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Post by Calidore on May 9, 2023 13:17:42 GMT -5
I've been reading the DVD collections of scanned Marvel comics from 2007 and it's very telling how low Marvel had sunk with every other page being advertisements for marvel related items like Canned Pasta, Fruit Roll Ups, Video Games, Happy Meal Toys, and even Trading Cards Remember--advertising keeps the cost down for the reader. And I want to say ads on every other page starting in the 70s, which is one of the reasons the original Dollar Comics were a big deal. (And canned pasta, fruit roll ups and video games probably reflected on comic readers better than ads for sharks teeth, stamps from many lands, body builders, and Grit.) I love that the internet lets us instantly look up the answer to any random question that occurs to us. In this case, "Hey, whatever happened to Grit?"
Turns out Grit still exists, but as of 2006, it became a bi-monthly, perfect-bound magazine.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 9, 2023 15:35:49 GMT -5
I re-read the Marvel adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark over the weekend, as part of my planned re-read of the full Further Adventures of Indiana Jones series...  It's a fairly solid re-telling of the film and was actually slightly better than I remembered it being. Walt Simonson handles the writing, no doubt working from the film's shooting script and a bundle of promo photographs (which is how Marvel's Star Wars film adaptations were all done). As such, it's the little differences that are really fascinating. So, for example, in the comic, the sinister bespectacled Gestapo agent Toht dies when his car plunges off of a cliff, during the sequence where Indy chases the Nazi truck with the Ark on board across the desert, whereas in the film he survives to have his face melted when the Ark is finally opened. Then there's the scene where Jones threatens to destroy the Ark with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, which takes place at the ceremony site itself in the comic, not slightly earlier as it does in the film. Also, the memorable scene in which Indy hilariously shoots a scimitar-wielding Arab in Cairo is completely absent here, lending credence to the rumour that the scene was improvised on-set. Another rather shocking difference to the film is that it's revealed that Marion Ravenwood worked as a prostitute for a time after her farther died! Again, I'm assuming this is something that was in the shooting script, but was sensibly dropped during filming. In addition to these differences, a number of the film's most spectacular set pieces are rather under-played in the comic. For instance, the extended punch-up between the bald, shirtless Nazi thug and Indiana Jones near the Nazi flying wing aircraft is really truncated, with none of the "propeller death" gore of the film. Also, Indy's daring and action-packed pursuit of the truck carrying the Ark ignores many of that sequence's most spectacular stunts, such as when Jones goes under the truck and climbs back over the top. Knowing how these things worked between Marvel and Lucasfilm with the Star Wars movie adaptations, I would think it likely that Lucasfilm insisted on Marvel omitting most of these sequences so as to not spoil them for cinema audiences. On the plus side, we get a lot more information about the map at the beginning and Indiana's links to his guide Satipo (played in the film by Alfred Molina) in the opening sequence at the the lost temple of the Chachapoyans. We also learn a bit more about Dr. Abner Ravenwood's obsessive quest for the Ark, and we finally see how Indy reached the remote island while on top of the Nazi submarine: turns out he lashed himself to the periscope with his bullwhip and took a nap! Luckily for him the submarine never descended any deeper than that. The artwork is serviceable, with John Buscema doing pencil breakdowns and Klaus Janson finishing off the art. I'm not, in all honesty, the biggest fan of Janson's heavily inked artwork, but he does a decent job of telling the story. Unfortunately, the scene where the Ark is finally opened and Belloq and the Nazi's receive God's punishment is, perhaps predictably, nowhere near as memorable or as horrific on the comics page as it is in the film. All in all though, this is a pretty decent adaptation of the film, without ever being anything amazing. Thank you. So I'm not the only one who's not a huge fan of Klaus's inking. |
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Post by berkley on May 9, 2023 17:32:47 GMT -5
I re-read the Marvel adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark over the weekend, as part of my planned re-read of the full Further Adventures of Indiana Jones series... It's a fairly solid re-telling of the film and was actually slightly better than I remembered it being. Walt Simonson handles the writing, no doubt working from the film's shooting script and a bundle of promo photographs (which is how Marvel's Star Wars film adaptations were all done). As such, it's the little differences that are really fascinating. So, for example, in the comic, the sinister bespectacled Gestapo agent Toht dies when his car plunges off of a cliff, during the sequence where Indy chases the Nazi truck with the Ark on board across the desert, whereas in the film he survives to have his face melted when the Ark is finally opened. Then there's the scene where Jones threatens to destroy the Ark with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, which takes place at the ceremony site itself in the comic, not slightly earlier as it does in the film. Also, the memorable scene in which Indy hilariously shoots a scimitar-wielding Arab in Cairo is completely absent here, lending credence to the rumour that the scene was improvised on-set. Another rather shocking difference to the film is that it's revealed that Marion Ravenwood worked as a prostitute for a time after her farther died! Again, I'm assuming this is something that was in the shooting script, but was sensibly dropped during filming. In addition to these differences, a number of the film's most spectacular set pieces are rather under-played in the comic. For instance, the extended punch-up between the bald, shirtless Nazi thug and Indiana Jones near the Nazi flying wing aircraft is really truncated, with none of the "propeller death" gore of the film. Also, Indy's daring and action-packed pursuit of the truck carrying the Ark ignores many of that sequence's most spectacular stunts, such as when Jones goes under the truck and climbs back over the top. Knowing how these things worked between Marvel and Lucasfilm with the Star Wars movie adaptations, I would think it likely that Lucasfilm insisted on Marvel omitting most of these sequences so as to not spoil them for cinema audiences. On the plus side, we get a lot more information about the map at the beginning and Indiana's links to his guide Satipo (played in the film by Alfred Molina) in the opening sequence at the the lost temple of the Chachapoyans. We also learn a bit more about Dr. Abner Ravenwood's obsessive quest for the Ark, and we finally see how Indy reached the remote island while on top of the Nazi submarine: turns out he lashed himself to the periscope with his bullwhip and took a nap! Luckily for him the submarine never descended any deeper than that. The artwork is serviceable, with John Buscema doing pencil breakdowns and Klaus Janson finishing off the art. I'm not, in all honesty, the biggest fan of Janson's heavily inked artwork, but he does a decent job of telling the story. Unfortunately, the scene where the Ark is finally opened and Belloq and the Nazi's receive God's punishment is, perhaps predictably, nowhere near as memorable or as horrific on the comics page as it is in the film. All in all though, this is a pretty decent adaptation of the film, without ever being anything amazing. Thank you. So I'm not the only one who's not a huge fan of Klaus's inking.
There was a time in the early to mid 1970s that I really liked it and thought it added some spice or variety to pencillers whose work could feel a little bland to me at times, or enhancing work I thought was already good to start with, like Rich Buckler's on Deathlok in Astonishing Tales. But his style seemed to change by the later '70s, not sure if it started before his collaboration with Frank Miller on Daredevil or during, but definitely when the Miller DD was in full swing Janson's inks looked very sketchy and under-done to me (as did Miller's, after a certain point in the run). I really disliked his work with Gene Colan on Howard the Duck too, especially after Steve Leialoha had done such a great job on that book, one of Colan's best inkers ever, to my eyes.
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Post by spoon on May 9, 2023 20:53:15 GMT -5
I read New Mutants #74, then a few pages from Excalibur #8 with the New Mutants, then New Mutants #75-76, X-Factor #40-41, Wolverine #4-8, New Mutants #76, the Mirage/Wolfsbane story from Marvel Comics Presents #22, then back to New Mutants #77-80.
NM #74 is nice issue of Inferno aftermath. Bob Wiacek inks blend well with Bret Blevins’s pencils. Threads from X-Factor and New Mutants are intertwining, as the X-Terminator kids (from X-Factor) are now hanging with the Mutants, and they all decide to go to X-Factor’s Ship. Gosamyr decides to leave Earth and take emotional-influencing power with her. Also, Mirage has awful headaches and death visions, which will build to something big.
I read Excalibur #8 a few months ago, so I just read the pages where the New Mutants visit the ruins of Xavier’s Mansion (which got blown up in the pages of X-Men and X-Factor). Kitty stumbles upon them and reems them out, because Claremont things that friends often act terrible. But she gets reamed out by child Illyana in Russian (since she can’t English anymore), so Kitty hugs it out with Dani. In NM #75 Magneto and the rest of Lords Cardinal stumble upon the kids in mansion wreckage, and Byrne does guest art. The whole stupid Magneto plan to work with the Hellfire Club reaches it’s logical breaking point, as the kids decide they can’t work with Mags anymore. And their home is blown up (except the basement) so that attraction is gone. Magneto is back to moustache twirling as he’s decided the nice guy approach isn’t work. He spearheads a vote to oust Sebastian Shaw, and he and Emma are hoping to give Selene the heave-ho soon.
Magneto’s tenure as headmaster really sucked. Bad choice from Xavier: gray-headed and domineering personality doesn’t make a supposedly reformed megalomaniac terrorist a good teacher for mutant teens. While Magnus was playing footsie with the Hellfire Club, the kids were getting into all sorts of trouble. Getting killed and resurrected by the Beyonder, Karma dropping out to work for a crimelord, Doug dying, Magma transferring to a school for villains, and Illyana accidentally unleashing a demon apocalypse before becoming 7 again.
X-Factor #40 has the X-Terminators kids hanging with X-Factor and the government deciding Rusty Collins can stay free until his trial. Convenient to enjoy super-hero adventures! New Mutants #76 ties into the Atlantis Attacks story running through all the annuals, with a Sub-Mariner appearance and a cool sea monster splash page. Plus, the New Mutants and X-Terminators get back together.
X-Factor #41 has one scene with the kids, but a lot happens. The New Mutants & X-Terminators are operating like one team, Boom-Boom hinted crush on Sam starts to get some serious play, and kids promise to take child Illyana to Russia & take Dani if her headaches continue while X-Factor investigates trolls in England. Unsupervised again! Do the adults never learn? And because Colossus crossed over to New Mutants during Inferno, the X-Men know the kids have suffered, but they keep up the faked death plotline Claremont clings to.
MCP #22 has an inconsequential story stuck in this reading order haphazardly as it doesn’t seem to fit Dani’s health problems.
Read orders put the Atlantis Attacks annual here, but as I started I saw the Asgard story is said to precede this. So I’m reading that first. Seems weird for chronologies, but maybe it’s because the Asgard story last like 8 issues! New Mutants #77 has the kids bringing Illyana back to her parents in Russia, where Dani collapses. She wakes up as a flaming (literally) sociopath, secretly controlled by Hela. Dr. Strange secretly helps, as he’s also pretending to be dead. After two underwhelming Rich Buckler issues, we get nice guest pencils by Rick Leonardi in #78. The team is trying Dani back to X-Factor’s sentient spaceship Ship, as she in case in ice created by her wish illusion power to contain the corruptive destructive flames. Unfortunately, Freedom Force goes take-back on Rusty’s furlough and Ship disappears into space for X-Factor’s Judgment War arc. The kids are unsupervised again! While Skids protects Rusty from Freedom Force with a force field, Dr. Strange teleports the rest of the kids to Asgard. Though Louise Simonson has been writing all the X-Terminator kids over X-Factor, she seems to be playing favorite by integrating Boom-Boom and Rictor much more into New Mutants. In Asgard, they’re both being referred to as members of the New Mutants although no scene has ever depicted them formally joining.
Bret Blevins and Al Williamson provide great art in NM #79 and #80. We also get a reprise of some plot lines from back in the Asgard story from the New Mutants Special Edition years back: Eitri the dwarf and Rahne’s wolf prince. Boom-Boom gets a lot of attention in these issues. She simulanteously impulsive yet deep and misunderstood. Weezie’s new fave? It turns out that Hela has possessed all the Valkyries in a plot to have them harvest heroes for her instead for a war on Asgard (which was transported to the Negative Zone). Enough of Dani’s soul remain intact so she won’t harm her friends despite being possessed, but the other Valkyries will! Also, the Blob seems to have found a workaround to take Rusty and Skids into custody despite her force field. Only halfway into this long Asgard story.
Meanwhile, I read the Wolverine issues where Karma shows up. Claremont has long loved the incredibly contrived plotline that Shan’s crimelord uncle General Coy is the only one who can finds her younger siblings. She uses her powers to serve him, even though the General never makes any progress. I also learned that General Coy actually had some appearances in Spider-Woman. On the bright side, John Buscema has given Shan a better hairdo and wardrobe then McLeod and all the other NM artists did. On the other hand, even after Logan steps out the shadows, Shan doesn’t seem to recognize him as Wolverine. I realize Shan had a lot of absences, but certainly they passed in the halls a few times at the old school. Claremont really wants to keep the “X-Men fake their deaths” alive by the thinnest string. I have a certain degree of Wolverine fatigue, but he’s actually more palatable in the among the noir and swashbuckling elements of Madripoor than lecturing condescendingly toward the other X-Men. There’s a two-parter with Joe Fixit, but I actually prefer the issues before that with the focus on the regular cast.
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Post by Hoosier X on May 9, 2023 22:49:26 GMT -5
I am reading DC Comics Presents #78, with Superman and the Forgotten Villains.
Every two pages seems like a different comic book!
Great art by Curt Swan and Dave Hunt.
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Post by commond on May 9, 2023 23:29:46 GMT -5
For some reason I was really into that New Mutants Asgard storyline. I remember collecting the back issues from secondhand bookstores and putting together the storyline (no doubt out of order.)
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Post by wildfire2099 on May 10, 2023 8:04:00 GMT -5
There's not alot that connects to the Wolverine stuff to Spiderwoman... I read it after reading the Wolverine Epic volume... it's mostly just background.
I read 'reign in Hell' yesterday... an 8 issue mini by Keith Giffen and a bunch of artists where former enemies Satanus and Blaze join forces to attempt to take over Hell. For some reason Neron talks like a bad 90s wrestling heel throughout the story, and the main plot is pretty weak.. Satanus starts winning, then suddenly Neron has a huge host he wasn't using and obilterates them, only to find that was the plot all along.
The heroes (ONLY DC heroes, no Vertigo, so no Lucifer, no COnstantine, no Tim Hunter, no Duma and ramiel) are very pereferial to the plot...that added nothing but to get saps like me to buy it to see what they were up to. Zatanna is pretty interesting here, but otherwise, alot if it is new characters from just before New 52 that are gone now.
Overall, a disappointment.
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2023 8:08:04 GMT -5
I won’t get into context/storyline, but I just love the last page of The Incredible Hulk #356:  |
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Post by Batflunkie on May 10, 2023 9:21:55 GMT -5
Remember--advertising keeps the cost down for the reader. And I want to say ads on every other page starting in the 70s, which is one of the reasons the original Dollar Comics were a big deal. (And canned pasta, fruit roll ups and video games probably reflected on comic readers better than ads for sharks teeth, stamps from many lands, body builders, and Grit.) I love that the internet lets us instantly look up the answer to any random question that occurs to us. In this case, "Hey, whatever happened to Grit?"
Turns out Grit still exists, but as of 2006, it became a bi-monthly, perfect-bound magazine.
I think the world was a better place when there were incentive programs that let kids earn stuff like money or prizes. Their lives were, horrifyingly enough, much like a game show |
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Post by dbutler69 on May 10, 2023 15:42:55 GMT -5
I read Batman #393-394. I couldn't pass up a Moench-Gulacy collaboration! It was a pretty good two-parter with a heavy dose of espionage, similar to their Master of Kung Fu run.
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Post by berkley on May 10, 2023 18:24:47 GMT -5
I read Batman #393-394. I couldn't pass up a Moench-Gulacy collaboration! It was a pretty good two-parter with a heavy dose of espionage, similar to their Master of Kung Fu run.
I missed this at the time but somewhere around the early 2000s I found out about the various Moench/Gulacy Batman stories and hunted them all down online. They're probably my favourite Batman comics.
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Post by Icctrombone on May 10, 2023 19:40:55 GMT -5
I read Batman #393-394. I couldn't pass up a Moench-Gulacy collaboration! It was a pretty good two-parter with a heavy dose of espionage, similar to their Master of Kung Fu run.
I missed this at the time but somewhere around the early 2000s I found out about the various Moench/Gulacy Batman stories and hunted them all down online. They're probably my favourite Batman comics.
I bought almost everything Gulacy back then. |
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Post by berkley on May 10, 2023 20:53:39 GMT -5
I missed this at the time but somewhere around the early 2000s I found out about the various Moench/Gulacy Batman stories and hunted them all down online. They're probably my favourite Batman comics.
I bought almost everything Gulacy back then. I missed some things like Batman in the 1980s and 1990s through not being aware of what he was doing, especially the DC and Marvel work, but I think I've found it all since in back issues. I liked his Batman, also the Turok issues he did, the only time I've read that character. It was all first rate stuff, at least as far as the artwork went and usually the writing too if it was Moench. |
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Post by Cei-U! on May 11, 2023 5:41:58 GMT -5
I missed this at the time but somewhere around the early 2000s I found out about the various Moench/Gulacy Batman stories and hunted them all down online. They're probably my favourite Batman comics.
I bought almost everything Gulacy back then. I bought a pair of gorgeous hand-colored prints from Paul Gulacy, both bearing personalized autographs, at a con a few years back, one of Batman, one of Shang-Chi. They're hanging on my office walls.
Cei-U! Nice guy, that Gulacy, and he sure draws purty!
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Post by Icctrombone on May 11, 2023 5:45:37 GMT -5
Gulacy is what Steranko should have become if he stayed in the comic biz.
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