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Post by dbutler69 on Jun 3, 2019 10:47:39 GMT -5
I read some Giffen-DeMatties JLA and JLE. This includes JLE #13. This was a silly-fun issue where the JLA hosts a group of schoolchildren and chaos ensues! I also read the Legion of Super-Heroes #272 & 273. #272 give us the origin of Blok and also introdues him to the Legion as a member. I think it's a nice little story. However, if the Starburd Raiders had their powers inherntly (as opposed to needing their guns for them, rather than their guns merely being a focal point for their powers) then why on earth didn't they escap months ago! Still, I liked the stuff with Blok, and Blok was a Legionnaire I've always liked. So-so art by Ditko, though. #273 clears up the issue of whether or not Braniac 5 committed murder which, insane at the time or not, is unacceptable for a Legionnaire. I love it when Chameleon Boy plays detective, and this issue brings back one of my favorite Legion villains - Pulsar Stargrave!
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 5, 2019 15:36:54 GMT -5
Barnum, In Secret Service to the USAWritten by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman. Art and cover by Niko Henrichon. I'd read a few of Chaykin and Tishman's collaborations before (mainly several Elseworlds stories) and liked them, so I figured this would be amusing if nothing else. However, I was pretty disappointed. It tries to be tongue-in-cheek, but most of the humor fell flat to me. And I found it a bit off-putting that the main adversaries were Nikola Tesla and Ada Lovelace. Normally I don't have a problem with writers/artists taking liberties with actual historical figures as characters in their works, but it really bugged me here because Tesla was not even portrayed as, say, some kind of complex mad inventor, but rather a very one-dimensional mustache-twirling villain who wants to take over America and run it like a corporation (?!), while the latter is basically a conniving harlot who stole the Analytical Engine from Babbage after seducing him. So basically, nothing remotely like the actual people. Not recommended.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 6, 2019 19:45:22 GMT -5
Rom #1 Haven't read the series in a while, and unlike my current read through of Cap (getting ever closer to that 300 mark), it's easy to go back and re-read from the beginning to refresh myself on things that I might have otherwise forgotten Really standout first issue that blends a lot of things together that might have not worked in less capable hands than Mantlo's (50's style monster movie where said monster is actually the misunderstood hero trying in vain to save a mistrusting populous from a race of shape-shifting creatures who've successfully infiltrated every facet of our planet) Buscema's art really lends itself to some truly awesome imagery, particularly the scenes in Galador Can't imagine the reaction people might have had to the book back then, as it's still a pretty potent cocktail of cosmic excitement today
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Post by Cei-U! on Jun 6, 2019 20:37:31 GMT -5
I'm just about to start indexing Rom. It's the last major series I need to do for my 1959-86 Marvel Universe Character Index. I bought the first issue back when I bought every Marvel first issue but, guest shots in other titles excepted, it's the only Rom story I've ever read. I'm really looking forward to it.
Cei-U! I summon the binge!
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
Posts: 3,946
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Post by Crimebuster on Jun 6, 2019 23:10:58 GMT -5
I'm just about to start indexing Rom. It's the last major series I need to do for my 1959-86 Marvel Universe Character Index. I bought the first issue back when I bought every Marvel first issue but, guest shots in other titles excepted, it's the only Rom story I've ever read. I'm really looking forward to it. Cei-U! I summon the binge! I'll be curious what you think! I'm a fan, though I haven't read my run in a long time now. But I have thoughts on it. Many thoughts.
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bor
Full Member
Posts: 238
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Post by bor on Jun 6, 2019 23:27:31 GMT -5
ROM is one of those series that I really want to read more of, I have a couple of random issues, but trying to track them down could be a pain. I wish they would figure out license so I could just buy it in collected edition of some sort. Getting back issues for me would mean ebay/online and would take a lot of time to get them all in a price I would be okay with.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 7, 2019 2:38:06 GMT -5
I read most of the first 20 or so issues of Rom before it fell victim to some of the big cutbacks in my comics buying/reading that occurred as I moved deeper into my teens. I recall that it was a very strong series and would really like to revisit it - it's really too bad that various legal issues have prevented it from being reprinted.
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Post by brutalis on Jun 7, 2019 7:52:22 GMT -5
ROM is one of those special books which captures magic in a bottle. Getting it off the racks at the time was one of the best feelings ever. Along with Perez Avengers and Claremont/Byrne X-Men, there was a certain kind of joy when finding the new issue each month on the stands. Everybody in my high school awaited my monthly delivery of all 3 of these series along with Micronauts. ROM was a lot of fun in that the Spaceknight held man of the same qualities and pathos of Silver Surfer but didn't delve quite so deeply into the angst and sorrow departments as ROM had an entire Race to hunt and protect humanity from.
The biggest legalities for any reprinting remains that ROM is very heavily tied into the Marvel Universe from beginning to end. Marvel (Disney now) isn't going to allow anyone else to reap financial rewards of a reprint when they can't get those pennies for themselves.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 7, 2019 10:49:45 GMT -5
The biggest legalities for any reprinting remains that ROM is very heavily tied into the Marvel Universe from beginning to end. Marvel (Disney now) isn't going to allow anyone else to reap financial rewards of a reprint when they can't get those pennies for themselves. Recently Disney has been allowing a lot of outside indie publishers, IDW included, to publish Star Wars, Disney, and Marvel related stuff, so it might be possible sometime further down the road
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Post by beccabear67 on Jun 7, 2019 22:25:35 GMT -5
First #1 I ever bought I think, unless you really want to count Richie Rich & Jackie Jokers #1 (I don't, I left it out overnight in a tent in the backyard and it went 'funny' which it really wasn't to start with). I must've liked Rom as I kept buying it just past #50... can't say the same for She-Hulk or Dazzler, the next #1s up after Rom, and just before Ka-Zar (which I stayed with to it's last issue #34). There were a lot of other Marvel #1s also dated December 1979, but they were reprint titles.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jun 9, 2019 9:34:12 GMT -5
ROM is one of those special books which captures magic in a bottle. Getting it off the racks at the time was one of the best feelings ever. Along with Perez Avengers and Claremont/Byrne X-Men, there was a certain kind of joy when finding the new issue each month on the stands. Everybody in my high school awaited my monthly delivery of all 3 of these series along with Micronauts. ROM was a lot of fun in that the Spaceknight held man of the same qualities and pathos of Silver Surfer but didn't delve quite so deeply into the angst and sorrow departments as ROM had an entire Race to hunt and protect humanity from. The biggest legalities for any reprinting remains that ROM is very heavily tied into the Marvel Universe from beginning to end. Marvel (Disney now) isn't going to allow anyone else to reap financial rewards of a reprint when they can't get those pennies for themselves. I think the Micronauts was also a "magic in a bottle" title. Coincidentally, it's also got some reprinting rights issues, of course.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 9, 2019 10:49:30 GMT -5
I didn't take Avengers Marvel Masterworks with me when I went to Idaho, and I was kind of busy when I got back, and somehow, I completely forgot I was reading Avengers #1 through #10 and occasionally commenting on this wonderful run. I read #5 the day before I left. The Avengers versus the Lava Men! This one is just so crazy! The Lava Men have this big green glowing thing pushing up out of the Earth and it gets as big as a mountain, but if you try to stop it or hit it, it will blow up and destroy all life on the surface. Fricking Lava Men! So the Avengers are called in and the Hulk is wandering around and bananashenanigans ensue! Evenntually, Giant-Man figures out these is a weak spot. (He's a scientist, you know. It's science!) If you hit the weak spot, the big glowing green mountain will deflate and become harmless. So they lure Hulk onto the big green glowing mountain and tease him and Hank turns to Ant-Man just as the Hulk is swinging at him and he hits the weak spot and Earth is saved! I used to think this issue was pretty awful, and it is, but I've warm ed to it over the years. Some sublime Silver Age silliness with so much crazy stuff going on. About ten days have gone by since I read Avengers #5, and I suddenly remembered my little project last night and read Avengers #6. This is a whole different kettle of fish! This is the first issue that names Baron Zemo, the fiend who killed Bucky! (Well, not really, it turned out.) Zemo is hiding out in South America, where he does what all former Nazis do in South America; he has subjugated a whole tribe (somehow) and they cater to his every whim (for some reason) and they carry him in a portable throne ( because … reasons?) and when he decides to walk, he walks on their backs so he doesn't have to place his precious feet on an inferior continent like South America (or so I surmise). He finds out Captain America is still alive and he puts together a group called the Masters of Evil with a bunch of villains who had fought individual members of the Avengers before - the Black Knight, the Melter and Radio-Active Man. And they attack New York with glue and so all the New Yorkers are glued to the street! I love the scene where they are talking about how they should have teamed up before and with Zemo as their leader, they can rule the world! Because if you glue New Yorkers to the street, then you can somehow rule the world! I guess. Somehow. I bought a beat-up copy of Avengers #6 when I was 13, 1977, for $5 or $6, and even then, I was scratching my head here and there, even though I loved this issue then as much as I do now. Still, these Masters of Evil are kind of lame! The Melter is a huge goober, no one is scared of the early 1960s Black Knight and the Radio-Active Man is actually super scary because his radiation is not the kind that gives you the proportionate strength of a spider or turns you invisible or gives you the power to flame on. But he's kind of boring nonetheless. What would really make this issue an unqualified classic is to give the Wasp more to do! Either the Melter or the Black Knight traps her in a blind alley and she defeats him single-handed while the other Avengers are glued to the street. She flies out and, after commenting on how handsome the Black Knight is without his mask, says something like "Let me take care of the rest of this gang and then we'll see about getting you out of that glue! Ta-ta, boys!"
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 9, 2019 11:32:32 GMT -5
I didn't take Avengers Marvel Masterworks with me when I went to Idaho, What part of Idaho did you go to? And why didn't I know you were here?
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 9, 2019 20:17:11 GMT -5
I didn't take Avengers Marvel Masterworks with me when I went to Idaho, What part of Idaho did you go to? And why didn't I know you were here? I was in Coeur d’Alene for three days. I might be moving there over the summer.
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Post by Cei-U! on Jun 9, 2019 20:28:50 GMT -5
What part of Idaho did you go to? And why didn't I know you were here? I was in Coeur d’Alene for three days. I might be moving there over the summer. I used to go to Camp Easter Seal, a summer camp for disabled teenagers on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene, back in the early '70s. Beautiful country, the setting for two of the best summers of my life (even though I spent most of the second year laid up in the infirmary with two broken legs).
Cei-U! I summon the halcyon days of my youth!
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