|
Post by Farrar on May 2, 2018 15:04:05 GMT -5
I read Strange Tales #130. The first story has the Human Torch and the Thing take their girls to a Beatles concert, and miss the concert as they have to chase some guys who robbed the gate money. They had quite a bit of trouble with some common robbers! Normally I dislike these Human Torch stories, but I liked this story, due to the humor and the presence of Ben Grimm. ... I bought that issue as a back issue, a few years after it was published. And I absolutely agree with you-- the Thing's humor was what made it memorable! I'm also an Alicia fan so I was always glad when she was featured in the FF book or in these ST Thing-Torch stories. I liked her friendship with Dorrie. This story read more like an Archie comic to me, but I liked that it was light-hearted. At the time I was really into buying back issues and the earliest FF comic I had was FF #34, in which Ben gets a Beatles wig from the Yancy Street Gang. FF #34 was published a couple of months prior to Strange Tales #130, so when Ben whipped out his Beatles wig in the ST story I appreciated the continuity! Fantastic Four #34
|
|
|
Post by Farrar on May 2, 2018 15:15:18 GMT -5
This is about all I have now--newsprint repros of newspaper clips. I always wonder when this was drawn. I've seen it online as a sketch or used for a cover (as here), but have not been able to pin down/ID the date. And I know it's a standard pose/composition, but it's always reminded me this Cardy cover from 1972. Also a Matt Baker 1954 cover, though less so.
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on May 2, 2018 15:37:01 GMT -5
Great thing about these issues is, you get pretty much right to the fights after just a bit of setup. Claremont writes just enough without overdoing it here (or cramming every panel with packed word balloons like his later X-Men work). Bryne dazzles as well on art, though his artwork is best when he's inking it, as in the early issues.
That may be true for Byrne's early work but for his work on the FF, I think the art got better when somebody else took over the inking duties. Byrne doesn't ink himself on Team-Up, not once. The early issues chromehead refers to are inked by Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito and.or Dave Hunt. And Byrne is close to my least favorite Byrne inker, though he's better than Esposito or Vince Colletta. Cei-U! I summon my love for the Claremont/Byrne Team-Ups!
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 2, 2018 15:49:35 GMT -5
That may be true for Byrne's early work but for his work on the FF, I think the art got better when somebody else took over the inking duties. Byrne doesn't ink himself on Team-Up, not once. The early issues chromehead refers to are inked by Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito and.or Dave Hunt. And Byrne is close to my least favorite Byrne inker, though he's better than Esposito or Vince Colletta. Cei-U! I summon my love for the Claremont/Byrne Team-Ups! I guess I misunderstood chromehead, as I thought he was saying that Byrne had inked some of those MTU issues, but my point still stands, and I agree with your assessment of inkers.
|
|
|
Post by MDG on May 2, 2018 15:52:00 GMT -5
That may be true for Byrne's early work but for his work on the FF, I think the art got better when somebody else took over the inking duties. Byrne doesn't ink himself on Team-Up, not once. The early issues chromehead refers to are inked by Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito and.or Dave Hunt. And Byrne is close to my least favorite Byrne inker, though he's better than Esposito or Vince Colletta. Cei-U! I summon my love for the Claremont/Byrne Team-Ups! I was never a fan of Byrne as an inker (except on some of his early fan stuff, and even there he often used other inkers). There was a cover where he inked Kurt Schaffenberger and in a B&W repro of it, it was really clear that everything had the same line weight--inks added nothing.
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 2, 2018 15:54:33 GMT -5
I read Strange Tales #130. The first story has the Human Torch and the Thing take their girls to a Beatles concert, and miss the concert as they have to chase some guys who robbed the gate money. They had quite a bit of trouble with some common robbers! Normally I dislike these Human Torch stories, but I liked this story, due to the humor and the presence of Ben Grimm. The second story has Dormammu, unbeknownst to Dr Strange, give Baron Mordo a lot of power, so that he's now more powerful than Doc Strange. Mordo and his cronies then attack the Ancient One & Strange. The Ancient one is badly injured, but Strange manages to get him to safety, but Dr Strange is now on the run against the suddenly powerful Mordo. To be continued! I bought that issue when it came out. That's the one with Ben & Johnny in Beatle wigs on the cover, right? Guys were wearing Beatle wigs instead of just making their hair look like the Beatles' because no American male at that time had hair that long. At that point, Ben was a permanent co-star; it was the "Torch & Thing" series. And this was the first T&T story drawn by Bob Powell, who did a pretty good job on the last five T&T stories here and the last five Giant-Man stories in Tales to Astonish. If he hadn't gotten sick and died in 1967, he could have had a long career at Marvel. He was only a year older than Jack Kirby, and could write as well as draw. This Dr. Strange story is the beginning of a long, wonderful saga. The GCD says it's Part 1 of 17. A real magnum opus by Ditko. I hope you have the next 16 issues so you can read the whole thing! Yup, it's got Ben & Johnny with Beatles wigs on the cover, though Doctor Strange actually had the cover this time, but Ben & Johnny's heads got in there. I had read some earlier Strange Tales where it was just Johnny, and skipped over a bunch, so I didn't realize that Ben was now the costar. That is a good move because Johnny by himself just doesn't cut it. I never knew that about Bob Powell. The art was decent, though not Kirby. Yeah, the reason I read this was because I'd heard (on this site, I believe) that it was the beginning of a good (and long) Doctor Strange story. I'm reading it on Marvel Unlimited, so yeah, I've got the whole thing.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 2, 2018 16:55:09 GMT -5
This is about all I have now--newsprint repros of newspaper clips. Looks like Clark Kent smoking a pipe and packing a gun! ... and Lana Lang in distress too!
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 3, 2018 7:33:19 GMT -5
I read Strange Tales #131. The Johnny & Ben tale wasnt quite as good in this one. Some pretty bad dialogue from the Mad Thinker.
Dr. Strange is still on the run from now all-powerful Baron Mordo. It was a bit like a chase scene in an action movie, except that everyone has supernatural powers. Stay tuned!
|
|
|
Post by String on May 4, 2018 12:07:53 GMT -5
Flash #300 - anniversary issue by Bates and Infantino.
Basically, one of Barry's enemies has Barry ensnared in an elaborate attempt to brainwash him into believing that he never became the Flash. That instead, the lightning accident combined with the chemicals left him physically scarred and mentally unbalanced, with his mind retreating from his injuries by living out his fantasies about Flash comics he read as a youth.
The issue hits the highlights of the origins and more famous encounters of Flash's Rogues Gallery as Barry tries to figure out who is behind this trap (which almost succeeds). A nice logic twist gives Barry the final clue he needs to solve this and it ends with one of the coolest little speed tricks as Barry seemingly has a conversation with himself as the Flash using super-speed and after-images. Overall, great issue.
Flash #275 - by Bates and Alex Saviuk
Ah, where Barry's life really falls to pieces as Iris is murdered at a costume party. Ross Andru had recently taken over as editor from Schwartz and promptly decided to shake things up starting back in #270. Barry being framed at work and Iris worrying about possible infidelity from Barry when a mysterious blond with ESP starts manipulating him. Clive Yorkin, a subject of a torturous experiment, had become fixated on Barry for revenge and had followed the couple to this costume party.
The murder itself is not shown on-panel, which I liked. Somehow, Barry had become drugged and weakened (apparently from a cup of punch drink). Hearing Iris' cries, he wasn't coherent or fast enough to save her. Yorkin was spotted beside her body but no real evidence of what, if anything, he did to her. In all, quite a stunning cliffhanger as Barry passes out trying to pick Iris up to carry her to help. (All the more tragic since the couple had resolved their semi-strife in their marriage and had actually planned to become parents in this issue).
A seminal moment in the life of Barry Allen, very well done as it sets up for what Barry does next, how does he move on and how does he learn the truth of who killed Iris?
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on May 4, 2018 12:20:41 GMT -5
I recently re-read the debut of the Vision in Avengers 57-58, and I had a thought that I've never had before:
Ultron was destroyed in his first appearance. Issue #57 ends with his head being kicked around by a boy as the captions quote Shelley's Ozymandias.
Which implies that Ultron was not originally intended as a major recurring villain. He was there just because Roy needed somebody to build the Vision.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on May 6, 2018 22:24:15 GMT -5
Ectokid #1 Me and Clive Barker have a bit of a flirtatious history, even if we've never met online or personally. I was ten and sleeping over at my cousin's home along with his two friends. Around 12 A.M. or so, we somehow ended up watching Hellbound:Hellraiser 2, or at least the opening where Pinhead earns his namesake. The imagery of it terrified me for years. I was already incredibly afraid of dark thanks to my father letting me watch reruns of Tales From The Crypt when I was 5 or so, so Hellbound didn't help It wasn't until years later that I watched the two films in full and kind of became a bit enchanted by the lore of the series, namely with the Labyrinth of Hell and Leviathan Later I learned of Clive's involvement with Marvel during their tenure under the umbrella of New World Pictures and his subsequent foray into the world of superheroics, if you can call it that. I've considered reading all of Razorline, tried to, got sidelined by other things and other comics, but haven't really touched it at all until recently There isn't much to go on with the first issue as is often the case. The story is about a street rat from New Orleans who's the bastard son of mortal and a ghost who can both the world of the living and the heavily distorted land of the dead simultaneously. Overall it feels like a very rough hybridization of both Valiant's Shadowman and Malibu's Night Man, but still has enough of it's own ideas about itself to keep it interesting
|
|
|
Post by Reptisaurus! on May 6, 2018 22:49:23 GMT -5
All this '90s Marvel stuff I had no idea existed and I don't know how to contextualize...
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on May 6, 2018 23:17:39 GMT -5
All this '90s Marvel stuff I had no idea existed and I don't know how to contextualize... I've always kind of been fascinated by dead/forgotten comic book lines/universes and Marvel surprisingly has the most of them
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 8, 2018 8:05:36 GMT -5
I read Strange Tales #131-132. Two mediocre Thing-Human Torch stories, and the continuation of the Dr. Strange-Baron Mordo-Dormammu story. In #132, Mordo finally catches up to Dr. Strange and battles him. Strange is somehow able to hold him off, then Dormammu takes over Mordo and attacks Strange through Mordo, lights out Dr. Strange, to be continued!
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 9, 2018 15:44:07 GMT -5
I read Adventure Comics #247 & 267, the first two appearances of the Legion of Super-Heroes. I'm a big Legion fan, but I haven't read these in a long time. 247 was pretty good, but 267 was a bit much to take. The LOSH is sure quick to think the worst of Superboy! Superboy changed the molecules of an element with his voice?! Who needs Element Lad when you've got Supes? A whole planet of people with super powers? Please. He got released from his pledge from the President to not tell anybody about his secret mission at a very convenient time. I'm very glad that Legion stories got better than this.
|
|