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Post by chaykinstevens on Sept 15, 2017 16:29:56 GMT -5
There was an additional issue written and pencilled, which has never been published. I keep hoping for a collection including a completed version of the final story. Do you know who pencilled the unpublished story? |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 15, 2017 21:25:11 GMT -5
The Cat #4 The CoverAnd here we have another cover I am not in love with. Man-Bull looks very silly to me. Why such a flat face? No imagination here. At least if you are gonna rip of the Minotaur, make the thing look better than a steroid ridden guy with a bad wig. Oh and horns. Can't forget those. The girl is drawn fine, same with the Cat. Romita is credited but on the cover itself, it says John Romita and Tony M. Who is this? Nowhere can I find reference to the guy...at any rate, I like everything on the cover except for the Man-Bull. The StorySo Greer and her friend, Sal, are in the meat packing district of Chicago (were there farms there back in the day? I know nothing of the area). They go inside this saloon-like place for lunch and we see Man-Bull in his human form. He tries to get all handsy but Greer flips him on his bottom (she claims he fell) and then spills a beer on him. Angered, he gets up and is about to fight Greer when some others in the bar/saloon step in an beat him up. He leaves but only to take a sip from a vial and then come charging back as Man-Bull. Greer somehow calls a cab in the span on one small panel, the cab arrives and takes Sal away from the terror. The very next image she has donned her costume and gone back inside the bar. This quick "oh lets get rid of her friend so she is out of the way" was silly but I will get to it later. There is a quick one page recap of how Man-Bull survived his encounter with Daredevil and then it's fighting time! Well...kind of. To be honest, the fight sucks. Man-Bull gets knocked through a barn wall and then charges out with a bunch of bulls (that he commands mentally? come on now). They charge off but Cat catches up and easily knocks out Man-Bull. He returns to human form and the bulls he freed are now confused. They trample Man-Bull en route back to their pens (because they want to go back to their slaughterhouses). Cat "sense" an ambulance and the police nearby. The police do arrive, Cat tells them to get Man-Bull help (but oh, he is also a bad guy) and Cat takes off. OpinionsWell, the only redeeming quality here was the interior art. It is drawn very well (kudos to...Starlin and Weiss? Add them to the revolving pet door of artists on this title). However, the story is garbage. Absolutely no effort here. Linda Fite had something in the first 2 and a half issues but maybe she sensed there was no love here for the character so this was her final piece. The story is rushed and really lacks any potential development. How about keeping Greer's friend around and having Man-Bull kidnap her. Greer has to rescue her friend and maybe in the process, reveals her Cat identity to her? This mag needed some supporting characters and it had none. A better support staff could have definitely helped here. That being said, I am inclined to hunt down her next appearance from this era in MTU #8. From there, I do want to see what her transition to Tigra is like and if those issues are any better. I am glad that, eventually the costume is reused (by Patsy Walker as Hellcat who I believe is introduced in Avengers #144). It really is a great costume, and I love the colour scheme. Quote of the Issue"Dumb dames get smashed like dumb guys...that's my definition of women's lib ! Ha!"- Man-Bull's exclamation as he charges the Cat during battle. Marvel Girl Back-Up Story Fite's first ever tale is the last 5 pages here. It is just Marvel Girl talking to the audience about her abilities. Not terrible but nothing needed. As the blurb before the story states, they missed their deadline, which explains the rushed feeling of the Cat story.
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 15, 2017 21:34:57 GMT -5
Final ThoughtsDo I recommend this series? Not really if you are looking for a good story. If you like artwork, the interior work will not disappoint. The first two issues are good enough and as a set, these are fairly inexpensive if you can find them (all 4 of mine cost me $4-5 per ish and I would not want to pay much more than that). I think it was a strong idea that just needed more attention. It seems sad that Marvel supposedly "really wanted a female character" yet they can the project after four issues. Maybe sales were really that bad. But I think it needed some consistency. And maybe Fite just was not a great writer (I have no idea what else she worked on after this). The book lacks a good supporting cast and the fact they went from the Owl (an okay villain) to Commander Kraken (a silly C list villain) to Man-Bull (a one-time D list villain) really hurts. As mentioned, I will hopefully pick up MTU #8 and some Tigra appearances (I don't like reading the stories until I own the comic...I know I am weird that way). So hopefully this thread will be revived one day with more discussion surrounding Greer Nelson. Or, for the short term, people can add some more in the meantime 
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Post by Rob Allen on Sept 15, 2017 22:28:52 GMT -5
First, "Tony M." is Tony Mortellaro, longtime Marvel production artist and background inker. He was known for inserting half-obscured signs that would have read "backgrounds by Mortellaro" if you could see the whole thing.
Second, Starlin and Weiss drew themselves on page two. I have a scan of the panel but I'm on my phone now. I'll post it when I get back to the computer.
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 15, 2017 22:53:28 GMT -5
Yes! I forgot to add that but noticed it from your mention earlier:)
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Crimebuster
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Making comics!
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Post by Crimebuster on Sept 15, 2017 23:47:57 GMT -5
After she became Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1, she had her own series for five issues, in Marvel Chillers #3-7.  |
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Post by Rob Allen on Sept 16, 2017 18:27:18 GMT -5
Here's the panel. The sandy-haired guy on the far right is Starlin, and the bearded guy with the hat is Weiss. They just looked too well-drawn for throwaway background characters, so I emailed this scan to Tom Orzechowski, who knew them then, and he confirmed that these were self-portraits.  Also, Chicago is surrounded by farmland but it's not close to the city center. The reason Chicago was known for stockyards and meat-packing was railroads. Almost all the rail lines in the West go to Chicago, so cows and pigs came in from all over. That's why the first line of Carl Sandburg's poem Chicago is "Hog butcher for the world". |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 16, 2017 18:38:40 GMT -5
They took the time to do that self portrait but, as was admitted in the book, they were short on their deadline. This clearly shows in the rush work on the story itself. I hope some of the Marvel Chillers stuff is decent because I feel there is a good character there in Greer Nelson.
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Post by MWGallaher on Sept 18, 2017 8:59:41 GMT -5
There was an additional issue written and pencilled, which has never been published. I keep hoping for a collection including a completed version of the final story. Do you know who pencilled the unpublished story? Ramona Fradon:  |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Sept 18, 2017 9:09:20 GMT -5
Oh, man. Now I just want to see that fifth issue for the art alone...
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Post by tingramretro on Sept 18, 2017 9:38:02 GMT -5
The Cat #4The CoverAnd here we have another cover I am not in love with. Man-Bull looks very silly to me. Why such a flat face? No imagination here. At least if you are gonna rip of the Minotaur, make the thing look better than a steroid ridden guy with a bad wig. Oh and horns. To be fair, since Man-Bull was an already established character, they didn't have a lot of choice in how he looked. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2017 10:07:40 GMT -5
Do you know who pencilled the unpublished story? Ramona Fradon: Ramona Fradon ... My favorite ... thanks for posting it. |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 18, 2017 13:33:40 GMT -5
The Cat #4The CoverAnd here we have another cover I am not in love with. Man-Bull looks very silly to me. Why such a flat face? No imagination here. At least if you are gonna rip of the Minotaur, make the thing look better than a steroid ridden guy with a bad wig. Oh and horns. To be fair, since Man-Bull was an already established character, they didn't have a lot of choice in how he looked. I know...but he looks better on the interior pages. The cover has his face looking very plain but inside, it is more bull-like and menacing. I feel like they did not try to capture that as well on the cover. |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Sept 18, 2017 13:34:21 GMT -5
Ramona Fradon: Ramona Fradon ... My favorite ... thanks for posting it. So is this story reprinted anywhere? Or just some of the artwork has survived? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2017 14:00:48 GMT -5
Ramona Fradon ... My favorite ... thanks for posting it. So is this story reprinted anywhere? Or just some of the artwork has survived? Sorry, that I just can't help you here but that's gorgeous art by her! |
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