|
Post by Hoosier X on Mar 8, 2024 9:18:30 GMT -5
I got the most recent issues of Birds of Prey and She-Hulk and I read them already. And I am slowly making my way through that big pile of 1970s DC comics. I read Justice League #169, four issues of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes between #197 and #224, and I finally finished Jimmy Olsen #113 and DC 100-Page Super-Spectacular #15. I started Superman Family #190 and Adventure #403 (which reprints five LSH stories from the early years, nice John Forte art!). Here is my current list of comics that I own and I haven’t read, or haven’t finished. To Wake the Mangog Adventure Comics #403 Superman Family #169, 190 World’s Finest #250 I don't know what the hell "To Wake the Mangog" is, but I am on pins and needles waiting for you to get around to it. It’s the Thor epic collection that reprints Thor #154 to #174. I’ve read about half of it, and will probably finish it in the next week. Not only does it contain the great epic about the Mangog, It also has the origin of Don Blake, the return of Pluto, Galactus vs. Ego the Living Planet, the origin of Galactus, and the return of Him (who has not yet become Adam Warlock). I’m not talking about it very much because Mr. Trombone and I are reviewing Thor in a special review thread, and I’m reading way ahead and I’m trying not to reveal any detailed spoilers!
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Mar 8, 2024 21:20:53 GMT -5
Resuming by Claremont/Byrne X-Men re-read, I read Uncanny X-Men #129-131.
Since we start #129 with the X-Men departing Muir Island as Banshee stays behind, there yet another problem with the plotline about not realizing everyone surviving the destruction of Magneto's base. Banshee fell in love with Moira earlier in Claremont's run. It's implausible he wouldn't check in with Moira as soon as possible. I'd be interested in a What If based on Madrox, Havok, and/or Polaris joining when Banshee leaves the team.
Amusingly, the rough and tumble Wolverine is the only one with a pillow on the flight back to Salem Center. Jean has another hallucination of Jason Wyngarde on the flight. We get a nice resolution to the subplot of Scott's muted response to Jean's apparent death, when he reflects that he was bottling up his feelings because of all the losses he's had in his life. He also claims Colleen Wing was "just a friend." On the other, Jean reveals nothing of her hallucinations and instead makes out with Scott. The moral of the story is that you should be honest with your significant other instead of keeping secrets. Secrets make you more susceptible to psychic manipulation, which makes you give into your dark side, which makes you lose control, which eventually makes kill off the whole D'Bari species.
The X-Men find Xavier has returned to the mansion. This creates a conflict between the Prof, who has a new interest in micromanaging, and Cyclops, who has grown used to autonomy in running the team and thinks he knows the newbies better than Xavier. There's a cool Easter egg where Scott and Jean have some dialogue about the door to the Danger Room which is verbatim from X-Men #60. We see more Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost for the first time, with the revelation that the seemingly random Warhawk issue was a plot to wiretap Xavier's mansion. Cerebro detects two new mutants, so the team splits up to contact both simultaneously. Xavier doesn't mention which group Nightcrawler is assigned to, which might reflect how much the focus on him has declined.
The folks who go to Chicago meet Kitty Pryde. Unfortunately, her parents on the verge of a divorce and her dad looks vaguely like Ron Jeremy. We get some rare panels of Ororo with pupils and irises. The White Queen defeats the group of X-Men, but Kitty stows away on her hovercraft. Scott, Jean, and Kurt are sent to find the NYC mutant (Dazzler) in #130, which features an early John Romita Jr. Although Byrne draws most of the remaining covers of his run, it's remarkable how many up to this point have been drawn by other artists. Dazzler, despite being a disco singer, is at what seems more like a punk club. Claremont has this thing where he seems to be very into stuff like the punk scene while writing how putrid it is. It's like an edgelord performance. This team is more successful at its mission. Nightcrawler takes a phone call from Kitty, who got the X-Men's phone number from Storm. At the end of the issue, we get another image of Wyngarde's shadow looking like Mastermind's old appearance. My question for those of you who read this run when it was originally published: did you realize Wyngarde was Mastermind through these hints before the actual reveal?
In #131, we get the New York group rescuing the Chicago group. In a sad sequence, Kurt rescues Kitty, but then Kitty runs away from him. Kurt says that he's the one Kitty spoke to on the phone, but his appearance overshadows that. Kurt is the most charismatic, chill guy on the team, but the stigma of his appearance doesn't let his personality shine through to Kitty. Claremont & Byrne also do a great job showing off how Jean's powers have grown. She trashes a car then totally reassembles it. She alters her clothing at the molecular level. Cyke is basically the POV character in exploring how cool yet terrifying Jean's increasing power and sudden vicious streak are. Also, Kitty mentions how heavy Wolverine is, which reminds me that I think the first mentions of Logan's adamantium bones (not just claws) have only been over the last few issues. Despite this, a random Hellfire mercenary carried Logan with one arm back in #129.
It's implied Wolverine kills some mercenaries (the scripts are hinting that he kills people in some recent issues). Phoenix defeats the White Queen with some cool Phoenix imagery. It sounds like Jean killed Emma (but in some later issue IIRC it turns out she was in a coma). We also get one of the cool Byrne sequence with the X-Men in uniform followed by a panel in the same poses/positions in their civilian garb. Byrne continues the heights he's achieved in the Proteus arc. He's been great throughout, but his art reached another level starting with that arc. I also like his rendition of Jean's face a lot more compared to earlier in his run. There's also a very cool rapid-fire Nightcrawler teleportation sequence.
The last loose ends in #131 are what's up with our two new mutants. Dazzler remarks that she wants to be a singer rather than join the team. Scott is worried that she's seen the X-Men in their civilian identities, but they don't know much about Dazzler. It's true; we don't learn her real name or backstory. I suppose that was going to left to whoever handle her ongoing series, or maybe Claremont & Byrne didn't care too much to figure that out for a character they weren't going to keep. We actually only see two panels in two issues of her using her powers in combat. Kitty's parents are understandably upset that Xavier's student took her to the malt shop, and then Kitty goes missing for a couple of days. That would take a lot of explaining and Jean just give a damn anymore, so she alters their memories. Suddenly, Kitty's parents love Xavier's school. It helps that the headmistress of the competing school is unable to make her only follow-up visit.
Scott and Ororo and Charles are all alarmed by Jean's casual manipulations. But she's using her power for a good end. What's the worst that could happen?
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Mar 8, 2024 23:45:27 GMT -5
My question for those of you who read this run when it was originally published: did you realize Wyngarde was Mastermind through these hints before the actual reveal? My first issue of X-Men was #99, and I read it religiously most of the way up to #180 or so. But I didn’t recognize Mastermind. I’m not sure I had ever even seen Mastermind at that point. I’ll bet it took a lot of people by surprise. I don’t think Mastermind really appeared that often. He’s in all those issues at the very beginning with the Brotherhood. And I think he appeared a few times after that, but he wasn’t any kind of a major villain like Magneto or Juggernaut. It seems likely to me that he came completely out of left field for a lot of readers. But I would sure be interested to hear any different!
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on Mar 9, 2024 3:03:41 GMT -5
My question for those of you who read this run when it was originally published: did you realize Wyngarde was Mastermind through these hints before the actual reveal? Sure did. It helped build anticipation. One of the things I liked best about these first few years of Claremont's X-Men was the way he upped the games of classic X-villains like Magneto, Mesmero, and Sauron, making them smarter and more formidable than in the past. I was excited to see what he'd do with Mastermind, whose potential had never really been tapped, even by Kirby.
Cei-U! I summon the fearsome foreshadowing!
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 9, 2024 4:36:32 GMT -5
(...) My question for those of you who read this run when it was originally published: did you realize Wyngarde was Mastermind through these hints before the actual reveal?(...) I didn't. But I had only started reading X-men less than a year before that (120 was my first issue) and at that point the only 'classic' (i.e., pre-all new, all different) X-men stories I had read were the ones reprinted in the Fireside books - so X-men #s 1 and 3. Also, due to spotty spinner rack distribution, I missed X-men #130 (which remained a hole in my reading of the original series for a loooooooong time), so I never saw that panel with the ominous shadow - not that it would have meant much to me. Even when Wyngarde's true identity was revealed, I didn't really know who he was, but I understood that it was supposed to be significant. (At that point, I was also reading the revived Amazing Adventures, which was reprinting the early X-men stories, but they wouldn't get to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and Mastermind's first appearance until a few months after the big reveal in the pages of main book.)
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2024 7:58:42 GMT -5
I should have read this much sooner, I am absolutely loving this collection of the early Manning era Star Wars newspaper run. The art is gorgeous and really suits Star Wars, and much as I have great nostalgia for its counterpart monthly Marvel series, this feels like a little "truer" Star Wars to me perhaps? Though it does likewise sort of carve its own path as we are in between the first two movies at this point, and I enjoy the storytelling in both. Definitely need to pick up the later material with Al Williamson as well.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Mar 9, 2024 10:23:42 GMT -5
I read the entire Secret Society of Super-Villains in the past week or so. The idea of Gorilla Grodd, Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Sinestro, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire and other baddies being the focal point of the book is what encouraged me to pick up the series in the first place, but my interest was short-lived once the book introduced the painfully dull Captain Comet as the heroic foil to the bad guys' (and girls') exploits.
Making it worse further was the introduction of Funky Flashman to the book (gee, I wonder who he was supposed to be modeled after), and then ultimately the focus turning to Wizard, a villain from Earth-2, which is a concept that I have no background with or affinity for.
It's something that I got through, and something I will never read again. Probably move it to the "get rid of" box shortly.
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Mar 9, 2024 10:37:55 GMT -5
I read the entire Secret Society of Super-Villains in the past week or so. The idea of Gorilla Grodd, Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Sinestro, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire and other baddies being the focal point of the book is what encouraged me to pick up the series in the first place, but my interest was short-lived once the book introduced the painfully dull Captain Comet as the heroic foil to the bad guys' (and girls') exploits. Making it worse further was the introduction of Funky Flashman to the book (gee, I wonder who he was supposed to be modeled after), and then ultimately the focus turning to Wizard, a villain from Earth-2, which is a concept that I have no background with or affinity for. It's something that I got through, and something I will never read again. Probably move it to the "get rid of" box shortly. I love the old SSOSV series. It was the first DC series that I read regularly for more than three issues. I mostly didn’t like DC as a kid, but I sure loved the villains! Also, it was the first time I encountered characters from the Fourth World. I can’t remember if they ever explained the secret of the Star Sapphire who wasn’t Carol Ferris.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 9, 2024 10:48:47 GMT -5
I read the entire Secret Society of Super-Villains in the past week or so. The idea of Gorilla Grodd, Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Sinestro, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire and other baddies being the focal point of the book is what encouraged me to pick up the series in the first place, but my interest was short-lived once the book introduced the painfully dull Captain Comet as the heroic foil to the bad guys' (and girls') exploits. Making it worse further was the introduction of Funky Flashman to the book (gee, I wonder who he was supposed to be modeled after), and then ultimately the focus turning to Wizard, a villain from Earth-2, which is a concept that I have no background with or affinity for. It's something that I got through, and something I will never read again. Probably move it to the "get rid of" box shortly. I loved that book as a kid. Which is a demonstration of why we shouldn’t let kids run anything…they have incredibly bad taste. SSOSV is just a horrible book.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Mar 9, 2024 11:04:11 GMT -5
I read the entire Secret Society of Super-Villains in the past week or so. The idea of Gorilla Grodd, Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Sinestro, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire and other baddies being the focal point of the book is what encouraged me to pick up the series in the first place, but my interest was short-lived once the book introduced the painfully dull Captain Comet as the heroic foil to the bad guys' (and girls') exploits. Making it worse further was the introduction of Funky Flashman to the book (gee, I wonder who he was supposed to be modeled after), and then ultimately the focus turning to Wizard, a villain from Earth-2, which is a concept that I have no background with or affinity for. It's something that I got through, and something I will never read again. Probably move it to the "get rid of" box shortly. I love the old SSOSV series. It was the first DC series that I read regularly for more than three issues. I mostly didn’t like DC as a kid, but I sure loved the villains! Also, it was the first time I encountered characters from the Fourth World. I can’t remember if they ever explained the secret of the Star Sapphire who wasn’t Carol Ferris. The book got cancelled before they ever got into the mystery of the "new" Star Sapphire. There were apparently two issues, #17 and 18, that were either completed or nearly completed before the DC Implosion, and those got reprinted in the hardcover collections of SSOSV, but as I only have the floppies, I don't know if they ever got around to that reveal.
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Mar 9, 2024 11:14:41 GMT -5
I love the old SSOSV series. It was the first DC series that I read regularly for more than three issues. I mostly didn’t like DC as a kid, but I sure loved the villains! Also, it was the first time I encountered characters from the Fourth World. I can’t remember if they ever explained the secret of the Star Sapphire who wasn’t Carol Ferris. The book got cancelled before they ever got into the mystery of the "new" Star Sapphire. There were apparently two issues, #17 and 18, that were either completed or nearly completed before the DC Implosion, and those got reprinted in the hardcover collections of SSOSV, but as I only have the floppies, I don't know if they ever got around to that reveal. I have the hardcover collection just so I could read those stories! And no, they didn’t get around to it. I’ve been wondering if they got into it somewhere else, like in that justice league story where they were rounded up and tried. I have that too, but I haven’t read it in a long time.
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Mar 9, 2024 11:18:31 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Mar 9, 2024 11:38:23 GMT -5
Over the last couple of days, I read the long story in World’s Finest #250. Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Earth-2 Wonder Woman.
Oh boy. It’s really dumb.
Nice art. I guessed it was George Tuska, but I couldn’t figure out who the inker was. So I looked at the credits, and it’s a very nice job by Vince Colletta.
I’m not going to go into all the details because it’s 56 pages and there are a lot of details. It’s all about messing with the fabric of time and space and almost destroying the universe. Or the multiverse. Or all the multiverses. Whatever.
And it’s all Green Arrow’s fault! What a jerk! What a chowderhead!
You see, Black Canary is feeling uncomfortable, and fighting with Oliver a lot. And she thinks that maybe she never had proper closure when she left Earth-2, and she never got over the death of her first husband, Larry Lance. So she wants to go back to Earth-2 for a while to sort things out and deal with it.
Which is actually far more interesting than anything that happens in the story. It’s kind of annoying when a writer accidentally hits on a good idea and then ignores it for something really stupid and contrived. In this case, it’s Gerry Conway.
So they go to the satellite. They’re going to use the transporter to go to Earth-2. But Hawkman tells them that Superman recently brought Professor Potter to the satellite to look at the transporter (BECAUSE REASONS) and he messed it up. So Superman has forbidden anyone from using the transporter until it’s fixed.
But Green Arrow is all, “you can’t tell me what to do!” and he bullies Black Canary and pushes past Hawkman and they use the transporter.
And they get sent back to Earth-2 in 1942 where they run into Wonder Woman’s invisible plane over the White House and it somehow avalanches from there so that all of the superheroes on Earth-1 are wiped out and forgotten except Superman and Batman, who were on a mission when it happened and thus weren’t wiped out. (However, Alfred has no memory that Bruce Wayne ever became Batman. He’s all, “Why are you wearing that suit, sir?”)
Also, all of reality is crumbling because Nazi agents have somehow gotten a hold of the … thing.
Anyway, they eventually defeat the Nazis and reverse the thing or something.
I am not the biggest Green Arrow fan, but this is pretty darn stupid even for Oliver. How the heck was he not expelled from the JLA for that?
(I am also not real impressed with Superman’s judgment in letting Professor Potter look at the transporter.)
|
|
|
Post by spoon on Mar 9, 2024 12:26:20 GMT -5
My question for those of you who read this run when it was originally published: did you realize Wyngarde was Mastermind through these hints before the actual reveal? My first issue of X-Men was #99, and I read it religiously most of the way up to #180 or so. But I didn’t recognize Mastermind. I’m not sure I had ever even seen Mastermind at that point. I’ll bet it took a lot of people by surprise. I don’t think Mastermind really appeared that often. He’s in all those issues at the very beginning with the Brotherhood. And I think he appeared a few times after that, but he wasn’t any kind of a major villain like Magneto or Juggernaut. It seems likely to me that he came completely out of left field for a lot of readers. But I would sure be interested to hear any different! Mastermind did have some later appearances. He should up during the Factor Three story, I think with other former Brotherhood members. Then he was one of the mutants captured by the Sentinels during the Neal Adams run. He also had some guest appearances in other titles while X-Men was in reprints. I've read some of them, but barely remember them. It's really the Marvel Chronology Project aiding my memory. There's are some issues of Avengers when Magneto showed up. That was when Avengers was picked up some X-Men plot threads because that also the period where Avengers had a Sentinel story when I think Quicksilver was injured. There are also a couple issues of Defenders that would've been the Alpha story where Magneto is reduced to infancy.
|
|
|
Post by Chris on Mar 9, 2024 12:47:00 GMT -5
Over the last couple of days, I read the long story in World’s Finest #250. Superman, Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Earth-2 Wonder Woman. So they go to the satellite. They’re going to use the transporter to go to Earth-2. But Hawkman tells them that Superman recently brought Professor Potter to the satellite to look at the transporter (BECAUSE REASONS) and he messed it up. So Superman has forbidden anyone from using the transporter until it’s fixed. That was in Superman Family #186-187 and if you have not read it you really should because its awesome and gave us this incredible Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez cover. The first chapter has Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson doing a terrific Joe Shuster imitation. The story has Superman straight-up kill the bad guy. No hesitation, no recriminations, just "It's the only way" and boom! (I am also not real impressed with Superman’s judgment in letting Professor Potter look at the transporter.) Not disputed. Although I wonder if Conway linked the Superman Family story to some other previous story. He was connecting pretty much every story he wrote back then.
|
|