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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 0:02:45 GMT -5
What single issues do you still need? I bought X-Men Epic vol. 5-7 in spite of having most of the material in them in other formats for the convenience and to have it in better condition/quality. I also like the extras and needed some of the more obscure content. I didn't have one of the Marvel Treasury Edition stories that were reprinted in vol. 7. I need most of the Brood Saga (I just have a couple scattered ones) then a couple in the 170s. My LCS had a few of the era for a good deal (2-3 dollars) so I have most of them after the that to 200. I haven't checked prices much, so if they are more than I want them to be a couple still get Epic Vol 8 instead.. you're not wrong that the extra stuff is nice. c That's an era where my own collection is a mix of the original comics, X-Men Classic reprints, and the From the Ashes TPB. I remember one year for Christmas I got Uncanny X-Men #166 and I was so thrilled. The Brood Saga is actually Epic vol. 9.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 2, 2024 15:25:05 GMT -5
I finished off the new releases a few days ago. That would be Detective Comics #1082 and Power Girl #6.
I also finished Superman Family #166 and #171. Superman Family #171 features a story where a British descendant of Cleopatra gets a hold of the Queen of the Nile’s magic scepter and it gives her power to command everyone to do her will. She’s becoming the Queen of America with the compliance of Congress, the president and the Justice League. Fortunately, Supergirl and Batgirl are immune BECAUSE REASONS!!
I’ve also read a little ways into To Wake the Mangog. I finished the Mangog story arc and then I read the two-part origin of Don Blake (Thor #158 and #159) and the first part of the Galactus vs. Ego the Living Planet arc (#160).
All the old comics that I ordered came in over the last few days. One of the orders was 11 DC comics from the late 1960s and the 1970s. And quite a few of them were giant-size comics with lots of reprints. So I’m going to be reading these for some time to come. I guess I’m shooting for the end of March to have all these out of the way.
I read a few stories from 80 Page Giant Magazine #11 already. The theme for this issue is Superman vs. Luthor, and I’m very happy to say there’s only one story in this comic that I’ve read before. (I have not read nearly as much Superman as I have Batman.
One of the stories is called “The Terrible Trio,” where Luthor teams up with Toyman and the Prankster to drive Superman crazy. Objectively, it’s pretty dumb. But it certainly has its moments! Great art from Wayne Boring! And I have to give it lots of points for the opening scene, where Luthor, Toyman and the Prankster have all gone to a carnival independently of each other, not for any nefarious purpose. Just to go to the funhouse and try your luck at the shooting gallery and eat corn dogs and funnel cake, I guess. It’s a complete coincidence when they all meet on the giant crazy slide and decided to team up and commit crimes all over Metropolis just to make Superman mad.
Here’s the complete list of comics that I haven’t read yet, or I have started them but haven’t finished …
To Wake the Mangog (Thor Epic Collection)
80 Page Giant Magazine #11
100 Page Super-Spectacular #15 (Superboy and various kid heroes)
Adventure Comics #403
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #197, #203, #209, #224
Jimmy Olsen #89, #113.
Superman Family #164, #169, #190
World’s Finest Comics #250
Justice League of America #169
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 18:49:29 GMT -5
I read Uncanny X-Men #117-122 via X-Men Epic Collection: Proteus (vol. 6). These are all stories I've read multiple times via Classic X-Men, but I think it's the first time I've read the stories without the original pages added for Classic X-Men. These issues consist of the first Shadow King story (#117), the Moses Magnum two-parter in Japan (#118-119), the first appearance of Alpha Flight (#120-121), and one of those transitional X-Men at home character development/subplot building issues (#122).
Claremont & Byrne are doing a lot of interweaving of cast members from Power Man & Iron Fist during this period. First, Jean runs into Misty Knight at the airport. Then, the team runs into Misty & Colleen Wing in Japan (with an Iron Fist cameo via a phone call). Misty & Colleen travel back with the X-Men through Canada. Both of them plus Luke Cage showed up in #122. In addition, a guest appearance by several of the X-Men in PM & IF #57 fighting the Living Monolith is referenced in X-Men #122. It's cool to see the cast brought together.
That leads me, however, to perhaps my biggest writing pet peeve of this period of X-Men. So many of the plot complications rely on the continued mistake belief by Jean, Beast, Professor X, Lilandra, and the Muir Island crew that the rest of the X-Men are dead, while the bulk of the team believes Jean and Hank perished. It started when they were separate during the Antarctic battle with Magneto and gets perpetuated by various circumstances: the X-Men are rescued by a Japanese on some never-explained mission that must remain incommunicado, a mourning Xavier decides to leave with Lilandra to go to the Shiar Empire, a mourning Jean goes traveling to Greece and Scotland. But this falls apart if the X-Men cast has the normal conversations one would expect. Jean and Misty were roommates, although I think at the end of the Warhawk story Jean decided to move back to the X-Mansion. Although it's mention that Misty was in the hospital for a bit, I'd think that they'd have had a conversation sometime in the past few weeks about the situation. Even in their chance airport meeting, I'd think Jean might say, "My boyfriend Scott died." Or when Scott starts getting close to Colleen, wouldn't Misty think about how Scott was dating Jean? Would she wonder about why Scott is apparently free now and whether it would create friction for her BFF to date her ex-roommate's ex-BF. Misty knows Jean is Phoenix, so I'd think she'd know this Scott who she sees out of costume is Jean's Scott. Also, Scott was so concerned with Magneto possibly attacking Xavier that it's odd the team didn't attempt to leave the Japanese ship in transit at some point. I also think that given the nature of crazy superhero battles, the two groups from the Magneto battle recognize their own miraculous mistakes but finding it impossible the other group had a miracle that they should result in a search to find them.
This also ties into the relationship drama. Scott introspectively notes he isn't mourning Jean like he thought he would. My recollection is that the eventual payoff is Scott realizing he was bottling up his feelings as the repressed, high-pressure team leader. In past readings, I've found that unsatisfying, but I'll see if it hits different when I read the issues in order over a short period of time. Back in the Savage Land, Wolverine seemed more affected by her death (which is something I'd expect from Claremont circa 1989), but he gets over it quick. In Japan, Logan meets Mariko Yashida for the first time and falls head over heels. After the leprechauns, Mariko is the first character to learn Logan is his real name.
Speaking of Wolverine, his prestige has been rising ever since Byrne joined the book. He's gone from being an overconfident jerk who frequently gets his comeuppance to someone with a lot of hidden talents who appears to be a keen observer of people and pulls off some cool stuff. In the Japan arc, his conversations show he can be sensitive. He has traveled to Japan in the past and knows the language. In Canada, we get a sense that he has grown from being more reckless during the days before his first appearance. The rather novel ending to the battle with Alpha Flight has Wolvering agree to surrender himself to allow his teammates to go, but then escape from the prison van to rejoin his teammates as a stowaway on their flight the U.S. Then, he helps Colossus get past some of his hangups in #122, showing concern for others and people skills that are a distinct departure from his portrayal in the Cockrum era.
On the other hand, we start to get bits of Claremont being annoying in the promotion of his future faves. In one of the earliest examples of Claremont's "being a jerk to your teammates makes your cool" trope, Wolverine responds to Cyclops saying he didn't know Wolvie knew Japanese with the passive-aggressive "you never asked." Cyke is pretty gracious in response, but if your team is sailing to Japan on a Japanese, normals folks would think you should volunteer this info. We also get hyperbolic Storm in #121 claiming a blizzard created by Shaman probably wouldn't dissipate until the summer without her intervention. Does she have precognition? She also claims her hand was slashed to the bone in #122, but can somehow still move her fingers okay. Also, Wolvie has a potentially racist thought balloon in #122. He drops Storm off in Harlem but is worried if she can fend for herself. He thinks he might have to come back to save Storm and won't "be gentle with any buck dumb enough to get in my way." On one hand, one definition of "buck" is an impetuous young guy (regardless of race). On the other hand, especially in the context of bring Storm to Harlem, it feels like it's evoking the racially derogatory connotation.
Nightcrawler and Colossus don't get as much attention as characters during these issues, even arguably compared to Banshee who is slated for retirement after blowing out his powers thwarting Moses Mangum. I don't think it was cool for the X-Men to plan a surprise party for Banshee, though, instead of just picking him up from the hospital.
In some ways, Magnum is cheesy, but strangely he reminds me of both the super-powered version of Count Nefaria and the Master of the World. His power over the Earth is linked to implausible explanation about falling into a chasm in the Earth, which got retconned in pages added in Classic X-Men to include Apocalypse. Actionwise, the battles against the Mandroids are both pretty cool. In the Mandroid battle, there's a cool panel of Colossus reaching up out of a hole in the road to smash a truck. I think JR jr did a homage to that years later (maybe in #200). The panels of Sasquatch smashing Logan into a couple of walls are cool. Nightcrawler, in one of his few highlights from theses issues, gets to mess with Aurora. Alpha Flight is interesting, although without fully developed personalities yet. Snowbird gets the least attention. Northstar seems like a jerk. Sasquatch played in the NFL rather than the CFL because he mentions facing the Steelers defense.
In spite of lacking a big super-hero fight, #122 has lots of interesting bits. Colleen the minx sneaks Scott an apartment key in an envelope. Claremont & Byrne almost doxx her, but her address and phone number are partially obscured by Scott's thumb. Also, Jean runs into a debonair-looking man named Jason Wyngarde in Scott, although a found a bit of his dialogue jerky. I think TPBs generally start the Dark Phoenix Saga with #129, but in some ways this is the start. Classic X-Men would later retcon Jean as having met Jason in disguise during her trip to Greece mentioned in passing. I'm not sure I noticed in past readings of #122 that Byrne was dropping hints of Wyngarde's identity from the beginning with his shadow as the silhouette of Mastermind. Also, I believe his thought balloon is the first mention of the "Hellfire Club" although some past references to other groups like I think "Council of the Chosen" were later explained also to be the Club. The art in #122 is actually Byrne breakdowns with Austin finishes. On some pages it doesn't look as good as full Byrne pencils, but in other pages it actually looks better.
In coming attractions, near a door labeled Mutant X an off-panel baddie (you know who) kills disgruntled hovercraft businessman Angus McWhirter, who we met in a Cockrum issue. And in #122, Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut hire Arcade to kill the X-Men. Tom claims they'll be millionaires if Arcade succeeds. How does that work? Does he think Cain Marko will inherit Xavier's money. I feel certain the Prof has a Will and Juggs isn't in it.
In subplot news, the reason Lilandra is going back to the empire is because the civil war, left unresolved when she decided to remain on Earth has now ended in her favor, and she can take the throne. I haven't commented much on the Shadow King story. I'm neither too excited about it nor too critical, aside from a whiff of Orientalism. It's good to get more of Xavier's backstory and set up a baddie who won't pay off until much later. The astral plane battle isn't that interesting. The story deals with the retcon of Xavier meeting Ororo as a kid by explaining he didn't realize Storm was the same person until after he recruited her for the team. I'd like to see that "hey, don't we know each other" convo.
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Post by spoon on Mar 2, 2024 18:52:12 GMT -5
One thing I forgot to mention in my X-Men posts is that in comics I didn't read off the shelf, I often don't realize how contemporary the culture references in the script were at the time. Like in Hulk Annual #7, the disguise Master Mold is jokingly called Grizzly Adams. I looked it up and found out that the Grizzly Adams TV series was actually on the air when that issue would've been published.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 2, 2024 20:59:02 GMT -5
I agree the whole thing with one group doesn't know the other is dead was silly... especially since the fact that Jean and Scott has a psychic rapport was so prominent in the very next story. Its one of those things that's just difficult to let go.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 3, 2024 5:10:02 GMT -5
I’m reading the last story in 80 Page Giant Magazine #11. It’s the first appearance of Lena Thorul from Lois Lane #23 (1961). I can hardly believe I’ve never read it before.
It is totally nuts! Exactly what you expect from the best Lois Lane stories.
Art by Kurt Schaffenerger. Written by Jerry Siegel.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 3, 2024 11:22:20 GMT -5
I’m reading 100 Page Super-Spectacular #15. The second story is The Boy Commandos, from Detective #65, their second appearance. And it starts off with Nostradamus in 1565, appearing before Queen Catherine of France (I think it’s Catherine de Medici). There’s about a page and a half of them talking about his visions and the many terrible things in store for mankind in the future. He draws a sketch of the madman that he sees. And it’s Hitler!
He then gets a bit more specific about one of his visions, and the rest of the story is Nostradamus telling the queen about the Boy Commandos paratrooper training, then they have to go to school, and finally, a mission to France.
I love the Boy Commandos. But a little goes a long way. I read one, and then I don’t have to read another one for a while
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 4, 2024 21:19:49 GMT -5
I’ve started Jimmy Olsen #113, from 1968. It’s an 80-Page Giant, loaded with stories with an anti-Superman theme.
The first story is the one where a crazy scientist subjects Jimmy to a mysterious device that evolves him 1 million years into the future so that he has a super-brain.
I’ve seen this one before. I think maybe it’s reprinted in the trade paperback that’s called something like Strange Transformations of Jimmy Olsen.
The crazy scientist is Professor Potter, and everybody acts like they never heard of him before. So I looked it up, and, indeed, this story is the first appearance of Professor Potter in the comic books.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2024 18:51:18 GMT -5
I picked up Secret Origins #48 some time back, I was looking for appearances of Ambush Bug I might have missed and finally read this last night. As a huge fan of Giffen's 80's Ambush Bug material, this is a nice little continuation with Giffen having fun with the "secret origin" concept, and most importantly Cheeks the Toy Wonder being important to the "plot". Not essential reading compared to the earlier classic Bug materal, but knowing we will never get more Giffen material of any kind (which makes me sad), this made me smile. The issue also shares space with Rex the Wonder Dog, the Trigger Twins, and Stanley and His Monster stories making it overall a particularly offbeat issue of Secret Origins.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 5, 2024 21:37:15 GMT -5
I’m still making my way through that bunch of 1970s DC comic books that I got. And tonight, I read some thing that I did not expect to read.
I got several low-grade issues of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in that bunch. And I sat down to read #203 from 1974. I was surprised to see Invisible Kid in the membership. I remember from later issues that Lyle was, along with Ferro Lad and Chemical King, one of the dead Legionnaires. I was thinking he had died quite a bit earlier than this.
But, no, here he is, going into a trance and meeting his wispy girlfriend in some sort of wispy limbo dreamland. While the rest of the Legion is worried about Validus attacking the HQ.
And then … OH HECK! This is the issue where Lyle dies! Dang.
I sure didn’t expect to find this in a random batch of reader copies I bought for a dollar each.
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Post by spoon on Mar 5, 2024 23:22:20 GMT -5
I polished off X-Men Epic Collection vol. 6: Proteus by reading X-Men #123-128, Marvel Team-Up #89, and X-Men Annual #3. I think I've only read the Annual once before, and I'm not sure that I've read the issue of MTU before. I've read all the issues of X-Men multiple times, but it's actually been a few years, so there were a few things (particularly in #125) that I'd forgotten.
X-Men #123-124 is the Arcade two-parter. Great elements here are the action sequences, a classic villain facing the X-Men for the first time, Colossus's short-lived brainwashed turn as the Proletarian, and the return albeit in a small role of Amanda Sefton. Colossus's susceptibility to brainwashing are a result of his homesickness, and it's the culmination of the subplot of Piotr off his game. The cons are that it doesn't make sense that Arcade would release the X-Men just for sort of winning his game when he has a contract to kill them, that I don't know why Black Tom and Juggernaut hired Arcade to kill the X-Men, and the ongoing plotholes from Claremont and Byrne keeping the team separated from Jean and others. Scott tells his date Colleen Wing that he's been trying but failing to get in contact with Jean's family. You'd think he'd be more persistent since they just live upstate. But the implication is that it's for a death notification, so Colleen knows Jean is presumed dead by the X-Men. Except Misty Knight saw Jean after her supposed death date, and Colleen and Misty are business partners. Don't these folks ever talk?
A couple of things seem No-Prize worthy, but have explanations. First, Arcade seems to know that Storm suffers from claustrophobia. But of course, Arcade was hired by Black Tom & Juggs, and they were present for Storm's Cassidy Keep freakout. Also, robot Col Alexei Vashin of the KGB appears before the real Vashin has ever appeared. I'm guessing Arcade has info on intelligence agencies and decided it would be good for the brainwashing to model the robot after a real KGB official.
Visually a nice highlight of the story is Nightcrawler using his power to disappear into shadows. That power seemed later to fall rapidly out of use.
The MTU story is mostly forgettable. It features cameos by Arcade and Ms. Locke, but the main villain is underwhelming. The story was actually published months after its placement here, so the placement is probably because this had to come after the Arcade story but was better not forced into some hard to find space amidst the Proteus and Hellfire Club arcs.
X-Men Annual #3 was the first non-reprint X-Men Annual. This is the X-Men versus Arkon. The TPB include the inked cover art showing that there were more of warriors on the cover as drawn, but somehow they got wiped out in a color separations/printing error. The story is a bit of a mess because it requires Arkon starting a fight, when if he just talked to the X-Men he could've gotten their cooperation and ended the story in like 4 pages. Although Claremont's wrote the story, for some reason the script feels like it's not the regular writer for teh series. As great as George Perez is, his renditions of the characters are not as vibrant as Byrne's.
Then again, Byrne's renditions are like the platonic ideals of all these characters. His Phoenix, his Nightcrawler, his Colossus, everytime he has Cyclops and Wolverine face: they're all brilliant during the four-part Proteus arc. I left Storm out, because maybe his version doesn't feel as far ahead of some other versions compared to other members of the team.
Uncanny X-Men #125 is a crucial issue. It's just the warm-up of the Proteus story before the action gets into full swing, but it does a lot of clean-up work. For one, when Beast stumbles upon the X-Men in the mansion, it finally ends the mistaken belief by the two groups that each other is dead. For another, we get the start of the explanation that Scott has been repressing his grief about Jean, making more sense of his oddly muted reaction. But most importantly, we get some clarity to the story of Phoenix/Jean. After saving the whole universe, Jean's has been surprisingly less effective against less fantastic threats. After first theorizing that her actions in the Shi'ar Empire had drained her, Moira's testing on Muir Island later reveal that Jean is unconsciously applying psychic circuit breakers to her powers. Also, in a couple of panels of Professor Xavier's musing on Lilandra's world, we get a clearer explanation of the M'Kraan Crystal then we did in the original story.
UXM #125 also really starts planting seeds for the Dark Phoenix Saga. Jason Wyngarde (still not explicitly revealed as Mastermind) reappears, and it's revealed that he's posed as various people on Jean's journeys to get into her head. We get hints that he's know her from her early days as a hero, he creates an illusion of the first appearance of the classic Black Queen look, and Jean starts having a time-displaced hallucinations.
There's so much I love about the Proteus arc. There's action, pathos, great character moments, reunions, interpersonal conflicts, triumph, and tragedy. Phoenix finally starts using her powers to a greater extent, which is probably a result of the manipulation by Wyngarde weakening those aforementioned psychic circuit breakers. We gets some great reality warping moments from Proteus, who trades the more Silver Age sounding named Mutant X for a better one. As a Cyclops fan and a fan of great fight choreography, I love the sequence in #127 where Cyclops tests the nerve of Wolverine, and to a lesser extent Kurt and Ororo, after Proteus put them through the ringer. It's nice that Havok and Polaris get in on the action, although their roles aren't as big as they could be. We also get some local color in the Outer Hebrides, Edinburgh, and other parts of Scotland. There's also some really tragic backstory for Moira, as we learn that Proteus is her son conceived in a brutal marital rape.
Beyond the emotional elements of the storytelling, we get great suspense and action sequences. Shaking off his recent doubts, Colossus gets to play the key role in defeating Proteus.
I feel like I want to push on to the Dark Phoenix Saga proper, but I might take a brief break to read something else.
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Post by Hoosier X on Mar 6, 2024 0:29:59 GMT -5
In this latest batch of DC comics, I got two issues of Jimmy Olsen and one of them is an 80-Page Giant. And I also got four or five issues of Superman Family, and each of those has one and sometimes two Jimmy Olsen stories.
I like Jimmy Olsen. Some of these stories are hilarious classics of the Silver Age. But sometimes, a little Jimmy Olsen goes a long way.
I’m making my through #113 (the 80-Page Giant) and I feel like I’ve been reading it forever but I’m only halfway through.
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Post by james on Mar 6, 2024 5:26:41 GMT -5
I polished off X-Men Epic Collection vol. 6: Proteus by reading X-Men #123-128, Marvel Team-Up #89, and X-Men Annual #3. I think I've only read the Annual once before, and I'm not sure that I've read the issue of MTU before. I've read all the issues of X-Men multiple times, but it's actually been a few years, so there were a few things (particularly in #125) that I'd forgotten. X-Men #123-124 is the Arcade two-parter. Great elements here are the action sequences, a classic villain facing the X-Men for the first time, Colossus's short-lived brainwashed turn as the Proletarian, and the return albeit in a small role of Amanda Sefton. Colossus's susceptibility to brainwashing are a result of his homesickness, and it's the culmination of the subplot of Piotr off his game. The cons are that it doesn't make sense that Arcade would release the X-Men just for sort of winning his game when he has a contract to kill them, that I don't know why Black Tom and Juggernaut hired Arcade to kill the X-Men, and the ongoing plotholes from Claremont and Byrne keeping the team separated from Jean and others. Scott tells his date Colleen Wing that he's been trying but failing to get in contact with Jean's family. You'd think he'd be more persistent since they just live upstate. But the implication is that it's for a death notification, so Colleen knows Jean is presumed dead by the X-Men. Except Misty Knight saw Jean after her supposed death date, and Colleen and Misty are business partners. Don't these folks ever talk? A couple of things seem No-Prize worthy, but have explanations. First, Arcade seems to know that Storm suffers from claustrophobia. But of course, Arcade was hired by Black Tom & Juggs, and they were present for Storm's Cassidy Keep freakout. Also, robot Col Alexei Vashin of the KGB appears before the real Vashin has ever appeared. I'm guessing Arcade has info on intelligence agencies and decided it would be good for the brainwashing to model the robot after a real KGB official. Visually a nice highlight of the story is Nightcrawler using his power to disappear into shadows. That power seemed later to fall rapidly out of use. The MTU story is mostly forgettable. It features cameos by Arcade and Ms. Locke, but the main villain is underwhelming. The story was actually published months after its placement here, so the placement is probably because this had to come after the Arcade story but was better not forced into some hard to find space amidst the Proteus and Hellfire Club arcs. X-Men Annual #3 was the first non-reprint X-Men Annual. This is the X-Men versus Arkon. The TPB include the inked cover art showing that there were more of warriors on the cover as drawn, but somehow they got wiped out in a color separations/printing error. The story is a bit of a mess because it requires Arkon starting a fight, when if he just talked to the X-Men he could've gotten their cooperation and ended the story in like 4 pages. Although Claremont's wrote the story, for some reason the script feels like it's not the regular writer for teh series. As great as George Perez is, his renditions of the characters are not as vibrant as Byrne's. Then again, Byrne's renditions are like the platonic ideals of all these characters. His Phoenix, his Nightcrawler, his Colossus, everytime he has Cyclops and Wolverine face: they're all brilliant during the four-part Proteus arc. I left Storm out, because maybe his version doesn't feel as far ahead of some other versions compared to other members of the team. Uncanny X-Men #125 is a crucial issue. It's just the warm-up of the Proteus story before the action gets into full swing, but it does a lot of clean-up work. For one, when Beast stumbles upon the X-Men in the mansion, it finally ends the mistaken belief by the two groups that each other is dead. For another, we get the start of the explanation that Scott has been repressing his grief about Jean, making more sense of his oddly muted reaction. But most importantly, we get some clarity to the story of Phoenix/Jean. After saving the whole universe, Jean's has been surprisingly less effective against less fantastic threats. After first theorizing that her actions in the Shi'ar Empire had drained her, Moira's testing on Muir Island later reveal that Jean is unconsciously applying psychic circuit breakers to her powers. Also, in a couple of panels of Professor Xavier's musing on Lilandra's world, we get a clearer explanation of the M'Kraan Crystal then we did in the original story. UXM #125 also really starts planting seeds for the Dark Phoenix Saga. Jason Wyngarde (still not explicitly revealed as Mastermind) reappears, and it's revealed that he's posed as various people on Jean's journeys to get into her head. We get hints that he's know her from her early days as a hero, he creates an illusion of the first appearance of the classic Black Queen look, and Jean starts having a time-displaced hallucinations. There's so much I love about the Proteus arc. There's action, pathos, great character moments, reunions, interpersonal conflicts, triumph, and tragedy. Phoenix finally starts using her powers to a greater extent, which is probably a result of the manipulation by Wyngarde weakening those aforementioned psychic circuit breakers. We gets some great reality warping moments from Proteus, who trades the more Silver Age sounding named Mutant X for a better one. As a Cyclops fan and a fan of great fight choreography, I love the sequence in #127 where Cyclops tests the nerve of Wolverine, and to a lesser extent Kurt and Ororo, after Proteus put them through the ringer. It's nice that Havok and Polaris get in on the action, although their roles aren't as big as they could be. We also get some local color in the Outer Hebrides, Edinburgh, and other parts of Scotland. There's also some really tragic backstory for Moira, as we learn that Proteus is her son conceived in a brutal marital rape. Beyond the emotional elements of the storytelling, we get great suspense and action sequences. Shaking off his recent doubts, Colossus gets to play the key role in defeating Proteus. I feel like I want to push on to the Dark Phoenix Saga proper, but I might take a brief break to read something else. 124-128 is my all time favorite X-men storyline. I remember reading this whenit came out and literally getting chills at how ruthless he could be. Byrne’s rendition of Beast during this time is my favorite Beast that it made me wish he was a full time member
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Post by dbutler69 on Mar 6, 2024 13:03:31 GMT -5
I finished off the new releases a few days ago. That would be Detective Comics #1082 and Power Girl #6. I also finished Superman Family #166 and #171. Superman Family #171 features a story where a British descendant of Cleopatra gets a hold of the Queen of the Nile’s magic scepter and it gives her power to command everyone to do her will. She’s becoming the Queen of America with the compliance of Congress, the president and the Justice League. Fortunately, Supergirl and Batgirl are immune BECAUSE REASONS!! I’ve also read a little ways into To Wake the Mangog. I finished the Mangog story arc and then I read the two-part origin of Don Blake (Thor #158 and #159) and the first part of the Galactus vs. Ego the Living Planet arc (#160). All the old comics that I ordered came in over the last few days. One of the orders was 11 DC comics from the late 1960s and the 1970s. And quite a few of them were giant-size comics with lots of reprints. So I’m going to be reading these for some time to come. I guess I’m shooting for the end of March to have all these out of the way. I read a few stories from 80 Page Giant Magazine #11 already. The theme for this issue is Superman vs. Luthor, and I’m very happy to say there’s only one story in this comic that I’ve read before. (I have not read nearly as much Superman as I have Batman. One of the stories is called “The Terrible Trio,” where Luthor teams up with Toyman and the Prankster to drive Superman crazy. Objectively, it’s pretty dumb. But it certainly has its moments! Great art from Wayne Boring! And I have to give it lots of points for the opening scene, where Luthor, Toyman and the Prankster have all gone to a carnival independently of each other, not for any nefarious purpose. Just to go to the funhouse and try your luck at the shooting gallery and eat corn dogs and funnel cake, I guess. It’s a complete coincidence when they all meet on the giant crazy slide and decided to team up and commit crimes all over Metropolis just to make Superman mad.Here’s the complete list of comics that I haven’t read yet, or I have started them but haven’t finished … To Wake the Mangog (Thor Epic Collection) 80 Page Giant Magazine #11 100 Page Super-Spectacular #15 (Superboy and various kid heroes) Adventure Comics #403 Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #197, #203, #209, #224 Jimmy Olsen #89, #113. Superman Family #164, #169, #190 World’s Finest Comics #250 Justice League of America #169 There's an episode of the 1966 Filmation cartoon " The Men from A.P.E" where Luthor, the Toyman, the Prankster, and the Warlock combine forces to try aand defeat Superman. I wonder if they got the idea from this issue then threw in the Warlock just for the heck of it. There's also an episode of the Superboy cartoon called " The Terrible Trio" but that bears no similarty, as it's about bullies.
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Post by dbutler69 on Mar 6, 2024 13:19:19 GMT -5
In this latest batch of DC comics, I got two issues of Jimmy Olsen and one of them is an 80-Page Giant. And I also got four or five issues of Superman Family, and each of those has one and sometimes two Jimmy Olsen stories. I like Jimmy Olsen. Some of these stories are hilarious classics of the Silver Age. But sometimes, a little Jimmy Olsen goes a long way. I’m making my through #113 (the 80-Page Giant) and I feel like I’ve been reading it forever but I’m only halfway through. Those Silver Age Jimmy Olsen stories are awesome. He's my favorite goofball!
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