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Post by berkley on Oct 6, 2022 1:11:30 GMT -5
I've been off reading comics for a little while...a good few months... but I picked up the paperback The Voodoo MAD last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. The book was first published in 1963 (and my copy is of around that vintage) and the MAD Cover Site tells me it collects material that was originally published in MAD magazine in 1959 -- there are a lot of references to beatniks, for example. Overall, this was a fun read, with some material that is still genuinely chortle-inducing, despite the intervening 60 years. I had bunches and bunches of MAD paperbacks in the 1970s, but I don’t think I had this one. I still have Inside MAD and Utterly MAD, and I read them pretty frequently. I take them to read on the plane when I take a trip. Along with Understanding Media by Marshall MacLuhan and The Age of Revolution by Eric Hobsbawm. I read a fair number of the then-current MAD issues in the early 70s but I think I probably ended up reading more total MAD material in these paperback collections around the same time. I forget the titles but we had a few of them and whiled away many an afternoon poring over them. |
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Post by berkley on Oct 6, 2022 1:35:34 GMT -5
Nothing beats the Colan/Palmer run in 172-183 for me. That was pretty darn good too, visually speaking, although the dialog was often clunky and Clea was treated as a rather clueless helpless cypher. But yeah... Colan and Palmer could draw trippy pages, no argument there! There weren't copying Ditko, either: they had their own kind of crazy imagination! With most comics characters, if I like them or enjoy any of their stories at all, I have a particular version that's my definite favourite - often to the point of not wanting to bother with any of the others. Doctor Strange might be one of the only ones that I'm hard put to name that favourite or pin it down to just one. I don't think I could do without the Ditko/Lee or the Englehart as far as the writing goes, or without the Ditko or Colan or Brunner as far as the art and visualisation of the character and his fictional universe (which I think stands on its own, apart from the superhero-MU). Even some of the less-acclaimed artistic versions are pretty iportant to me - e.g. Adkins, Marie Severin, the one issue that Palmer and Adkins drew together. |
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Post by kirby101 on Oct 6, 2022 8:03:03 GMT -5
My preference for Colan/Palmer should not diminish my admiration for the creative genius of Steve Ditko. Stan Lee said that Dr. Strange was all Ditko. As usual, Stan's contributions with the dialog and captions added to the success.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 6, 2022 9:29:28 GMT -5
Continuity trivia: when he first meets Dr. Strange, Eternity says that he's the one who first gave the Eye of Agamotto to the Ancient One.
I had assumed that Agamotto (whom we met in later years) was the one who had provided the amulet.
The Eye of Agamotto is a hand-me-down. What a disappointment!
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Post by tartanphantom on Oct 6, 2022 12:28:18 GMT -5
Continuity trivia: when he first meets Dr. Strange, Eternity says that he's the one who first gave the Eye of Agamotto to the Ancient One. I had assumed that Agamotto (whom we met in later years) was the one who had provided the amulet. The Eye of Agamotto is a hand-me-down. What a disappointment!
In reality, Strange probably picked it up at a rummage sale in Greenwich Village... those Bohemian Beatnik types are always selling weird shelf sitters and dust collectors.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,261 
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Post by Confessor on Oct 6, 2022 19:28:39 GMT -5
Continuity trivia: when he first meets Dr. Strange, Eternity says that he's the one who first gave the Eye of Agamotto to the Ancient One. I had assumed that Agamotto (whom we met in later years) was the one who had provided the amulet. The Eye of Agamotto is a hand-me-down. What a disappointment! In reality, Strange probably picked it up at a rummage sale in Greenwich Village... those Bohemian Beatnik types are always selling weird shelf sitters and dust collectors.
Like, ah...when I was, like, last in Greenwich Village, you dig? I wandered down Bleeker Street looking for building 177a -- which is, like, Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. But it wasn't there, man. It had split that scene. Like, it was Nowheresville, Daddy-O! I guess the good Doctor's protective enchantment was keeping his groovy pad hidden from straights and Beatniks alike that day. It was a drag, but like, I can dig it, man. It's cool. I'm totally hip to that disappearing building jive, man. Outtasight! |
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Post by Cei-U! on Oct 7, 2022 4:47:17 GMT -5
177 Bleeker Street is a real address in Greenwich Village. Roy Thomas and Bill Everett shared an apartment there circa 1966-67.
Cei-U!
I summon the street map!
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 7, 2022 6:21:36 GMT -5
177 Bleeker Street is a real address in Greenwich Village. Roy Thomas and Bill Everett shared an apartment there circa 1966-67. Cei-U! I summon the street map! I've lived in NY all my life and never visited that address. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 7, 2022 7:36:35 GMT -5
Here is the Google street view of the place. Apparently Baron Mordo has moved a truck in front of it to prepare some nefarious deed.  Of course, if you use a revealing spell, here's what you get!  |
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Post by MDG on Oct 7, 2022 8:56:04 GMT -5
177 Bleeker Street is a real address in Greenwich Village. Roy Thomas and Bill Everett shared an apartment there circa 1966-67. Cei-U! I summon the street map! I've lived in NY all my life and never visited that address. A bunch of us should meet up in NYC and go for a Marvel history tour of the city |
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 7, 2022 9:01:23 GMT -5
I've lived in NY all my life and never visited that address. A bunch of us should meet up in NYC and go for a Marvel history tour of the city Maybe there will be a superhero battle when we get there. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 7, 2022 10:04:04 GMT -5
A bunch of us should meet up in NYC and go for a Marvel history tour of the city Maybe there will be a superhero battle when we get there. We live in hope! |
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Post by spoon on Oct 8, 2022 11:53:30 GMT -5
177 Bleeker Street is a real address in Greenwich Village. Roy Thomas and Bill Everett shared an apartment there circa 1966-67. Cei-U! I summon the street map! I happened to be on Bleeker Street once and looked for the address. My recollection is that it was something non-descript/non-memorable, maybe something like a small business with 2nd & 3rd floor apartments. I think I took a photo if I could ever find it. |
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Post by kirby101 on Oct 8, 2022 12:46:20 GMT -5
The address on Bleeker is nondescript.  But there is a building on Bleeker and broadway that might have inspired Ditko.  |
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Post by spoon on Oct 8, 2022 12:51:06 GMT -5
It's been a while since I posted, so I've done a lot of reading since. I read:
1) Daredevil Epic Collection: Dead Man's Hand, reprinting Daredevil #301-311, Annual #8, Nomad #4-6, Punisher War Journal #45-47, & a Daredevil story from Marvel Holiday Special #2
2) Essential Power Man & Iron Fist vol. 1, reprinting Power Man #50-72, 74-75
3) Uncanny X-Men #210=219 and New Mutants #46
4) Daredevil Love & War GN
5) Batman Year Two Deluxe Edition, reprinting Detective Comics #575-578 & the Batman: Full Circle one-shot
The Daredevil TPB is a mixed bag. Much of it is drawn by Scott McDaniel at the beginning of his stint, the art is really messy and it seems like McDaniel is still learning his craft. The writing ranges from so-so to pretty, not much really bad or great. There's some stories that sound like their not great ideas, but writer D.G. Chichester manages to make them interesting, if not spectacular. There's an organ thief named the Surgeon General who seems to be portrayed as way too big a threat based on lack of powers & arsenal. The name & costume are funky, but the writing manages to portray her deviousness. There's a Calypso story with supernatural elements that sounds like a mess & sort of is, but not as bad as it could be. A strong story is the Owl arc that starts the book, drawn by M.C. Wyman. It's creepy with body horror elements. The Dead Man's Hand crossover with Nomad & Punisher concerns an organized crime meeting in Vegas. I actually like this better than the Gang War arc from Amazing Spider-Man, although like that arc, it loses momentum. Ironically, I didn't buy a single issue of Nomad when it came out (because it looked stupid), but those are the best parts of the crossover. Sometimes, it seems like there was lack of coordination between the parts of the crossover. The Holiday Special story is the only one I read prior to reading this TPB (except possibly reading #301 before). It's a cute short story without much violence.
I've read both the Power Man (vol 2) and Iron Fist (vol 1) Essential TPBs that lead up to the PW&I team before, and I've read their guest appearances, but I had previously read little if any of the title after they teamed up before. The first story drawn by John Byrne is nice, but it takes a few issues for the series to find its footing. That occurs after Jo Duffy takes over a writer. It's hard to describe the appeal of these issue, because the villains and plotlines don't really stick with me. It's more the characters (both our two heroes & their supporting cast) and the general tone of the series. There's an odd couple dynamic between Luke and Danny, but Duffy plays it less heavy-handed than I expected. I feel like there's a fine line with a blaxploitation character like Luke Cage between entertaining and demeaning. Duffy dials things back and gets the balance exactly right. She cuts out caricature aspects but doesn't make him generic or milquetoast. She makes him seem like a three-dimensional person. I also love how some captions/blurbs refer to "Luke and the Fist" in classic 70s/early 80s pairings in TV & movies. Kerry Gammill joins as penciler a few issues as Duffy starts as writer. In early issues, he's less distinctive, which I'd guess is inkers smoothing out his quirks. Either way, he does a good job. The Bushmaster arc was pretty good, and the TPB ends with a double-sized Kun Lun story. A guest appearance from Rom gets skipped over.
I'll probably come back a little later with a follow-up post on the other stuff I've read.
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