AMAZING ADVENTURES 3
cover by John Buscema & John Verpoorten
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
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
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