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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 29, 2018 15:46:29 GMT -5
As is usual when Hollywood steps in some things you love get turned into other things, even when they're done well. For me, the Guardians of the Galaxy is one of those things that I love, that Hollywood (thanks to a late era Marvel revamp) morphed into something else, which is how the general public sees it. If I ask the "man on the street" about the Guardians of the Galaxy, they probably think of this... Now, as awesome as that movie (and its sequel) was, when I think of the Guardians of the Galaxy, I think of this....  I first met then in Defenders #28 and fell in love on the spot. They were wickedly cool, a mix of Star Trek and superheroes, much like the Legion of Superheroes, when I discovered them, around the same time frame (with Mike Grell having recently taken over the book, after Dave Cockrum pushed it more into Trek territory). They were an interesting mix of visual looks and character personalities. Starting from left to right... Charlie-27: resident of Jupiter, part of their elite Space Militia, with a mass 11 times greater than an Earth human. He was like a living tank, but with a soft soul. Yondu: Native of Alpha Centauri, a blue-skinned people with a dorsal fin, from cranium lower spine. Able to control his Yaka arrows by whistle. Stoic and most stable member of the team. Martinex: Crystalline humanoid of Pluto, able to translate light into blasts of extreme heat and cold, tech expert, brains of the team. Major Vance Astro: Earth astronaut, spent 1000 years in space, his body protected by a copper suit against the ravages of time, space flight unleashed his psychic potential, unable to take off his suit. Starhawk: (at top), mysterious alien from Arcturus, able to soar the spaceways with his own stellar wings, tapped into time and space as "One Who Knows," carries a secret from his teammates. That's a pretty good hook. It was still strong enough that Yondu was included in the revamp, then the rest turned up, as well, in altered form. In Guardians 2, they looked like this....  Meh.......... One of the things that made them special was that the appeared sporadically, before gaining their own series, which lasted briefly, turning them into continued guest stars, until they got their own longer term series, in the early 90s. They were more of a special attraction, which I liken to Andre the Giant, in the 1970s, in the territorial days of pro wrestling. Andre would come in for a few dates in a territory, then move on to another area, rather than staying for long periods in one place, where his uniqueness would wear off (as it did when he became heavily featured in the expanding 80s WWF, vs his earlier days with Vince McMahon Sr's The Guardians had that same flavor: they popped up in the late 60s, disappeared until the mid-70s, got a brief run on a title, popped in and out through the 80s, got their own series in the 90s, which ended up taking the shine off things, leading to a revamp in the 2000s, with a new bunch, borrowing heavily from Star Wars, Blake's 7, Firefly and others. This will be about Old School Guardians, not Peter Quill and the Gang. We won't have talking racoons, but there will be plenty of stuff that's even weirder; with Badoons, Topographical Man, the Ravagers, Aleta, Korvac, young Vance Astrovik, and The Stark. Buckle up, as the Captain America is about to go into warp.......  Marvel Super-Heroes #18
Creative Team: Arnold Drake-writer, Gene Colan-artist, Mike Esposito-inker (as Mickey Demeo), Herb Cooper-letterer, Stan Lee-editor. Synopsis: In the year 3007, Charlie-27, of the Jovian Space Militia, returns from a solo space mission, two months after radio contact was broken. he finds no one to greet him, until running into an ambush by the lizard-like Badoon.  He takes out the ambushers, then heads into the city, only to find all of the citizens rounded up and put into concentration camps, where the radiation from Harkovite, a mineral which powers their spaceships, is slowly killing them. Charlie spots his father and tries to break him out; but, must run from the Badoon patrols. he hops into a matter transmitter, set randomly for transport. he arrives on Pluto, where he runs into Martinex, one of the crystalline Pluvians, who can generate blasts of extreme heat or cold.  The Pluvians and Jovians are old enemies; but, they two work together for their mutual survival and escape to Earth, via the transporter tubes. On Earth, we are introduced to the terran Major Vance Astro and Centaurian Yondu. Astro was an astronaut, launched in the 21st Century, on a long space voyage, to be carried out in suspended animation. He was put into a copper preservation suit, to prevent his body's decay, over the time it will take to reach Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to Earth's solar system.  Astro's space mission was for naught, as 200 years later, the Harkov Drive was discovered, which allowed Earthmen to reach Alpha Centauri 200 years later, establishing a colony there. Astro was met by the Earthmen. The badoon came there, as well, and conquered it. Astro and Yondu were captured. Astro is spared a slave disc, due to the unique circumstances of his voyage and the 1000 years of knowledge, carried in his head. He says he doesn't care about the Earthers and is given a chance to prove it, by killing Yondo. He takes Yondu's bow and fires one of his Yaka arrows at him...  The pair escape and run smack into Charlie and Martinex, who help them fight off the Badoon. They jump into a transporter and arrive on New New York, where they will set up a base, to fight the Baddon and free Earth and its colonies. Thoughts: Well, it's different. This is, essentially, an old school sci-fi tale,given a superhero gloss. Actually, the superhero part is rather subdued, with more of the sci-fi element at play. Arnold Drake had plenty of experience at this kind of stuff, with ironies like Vance arriving 1000 years later, at his destination and finding that his own people beat him there. Yondu is essentially the Native American stereotype translated to an alien race (the dorsal fin invoking the Mohawk traditions). Charlie is more astronaut than soldier, in this story. The parallels to WW2 Europe are obvious, right down to the concentration camps (or South Africa, during the Boer War, when Winston Churchill came up with the idea). Gene Colan makes it dynamic, though the spaceships, suits and technology look extremely dated, even then. At this point, it is more Edmond Hamilton than Gene Roddenberry. As such, it didn't really go anywhere and the idea was dropped. The rest of the comic features a Sub-Mariner reprint and the second of 2 All-Winners Squad stories; the proto-Invaders. Next up, Vance Astro meets his idol. |
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Post by brutalis on Aug 29, 2018 16:15:53 GMT -5
Proud to say my 1st issue as a child was the Marvel Superheroes Presents. Cover-less, which means I must have gotten it from my Uncle's barbershop before he threw it out and long after it had been published in 1969. I read that comic til it was falling apart and loved the Colan artwork and though the Badoon were truly scary and terrifying lizards (more so than the Gorn ever could be) threats. Yondu and Martinex stole the show for me. They were just "alien" enough yet they were also the must "human" in some ways. Vance was a vintage 50's space exploring fantasy science-fiction astronaut type that I had read about in many books. Charlie was the muscle and eventual heart of the team and the science-fiction idea of his genetically increased body's size/density/strength to work as a miner felt "real" as well. That the comic was more science fiction than super hero made it a strong selling point for me as by this point I was watching Star Trek in rerun's.
I was always looking for any more of the Guardian's yet never did find anything until they co-starred in Marvel Two-in-One with The Thing and Captain America. I was hooked instantly. The updated 70's style of their outfits making them "pop" in ways their original suits never did. Yet they were still recognizable as the team I remembered as drawn by Colan. Being freedom fighters for an Earth enslaved added some serious story potential and they were inspired to fight the good fight from the history of Captain America made the team very cool.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 29, 2018 16:28:10 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #4-5  Creative Team(s): Steve Gerber-writer, Sal Buscema-artist, Frank Giacoia (4) and Mike Esposito (5)-inkers, Charlotte Jetter (4) and Annette Kawecki (5)-letterers, Petra Goldberg-colorist, Roy Thomas-editor. Synopsis: Ben Grimm is on an outing with the child-like Wundarr, an alien who arrived on Earth in a space capsule (in an homage to Superman, except he grew to adulthood, without the mental development). While Ben is buying cotton candy, Wundarr lets the kitties out of their cages to play (the kitties being lions and tigers, as well as some gorillas; oh my!). Ben tries to corral them and Steve Rogers is walking through the same zoo/park and dons his mask and helps out. Namorita, who met Wundarr in MTIO #2 stumbles along and calms Wundarr and offers to try to educate him. Cap is surprised Ben is letting the troublemaker go and Ben takes Cap back to the Baxter Building to explain Wundarr's origins. Reed is working on Dr Doom's time machine and Ben accidentally turns on the power. later, while they are visiting, a woman in a purple bathing suit shows up, and can't believe she is seeing Captain America and the FF, as they died out 1000 years before. he faints, is revived and tells them about the 31st Century and the badoon. Cap, Ben, Sharon Carter, and Tarin (the future woman) return to the year 3014, to scope out the situation and maybe get in contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy, who operate from a ship named for Cap. They arrive in future New York and are attacked by zombified humans, and then the Monster of Badoon.  The gang gets taken down, apart from Tarin, who hides. Issue 5 sees them brought before the head Badoon and Cap is mindprobed, recapping the previous issue. The leader learns that Cap is a symbol of liberty and wants him put down. ben is recovered and decks the Monster, who is electrocuted when he crashes into machinery.  The gang busts loose and goes on the run. meanwhile, Tarin has contacted the underground resistance, and they get in touch with the Guardians...  Vance recognizes Cap and says it is the miracle they have waited for. he turns the ship, the Captain America, towards Earth and we cut to Cap, Ben and Sharon running into more Badoon. Fists fly and they an arrow takes down a Badoon about to sound the alarm, as the Guardians join the melee. Then, the Terran resistance turns up. They are able to secure New York for Free Earth.  They capture Drang, the Badoon leader and he rants that they can't defeat the whole planet. The Guardians say they have this and send Ben, Cap and Sharon back home. Thoughts: Steve Gerber took that old Marvel Super-Heroes story, tweaked it a little, and ran with it. Issue 4 is set-up, while issue 5 is payoff. The Guardians are reintroduced and given a makeover. Vance Astro's original purple copper suit (guess a copper-colored copper suit was too hard to create, in 1969, on a comic budget) is replaced by a snazzier white and blue skin suit. Yondu gets his red suit and Charlie sheds his space suit for trousers, a red hood, and bandoliers. They all get a nifty red, white and blue star badge, giving them a unification missing from many super-teams. The splash page of the big brawl is suitably epic, even if the day is won a bit too easily. If it was that easy to beat the Badoon, you'd think it would have already started. I guess they needed their TE Lawrence to show them how, in the form of Captain America (and Ben). This is really where the Guardians of the Galaxy concept comes together, as freedom fighters, as well as the Star Trek element, as their ship, the Captain America, is a pretty close match to the Enterprise.... 
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 29, 2018 16:45:54 GMT -5
Giant Size Defenders #5, Defenders #26-29     I've already written detailed reviews of these issues in my Defenders review thread.. In a fairly pointless story in GS Defenders #5, they turn up on Earth where a piece of Badoon tech has evolved an Eel into a 5th rate monster and most of the issue is spent dealing with it. The Guardians have crash landed on 20th Century Earth and Vance runs into his younger self, which causes all kinds of elemental disturbances on Earth. In the regular series, the story gains traction as they fix the Captain America and get back into space, in the 30th Century, where they get intercepted, while beaming to Earth and the team gets split between the Badoon homeworld and a drunken planet. Doctor Strange gets wired into the ship's sensors to use his powers to find the missing team members. Vance Astro and Valkyrie meet up with Starhawk, who introduces them to the Sisterhood of Badoon, while Hulk and Yondu end up as contestants in a satire of Let's Make A Deal, with gladiatorial elements. Doctor Strange makes everyone else superfluous by freeing the terrans from prison camps and launches a bloody revolution, though he forces a more peaceful end to Badoon rule in Chicago. Then he magics away the Defenders, leaving the Guardians to clean up the mess. The story has a weak opening, as the arrival was better off not being distracted by the average monster tale in GSD 5. The story gets on track in Defenders 26 and build nicely, through 28. @9 really just seems to set up the Guardians new series, in Marvel Presents, while Doc defeats the Badoon almost single-handedly. It shows the danger of having someone so powerful as part of a team (a problem with both Thor and Superman, let alone the Spectre). The ending is rather underwhelming and you wish that the story had progressed longer, to have the payoff be more impactful. Also, the game show parody is rather distracting, though that was part of the fun of reading Gerber's Defenders. Problem is, it was out of place, in this story. Starhawk made a nice addition to the team, giving them their own Spock (another annoying know-it-all, Jim!) Steve Gerber would pick up the threads, with art by Al Migrom, in Marvel Presents, which is where we head next.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 29, 2018 17:07:46 GMT -5
Only had Defenders 27 and 28 for the longest time until the world of the LCS and back issues allowed me to find the missing issues. I really liked the addition and look of Starhawk but his "one who knows" got to being a real dislike rather quickly. Again, I read these Defender issues until they were sawdust and I was drawing the Guardian's all of the time from MTIO and these issues. As you said in the Defender reviews codystarbuck the Defender issues felt more like a set up for creating GoG as a regular series if reader interest and sales met Marvel's expectations. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 29, 2018 18:13:27 GMT -5
Theme Music for this era of the Guardians of the Galaxy..... (How ironic is it that a band that was better known for the lead singer's hair has 3 our of 4 now bald?) Marvel Presents #3 Creative Team: Steve Gerber-writer, Al Milgrom-artist, Pablo Marcos-inker, Denise Wohl-letterer, Phil Rache-colorist, Marv Wolfman-editor Synopsis: Gerber starts out by telling us that this story doesn't mean much, in the grand scheme of things.... Pretty gutsy way to start a story! The war rages on, as the Guardians and the Free Terrans fight to liberate New Moscow, from the Badoon....  Gerber swipes from Sergei Eisenstein, as Vance Astro rescues a child from being trampled by the mob, as they storm the steps of the Federation Hall. Cahrlie 27 takes out a tank, then is point blank in Badoon sights, only to be rescued by a timely arrow through the Badoon's neck (gruesome!). Charlie and Yondu debate philosophies of death and battle, while Martonex turns the Badoon leader into barbecued lizard. The end result...  The humans are lining up the surviving Badoon for execution, when the observing Starhawk finally gets involved, as he is in the vanguard of a landing Badoon fleet; the Sisterhood of Badoon. They are going to take the Brotherhood away to rehabilitate them, which they consider a fate worse than death; but, death-lust is high with the Earthers, with some calling for death to all Badoon, including the peaceful Sisterhood and Starhawk, for desert. Starhawk blinds them with light, stunning them, while the Sisterhood removes the horde of males to space, leaving the Earth to face its future destiny without revenge killing. Gerber gives us one of his text-heavy pieces and then we move on.  In the autumn, Yondu is in one of the few areas of wilderness left, contemplating the future, when a feral human attacks. Yondu stabs him with an arrow, then decides to nurse him back to health. In Winter, martinexx works with scientists in berlin to recover technology. The search proves fruitless and Martinex is angered by the reaction of a terran scientist to his form, given that he is descended from Earth genes, altered to adapt to the environment on Pluto. In Los Angeles, Charlie is working with a construction crew, repairing the city; but, has enough of the foreman belittling him and tells him to ...  In San Francisco, Vance Astro is in a cabaret, watching a dancer, who finishes her set and comes over to see him, while others offer catcalls. he tells her there is no point and others rag him on, until he gives them a psi-bolt and storms out. Outside, he is intercepted by a teleporter beam. he materializes on the Captain America, where Starhawk tells them they are setting off on a new mission (lasting 5 years, no doubt...)  Thoughts: Well, gerber is a little heavy on the metaphors. Earth is free and is about to turn all French (or Russian, take your pick) and settle old scores, when Starhawk decides to be Mandela and bring in his own Truth Commission, in the form of the Sisterhood of Badoon) and take away the brotherhood of Badoon for rehabilitation (and that was nearly 20 years before the end of Apartheid!). The individual members find trouble readjusting after war, much like the Vietnam Veterans (and veterans of most wars, really), who found that people didn't appreciate their service, now that the war was over. Each finds prejudice,exploitation, bullying, loss of human contact, or just random violence. Starhawk presents them with a new, more positive purpose, to explore the spaceways, in the grand tradition of Star Trek, with its utopian vision of the future. Gerber also uses one of his text heavy pages, which Stan would have never gone for and shows that the writers had taken over Marvel, even if it slowed down the pacing of the story. These info dumps just made me want to skip to the next page. Comics are a visual medium and these pages are too static and suggest that Gerber had pacing problems and thought this was a way around them, so he didn't have to stretch his story into another idde (well, more than he already was). I also get the sense that he was a little too in love with his prose (a problem that Don McGregor had, no matter how good his plots were). Marvel's editors were pretty much asleep at the whell, in this period, letting people do what they wanted. On the plus side, it led to a real wave of creativity. On the negative side it let the talent get self-indulgent and it turned off some readers, affecting sales, in the long run. many of Marvel's best books were little more than cult favorites and didn't have long runs. Marvel struggled like this until Star Wars brought them a huge audience and big sales, in large part to the dearth of Star Wars merchandise out there, until 1978/79 (and Empire left them with a major narrative hole, by taking Han off the table). Gerber is also playing around with the Code restrictions metaphorically, as it is obvious that the scene in the cabaret is really just a metaphor for a strip club and an impotent ex-soldier, who can't indulge. Vance is basically condemned to living his life in a full body condom. Starhawk is still all mysterious and even angelic, showing that Gerber is building things around him, as the central character, though Vance Astro presents a lot of pathos for him to milk, for emotional content. The rest are left with more surface issues, though there are sparks there, which could ignite dramatic fires. Pablo Marcos is a nice fit with Milgrom, helping the art pop more, especially in the space and tech scenes. Milgrom was a better inker than penciller and his pencilling work ebbed or flowed, depending on who inked it. Next up: More of the mystery of Starhawk is revealed and we learn more of Aleta, while Vance Astro gets a big surprise. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Aug 30, 2018 12:00:52 GMT -5
I loved these guys. I think Gerber's story in Defenders seems dated now, but the solo series was quite good and surprisingly racy in places (you know which scene I'm referring to).
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 30, 2018 16:11:48 GMT -5
I loved these guys. I think Gerber's story in Defenders seems dated now, but the solo series was quite good and surprisingly racy in places (you know which scene I'm referring to). Yes, and I will get to it soon. It just proves that the editors weren't looking at the books until they were on the stands. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 30, 2018 17:08:08 GMT -5
Marvel Presents #4 Creative Team: Gber-writer, Milgrom-artist, Janice Cohen-letterer, Irv Watanabe-colorist, Marv Wolfman-biding his time. Synopsis: The Guardians have stopped at Centauri IV, Yondu's home planet, so he can consult his gods about whether his role is to be part of the expedition. Vance carps about his theology and Charlie defends the link between Yondu's people and their world. The Badoon wiped out all of the natives, except Yondu and he suffers from survivor guilt. A rainstorm erupts and an insect crawls across his hand and Yondu smiles, saying he will go with them. Okay, not exactly pillars of fire in the air; but, it gets the job done. The gang beams back to the Captain America. Vance heads off to his quarters, for some alone time and we see that it is a recreating of his boyhood room, from Earth, complete with posters of Captain America and copies of Origins of Marvel Comics and Son of Origins (as seen in GS Defenders #5). He is being all sulky and emo, when Spock.....I mean Starhawk walks in and questions his wallowing in his past, when he is living his childhood dream? He's got a pretty good point there! Vance reacts in anger and accidentally throws a psi-bolt, which hits Starhawk and reveals an image of a woman; the one seen on the viewscreen of the three children he visited in Defenders #29.  Starhawk loses his Vulcan cool and actually threatens to remove Vance from existence if he visits violence on him again. he walks out; but, away from Vance's eyes shows that he has been weakened by the bolt. On the bridge, Charlie, Martinex and Yondu are discussing their course and Starhawk's mysterious mission, when they get an alert and find themselves attacked by an Earth pleasure cruiser. They bring it in with a tractor beam and go to the landing bay to see who's inside, when a woman hops out and gets the drop on Vance, with a raygun.  She thinks they are Badoon spies, until she sees Charlie and Martinex and Yondu. Vance recognizes her as a Mercurian and she relates how the Badoon killed her family and her people. She escaped to space; but, ran out of food and power. She was drifting when she came across a derelict ship, which had food and parts to spare. She spent the rest of her time exploring, leading her to the Guardians. She finally tells them (by the way) that her name is Nikki. Theye xamine her tapes and she remarks of the number of dead worlds, where life should exist. Starhawk asks, strangely, if they had a peculiar odor, which she says, yes, to Vance's amazement. He and Charlie squabble, in fine Marvel tradition (cause every team is filled with bickering teenagers, rather than mature adults) and Vance gets told off. On the homestead asteroid that Starhawk visited in Defenders, the three unsupervised kids spot something in space and try to raise Aleta, on their monitor. She appears on the screen, looking exactly like the female face Vance saw, and then the children all climb into bed, like zombies. Starhawk comes over all funny and leaves the briefing, goes to his room and suddenly transforms into the woman, Aleta!  Vance barges into the room, since the door was open (returning the favor) and finds the woman and starts to mack on her, as she asks him to deliver a message to Starhawk that "The Children are in danger!" Vance asks if she is free for dinner and she departs the room. Starhawk stumbles in just after and Vance gives him the "sly dog" treatment. Starhawk is decidedly less reserved and asks for the message; but, they are interrupted by an alert, from the bridge. They rush up and find a giant space frog/energy vampire. Starhawk beams out to get tricorder readings and is affected by the creature...  Readings show it is neither matter or energy and Yondu identifies it as Karanada, the "emptiness that devours." It is anti-everything. It swallows Starhawk and unleashes energy at the ship, blowing all of the sensors. They start losing power and life support. They are about to abandon ship when they notice Starhawks bio-recorder and believe him dead.... Thoughts: Well, here's your Gerber weirdness! First, we get the newest Guardian, Nikki, finally adding a female to the mix (and a Mercurian). Of course, this being aimed at young males, Nikki gets a torn mini-dress, not something practical, despite access to clothing from the derelict ship. We also see more of the woman in the viewscreen, Aleta, and witness a bit of gender transformation from Starhawk. Question is, is this a bit of futuristic cross-dressing, does Starhawk change between genders, or is this someone who has taken his place? Well, we won't find out for 5 more issues! She appears in her own mini-dress version of Starhawk's duds, showing, once again, that females are still supporting characters and eye candy at Marvel (and DC to, to a similar degree). Vance seems to have suddenly come down with a case of jack-ass, based on the way he is acting. Yondu, being the Native American metaphor, has to undergo a vision quest and have connections to the land, and all kinds of New Age trappings. Much as I love Gerber's stuff, he (and many of his colleagues) does come across as a bit of a lost hippy, in more average duds. Some of his writing (especially Defenders) is very Underground in its satire, while the other parts are all cosmic weirdness, ala Jim Starlin (minus the Catholic elements) and Englehart (minus the whole Celestial Madonna thing). This is very Star Trek, apart from the whole gender-swap business, which is more Gatchaman. Reading some of this, I sometimes wonder why Gerber didn't try to revive Madame Fatak, when he went to DC. If anyone would have been likely to use a character like that, Gerber is on the short-list (Kirby forbid that Chaykin would ever use the character). This was the first issue of this series that I saw, while visiting my cousin, who had it. I thought Starhawk switched genders, due to some influence of the computer, in absence of any other possibility. I later read the rundown, in OHOTMU, then found the related issues in college. The final reality seemed a bit disappointing to me, compared to the idea that Starhawk was more like Berg Katse, in Gatchman, spontaneously switching between genders (or Virginia Woolf's Orlando), though what Gerber did wasn't that far off the mark of Katse. Milgrom's art, inking himself, is rough in spots, especially the early pages.. Other pages look more solid. Pablo Marcos is missed, though.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 30, 2018 18:11:52 GMT -5
Marvel Presents #5 Creative Team: Gerber, Milgrom, Howard Chaykin-inks, Karen Mantlo-letterer, Janice Cohen-colorist, Marv Wolfman-still hanging in. Synopsis: Thanks to the space frog crippling their ship the GOTG beam down to the nearest planet, where they find themselves in a forest. A weird creature comes along, says they are messing up his garden and kkicks them out, revealing that they are in a rooftop garden. The head downstairs and find themselves among some gangsters. One of them takes a shine to Nikki and grabs her and Charlie unloads on them, then the rest of the Guardians do. They whoop ass and head downstairs and outside and find themselves in an alien Times Square...  Hookers and cops and pimps, oh my! Gerber makes a bit of social commentary, then the gang continues the Star Trek plot and goes looking for equipment, for repairs. Ten years before Star Trek 4, Yondu and Vance go into a pawnshop and find what they need, trading one of Yondu's arrows for it. As they leave, Yondu whistles back the arrow and Vance calls Yondu an "indian giver". Nice bit of cultural sensitivity there. Nikki and Charlie find an arcade and a youth gang, and Charlie whoops them, when the leader makes a move on Nikki. Given the mutton-chops and hair, the gang leader looks like Howard Chaykin.   They are gassed by the cops, outside, and hauled off to the slammer. Yondu runs into a political rally and one of the candidates is a very thinly veiled Gerald Ford, complete with a WIN button (Whip Inflation Now, for you whipper-snappers).   The scene is filled with bile about the whole system being corrupt and nothing changes, etc, ect... Makes Chevy Chase look subtle. Vance runs into alien hippies....  and a chick tells him to get naked, which would kill him. He awkwardly begs off and leaves. Charlie is in jail and hears about a neighboring inmates tale of woe, for stealing a car, while a murderer is paroled. Cahrlie breaks out of jail, literally...  while Nikki runs into Moonies or Jehovah's Witnesses or some such and Gerber pontificates on religion and cults and Nikki gets called blasphemer, yadada, yadda, yadda. The gang meets up with crowds chasing them, like the Beatles, only with fewer excited teenage girls and more bricks. Yondu proves he is awesome and takes out the mob with one arrow...  Vance scatters the rest with a psi-bolt, then they are beamed aboard a passing ship, where they meet Drs Roh-Ma and Pazz-ko (named Mar-t, no doubt). Turns out that the world is a planet-sized mental institution and any resemblance to Earth is because the inmates created their own reality. The doc provided the repair parts, so their trip planet-side was unnecessary. The gang heads out. Thoughts: The plot is ripped off from a dozen Trek episodes and the satire is of the sledgehammer variety. As I said, the political stuff made Chevy Chase's Ford look subtle and the religious stuff is even moreso. The ending is all very Trek/Twilight Zone and the whole thing ends up being a kind of philosophical wanking, if you ask me. Gerber has some points to make; but, he is no Jonathan Swift, in this instance. He was better in the defenders and Howard the Duck, with this kind of thing. he's still better at it than most of his contemporaries, though, and he is trying to do something more than just people in long underwear punching each other. Milgrom and Chaykin aren't a very strong art team, surprisingly. Quite frankly, I would have liked to have seen them reverse roles, with Chaykin drawing and Milgrom inking.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 1, 2018 23:29:40 GMT -5
Marvel Presents #6 Creative Team: Gerber, Milgrom; Terry Austin-inks, Irv Watanabe-letterer, Don Warfield-colorist, Archie Goodwin editor. Marvel Presents was bi-monthly, so it missed the one month tenure of Gerry Conway. Archie Goodwin now has the chair and it was oly supposed to be temporary; but, that turned out to be longer than he could bear. Synopsis: The gang is watching the space frog eat a planet and Martinex says Starhawk's orders were to ignore the creature and stay on their course for the rim. Nikki says screw that and does a Uie, into the Frog's mouth. Vance guts all huffy and storms off to his room and Nikki tries to cheer him up and he gets playful, then Charlie is the buzzkill and threatens him if he doesn't put Nikki down.  Outside the ship is an empty wasteland, which they go exploring, while Vance pouts in his room. The gang finds space bedouins and Starhawk, while Vance finds a mini-frog, which grows and attacks and he hits it with a psi-bolt. It ends up shrinking back down. Vance discovers that the world they are exploring looks like a giant man, in space, the Topographical Man.  The others are exploring the guy's back and Vance has a vision of his younger, astronaut self. Starhawk leads everyone to a cavern, where he reveals the Convent of Living Fire. Thoughts: This is all set-up and it's a lot of weirdness for weirdness sake. Vance is acting all goofy and Charlie is a bit overly protective of Nikki. Attraction of just brotherly? Starhawks is all "One who knows, " which gets annoying about two seconds in. Milgrom can't draw a proper salute (young Vance). Terry Austin greatly improves Milgrom's art, making it tighter and more vibrant. Too bad there isn't much to go to town with. The energy frog is pretty blobular and space Arabs is way too Star Trek; and, not in a good way. Kind of a weak issue.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 1, 2018 23:49:12 GMT -5
Guardians of the Galaxy #7 Creative Team: gerber, Milgrom, Bob Wiacek-inks, Watanabe, Petra Goldberg-colors, Archie da' man. Synopsis: Starhawk leads everyone into the convent, whether they meet the mother superior (who is not Rosalind Russell or Maggie Smith). They hear prayer going on and then see a nun in a pillar of flame, then emerge and turn to ashes. Starhawk tells Nikki she is next. In space, Vance is still getting in touch with himself. In deeper space, we see the asteroid ranch, with horses frozen, Aleta's monitor cracked, and zero G. Niki gets suited up and strapped into a chair, then bursts into flame, as she contacts the "godhood" the big planetary guy). Starhawk doubles over and runs off and Martinex follows, witnessing Starhawk turning into Aleta, who says Starhawk abandoned the children. Vance gets pulled up into the stars and melds with the Topographical Man, while Niki's form flies up and, the next thing you know, the Barry White music starts playing  TM.....um......"explodes" and the planet breaks up, the gang is back on the Captain America and Kananda is gone, thanks to an acto of love. The rest are surprised by Aleta, and Vance and Nikki are awkward around each other. Thoughts: HOW THE HELL DID STEVE GERBER GET SEX INTO A MARVEL COMIC?  Okay, it's metaphorical; but, it was also pretty clear what was about to happen Someone was asleep at eh code, or not getting any. I doubt Archie even saw this until it was printed (based on Shooter's claims. This whole two parter was an exercise in bizarre. At least now we are going to be concentrating on the Reavers and the origin of StarHawk and his relationship to Aleta, whatever that is.
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Post by beccabear67 on Sept 2, 2018 14:46:22 GMT -5
I found the Marvel Presents run as a set and read it straight through. It started out well enough and I liked the addition of Nikki cliched though she was, but with that parody crazy planet story things really went 'not my cuppa'. I felt like Gerber either lost interest or ran out of ideas, or perhaps was on his way out the door or preoccupied elsewhere or something. Unfortunately not having read anything else by the author outside a couple or so Howard The Ducks, I was not too impressed. Love the characters and the art (Milgrom was also doing Captain Marvel around then, or just after?) but the stories seemed like a best forgotten mess by the end. It's like they couldn't find another writer interested in doing it and Gerber had lost interest and was blowing deadlines. Anthropomorphic Topographical Galaxyman was the last big idea in the series (and to me a fairly silly one). Sorry to be negative, but these reviews remind me that it did start out fairly strongly.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Sept 2, 2018 17:21:18 GMT -5
Milgrom and Chaykin aren't a very strong art team, surprisingly. Quite frankly, I would have liked to have seen them reverse roles, with Chaykin drawing and Milgrom inking. Milgrom later inked Chaykin on Micronauts #13-18, which wasn't very good either. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 2, 2018 19:44:14 GMT -5
I think the upcoming storyline, with the Ravagers, and the opening, with the end of the Badoon fight, were about all Gerber had. I get the feeling he was kind of stretching things out, with the stuff in between. For my money, the Guardians pick up more with the Thor crossover, with Korvac, which leads into the Avengers Korvac Saga (though they get lost in the shuffle, after the initial issues). Marvel Two-in-One kind of closes out their Korvac and 20th Century storyline, and then left them on the shelf, until the Valentino series.
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