for one month, apparently to see if Buscema could handle the series or not.
(7-16-2008)
THE AVENGERS 77
cover by John Buscema & Tom Palmer
Ruthless business tycoon Cornelius Van Lunt (who reminds me a LOT of actor Roger C. Carmel) is trying to drive Tony Stark out of business. Stark needs all his assets-- including the supposed "back rent" on the Mansion (HOW can the team owe rent if he owns it and he's letting them use it for free???), and to help raise the cash, the team offers their services for hire. And it seems the most lucrative offer that matches their needs comes from... Van Lunt, who has them tearing down properties he's bought that he intends to resell to the city for a profit. Meanwhile, a team of crooks somewhat reminiscent of "The Enforcers" (from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN) are pulling jobs for a masked leader calling himself "Kronos". Each recent job is foiled by one of The Avengers, and Kronos plans to get the team out of their way. The "last" job the team is supposed to do for Van Lunt involves repairing a dangerous tunnel under the East River... and as soon as they're in the middle, Kronos has it blown up! But the team did some checking, and escaped before the explosion-- then round up the gang. To their surprise, it's NOT Van Lunt under the mask, but his right-hand man Wilkins, who he ruined years earlier, and wanted revenge by framing the man he now works for.
An offbeat issue, with a nice twist ending. Van Lunt would return in future issues. Meanwhile, The Black Panther has taken a job as a public school teacher, as he has apparently decided to "give up" his throne to better help the world in general. John Buscema & Tom Palmer contnue working wonders on every single page, every panel, it's stunning to look at this stuff! Roy's story is complex, and I'm not quite sure all the details quite fit together to make sense, but overall, he's doing some terrific work here. Only 2 things really annoyed me here-- the appearances of as pair of phrases that became over-used and ubiquitous over the years, and it seems Roy was the one who made them both popular-- "code names" and "so-called". GRR!!! (Maybe it's just me...)
(7-16-2008)
DAREDEVIL 65
cover by Marie Severin & Joe Sinnott
(Continued in July 1970)
All Text (C) Henry R. Kujawa
Artwork (C) Marvel Comics
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
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