|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 28, 2017 12:38:14 GMT -5
That's the most information I've ever seen about the abandoned superhero revival. I'm a fan of Engelhart's and would certainly have picked up The Fly, but the rest of them seem pretty disposable to me.
Btw, did you know in the 40's Street & Smith comics featuring the Shadow, he briefly had a sidekick, Shadow Jr.? I've always believed that kid grew up to become the 60s Shadow, before being killed by Shiwan Kahn.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 25, 2017 13:01:35 GMT -5
A lot of MLJ material covered in a single post, whoof!
The 60's hero revival was incredibly poorly managed, a reponse more to the success of the Batman tv series than anything else. I do think the henpecked Web was an exception, such an outlandish turn of many secret identity cliches that it remains funny to this day (despite the in retrospect painful gender politics). I also think that the completely outlandish "Too Many Heroes" holds up well and would be worth reprinting in any 'Best of MLJ' anthology.
The Morrow/Adams Black Hood revival was another hight point, although it's tended to be so oft-reprinted that it's difficult to view it objectively now.
I remember the Stingaree! I always thought it a shame she disappeared after one outing. Sort of an odd feature though, very unlike the standard Heavy Metal fair. I wonder what Morrow intended for the strip.
I commented on the rest of the 80s revival earlier in the thread so won't recap.
THUNDER Agents Carbonaro:
Captured the lighthearted feel of the originals, but the story was bland and the new member (Vulcan) overpowered.
THUNDER Agents Deluxe:
A mixed bag, some of the stories were amazingly good and others were quite dire, although I appreciated the return to the anthology style of the original run (although, based on what I read, it was going to go into directions that would have bugged me, so maybe just as well).
I always felt that the two series ought to have been combined somehow!
I thought both the Solson (despite its rough edges) and the Omni revivals were incredibly enjoyable and of course sadly truncated.
I don't recall whether I've mentioned this, but when the characters were briefly thought to be public domain, Dez Skinn was going to feature them in Warrior. There's an episode of the "Big Ben" strip in which a British agent, on the phone, refers to Dynamo and Noman by their surnames.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 22, 2017 12:44:03 GMT -5
I was into Moore before it was cool to be in to Moore. Found Moore 1st in 2000 AD and the Captain Britain stuff. Then found printings of his Maxwell the Magi Cat and then Miracleman and followed him into his DC run and Watchmen. There are some things I am still in need of catching up on from the Mad Englishman across the water but even his weakest efforts make for some interesting reading.
You beat me to it ... I got hooked with Warrior #1 and then went backwards to Captain Britain. I remember being so stunned when he got the Swamp Thing assignment!
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 21, 2017 12:46:48 GMT -5
His Writing for Comics is a thin book, not really what you might expect from a writer of his reputation or talent on that subject. But man, he just nails the absolute essentials within that text, a great book.
To be fair, it was originally a series or articles written in the mid-80s for a British fanzine. It was never intended as a definative tome on the subject.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 20, 2017 12:56:21 GMT -5
Thanks for the link to the Mighty Crusaders page, great stuff. Also: Bob Phantom? Dude, you're not even named Robert. Heck, Walter Phantom sounds better...
I once had a peculiar dream about a sort of parallel Green Lantern Corps, who brought ugly aliens in and gave them cosmetic surgery. Their name? The Bob Phantom Corps. Don't ask me!
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 20, 2017 12:51:43 GMT -5
IMO the Atomic Age (1946-56) is an era both DC & Marvel ignore from their histories. When they focus on anything pre-Silver Age they always focus on stuff printed between 1938-45. I find that time (1946-56) fascinating when stories had to shift from the WWII setting to peace time. From Nazi spies to common criminals or super villains. I know this is fanfic, but: www.fanfiction.net/s/9339039/1/The-Atomic-Age
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 18, 2017 13:01:42 GMT -5
Most of the 80s revival was bland, but there were some standouts. Ditko's Fly series was excellant, as was the sadly truncated Comet miniseries. They reprinted (yet again) the Adams/Morrow Black Hood material. And there were drop-ins from Alex Nino and Alex Toth.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 16, 2017 12:32:51 GMT -5
I think I would have liked it better had it been Hawkman, as was his original plan.
How on Earth could it have been Hawkman??
Think about it: Golden Age Hawkman, reincarnated Egyptian prince. Silver Age Hawkman, alien policeman. This would have been a post-Crisis merging of the two, an alien who is the reincarnation of an Egyptian prince coming to Earth and connecting with the human reincarnation of his lost lover. Of course, it wouldn't have been as gross or violent as Void Indigo.
On another note:
Whennnn will someone get the abandoned script for Lord of Light and give it to Steve Rude to adapt into a graphic novel using Kirby's designs? Whyyyy has this not been done, especially after the film about the making of the script?
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 15, 2017 13:04:28 GMT -5
Likewise Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik's Void Indigo, which lasted one Marvel Graphic Novel and two issues under the Epic imprint before being deemed too violent and explicit.
I think I would have liked it better had it been Hawkman, as was his original plan.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 13, 2017 13:01:54 GMT -5
I am a huge fan of Batroc and have been hoping for a series about him for some time.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 12, 2017 11:40:37 GMT -5
And Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man would fit right in. Sadly, Morrison had plans for "the ultimate AVM Man" story, but then the series changed direction and it never saw print. I'd love to see just a 6-issue miniseries reviving this team just to see these stories Morrison never told the first time. He also planned to bring back Karma, 'cause he was a punk rocker.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 6, 2017 13:35:08 GMT -5
The series does improve, actually. The first arc is rough around the edges and the second arc is both dreaful and suffers from being too similar to the first arc ... but then he finds his groove. Stick with it.
|
|
|
Retcons
Nov 6, 2017 13:32:55 GMT -5
Post by mikelmidnight on Nov 6, 2017 13:32:55 GMT -5
To be honest with you, I really bothered by Roy Thomas contributions to All-Star Squadron and I felt that he was not the right man for this series and having said that I felt that his ideas not what it's seems. I felt that he confused me and someone here told me that Amazing Man is a Golden Age Character than a Silver Age Character of which I thought so. Boy, I've been had here and it's irks me greatly. They were either confused, or confused you. Roy is known for reusing obscure character names, and there WAS a character named Amazing Man in the 40s. But he's not the character who appeared in A*S.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Oct 31, 2017 11:40:28 GMT -5
Chris Claremont and John Byrne planed an issue of What If in which Magneto formed the X-men and took over the world, basically. Byrne did some costume designs but it got no farther than that.
|
|
|
Post by mikelmidnight on Oct 26, 2017 11:37:53 GMT -5
I hope I didn't come across as combative. I didn't take it as combative. I made a claim and you provided contradictory evidence!
|
|