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Post by Nowhere Man on Apr 17, 2015 21:08:50 GMT -5
I generally check the GCD. Mike's site is great. But the level of scholarship at the GCD is as good as there is on the net. I'm going to use it from now on. I think the deal with Mike's is that it started as a DC site and that's where the primary focus was. I don't think he's actually finished the Marvel portion to be honest. I've been using Mike's and Marvel because I use Mike for the chronology (that Newstand feature really is great) and Marvel for credit backup and covers.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Apr 17, 2015 21:10:07 GMT -5
I think Thor really comes off as a Superman copy in those early stories... from fighting Commies to helping with missile testing and whatnot... I doubt he would have become one of Marvel's staple characters without the mythology that eventually gave the series it's direction. No question about it. Once Tales of Asgard starts the series really improves. Tales of Asgard is one of my favorite aspects of the Silver Age, hands down.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 17, 2015 22:22:04 GMT -5
I think Thor really comes off as a Superman copy in those early stories... from fighting Commies to helping with missile testing and whatnot... I doubt he would have become one of Marvel's staple characters without the mythology that eventually gave the series it's direction. Thor was absolutely a Superman clone in the early days. From the super powers that spontaneously appeared whenever needed, to the love triangle to the cliched plots. It was by far the most "DC" book Marvel was doing.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Apr 18, 2015 4:00:43 GMT -5
Tales to Astonish #35CreditsScript: Stan Lee Pencils: Jack Kirby Inks: Dick Ayers Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Synopsis: After a brief retelling of Ant-Man's origin, we see that Pym has had second thoughts about his size altering formula and decides that such an important discovery is too important to discard. In the interim, he's developed a fascination with ants which leads him to develop a cybernetic helmet that allows him to communicate with the insects, as well as a protective costume. Pym and a group of scientists are then tasked with developing a formula to make humans immune to the effects of radiation. Communist forces catch wind of this and send a team of agents to subdue and steal the formula. After the other scientists are binded, Pym thinks fast and dons his Ant-Man costume and cybernetic helmet. After a brief adventure in an ant hill, Ant-Man enlists the aid of a colony of ants using his cybernetic helmet to control them. After commanding the ants to attack the communist spies, and freeing the scientists, the freed scientists take out the agents and call the authorities. First Appearances: Ant-Man (Pym in costume) Comments: While not the strongest concept initially, I've always liked Pym's cybernetic helmet and the way he uses it to control ants and use them to help him fight crime. Sure, in a lot of way's Ant-Man is kind of an Atom clone, but there is enough here to set him apart. We get yet another story about communists, but I guess this sort of thing had to happen given the climate of the times. Once we move away from that sort of thing, and into the introduction of the classic super villains, all the series start to improve. The scene where Ant-Man uses a rubber band, an ashtray and some thread to get out of his lab is amusing and clever, but a tad goofy. Art and Story: Stan does a decent job of summing ups Pym's origin, and I do buy that Pym would develop a fascination with ants after his harrowing first adventure in shrinking. Kirby and Ayers do another bang up job, with the opening page giving us a good look at Ant-Man and his ants being the highlight. Character Development: Clearly Pym has been retooled into a scientist with a strong drive to be a hero. He also seems to be well respected in the scientific community as he's the clear leader of the group of scientists. Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 5/8. This issue certainly rates as average, being that we get little more than a lame communist attack and not much else. The most interesting aspect was his interaction with the ants. I give this a high mark for historical importance because its the first appearance of Pym as Ant-Man.
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 18, 2015 9:00:38 GMT -5
FYI, Stan doesn't actually script the series until Astonish #49, the first Giant-Man story. #35-43 are scripted by Larry Lieber, #44-48 by Ernie Hart (as H. E. Hartley).
Cei-U! I summon the point of order!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 18, 2015 9:45:57 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to those early ant-man stories to hit the Epic line... the Masterworks got too expensive for me when the movie was announced.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 18, 2015 9:46:18 GMT -5
Dastardly Double post of DOoM!
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Post by the4thpip on Apr 19, 2015 4:49:56 GMT -5
Tales to Astonish #35 While GCD is great for the facts, they do not allow remote-linking their covers. You're the only one who can see it right now because your browser has it cached from their site. Here it is from coverbrowser.com:
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Apr 19, 2015 14:15:33 GMT -5
Not THAT much more realistic - he's not Kirby cartoony, but he's closer to Kurtzman than to Hal Foster. I was thinking more of his work for Dell or Treasure Chest. Huh. I haven't seen that. Sinnott was all over Marvel and Charlton in the Silver Age though, and his work there tended towards the cartoony - the figure work much more than the background, though. Maybe he had a different style for "genre" work?
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Post by The Cheat on Apr 19, 2015 15:47:43 GMT -5
I'm looking forward to those early ant-man stories to hit the Epic line... the Masterworks got too expensive for me when the movie was announced. Typical, they solicit the Epic just after I finally gave in and grabbed the MW
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Post by Nowhere Man on Apr 19, 2015 21:15:30 GMT -5
Tales to Astonish #35 While GCD is great for the facts, they do not allow remote-linking their covers. You're the only one who can see it right now because your browser has it cached from their site. Here it is from coverbrowser.com: Thanks, I noticed that just now. Mystified as to why they wouldn't allow this, when Marvel itself does. I'm obviously not getting something here. FYI, FF #7 was read earlier today and the review is coming forthwith.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 19, 2015 23:28:25 GMT -5
I always call FF #7 "The Attack of the Pekingese People."
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Post by Nowhere Man on Apr 20, 2015 8:07:56 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #7CreditsScript: Stan Lee Pencils: Jack Kirby Inks: Dick Ayers Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Synopsis: Kurrgo, Master of Planet X, seek's aid in stopping a runaway meteor (also called a "planet" in story) from destroying his world. Though the inhabitants of Planet X are far more advanced than humankind, having mastered the power of gravity, they never developed a love of space travel, and having but two large ships, can't flee the planet. Kurrgo sends his robot in one of the crafts to enlist the aid of the FF. The FF have traveled to Washington to attend a diner being held in their honor, when Kurrgo's robot causes the entire populace to turn against the FF by operating a hostility ray while flying over the nations capitol. After eluding angry politicians and the army, the FF are confronted by Kurrgo's robot who tells them that their only option is to travel with him back to Planet X where his master has a proposition for them. Seeing no other course of action, and being curious to see this new alien world, the FF travel to Planet X. Kurrgo explains his plight, and after the Thing and the Torch have a brief tussle with Kurrgo's robot, Kurrgo convinces Reed to help. With the planetoid's proximity already causing massive upheavals over land and sea, Mr. Fantastic gets to work on on a solution for Kurrgo, who has provided him with their most advanced scientific lab. Reed concocts a plan based on a shrinking gas that will shrink the entire populace of the planet down to minuscule size so they can all fit inside the other remaining ship Upon landing on their world of choice, another gas would enlarge them all back to normal size. Kurrgo allows the FF to escape in the ship they arrived in, but having delusions of grandeur, decides to keep the enlarging gas for himself so he can rule over his subjects as a giant. Lagging behind, Kurrgo meets a proper fate when he misses his opportunity to board the ship, not willing to part with the enlarging gas canister and abandon his megalomaniacal ambitions. On the trip back, Reed explains that there never was an enlarging gas and that he didn't tell them for fear that they'd refuse to accept his plan. First Appearances: Kurrgo Comments: As silly and uneven as this issue is, I've always kind of liked it. The best part for me is the interaction between the FF when they're all making excuses as to why they don't want to attend the Washington dinner event and the Thing screwing around with Johnny while he's singing in the shower. It's laughable even given comic book logic that a race that advanced would need our help, or wouldn't have more than two ships simply because they don't care for space-travel. Could you imagine where we'd be if we simply didn't care for deep sea exploration, sailing, etc.? Apparently a deeply ingrained lack of ambition on a societal level was this races defining trait. One wonders if Reed picked up on this and simply refused to create an enlarging gas (It certainly was a piece of cake for him to whip up the shrinking gas), hoping the entire sorry race would get eaten by alien insects as soon as they set foot on their new world. And I'm still not sure if it was a meteor or a planet that destroyed Planet X. I suppose it could have been one of the many rogue planets we now know about, having been ejected from its mother solar system. We may never know. (Unless I get informed that this was retconned and explained of course.) Art and Story: I think Stan's writing is picking up, particularly in the interaction between Ben and Johnny. The alien's are still goofy and lacking convincing motivations, but we're seeing improvement. It seems like this is the issue where Kirby is clearly moving the Thing from "dinosaur hide" to the rocky appearance we know and love. My favorite pages are the introduction of Kurrgo lounging and observing the FF and of course the FF's now iconic gravity beam arrival on Planet X. Character Development: I thought it was interesting how Reed admitted to Ben that he really decided to go to Planet X because of his scientific curiosity. This seems to be the first real indication that the FF aren't really crime-fighters in the traditional sense; they're first and foremost super-powered explorers. Ben and Johnny's relationship seems to be getting more nuanced, with the bickering and horseplay being balanced by a real love and respect for each other. Personal Rating/Historical Importance: 5/5. I don't think the issue is bad, just average for an FF comic. There really isn't anything of historical importance here, save for it being the FF's first visit to an alien world.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Apr 20, 2015 8:13:06 GMT -5
I always call FF #7 "The Attack of the Pekingese People." The Pekingesians?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 20, 2015 12:21:13 GMT -5
I remember thinking when reading this that if everyone could have just been nice..all would have been well. Funny, as I've been talking about in the X-Men thread, this is another example of a hero (Reed in this case) being rather un-heroic.
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