In November 1983, my devalued Canadian loonies got me...

Arak, son of Thunder #30. More exploration of myth and history, with appearances by the golden bough, some Amazons, and the Eastern Roman empire. Not bad, but no longer on my "must read first" pile. In retrospect, I don't think Roy was as interested in this series as he had been at the start, and now that the big Prester John story arc was over and done, the title seemed a little rudderless.

Avengers #240. Jessica Drew is no longer dead (thank God! I hated the trend of getting rid of characters when their mag got cancelled!) but she's still depowered. Who thought that a depowered Spider-woman would be more interesting than her super-heroic self? Not to be sexist or anything, but by that point Marvel had plenty of stereotype-challenging female private eyes, what with the Daughters of the Dragon or Bethany Cabe. It didn't have a Spider-woman anymore, though. Also, the art by Milgrom continues to underwhelm.

Batman #368. Good script by Moench, great art by Newton and Alcala, and a very important moment in the lives of the pre-crisis Batman and Robin. *This* is how you pass the mantle of a classic hero to a new generation, and Dick Grayson giving his blessing to Jason Todd was a beautiful moment. We could almost feel the lump in Bruce's throat as he thanked his erstwhile ward!

Conan #155. As I recall, this story was plotted as well as penciled by John Buscema. It was all right. A helpless but well-meaning runt of a fellow befriends Conan, is killed, and is avenged.

Conan the king #21. As Conan grows increasingly irrational after the apparent death of his son (causing him to act in a pretty tyrannical way at times), court members move their pieces on the checkboard of Aquilonian politics. I especially liked the way a certain irascible baron, really unsympathetic, is the target of Conan's anger despite being entirely innocent of Conn's murder; it's a nice reversal of roles, as the hero acts badly and his enemy is in his rights. Meanwhile, in a back-up story, we see what the prince (who's not dead, naturally) has been up to since his "murder". We can already tell he'll have to go through plenty of adventures that will turn him from a boy to a man.

Fantastic Four #263. I have very fond memories of that particular issue, for purely personal reasons that have nothing to do with its contents. I remember finding it waiting in the mailbox when coming home after school; the sun was very low on the horizon and there was already some snow on the ground; Christmas was not quite on the horizon but we were getting there... and I made a batch of cookies. I remember my mom was in the kitchen, and I was struck at that moment by how happy I was; simply and quite banally happy. One of those rare moments in existence when everything seems to be all right in the world.

As for the story... Another good one from Byrne, more down to Earth than the previous cosmic shenanigans.

Indiana Jones #14. It's not my fault I disliked the work of David Mazzuchelli at the time; the blames rests on the inker of this issue and of one issue of Master of Kung Fu (an inker who won't be named, but who has been the target of much criticism in these parts in the past). Complete mismatch between the penciller and the inker's styles. This probably would have looked amazing if we had left the pencils uninked. As for the story, it's a good Indy tale, once more underscoring the importance of Marion Ravenwood as a supporting character. Indy is no good without her.

Iron Man #179. I didn't much care for Marvel pretending that Rhodey would remain Iron Man for good, but it was nice to see the man do his best to make things work. Here Rhodes must face the Radioactive Man, something that might have dire health repercussions down the line (but was resolved, I think, as some kind of psychological issue).

Legion of Super-heroes #308. More on that Omen/Prophet business, and a back-up story on discrimination against Durlans. That's a sub-plot I never, ever understood in LSH: the racist hostility towards Durlans. Okay, they're shape-shifters. So what? I'd be far more scared of a species of telepaths who can read your mind and alter your thoughts, like the Titanians! (In later LSH incarnations, Titanians would also be the target of ostracism; but that didn't happen in the '80s).

Magik #3 and 4. More anguish, pain, corruption, death and some anguish again! Illyana gets a pair of horns, realizes she's turning into a bad guy, decides that murder is wrong and lets the arch-villain Belasco go after stealing his position, because there's no way that's not going to cause more problems down the line.

Marvel Age #11, with a spot on the Kitty Pryde & Wolverine mini-series. I enjoyed reading about Al Milgrom slashing the air with imaginary claws as he was imagining fight scenes he was about to draw. The miniseries would however turn out to be something of a dud: it's sort of an attempt at recreating the original Wolverine mini, but with the addition of Kitty Pryde who will (***get ready for this unexpected development!***) fall under the thrall of a villain who will corrupt her and turn her into an evil ninja!

The upshot is that this series gave birth to the "teenage mutant ninja" meme that gave us a certain quartet of turtles a while later.

Micronauts #57, even more extra-sized than usual! (This one has 48 pages). This is a beautiful story evoking American Native history and myths. It is only marred by Bill Mantlo's depiction of Princess Mari as an increasingly psychotic individual. Is this the issue she has revenge sex with Bug to get back at Arcturus Rann? I forget. Jackson Guice and Kelley Jones do a bang-up job on the art as usual.

New Mutants #13. I don't remember much about those post-McLeod, pre-Sienkiewicz issues. The New Mutants are back at the school, and dealing with... stuff, I guess. Kitty Pryde is there too, wearing her "Ariel" costume (only blue). She wore a green version of it in one X-men adventure and in the God loves, man kills graphic novel, but that's one code-name that sure didn't last long. One graphic novel, one entry in the OHOTMU, and I think that's it!

New Teen Titans #39. Those were the heydays of the book, truly, and here we see both Robin and Kid Flash turn their back on the past. One thinks he's too old for the short pants, the other wants a real life. Good stuff, beautifully drawn by George Perez.

OHOTMU #14, with dead of retired heroes. That one had Nova, Phoenix, Shang-Chi (STUNNING artwork by Gulacy) and Warlock, four heroes I sorely missed! Little did I know that their return would be dire disappointments. My advice to the PTB: 1) don't kill or cripple heroes; and 2) if you do kill 'em, keep 'em dead.

Savage Sword of Conan #96. It would help pass the time in a waiting room. 'Nuff said.

Savage Sword of Conan #97. A strong contender for the worst issue of Savage Sword ever, but it has an important redeeming quality: it's so hilariously bad that it makes for *great* comedy. Complete review here.

Star Wars #80. A touching story about the loyalty of a droid to her owner.

Thor #340. Oh boy, Thor and Beta Ray Bill fighting side by side! As with the Fantastic Four issue above, I have a specific memory of this comic as I had to leave it on my bed to go to an evening biochemistry class. For the next few hours, I would draw a lot of Simonson-inspired things in the margins of my notebook!

Thor #341. Loved the way Simonson modernized Kirby's designs while remaining true to them.

X-Men #178. I guess we were due for an old-fashioned fight between a team of super-heroes and a team of super-villains in this mag. John Romita Jr was still trying to find his footing here, but the book looked all right.

What if..? #43, featuring Conan in the modern day (a sequel to issue #13). Not unexpectedly, the Cimmerian (a thief, a reaver, a slayer) becomes a criminal. It takes a meeting with Captain America to make him reconsider his life choices. Pretty good story, with surprisingly good art by Bob Hall! (At the time, I wasn't yet a fan of Hall. It would take this issue and his excellent work on Shadowman for me to really appreciate his work).

X-Men/Micronauts #2 and 3. As explained last month, this should have been magnificent... but wasn't.

I see that everybody seems to have dropped the ball on these "____ Years Ago This Month" posts, so I guess I'll get that ball rolling. Of course - as noted above - since we've passed the point of my personal comics golden age, my posts are getting pretty boring, because again, it's mainly just the two at the time X-tant X-titles for me...

X-men #179


and New Mutants #14


I was really uninterested in Magik joining the New Mutants, as well, because I really didn't like that whole age-shifting Ilyana to a teenager in limbo thing (I only read the first issue of the Magik mini-series; didn't like it). Among other things, I thought it kind of diluted the whole New Mutants brand to have someone who mainly used magic (her teleporting disk power almost seemed to be an afterthought): Personally, given that bleak story in the main X-title, I recall that back then I thought, not for the first time, that Kitty should have been moved to the New Mutants. An unpopular opinion, I know, that puts me in that same category as that jerk, Prof. X.

I said above it was 'mainly' the two X-titles, as there is a bonus this month. When looking over the covers in the gallery at Mike's (again, RIP), I realized that I had also picked up the Futurians Marvel Graphic Novel:


I even more or less recall where and when I purchased it: in a mall bookstore in downtown Portland (OR) - I think it was called the Galleria. I was Christmas shopping with my mom and older sister, and the cover immediately caught my eye (it was in the store's magazine section). I remember thinking, "Wow, Dave Cockrum created a super-hero team!" I rather liked it at the time. The characters and set-up were cool, and the story was pretty solid. Apparently, though, nothing much came of it. I know there was a few issues of a monthly series later in the 80s, but that's about it as far as I know.

Then:

A little later:



I didn't buy a lot off the stands, at this point, until I got to college; but, I did get the Micronauts reprints and the Marvel Fanfare issue at a little bookstore that had some indie comics. As soon as I got to college and had regular access to a comic shop, the story changed and I started getting recent era stuff I missed, like Camelot 3000 and stuff from Pacific, Eclipse, and AC Comics.

As noted, my posts here are becoming pretty monotonous. In January 1984 I picked up:

X-men #180


Notable is that at the end of this issue, the X-men, sans Kitty, disappear into some portal that end up in Secret Wars - which I had no interest in reading.

New Mutants #15


Still not liking Magik very much, but again, I liked it when Kitty guest-starred in this title.

Otherwise, I see that this was one of those months when two issues of Spider-man were released, one at the beginning and one at the end. So I recall flipping through Amazing Spider-man #252 at the spinner rack, just out of curiosity.


My curiosity, however, was not enough to get me to buy that book (esp. when I saw it was tied to the whole Secret Wars thing, which, as I said above, did not interest me in the least).

Then:



Micronauts was the end of the Baxter format reprints of the first year, with Michael Golden, the apex of the series (and the property, as a whole). Previously, I had the second half of the series, but was missing about a third of the early issues. I justified the OHOTMU weapons issue as reference; but that was kind of a stupid buy, for what you got. What If was an interesting idea; but, it didn't really stand up that well, in execution. Dave Gibbons later had a similar thing, with an alternate version of Cap, where the Red Skull has conquered the US and that one was much better, in my opinion.

Later:

February 1984, no surprises from me.

X-men #181


They're back from the Secret Wars, and the story here made some references to it, but it still did not pique my curiosity a bit.

New Mutants #16


At this point, as I said above, I was liking New Mutants more than X-men, but I have to agree with Roquefort Raider about the Hellions; while having a Brotherhood of Evil New Mutants wasn't a bad idea, all except one were pretty lame, in that they either echoed the powers of the New Mutants (Catseye, Jetstream and Empath) or had annoying 'good luck' or semi-magical abilities (Roulette and Tarot). Thunderbird wasn't lame at least, but I didn't like that he was a member of the Hellions - and it begged the question of why Prof. X didn't also tap him to become one of the New Mutants when he assembled the rest of them.

These posts are such a treat. Read this one with breakfast and coffee. Arigato!