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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2019 7:39:02 GMT -5
I have been reading Patsy and Hedy from the early 50s. Hilarious, excellent art, and just plain fun!
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 23, 2019 8:12:34 GMT -5
I finished up the Karate Kid series which I'd been slowly reading over the past couple of months. Overall, the series was meh. Too many lame villains and the Ric Estrada/Joe Staton art was not to my liking. Too cartoony. The series did change direction at #12 with a whole new creative team and while that helped, it wasn't enough. I also read this treasure size Legion of Super-Heroes comic with the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl! Overall, it was very enjoyable and I remember the thrill of getting this as a kid. The story was very good (though not without its flaws) and the art was good, though certainly not one of Mike Grell's better LOSH efforts. I don't know if he was rushed to finish it, or if the fault lies with inker Vince Coletta, or what. Anyway, still a very good an enjoyable issue as far as I'm concerned. When in doubt, always blame Vinnie "Saving Time By Erasing Detail" Colletta.
Cei-U! I summon the words to live by!
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Post by brutalis on Apr 23, 2019 9:56:02 GMT -5
I finished up the Karate Kid series which I'd been slowly reading over the past couple of months. Overall, the series was meh. Too many lame villains and the Ric Estrada/Joe Staton art was not to my liking. Too cartoony. The series did change direction at #12 with a whole new creative team and while that helped, it wasn't enough. I also read this treasure size Legion of Super-Heroes comic with the wedding of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl! Overall, it was very enjoyable and I remember the thrill of getting this as a kid. The story was very good (though not without its flaws) and the art was good, though certainly not one of Mike Grell's better LOSH efforts. I don't know if he was rushed to finish it, or if the fault lies with inker Vince Coletta, or what. Anyway, still a very good an enjoyable issue as far as I'm concerned. When in doubt, always blame Vinnie "Saving Time By Erasing Detail" Colletta.
Cei-U! I summon the words to live by!
You can likely blame Grell as well since by this point he was no longer the regular artist for LOSH, he was on Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Warlord and covers. He was probably roped in for this special and he either couldn't say no or wasn't allowed to say no. At his fastest Grell is only a one issue a month type of penciller and both GL/Warlord were bimonthly filling his monthly capability along with LOSH covers added into the mix, and his own admitted desire to getting further ahead on the Warlord schedule so he could fully pencil/ink Warlord in order to get Colletta off the inking duties there.
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 23, 2019 11:09:13 GMT -5
When in doubt, always blame Vinnie "Saving Time By Erasing Detail" Colletta.
Cei-U! I summon the words to live by!
You can likely blame Grell as well since by this point he was no longer the regular artist for LOSH, he was on Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Warlord and covers. He was probably roped in for this special and he either couldn't say no or wasn't allowed to say no. At his fastest Grell is only a one issue a month type of penciller and both GL/Warlord were bimonthly filling his monthly capability along with LOSH covers added into the mix, and his own admitted desire to getting further ahead on the Warlord schedule so he could fully pencil/ink Warlord in order to get Colletta off the inking duties there. Yeah, I know Grell left the Legion before at his own request, so it's possible that DC made him "an offer he couldn't refuse".
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2019 20:41:44 GMT -5
Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane ... DC Archives
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Post by Graphic Autist on Apr 24, 2019 10:19:51 GMT -5
Currently reading the Marvel Epic Collection: The Mighty Thor - The Wrath of Odin (1966-1968)
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 25, 2019 21:42:37 GMT -5
Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane ... DC Archives Have you got to the one where her plane crashes in the jungle and she gets amnesia and she becomes the Queen of the Leopards? Sometimes I think they should have just stopped making comics RIGHT THEN! <iframe width="28.74" height="3.04000000000001" id="MoatPxIOPT1_41943838" scrolling="no" style="border-style: none; left: 15px; top: -5px; width: 28.74px; height: 3.04px; position: absolute; z-index: -9999;"></iframe> <iframe width="28.74" height="3.04000000000001" id="MoatPxIOPT1_8167849" scrolling="no" style="border-style: none; left: 1373px; top: -5px; width: 28.74px; height: 3.04px; position: absolute; z-index: -9999;"></iframe> <iframe width="28.74" height="3.04000000000001" id="MoatPxIOPT1_44040816" scrolling="no" style="border-style: none; left: 15px; top: 93px; width: 28.74px; height: 3.04px; position: absolute; z-index: -9999;"></iframe> <iframe width="28.74" height="3.04000000000001" id="MoatPxIOPT1_49620055" scrolling="no" style="border-style: none; left: 1373px; top: 93px; width: 28.74px; height: 3.04px; position: absolute; z-index: -9999;"></iframe>
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 25, 2019 21:49:35 GMT -5
Currently reading the Marvel Epic Collection: The Mighty Thor - The Wrath of Odin (1966-1968) Thor #131 to #153! These are so awesome I can hardly stand it! The first appearance of Ego is pretty great. But my favorite thing in this run is Tana Nile walking around New York City and telling everybody she is Empress Tana the First, the ruler of Earth. And all these New Yorker cabbies, cops and hotel workers are being all sarcastic and going "Sure ya are, ya majesty!" and she has no idea they are mocking her. Another great bit is where the High Evolutionary recruits Jane Foster to be a teacher for the New Men. And she's in front of a classroom where all the students are half-zebra, half-hippo, half lizard, etc.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 25, 2019 22:08:05 GMT -5
I'm still working my way through Marvel Masterworks: Iron Man, Volume Nine, which reprints Iron Man #54 to #67. I read #62 last night. The series has improved since the previous Marvel Masterworks volume (#39 to #53) so there's a lot more decent stories mixed in with the bad. In #62, Tony is visiting the Cincinnati facility of Stark International. There's been quite a bit of traveling lately, and Pepper Potts (now Pepper Hogan) has been hired as Tony's secretary and she's going around with him to places like Los Angeles and Detroit. Pepper's husband Happy doesn't like it! Oh, he's a male chauvinist jerk in that particular subplot. It was the early 1970s and the comics were exploring these themes, but OH it's hard to read at times because it's so cliched and obvious now. I also think it's WAY out of character for Happy to be THIS unreasonable and immature. This could have worked with a little subtlety. Meanwhile, the villain Whiplash (last seen floundering around in Maggia's sinking gambling yacht in Iron Man #1) has somehow become second-in-command of Stark's Cincinnati facility, in his secret identity, natch. And he's engaged to be married to the woman who is in charge. Somehow, they've gotten engaged without ever discussing the future arrangements, and Whiplash's fiancée had no idea that her husband-to-be expects her to become a housewife when they get married. So they have a fight about it and she breaks it off. Also, Whiplash has somehow become a top executive just because he wants revenge on Iron Man and he's been waiting around, certain that Tony Stark (with Iron Man in tow) will eventually show up at the Cincinnati plant. Yup. That's his plan. Aside from the grotesque characterization of Happy Hogan, I wasn't too much concerned by how dumb Iron Man #62 is. Bronze Age bananashenanigans! Very nice art by P. Craig Russell with several inkers helping out. This issue may kind of blow but it's better than a lot of the stories from #40 to #50.
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Post by Cei-U! on Apr 26, 2019 10:31:25 GMT -5
Man, that Mike Friedrich run of Iron Man is dire!
Just read for the first time the two-issue Kull the Conqueror mini-series from 1982. These were deluxe 52-pagers printed on shiny paper with no ads and a then-hefty $2.00 price tag. Totally worth it. The first issue is by Alan Zelenetz and John Buscema who deliver a stunning story of Kull's attempt to legitimize his reign following a devastating earthquake through public works projects and social reform. He fails, partly due to a plague of angry ghosts freed from their tomb by excavation, but mostly because his idealistic reach exceeds his practical grasp. The second issue concerns Kull's impending marriage to the daughter of the Atlantean king, a diplomatic union that threatens his longstanding alliance with the Picts. There is a tragedy, followed by war, all arranged by the Wolf-Men, the surviving remnant of a once-powerful race allied with REH's insidious Serpent Men. Doug Moench and John Bolton do the creative honors. Both issues are tightly plotted, beautifully illustrated, and give us insight into the title character in a way sword-and-sorcery rarely delivers. Younger readers may whine that the book is "too wordy" but the writing is poetic and avoids the trap of merely reiterating what the art already shows us. Good stuff, Maynard!
Cei-U! I summon the enthusiastic thumbs-up!
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Post by brutalis on Apr 26, 2019 11:14:48 GMT -5
Read Weird War Tales issues 1 through 5 last night. Wonderfully strange DC war stories featuring either an odd/strange or mystical twist to these early stories. Splendid stuff which makes you think after having read them all. Each issue also featuring some single page gag/cartoon fun. The war stories covering different era's of war from history so you won't be bored with full on WWII stories alone.
I particularly liked issue 5's The Toy Jet where a captive WWII pilot carves a wooden airplane while in the prison camp and becomes obsessed with it to the point the guards believe he has lost his sanity and tease and taunt him by taking him around their planes. The twist is that the pilot is VERY MUCH SANE and fooled them and escapes the guards and takes off in a plane. They believe he has flown away but he turns and begins strafing the prison compound in order to assist the escape of the other prisoners.
These are creative and thought provoking stories in 4-6 pages which has become a bit of a lost art these days. Several stories are completely silent allowing the art to tell the stories. Truly scrumptious artwork from the likes of Joe Kubert, Ross Andru, Russ Heath, Sam Glanzman, Irv Novick, Alex Toth, Carmine Infantino, Gene Colan and others.
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 26, 2019 11:24:11 GMT -5
Man, that Mike Friedrich run of Iron Man is dire! Just read for the first time the two-issue Kull the Conqueror mini-series from 1982. These were deluxe 52-pagers printed on shiny paper with no ads and a then-hefty $2.00 price tag. Totally worth it. The first issue is by Alan Zelenetz and John Buscema who deliver a stunning story of Kull's attempt to legitimize his reign following a devastating earthquake through public works projects and social reform. He fails, partly due to a plague of angry ghosts freed from their tomb by excavation, but mostly because his idealistic reach exceeds his practical grasp. The second issue concerns Kull's impending marriage to the daughter of the Atlantean king, a diplomatic union that threatens his longstanding alliance with the Picts. There is a tragedy, followed by war, all arranged by the Wolf-Men, the surviving remnant of a once-powerful race allied with REH's insidious Serpent Men. Doug Moench and John Bolton do the creative honors. Both issues are tightly plotted, beautifully illustrated, and give us insight into the title character in a way sword-and-sorcery rarely delivers. Younger readers may whine that the book is "too wordy" but the writing is poetic and avoids the trap of merely reiterating what the art already shows us. Good stuff, Maynard! Cei-U! I summon the enthusiastic thumbs-up! I decided not to mention the name of the writer on those Iron Man issues because it felt too much like doxing and I didn't want him to be subjected to harassment and death threats. That King Kull mini sounds great! I wasn't much of a Robert E. Howard fan until long after my comics heyday of 1975 to 1982, so I've only read a handful of Conan and King Kull comics. Wasn't there an adaptation of Almuric that was really good? It might have been in Epic magazine. I remember Almuric being very impressive.
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Post by String on Apr 26, 2019 12:04:06 GMT -5
Thor #395-400 Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were really beginning to hit their stride here in this arc featuring the Egyptian god Seth the Serpent God seeking to extinguish life throughout the multiverse starting with Asgard. Frenz was channeling his inner Kirby with the inking assistance of Breeding, Heck, and Tanghal and the result is amazing. The whole arc reads like a love letter to Lee/Kirby's tales, great fun.
Giant-Sized Fantastic Four #6
which reprints Annual #6, the birth of Franklin and the team's first meeting with Annihilus. A fun adventure by Lee and Kirby, the banter between Johnny and Ben had me snickering at points. I guess a sign of those times, even after Reed acquires what he feels is necessary for both mother and child to survive, the POV is from their pacing in the waiting room, awaiting news about the birth. Sue doesn't appear at all till the last page with son cradled in her arms (though not named here. When was he named Franklin?). A couple of bonus features included the original cover of the Annual #6 and a two page question and answer feature about the characters. Apparently Sue's hobbies are cooking, fashion, and reading romance novels. How quaint.
Fantastic Four Annual #10 Which reprints Annual #3. Nice appearances by the X-Men, various members of the Avengers and Nick Fury. My favorite highlight was Daredevil driving a truck full of powerful HYDRA explosives off a wharf right into the aquatic armada of Attuma which had just surfaced. Hahaha, priceless! Oh yeah, nice wedding too. Also, from Annual #4 by Lee and Kirby, Johnny's face-off against the resurgent (and reprogrammed) original Human Torch. Great blazing action indeed!
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Post by Hoosier X on Apr 26, 2019 13:56:47 GMT -5
Thor #395-400 Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were really beginning to hit their stride here in this arc featuring the Egyptian god Seth the Serpent God seeking to extinguish life throughout the multiverse starting with Asgard. Frenz was channeling his inner Kirby with the inking assistance of Breeding, Heck, and Tanghal and the result is amazing. The whole arc reads like a love letter to Lee/Kirby's tales, great fun.
Giant-Sized Fantastic Four #6
which reprints Annual #6, the birth of Franklin and the team's first meeting with Annihilus. A fun adventure by Lee and Kirby, the banter between Johnny and Ben had me snickering at points. I guess a sign of those times, even after Reed acquires what he feels is necessary for both mother and child to survive, the POV is from their pacing in the waiting room, awaiting news about the birth. Sue doesn't appear at all till the last page with son cradled in her arms (though not named here. When was he named Franklin?). A couple of bonus features included the original cover of the Annual #6 and a two page question and answer feature about the characters. Apparently Sue's hobbies are cooking, fashion, and reading romance novels. How quaint.
Fantastic Four Annual #10 Which reprints Annual #3. Nice appearances by the X-Men, various members of the Avengers and Nick Fury. My favorite highlight was Daredevil driving a truck full of powerful HYDRA explosives off a wharf right into the aquatic armada of Attuma which had just surfaced. Hahaha, priceless! Oh yeah, nice wedding too. Also, from Annual #4 by Lee and Kirby, Johnny's face-off against the resurgent (and reprogrammed) original Human Torch. Great blazing action indeed! At a time when I wasn't reading very many Marvel Comics, I was picking up Thor for the Frenz/Sinnott art and the Kirbyesque flavor that DeFalco was concocting almost every month. It was kind of sporadic up to about #405 or so, but then I started getting every issue and stuck with it until a few issues after Sinnott left. I certainly remember the issue you picked to represent the #395 to #400 run. I was just flipping through the covers and remembering how much fun it was! The Colonizers, the Knights of Wundagore, the Recorder, the Celestials, the Juggernaut and a bunch of other great stuff! I had Giant-Size Fantastic Four #6 very early on as a comic book fan. I got it at a used-book store when it was about a year old. It wasn't quite my first comic with Annihilus because I had a real beat-up copy of Fantastic Four #141 that I got for a dime. I've never been a big fan of Annihilus, but his first appearance is just so much epic Kirby that you really can't help getting into it. And then there's FF Annual #3. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure. I used to not like it at all! You get the idea that somebody in the Bullpen made a bet with Vince Colletta that he couldn't ink it blind-folded, and Vinnie said "I bet I can!" But I've read it a few times over the years and it has its moments!
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Post by Duragizer on Apr 29, 2019 5:26:28 GMT -5
I like Ambush Bug. He's my favourite kind of looney — absolute bonkers, but not ultraviolent.
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