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Post by Farrar on Mar 25, 2019 16:31:44 GMT -5
I understand Kirby’s reasons for leaving but it looks like he also only got his page rate from DC , albeit a larger sum. Not sure how Kirby's 1970 deal with DC was structured, but he may also have been receiving an editor's salary (in addition to page rate) because he was the editor and the writer (plotter & scripter) of Jimmy Olsen plus his new books The New Gods, The Forever People and Mister Miracle (and later Kamandi, Demon and OMAC).
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Post by Batflunkie on Mar 25, 2019 22:02:06 GMT -5
Captain America #284 Really good standalone issue after Cap's battle with Viper for the fate of a small hamlet. I was particularly taken with Jack's (the Bucky of the 1950's/Captain America #153) confusion about his place in the world now after being recently "thawed out". Led to a really somber bit of dialogue by Cap "The World's not really more complex Jack. We've just stopped looking at things in black and white terms. One thing you're going to have to learn fast is that the American dream we've both sworn to defend is often times light years removed from the American reality"Cap also nudges Jack into attending a party by his land lady. Really makes me rather upset that they latter got rid of all the apartment characters, namely Bernie. Still kind of on the fence about Steve's artist gig though
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Post by String on Mar 29, 2019 16:31:55 GMT -5
The Question #1 - I think, by now, Comixology has all of this series available on their site but I came across a decent copy of this issue at a recent con. I enjoyed this opening, O'Neil laying out Sage's unending quest/obsession to combat corruption (and possibly being an adrenaline junkie). Cowan's art was very good and fit the tone of the character however some of the fight scenes looked a bit off-kilter (Vic's thrown punches and where they landed).
The letters page by editor Mike Gold started a re-telling of the character's Charlton origins (appreciated once again) and how this new series got developed. What I found most interesting was the beginning of a Recommended Reading List for the readers, books you can check out that may further illustrate the philosophical themes of the title. First recommendation: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. A book I'd read and enjoyed in my youth, loved that. Will have to track down the rest of this series now.
Untold Legend of Batman #1-3 - First off, outstanding art by Aparo (and Bryne). This is the Batman I enjoy the most. Excellent telling of his origin and background of the rest of the cast. I liked the ending of who the mystery villain was, some great character exploration by Wein.
Although I never knew about Bruce being the first to wear the Robin costume in his apprenticeship with Harvey Harris, great detective. Where (or when) was this taken from the earlier comics?
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 3, 2019 12:00:56 GMT -5
I read Godzilla #11 and 12. In #11, Red Ronin tries to break up a fight between Godzilla and Ytrigar without harming them, but instead winds up being forced to kill Ytrigar. In #12, Godzilla gets teleported away by aliens who want him to fight some monsters to save two worlds, in including the earth, like always happens. I've enjoyed this series, but this is one of the weaker issues. Why'd the aliens let Godzilla destroy their champion monster in order to prove himself? Wouldn't it be better for Godzilla and that monster together to take on the three other monsters? Did Godzilla really understand that aliens explaining all this to him? Oh well. It does set up for an action packed #13, anyway.
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 3, 2019 12:04:43 GMT -5
I also read Karate Kid #1 and 2. #1 was pretty good. #2 was decent, though not as good as the first issue. So far, Karate kid's motivation for staying behind in the 20th century seems weak, but maybe that will change.
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 3, 2019 12:06:30 GMT -5
I also read Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #233 with the Infinite Man! For some reason, this guy is one of my favorite Legion villains.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 11, 2019 17:04:05 GMT -5
I finished Marvel Masterworks: Iron Man, Volume Eight, this morning. It reprints Iron Man #39 to #53 and I bought it digitally off Comixology, on sale for $5.99! It took me a while to read it. I commented on an earlier issue but I really haven't had time to comment since. This volume was pretty bad for a while! And then from around #45 to #49 it really picked up a little. I especially like #48, with Simon Gilbert's hostile takeover attempt on Stark Industries and then here comes Firebrand! And then - gasp! - Simon Gilbert dies in a conflagration that he started by hiring Firebrand, and it turns out that Simon is Firebrand's father! My first issue of Iron Man back in the 1970s was #80 and it was near the end of the Super-Villain War and the winner of the War was Firebrand! And then it wrapped up in #81 and Firebrand disappeared for a zillion years. I vaguely remember him popping up here and there, but in hindsight, I think he had the potential to be a major Iron Man villain, but I guess later writers didn't care for him as the 1970s ended. And #49's not bad. But #50 is terrible! The villainess is Princess Python and she's using her python to kidnap Tony Stark and get a big ransom and somehow it doesn't work and the python dies in a vat of acid and Princess Python can't imagine life without her giant snake and OBOY this is dumb. Bronze Age Bonkers! I was rolling my eyes a lot when I was reading it, but with the passage of a couple of days, it strikes me as being an unintentionally HILARIOUS Bronze Age Classic! And then there's Marianne Rodgers roaming around, and having scary ESP nightmares and running out on Tony when he needs her most. This wasn't quite resolved when this volume ended, but I think she's on her way out. Then it picks up again with #52 and #53 with Tony Stark going to the Los Angeles area and running into Raga, Son of Fire and (very important) the Black Lama! The Black Lama's Globe of Power is the prize in the War of the Super-Villains - one of my favorite epics of the Bronze Age - so he's an important figure, and I've never read his first appearance before! His storyline was wrapped up in Iron Man #80 and #81, and I was pretty when I first read those. I got hold of most of the issues between #60 and #79 when I was a kid, so I've long been a fan of the era right after the issues I'm reading now. But some of these early 1970s Iron Man stories are BAD! I'm glad it's looking up a bit as I move into Volume Nine of the Iron Man Marvel Masterworks (#54 to #67), which I just bought digitally from Comixology for $5.99. The first appearance of Thanos is just a few issues away! (Which is making me wish I liked Thanos a little more than I do.)
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,065
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Post by Confessor on Apr 12, 2019 6:58:24 GMT -5
I read Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Daredevil: Born Again for the first time last night. It was the UK Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection hardcover that I picked up, which collects Daredevil #227–233. Wow! What a story line! I was already familiar with Miller's original run on Daredevil from the late 70s and early 80s, but Born Again has long been on my wants list. One of the best things about this book is how damn gripping it is. I turned to my wife after having only read the first 8 pages and said, "this is great already!" Miller really puts old Matt Murdock through the wringer in Born Again, flirting with Matt actually losing his mind, and I have to say that it's a fairly sympathetic examination of a person's mental health deteriorating through depression. The heavy Christian/Catholic imagery and themes in the story were surprising (though, given the book's title, I should've expected them), but they worked very well in the context of the story. In particular, Miller does a top job of casting of Murdock as a kind of Messianic figure, (almost) rising from the dead to save mankind...well, Hell's Kitchen, NYC, at least. Every character in this arc seems utterly three-dimensional and human, from Murdock on down... For example, though it's only a minor sub-plot, I really liked the subtle and very believable way that Miller has Matt's ex-girlfriend Glori being drawn to the safety and security of Foggy Nelson in a romantic fashion. That felt very realistic to me and the way it was handled was perfect. The Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich too has never been more enjoyable to read, and you can just tell that Miller loves writing him. As for the villain of the piece, the King Pin has never seemed more sinister or more of a genuine threat than he does in Born Again...and that's really saying something! My one criticism of this arc would be, I'm not sure how I feel about Karen Page ending up a failed soft porn actress and junky, who sells Murdock's secret identity for a hit of heroin...where the hell did that character development come from? I'll admit that my knowledge of Daredevil is kind of spotty in places: I've read Daredevil up to the end of the '60s, but then I have a big gap until Miller's original run on the book starts in 1979. I remember Matt revealing his secret to Karen in the late 60s, but I don't recall her leaving to go off and become an actress. I think I'm right in saying that she's entirely absent from Miller's original late 70s/early 80s run though, right? So, I'm curious who it was that changed her character so much? Having Karen portrayed as such a troubled and desperate wretch works great in the context of this story, but I found it kind of hard to reconcile the tragic, pathetic figure we see in Born Again, with the bubbly, always smartly attired, Karen Page I know from the Silver Age. Overall, this is one of the best things of Miller's that I've read. I'm a big fan of Miller's art on his run on Daredevil, but having Mazzucchelli come in on art chores for this arc works fine. His clean lines, impeccable panel-to-panel pacing, and abundance of raw emotion elevates this story and I certainly didn't miss Miller's artwork at all. I think Born Again definitely stands alongside Batman: Year One and The Dark Knight Returns as some of Miller's best work, and, for my money, it's even better than his original run on Daredevil. On a side note, I've gotta say, that I really like these Marvel Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection reprints. These were put out in the UK by Hachette as a partwork series, with a magazine, that builds up week by week into a pretty comprehensive hardback collection of "significant" Marvel storylines. I have the Captain Britain volume as well, which collects the stories that Alan Moore wrote for the character. But the presentation of these books is really nice. I like the paperstock they use and the colours -- while clearly not on newsprint -- are not too bright and garish, which I like when I'm reading reprints of old comic books. Best of all, they can usually be picked up pretty cheaply too -- my Born Again hardback was brand new, still sealed, and only cost me a few pounds from a charity shop.
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Post by spoon on Apr 13, 2019 11:02:02 GMT -5
I've been reading through Essential Hulk vol. 5 and 6, averaging about an issue a day or a little more. I have a huge collection of Essentials and used to binge a lot. I had start vol. 5 a long time ago, but stopped. I wasn't sure exactly where I stopped back then, so I restarted at #183. Turns out I re-read a few I had before, but it was a good reminder of what happened before. Len Wein does a good job, because Hulk is a character that always presents a danger of being monotonous.
Hulk was more of a love triangle with Glenn Talbot, Betty Ross, and Bruce Banner in earlier days, but Betty's marriage is firmly established. A lot of the drama centers around Glenn Talbot, because he was kidnapped and then rescued and his mind was messed, and then he was replaced, and his mind was wiped, and so so many plot turns. It creates a lot of strains on the marriage, and then Doc Samson shows up and it creates a love triangle that involves a married couple. Also, Bruce Banner has a few moments of suicidal ideation (because being the Hulk sucks), so that was a little unexpected for this era. The Glenn Talbot story comes to a climax in #200, when the Hulk (very briefly able to access Banner's brain with technological help - why do they never try this machine) is shrunk down to fix Talbot's brain. This leads to some story where he shrinks even further and meets Jarella again. And things down turn out well when Hulk and Jarella come back to the full-size world.
Glenn and Betty end up leaving separately. It seems like the intent is to write them both out of the book, as neither has appeared for several issues as of the point that I'm at now (#216).
Things really pick up when Sal Buscema replaces Herb Trimpe as penciller in #194. I think Sal is usually thought of as the lesser Buscema. I know a lot of times I see his art and thinks it's just workmanlike. But he's really good here. I think part of it is just that his art is stronger in this era (mid-1970s), but also the inker pairings work well. First, he's inked by Joe Staton, then Ernie Chan (Chua). In #213, Tom Palmer is the guest inker and it's really beautiful. It evokes the pairing of brother John and Palmer in Avengers. That story also features the Quintronic Man, a robot operated by five humans (one in each limb and the head), sort of like Voltron. Was this the first example of the concept or were there pre-Voltron Japanese precursors? Also, Jack of Hearts shows up in what was apparently his first appearance in a color comic rather than a black and white magazine.
Bruce Banner has tried to start a new life in New York in #208. It's seems like there's more Banner on average than in the earlier issues that I had been reading. I thought maybe this was inspired by the Bill Bixby TV series, but it turns out that show doesn't premiere until the month that #220 is released. To deal with the loss of some supporting cast members, Jim Wilson tracks Bruce down in New York. I like that dynamic. Also, Bruce gets young lady named April Sommers. She practically throws herself at Bruce (Wein probably thought a love interest was long overdue), but then gets suspicious of him. The Constrictor also debuts in one of these issues. It's funny to see a character with seemingly modest powers start out in the pages of the Incredible Hulk, which reminds me that Boomerang also debuted as a Hulk villain.
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Post by Duragizer on Apr 13, 2019 22:00:14 GMT -5
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 14, 2019 6:30:28 GMT -5
I've been reading through Essential Hulk vol. 5 and 6, averaging about an issue a day or a little more. I have a huge collection of Essentials and used to binge a lot. I had start vol. 5 a long time ago, but stopped. I wasn't sure exactly where I stopped back then, so I restarted at #183. Turns out I re-read a few I had before, but it was a good reminder of what happened before. Len Wein does a good job, because Hulk is a character that always presents a danger of being monotonous. Hulk was more of a love triangle with Glenn Talbot, Betty Ross, and Bruce Banner in earlier days, but Betty's marriage is firmly established. A lot of the drama centers around Glenn Talbot, because he was kidnapped and then rescued and his mind was messed, and then he was replaced, and his mind was wiped, and so so many plot turns. It creates a lot of strains on the marriage, and then Doc Samson shows up and it creates a love triangle that involves a married couple. Also, Bruce Banner has a few moments of suicidal ideation (because being the Hulk sucks), so that was a little unexpected for this era. The Glenn Talbot story comes to a climax in #200, when the Hulk (very briefly able to access Banner's brain with technological help - why do they never try this machine) is shrunk down to fix Talbot's brain. This leads to some story where he shrinks even further and meets Jarella again. And things down turn out well when Hulk and Jarella come back to the full-size world. Glenn and Betty end up leaving separately. It seems like the intent is to write them both out of the book, as neither has appeared for several issues as of the point that I'm at now (#216). Things really pick up when Sal Buscema replaces Herb Trimpe as penciller in #194. I think Sal is usually thought of as the lesser Buscema. I know a lot of times I see his art and thinks it's just workmanlike. But he's really good here. I think part of it is just that his art is stronger in this era (mid-1970s), but also the inker pairings work well. First, he's inked by Joe Staton, then Ernie Chan (Chua). In #213, Tom Palmer is the guest inker and it's really beautiful. It evokes the pairing of brother John and Palmer in Avengers. That story also features the Quintronic Man, a robot operated by five humans (one in each limb and the head), sort of like Voltron. Was this the first example of the concept or were there pre-Voltron Japanese precursors? Also, Jack of Hearts shows up in what was apparently his first appearance in a color comic rather than a black and white magazine. Bruce Banner has tried to start a new life in New York in #208. It's seems like there's more Banner on average than in the earlier issues that I had been reading. I thought maybe this was inspired by the Bill Bixby TV series, but it turns out that show doesn't premiere until the month that #220 is released. To deal with the loss of some supporting cast members, Jim Wilson tracks Bruce down in New York. I like that dynamic. Also, Bruce gets young lady named April Sommers. She practically throws herself at Bruce (Wein probably thought a love interest was long overdue), but then gets suspicious of him. The Constrictor also debuts in one of these issues. It's funny to see a character with seemingly modest powers start out in the pages of the Incredible Hulk, which reminds me that Boomerang also debuted as a Hulk villain. I have a long box of Hulks that go from 200-440 and I doubt I'll ever read them again. I remember seeing lots of guest stars along the way, and it seemed to be a tryout book for heroes and villains for a while.
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 14, 2019 6:33:55 GMT -5
Read these to familiarize myself with the origin of the "new" Brainiac. Overall, my feelings on the storyline are mixed. On one hand, the revamped Brainiac is ruthless, chilling, very alien — a massive improvement on ol' diode-head. It stuck me odd that the new version was written as totally having no human emotions. Power is relative , but I always thought that they gave him whatever power they needed him to have to fit the story.
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 14, 2019 6:36:34 GMT -5
Read these to familiarize myself with the origin of the "new" Brainiac. Overall, my feelings on the storyline are mixed. On one hand, the revamped Brainiac is ruthless, chilling, very alien — a massive improvement on ol' diode-head. On the other, I still dislike the Earth-One Superman and his ridiculous power levels. By the way, I consider this one issue to be one of the top 100 comics I ever read. Just a great book introducing more dedicated and ruthless versions of Luthor and Braniac. It also had a nice pairing of Swan and Anderson , just like old times. Kanes art wasn't too shabby either.
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Post by Duragizer on Apr 14, 2019 6:43:53 GMT -5
Power is relative , but I always thought that they gave him whatever power they needed him to have to fit the story. I personally feel that after Supes developed flight in the Fleischer shorts, that's as powerful as he ever should've become.
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Post by Icctrombone on Apr 14, 2019 7:22:49 GMT -5
That's going back a ways. Once they expanded him to take on interstellar foes, they had to up his powers.
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