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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 17, 2017 16:09:09 GMT -5
I'm still making my way online through Avengers #98 to #120. Getting to #102 was a bit of a drag. They're not bad comics, not by any stretch, and the Barry Smith art in #98 to #100 is incredible. But I wasn't really getting into the Greek gods storyline, with Ares and the Yellow-Crested Titans and whatnot. #101 looks like a great Harlan Ellison story! Not such a great Avengers story. But I can't fault Roy Thomas for trying something like that. "A" for effort. And then #102 and #103 are the first two parts of a multi-part adventure with the Grim Reaper trying to get the Vision to turn against the Avengers and simultaneously the Sentinels have abducted Wanda for some reason, and the Avengers are trying to figure out what the heck is going on! This is more like it! Art by Rick Buckler and Joe Sinnott! One very interesting aspect of these issues (I've never read any of the issues from #98 to about #112 before now) is the developing relationship between Wanda and the Vision. I never really bought them as a couple. I started reading The Avengers about #144 and I liked the Vision, but I never really thought the Scarlet Witch was very interesting as a character until I started reading her pre-Vision appearances in The X-Men and early issues of The Avengers. I just never thought they worked as a couple. Does everybody who reads comics have a comic book couple they don't really buy into? Another couple that annoys me is Star Boy and Dream Girl. Nura Nal is one of my favorite Legionnaires while Star Boy is a guy who makes things heavy. I'm hoping that reading the early days of the Vision/Wanda romance will help me with liking that relationship a little more, but so far, it isn't. My biggest problem with it is how boring Wanda was after they hooked her up with the Vision. I find her a lot more interesting in the 1960s.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 10:52:10 GMT -5
I just finished reading Marvel Masterworks - Fantastic Four #14 and I got to read #15 to #18 and be done by next Wednesday at the latest.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 21, 2017 14:00:23 GMT -5
I'm still reading comics online and I've come across some very interesting penciler/inker combinations that I hadn't really noted before. Over the last couple of night, I read Sgt. Fury #15 and #16. I owned both these issues at one time, but it's been a while. Both issues are penciled by Dick Ayers. Sgt. Fury #15 is inked by Steve Ditko! I found this interior page online: Very nice. And here's #16. I'm pretty sure the cover is inked by Chic Stone. Which is awesome! But the interior pages are inked by Frank Giacoia. I found some original art online for #16, but it doesn't really do it justice as well as some of the earlier pages: The story in #15 is pretty good. I remember liking it a lot when I read it in the 1990s. I must have thought the art was pretty great too. But I just don't remember. The story in #16 is a little more of your typical "Howlers go to exotic corner of the war effort and blow stuff up." But it's better than readable if you like that sort of thing.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 21, 2017 14:20:54 GMT -5
I'm also continuing through Avengers #98 to #120 and I read Avengers #105 and #106 over the last few days. More interesting artist collaborations in these issues. #105 features Rich Buckler inked by Jim Mooney! I couldn't find any interior art, but it's pretty cool. The story itself is a chaotic adventure to the Savage Land through a tunnel in Tierra del Fuego. And they fight mutated Swamp Men! One of them has extra arms! Another looks like a frog! Avengers #106 is the first part of a multi-part story that's shaping up to be one of the highlights of this era. Rick Buckler again! And great George Tuska inking! This is some really great work from Tuska. I know a lot of people don't like Tuska's work (all those overbites) but I have a fondness for him and I think he did quite a bit of great comics work. He's particularly good here. Also ... the Space Phantom and the Grim Reaper! The Space Phantom has been in hiding since Avengers #2! That's plenty of time to plot your revenge. I'm looking forward to the next issue.
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Post by spoon on Apr 21, 2017 22:48:02 GMT -5
I'm still making my way online through Avengers #98 to #120. Getting to #102 was a bit of a drag. They're not bad comics, not by any stretch, and the Barry Smith art in #98 to #100 is incredible. But I wasn't really getting into the Greek gods storyline, with Ares and the Yellow-Crested Titans and whatnot. #101 looks like a great Harlan Ellison story! Not such a great Avengers story. But I can't fault Roy Thomas for trying something like that. "A" for effort. And then #102 and #103 are the first two parts of a multi-part adventure with the Grim Reaper trying to get the Vision to turn against the Avengers and simultaneously the Sentinels have abducted Wanda for some reason, and the Avengers are trying to figure out what the heck is going on! This is more like it! Art by Rick Buckler and Joe Sinnott! One very interesting aspect of these issues (I've never read any of the issues from #98 to about #112 before now) is the developing relationship between Wanda and the Vision. I never really bought them as a couple. I started reading The Avengers about #144 and I liked the Vision, but I never really thought the Scarlet Witch was very interesting as a character until I started reading her pre-Vision appearances in The X-Men and early issues of The Avengers. I just never thought they worked as a couple. Does everybody who reads comics have a comic book couple they don't really buy into? Another couple that annoys me is Star Boy and Dream Girl. Nura Nal is one of my favorite Legionnaires while Star Boy is a guy who makes things heavy. I'm hoping that reading the early days of the Vision/Wanda romance will help me with liking that relationship a little more, but so far, it isn't. My biggest problem with it is how boring Wanda was after they hooked her up with the Vision. I find her a lot more interesting in the 1960s. From what I remember, the stretch of around #98-102 is my least favorite stint of Avengers in the first 170 issues or so (until the Korvac Saga). Star Boy was also the one with a beard. Yes, he seemed like quite a nonentity to be involved with Dream Girl.
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 22, 2017 7:48:55 GMT -5
Avengers # 105 had John Buscema pencils inside not Buckler.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 22, 2017 11:43:46 GMT -5
Silver Surfer #1 by Buscema and Lee. Kirby hated making him a man turned into a super being. Wanted him to be a unique character. As a kid I loved the hippie angst of it all. And Buscema out did himself. I was surprised at how early this issue came out. Giving the wonderful art, I always thought this was a little ore mature Buscema, post Vision. But it was around Avengers #43, making Big Johns work all the more impressive. Making man a god has always fascinated me because human nature is understood as imperfect and fallible. That's kind of why I'm so fond of Captain America, because he's a man-made demi-god as well as a physical manifestation of the dreams and ideals that America was founded upon. Cap might not always make the best decisions, but he will always do what he knows in his heart is right and true
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 23, 2017 3:04:12 GMT -5
Avengers # 105 had John Buscema pencils inside not Buckler. Yeah, I meant to say Buscema and Mooney. I must have had Buckler on the brain.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 23, 2017 3:13:55 GMT -5
I took a little break from early Bronze Age Avengers to read a couple of Kang storylines I haven't read for quite a while. First up is a three-part story from the mid-1980s, Avengers #267 to #269. I read #267 this afternoon. I read it when it first came out and haven't seen it for 30 years! It's pretty cool. I was a bit perplexed by the opening scene because I didn't remember that Storm and Colossus were in the Avengers at this time. But it turns out that it's an alternate timeline where things go bad very quickly. That reminded me how off-the-hook this storyline is! Great art! Then I'm going to read Avengers #23 and #24. And I'm thinking of reading Avengers Forever again after I've finished the #98 to #120 run.
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shiryu
Junior Member
Posts: 25
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Post by shiryu on Apr 23, 2017 8:28:13 GMT -5
I'm going through a batch of Epic Collection volumes, and I'm about to end the "Brother, Take My Hand" Daredevil volume.
It's a little hit and miss so far, but improving as I get near the end. I especially liked issues #56-57, where DD reveals his identity to Karen Page, and #47, about a blind soldier from the Vietnam war.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 23, 2017 11:37:39 GMT -5
I love the Jester storyline. #42 to #46, I think.
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shiryu
Junior Member
Posts: 25
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Post by shiryu on Apr 23, 2017 12:02:41 GMT -5
I love the Jester storyline. #42 to #46, I think. Yes, that's the one, although I must admit it didn't quite work for me. I preferred the Mr. Fear and Crime Wave storylines a few issues later.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 23, 2017 13:58:36 GMT -5
Paul Levitz Aquaman. While I've never exactly had a problem with Levitz's writing and respect the fact that he's slowly weaving cosmic horror aspects into the series to the point where I'm really beginning to question why it hadn't been done previously, he's far too reliant on Aquaman's abilities to coax fish into doing his bidding. Like in one issue, he had Aquaman use seagulls to help him get to a fisherman's ship when it would have been far easier to just have Aquaman swim there and gracefully leap onto said ship And please don't make me think too hard about the idea of Aquaman being able to "commune with water fowl", because I'm pretty sure his powers don't work like that Mr. Levitz
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 23, 2017 17:27:25 GMT -5
And please don't make me think too hard about the idea of Aquaman being able to "commune with water fowl", because I'm pretty sure his powers don't work like that Mr. Levitz Yeah, actually, they do. The Silver/Bronze Age Aquaman can command any living creature that lives in, on, or above the oceans, everything from plankton and sponges to whales and, yes, sea gulls. There were lots of precedents for that scene. Cei-U! I summon the feathered flunkies!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 23, 2017 17:56:14 GMT -5
Yeah, Aquaman always talked to the fishies. No big deal Hawkman talked to birds Swamp Thing talks to trees Ant-Man talks to ants Dr. Doolittle talks to the animals Mr. Ed talks back Deal with it
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