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Post by Duragizer on Jan 20, 2019 23:26:51 GMT -5
Wow, I was actually able to take Power Girl seriously as a character here. Being drawn with natural looking breasts must make all the difference.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 21, 2019 9:03:09 GMT -5
I read Thor #221-223. This was an underwhelming arc which ends up with Thor & Hercules taking on Pluto. The first time this happened (in Thor #128-130) was much better. First, Thor doubts Hercules at the drop of a hat. He and the Asgardians got a view of Pluto & Herc holding the Asgardian maid Krista as a slave in Hades. Sif has some sense, however, and counsels Thor to give Hercules a chance (he ignores her advice). In the next issue, Sif ignores her own advice and is the first to doubt Herc as the Asgardians continue watching the Olympians on their visi-globe (or whatever it is). Thor stupidly attacks Hercules without trying to get an explanation (why the heck didn't he start by going after Pluto in Hades??). They did have a pretty good fight (just about the only redeeming thing in this arc) and Zeus finally counsels some sense to these two muscleheads. They kiss and make up, and finally decide to go after Pluto together. Then, at the beginning of the next issue, they are arm wrestling for the honor of taking on Pluto (why can't these macho Marvel superheroes ever work together? Why is it always "no, I must face him alone!"? The arm wrestling turns into another fight. Once again, Zeus breaks it up and talks some sense into them. They eventually find out that Mars was in league with Pluto. They defeat Ares even though ihs strength has been tripled by Pluto. In #223, they take on Pluto, and defeat him in a rather unsatisfying battle. Pluto crashes into a giant neon sign in Manhattan and just disappears.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 21, 2019 9:10:26 GMT -5
I read Detective Comics #393. The lead story is the last story before Robin leaves. They don't mention why, strangely, but I assume it's because he's going off to college at Hudson University. It's a nice little story including Bruce trying to rehabilitate a trouble making teen, and a nice little mystery. The mystery burglar at the beginning made a fool of Batman & Robin, and though I'm not clear on it, I think it may have been the SPOILER ALERT rich teenage girl who was the actual culprit. Not their finest moment. The backup story was Batgirl, and while it was pretty good, it picks up in the middle of a story from last issue with basically no explanation, so it was a little confusing to me.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 22, 2019 12:08:10 GMT -5
Wow, I was actually able to take Power Girl seriously as a character here. Being drawn with natural looking breasts must make all the difference. I love Power Girl! And her early appearances are so much fun! I liked the Power Girl series - 2009 to 2011, I think - where Amanda Connor was the artist.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 22, 2019 12:20:08 GMT -5
I read Thor #221-223. This was an underwhelming arc which ends up with Thor & Hercules taking on Pluto. The first time this happened (in Thor #128-130) was much better. First, Thor doubts Hercules at the drop of a hat. He and the Asgardians got a view of Pluto & Herc holding the Asgardian maid Krista as a slave in Hades. Sif has some sense, however, and counsels Thor to give Hercules a chance (he ignores her advice). In the next issue, Sif ignores her own advice and is the first to doubt Herc as the Asgardians continue watching the Olympians on their visi-globe (or whatever it is). Thor stupidly attacks Hercules without trying to get an explanation (why the heck didn't he start by going after Pluto in Hades??). They did have a pretty good fight (just about the only redeeming thing in this arc) and Zeus finally counsels some sense to these two muscleheads. They kiss and make up, and finally decide to go after Pluto together. Then, at the beginning of the next issue, they are arm wrestling for the honor of taking on Pluto (why can't these macho Marvel superheroes ever work together? Why is it always "no, I must face him alone!"? The arm wrestling turns into another fight. Once again, Zeus breaks it up and talks some sense into them. They eventually find out that Mars was in league with Pluto. They defeat Ares even though ihs strength has been tripled by Pluto. In #223, they take on Pluto, and defeat him in a rather unsatisfying battle. Pluto crashes into a giant neon sign in Manhattan and just disappears. I finished The Essential Thor, Volume Five, a few days ago. That reprints Thor #196 to #220. I was seriously underwhelmed overall. There were a couple of pretty good storylines, notably the one where Ulik invades Midgard in #210 and #211. But a lot of these storylines were rather aimless space opera with the plot of Thor questing for Sif thrown in. The Black Stars storyline in the last few issues wasn't really bad, just sort of mediocre, though I did like the Mike Esposito inking on the last two issues, the best inker that Buscema had in this whole volume. I pulled out my few issues of Thor from this period. I was thinking I had a few issues from this era and the year after. I've had #197 and #231 for a very long time. But I completely forgot that I also have #203. That shows how little impression it made. I didn't recognize it at all when I read it in The Essential Thor. I also have #222! Very nice art, Buscema inked by Sinnott! I seem to have liked this issue better than you did (despite how dumb a lot of it is). But it's the middle part of a three-part story and I've never read the other two parts.
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Post by beccabear67 on Jan 22, 2019 13:47:09 GMT -5
Thor gets interesting for me with #225 and Firelord's debut. Galactus, a mad Ego The Living Planet, and an Asgard invasion of Earth (but that unfortunately kind of fizzled out fast, oh well), then a little later is a big quest to find a missing Odin.
Amazing Adventures #25-27; three different artists... liked them all! Buckler inked by Klaus Janson is great but then he got caught up in creating Deathlok the next month, so Gene Colan did one issue and added some needed weight to things that characters having names like Mint Julep (and blue-green skin) could undermine otherwise... and then P Craig Russell arrives and we are truly off... looking forward to savoring a longish run of McGregor/Russell! Love the Skar nemesis with one big hole (eye?) in the middle of his face, genuinely a scary looking mutant/alien dude! Skar shows up first drawn by Buckler, except for the front cover, so not sure who actually designed him.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 24, 2019 12:47:49 GMT -5
I've requested Marvel Masterworks: Iron Man, Volume One, from the library. It reprints Tales of Suspense #39 to #50. Except for #39, I haven't read these comics for a long time! I really loved Iron Man when I was first collecting comics, circa 1975, and old issues of Tales of Suspense were so cheap! I had #41 to #99 within a few years. #41 cost me $11 - very beat up - #42 was $10 for a very solid VG+. And I remember how easy and fun it was to get TOS issues from later in the 1960s for $1 or $2 each. I eventually had every issue of TOS. I sold them to help pay for college. The first year of Iron Man is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of it is a lot of fun but a lot of it is downright stupid. I think that's why I've not had much interest in re-reading these comics in the 15 years or so since I sold them. I was checking to see if the library had any Essential Iron Man volumes (there's still a lot between Iron #30 and #60 that I've never read). No luck with that, but they do have this Marvel Masterworks volume, and I figured it might be fun to check out these stories that I used to know pretty well.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 25, 2019 15:22:44 GMT -5
I read Tales of Suspense #39 and #40 last night. I've read #39 a bunch of times starting with its appearance in Stan Lee's Son of Origins of Marvel Comics (which I ordered through the mail by cutting the coupon out of a 1976 comics book!). I even had a beat-up copy of #39 for a while! It hasn't been that long since I read it because I still have the Marvel Milestones edition. It's one of the best origin stories of the period. I love how low-key and barely operable the suit is in the first appearance! Wong Chu incapacitates him momentarily with a filing cabinet full of rocks! Ha! Take that, you Yankee imperialist tin-can exploiter of the masses! Even though I had #41 to #99 for YEARS because of how cheap those issues were in the 1970s, I didn't get my copy of #40 until much later. Around 1995, I think. I had it for a while but I was in my 30s by then and not quite so prone to reading bad comics over and over. (And make no mistake! #40 is really bad!) The rest of the stories in this Iron Man Marvel Masterworks volume are comics I had for a while back in my teens and I read them quite a bit. Some of them are almost as familiar as #39. Like Dr. Strange's weird island and his daughter Carla. Like the Red Barbarian and the Actor! And those awful awful stories in #43 and #44! And things really get going in #45 with the introduction of Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts in her freckled, pony-tailed phase. And so on. I especially love #49 with the Angel, which I bought for $7 in 1976 or 1977. Getting back to #40 OMG this is so bad! I remember it being bad but I don't remember it being almost painful to read. I probably read it once or twice when I first got it and then never read it again. Last night I was thinking it was a great candidate for the worst super-hero story from Marvel's early days, but then I remembered that some of those early Thor stories are awful too, and some of those Ant-Man (and Giant-Man) stories are more than a little painful. And also some of the Human Torch stories in Strange Tales, especially after the Thing became the co-star! So I will refrain from labeling the Iron Man story in #40 as the worst Marvel story from 1961 to 1964. Thinking of TOS #43 and #44, I'm not even sure it's the worst Iron Man story from that period. Well, I'll be reading those in a few days. I must say, though, that I like the Kirby/Heck art. Also, the first half of the story, before Iron Man flies off to fight Gargantus, is actually pretty good! But, MAN, do they start blowing it around Page 8 or so!
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 25, 2019 18:17:10 GMT -5
I read JLA #37-38, a JLA/JSA team-up. I liked part one, it was interesting, but the concluding issue was very disappointing. It seemed like a cop-out of an ending.
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Post by berkley on Jan 25, 2019 19:50:49 GMT -5
Wow, I was actually able to take Power Girl seriously as a character here. Being drawn with natural looking breasts must make all the difference. I love Power Girl! And her early appearances are so much fun! I liked the Power Girl series - 2009 to 2011, I think - where Amanda Connor was the artist. Even I liked that one - and I hardly ever like anything n the way of superhero comics these days. I thought it struck a nice tone, funny without being mean-spirited or annoyingly snarky. In several cases the "bad guys" weren't really bad, just brought into conflict with PG for one reason or another, which is always a nice change from the back and white morally superior heroes vs dastardly villain scenario that is more common. They even managed to address the famous Power Girl bosom in a humorous way without coming across as sleazy.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 25, 2019 20:52:09 GMT -5
I love Power Girl! And her early appearances are so much fun! I liked the Power Girl series - 2009 to 2011, I think - where Amanda Connor was the artist. Even I liked that one - and I hardly ever like anything n the way of superhero comics these days. I thought it struck a nice tone, funny without being mean-spirited or annoyingly snarky. In several cases the "bad guys" weren't really bad, just brought into conflict with PG for one reason or another, which is always a nice change from the back and white morally superior heroes vs dastardly villain scenario that is more common. They even managed to address the famous Power Girl bosom in a humorous way without coming across as sleazy. A little later in the 1970s All-Star Comics series, the cleavage window disappeared. He chest was decorated with white cloth, blank, no window, no logo. It looks great! I wish they had gone with that. It was a great look for PG. Heck, I think Wood was still the artist.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 26, 2019 9:52:10 GMT -5
I read another JLA/JSA crossover - #46-47. It was ok. There were some god points, such as how the heroes use teamwork and turned negatives into positives against the Anti-Matter Man, but also a bit too much silliness. Plus, the Anti-Matter Man must be thousands of miles tall, so the heroes should be microscopic compared to him. This is how you know you're having a bad day:
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Post by rberman on Jan 26, 2019 10:06:16 GMT -5
I read another JLA/JSA crossover - #46-47. It was ok. There were some god points, such as how the heroes use teamwork and turned negatives into positives against the Anti-Matter Man, but also a bit too much silliness. Plus, the Anti-Matter Man must be thousands of miles tall, so the heroes should be microscopic compared to him. This is how you know you're having a bad day: I guess The Spectre gets called upon to do this a lot.
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Post by beccabear67 on Jan 26, 2019 14:01:46 GMT -5
A little later in the 1970s All-Star Comics series, the cleavage window disappeared. He chest was decorated with white cloth, blank, no window, no logo. It looks great! I wish they had gone with that. It was a great look for PG. Heck, I think Wood was still the artist. In a later letters page Wood is credited with the costume changes. It is odd she was this 'empowered' young woman but has a peek-a-boo window on her boobs!
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Post by beccabear67 on Jan 27, 2019 17:06:32 GMT -5
Amazing Adventures #28-31; Killraven and Volcana take down the Martians in Chicago with their human stockyard and dining hall where babies are are the only item on the menu. Noooooo... Blech! Seeing as the aliens resemble a big meatball with spaghetti for arms on a floating plate, maybe the free humans could've turned the tables on them after Volcana roasted them? There is a lot of McGregor purple prose in the captions I'm often tempted to skip, trying to make allusions about pre-Martian conquest aspects of our civilization, in #31 it's the double arches of a McDonald's that's become a religious shrine. Really nice art though, and the letters pages have some familiar names, some names more known in sf fandom (Brian Earl Brown for example). You'd think they could've cross-promoted Deathlok in this title and vice-versa. You wonder if readers of one were aware of the other sci-fi title back where specialty shops were rarer and distribution very uneven. #30 is a framing sequence with a re-cap from some of the Herb Trimpe issues, worth having for the six new Russell pages and cover, but reprinting something so recent at the time must've been a record, and not the first issue either as when they reprinted Howard the Duck #1 in an over-sized treasury not so long after it, but these reprints are measured in months more than years. Must've been some unique deadline problems as I notice Trimpe with guest writer Bill Mantlo in #33... and this was a bi-monthly. Somehow I think it might not be Russell's fault as he had time to ink and even color his work, plus those cover pieces, though I could be wrong. I like the work of some of the so-called prima-donna writers and artists who have a high standard, but if you can't even handle six issues of something in a year? Marvel sure did have a problem in the '70s with a lot of titles having sudden reprint and fill-in issues... I've seen them also in '70s Avengers, Fantastic Four and Thor, and in a way Deathlok as they had one issue suddenly be a Guardians Of the Galaxy reprint for Astonishing Tales. Next up to read for me is Showcase #100 and Thor Annual #5 (courtesy the trade with pinkfloydsound17).
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