|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 13, 2018 16:29:41 GMT -5
Warlock #13 Creative Team: Starlin, Leialoha, Orzechowski, Petra G-colors, Wolfman Synopsis: We see a New England hospital, Wildwood, with a head nurse named Reichart (sounds suspiciously like Ratchett) and a patient, Barry Bauman, who has no sensory input, and has been a patient for 24 years. They didn't do this plot on Medical Center! Meanwhile, off in space Mopey Dick....er, Adam Warlock, is floating around in space, surrounded by stars, asteroids, and a whole lot of text. Then the stars start disappearing and the Soul Gem starts acting like a medic alert system (the stars have fallen and can't get up!) and Warlock goes to investigate. He finds planets frozen in ice, the worlds destroyed. The Soul Gem traces the origin of the disturbance,to Earth and Barry Baumann, the sensory-deprived human! Turns out, Barry, deprived of external stimuli, turned inwards and tapped into the unusued portion of the human brain. His mental powers grew until he could see his surroundings and could tap the mind of his nurse, using him as eyes and ears. He caused havoc in the hospital, traffic pile-ups on the highway, and the disappearance of stars, all to seek revenge on the rest of the world. Warlock flies through space and comes face to....um.....glowing space eyes, with Barry...  They exchange mental words and commence fighting, with Barry creating rock monsters to attack Warlock. After a lot of punching and kicking (and text), Warlock tosses them away...  Barry challenges Warlock to fly through his gauntlet to Earth, with the last few pages recapping chaos and fear, looking rather like the opening of Flash Gordon, complete with observatory. Thoughts: Geez, and they said Don McGregor was wordy! Starlin goes nuts with the text and Orzechowski has his work cut out for him. Outside of the battle with the rock dudes, nothing much happens, except exposition and monologue. If someone creates Warlock, a One Man Show; skip it! Not sure where Starlin is going with this; but, it doesn't look very promising. It's a little too BWAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Evil, rather than the more nuanced Thanos. Kind of feels like Starlin either read or watched Johnny Got His Gun, with the whole invalid who can't communicate angle. We'll see what part 2 brings.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 13, 2018 16:42:46 GMT -5
Warlock #14 Creative Team: Starlin, Leialoha, Orzechowski, Wolfman; with Leialoha not only finishing the art but aslo coloring. Synopsis: Well, here is all the action, as Warlock is attacked by bat-winged creatures, solar giants (human ones, not celestial) and more exposition and recap, as well as glowing space eyes. We are attacked by more text. The Soul gem dispenses the creatures but can't steal their non-existent souls. Warlock finds a Black Hole (no Cygnus orbiting it, though), yammers more with Space Eyes, who is distracted enough that his male nurse regains control of his body, pulls out a pistol and gives Barry a .45 cal headache! The stars all return after Barry dies and Warlock whines. Thoughts:....meh..................There's more action, and more text. It's all kind of fevered existential and cackling and kind of over-wrought, with little to show for it. I don't know if Starklin was just spinning wheels, until getting back to Thanos, had writer's block, or was smoking too much of whatever is in Pip's hookah; but, this is a let down. You weren't going to get many new readers with this kind of stuff. Also, for an artist, Starlin is really, really wordy. I don't know whether he was following too much of Roy and Don McGregor's style or whether he didn't have confidence in his art to tell the story (especially since Leialoha was carrying a lot of that); but, whatever the case, it's a bit too much.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 13, 2018 17:24:12 GMT -5
Warlock #15 Creative Team: Starlin, Orzechowski, Michele Wolfman-colors, and Archie Goodwin editing. By this point, Marv Wolfman had stepped down, Gerry Conway succeeded for about a month and a half and then Archie Goodwin got stuck with the gig. Synopsis: Warlock continues with his incessant whining...  He yaps a lot, then we are saved by Thanos and Gamora...  Thanos sends Gamora off to gain Warlock's confidence and be his unofficial bodyguard, to get her out of the way as he prepares for Stellar Genocide, which sounds like a lower tier heavy metal band. We find Warlock engaging some aliens who are attacking a human, named Lamilm Gor (an anagram of Al Milgrom). A giant broccoli creature, called Marr Gar explains that Gor was loaned money for a space cruiser and defaulted on the loan, so they are repossessing it. Warlock goes off on Marr Gar and his cronies, about being dealers in dollars and cents, as Starlin does yet another editorial rant/satire, instead of advancing his story. Meanwhile, Gamora is flying her space cruiser, looking for Warlock, when she encounters Drax, who smashes it. We cut to Warlock, who is back moping, on a desolate planet. Well, not totally empty, as he runs into some kind of Space Yoda (is that redundant?).  Warlock says he has seen his death and it will happen in a year's time. the creature says he has also seen it and goes into more detail. Then, he buggers off, leaving Warlock alone. We cut to Pip, who has a sack full of money and jewels and who has a constable standing behind him. After a bit of misdirection, he saunters off with the booty. Warlock contemplates his Soul Gem and is pulled inside, with more yammering and a lot of green...  Warlock learns that the Soul gem is one of six stones, born of a star and destruction. It tries to exert control over Warlock; but, he gains his freedom and heads off into space, to face his destiny. Then, Starlin quits in yet another huff, the book is cancelled and Archie Goodwin cajoles Starlin into finishing the story in Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One Annual. Thoughts: Well, this is a bit more like it, as Starlin once again brings back the more interesting characters (Thanos, and Gamora, and maybe Pip), then bites the hand that feeds him again. This is speculation; but, it would seem that Marr Gar might be a reference to Marv Wolfman (who Starlin previously took shots at, in the Clowns story) and the Gar might be Gerry Conway. Starlin was tired of changes to his artwork and quit, though Archie Goodwin was able to get him to agree to finish the story in the annuals. The editorial statement is pretty much a digression from the story and adds nothing but Starlin venting his spleen, whether justified or not (depends on point of view). This was a pretty chaotic period at Marvel and the EIC job proved controversial. Gerry Conway ruffled several feathers with arbitrary and selfish decisions, dumping people from books that he wanted to write and other things. Marv Wolfman and Len Wein got off the horse as soon as they could, as it was too much for one guy to edit the whole company. Arrchie Goodwin had the most background for the job; but, saw that the line was too big to do the job effectively and would also bail, leading to the Shooter era. There will be one more Thanos appearance, before Starlin is enticed back, in the most unlikely of places.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 13, 2018 17:56:36 GMT -5
Logan's Run #6 Wait, what? Why are we discussing Marvel's continuation of Logan's Run? Bear with me. Logan's Run was a fairly successful film at the box office, spawning a tv series, with Gregory Harrison. Marvel picked up the comic rights and adapted the film, over 5 issues. With number 6, they started a new story, with some elements from William F Nolan's sequel, Logan's World. That first issue is shy some pages; thus, enter Thanos. Creative Team: Scott Edelman-writer, Mike Zeck-artist, Susan Fox-letterer, Petra G-colorist, Archie Goodwin-editor Synopsis: Thanos is on some unnamed planet, having kicked gluteus and recorded names...  Drax comes on the scene, as Thanos is about to destroy a flower. It is the last flower of this planet and is considered sacred. Thanos wants to destroy it and crush their spirit. Now that's evil! Drax tries to stop him and gets F-d up, as a mother and daughter, on a pilgrimage, come upon the scene. They try to stop the destruction of the flower and Thanos tosses them off a cliff...  Drax flies off to save them, recalling the death of his wife and daughter (well, wife, as the daughter was taken by mentor, to Titan, to become Moondragon). Drax saves them; but, thanos destroys the flower and disappears, leaving Drax to realize he has failed.  Thoughts: The wholestory can be read here. Scottt Edelman has a short tenure on Captain Marvel, with Al Milgrom, which included Ronan the Accuser and issue #50, where CM fights the Super Adaptoid and is finally able to release Rick Jones from the Negative Zone. It would appear that this takes place after Drax is aware of his lost family; but, could be at any point in time. It's a little piece, a decent tale of just how evil Thanos was, and what a goof Drax was. He never does live up to his role, as the being created to destroy Thanos. That will come back into play, later, in Captain Marvel. For now, it is time to move into the climax, as Starlin is enticed to stop pouting and return to his saga, to provide an ending.
|
|
|
|
Post by chaykinstevens on Jun 13, 2018 18:08:24 GMT -5
It was fun to see Eros again in a less melodramatic context, although unfortunately for Heater Delight she appeared to be a short-term fling as she was never heard from again. Heater Delight turned up again in the Starfox stories written by Peter B Gillis in Avengers Spotlight #21-22 and Marvel Comics Presents #65, although she had inexplicably changed colour. Starlin said in an interview in Comic Book Artist #18 that Heater was based on an old girlfriend of his named Heather Devitt. |
|
|
|
Post by Reptisaurus! on Jun 13, 2018 18:42:28 GMT -5
Looks like Mike Zeck does a good job copying Starlin's art style, but that just does not read/feel like Starlin on the writing end.
I've barely heard of Logan's Run and don't know anything about it. Strange that it was big enough to have a tie-in comic but got almost completely scrubbed from the cultural conversation today.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2018 10:36:45 GMT -5
Looks like Mike Zeck does a good job copying Starlin's art style, but that just does not read/feel like Starlin on the writing end. I've barely heard of Logan's Run and don't know anything about it. Strange that it was big enough to have a tie-in comic but got almost completely scrubbed from the cultural conversation today. Really? The movie was a fairly big deal, in the 70s, though it was eclipsed, a year later, by some other sci-fi film, of some renown. The film is based on the 1967 sci-fi novel, by William F Nolan and George Clayton Johnston, dealing with the themes of over-population and the emerging youth culture. In the book, the population reached the breaking point, spawning a massive war. The end result is a society where life ends at 21, with births controlled. Everyone has a lifeclock implanted in their hand, which shows a different color at each stage, with red being the final stretch. On Lastday, your final day of life, it starts blinking red. Citizens basically live out their final fantasies, then report to a Sleep Chamber, where they are euthenized. The law enforcement of the world are known as Sandmen. Some citizens rebel and go on the run, looking for the fabled Sanctuary, and the legendary "old man," Ballard. On Logan's Lastday, he decides to find Sanctuary and destroy it, as his parting gesture, as a Sandman. Hr meets Jessica, and they go on a journey across the United States. The world is a hedonistic playground for youth, and Logan and Jessica find themselves taken across the derelict world of the future. The movie was directed by Michael Anderson, with fairly state-of-the-art special effects, for 1976. The story is tweaked to living to 30, to allow for more seasoned actors, with Michael York and Jenny Agutter (Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) in the leads. Farrah Fawcett has a small role, that coincided with her fame on Charlie's Angels, leading to her more prominent billing, when the film hit tv and cable. The city is under a dome and Logan and Jessica end up escaping to the outside, eventually finding Washington DC. In the film, Logan is assigned to his mission by the city's controlling computer, rather than deciding on his own. His Lifeclock is altered, removing his last few years. Also in the film, they introduced Carousel, where those on Lastday would go, to try to renew, in a spectacular ceremony. The idea was that some would be reborn, as a way to give incentive for people to accept the rules of society, rather than rebel and run. We see most of the participants "flame out". The film got a major push and MGM spent a ton of money on it. It did pretty well at the box office, leading to a tv series, with Gregory Harrison (Trapper John MD) as Logan, now running across the countryside, encountering new civilizations. The story editor was DC Fontana and the series was a mix of Star Trek and 70s Fugitive-template sci-fi (hero on the run, helping others along the way. See Genesis II, The Incredible Hulk, The Phoenix, etc...). The film is kind of a demarcation between the social commentary and more cerebral late 60s/early 70s sci fi films (the Planet of the Apes series, Silent Running, Colossus, the Forbin Project, Omega Man, Soylent Green, etc...) and the more action-oriented films that would follow Star Wars. Logan's Run is a bit of both. The original novel writers had worked on things like the Twilight Zone and were very much in that Rod erling/Richard Matheson style. Marvel was doing a lot of tv and film adaptations, at that time and picked up the rights to do Logan's Run. They adapted the film across the first 5 issues, with George Perez on art...        The movie was also known for a bit of skin, as can be seen here...  and you do get to see more of Jenny Agutter (and as much as was allowed of Michael York). It was a staple of cable, into the 80s and a favorite of teenage boys, looking for boobs and sex (there is a scene in a pleasure parlor, with an orgy going on, though somewhat obscured). Marvel tried to continue the series, with issue 6, borrowing some of their plot for William F Nolan's Logan's World, where Logan is forced to re-enter the city he left behind and face the Sandmen. Marvel mixes elements of it, with the events of the movie (which diverged heavily from the original book). I kind of assume they were either running behind (notorious, in this period) or came up shy on page count and added the Thanos story, which might have been an inventory piece. Issue 7 was the last one, though another had been completed and was retooled and used elsewhere at Marvel (one of the b&w mags or Star Wars, as I recall). The adaptation was pretty good and Perez did a heck of a job at making it more lively than the film, which had plenty of action, once Logan goes on the run. Malibu later acquired the rights to adapt the novels and did so, with Barry Blair, under their Adventure Comics imprint. Blair adapted Logan's Run and Logan's World; but, did not adap Logan's Search, though I believe that was in their original plan. Blair's artwork was never a favorite, for me; but, his style did capture the youthful look of how the society was supposed to be, in the novel. Problem was, the characters all kind of looked the same and kind of soulless. Logan's Run kind of fell into obscurity, as the years went on, as it wasn't shown as much on tv (apart from the Turner stations, since he ended up owning it, as part of the MGM library). The DVD has a pretty decent commentary track and some extras, including a contemporary "making-of" documentary and some deleted footage. The tv series did, eventually, get a dvd release, with no extras. It's not bad, for what it is; but was done rather cheaply. It feels very Star Trek, thanks to Fontana, who used a lot of Star Trek writers. The overall look also reminds you of the Planet of the Apes tv series, in terms of budget and landscape. |
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 14, 2018 10:52:38 GMT -5
Looks like Mike Zeck does a good job copying Starlin's art style, but that just does not read/feel like Starlin on the writing end. I've barely heard of Logan's Run and don't know anything about it. Strange that it was big enough to have a tie-in comic but got almost completely scrubbed from the cultural conversation today. I don't recall how old you are...but if you didn't hear about Logan's Run in 1976 you were either very young, not born yet or not paying attention. It was the #18 grossing film of 1976, doing particularly well with young people. It spawned both the comic book and a short-lived TV series. Ultimately it was overshadowed by the behemoth of '77, but it was one of the major SF films of the 70s. |
|
|
|
Post by adamwarlock2099 on Jun 14, 2018 10:57:41 GMT -5
That Logan’s Run story is one of my favorite Thanos stories. I think it showcased an evil and out right disregard for other’s lives that get lost in the cosmic scene. I can see more evil and violence in this story than killing half of life in the universe.
|
|
|
|
Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 14, 2018 11:23:39 GMT -5
On the Logan's Run movie, I may fall into Slam's "very young" category, as I was all of 7/8 in 1976, but I can attest to the fact that it was a big thing at the time. I obviously didn't see it until much later, but I remember the hype surrounding it and a lot of the older kids talking about it, and I watched the spin-off TV show. Even after the Star Wars juggernaut, Logan's Run remained a pretty well-known thing for some time afterward.
The comic book adaptation is quite good, by the way. I only ever heard of it relatively recently, like about 10-12 years ago when I saw a blog post about it (never remember seeing it on the spinner racks when I was a kid), and then bought all 7 issues and had them bound.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2018 13:22:49 GMT -5
Logan's Run was one of the better comic book adaptations of film; and, in many ways, set the template for how Marvel handled Star Wars. Capture the look; but, keep the story moving and have plenty of action, while ending on a cliffhanger. Both films fit that template well, as Logan's Run has a lot of shift in scenes, as they progress along their journey, while Star Wars went from cliffhanger to cliffhanger.
The problem with Logan's Run, in all media, is that there is really only one story. Once it is played out, you are stuck. Logan's World tried to move on, where Logan has to return to the city to find medicine and runs into vindictive Sandmen and Logan's Search pretty much has him repeat the run, thanks to the manipulation of aliens. The tv series was very formulaic, with the trio (Logan, Jessica and an android, named Rem) arriving at some new locale, helping the locals, then moving on. Francis hunts them, in early episodes, then disappears for a while.
The tv series had issues, aside from budget and formula. Francis is sent after Logan by the elders of the city, a hidden group of middle-aged men, who actually run things. Francis is tempted with ascension to the council, if he brings Logan back. Other Sandmen accompany Francis outside the city, yet none of them ever question what they had been told, vs what they see. It was never very believable. Aside from that, it was a pretty decent tv series, though it was unlikely to ever run long, without major changes.
The movie was also a favorite of Starlog, as they covered both the film and the tv series, though mostly due to being starved for content, until Star Wars spawned the sci-fi boom, in film and television. When they didn't have a big movie or tv show, they tended to fall back on interviews with minor actors from Star Trek episodes.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2018 15:11:00 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #55 Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-script, John Byrne pencils, Dave Hunt-inks, Susan Fox-letters, George Roussos-colors, Archie Goodwin-editor Synopsis: 5 months have passed since America's Bicentennial and Jim Starlin quitting in a huff (again). When we last saw Warlock, he was massive and whining about not being able to go home. Thanos was about to embark on Stellar Genocide and had sent Gamora to find Warlock, to get her away from him and his schemes. She ran into, literally, Drax. We now join our Cosmic Savior, nearing Earth, yet finding himself shrinking down. He encounters a rocket, which jusy happens to be carrying a trapped Spider-Man (after the events of MTU #54).  Warlock transports the rocket to the Blue Area of the Moon and he and Spidey have a chat, only to be interrupted by Stranger danger...  The Stranger ( by Camus)wants to add Warlock's Soul Gem to his own. Spidey gets involved and gets swatted away, like an insect (or even an arachnid) and lands in the nearby magenta forest. Warlock hurls up the section of the Moon he is standing on, carrying the Stranger with it; but, the Stranger dematerializes and Warlock gets smooshed, while the Big S lords over him. Spidey wakes up at the feet of some hippie in a dress (well, robe), with a bindi. He says he is the Gardner and Spidey tells him he loves his Perry Mason books and the Gardner says "No, not Earle Stanley Gardner.!" Okay, I made that last part up; but, he is the Gardner and he created the vegetation in the Blue Area. The Gardner won't get involved, as they see Warlock get smooshed, so Spidey goes to help Warlock, who is stretched in some energy contraption, that looks like the one in The Incredibles...   Spidey attacks and the Gardner finally gets guilted into helping, when he realizes the Stranger came for his Soul Gem. He attacks with vegetation and Spidey frees Warlock, who adds the power of his gem to that of the Gardner. Together, then send the Stranger away. The vegetation has died as a result of the Gardner's gem being corrupted by battle and he starsts balling and runs away to find another green woorld and grow a new garden. Warlock's sniffling, too, and he and Spidey head to Earth, even though Spidey is on his own, next issue. Thoughts: I wouldn't include this, except this is a bit of a prelude to the Infinity Stones, as we see others with their own gems. Both The Stranger and The Gardner possess Infinity Stones, as does Warlock, and the Stranger seeks to control them all. The Gardner is a pacifist and tries to stay out of the fight, until he sees that Warlock was attacked because the Stranger sought him. In the end, the Gardner has lost his peace, by taking up arms. Kind of a ham-fisted metaphor; but, Mantlo wasn't the most subtle of writers. We do get some nice Byrne art, with Dave Hunt kind of softening the edges, more than Terry Austin, so it doesn't look as "Byrne" as some of JB's art, from this period.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2018 16:24:19 GMT -5
Avengers Annual #7 Creative Team: Starlin, Joseph Rubinstein-finishes, Orzechowski letters, Petra G-colors, Archie Goodwin edits Synopsis: Warlock is on some dead planetoid, where he finds the dying Gamora, who tells him of Thanos' plan of Stellar Genocide.  There is no mention of her run-in with Drax, or how she learned of Thanos' plans, since he hadn't shared them with her and sent her off on her errand, to get her out of the way. Warlock heads off to face Thanos. meanwhile, on Earth, Avengers Mansion is filled with people and a sense of dread. Captain Marvel and Moondragon show up, via the window, to add to things, saying they have also head premonitions. It turns out that Iron Man has been the troubled one of the Avengers crew, despite never having shown any precognitive powers. You'd think Wanda would be the edgy one. We cut to Thanos' ark, which approaches a star and turns it nova. Moondragon has the Ben Kenobi moment...  Warlock turns up and recaps everything, going back to Marvel Feature. He tells how Thanos survived his defeat by Captain Marvel, as his ark was preprogrammed to reel him in from space and he spent time studying for a way to bring a big prize to Death, to win her love. On a dead world he found a scroll, which speaks of 6 gems...  We learn that Thanos went in search of the 6 gems (or would have, if Starlin didn't keep quitting, every time he had a disagreement with the editor) and we see that he first defeats The Stranger, then finds one on a prison satellite, one in a cave on Deneb IV, one from a monster called Xiambor, and the discarded gem of the Gardener (which he tossed away in MU #55). He stayed away from Warlock, until they came togetehr to beat the Magus. he somehow siphoned off energy and combined it with the other 5, to create a large synthetic gem. Gamora escaped from Drax (somehow) and went back to her master, where she learned his plans and tried to stab him, with a knife, only to get smooshed and be found by Warlock, who took her soul. (Ewww....creepy!). Warlock is mopey, as he might have loved her (or else he just has a thing about green chicks in fishnet bodystockings). Now he wants Thanos' keister. Meanwhile, Pip has arrived at Thanos' ark and goes looking for Gamora or Warlock (or even Thanos. Guess who he finds?  The Avengers receive a warning from Starcore, the orbiting early warning space station, that an armada has passed Pluto and is headed for Earth (sound familiar?). The gang jumps into Moondragon's spaceship (after Warlock disappears) and everyone sits around worrying. Then, they are given a reason to worry...  Iron Man and Thor go out into the void and attack the ships, while the Avengers sneak through the lines and land on Thanos' ark and sneak inside. There, they fight hisarmy of weirdoes, until Captain Marvel stumbles upon a sad scene (depending on your point of view)...  Thanos left Pip a lobotomized zombie. Warlock takes his soul and learns Thanos' plans. He leads Captain Marvel to Thanos' real ark, where he is about to snuff out a star, until CM smashes into his artificial gem. It doesn't destroy it; but, delays Thanos long enough for Warlock to attack...  and this time, it's personal!!! Warlock dies and Iron Man and Thor attack, with Iron Man destroying the artificial gem. Thanos is unable to obliterate the star and beams away, after cackling about getting his revenge on everyone. We see Warlock's true end, via Captain Marvel's eyes, as Warlock emerges from the past to take his own soul, as we saw when he faced the Magus. This time, we see it from his future self's perspective. Warlock awakens and finds Gamora and Pip, who show him where he is, as we see all of the others whose souls were taken by Warlock's gem. Warlock is now at peace.  Warlock now feels love... Thoughts: Well, we get a bit of a bumpy start, as Starlin seemed to have lost the narrative thread, until we learn what appeared to be missing from the story (how Gamora ends up dying and Thanos' acquisition of the various Infinity Stones, though not named as such, yet). It's all suitably epic, yet you do kind of feel like it would have been much better had Stalin played it out over more issues, to build the story more. It feels like everything just kind of got thrown into the mix and the main beats only got a page or two, instead of an issue or two (especially Thanos' quest for the other Gems and building of his artificial gem). Well, at least Archie convinced Starlin to finish the thing, even in a somewhat rushed form. There is a certain symmetry to it, as we see Warlock's death, from the other end, as his past self shows up to take his soul, thus defeating the Magus. Gamora gets pretty short shift, after a pretty darn good intro, back in the Magus saga. She ends up being cannon fodder, thanks to the need to wrap things up quickly. This all kind of reminds me of season 4 of Babylon 5, when it looked like season 5 wasn't going to happen. They ended the Earth War early, rather than carry it over to season 5, and sho the final episode. then, they got a reprieve and had to hold back the ending, as the produced season 5 (with placeholders, until they were ready for the planned season 5 arc, which leads to the final episode). I am left suspicious that the truncated feeling of this was the motivation to basically repeat himself, when Starlin revived Thanos and went into the Infinity Gauntlet storyline. As we will see, Thanos has to spend some time accumulating the Infinity Stones, before he starts threatening the destruction of the universe. Well, we aren't done yet, as now we have to see how the Avengers will face Thanos, without Warlock and the Soul Gem. Will Captain Marvel save their bacon? Will the Titans prove of an use, other than hostages? Is mentor even weaker than Highfather, without even an Orion to carry the fight? Tune in next time to find out.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2018 17:17:54 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 Creative Team: pretty much the same as last time, except Annette Kawicki taking over as letterer. Synopsis: Peter Parker is asleep, dreaming of the battle between the Avengers and Thanos' he sees all that happens, thanks to a mental summons from Moondragon. He also see Thanos reappear on the space ark and rally his men to defeat the Avengers and take Warlock's Soul Gem. He uses the massive energy cannons to defeat Thor, iron Man and Captain Marvel and he now plans to use the Soul Gem to wipe out th Earth's son. Time for Spidey to drop his...um, clocks and grab his socks!  Spidey heads out as we see Lord Chaos and Master Order talk about the role of Spidey and Ben Grimm, who we next see reading some Stephen King (Salem's Lot) as Spidey interrupts him.  Once Spidey gets Ben to ever-lovin' shut up, he tells him the story and they head out to space, to intercept the space ark.  They get inside and are attacked by Thanos goons, until Thanos cuts off the gravity...  Spidey and ben get zapped and Chaos and Order turn their eyes on the Soul gem, where we see Warlock enjoying the afterlife, with Pip and Gamora. Spidey then wakes up Ben and they see everyone a prisoner of Thanos. Thanos tells them he will use the Soul gem to destroy the sun, as a gift to Death, to regain her love and Spidey says... He runs off, until realizing he can't pilot the FF's spaceship and that Thanos destroying the sun will destroy Earth; so, he goes back to face Thanos, destroying the machinery that holds the Avengers prisoner...  It all turns into a battle royale, with Thanos in the middle...  Thanos blasts them away and takes out Thor and Ben. Order and Chaos add some inspiration to Spidey, who realizes he must get to the Soul gem, under a glass globe. They also contact Warlock, inside the gem. Spidey is successful in releasing the gem and Thos wets his pants...  Warlock takes a page out of ELO's songbook...  Warlock, Pip and Gamora are buried on the desolate world and Captain Marvel delivers the eulogy. Spidey and Ben return home and we see Warlock and his friends at peace, inside the Soul Gem. Our last sight is the stone Thanos, with tears inscribed on the stone face, for his unrequited love, as he is denied death in all forms, forever tormented. Thus ends the original saga of Thanos. Thoughts: well, we get the usual team-up silliness, before getting to the meat of things. Thanos kicked everyone's butt, off panel and Spidey fills it all in. Again, we lament that Starlin didn't have more pages to do the ending justice. The fight is grand and dynamic, with Spidey holding the key role, to unleash Adam Warlock, to bring the final end to Thanos. The ending feels a bit like The Wizard of Oz, with the water dumped on the Wicked Witch; but it works well enough. The epilogue, at graveside, is very suitable, as Captain Marvel eulogizes Warlock and his friends. One os left to wonder about that scenes significance, given Starlin's past with Vietnam (though he was in the Philippines, according to one thing I read). Things do seem a bit repetitive, from the Captain Marvel storyline, like Starlin was basically doing a second draft to the same story. Once again, he didn't quite do it justice, as his ego and temper ended his momentum and he came back to things a year later, to finish the story up in fewer pages than he probably planned. That is the only real weakness here, as he has toned down the wordiness that plagued the post-Magus Warlock issues and lets his visuals tell more story. We just get too many flashbacks to things we never got to see unfold at a reasonable pace. In the end, The Thanos Saga turned out to be the true Marvel Epic, even moreso than The Kree-Skrull War. It raged over more territory, pulling in more people, as it went from an Iron Man and Thing team-up, into Captain Marvel, Daredevil, the Avengers, Warlock, Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-in-One. Fittingly, it started in a team-up story and ended with one. This story would do a lot to set the tone for future, line-spanning epics, setting the stage for things like Secret Wars, and Crisis on Infinite Earths, even before it would spawn The Infinity Gauntlet. At this point, Starlin bounces around with a few odd comics at Marvel and DC, before embarking on the Metamorphosis Odyssey, at Epic (again, with Archie running the show) and work at DC. As time progresses, he is more and more involved with his own material (MO, The Price, Deadstar). He still does the odd book, here and there, then finishes up the 80s with some work at DC, bridging into the 90s (Batman, The Cult, Cosmic Odyssey, Gilgamesh II), then returns to Marvel, for Silver Surfer. In between, he writes and draws a masterpiece, which is connected to our saga; but, that will have to wait. Next, we look at thanos' legacy, in the wake of his demise. Come back for a return to Captain Marvel, as we look at the fate of Drax, the Destroyer, and how it ties into Titan, and a little present left by Thanos.
|
|
|
|
Post by Reptisaurus! on Jun 14, 2018 20:19:00 GMT -5
Looks like Mike Zeck does a good job copying Starlin's art style, but that just does not read/feel like Starlin on the writing end. I've barely heard of Logan's Run and don't know anything about it. Strange that it was big enough to have a tie-in comic but got almost completely scrubbed from the cultural conversation today. I don't recall how old you are...but if you didn't hear about Logan's Run in 1976 you were either very young, not born yet or not paying attention. It was the #18 grossing film of 1976, doing particularly well with young people. It spawned both the comic book and a short-lived TV series. Ultimately it was overshadowed by the behemoth of '77, but it was one of the major SF films of the 70s. I was a fetus for most of '76. I'm not a huge movie guy but I figure I would have heard of this by nerd culture osmosis. This really, really did not stand the test of time. I don't know Silent Running, the Forbin Project or the Omega Men, either by the by. I'm not sold on the movie but I would really like to read the comic. Perez would be a much better fit for sci-fi or fantasy than he would be for anything set in the here and now. |
|
