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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 20, 2019 18:27:42 GMT -5
ps. Nice touches with the deathtraps, secret doors and rooms and other details. All pulp standards.
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Post by berkley on Mar 20, 2019 21:22:13 GMT -5
I really like these early Moon Knight stories. You can see that Moench was experimenting a bit with various old pulp tropes and perhaps hadn't quite settled on what he wanted to make of MK as an ongoing character - and you could say that Spector himself hasn't quite figured out how he wants to make this transition from hired killer to good guy.
I love Do Perlin's artwork when he inks himself, as seen here and in Werewolf by Night. There's a grotesquerie to some of his characters' faces that has always made me think he should have had a crack at Spider-Man at some point. I also like the old MK costume as seen here, before Sinkiewicz made it more like Adams's Batman.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 20, 2019 23:11:12 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #20-21  Starlin's turn at bat. Creative Team: Jim Starlin-writer/artist, Jim Novak/Annette Kawecki-letters, Christie Scheele-colors, Al Milgrom-edits. GCD credits Al Milgrom with inks. The two issues list the credits as names only, without designating who did what. Synopsis: Ben grimm is walking the streets of New York and rescues a homeless woman from a rather inept mugger (can't spot someone with money). He gives her money and goes down an alley and walks into a portal, with Dr Strange asking him to go through.  He does and finds himself in some Ditko-verse, where Doc is a prisoner of Starlin demons...  He is the prisoner of Xandu, who has some Ruby of Domination, which will let him take over the world. The goons have orders to kill anyone who tries to rescue Doc. Thing says he's tired of being everyone's muscle and says he isn't doing it, which confuses the goons, allowing Ben to suckerpunch them..  He frees Doc, they get back to NYC and find that Xandu has the Hulk under his control...  Hulk smashes, Ben clobbers and the magicians magic...    The heroes save the day and Ben ends up stuck somewhere else. Thoughts: Not Starlin's best work. This seems like an inventory story that was intended for a MTIO Annual, or something. There is some nonsense about gathering Defenders, mostly to have the Hulk in the Sanctum, later, though none of the rest are seen, outside of one panel. Starlin was doing much better work at Epic. #20 has art portfolios from Charles Vess and Carl Potts. needless to say, one looks for better than the other, to my eyes. So, nearly two years into this series and we have yet to have anything that exemplifies the "best material from the best creative people." Oh, we've had some top creators; but, none produced their best material. Some have been quite good stories; others were average and a couple just mediocre. nothing to justify the cost to the consumer or any higher page rates. Certainly no one has really taken advantage of this. I suspect part of that was related to the fact that the indies were going strong, offering the chance of ownership. Why do something for Marvel page rate and maybe royalties, when you can own your own work? Better to pitch to Archie than Al. There's also been some obvious dumping of inventory on this book, which didn't help its perception. This magazine truly exemplifies the Land of Misfit Stories.
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Post by rberman on Mar 21, 2019 5:05:07 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #20-21 Both The Thing and The Hulk look rather small as well. Aren't they supposed to be tall as well as bulky? |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 21, 2019 13:00:54 GMT -5
Well, they crouch a lot. How tall is Starlin, anyway? Maybe it's shot man's complex.
He goes all Ditko with the magicians and the setting; but, it is mostly an excuse for Hulk and Thing to punch each other, with a dedication to Stan and Jack. It's not exciting enough for Jack, for my money. Or funny enough for Stan.
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 21, 2019 13:06:29 GMT -5
Catching up on this and still enjoying the reviews and humorous asides! The Warriors Three Spotlight is one of my favorite single issues and I guess it's coming up soon.  |
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Post by badwolf on Mar 21, 2019 13:39:04 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #20-21#20 has art portfolios from Charles Vess and Carl Potts. needless to say, one looks for better than the other, to my eyes. I'm assuming you mean Vess, but I really liked Potts' art as well and wish he did more. I think he did some covers for The [New] Defenders but not much else that I can recall. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 21, 2019 14:25:26 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #20-21#20 has art portfolios from Charles Vess and Carl Potts. needless to say, one looks for better than the other, to my eyes. I'm assuming you mean Vess, but I really liked Potts' art as well and wish he did more. I think he did some covers for The [New] Defenders but not much else that I can recall. Potts is fine; but, Vess is on a whole 'nother plane! In another lifetime, Vess would have been working in book and magazine illustration, firing imaginations. You can see those influences, like Arthur Rackham. He still built a great rep in comics, with his Sandman work and Ballads and Sagas (those of us who read it); but, he is one of those guys who puts the "art" in "artist." The art portfolios in these things highlight some fine art, from a variety of artist (many lesser known); but, it does make you feel a bit robbed, for you cover price. |
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Post by rberman on Mar 21, 2019 15:03:11 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #20-21#20 has art portfolios from Charles Vess and Carl Potts. needless to say, one looks for better than the other, to my eyes. I'm assuming you mean Vess, but I really liked Potts' art as well and wish he did more. I think he did some covers for The [New] Defenders but not much else that I can recall. Here is a Carl Potts cover from 1988.  |
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Post by badwolf on Mar 21, 2019 15:50:25 GMT -5
Oh yeah, forgot about that one!
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Post by badwolf on Mar 21, 2019 15:56:17 GMT -5
I liked the portfolios, and was really happy when they did the all pin-up issue, though I don't think the art in that is as good now, for the most part.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 21, 2019 18:03:46 GMT -5
I liked the portfolios, and was really happy when they did the all pin-up issue, though I don't think the art in that is as good now, for the most part. I own portfolios and don't mind a pin-up special, on high quality paper; but, not to fill out an anthology title, because you can't come up with story content. If your so-called top creators can't write stories to fit the length of the book or you can't come up with suitable back-up stories; then you aren't doing your job, as an editor. Al comes across as a nice, likeable guy in his editori-Als; but, this was his job and the book neither lives up to the initial hype, nor does it deliver much of an experience for the higher cost. it seems more like what it was; another method of glutting the market to drive off the smaller companies and series. Marvel and DC were both flooding the market with minis and specials, new titles that weren't demanded nor hardly needed. I think, mostly, it was a test to see how much they could charge the direct market and have it be worth the cost of better paper. I have to wonder how much better the page rate was for this series, vs the lower royalties due to sales volume. It was never a big seller, though Marvel's average was high enough to sustain a lot of titles well beyond the story content. In a couple of years, Dark Horse would demonstrate how to do an anthology, as they put some thought into it, providing a showcase for new talent and old talent, experimenting. Marvel never quite grasped that and DC was abandoning the anthologies they had, by that point (give or take a year or two). The mini-series and the one-shots seemed to take the place of the anthology, anyway. You didn't need a title to test out new concepts, when a one-shot or 4-issue mini-series could do the same thing. You didn't need to put Wolverine into Marvel Premier for 6 issues, before going to series, when one mini, with top names, would do the trick. Sure, Marvel Comics Presents would follow, but as a vehicle for more Wolverine, while most of the rest of the features were ignored. I kind of feel the same way about Epic Illustrated. Marvel tried to compete with Heavy Metal (as they were dropping in sales) and only Jim Starlin really rises to the challenge, as far as Marvel talent. Most of the best material came from outside Marvel, with some material originally intended for Star*Reach (or reprinted from there), Europeans (like Pepe Moreno and Generation Zero) or indies (like Dave Sim's Young Cerebus) The best the Marvel guys could manage was The Last Galactus Story, which couldn't even manage an ending (aside from Roy Thomas mining some other REH material, with Tim Conrad). Archie still put together a good magazine; but, it wasn't exactly with the support of the main offices. Still, Archie found the talent wherever they were, which is more than Al Milgrom seems to be doing, with Fanfare. Don't get me wrong, there are still individual issues of Fanfare I quite enjoy, such as the captain America & Yellow Claw battle, coming up; but, I do think the magazine was a failure, as a concept. |
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Post by k7p5v on Mar 21, 2019 22:03:02 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #20-21#20 has art portfolios from Charles Vess and Carl Potts. needless to say, one looks for better than the other, to my eyes. I'm assuming you mean Vess, but I really liked Potts' art as well and wish he did more. I think he did some covers for The [New] Defenders but not much else that I can recall. I remember Potts worked on several issues of both the Punisher & the Punisher War Journal. But I do agree, I would have loved to have seen more from him. |
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 21, 2019 23:13:48 GMT -5
I remember Carl Potts from early Eclipse magazines. I think he had something in Epic Illustrated as well. If I remember right, he had something to do with designing the seahorse-ish alien in Power Pack!  |
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Post by badwolf on Mar 22, 2019 9:46:10 GMT -5
I remember Carl Potts from early Eclipse magazines. I think he had something in Epic Illustrated as well. Just checked my database and apparently he contributed to several issues of Epic! Mine are buried in a box which is buried in my closet but I remember a humorous pieces involving a frog and some fairies that I think was by him. |
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