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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 22, 2019 12:52:45 GMT -5
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. I think I remember one with an M.C. Escher scene and bare boobs. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Still, a bit better than Heavy Metal usually was then.  |
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Post by badwolf on Mar 22, 2019 13:15:02 GMT -5
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. I think I remember one with an M.C. Escher scene and bare boobs. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Still, a bit better than Heavy Metal usually was then. I loved it, though I don't think I was quite old enough to appreciate all the content. |
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Post by profh0011 on Mar 23, 2019 16:09:14 GMT -5
Stan Lee's mystic gobbledygook must have seemed innovative and revelatory What a LOT of people seem to be unaware of is... Steve Ditko created DR. STRANGE entirely on his on-- "on spec"-- with ZERO input from anybody else.
This was actually confirmed-- by Lee- in an interview that was published somewhere in the early 1960s.
Ditko also wrote his entire run on his own-- again-- with zero input. Further, he supplied finished dialogue on separate sheets of paper, which his editor could alter or use as-is.
This explained WHY the series was so wild, so far-out, and so consistently good, to me. Also, on one occasion when Don Rico filled in on dialogue, the episode read EXACTLY like Ditko's solo work from the 1970s and beyond. Rico must have looked at Ditko's script, decided it didn't need any changes, and then wondered, "What the HELL am I even doing here?"
When Ditko decided to confront his boss and demand payment for the writing work he was already doing... his boss got so pissed (as that writing money had been going into HIS pocket) that for the remainder of Ditko's time at Marvel, his boss refused to talk to him, and any communications in the office (dropping off art, picking up paychecks) had to be done thru Sol Brodsky.
Steve Ditko's DR. STRANGE are the Marvel Comics from the 1960s that I have read and re-read more times than any other series... even more than Jack Kirby's "Nick Fury, Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.".
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Post by beccabear67 on Mar 23, 2019 23:50:45 GMT -5
I think when Ditko co-wrote Machine Man circa 1979-1981 with Marv Wolfman it was a similar situation where sometimes it was mostly all Ditko, and Wolfman was kind of there just to be the responsible co-credit or something, like they all thought Ditko was too wild on his own. A lot of websites seem to credit Wolfman solely.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 12:57:55 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #32 Alright; some Chaykin! Creative Team: Howard Chaykin-story & art, Annette Kawecki & Jim Novak-letters, Glynis Wein-colors, Archie Goodwin-edits. Apparently, Marvel premiere escaped the brief Conway regime. Synopsis: Passengers from a starship debark on a frozen, frontier world. There was a recent war of independence, which failed, and feelings run deep. A representative of aa corporation and the Federal government is accosted by young men. He is rescued by another passenger, a man recognized as Monark Starstalker, hunter and vigilante. he quickly disposes of the men, just as the local law enforcement arrives and fires a vortex weapon, which induces nausea and blindness. The rep thanks Starstalker and the sheriff warns him he wants peace and to check his weapons. Monark was noticeably unaffected by the vortex pistol.  Monark is forced to eat with the rep and his aide, and a local woman Robin Goodfriend. She heard that Monark is hunting Karl Hammer, a murderer. Another local, drunk, instigates a fight with Monark, that gets his but kicked, with help from Miss Goodfriend. The sheriff kicks him out and the repair to Goodfriend's place, via iceboat. during the ride, monark relates how he was a "rigger," patched into the neural systems of a ship, was attacked and flew through a nova. He was found by others and given an artificial nervous system, via a robot hawk that accompanies him.  They get down to some Code-approved lovin', then, the next day, Robin rides into town for supplies. there, she witnesses Kurt Hammer kill the rep and kidnap the female aide, after shooting the sheriff. Robin rides back to alert Monark and we then see Hammer and the girl rather chummy. he was hired by Triplanetary Metals to kill the rep (their agent), because he had too much info to fire and was in the way. She helped Hammer get close. They are cut off by a storm; but, Starstalker is hunting them.  Hammer tries to ambush Starstalker and there is a gunbattle and an avalanche of snow, burying Monark. the robot falcon attacks him, distracting him enough for Monark to emerge behind him, from the snow. he takes the pair alive and returns to claim his bounty and depart, saying goodriddence to this hellhole. Thoughts: Excellent piece by Chaykin, very much in the vein of Cody Starbuck. Monark Starstalker is a cyborg and bounty hunter, with a mercenary streak, matching Chaykin's fascination with heroes of questionable character. Tis is, basically, a space western, as the bounty hunter/gunfighter comes to a frontier town, looking for a murderer. The local sheriff warns him off, some young punks look to test his reputation, a local woman takes a fancy, a gunfight occurs around a mountainside, and the hero takes in his man. It's a Leone western, though, as this is no Alan Ladd. Chaykin's style has developed away from his Gil Kane/Neal Adams look, fom his earlier DC days on Sword & Sorcery and Ironwolf. He started down that path on Cody Starbuck and The Scorpion and is getting closer to what we would see in American Flagg. The snow world setting and amoral nature of the characters is very in tune with the later Cody Starbuck color special, from Star*Reach. Archie's influence is also obvious, as Chaykin's writing is stronger than on Starbuck and he and Chaykin always worked well together. This is a first of a couple, for Chaykin, as he next takes up Robert E Howard's Solomon Kane.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 27, 2019 13:24:38 GMT -5
I LOVE Monark Starstalker. Wish there had been more to enjoy. I read this comic until it was falling apart and once the LCS world came around it was one my very 1st searches for in back issue boxes. Chaykin was hitting it out of the ballpark and right into my hot eager hands during this time of his career.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Mar 27, 2019 13:26:11 GMT -5
Possibly the best single issue of Marvel Premiere. Like it so much I had Chaykin sign my copy:  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 13:37:08 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #33-34  The story is adapted from Howard's "The Red Shadows." Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, Howard Chaykin-art & colors (33), Jim Novak-letters, Don Warfield-colors on 34, Archie Goodwin EIC Synopsis: Solomon Kane dives into the scene of beast-headed men, attacking a priest. he fights hard; but, they don't go down. he turns his attention to the Spaniard, La Costa, who is their master. he flings his rapier and skewers him through the chest, killing him and the beast men disappear, illusions. Kane continues on as Roy and Howie introduce the adventures of our hero, Robert E Howard's "dour Puritan," Solomon Kane.  Kane leaves and comes across a wounded, dying girl, who speaks of an attack on her village, by Le Loup, a bandit. She dies and Kane swears men will die for it. The bandits are in their lair and have sent out men to a hermit's house, to find rumored gold. one returns, mortally wounded, saying the house erupted in fire. The remaining bandits flee; but, not before Le Loup kils one of his men to reduce the split of loot. kane shows up and swords clash, before Le Loup escapes in the night.  Kane traces Le Loup to Italy and then to Africa. He is on the trail when he is ambushed and taken prisoner, where he meets N'Longa, a former slave, now ju-ju man. he aids Kane to escape, by reanimating a corpse to do battle, allowing Kane to get free and flee into the jungle. Le Loup hunts and they clash again, eventually killing him. The chief's warriors hunt Kane; but, he receives help from the witch doctor, in the form of an animated gorilla god. Kane departs, after the gorilla disposes of the warrior's body.   Thoughts: delicious pulpy goodness, though Roy gets rather wordy. Chaykin handles the material well, though not quite with the same verve as Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. I will confess I an not a huge Howard fan. Apart from the mood and atmosphere, the Conan stories have always been a bit hollow to me. Fritz Leiber was a better writer of plot and character, with a sense of humor, making Fafhrd and Gray Mouser's adventures more exciting and more rounded. I do like the Solomon Kane stories more than Conan, though there weren't many of them and he is rather one note in them, in terms of characterization. That is all here; but, it isn't quite s engaging as Conan, which is probably why Kane never really caught on, as a comic book feature. He got a few appearances in the b & w mags; but not much else. I do wish Howie had studied Toth for more than just his linework, as Toth was a master of illustrating fencing scenes and Chaykin isn't. They lack the elegance that should come with rapiers. Still, these were good solid pulp adventures, which is what Marvel premiere was, at its best.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 14:06:57 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #30 Warriors 3!................Vikings 2. Warriors sweep the series and head for the playoffs. Creative Team: Len Wein-writer/editor, John Buscema-pencils, Joe Sinnott-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, Glynis Wein-colors, Synopsis: The Warriors 3 are having a night on the town, busting up a bar...  They move on in search of other fun and flag down a taxi. Once the cabbie figures out they want action, he speeds onhis way; but, they run into a commotion, as a woman is on a ledge, about to jump.  Fandral makes like Errol Flynn and climbs up to talk to the woan. her fiance Arnold owes money to loan sharks and has been forced to aid in a jewel robbery. The woman's foot slips and she goes over the side and Errol...er, Fandral goes after her, catching a conveniently placed flagpole. It snaps and he drops the woman on Volstagg, who saves her, though Fandral gets a rougher landing. A Reporter sticks his nose in and Hogun makes like Charles Bronson and scares him away, with a few well placed growls and a knife. The Three Norseketeers get back in the cab, with the lady and head for the robbery. the cabbie offers to help bust some heads but is told to guard the woman. A whino helps Ath-hols, Portlythos, and Airfreshneris get into the building...  The next thing you know, the heroes are all "Have at thee!' and bodies start flying and heads start thumping. turns out, Arnold ain't there. he was the lookout and took a cab away when the dust started flying. They pile in their cab and follow. They end up on the watefront and stop in a bar to start looking for Arnold (after a few flagons of mead, of course). Well, before you know it, bodies are flying and furniture is smashed..  Outside the bar, they find Mary and Arnold (who looks suspiciously like Roy Thomas) and he explains he was contemplating drowning himself when Mary came along. The guys are up for a wedding and the cab speeds to a Justice of the Peace for a quick ceremony, then Fandral gives the cabbie gold to take the couple on a honeymoon to Niagra falls. The guys then look for another cab to find a new bar. Thoughts: Boy that was fun! This is basically a buddy comedy, with tons of silliness and fisticuffs, with a bit of gooey romance, to boot. Everyone is a character and Marvel would do well to commission this as a movie (if they hadn't have killed off the Warriors 3) Some people just ain't got no vision! Buscema is having a blast, as he gets a break from superheroes and guys in loincloths and gets to do some comedy. he's a pretty good and at it and some of this puts me in mind of John Severin, in attitude, if not in line work. This would have been a great series, had they done more; but, periodic tales were probably a better idea. Still, Norse Marx brothers is a pretty good concept.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 27, 2019 14:07:03 GMT -5
Chaykin's Solomon Kane while more pirate swashbuckler, following in the Errol Flynn Sea Hawk mode and less REH in style, is still one of my favorite interpretation's of Kane. And the fencing scenes seem to me as being so much more unique and visually stylish from most sword fights usually drawn in comics. Again I have read these 2 issues over and over during my teenage years.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 14:32:20 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #31 More Chaykin! Creative Team: Jim Starlin-script, Howard Chaykin-art, Jim Novak-letters, Jan Cohen-colors, Marv Wolfman-editor Synopsis: A French hood offs a doctor, then dumps him in the Paris sewer. he then calls Nick Fury in New York, telling him the Doc is dead and he has a new creditor, who will arrange payment details, in Paris. Fury hotfoots it out on a plane and reflects on how he was injured, in a mine field, and brought by the maquis to a doctor, who saved his life and tested a formula on him...  He returned to his HQ, but found that he needed a booster to maintain his youth. That booster came with a price. Now, someone else wants to collect. Fury meets u[p with their agent and gets a casino chip from Vegas; so, he heads there. This is complicated extortion! Fury busts in on Steel Harris, the crook and begins negotiations. Someone else steals the formula, which leads to fights and chases, with a rather surprising end.  Thoughts: The story is a bit light; but, Starlin and Chaykin have some Bondian fun with it, returning nick to more traditional roots, even if it throws a bit of shade on his character, via the blackmail angle. However, we get fisticuffs and flying cars, which is a return to Steranko glory, after SHIELD had been used as a metaphor for the CIA dirty tricks. This story was one of those retcons brought about because of tying a character to a timeframe. Nick Fury made his first appearance in the modern day in 1963, in FF #21 (without an eye patch), some 18 years after WW2. That put Nick in his mid-40s, which was about the way he was portrayed; a little slower, but still a hell of a fighter and a bit slicker. Steranko kind of youthened his skills a bit; but, stuck with the age. It fit. 10 years later, though, and Fury should be up for desk job and retirement. This was a way to keep him young. being modern comics, it needed a darker angle, such as blackmail. It's a slight story; but, works well enough. It would be reprinted in the Grandson of origins trade collection.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 15:00:33 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #32 Spider-Woman, Spider-Woman, sexy neighborhood Spider-Woman.... Creative Team: Archie Goodwin-writer/editor, Sal Buscema-pencils, Jim Mooney-inks, Irv Watanabe-letters, Janice Cohen-colors Synopsis: A sleek and curvy figure glides toward the roof of SHIELD Mediterranean HQ...  She is there to assassinate Nick Fury, for a splinter group of HYDRA. Fury is busy interrogating a HYDRA soldier, one of their elite hunters. The woman removes a glove and fires a venom bolt at SHIELD agents and faces off with Fury, as she flashes back to be chased by a mob from a European village. She is found by Count otto Vermis, a local HYDRA head, who turns her into a soldier (in a leotard)...  HYDRA uses a mind probe to learn of her past, then conditions her to be loyal to them, even setting her up with a lover, Jared, the HYDRA hunter in custody. She learns of his capture and sets out to free him and kill Nick Fury. Fury ain't taking it lying down and before you can say "Wahoo," he's hitting her with machinery...  Jared grabs Fury and tells Spider-Woman to deliver a deathbolt, which she does; but, Fury flips Jared into the path. he dies telling SW that it was a ruse to get her to kill Fury and not to touch him, knowing what she is. In the melee, SW had activated a recording of Jared's terrorist attack that led to his capture and SW see that HYDRA lied to her. She reyturns to thir castle base, sends her aircraft crashing into it, then blasts her way to Vermis... SHIELD turns up and starts shooting goons from the air, while Vermis makes his escape, after revealing SW's true origin, as an experiment of the High Evolutionary...  She left the HE's Wundagore lab and found a village, where she found love. However, she accidentally fries him, when startled, leading to pitchforks and torches and Vermis finding her. She remembers and Vermis uses the diversion to get to his escape rocket. Spider-Woman leaps on and bends the rudder, forcing it into a cliff. She survives and disappears, as SHIELD mops up. Thoughts: This is one of my favorite comics of the 70s. Spider-Woman was created to keep DC from trademarking a female version of one of their characters, as happened with Power Girl (though they had beat them to the punch with Wonder Man). They rushed out a Spider-Woman and a Ms Marvel. Archie Goodwin, never one for just slopping out a story, crafts one of the more intriguing origin stories and mixes some spy thriller fun, with some Kirby sci-fi and the end result was one of the more unique stories of the period. Buscema and Mooney have just the right touch of dynamic action and hyper-emotion. This origin would get tweaked when Spider-Woman went to series, after spending a bit of time in Marvel two-In-One. It would turn out that she was not an evolved animal, unlike HE's experiments; but, someone who developed powers because of the environment on Mt Wundagore. This was followed by some surreal adventures and a lot of hair growth, as Carmine Infantino went nuts with her hair. Spider-Woman was a hot property, for a brief time, which led to a rather bland cartoon series... Wonder where they got that spinning costume change? Spider-Woman's 15 minutes ran out rather quickly, though her series lasted 50 issues. She became a bit of an after thought, until brian Michael Bendis had the stroke to indulge his inner fanboy and bring her back, to replace the replacement Spider-Woman.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 15:10:29 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #33 I covered this issue in my Deathlok thread. Nothing really much to add. That was it for Marvel Spotlight, when the series was revived a couple of years later, as a place to continue the Captain Marvel storyline that was ongoing, when that series got the axe. I covered those first three issues in my Thanos thread. I will pick up the reviews with issue #4, which featured a new Captain Marvel story (or an inventory one) that had no connection to the Titan storyline that wrapped up in issue #3. from there, we will watch it become a brief home to Star Lord and Captain Universe.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 15:10:50 GMT -5
Sorry, server error caused a duplicate post. After I cover Marvel Spotlight, volume 2, I will probably move into the b & w magazine anthologies, like Marvel Preview and Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction. I haven't decided about Amazing Adventures, as I have a separate idea for that one. Maybe the earlier part of it, when the features changed a bit quicker.
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Post by brutalis on Mar 27, 2019 15:42:02 GMT -5
Since you were running reviews so quickly I shall endeavor to lump my responses all together for these final issues.
Warriors Three is pure fun and delightful mixing mythological antics with humanity. This a time in the Thor comic when many of the Asgardian's were trapped upon Midgard and hanging with Thor and the Avengers most of the time. This is a splendid one shot but would make for an even better ongoing especially with the differences in character of these comrades in arms. Watching them experience the human life and learning from those adventures would make for some truly humorous and mythic moments. Too bad Marvel didn't try harder as this would have made a great companion series to Thor. Nick Fury with more Chaykin sweetness is another wonderful treasure. Putting more emphasis back on the old one eyed man in spy and covert operations was perfect 70's fodder and might have gone over greatly, especially if Starlin and Chaykin stayed at the helm. Really looks and feels the essence of Bond taken into the MU. Spider-Woman is a personal favorite of mine as well codystarbuck as I enjoyed that she wasn't connected to or part of the Spidey world, I followed her into MTIO and over into her own series and really liked the darker and eerier aspects mixing horror, fantasy and science-fiction together in crafting a different type of series. This was a spectacular start and I have always liked Sal Buscema and Jim Mooney individually as pencil and ink so the combination here really does set the tone and mood for what is to come later on. Deathlok felt like just it was meant to try and keep the character in the public eye or to finish off what was already paid for from the writer/artists. An interesting bit of story that isn't meant to be more than just a filler in the overall cyborg soldier's life between finishing the last story and beginning a new one. A shame for me that just when I was starting to find Premiere on a more consistent basis that it ends up being cancelled. It being devoted to single and 2-3 story runs of different characters made it one of the best books for my nickels and dimes back then. Over time I have managed to pick up all of these on the cheap and enjoy them time and time again! Great reviews there partner! |
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