|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 24, 2018 18:11:36 GMT -5
Defenders #75 Creative Team: Same as last time, with Carl Gafford on the colors and Esposito back inking. Synopsis: Foolkiller has zapped Val's hand, making her drop Dragonfang. he holds Dollar Bill at gunpoint, while Richard Rory tries to talk sense, by making blanket condemnations of politicians, crime, and other annoyances, while Amber chides him for proving Foolkiller's point. FK moves them into the next room, as Val cautions Clea not to act. FK forces a review of Dollar Bill's documentary as proof of his guilt.  By this logic, the entire Defenders team and editors are in deep doo-doo, based on the last run of issues. Val makes her move, knocking Dollar Bill away from FK and gets the Purifier Ray in the gut, which doesn't kill her, though it does stun her. FK hotfoots it before Clea can magic him, blasting the ceiling as he exits. The roof and walls come crumblin' down... Val stops the roof from crushing others and miraculously prevents it from collapsing under its own weight and lack of structural support. Ledge calls the cops and Kyle Richmond, reaching his limo. he heas back as Patsy ambushes Foolkiller. She jumps around while he ray blasts, destroying walls and furniture. Patsy lures him outside, allowing Val and Clea to get the rest out of the smoking house. FK gets a bead on Patsy and Val hits him with a dropkick from behind then kicks his head for a goal. Meanwhile, Hulk finds a beached whale and drags it out to sea, as we are told where to contact Greenpeace to help save the wales...  Val bodyslams FK like the Road Warriors attacking jobbers in a studio match.... Clea tries to magic out the fire, as the fire department shows up. Nighthawk flies over a two-page spread to see firetrucks trying to extinguish the conflagration and the assorted wreckage. He lands and meets up with Val, who tells him about Foolkiller and when he learns he was just a nut with a gun, he loses his s@#$ and starts yelling at her. Then a reporter turns up and calls him Hawkeye and he goes ballistic, yelling that the Defenders are no more and to get off his property. Patsy tries to console Val and then the Hulk turns up and things go right down the s@#$%%er. Val gets Hulk to settle down, after the reporters and firefighters skeedaddle. She says the Defenders are done and he jumps away. Richard Rory asks them to help he and Amber find James Michael and Patsy convinces her to help, as we are then shown a morgue, where an older man identifies a body as "Sam," who just happens to be the mysterious being Omega. Thoughts: Total pandemonium! This issue need a Jim Ross or Gordon Solie to call the action, as it read like the comic book equivalent of studio pro wrestling, when the heels pearl harbor the babyfaces (or the babyfaces make a save; take your pick)! Plenty of action, a bit of weirdness and a PSA for saving the whales. 70s (and early 80s) tv was just as bad, with MASH and Quincy inserting social messages in the middle of dialogue. I don't mind a story that deals with real world issues but try to keep the preaching under control (Quincy could be really bad about it, at one point). You knew you were in trouble when they started quoting statistics. The whale thing is pretty random and would have been better served as a stand-alone allegorical issue, in between storylines. You know, something like "Hulk smash whale hunters!" or Valkyrie clubs seal hunter with her sword.\\Foolkiller had bigger potential and was more deserving of a longer storyline than Lunatik. Too bad Gerber wasn't the writer. Speaking of Gerber, we are about to enter the conclusion of his Omega series, by other hands. It won't be pretty (though I don't think it is as awful as some). Elf With A Gun got a better resolution. I got this issue in a Whitman pack and it seems to have been a prominent source for it. Nice evocative cover, too. This one and last issue's have been a cut above recent efforts.
|
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on Oct 24, 2018 19:52:32 GMT -5
Now we are getting closer to the era I know best...
|
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Oct 25, 2018 7:58:41 GMT -5
"Before the Direct Market and the spread of comic specialty shops, you might have to go to two or more newsstands to find all of the comics you wanted, in a month."
Hah i say. Here in Phoenix from 1975 through 1980 I was traversing through 8 local convenience stores surrounding my high school and 3 stores within bike riding distance of home. And I still would miss issues lots of times. It really was a real hide and seek here. There was never a guarantee of finding any title regularly at the same store every month except for Superman/Action, Batman/Detective/Brave and the Bold, Amazing Spider-Man/Incredible Hulk and any Archie comic. Anything else was ultimately dependent upon the distributors I believe. There was usually a set # of comics provided at any convenience store based on sales for the most part and how many comics were shipping in any given week. So if the store wasn't tearing covers off and returning (which many did NOT, choosing instead to leave comics in their rack for months on end til they sold or didn't sell) then they would receive even less new issues.
The advent of the LCS at 1st was stupendous because now you had all in one place shopping (for the most part) until even the LCS was forced to begin ordering based upon actual sales versus ordering ALL titles ( have you seen how many publisher issues ship in a week anymore? Its crazy!) in hoping they might sell. Once the LCS began speculating on issues based upon pre-order or requests from customers then it all went insane. Even now if I truly want some comic that is the "hot buy" of the week or a low seller i either have to stay on top via Previews and pre-order with a shop or search out through the 3 remaining major local LCS in hopes of finding them. Even having a pull box in a shop is no guarantee anymore as the staff have gotten fairly lousy about maintaining their pull lists properly or taking from one box to fill another box when a customer is in the shop.
Always my one and best bet for getting comics regularly is the oldest and best shop here in Phoenix that has been around for over 36 years. When the owner chooses to retire (soon by his words) and unless he finds someone to buy him out, then it will be even more difficult. Alan the owner is one of the last LCS to actually have a sense of what sells or doesn't for stocking new issues each week. It isn't often that he will under order or be caught off guard. Every other shop around here seems to under order or go for the hot trends for guarantee immediate sales.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 25, 2018 10:54:18 GMT -5
In some areas, the distributor might dictate what was on the stand, via bundling. If you wanted Playboy, you took a selection of other titles, because they had exclusive rights and you didn't have a choice. I read somewhere that was a factor in DC's presence on newsstands. Many newsstands probably didn't care, as comic book buying in those days was more spontaneous. Regular collectors were a much smaller percentage of the audience and far more were bought by parents, on impulse, or kids with an allowance who just wanted a good comic to read. If you wanted to get the issue every month (or two months, for a bi-monthly) then subscriptions were available (though I have heard horror stories about how they looked when they finally arrived).
St the heart of my collecting/reading days, I would study the new releases in Advance (my shop used Capital), as well as read the Comic Buyer's Guide and Comic Scene (and, occasionally, Amazing Heroes and The Comics Journal) which helped keep me up to date on what was coming out. Comic Shop News was another source. CBG was good for advance word on upcoming series. DC also used to have a preview supplement to give you an idea of what was coming out in 2 or 3 months down the road. I'd turn in my list to my shop and they were good about pulling my stuff. I'd pick up weekly and then look at other titles and maybe supplement what I ad held. The other major shop in town was a bit better for independents and grahic novels; so, I'd hit there to see if there was anything interesting (that was where I first saw Vietnam Journal and the Monster Society of Evil limited edition book).
In my younger days, comics were a very rare treat. I got a few on birthdays or Christmas; usually Gold Key. I got to pick out one at a drugstore, when I was sick and we were picking up medicine. Mostly, I read the comics of friends and relatives. I only received an allowance sporadically, as my father was a teacher in a small school system and my mother sold cosmetics and, later, real estate. If the market was good, I got a small allowance. If not, I sucked it up. Once in a very great while I could convince my dad to let me get one comic book. When i was hitting my teen years, I started earning money and the Whitman program was expanding; so, I bought a lot of comics via that method. Then, I started riding to the nearest town to buy, with my money from lawn mowing, working in fields and helping my dad paint houses my mother was selling. By the time I was between my junior and senior year of high school, I had a job and a bookstore in Decatur was getting Direct Market comics, as they had the early releases from First, as well as Pacific, the Archie Red Circle, and some of the DC & Marvel Baxter reprints. I started buying Jon Sable and American Flagg, flipped through the Nexus magazine issues, and bought the Micronauts reprints. A year later, I went off to college and found my first proper comic shop.
When I was a kid, in the early 70s, comics were fairly common on most newsstands, in varying degrees. Some carried a few, some carried a lot (depending on the size of the newsstand). I don't recall a spinner display until later, in the mid 70s, at a bookstore. However, that bookstore laer removed the comic rack. Our grocery stores would have a handful on any week. Later, the Kroeger sore had a spinner display. Sometimes I found them in the toy department of stores, like K-Mart or JC Penny. By the mid-70s, I saw less of them; but, by the late 70s I saw some spinner racks reappear, as some of the grocery stores expanded (the Kroeger store). The comic shops started appearing in the 80s. In college, the first one I found closed down; but, another opened up right by campus (the other had been a bit of a hike, to the downtown area). A second opened up a couple of blocks away, with a bigger focus on role playing stuff. I'd hit the one for my main stuff and then the other, for supplemental and things like the Rocketeer Graphic Novel and the Osprey Men-At-Arms military history series of books (aimed at war gamers). Then, then main store closed down and the supplemental store became my main one. I could also buy graphic novels at the Student Union retail bookstore, which is where I bought the first Calvin & Hobbes collection, the American Flagg graphic novel (collecting the first 3 issues, plus a couple of new intro pages), and Will Jacobs & gerard Jones' The Comic Book Heroes, a fan history of the Silver and Bronze Ages.
When I was in the military, I had a main shop and a back-up that was also more diverse, with graphic novels, indies, role playing stuff, sci-fi and fantasy paperbacks (discovered the Wild Cards series there) and martial arts equipment. It was there I first started getting Catalan books, of European material, the Fantagraphics prince Valiant collections, Modesty Blaise and Corto Maltese, and the Will Eisner graphic novels. I also picked up role playing reference books for the Justice Machine (it was a great reference for the original series, before it was retooled at Comico), the Horseclans series of books, the Prisoner, Man From UNCLE and the Eternal Champion, plus more Osprey reference books (used to have a whole shelf of those). Then, on weekends off, I would drive to Columbia and Charlotte to go back issue and paperback hunting.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 25, 2018 14:48:25 GMT -5
Defenders #76 Before I get started, a personal note: I have not read Omega The Unknown. I hadn't read it then and I haven't read it now. I have scans of it; but, it is one of several series I haven't actually started reading, yet. I did read the next issue of defenders and, apart from a teaser on the Bullpen page, it was all I knew of Omega. As such, I am approaching this as I did then, with no knowledge of the series and having just seen the guy in the Bullpen page and still lamenting that Kieth Giffen isn't still drawing the book and the stories have been a bit lacking, lately. So, here we go... Creative Team: Steven Grant-writer, Herb Trimpe & Steven Mitchell-art, Clem Robbins-letters, George Roussos-colors, Al Milgrom-editor, Jim Shooter-target of Steve Gerber's wrath (I'm guessing) Synopsis: Our story opens with the remaining Defenders flying over New Jersey, in a Quinjet, piloted by Janet Van Dyne-Pym, aka The Wasp. Patsy put in a call to her for help and Jan is helping Hellcat and Valkyrie and their new acquaintances Richard Rory, Amber Grant and Ruth Hart hunt for a pair of missing kids: James Michael Starling and Dian Wilkins. Ruth relates how James michael was the only survivor of a car crash and was brought to a New York Hospital, where he displayed strange behavior. He was relatively unemotional and seemed mature beyond his years, speaking in a very specific manner (much like mr Spock). James Michael suffered burns on his hands, which formed the shape of the Greek letter Omega. Ruth and Amber became foster parents of James Michael, who was troubled in school, as he was a target of bullies. He seemed passive about it until a friend, John, was badly beaten by bullies. John died and the funeral was the only time James michael displayed emotion. At the funeral was also minor superhero Omega, who seemed to share some kind of relationship with James Michael, appearing to rescue him on more than one occasion. James Michael disappeared after the funeral and they are no hunting him. Throughout the story, Amber refers to James Michael as a "punk". Patsy is distracted by the repeat of the story and looks out the window, spotting saucer-shaped craft, floating in the sky. If they open up and reveal humans in vaguely Nazi hats, don't trust them! The scene shifts to Las Vegas, to the city morgue, where a police woman has arrived to identify a body. After she is out of sight of the reception desk, she tells "Dibbuk" that he can come out. A purple demonoid creature appears (complete with spiked tail); but, it seems confused. The policewoman transforms into Ruby Thursday and Dibbuk relaxes. The pair remove the body of Omega, who was brought in last issue. She claims that he is a masterpiece of organic cybernetics, even more sophisticated than her own. They leave as Ruby remarks that unlocking the secret of his ability to tap biospheric energy will make her unstoppable. The scene shifts to an ultra-modern, almost futuristic house, somewhere in the Pennsylvania Appalachian Mountains. There we find the subjects of the search, James Michael Starling and Dian Wilkins. We also find two people, who look like JM's dead, robotic parents. JM thinks they are duplicates and wonders if he, too, is a robot. He recalls his mother's "dying" warning not to listen to the voices in his head, which he is hearing now. He freaks out and tells Dian they have to leave, immediately. We next see inside the flying saucer, where we find creatures that would give the Cybermen a run for their money....  (dude on the right, as seen in the Omega series). One of the weirdos reports in to its commander, saying they have located the prime subject, but it is smaller more compact. The boss says that if the energy levels remain, then it is X-32 and must be destroyed. Mysterious! At the same time, Ruby and Dibbuk bring the body of Omega into her lab. Turns out she is the one who killed him (in Omega #10) and now she is going to dissect (or dismantle, if he is mechanical) him. We cut back to the Quinjet, which is on an intercept course with the saucers. Amber spots James Michael, just as the weirdos start beaming down and the Doctor Who music kicks in. The creature targets JM, who tells Dian about one attacking him in the hospital, where he was saved by Omega. It identifies JM as completely organic, but filled with the energy they have been tracking, saying it has been transferred. JM unleashes energy beams, destroying the thing, then more show up, with commands that he be terminated (or exterminated, in a Dalek voice). Val and Patsy come to the rescue and Val gets "ZAPOING"-ed in the gut (seriously, that is the sound effect) and goes down, with Wasp distracting the mechanical invader long enough for her to recover. She guts a cyborg attempting to get into the house and Patsy goes to the Quinjet to summon help. We cut to Kyle arriving in his NY pad, only to face someone from the Justice department, with a court order preventing him from being Nighthawk, until the investigation is concluded. Then, we see the Hulk face the Shmoo...  The ladies are fighting the robots and losing, when Moondragon shows up...  She gets all high and mighty and bitchy with the robots and they actually talk to her, calling her priestess, then a bright light comes out of the house. The robots say the energy is gone an bugger off back into their ships and fly off to track it. moondragon proceeds to act prissy with the Defenders, when Dian interrupts. Michael disappeared in the glow and was replaced by the dead body of Omega. Thoughts: WTF is going on? That is how I felt, then. There is a lot thrown at the reader and not much gets sorted out, beyond this weird kid is hiding from alien robots, is tied to Omega, who is dead, and Ruby Thursday is back, having killed Omega and has now stolen his body. Needless to say, the next issue is a necessity to try and sort out this mess. Oh, yeah, and I need to find 10 issues of a cancelled series, which didn't explain much, to begin to just be a "bit" confused, rather than totally lost. Now, I have come to know some of this. Steve Gerber launched Omega in 1976, which starts out with young John Michael and his parents moving to New York, only for them to die in the car crash, revealing that they are robots (or cyborgs). Meanwhile, an alien lone survivor of a destroyed planet arrives on Earth, wearing a strange costume, and becomes a minor superhero. James michael had dreamed about the alien hero and releases energy from his hands, with Omega symbols appearing, which match Omega's funky headband. Omega comes to JM's rescue when the weird robots show up. There is some kind of link and both appear to be innocents, finding their way ion the world. They were misfits, in a book about misfits, rather than superheroes. This being Marvel, when 10 issues of weird misfits didn't attract a sizeable audience, they canned the title (understandably, as Gerber didn't seem to be leading this anywhere and they weren't doing mini-series). The promise was that things would be resolved in defenders. Then, Gerber was off the book and, by this point, gone from Marvel. Steven Grant was assigned to wrap the thing up. Gerber never shared where he was taking the series, so Grant was left to interpret. He didn't have much to go on. Now, if you were like me, you have no clue about any of this, other than what little is on the pages here. Amber seems like a bitch and you understand why JM might run away, 'cause who wants to be around someone who calls them a "punk" and can't warm up to them. JM hears voices and has some weird link to a dead superhero, who is apparently an advanced cyborg/robot. other robots/cyborgs are hunting for him and find JM, who has the energy that Omega used to have. Ruby Thursday, who whooped on the Defenders, is back, and brought a demon, who had appeared in Omega. Richard Rory and Ruth Hart had appeared in Man-Thing, before being imported into Omega. Ruby Thursday is not seen in Omega; but, the final issue has a woman, who is involved in his death and Dibbuk. hee, she turns out to be Ruby, though whether that is Gerber's idea of Grant/Gruenwald (more in a moment) is a matter of conjecture. Mark gruenwald supplied a plot assist on this and I suspect he came up with much of the connections, especially to Ruby, who was another Gerber character. Gruenwald's specialty was linking disparate continuity into some kind of whole, going back to his fan days. His fingerprints are all over this. Gerber's fans were up in arms about these two issues, mostly because he didn't get to write them and he had been summarily fired from Marvel. Many felt this was an F-U to him, though it was probably more of their need to wrap up storylines, because fans kept asking about it. The issue features a letter from cat yronwode, who was still a fan, at this point, who corresponded with Marvel, regularly. She asks about Omega, after remarking about messy plots and abandoned characters (Jack Norriss, Nighthawk, Millie the Model) and continuity problems (and bad lettering). Issue #83 will feature her criticism of these two issues and some rather arrogant statements, which was true to form. cat would, in a few short years, go on to be the editor of Eclipse Comics, where she was quite a Jekyll and Hyde figure, depending on whether you were on her good side or bad. Marvel, especially under Shooter, quickly came on her bad side. On to the next issue, to find out how they are going to explain all of this.
|
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on Oct 25, 2018 16:24:31 GMT -5
By this point the main reason I kept buying Defenders was the Trimpe artwork. The Asgard story from issues 66 through 68 was interesting enough even with its flaws. Issues 70 to 77 did nothing at all for me at the time. Hannigan tried but he wasn't finding the odd/quirky style with meaning of Gerber that helped Defenders being able to stand out from the crowd of so many other team titles. Truly can't say why I was still following and buying the series except out of having followed it for awhile I didn't want to drop it. The collector mentality for completeness had begun as I had more cash flow and flexibility for spending when I was in high school.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 25, 2018 16:38:16 GMT -5
Defenders #77 Little kids with glowing eyes are never a good thing! Not the special showcase for the Hulk and the mention of the tv show. This was Marvel's first real outside media hit (prime time series trumps Saturday morning and syndicated cartoons) and they made noise about it. They made noise about Spider-Man, too; but, quickly shut up about it, after the show started tanking. Creative Team: Steven Grant-writer, Herb Trimpe-pencils, Steve Mitchell, Al Milgrom and Chic Stone-inks, George Roussos-colors, Joe Rosen-letters, Jim Shooter-aspirin. Plot assist by Mark Guenwald. Synopsis: We open with a rather disturbing image of Ruby Thursday...  She's having a fit and yelling at James Michael about the disappearance of the body of Omega and is about to dissect him, when in comes one of the alien robots.  Outside, on the Vegas Strip, the Defenders/Avengers Distaff Mashup is walking down the street, looking like refugees from one of the casino shows....  They are interrupted by robots crashing out of walls and head into the attack, with Patsy getting bitch-slapped by Ruby. Moondragon is the only one who sees James Michael slip away and follows him and witnesses as he blasts an overhead saucer, which turns into Earth vs The Flying Saucers... Moondragon comes upon one of the robots, which is actually dying. She taps its mind and goes back after the defenders, to tell them the truth. We cut back to Hulk and the Shmoo and Hulk gets absorbed, turned into Banner, spat out and reverted to Hulk form; then, Shmoo buggers off to tell his master. Back in Vegas, Jan whines about how the Avengers would have mopped up Ruby and Dibbuk and blasts Ruby with her disruptors, which shatters her globe head...  Nothing like having second class status rubbed in your face! They go chase after James Michael, who is kicking ass and taking model numbers, as we see saucers and rbots littering the Vegas Strip. Moondragon is trying to stop him and Hellcat calls out to him and he reacts like she is another robot. he drops a saucer on the Quinjet and Patsy calls out about Dian and the others being there. James Michael snaps out. meanwhile, moondragon takes back mental power from Patsy and then links JM's mind and the wounded robot...  We learn that the robots are a living metal race, who have reached an evolutionary wall. They develop biological constructs to bring about a new form, in stages, to advance their race. Omega is one of the last stages. the beings are sent to planets to live and return info, which is fed to the next stage. Omega was sent to a planet of great power and becomes its greatest warrior. However, he is being endowed with biospheric energy, which he isn't equipped to handle and the living metal robots try and stop things, laying waste to the alien planet. Omega believes they are invaders and destroys them, then escapes from the dying world. The info is then passed on to the final stage, James Michael, creating the link between he and Omega. Omega turns up and then events progress; but, James Michael no has the powers and can't control them.  JM stars losing his s@#$ and builds energy to destroy the robots and then Dian turns up from the Quinjet, alive and pleads with JM. he can't stop the process and turns the energy of himself, destroying his body. Moondragon gets all bitchy and preachy and tells off Patsy and the rest and buggers off to space (good riddance, ya chrome-domed........). We end with a dedication to Steve Gerber, Mary Skrenes and jim Mooney, who were less than flattered (well, Gerber, anyway....) Thoughts: Um.................................................. ................yeah. It's an ending. It makes a sort of sense out of a huge mystery and it works well enough, as it is. If you had never read Omega, you can accept things, though you kind of wonder what the point was. Gerber fans hated it, mostly because Gerber didn't write it. I can't say how much of it contradicts things in Omega, not having read it. Suffice to say, it didn't really satisfy many people. Marvel left the character alone until recent years, when Jonathan Lethem was allowed to do a revamped version, which I also haven't read. It has those who praise it and those who criticize it. As we've seen, the last several issues of defenders have been used as a sort of continuity clean-up, much in the way that the anthology titles were. We had an ending to the Man-Wolf stories, from Marvel Premiere and now Omega, plus a wrap-up, sort of, of Omegatron, ad Valkyrie/Barbara Norriss. Jack Norriss is still floating around but I doubt many readers of the era cared (I sure didn't) and we have Nighthawk's legal troubles and the whole business with the Shmoo. Now, some may be asking, "What's a Shmoo?" Well, it was the creation of Al Capp, in the newspaper strip Li'l Abner. The Shmoo can change form, though his normal appearance is as a sort of blob, with eyes and whiskers. He was ripped off for Gloop and Gleep, on the Herculoids, then turned up in the 70s, on the New fred and Barney Show (also called Fred & Barney Meet The Shmoo). At the height of popularity, there were all kinds of Shmoo toys, especially the "bopping kind" (you know, inflatable, you punch it and it pops back up). cat yronwode, in issue #83, writes a letter which tears apart these two issues. It takes up hallf the letters page (with the editorial response taking the other half). here are the points she raises: 1.She takes issue with James michael's statement that he's supposed to be the cold, analytical one. She says that the series didn't support this, that he saw himself as normal, though others saw him this way. The response is that he was reflecting the image others had of him, rather than saying that was his nature. 2. She brings up the question how did the powers transfer from omega to James Michael and why doesn't it burn this time, when it did before. Also, how did they change places. It is not addressed in the story. It just is. The editorial response questions her interpretation, saying that it is never implicitly stated that power transferred; just information. That one seems like a cop-out, to me. 3. Why is the Hulk fighting a shmoo. That is mostly a joke and they playfully respond about teasing the next "epic." I got news for Al, putting an "epic" tagline on a continued story does not make it so. 4. She brings up Valkyrie attacking Ruby, when she has the spell blocking her from fighting women. They weasel out of that one with explanations that the extent of the spell isn't clear and they have been dropping hints that Val has changed and is Ruby a woman or a cyborg, so how would the spell effect. Basically, they conveniently ignored it when it didn't suit the plot, much like Val's power level in combat. 5. She brings up Moondragon taking the two bodies into space, then brings up that James Michael destroyed his. They cop to that and state the scene read so well they ignored it (didn't notice it, more likely). The rant ends with a cry of "Who edits this?" and to "do better!" It ends with "AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY OPINION, YOU CAN DO BETTER NEXT TIME BECAUSE I'D RATHER WRITE A NICE LETTER!" cat would end up having to put her money where her mouth is, to prove she could do better. I'm pretty on the fence about Milgrom as an editor, on Defenders. He was a decent one, on Marvel Fanfare; but, then again, that was a mix of inventory stories and (mostly) non-continuity stories. I don't know that an editor was much help with the Defenders, in this era, as it was struggling to find a vision, which no one had had since Gerber left. They were still misfits; but, the subsequent writers had problems exploring that as much as Gerber. They were also a place for guest appearances, though that is mostly over, as the line-up will remain fairly stable for quite a while. Meanwhile, cat would work with Will Eisner in reprinting material at Kitchen Sink, edit strip collections for Ken Pierce editions (Modesty Blaise, the Phantom, Mike Hammer), and then become involved with dean Mullaney, which led to her becoming editor of Eclipse, a position she held until their divorce and the company's bankruptcy. She continued to contribute to CBG, for a while (she had worked there, before Eclipse, as a reporter and continued to have a column there, for some years) then fell out of comics, having burned many bridges. Hell, cat didn't just burn bridges, she obliterated them! She returned to a rather hippie lifestyle, though she pops up now and then. Steven Grant would go on to greater acclaim with Punisher and his own Whisper (at Capitol, then First Comics) So, on to new horizons, hopefully.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 25, 2018 16:46:01 GMT -5
By this point the main reason I kept buying Defenders was the Trimpe artwork. The Asgard story from issues 66 through 68 was interesting enough even with its flaws. Issues 70 to 77 did nothing at all for me at the time. Hannigan tried but he wasn't finding the odd/quirky style with meaning of Gerber that helped Defenders being able to stand out from the crowd of so many other team titles. Truly can't say why I was still following and buying the series except out of having followed it for awhile I didn't want to drop it. The collector mentality for completeness had begun as I had more cash flow and flexibility for spending when I was in high school. Access and ambivalence were the main reasons I wasn't getting it. I got two or three more issues, down the road, then nothing until the whole Squadron Supreme story, under DeMatteis. Trimpe is a fine enough artist, depending on inker; but, he is what always struck me as "generic Marvel." He illustrated some great stories; but, he wasn't much of a stylist, like some of the others; so, he never stood out to me, the way a Perez did. Sal Buscema was another "generic Marvel," though he got some interesting material to work with, for me, such as the whole Nomad thing, in Captain America, and the Gerber Defenders run. In both cases, the writer was so strong I didn't care as much about the art. Trimpe had a great run on the Hulk; but, I was never a great fan of that series. It seemed rather repetitive to me. Once in a while a story would interest me; but, it rarely lasted more than a couple of issues. Spidey was much the same way. They just didn't hold as much appeal to me, as other characters. I probably read more Peter David Hulk than any other run, of it and more Marvel Team-Up than regular Spidey titles. With Spidey, it was the constant soap opera; MTU was mostly free of that. |
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on Oct 26, 2018 1:16:50 GMT -5
Trimpe is a fine enough artist, depending on inker; but, he is what always struck me as "generic Marvel." He illustrated some great stories; but, he wasn't much of a stylist, like some of the others; so, he never stood out to me, the way a Perez did. Sal Buscema was another "generic Marvel," though he got some interesting material to work with, for me, such as the whole Nomad thing, in Captain America, and the Gerber Defenders run. In both cases, the writer was so strong I didn't care as much about the art. Wow, my perceptions of the same work are so different. I always saw Trimpe as a very distinctive stylist with an instantly recognizable style. His run on the Hulk is definitive for me, especially the issues inked by John Severin. |
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 26, 2018 2:35:47 GMT -5
Trimpe is a fine enough artist, depending on inker; but, he is what always struck me as "generic Marvel." He illustrated some great stories; but, he wasn't much of a stylist, like some of the others; so, he never stood out to me, the way a Perez did. Sal Buscema was another "generic Marvel," though he got some interesting material to work with, for me, such as the whole Nomad thing, in Captain America, and the Gerber Defenders run. In both cases, the writer was so strong I didn't care as much about the art. Wow, my perceptions of the same work are so different. I always saw Trimpe as a very distinctive stylist with an instantly recognizable style. His run on the Hulk is definitive for me, especially the issues inked by John Severin. See, I just wasn't a Hulk fan. I could only take so much "Hulk smash!" "Puny humans leave Hulk alone". What I mostly saw was in Marvel Super Heroes, when it was the Hulk reprint title and a couple of issues that my cousin had. So, I didn't have a steady diet of his work. Most of my formative material was DC; mainly the Neal Adams crowd (Neal, Dick Dilin, Irv Novick, Mike Grell, a little Chaykin & Simonson, Jim Aparo). That was the style I gravitated towards. My first Spideys were Gil Kane and Ross Andru; but, I just really couldn't get into the heavy soap opera. Herb mostly worked on books I didn't read or just sampled; so, I never really grew to appreciate his work. I later read his stuff on Killraven; but, for me, that book laid there until P Craig Russell came on board (good as the concept was, from the start). Russell' stuff was just so much more, in my eyes. In the early to mid-70s, the Marvel guys I liked were Gene Colan, John Buscema and Ayers and Severin on Sgt Fury. By the mid-70s and later, it was Starlin, Perez, Byrne, Russell, Chaykin, Simonson, Cockrum and that crowd. It took me a while to warm up to Kirby, since I missed the 60s material and most of the 4th World, until later. Once I started seeing the reprints from Fireside Books and things like Marvel's Greatest, with the FF reprints, I started to get into Kirby. As I got older, I started warming to the later abstraction, especially once I saw the 4th World reprints (my first New Gods was the revival, with Conway and Don Newton). Nothing against Herb; but, he just wasn't an artist I immediately reacted to. He was the artist on the few Hulk stories that stood out for me and I read Shogun Warriors, where he did a fine job, with so-so material (scripts weren't quite at Micronauts or Rom level). I loved the Phantom Eagle story he did, for Marvel Super Heroes, before it went complete reprint. But, hey, don't judge by me; I still think Frank Robbins did a tremendous job on Invaders and Captain America (not to mention some really great Batman stories). |
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Nov 7, 2018 17:32:30 GMT -5
Defenders #78 Creative Team: Ed Hannigan-story, herb Trimpe and Mike esposito-art, Clem Robbins-letters, Ben Sean-colors, Al Milgro-edits, Jim Shooter-Dark Overlord Synopsis: Hulk was on a Paris train, he emerged in London rain, and Dr Strange is waiting there, swimming through apologies...  (Dude is wearing more lipstick than Terri Nunn . BTW, Nuun was one of the actresses who auditioned for Princess Leia!) Okay, it's actually Greenwich Village and Hulk finds oc Strange and Namor in the Sanctum. Doc has summoned them to return to Tunnelworld and fight the Unnameable One. They join hands, do a team chant and yell "Break!". Meanwhile, Hank Pym shows up in Las Vegas with a spare Quinjet, to take the Lady defenders home, when they get a distress call and divert to Los Animus, Colorado. there, they find an Air Force base under siege, by Mutant Force (a group of grade Z mutants) and a band of female soldiers. They engage...  and turn the tide; but, some of the women warriors escape. They track to a nearby town, where Dian (the girlfriend of James michael, from previous issues and Omega) pulls them to the local police station, where they find a trap. During this, Clea whines about being left behind by Doc and Kyle whines about the government investigation and gets the call that his new Nighthawk weapons upgrade is ready. Thoughts: Decent issue, which is all set up. The original Defenders head off to Tunnel World, without a thought about the other, current team members (Doc is a bit of a Richard, here) and the female defenders get their own little mystery. Hank gets taken out early in the fight, so it is still Ladies' Night and the feelin's right! (Oh, yes, it's ladies' night, oh what a night....) Trimpe's artwork looks better here and he does a nice job with the scenes of Hulk in the rain, adding some nice moody, ominous atmosphere. I'm still not keen on his depiction of Valkyrie; but, it is better than before. Not really thrilled about Tunnelworld. the last jaunt to there was kind of dull and goofy. We'll just have to see.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Nov 7, 2018 18:09:48 GMT -5
Defenders #79 Creative Team: Hannigan assists with pencils, Carl Gafford colors, the rest is the same. Synopsis: Aeroika, a guy with wings growing out of his head (henceforth known as Wing-Head) leads the Disguised Dude Defenders through Tunnelworld. They arrive at a glen and shed their disguises and cop some Zs. Wing-Head regales us with the past, as we see his people and others subjugated and get a lot of unpronounceable names, suggesting Hannigan has read too much Tolkien and could stand some Lieber or Mervyn Peake, for livelier reading (or at least some Moorcock). While this goes on the Distaff defenders are busy fightin' felonious floozies (the women warriors from last issue) and the mutant monsters (Mutant Force). Val has problems fighting women and Patsy is pretty useless and Jan gets trapped in a jar (that's what comes of insect themes). They are caged and then chained and taken to the boss, the Mandrill...  He puts them under his pheromone spell, except Jan, who is under glass. Turns out, Dian, who is with them, is also immune, since she hasn't hit puberty yet. (though she is drawn with the suggestion of breasts). The escape in the Quinjet and put in a call to Kyle for help. Meanwhile, the Distaff Doped-Up defenders, the Felonious Floozies and the Mutant Monsters are sent against the air base, in a scene out of a Mad Max film. Thoughts: Tunnelworld isn't exactly driving the plot, yet, so the women and the Mandrill is the more exciting plot thread. The Mandrill is a pretty good choice of villains, since his pheromones allow him t control women. Another Gerber legacy. It's still Ladies Night in the Defenders. Wouldn't mind this to continue for a while; but, it is a boy's clubhouse, so you know this won't last. Hannigan's contributions are more in the Tunnelworld backstory.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Nov 7, 2018 18:30:22 GMT -5
Defenders #80 Creative Team: Hannigan-story, trimpe and Dan Green-art, John Costanza-letters, Carl Gafford-colors, Al Milgrom-edits, Jim Shooter-micro-edits Synopsis: Kye is testing out his new weapons, as Herb Trimpe unveils Nighthawk's new costume...  He then heads off, in defiance of a court order, to help Wasp. At the airbase, Herb Trimpe gets to indulge in some old Hulk work, as we see tanks blasting at marauders and see Val slicing through tank cannon barrels with Dragonfang. The battle is wild and woolly and Hank is showed the danger by a gloating Mandrill. Clea goes for a ride on Aragorn (the horse, not Viggo Mortensen), while Bruce Banner wakes up and sees Wing-Head. the rest of the guys wake up as they are attacked by soldier led by Buzzard face, a minion of Sauron, I mean the unnameable One. Banner gets an arrow in the calf and Hulks out, then the puny soldiers get good and f@#$ed. Doc magics away Hulk's frenzy (aw, man.....) and then we cut back to the base for the battle of the sexes. Nighthawk turns up and Herb demonstrates his new weapons. He sees some kind of energy field around a hangar, then runs into Jan and Dian ( sucking on chili dogs, outside the Tastee-Freeze....) and gets the 411. he helps attack Val and Patsy and then gets the idea to drop them on the energy field to short-circuit Mandrill's control. mandrill knows things are FUBAR and launches a missile, with Hank inside, then does a Zoltar and runs away. Nighthawk is able to get the chained Hank out of the missile and there are cheers and chili dogs for all. Synopsis: Yep, the Mandrill storyline is stillmore fun, though it takes a guy to get the ladies out of trouble. Typical! Tunnelworld is still kind of bland, despite the battle and a bit of ominousness. Buzzard-face goons aren't quite as creepy as Nazgul. Nighthawk's costume redesign is pretty good, though I always liked the buccaneer boots. The guns on his wingtips are a bit odd and they will be a source of art errors in future issues. The suit is a bit more streamlined and the eye-wing decorations get extended, to silly proportions. I assume herb is trying to reference Batman's ears more, or just went a bit nuts. The whole thing looks sleeker than the previous costume. This will pretty much be the standard for the next couple of years, before Kyle gets another makeover that gives him a full face mask, with gold metal decoration.
|
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Nov 7, 2018 18:42:12 GMT -5
I'm not a great Hulk fan either as far as the character itself goes, but I've always liked Trimpe's style. The Severin-inked stuff is probably his high-point for me but his run on Godzilla was really nice too.
Going by what I've seen online over the years, I must be one of the very few fans who really likes the high and mighty Moondragon as written mainly by Steve Englehart in the Avengers. I think Grant did a pretty good job with her here - in fact this might have been the last decent appearance that I know of, since soon afterwards Shooter did everything possible to screw it up in his Avengers. Actually the rot had already set in with Gruenwald's dismal rendition in Marvel Two-and-One a little earlier. From my POV, the very things I liked about Moondragon seem to have been the things that annoyed these writers so much that they felt compelled to do everything they could to trash the character.
|
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Nov 7, 2018 18:45:04 GMT -5
Defenders #81 Creative Team: usuals, plus Joe Rosen, Ben Sean and Jack Abel on inks. Synopsis: In Tunnelworld, the Dude Defenders and Wing-Head hijack a wagon to sneak inside the Citadel. Meanwhile, the more interesting Distaff Defenders say goodbye to Hank and Jan and head home. They hang out at Kyle's penthouse pad, where the Feds show up to arrest him for violating court order. val is about to launch an objection when Kyle goes along willingly. Back in Tunnelworld, we see Xhoohx, the furball wizard, in a cage. The Dude Defenders are discovered by soldiers and Wing-Head fails to convince them they are innocent, so they fight. Buzzard face launches a Kirby Death Machine (tm) and the setpiece looks like an episode of Thundarr. Hulk goes down and gets paraded through town, like Spartacus, which stirs up wing-head rebellion even more. Buzzard Face is going to off Furball Wizard, whether the Who like it or not. Thoughts: The Tunnelworld stuff has been dominating the covers; but, the ladies have been carrying the book, for the last few issues. Tunnelworld gets more panel time, in this issue, as hannigan has complications, after rising conflict. I expect Tunnelworld to continue to dominate.
|
|
