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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 19, 2021 11:53:33 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #62 is the only comic book my stern, Bible-thumping Uncle Lawrence, my dad's older brother, ever gave me.He'd confiscated it from one of his Sunday school students but couldn't bring himself to throw it away (he was opposed to book-burning and that whole mentality) so I got it. I kept it until I sold my remaining Amazings a couple years back. Cei-U! I summon the sentimental favorite! Speaking of sentimental, it makes me sad when someone sells off their collection, or a big chunk of it. It's like a piece of teir past goingaway!
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 19, 2021 12:07:38 GMT -5
I read Iron Man #88 & 89. Shellhead battles the Blood Brothers in #88, and comes up on the losing end. He wins the rematch in #89 with the help of Daredevil. Daredevil is on his way to California (with no luggage or change of clothes out of his DD costume - perhaps he'd planned to fly commercial as Daredevil?) to find Karen Page, and is supposed to be getting some help making his flight from Tony Stark. I wonder if that little plot point actually shows up in the contemporary Daredevil issue. While I wouldn't expect the likes of Daredevil to be of much help to Tony against foes as powerful as the Blood Brothers, it actually does make sense how he was able to help Tony. Issue #88 has Pepper do a 180 in terms of her attitude towards her and Happy working for Tony, and also in Happy's health condition. This is Archie Goodwin's first issue, and I get the impression that he wanted to ditch what the previous writers had done. Which if fine, but it's just a bit jarring as to how suddenly it happens. Iron Man is trapped under water, and in danger of drowning. I can only assume that, due to the damage to his armor, his eye and mouth shields couldn't deploy, bit it would have been nice if Goodwin had mentioned that. Iron Man laments the fact that he made his armor slightly more vulnerable in #85. I wonder if this means another armor change is upcoming? Iron Man uses his rocket skates, which he mentions he's improved. The Iron Man rocket skates are one of those hilarious (at least to me) 70's things. Yet another comic book example of the "this guy moves fast for such a big guy" trope as Daredevil is surprised by how fast the Blood Brothers move. All in all, a nice, entertaining little Bronze Age Marvel mag, with a reveal on the last page that the Controller is behind the Blood Brothers' appearance, though since I've never read anything with him (that I can remember, anyway) that reveal is lost on me.
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Post by profh0011 on Apr 19, 2021 14:05:33 GMT -5
A big part of my problem relating to many of the stories in IRON MAN from that era, was that many of them reference back to or were sequels to things that happened during Archie Goodwin's LONG run on the book with Tuska and Johnny Craig. When Bill Mantlo finally took over as regular writer (after a multitude of fill-ins), he continued that trend big-time.
Much of Mantlo's run, as one fan pointed out in a thread on the LEGION WORLD board, seemed like he was taking care of "unfinished business". From what I've read, the series fell into utter chaos between Goodwin & Mike Friedrich (and Friedrich was chaotic enough-- HAH!!!). Mantlo's run was almost like, "What if Goodwin had stuck around longer than he did?"
I recall back in the 90s, noticing a very odd discrepency when I was looking up possible back issues to buy. Most Goodwin-Tuska IRON MAN issues were going for around $80.00 apiece (I was luckily able to buy a small handfull of them for about $20.00 apiece), while JACK KIRBY-JOE SINNOTT issues of FANTASTIC FOUR tended to go for anything from $10.00-20.00. How could this be, I wondered? Then I figured it out. FANTASTIC FOUR had been reprinted pretty comprehensively. But the Goodwin-Tuska IRON MAN run-- which will probably never be a favorite of mine-- and which COUNTLESS sequels had been written to-- including when Kurt Busiek & Sean Chen were on the book many years later-- had NEVER been reprinted by the 90s. No wonder the cost of those back-issues was so outragiously high. There was NO other way to read those stories unless you bought the original comics! Of course, these days, there's been the Masterworks books, the Essential books, and, since then, probably more I'm unaware of. But I haven't been able to afford any of those, and if I did have some spare money here and there, it tended to go for other things I held in higher esteem.
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 19, 2021 15:38:49 GMT -5
A big part of my problem relating to many of the stories in IRON MAN from that era, was that many of them reference back to or were sequels to things that happened during Archie Goodwin's LONG run on the book with Tuska and Johnny Craig. When Bill Mantlo finally took over as regular writer (after a multitude of fill-ins), he continued that trend big-time.
Much of Mantlo's run, as one fan pointed out in a thread on the LEGION WORLD board, seemed like he was taking care of "unfinished business". From what I've read, the series fell into utter chaos between Goodwin & Mike Friedrich (and Friedrich was chaotic enough-- HAH!!!). Mantlo's run was almost like, "What if Goodwin had stuck around longer than he did?"
I recall back in the 90s, noticing a very odd discrepency when I was looking up possible back issues to buy. Most Goodwin-Tuska IRON MAN issues were going for around $80.00 apiece (I was luckily able to buy a small handfull of them for about $20.00 apiece), while JACK KIRBY-JOE SINNOTT issues of FANTASTIC FOUR tended to go for anything from $10.00-20.00. How could this be, I wondered? Then I figured it out. FANTASTIC FOUR had been reprinted pretty comprehensively. But the Goodwin-Tuska IRON MAN run-- which will probably never be a favorite of mine-- and which COUNTLESS sequels had been written to-- including when Kurt Busiek & Sean Chen were on the book many years later-- had NEVER been reprinted by the 90s. No wonder the cost of those back-issues was so outragiously high. There was NO other way to read those stories unless you bought the original comics! Of course, these days, there's been the Masterworks books, the Essential books, and, since then, probably more I'm unaware of. But I haven't been able to afford any of those, and if I did have some spare money here and there, it tended to go for other things I held in higher esteem. Think about how much they'll go for when the next Iron Man movie is based on the Goodwin-Tuska run!
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 19, 2021 16:43:24 GMT -5
That first Goodwin run on Iron Man (#1-27) is probably my favorite run from Marvel during that 1968-70 period, and is my favorite stretch of Shellhead stories after the first Michelinie/Layton stand. I'm not a big fan of either Friedrich or Msntlo's runs, but they're high art compared to O'Neil's dismal tenure which finally drove me off the book.
Cei-U! I summon the transistorized nostalgia!
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Post by Graphic Autist on Apr 19, 2021 17:18:38 GMT -5
but they're high art compared to O'Neil's dismal tenure which finally drove me off the book.
Denny was like, "Oh you want a drunk Iron Man? I'm gonna give you a DRUNK Iron Man!"
He really put Tony through the ringer...
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 19, 2021 17:59:55 GMT -5
but they're high art compared to O'Neil's dismal tenure which finally drove me off the book.
Denny was like, "Oh you want a drunk Iron Man? I'm gonna give you a DRUNK Iron Man!"
He really put Tony through the ringer...
I didn't care all that much for Denny's Green Arrow/Green Lantern run because it borders today on nonsensical but I thought his contributions to Azarel and Ninjak were stellar
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 19, 2021 18:03:22 GMT -5
Denny was like, "Oh you want a drunk Iron Man? I'm gonna give you a DRUNK Iron Man!"
He really put Tony through the ringer...
I didn't care all that much for Denny's Green Arrow/Green Lantern run because it borders today on nonsensical but I thought his contributions to Azarel and Ninjak were stellar His run on GL/GA has not aged well at all.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 19, 2021 18:11:15 GMT -5
I didn't care all that much for Denny's Green Arrow/Green Lantern run because it borders today on nonsensical but I thought his contributions to Azarel and Ninjak were stellar His run on GL/GA has not aged well at all. Still think that he's a good writer and editor though
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Post by kirby101 on Apr 19, 2021 18:32:54 GMT -5
Finished the second Thor Masterworks, JIM 100-110. A big improvement over the first 17 issues. And the addition of Tales of Asgard is great. It's Jack getting a real feel for the character and some wonderful Chic Stone inks. Even Vinnie C's inks on TofA look good. Stan's scripting ia also an improvement over the earlier writers. This leads up to when I started reading the title back in the day. off the rack and through back issues. One of the things about these stories, which changes drastically in the coming issues, is how small Thor's world is. Outside of the occasional trip to Asgard, it all takes place in and around Don Blake's Dr.'s office. With Jane being in danger a constant. Thor basically acts as a policeman for upper Manhattan. Of course this soon changes, as Thor starts to travel the world, and then the Universe.
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Post by spoon on Apr 19, 2021 21:06:25 GMT -5
I finally finished my Green Lantern binge read! I read Green Lantern Corps #201-224, plus Annuals #2-3. Just for kicks, I also read the Green Lantern Corps guest appearance in Action Comics #589, Millennium #1-8, and one of the Millennium crossover issues: Justice League International #10.
It's too bad there were only two years worth of the Green Lantern Corps series back then. I wish it would've last longer. Characters like Arisia, Salaak, and Ch'p were part of my early days of comic reading as a little kid. Salaak in particular does not get enough time. Prior to GLC #201, he was almost a character readers were supposed to hate. He'd chime in with a disdainful comments toward Hal. But after he joined the Earth GLs, he was the low-key MVP, with sarcastic comments covering for a sympathetic inner self. He also his own distinctive lettering, with bumps on the balloons (like on his head). There's an arc where's accidentally pulled into the 58th century (instead of Hal) to be brainwashed into the identity of Pol Manning. When Salaak thinks his Pol, all the balloons for his dialogue then take on a conventional shape.
Of course, this is also the period with the infamous aging Arisia storyline. As a kid, she was probably my first comics crush, but today I see the ethical issues with how that subplot played out. Like if she uses her ring to age herself, what's her real age. I love the individualized costumes Arisia creates for different members of the Corps. They really fit their personalities.
Ch'p was the first one to get the spotlight in #201-203, but like Salaak, he's mostly written out later in the run. It's was cool to see a whole issue (#203) with a lot of funny animal action and meet his archenemy, Dr. Ub'x, wielder of the Sucker Stick.
Artwise, Mark Farmer replaces Bruce Patterson as inker. I prefer Patterson's inks on Joe Staton's pencils. It's funny, because I associate Farmer with Alan Davis, and a rounder look to human faces and figures. But here, Farmer tends to give Staton's figures a more gaunt, angular look than Patterson would. And there's not enough Staton during the run. Because of a vacation and work on the Millennium, Ian Gibson and then Bill Willingham fill in for Staton. Gibson is solid, but not as good. Willingham does a good job during an arc where the depleted Earth GL seek more colleagues in space and meet the Green Corps of the Klyminade (another group that came together after the Guardians abolished the need to stick to specific sector in #200). They are plant-like Olapet, amorphous Flodo Span, and dead (yes, dead) Driq.
This was my first time reading the Millennium mini-series all the way through. I think there are 3 issues I'd never read before. Strangely enough, the mini seems to touch on many plot points tangentially. From what I recall of the crossovers, many are more crucial to moving the plot forward. I feel like the mini doesn't do as much as it should to build interest in the chosen (who become the New Guardians). I read that Kilowog and Arisia later show up in the New Guardians series, so I'm thinking of checking it out, but I get the impression it wasn't very good.
Annual #2 is just so-so, although it sets up Sinestro's escape from Oa, which leads to the cataclysmic events of the last 7 or 8 issues. Annual #3 is much better. It's got several classic short stories. I'd highly recommend it. I wonder if these were inventory Tales of the Green Lantern Corps stories that hadn't been used, becomes some of them clearly seem to take place before Green Lantern #200.
The last three issues almost completely destroy the GLC. It's a sad end. Although I'd previously read most of the GLC run, I think this was my first time reading #222 and #223. Gil Kane returns to pencil the last two issues. Strangely enough, Steve Englehart doesn't write the final issue. Instead, it's Joey Cavalieri. I wonder why? The direction seems to have been set forth in the prior two issues, so it doesn't seem like it was necessarily creative differences.
Now, I have to decide what to read next. After a such a giant binge read, I'll probably try something shorter, like a single TPB. Maybe the Bronze Age Deathlok TPB, or the 12 part Vision & Scarlet Witch maxi-series, or the League of Extraordinary Gentleman TPB.
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Post by profh0011 on Apr 19, 2021 21:28:58 GMT -5
When I would read Salaak, I'd hear Jonathan Harris' voice in my head.
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Post by earl on Apr 19, 2021 22:51:27 GMT -5
I'm into Steve Gerber's second story beat on Daredevil with the secret society story-line as the series moves back to NYC and Black Widow exits the title. I don't think any of the writers particularly knew what they could do with Black Widow in the title, but it is a pretty good early 70s Marvel run.
The run has some pretty good Don Heck artwork in Gerber's run, much more rough inking style almost brings out a bit of Klaus Jansen or dare say it in some panels a bit of Kubert at times.
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Post by profh0011 on Apr 20, 2021 11:53:23 GMT -5
The very 1st DAREDEVIL issue I bought new at the drug store was #108-- in which Steve Gerber pulled a "back to basics" move, years before most others. He had Matt move back to NYC, have a reunion with Foggy, and this eventually led to them setting up a new law firm together.
Along the way, he began the slow, protracted break-up with the Black Widow... and along the way, was the ONLY writer outside of Jim Starlin who I feel EVER wrote Moondragon sympathetically.
Having PAUL GULACY ink Bob Brown that one-and-only time didn't hurt, either. The only time I saw Brown get better inks than this while at Marvel was the AVENGERS issue he did inked by Dave Cockrum.
I couldn't get over that Gerber & Englehart BOTH had villains invade The White House trying to stage an insurrection less than a month apart from each other (the other being in CAPTAIN AMERICA).
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Post by chaykinstevens on Apr 20, 2021 13:15:51 GMT -5
I didn't care all that much for Denny's Green Arrow/Green Lantern run because it borders today on nonsensical but I thought his contributions to Azarel and Ninjak were stellar When did O'Neil work on Ninjak?
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