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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 25, 2020 17:14:20 GMT -5
Finished up a re-read of Howard Chaykin and David Tischman's American Century. Chaykin wanted the book to be a left-wing Steve Canyon and he largely succeeded. Harry Block aka Harry Kraft was a WWII veteran who faked his death and embarked on a series of noirish adventures that took him to Guatemala, Hollywood, Paris, riding the rails in the midwest and to New York City where he wrote comic books. The book felt a bit like a series of 1950s and early 60s paperback original novels from Fawcett Gold Medal, something that was aided by covers that hearkened to that era of PBO's. The book is very Chaykin. It falls into line with Chaykin's "Eternal Champion." But I love that and I love the book for all its flaws because it was pretty well the only thing like it at the time. It scratched that same itch that Brubaker and Phillips' Criminal and The Fade-Out take care of. Now I have to figure out what's next. I mean, C'mon. That cover just screams Charles Williams.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2020 18:20:46 GMT -5
Finished up a re-read of Howard Chaykin and David Tischman's American Century. Chaykin wanted the book to be a left-wing Steve Canyon and he largely succeeded. Harry Block aka Harry Kraft was a WWII veteran who faked his death and embarked on a series of noirish adventures that took him to Guatemala, Hollywood, Paris, riding the rails in the midwest and to New York City where he wrote comic books. The book felt a bit like a series of 1950s and early 60s paperback original novels from Fawcett Gold Medal, something that was aided by covers that hearkened to that era of PBO's. The book is very Chaykin. It falls into line with Chaykin's "Eternal Champion." But I love that and I love the book for all its flaws because it was pretty well the only thing like it at the time. It scratched that same itch that Brubaker and Phillips' Criminal and The Fade-Out take care of. Now I have to figure out what's next. I mean, C'mon. That cover just screams Charles Williams. I have the two trades collecting the early issues and a scattering of the rest of the series, and have been trying to fill in the rest over the last year or so at shows. I've read the first trade and liked it quite a bit, but haven't read the rest. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Feb 26, 2020 21:22:53 GMT -5
Read the first four Plastic Man stories from Police Comics #1-4. The craziness will build but you can tell from the start this is a special strip. The double life as a wanted criminal is a nice touch. These are definitely a product of their time. The opium den in issue 2 has some horrible stereotypes. And I love that pinball was something worthy of the serious police time and effort. And by love I mean it's ridiculous, like much of the policing we get now.
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Post by Duragizer on Mar 1, 2020 15:12:19 GMT -5
Gyo (Junji Ito)
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Post by badwolf on Mar 2, 2020 13:58:30 GMT -5
Incredible Hulk Annual #2 (or King-Size Special as they were called back then)
Reprints a multi-part story from Tales to Astonish in which the Leader (in his first appearance) uses his spy, the Chameleon, to steal secrets from Gamma Base. When the Chameleon fails, he sends in variants of his Humanoids. The Leader is intrigued by the Hulk and suspects he is gamma-powered like himself. He wonders how he could combine the Hulk's brawn with his brains.
I'd never seen Steve Ditko's Leader before and he looks a bit different from what would later become the standard. Rather than just an excessively "tall" head, it is also wider, and somewhat resembles the still later look the Leader assumed (which I didn't like before but now I see has a precedent.)
Well, kind of, anyway.
The process of Banner's transformation is also a bit different at this time. Instead of reverting back to Banner when the Hulk calms down, the change occurs when Hulk's blood pressure gets higher. I guess they eventually realized it made more sense the other way.
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Post by badwolf on Mar 2, 2020 18:07:41 GMT -5
Incredible Hulk #286
"Hero"
Written by Bill Mantlo Drawn by Sal Buscema and Kim DeMulder Cover by Brent Anderson
A soldier from a far future engaged in perpetual war is transported back to our time in a freak accident and lands in Bruce Banner's lab. Banner tries to reason with him, but it's useless, so he transforms into the Hulk and tries to subdue the soldier. During the battle both are transported back to the soldier's time where Hulk learns that everyone is at war with everyone else, goaded on by a voice they hear in their helmets. Eventually he discovers a giant statue of Kang the Conqueror, apparently left behind as he was thought to be dead at the time. Hulk destroys the statue, which was sending the militant messages to all the soldiers. For a brief moment it seems as if the spell has been broken, but sadly the military mindset is too ingrained in these men, and the time-travelling soldier, whom Banner had just succeeded in reaching, is killed. War continues. Hulk is transported back to his proper time.
This story contains significant elements from Harlan Ellison's story "Soldier", uncredited. Not only the war world and the time-lost soldier, but also the fact that the language has evolved (or devolved) to a much more abbreviated state. There's no question that it's a swipe and not an homage. From what I have heard, Ellison settled for a lifetime subscription to every comic Marvel put out.
There's a lot of stuff in here that you're not supposed to think too hard about. Why would Banner assume that Kang is dead when Kang is a time-traveller from the future and he knows that he himself has travelled to the future? The time jumps hinge on a gamma storm that is raging above both the future battlefield and Banner's lab, plus the soldiers coincidentally use "gamma weapons." At the end of the story, Hulk is returned to his own time because...it's the end of the story.
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Post by Batflunkie on Mar 4, 2020 18:58:48 GMT -5
Showcase Presents #4For some reason I got the itch to go back and read Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with the both of them that's honestly hard to explain (GL's Yellow impurity being one of them. I mean it makes sense not to have him be all powerful, but why have it be the color yellow? I was laughing to myself yesterday at work thinking about Hal being powerless against a banana). I do like the hard science aspect though, that's always been one of DC's strong suits to me aside from Magic which just doesn't really work in the Marvel universe I feel. Story 1: Mystery Of The Human ThunderboltBasic origin story. Forensic expert Barry Allen gets caught in chemical bath brought on by a lightning bolt and suddenly has the power of speed and the ability to see in slow motion, the latter of which I honestly thought was pretty cool This later pits him against the Turtle Man who uses Flash's excessive speed to his advantage. Barry later learns that he can go fast enough to run on water and that fact allows him to catch the Turtle Man Story 2: The Man Who Broke The Time BarrierRandom objects from around town mysteriously disappear, including something of Barry's. Getting out his suit, Barry follows a figure into an alley who shoots out rings of fire at him. Through a internal monologue, we learn that the man is Mazdan, a man from the future who was intended to be sent into the desolate 50th century as punishment, but wound up coming to our time instead circa 1956. Mazdan stole all these objects to help him get back to his own time, but he's still missing some gold. Flash apprehends him before he can do it only to have Mazdan break out of jail in the same page and head back to his ship. Flash catches up to him and Mazdan explains the situation. Flash comes up with a plan, he'll generate enough speed on a racetrack to launch both himself and Mazdan into Mazdan's time period With that over and done with, Barry returns to his lab and the story ends Overall, it's a strong first teaser of things to come. I can only imagine the reaction this book got when it came
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Post by urrutiap on Mar 4, 2020 19:34:50 GMT -5
I still have the old Marvel Masterpiece card series and while that card of Leader is still nice looking, I cant stand it at the same time where it make his head look like a giant nut sack
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Post by brutalis on Mar 5, 2020 9:16:42 GMT -5
Read DC comics 4 issue mini-series of the toy/cartoon based Centurions. A 1987 series written by Bob Rozakis and art from Don Heck with Al Vey on inks. The art really stands out as Heck provides that classic tone and Vey really helps shine up the polish on Heck and it all has a cartoon essence with clear storytelling and light detailing in the artwork which allows the bright costumes and colors to pop out at you. Rather simplistic story from Rozakis as you can guess the comic was primarily a kids driven make a few bucks off it while it was popular(?) toy/cartoon tie-in. The comic is light and breezy and entertains.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 5, 2020 10:12:16 GMT -5
I'd never seen Steve Ditko's Leader before and he looks a bit different from what would later become the standard. Rather than just an excessively "tall" head, it is also wider, and somewhat resembles the still later look the Leader assumed (which I didn't like before but now I see has a precedent.)
I really like Ditko's version! I hadn't seen it before. But as far as being a precedent to the modern look... It looks as if the Leader has a larger head, not as if his scrotum has been repositioned by gamma rays!
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Post by Batflunkie on Mar 5, 2020 11:15:38 GMT -5
Read DC comics 4 issue mini-series of the toy/cartoon based Centurions. A 1987 series written by Bob Rozakis and art from Don Heck with Al Vey on inks. The art really stands out as Heck provides that classic tone and Vey really helps shine up the polish on Heck and it all has a cartoon essence with clear storytelling and light detailing in the artwork which allows the bright costumes and colors to pop out at you. Rather simplistic story from Rozakis as you can guess the comic was primarily a kids driven make a few bucks off it while it was popular(?) toy/cartoon tie-in. The comic is light and breezy and entertains. I remember watching re-runs of it on Cartoon Network way back when, really loved the concept
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Post by badwolf on Mar 5, 2020 11:45:33 GMT -5
I'd never seen Steve Ditko's Leader before and he looks a bit different from what would later become the standard. Rather than just an excessively "tall" head, it is also wider, and somewhat resembles the still later look the Leader assumed (which I didn't like before but now I see has a precedent.)
I really like Ditko's version! I hadn't seen it before. But as far as being a precedent to the modern look... It looks as if the Leader has a larger head, not as if his scrotum has been repositioned by gamma rays! Yeeeeah I may not have found the best picture before. Looks like every artist drew him a bit differently. Here's a good one:
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 6, 2020 16:25:07 GMT -5
Black Canary #1-4 (1991) and The Jaguar #1-3 (also 1991). I really don't have much to say about (the then powerless) Canary, it didn't go anywhere much but wasn't bad either, typical semi-cautious mini-series you might say... also, Sarah E. Byam spelled backwards is Maybe Haras? As for The Jaguar (by William Messner-Loebs) I liked it enough to order #4-6, and as I was a collector of the early '60s Adventures Of The Jaguar and Of The Fly once, I added The Fly #1-4 (same duo as behind most of the Justice Society comics of the time). Maria The Jaguar is a great character... at least as interesting in her own right as the new Huntress also of this time.
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Post by Batflunkie on Mar 6, 2020 17:31:49 GMT -5
Black Canary #1-4 (1991) and The Jaguar #1-3 (also 1991). I really don't have much to say about (the then powerless) Canary, it didn't go anywhere much but wasn't bad either, typical semi-cautious mini-series you might say... also, Sarah E. Byam spelled backwards is Maybe Haras? As for The Jaguar (by William Messner-Loebs) I liked it enough to order #4-6, and as I was a collector of the early '60s Adventures Of The Jaguar and Of The Fly once, I added The Fly #1-4 (same duo as behind most of the Justice Society comics of the time). Maria The Jaguar is a great character... at least as interesting in her own right as the new Huntress also of this time. As much as I like Archie's heroes, they really have no clue what to do with them beyond Black Hood and maybe The Fox
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Post by Batflunkie on Mar 9, 2020 14:44:57 GMT -5
Showcase #8 & #13
Thought the Captain Cold and Mr. Element stories were really strong, you could tell that effort went into them when compared to The Secret Of The Box and Around The World In 80 Minutes. The cold mirage brought on by exposure to liquid helium or anything else below absolute zero was a very neat concept I thought
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