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Post by EdoBosnar on Aug 2, 2023 4:16:14 GMT -5
(...)
Defenders #125, in which, as per the custom in those days, most everyone dies as a title gets cancelled. Yeah, yeah, I get it… Jean Grey’s death had been an event of massive proportions that changed comics forever… but killing everyone else is NOT the way to go!!! I can’t say that I much cared for that version of the team, but still. It’s all right to just let heroes retire, or to move on to different thongs (as long as it isn’t X-Factor!!!)
Hmm, it might just be easier to riff off of my esteemed colleague's observations on the issues I also recall having this month. I mentioned last month that I'd picked up Defenders #124 after a prolonged absence due to my curiosity about this whole 'new direction' thing. I wasn't too impressed with that issue, but I picked this one up to see if things got any more interesting. They didn't as far as I was concerned and this was the last issue of Defenders I ever had.
 I was still enjoying FF quite a bit at this point, and I rather liked the Tyros/Terrax arc.
 Yeah, agreed about Clint & Barbara - they seemed like a natural fit and a fun pairing, kind of like Ka-zar and Shanna or Misty Knight and Danny Rand. And one of the reasons I've always been fond of this mini-series is because it's their 'how we met' story.
This was an X-related series, so back then I pretty felt dutybound to pick it up, but man, I really didn't like it (the story itself and the whole idea of Ilyana getting abruptly aged and becoming a sorceress or whatever). I'm pretty sure I only had this first issue.
 If this had shown up a year or so earlier, I would have been extremely excited about it - even so, such was the power of this cover and Simonson's storytelling and art that after literally not picking up an issue of Thor for several years I had to see what it was all about. And I wasn't disappointed - I thought it was awesome! However, I didn't become a regular reader, because as 1983 chugged along, I was increasingly losing interest in comics and was hesitant about committing to a new ongoing (I read the entire run in collected editions much later, and now consider the best run of Thor comics ever).
Yeah, agreed on pretty much every point (although looking back on it, I would have preferred if something had developed between Scott and fishing boat skipper Lee Forrester, who bore absolutely no resemblance to Jean in any way whatsoever). In many ways, I consider this the last great X-men story - at least in the main title.
Otherwise, this month I also had Alpha Flight #4 and New Mutants #10; I have no specific thoughts on them, other than they were still keeping my interest (although the former wouldn't for much longer).
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Post by chaykinstevens on Aug 2, 2023 8:01:49 GMT -5
Arak #27. New artist Ron Randall is all right, but I preferred Robin Rodriguez.
Rodin Rodriguez had inked a few early issues after Tony DeZuniga left, but do you mean Adrian Gonzales? Defenders #125, in which, as per the custom in those days, most everyone dies as a title gets cancelled. Yeah, yeah, I get it… Jean Grey’s death had been an event of massive proportions that changed comics forever… but killing everyone else is NOT the way to go!!! I can’t say that I much cared for that version of the team, but still. It’s all right to just let heroes retire, or to move on to different thongs (as long as it isn’t X-Factor!!!)
I think you're mixing this one up with (New) Defenders #152. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 2, 2023 8:39:19 GMT -5
Arak #27. New artist Ron Randall is all right, but I preferred Robin Rodriguez.
Rodin Rodriguez had inked a few early issues after Tony DeZuniga left, but do you mean Adrian Gonzales? Yes, absolutely. Apologies to Mr. Gonzales. Holy dyslexic time jump, Batman! You're correct. #125 is the start rather than the end of that era. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Aug 2, 2023 8:47:58 GMT -5
Alien Worlds #4
Amazing Spider-Man #246 & 247
Badger #1
Batman #365
Captain America #287 & 288
Cloak and Dagger #2
Defenders #125
Detective Comics #532
Doctor Strange #62
Dreadstar #6
Epic Illustrated #20
Fantastic Four #260
Green Lantern / Green Arrow #2
Jon Sable, Freelance #7
Legion of Super-Heroes #305
Magik #1
Marvel Fanfare #11
Marvel Tails #1
Moon Knight #34
New Mutants #10
Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1
Starslayer #10
Sword of the Atom #3
Thing #6
Thor #337 & 338
Thriller #1
Uncanny X-Men #175
Warp #9
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 2, 2023 22:37:17 GMT -5
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 2, 2023 22:58:07 GMT -5
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 3, 2023 3:25:34 GMT -5
I'll start with DC, since I only had two titles from them this month: New Teen Titans #37  Batman & the Outsiders #5  These two issues were a crossover, in which - among other things- we learn more about the past of Terra and GeoForce. A solidly enjoyable story. (Also had B&tO #4 in the preceding month, which I forgot to mention in my preceding post.) Anyway, these are last two issues of these two books that I would pick up at the time. I would only catch up with a bunch of the subsequent Teen Titans issues much later. And now on to Marvel... Alpha Flight #5  FF #261  Two solid entries from Mr. Byrne, but with the above titles, these would be the last issues of these titles I would pick up as they were coming out regularly. New Mutants #11  X-men #176  This is sort of an epilogue to the preceding story arc; Scott and Madelyne fly off to their honeymoon and run into some trouble on the way. A solid story, but nothing remarkable. Little did I suspect, however, that this would be the last X-men story in the regular series that I'd enjoy. X-men Annual #7  Unusually for the X-men at the time, a silly and light-hearted little story involving the Impossible Man. If I'm being honest, I probably enjoyed this more than any of the other comics I picked up this month. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12  Kind of fitting that the final issue of first run of OHotMU came right at the end of the summer of 1983, because it basically marks the end of my personal golden age of comics reading. As that summer drew to a close and I was heading into my sophomore year of high school, this was the last month for a while in which I would buy multiple comics. I still kept going with the X-titles (mercifully only two were ongoing at the time) on automatic for a while, but this is month really was the end of an era for me. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 3, 2023 20:26:02 GMT -5
Does that mean you were spared the abomination that was the return of Jean Grey, EdoBosnar? That caused me to drop comics for a good long while. And I think a few people here were in the same boat! (Made me miss The Dark Knight Returns, though. Darn!) |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 4, 2023 3:02:52 GMT -5
Does that mean you were spared the abomination that was the return of Jean Grey, EdoBosnar ? That caused me to drop comics for a good long while. And I think a few people here were in the same boat! (Made me miss The Dark Knight Returns, though. Darn!) Well, yes and no. By the time Jean was 'resurrected', I had stopped picking up new monthly comics entirely; however, in the summer of 1986, I had just moved to California, and besides a summer job I had nothing else to do but read (among other things, I got through a few monster classical works of literature, like Tolstoy's War & Peace) and I eventually wandered into a local comic book shop. As I was browsing through the latest titles, I saw this book called 'X-Factor' with the original X-men including none other than Jean as Marvel Girl. When I asked the owner about this - after explaining that that I'd been out of comics for a few years - he pulled out a copy of FF #286 and offered to sell it to me for cover price. So I picked it up, and yeah, I was really unhappy with the whole idea. At the time, I got back into comics in a limited way, mainly picking up some of the new post-Crisis stuff from DC like the Man of Steel mini, the first few issues of the newly-launched Superman that followed immediately thereafter, and then, a little later, Legends (Byrne was obviously still a big draw for me). As I recall, I pretty much avoided anything from Marvel for a time.
And yes, I missed stuff like Crisis, DKR and, far more importantly, Watchmen. I read the latter two a few years later when I borrowed the tpbs from a fellow comics fan living in the same dorm building at UC Berkeley. Then, as now, I thought DKR was a pretty good but flawed 'imaginary' story (the term 'Elseworlds' still wasn't in the comics vocabulary), while I considered Watchmen a masterpiece.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Sept 4, 2023 8:30:29 GMT -5
Bought in September 1983 : Alpha Flight #5. My first reaction to Engene Judd had been “who’s that?” since the Alpha Flight I was familiar with (from their introduction in the pages of Uncanny X-Men) did not include either Puck or Marrina. And yet, he would quickly become my favourite Alphan, next to Vindicator Guardian. Judd was such a cool character: a little bit Wolverine, a little bit Corto Maltese. That was the proper way to write a mystery character: make them tough, hint at past redolent of shady activities in exotic spots, and leave much to our imagination. Trust Marvel to lutterly ruin the character in later years by introducing magical nonsense, having him not being a real dwarf, being the host of a demon, and being artificially de-aged. For crying out loud, keep it simple!!! Sam Spade would NOT be more interesting if he was a cyborg and the half-brother of a demonic alien! (Grumblegripegrumblegripegrumblegripe).
In this issue, Judd helps solves a refreshingly down-to-earth murder mystery in a hospital. The dialogue hasn't always aged well (the all-female nursing staff commenting on Michael Twoyoungmen's sexiness seems to belong to a 1960s sitcom) but the story is pretty good.
Arak #28. More exploration of themes covered in Frazer’s The Golden Bough. The series seems to be running out of steam, unfortunately, after the big climax of a few months prior. Conan #153. Artist Gary Kwapisz would become a favourite of mine in Savage Sword of Conan, but his art can’t salvage a bad story. Some Conan writers never understood that they must tone down the fantasy aspect if they want to stay true to the source material. Flying cities and the like are a no-no. Conan the King #20. Alan Zelenetz and Marc Silvestri shake things up big time as King Conan loses his son (or thinks he does). Conan’s grief and anger, all too human, cause him to act unfairly and create major tensions in his couple and his kingdom. Intrigue and human relations make this book really stand out, and it will stay there at the top of my reading list for a good long while. The regular Kaluta covers don't hurt either!!! Fantastic Four #261. Byrne on Fantastic Four… How could I not be there? I wasn’t a big fan of the pissing contest between Byrne and Claremont concerning the use of Dr. Doom and Lilandra, but the stories themselves never failed to entertain. The New Mutants #11. Selene is one of my least favourite villains in the Marvel Universe. She’s like an evil Mary Sue. She can do anything, she's immortal, you can’t defeat her... until the plot demands that she loses, at which point she does. Gah! Plus, there's no getting rid of her; she always comes back.
As for Amara Aquila, the newly introduced volcano-themed New Mutant, she never had much character. Her description as an extremely smart person with little modern knowledge was an intriguing starting point, but it was never really used to good effect. Amara would mostly be used as a soap opera element in the team. Something of a missed opportunity, there.
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #12. Hey,modern Marvel, re-read your classics… Wolverine’s eyes ain’t blue! It's written right here!  Ronin #3. I was underwhelmed once again. I’d skip the following issue, too. Star Wars #78, a “flashback” to The Empire Strikes Back. David Michelinie decides that Wedge Antilles was stuck on Hoth for months after the imperial attack, and retroactively turns him into Luke’s childhood friend (apparently confusing Wedge and Biggs). Return of the Jedi #4. I just had to own the adaptation of this long-awaited film, even if I was growing out of my Star Wars devotion. Despite the excellent Williamson and Garzon art, I liked this one less than the previous Empire Strikes Back adaptation; also, I think a six-issue series would have given the story more room to breathe. Uncanny X-Men #176. I wasn’t so sure about John Romita Jr on this title. Here he seemed to adopt a Paul Smith wannabe style (which wasn’t the case; that’s just how JR Jr’s style had evolved since his Iron Man days) and I found that I could live with it… especially since JR Jr drew Cyclops’ visor the correct way (looking at you, Bill Sienkiewicz).
The story is nice in that it shows the great complicity shared by Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, and for that I could finally forgive Marvel for killing Jean Grey. X-Men Annual #7. Even only partly penciled by Michael Golden (Bret Blevins finished it, I think) and rush-inked by everyone and their siblings, this issue was a joy to read. I love the impossible Man, I love a humour issue, and did I mention MICHAEL GOLDEN? (Special bonus points for the Jim Steranko pastiche involving Nick Fury and the Contessa). |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 4, 2023 9:11:27 GMT -5
(...)
In this issue, Judd helps solves a refreshingly down-to-earth murder mystery in a hospital. The dialogue hasn't always aged well (the all-female nursing staff commenting on Michael Twoyoungmen's sexiness seems to belong to a 1960s sitcom) but the story is pretty good. Oh, I don't know. Seems pretty era-appropriate - meaning it wouldn't have been out of place in a 1980s sitcom (or even 1990s now that I think about it).
Yeah, I never understood the high praise this gets in some quarters. I first read it some time in the late 1980s and was similarly underwhelmed. I do like the art, although once I became more familiar with the work of Moebius, Caza and certain manga artists like Kojima, it became really clear how much Miller was channeling them.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 2, 2023 21:30:24 GMT -5
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 3, 2023 3:54:54 GMT -5
As noted in my post for last month, my comics buying/reading got whittled down to almost nothing at this point. To wit: New Mutants #12  X-men #177  Such was my previous love for all things X-men that, even after pretty much dropping out of comics altogether, I couldn't quite let go - and so it would remain for roughly another year (or less, actually). For the record, at this point I liked New Mutants better. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 3, 2023 9:06:40 GMT -5
October 1983... I was 19 at the time, a freshman in biology. Thinking about those days, they were really a mixed bag; some aspects of my life were kind of pathetic and others were much better. Sort of like this month's comics.
Arak #29. Under the spell of the priestesses of the Golden Bough, Arak has forgotten who he is and has regained his long hair. That mohawk of his sure didn't last long! Later he would braid his hair so as not to look too much like Conan, I guess.
Avengers #239. Assistant Editors' month brings the Avengers to David letterman's late night show, and we get a few laughs out of Hawkeye (now deaf) answering pre-arranged questions out of order. The art by Milgrom wasn't much of a draw for this reader.
Cloak and Dagger #4. The art looked good (Leonardi and Austin), and the comic *felt* like it should have been mature and deep, but I thought it was kind of light. I never became a fan of the characters despite their striking design.
Conan annual #8. I was expecting part two of "Conan of the Isles", begun in Conan annual #7... but the Conan editorial office in those days didn't care about such things. So we get a new tale, written by future regular writer Jim Owsley and drawn by Val Mayerik. I wasn't yet hostile to Mayerik back then, so I'm pretty sure I sort of enjoyed this book... but frankly, I have forgotten most everything about it apart from my disappointment about it not continuing Annual #7.
Conan the barbarian #154. Assistant Editor's month, which in this case means we get a one page parodic commentary on Caesar's commentaries on the Gallic War ("it's a big book" ---which it isn't at all). As for the Conan story itself, it's the second part of a fill-in. But then, what counts as a fill-in in a series where there is no continuity anymore? Those were bad years for Conan, even though the title would become MUCH better once the assistant editor, Jim Owsley, would take over as writer. That was still more than a year in the future, though.
Detective Comics #534. It was on the stand, so I bought it... but Gene Colan on Batman didn't do it for me. I missed Don Newton! Also, find Poison Ivy sort of boring.
Fantastic Four #262. John Byrne writes an important page in the overall mythology of the Marvel Universe, as we learn that Galactus is part of a triumvirate of cosmic powers that also includes Eternity and Death. This is probably all to justify the fact that Galactus can go on eating planets with no repercussion, although the justification for his actions is nonsensical. I was thrilled at the time, to be sure, but nowadays I think it is a BIG mistake to explain how cosmic powers function; it diminishes them to the level of... comic-book characters.
Indiana Jones #13. I re-read this comic a few years ago, having forgotten what it was exactly about... and I forgot again.
Kull the conqueror #4. The comic is still double-sized, giving Alan Zelenetz plenty of room to show how well he understands the characters. Here we are treated to several short stories told in turn by Ridondo, Kuthulos, Tu, and Brule; they are all entertaining the king as they wait for a plague ravaging the kingdom to abate. Each story is drawn by a different artist, and who would turn their back on Charles Vess, John Bolton or Bill Sienkiewicz? A cover by Michael Golden is the cherry on top of this Thurian Age sundae.
Legion of super-heroes #307. The Giffen-Levitz golden age on this title continues with the arrival of another über-powered mysterious entity. But really, after Darkseid, it's hard for anyone to look really scary.
Magik #2. I previously explained how uneasy that mini-series made me feel... I don't much care for tales of torture, degradation and child abuse. I guess that when you live in Limbo (which might be another name for Hell, in this book), it's to be expected... but still, it doesn't make for a pleasant experience.
Marvel Age #10 tells us about what's coming in Star Wars, now that Return of the Jedi is done. I enjoyed Marvel Age, to be honest.
Micronauts #56. We return to Bug's home world of Kaliklak, which we visited back when the mag was (barely) drawn by a Howard Chaykin in a hurry. Butch Guice and Kelley Jones shine here.
New Mutants #12. Magma is the new member of the team and must get used to her powers and to life in the modern world. Chris Claremont often struck me as having a ton of ideas that he'd start to build on, waiting to see where they would lead... and then he'd get other ideas and drop several of the old ones. I get the impression that it's what happened with Magma; not a whole lot was done with her afterwards.
OHOTMU #13, the book of the dead and the retired: many characters no longer active in the MU, including Banshee and Captain Marvel. In those days, dead meant dead (or so it seemed).
Savage Sword of Conan #95. If nothing else, the B&W Conan was entertaining. No connection to any of the Howard stories or to any of the previous Conan comics, but good fun.
Star Wars #79, with Lando disguised as Captain Harlock. The title was still enjoyable under Jo Duffy, Ron Frenz and Tom Palmer. But the book was headed in what I think was a bad direction.
Thor #339. Walt Simonson's brilliant arc continues, as the conundrum posed by Beta Ray Bill winning Mjolnir in fair battle gets resolved. I was so excited by this title in 1983... A beautiful mix of action, Norse mythology, character development and stunning artwork.
X-Men #177. I wasn't still sure about John Romita Jr on this title, but I started to see where he was going with his increasingly stylized approach. It would still take a few months for the book to find its legs again after the great Paul Smith run.
X-Men and the Micronauts #1. Oh, how torn I was as a fan.
First, the good bits: this is drawn by Butch Guice, the Micronauts' regular artist, which is great (even if he always drew the "ears" on Wolverine's mask in a very strange way, curving them toward the front instead of letting them point toward the back) It's also written by Bill Mantlo and Chris Claremont, the regular writers of the two super-teams, and this gives this series a lot of credibility; it would probably matter in the grand scheme of things. That the villain is dressed as Xavier was when he faced Ahmal Farouk back in Uncanny X-Men #117 is also doubtless significant, and finally the threat faced by both teams is so great that they must ally with Baron Karza, the arch-villain from the Microverse.
Then the bad bits. As in very bad. Yes, because I'm sure that "an evil version of Charles Xavier dressed in armour but wearing a playboy bathrobe over it making sexual overtures to a teenage Kitty Pryde possessed by the mind of Baron Karza" counts as a bad bit. Just as "An evil version of Charles Xavier psychically pleasures a teenage Danielle Moonstar so that she becomes his willing slave" does. I mean, come on!!! Enough with the bondage and child abuse, psychic or otherwise!
I would also count the overall plot as a bad idea. Charles Xavier, who apparently has an active evil counterpart -maybe the one that was defeated somewhere around issue #106 of X-Men- is busy destroying the Microverse in the guise of The Entity (I think that was his name). That is already a big problem to me as a reader. That a very powerful villain would destroy entire planets I can deal with; but any scale much bigger than that (like, say, a whole galaxy!) is just ridiculous, as there's only so much time in a given day. But entire universes? And this is no mere metaphor; once this mini-series is over, it will be spliced into the Micronauts' own title (leading to its sequel, New Voyages), and we'll see that the Microverse was indeed devastated to such an extent that it drove the Enigma Force mad.
Storytelling-wise, this universe-gouging tale turned out to be quite unsatisfying to Micronauts readers, because the main story arc of their re-energized comic-book, the new war against Baron Karza, was ended in an independent mini-series... and it ended by having most of the universe die and thus making the war moot, not by having the good guys defeat the bad guys. Sheesh!
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 3, 2023 13:58:01 GMT -5
(...) Fantastic Four #262. John Byrne writes an important page in the overall mythology of the Marvel Universe, as we learn that Galactus is part of a triumvirate of cosmic powers that also include Eternity and Death. This is probably all to justify the fact that Galactus can go on eating planets with no repercussion, although the justification for his actions is nonsensical. I was thrilled at the time, to be sure, but nowadays I think it is a BIG mistake to explain how cosmic powers function; it diminishes them to the level of... comic-book characters. Yeah, I stopped reading FF with the previous issue, but I read this one later - I agree about over-explaining certain things, and also found the idea of Galactus being part of that triumvirate nonsensical (wouldn't he simply be an agent of death in grander scheme of things?)
When I said that at this point I had remained loyal to the X-books, it didn't extend to this. Like I said when the first issue came up, I stopped with that one and never had any interest in continuing.
Didn't even know this existed at the time, and never read it later, nor had any desire to. Seems like a sound decision.
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