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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 4, 2023 4:35:54 GMT -5
Highlander should have only been that one film,(...) Absolutely, although the second film was such a steaming pile of manure that I never bothered with the rest. Truer words may have been spoken in the past, but I can't think of any! On Highlander, I never saw anything after the first sequel either, but I did watch a number of episodes Highlander TV series, some of which I'll admit were watchable, but I found it all so pointless. Especially when Lambert appeared as a guest star, playing Conor of course - it almost made me pull off my shoe and throw it at the screen...
As for Raiders/Indiana Jones, tying in to something codystarbuck noted, i.e.:
Yes, precisely. In the case of Indy and Marion, there's a perfect dynamic that's set up in Raiders: Indy is more of a 'by the rules' guy, who always insists that a given artifact "belongs in a museum" while Marion is more mercenary, and has less qualms about earning some cash by selling some priceless antiquity off to the highest bidder.
The potential for a ton of really fun stories based on that premise is limitless.
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Post by tonebone on Mar 9, 2023 16:26:32 GMT -5
Action Comics #544
Adventure Comics #500
Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld #2
Avengers #232
Blackhawk #259
Captain America #283
Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew #16
Fantastic Four #255
Furry of Firestorm #13 (never gets old)
Green Arrow #2
Iron Man #171
Legion of Super-Heroes #300
Marvel Age #3
New Teen Titans #32
Night Force #11
Saga of Crystar, Crystal Warrior #2
Saga of Swamp Thing #14
Thing #1
Warlord #70
I didn't live near a comics store, so through mail order I later picked up these...
All New Adventures of the Mighty Crusaders #2
Black Hood #1
Coyote #1
DNAgents #1
E-Man #4
Hall of Fame Featuring the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1
Jon Sable, Freelance #2
Lancelot Strong, the Shield #1
Warp Special #1
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Post by dbutler69 on Mar 9, 2023 19:38:18 GMT -5
Bought back in the day:
Action Comics #544 (Love that cover!)
Adventure Comics #500
Avengers #232
Daredevil #196 (I'll admit it. Wolverine on the cover was a big draw for me.)
Fantastic Four #255
Incredible Hulk #284 (Lots of guest stars!)
Justice League of America #215
Legion of Super-Heroes #300 (Wow!!)
Micronauts #53
New Mutants #5
New Teen Titans #32
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #6
Rom #43
Thing #1 (A number one! I'll be rich!)
Uncanny X-Men #170
Bought much more recently:
All-Star Squadron #22
Arak/Son of Thunder #22
Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #6
Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #7
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 1, 2023 19:49:19 GMT -5
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 2, 2023 3:34:03 GMT -5
Ten titles this month near as I can tell. The highlights:  Avengers 233 - this is a cross over with the Negative Zone arc in Fantastic Four, and an added bonus is that Byrne did the art breakdowns here (with Sinnott doing the finishes). The story continues in...  Fantastic Four #256 - of course! Nothing more to say here. Still loving this story and FF in general. Other than that, two others from DC really stick in my memory from this month, both basically the same title. To wit:  DC Comics Presents Annual #2 - a really enjoyable story by Elliot S. Maggin, featuring Kristin Wells, a character (from the future) who was introduced in his Superman prose novel, Miracle Monday. This really tickled me at the time, because I had read said novel a year or so earlier.  DC Comics Presents #59 - basically a sitcom episode, as Ambush Bug hops on Superman's back as he begins to travel into the future, so Supes leaves him for 'safekeeping' with the Substitute Legionnaires in the 30th century while he goes off to take care of whatever business he had. Hijinks ensue. This was my introduction to Ambush Bug as well. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2023 5:36:43 GMT -5
Adventure #501...we're almost at the end of this glorious run of digest reprints (and sadly the title itself after all those years of history), but man were they packing in the awesome:  You've got your pair of Silver Age Legion stories of course, including a fun one with the Subs (I love their appearances). But my favorite this month in the Golden Age Ray reprint...this was my introduction to Lou Fine back in the day, and it's the "Modern Day Pied Piper" from Smash #17, possibly my favorite Ray tale. The Golden Age runs strong with this volume as we get a little classic Captain Marvel from 1948 as well. Add in some later Spectre, Aquaman, and Plastic Man, and you got your $1.25 worth and then some I'll tell you. |
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Post by berkley on Apr 2, 2023 17:39:50 GMT -5
March 1983:
Detective Comics #527 - got this mainly for the Moench + Dan Day creative team. D. Day's art was much like Gene's , a very good thing to my eyes.
E-Man #4 - I thought this series was pretty good. From memory, I thought Staton's artwork was a little more cartoonish than in the original, so I didn't like that aspect quite as much, but overall a nice revival.
New Teen Titans #32 - I must have been enjoying this book to some degree because I stuck with it for 50+ issues,but can't recall what I liked about it now. Perhaps it just provided a superhero fix for me, because there weren't many other superhero series that I wanted to read at this time.
Night Force #11 - still sad this series never got off the ground, or not for long.
What If? #39 - think I read it but can't recall any details
April 1983:
Destroyer Duck #3 - under-rated series, IMO, beyond the unusual combination of creators - Gerber, Kirby Alfredo Alcala(!),... as with so many experiments, I wish it had lasted longer.
Epic Illustrated #18 - I was fairly regular with this series for the first couple years or so. Hit and miss, like all anthology books, but almost always something to justify me buying an issue.
Marvel Graphic Novel Vol. 7:Killraven, Warrior of the Worlds SC - I recall feeling a little disappointed with Russell's artwork in this one. Nowhere near up to his best work on the Amazing Adventures Killraven, I felt.
Night Force #12 - see above
Saga of Swamp Thing #15 - pretty sure I read this one, as I follwed the series as much as I could, but I did miss a few issues and it's possible this was one of them
Silver Star #3 - I thought this was one of the most interesting of Kirby's 1980s solo series for Pacific
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 4, 2023 9:37:45 GMT -5
Arak #23, in which we travel to a mystical realm and encounter the demon Baphomet. Baphomet is represented here as in old medieval imagery, with an extra face in his belly. This storyline nears its climax, and was the best S&S available in comics at the time.
Avengers #233 : crossover with this month's issue of Fantastic Four, and we get John Byrne as a guest artist. Both books deal with the same problem, that of Annihilus having occupied the Baxter Building and using it as the focal point for some technoshmilblick energy bubble that expands and will destroy everything. Avengers follows the events outside of the bubble, and FF on what goes on inside.
Conan #148 : can't remember it. It is therefore not unfair to call it entirely forgettable.
Fantastic Four #258 : see Avengers above. Also, Annihilus dies. Characters tended to die in those post-Phoenix days (for shock value), and tended to stay dead for a while.
Iron Man #172 : I was curious about Stark's new bout with alcoholism. I must say it was much more affecting this time around, as Tony really hit bottom. I wasn't sold on the McDonnell-Mitchell art team, as I missed Romita Jr and Layton, but the art was decent nonetheless.
Legion of super-heroes #301 : After the big anniversary issue, it's time to take stock. I liked the cover, a homage to Adventure comics #300. (We'd see that homage again and again in later days).
New Mutants #6 : Oh, look, Silver Samurai and Viper... my two least favourites Marvel villains of the time, if we except the Griffin. The art had a rushed feel to it, too. But it's Claremont and it's X-related, so I had to have it.
Marvel Universe #7 : presented by the letter M!
Ronin #1 : I had a mini-poster of Ronin #1 in my office, and since this was Frank Miller's BIG project after Daredevil, I expected it would be magnificent.
It was... O.K.
I really enjoyed the opening set in feudal Japan, but the later SF part of it, while not done in a style commonly found in American comics, wasn't anything new to me. I thought Miller had innovated a lot more with DD, in terms of storytelling, than he had here. As for the story, it wasn't all that gripping... I even stopped reading after issue #3.
Saga of the Swamp Thing #15 : I was wrong last month; THIS is the last issue I bought before missing Alan Moore's debut. Le sigh.
X-Men #171: I really didn't like the character of Rogue after her introduction in Avengers Annual #10 and her apprearanc ein Rom. However, proof of Chris Claremont's writing ability, I quickly grew to find her sympathetic when she joined the team.
Warlord #71: after a lackadaisical sojourn to a future outside world, Travis Morgan returns to today's Skartaris. And I dropped the book. Not in protest over the return, but because the story had been pretty dull for several issues and the art wasn't much better.
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Post by berkley on Apr 4, 2023 16:34:37 GMT -5
X-Men #171: I really didn't like the character of Rogue after her introduction in Avengers Annual #10 and her apprearanc ein Rom. However, proof of Chris Claremont's writing ability, I quickly grew to find her sympathetic when she joined the team. Warlord #71: after a lackadaisical sojourn to a future outside world, Travis Morgan returns to today's Skartaris. And I dropped the book. Not in protest over the return, but because the story had been pretty dull for several issues and the art wasn't much better.
I had the same reaction to Avengers Annual #10. I never did like this kind of super-power - i,e, absorbing someone else's powers or mimicking them like Taskmaster. Seemed like a cop-out to me. "My super-power is, whatever you can do, I can do the exact same thing. So there!" I had already stopped reading X-Men so I never got to see how Claremont developed the character.
When would you say the essential Warlord run ends? I've been picking up the back-issues very slowly over the last few years, and I think I'm up to around #24 or so at the moment.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 4, 2023 18:20:42 GMT -5
X-Men #171: I really didn't like the character of Rogue after her introduction in Avengers Annual #10 and her apprearanc ein Rom. However, proof of Chris Claremont's writing ability, I quickly grew to find her sympathetic when she joined the team. Warlord #71: after a lackadaisical sojourn to a future outside world, Travis Morgan returns to today's Skartaris. And I dropped the book. Not in protest over the return, but because the story had been pretty dull for several issues and the art wasn't much better.
I had the same reaction to Avengers Annual #10. I never did like this kind of super-power - i,e, absorbing someone else's powers or mimicking them like Taskmaster. Seemed like a cop-out to me. "My super-power is, whatever you can do, I can do the exact same thing. So there!" I had already stopped reading X-Men so I never got to see how Claremont developed the character.
When would you say the essential Warlord run ends? I've been picking up the back-issues very slowly over the last few years, and I think I'm up to around #24 or so at the moment.
I'd say issue 50 or thereabout. The following 20 issues had their moments, especially since each of them seemed to have at least one memorable bit of dialog, but not enough for me to really recommend them. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 3, 2023 9:03:09 GMT -5
Purchased with my own shekels in May 1983 :
Action Comics #546. I was definitely not a regular Action or Superman reader, and this purchased was justified only by my love of Gil Kane's work when he's not inked by Danny Bulanadi.
Alpha Flight #1. How was I not to buy this landmark issue, one that surely heralded a new era of glory for Marvel comics? John Byrne, whose work I loved in Fantastic Four and whose presence I still missed on X-Men, was to head a new title featuring the beloved Canadian super-team he had co-created? I was so there!
Alas, I must admit that the issue, double-sized as it was, was a little disappointing. Lots of cool shots of super-heroes super-heroing, and I was very happy to see old favourites again (I think Vindicator's suit has one of the best designs ever), but the backgrounds were often rather empty. Also, who the heck were these Puck and Marrina characters?
Arak #24 and the climax of the storyline begun when our hero first came to Charlemagne's court. The first two years had been heavily influenced by the historical (though fake!) Prester John letter and by Bullfinch's Mythology, and I was all the merrier for it. When I read Umberto Eco's Baudolino years later, I thought Roy Thomas had actually handled that material better! Who said comics weren't fine litratchaw?
Avengers #234, a retelling of the Scarlet Witch's convoluted history (one that would get FAR WORSE in decades to come). I think it's in this issue that we learn both Wanda and Monica Rambeau speak French, and as I recall their exchange in Voltaire's language was grammatically correct -a rare thing indeed in comics.
Batman and the outsiders #1. When I had heard of a new Batman team, I had pictured something like a bunch of Nightwing-like individuals in black and blue, not another colourful super-team in the vein of the JLA or the Teen Titans. I gave it a try but didn't stick around. The Aparo art, however, gave the book a certain seal of authenticity! If Aparo draws Batman, then it's a real Batman story.
Conan #149. Stop it, please... no more... That's not what a Conan comic should be.
Doctor Strange #60. I liked the "final" Dracula story arc in Doctor Strange, but thought Drac should have stayed dead at the end of his own colour comic. (I hadn't read the Dracula B&W mag that followed the colour comic, as the vampire had been reborn there pretty darn quick).
Fantastic Four #257. Not sure about Galactus being part of a triumvirate that includes Eternity and Death, as that seems to make the universe that much smaller... but the sequence where the big G eats the Skrull homeworld was pretty intense. I welcomed the news of Sue being pregnant; a new baby was just what the illusion of change in comics was about! Byrne was doing real good work with that title.
Fantastic Four annual #17. A good mystery story featuring... those Skrull cows from FF#2! This was a work-heavy month for Mr. Byrne.
Indiana Jones #8 and 9 : David Michelinie writes a good Indiana Jones. I really enjoyed Chaykin's cover for #8. However, I think that this franchise deserved a little more investment on Marvel's part; we seemed to alternate between stellar issues by big name artists and quasi fill-in stuff in others. The book deserved a strong and stable creative team.
Iron Man #173. Oh boy, are things looking bad for Tony Stark. If the first alcoholism arc, years before, had been resolved pretty quickly, this new version would really show how low people can fall when trapped in a bottle.
King Conan #18, a new excellent issue by Alan Zelenetz (this time partnered with Rudy Nebres). This title gave us the best Conan available at the time.
Legion of Super-heroes #302. 1983 was a pretty good year for comic-book fans! The LSH title continued to shine. When you get the right creative team, what heights can't you reach?
Micronauts #54. I am not a huge fan of alien planets that reproduce specific era of Earth's history (in this case, a cartoonsi version of prohibition-era Gangster land). But the art of Butch guice and Kelley Jones, plus the revitalized storyline by Bill Mantlo, made me squeal with joy! Micronauts was good once again. Not as original as issues #1-12, but at least really fun to read.
New Mutants #7. The book was cerainly not as exiting as its X-Men precursor, but the characters were growing on me.
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8. Had to have it.
Savage sword of Conan #90. This issue is absolutely worth hunting down due to the beautiful John Buscema/Nestor Redondo art, and to the introduction of the Devourer of Souls.
Savage sword of Conan #91. This one is less so, but if you like Pablo Marcos's inking of John BUscema's layouts, it's for you!
Star Wars #74. I had stopped reading Star Wars many months earlier, due mostly to the comic not being available locally. A pity too, as this issue demonstrates it was in capable hands! Ron Frenz and Tom Palmer did pretty good work with the Star Wars designs, and Jo Duffy really "got" the voice of the characters.
X-Men #172. Paul Smith did good with that title, didn't he? I really didn't like Viper and the Silver Samurai, but the book was thrilling nonetheless. Also, the mystery surrounding Madelyne was pretty troubling... It sure *felt* like a red herring, but one never knows.
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 3, 2023 12:47:20 GMT -5
Only about 9 titles this month, so definitely the continuation of the beginning of the end of my personal golden age; however, a few titles this month still got me pretty excited...  I was a *huge* Byrne fan at this point, so I was all over this. However, as Roquefort Raider noted above, despite the hype and extra pages, it was a bit underwhelming. I of course stuck with the title for a while, but it never really clicked for me and I think I bailed before the tenth issue. Of course, I found Byrne's other two offerings that month, Fantastic Four #257 and, especially, Fantastic Four Annual #17, far superior.  That annual is still one of my favorite annuals ever. Just a fun story with a great callback to FF #2. (Although again, with regard to FF #257, I have to agree with RR's misgivings about the cosmic role of Galactus). And yes, of course, I was still loyal to the mutants, so I had New Mutants #7 and X-men #172.  I was really enjoying the story arc playing out in the latter, and RR is simply wrong about one of comicdom's best villainous power couples, Viper and Silver Samurai. On the DC side, I had New Teen Titans #34, Legion #302 (again, RR pretty much sums up my thoughts there) and the debut of yet another new team, Batman and the Outsiders #1:  However, as with Alpha Flight, my initial excitement for this wore off pretty quickly. Although that may just have been due to the fact that - as noted previously - I was slowly beginning to become a bit disenchanted with comics in general at this time. |
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Post by dbutler69 on May 3, 2023 15:45:03 GMT -5
Bought on the newstand:
Action Comics #546 (Had to get this with the JLA and Teen Titans guest starring!)
Adventure Comics #502 (Legion of Super-Heroes in a digest sized comic!)
Batman and the Outsiders #1 (Oh yeah!)
Camelot 3000 #7
Justice League of America #217
Justice League of America Annual #1
Legion of Super-Heroes #302
New Teen Titans #34
Alpha Flight #1 (Wow!)
Avengers #234
Fantastic Four #257
Fantastic Four Annual #17
Hawkeye #1 (Fantastic miniseries!)
Marvel Team-Up #132
New Mutants #7
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8
Rom #45
Thing #3
Uncanny X-Men #172
Bought within the past decade:
All-Star Squadron #24
Arak/Son of Thunder #24
Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #8
Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #9
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Post by codystarbuck on May 4, 2023 22:55:29 GMT -5
         Alpha Flight (FINALLY) gets their own book, Batman & the Outsiders debut (series...I missed the preview), Jon Sable kills poachers, Deathstroke shoots up the place (and a traitor is revealed, plus a bomb goes off), Nick fury in OHOTMU, with Steranko art, Starslayer, Wolvie gets f@#$%d, and George Lucas has some new movie in theaters (but forgot to embargo the Marvel adaptation before the release date). I had the magazine Marvel Super Special, released before the film (spoilers, dude!) and then ended up losing it while attending my cousin's graduation. We stayed overnight, in St Louis, at a hotel, to attend, and I had left the room earlier, to go somewhere and one of my parents followed later, after checkout, and hadn't grabbed by copy from a table. We went back, but it had been tossed out, as trash. Moth@##$%%^&....... Re: Hawkeye-I preferred Green Arrow and Black Canary's earlier costumes. Don't know what they were doing, in a Marvel comic.  I later bought....       Black Diamond was based on an unproduced Sybil Danning project, for a sort of female super agent/mercenary character. She would have been terrible (let's face it, her acting had two things going for it); but, it was a decent concept. Gulacy cover art helped me to buy it...plus I got it dirt cheap. Black Hood had some Toth goodness and I later collected the whole red Circle line, after initially only getting Mighty Crusaders #1-3, and a Blue Ribbon Comics issue, with Steel Sterling. Didn't have access to a comic shop, for Camelot 3000, until college, but it was behind, anyway, so it was readily available from start to finish. I only saw the second Nexus magazine issue, until later and picked up the whole series, after reading about the plot, in The Comic Book Heroes. Picked up the firt half dozen or so First Comics E-Man, later, after finding some of the Charlton comics (I had the Modern Comics reprint of issue #1). Didn't run across the Evanier/Spiegle Blackhawk issues, other than the relaunch, until much later. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 1, 2023 7:19:02 GMT -5
Acquired in June 1983 : Alpha Flight #2. We learn more about Marrina, whose name I can never read without hearing the end credits theme song of Gerry Anderson's "Stingray" in the back of my mind. Arak #25. Facing another mythological beast, the salamander! Also, it looks as if Arak and Valda won't keep us in suspense for years and years like Conan and Red Sonja, when it comes to their relationship. I was quite surprised at the heretofore chaste knight's change of heart, though! It was pretty sudden. Was it a case of the lady protestething too much in earlier issues? It was probably a mistake to have Arak and Valda get intimate so early in the series, too. The sexual tension between the two had been quite enjoyable, and in all honesty from this point on Valda turned into a fawning girflriend or a serial hostage, amid en short-lived episodes when she'd turn into a drunk. I wonder if the planned but never-published Valda miniseries (with art by Todd McFarlane) would have given her a more convincing development. I would hope so, as when she was introduced she was a very good new character. Conan #150. Giant-sized anniversary issue! No, no, I kid. Regular sized comic presenting a generic S&S adventure. There was clearly minimal effort put into the Conan comic in those days; coasting on the popularity of the Schwarzenegger movies was apparently enough to generate sales. DC Sampler. Now THAT is a way to get me interested in DC comics! I loved this concept, which got me to look beyond my Marvel zombie habits. Fantastic Four #258. John Byrne drew and wrote a pretty cool Doctor Doom, and I love his rendition of Latveria. Sure, it's lifted straight from Kirby; but is that a bad thing? Iron Man #174. Sometimes there's just no way to get rid of an armour. In this case, it's so the collection of Iron Man suits left behind by the drunk and destitute Tony Stark doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Legion of super-heroes #303. I wasn't that familiar with the LoSH's rogues gallery, and didn't quite know what an Emerald Eye was... but this series was still going full speed ahead, and I wanted to stay on board! Legion of super-heroes annual #2, featuring the marriage of Karate Kid and Princess Projectra. I thought at the time that Dave Gibbons made the characters a little too stocky, but it's been decades since I read that particular book so perhaps that assessment is unfair. Marvel Age #6. If memory serves, it is in this very thin book that I first saw an ad for the upcoming Thor run written and drawn by Walt Simonson. Thor had always been a favourite of mine, and while I hadn't cared for the Simonson-DeZuniga combo of a few years earlier, this looked very good indeed! The image seen here, showing a helmetless Thor standing over fallen Storm giants, reminded me of the brilliant Doctor Fate story drawn by Simonson in DC First Issue special #9. New Mutants #8. Sending heroes to a jungle so they can have some Conan Doyle-sque or Burroughsian adventure is a tried and true recipe. South American natives! A lost civilization! Lots and lots of self-reflection! Foreign words! Fake accents! Somehow I couldn't see how annoying some of these things would become decades later. New Teen Titans Annual #2. Introducing the new Vigilante, DC's answer to the Punisher. I kind of wished they hadn't used Adrian Chase for the role; I liked him in his civilian identity. Grumpy but efficient. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9. Gotta catch 'em all. Red Sonja #2. Mary Wiltshire and Nestor Redondo draw, Roy Thomas writes. And Sonja wears sensible clothes for once. The story wasn't that thrilling, though. I liked the way Wiltshire drew blades, noticeably larger near the cross guard than at the tip. Star Wars #75. I wasn't sure that Star Wars could work in an underwater context, but it did. X-Men #173. Paul Smith gives us several cool shots of Wolverine in action (back when seeing Wolverine striking a dramatic pause was the apex of comic-book happiness for me), and the character of Rogue gets a lot of redeeming development. In those days, the team hadn't yet been fixed in amber and it was good to see its roster evolve and change. |
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