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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 16:06:41 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #22-23  Science vs science, as Iron Man battles Doc Ock! Creative Team: Roger MacKenzie-writer, Ken Steacy-artist, letterer, colorist; Al Milgrom-edits This is one of Ken Steacy's rare Marvel pieces. he'll have a couple of more Fanfares and he did a few odds and ends; but, the bulk that he did for Marvel was in Epic Illustrated, adapting Harlan Ellison stories, later collected by Comico as Night and The Enemy. he also did little work at DC, with his own Tempus Fugitive being his most sustained work. otherwise, he mostly worked the indies and commercial art. Synopsis: A tour of Ryker's Island Prison is being conducted, to inspect new security measures from Stark international. Doc Ock is one of the prisoners, separated from his arms. However, he is in mental contact with the adamantium version, in Stark custody, for study. He activates them and they tear loose.  Stark gets an alert, changes into his armor and flies to the site and meets up with the arms, leading to a fight...   The arms get to the prison and release Doc Ock, who releases Sandman, Electro and Grey Gargoyle, to slow down Iron Man. Tony does well against them, though Sandman presents the most trouble.. Then, the arms attack stark...   Tony barely escapes with his life and drowns his sorrows in booze. Stark International has been shut down, while an investigation is conducted. Tony is hidden away, fixing hs armor. we then learn all is not what it seemed...  Tony tests the armor, keeps the board from calling for his resignation, saves the pay of his employees and appears at a hearing, in short order. he looks in on his injured researcher then offers her dinner, as a reward. We cut to a train, where Turk is accosted by daredevil, then Iron Man.   Tony takes his ladyfriend to dinner, which is interrupted by Doc Ock, which earns Tony some bruises. and loses him Cherry, the scientist. Doc Ock is hold up at Con-Ed, with her and though she has been slung around by the arms, she has suffered nothing worse than a torn skirt, loss of her heels and a run in her pantyhose. Tony shows up, fights the arms, then, disrupts the mental signals to it. Doc Ock attacks Cherry, then Tony shows up with the arms and it is octopus vs octopus...  Tony wins and takes Cherry out again for dinner. Thoughts: Excellent story from Mackenzie and Steacy. It turns out that Tony was drinking ginger ale, not alcohol. Steacy deliver his usual excellent painted work, which really fits Iron man, as Steacy has worked as an industrial artist and excels with technology. he also makes interesting use of color and design detail, particularly art deco revival. His work is dynamic and shares elements of Ditko, which suits Doc Ock well. It really makes you wish he had done more work at Marvel, especially on Spider-Man. Both issues end with a Steacy pin-up portfolio, with some great images...      This is more in keeping with the Marvel Fanfare mandate. Steacy was one of the top indie artists, even if his body of work is smaller than many. he wasa master and well ahead of the curve, when it came to art styles, mixing tons of influences, East and West.
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Post by codystarbuck on Mar 27, 2019 16:12:39 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! If these seem a bit rushed, it is, in part due to my days off vs working days. I tend to work mid-day to the late evening and don't have much time for anything, except on my days off. i have been running my Squadron Supreme reviews on workdays and kind of comic load on the days off.. I probably have too many threads going; but, I enjoy this stuff. I've been meaning to get back to my other Guys thread, to finish off Shooter (metaphorically) with encapsulations of Defiant and Broadway. I still have Fantagraphics and Dark Horse to go, for the major indies. I was just itching to get to some of these stories, especially the Chaykin stuff and Spider-Woman. |
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Post by rberman on Mar 27, 2019 16:55:18 GMT -5
 Looks like another one of those famous Balkan villages that one sees in 1970s comic books, full of Mennonites with pitchforks and clubs, nary a firearm in sight, nor evidence of electricity. This is one of my favorite weird tropes of Bronze Age comics. |
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Post by brutalis on Mar 27, 2019 17:23:11 GMT -5
Looks like another one of those famous Balkan villages that one sees in 1970s comic books, full of Mennonites with pitchforks and clubs, nary a firearm in sight, nor evidence of electricity. This is one of my favorite weird tropes of Bronze Age comics. But appropriate in this sense as High Evolutionary's home is on Wundagore Mountain which is located in the Balkan's where it might be in the 70's they had yet to have "all" of the modern conveniences. I know that here in the hill country of the USA, very old homes and how they look on the outside versus what is new on the inside can be rather deceptive. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Mar 27, 2019 18:07:18 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. The credits in Machine Man #10-14 have Ditko solely as artist. Has Wolfman stated that Ditko co-wrote those issues? |
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Post by MDG on Mar 27, 2019 18:37:07 GMT -5
I was in Toronto around the time Marvel Fanfare 22 came out and Steacy was doing a signing at the Silver Snail comic shop. I picked up the preliminary drawing for the FF pinup.  |
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Post by rberman on Mar 27, 2019 21:03:31 GMT -5
I was in Toronto around the time Marvel Fanfare 22 came out and Steacy was doing a signing at the Silver Snail comic shop. I picked up the preliminary drawing for the FF pinup. Cool! Post it in the original art thread in Collectibles. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Mar 28, 2019 11:41:31 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.
I'm also a fan. I think it's a shame not much has been done with this character, though 80s-era Chaykin has come and gone, unfortunately.
A shout-out to Warriors Three as well; not groundbreaking but a good, solid, entertaining comic.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 3, 2019 14:35:09 GMT -5
Marvel Premier #35 Kirby does a cover for a rip-off....."homage".......of one of his characters! Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, Jim Craig-penciller, Dave Hunt-inker, John Costanza-letterer, George Rousso-colorist, Archie Goodwin-signing the vouchers Synopsis: It's the 1950s, as we are reminded by more historical references than you can shake 57 Chevy at.  We enter the story in the middle, as the herpo, 3-D Man, smashes into a room with a bunch of Commie spies, led by a guy named Diabolik....  Nope. Just some white-haired guy with a handlebar moustache and a goatee, like a cross between Simon Stagg and Col. Sanders! This being the 1950s, the Commies get smooshed. Except, they aren't Commies, they are........... Whoops, time for a flashback! We cut to Chuck Chandler, football hero (rather than junior hockey player and superhero Crimebuster), who is idolized by brother Hal. He turns down a shot in the NFL to be a test pilot, rivalling the legendary Ben Grimm (Chuck Yeager just grins at that statement). Chuck always tips his wings to Hal, when he sits out at their secret spot, in the desert, near Edwards AFB. Well, Chuck is about to fly the X-13...  except Jim Craig draws the X-15...  Well, the Commies try to get the plans and try to muscle in on Chuck, who with Hal's help, fights 'em off. They head to the base and report the attempt and they continue with the test flight, with Hal, and Chuck's girl Peggy, there to watch. Peggy takes Hal out to the secret spot to watch and the plane launches, then runs into a flying saucer that only Chuck can see. Chuck gets pulled aboard and wakes up to find....  Skrulls! Well, no Commie Skrull can stop a M'rican Hee-row type and he punches his way free, sets off some weapon, and escapes in the X-15....er, 13. Well, he crash lands, conveniently, by his brother, then glows and disappears, leaving only red and green images on Hal's glasses.  Hal soon discovers that if he concentrates, he can combine the two images and make his brother reappear, as the 3-D Man, with three times the ability of one man. problem is, Hal turns into a zombie, when 3-d Man manifests. Sucks to be him! Then we are back to where we started, with Chuck kicking Commie/Nazi/Martian/Skrull butt!. The Skrulls are manipulating thigs to keep Earth from space and becoming a threat, with the implication they have been around for generations, appearing as men like Napoleon, Hitler and Kruschev, to slow mankind's development (more on that). Chuck heads back to wake up Hal, by returning to the glasses and we end with Hal dreaming of would-be dictators. Thoughts: Roy Thomas calls this a dynamic new concept, on page one, in the credits. Um, yeah; new. This is an "homage" to Simon & Kirby's Captain 3-D, from harvey, with elements of Fighting American thrown in, for good measure, plus Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters (inspiration for Invasion of the Body Snatchers), War of the Worlds, Invaders from mars and every other Martian invasion movie, comic, short story or novel. Roy even name drops Ray Bradbury (Martian Chronicles, of course). To make sure we don't forget it's the 50s, he has hokey dialogue references to "police actions," the 38th Parallel, Commies, the Cold War, Buddy Holly (at least, I assume Peggy is inspired by Peggy Sue), 3-D movies, the invasion of Hungary, Lucky Strikes, Johnny Unitas, Jonas Salk, and more. He writes the story in the style of Simon & Kirby; but, the dialogue is the typical Stan Lee hokum. Roy gets rather long winded in this one. Jim Craig does a good job, except for drawing the wrong plane; or else, Roy misidentified it when he dialogued it (I'm betting on the latter). Craig spent quite a bit of time in the library, referencing the late 50s; though, quite frankly, apart from the cars and the X-15, everything else is generic enough that it could be anything from the late 40s to the early 70s. Chuck's flight suit is a black bodysuit, with a triangular emblem, that becomes the red and green 3-D Man suit, after the crash. It bears no resemblance to the actual pressure suits worn by the X-15 pilots, like Neil Armstrong. The X-15 had its first flight in 1959; but, the bulk of the flights were in the 60s. The X-13 had test flights a few years earlier, as part of a test of VTOL capability. It's hard to tell which plane Roy intended; but, he definitely dialogued the story with the wrong designation. The name Chuck Chandler is an homage to Crimebuster, star of Boy comics, while the idea of brothers who become a hero, to fight Commies is taken from fighting American. If only Roy had borrowed the gonzo tone of Fighting American, this might have been memorable. As t stands, it reads like a generic Marvel comic, set in an earlier time period. In fact, it reads like something Stan would have knocked out, in the 60s, when not working with Kirby or Ditko. There is one big problem with Roy's concept that the Skrulls are manipulating history to slow mankind's development, by presenting Hitler, Napoleon and Kruschev. war doesn't retard technological progress; it has been proven to greatly advance it. Napoleon's wars led to improvements in artillery and firearms, with large scale use of rifled weapons (the British), advances in communication and medicine and unified armies from multiple nations. WW2 lead to rocketry advances, medical advances, computers, aviation advances, a rapid communications. The Cold War stimulated the space race, which sped development further. In every instance, the Skrulls would be advancing Earth's technological progress, not inhibiting it. The idea of the 3-D man seems odd, for a comic feature, without 3-D gimmicks. It should, as this was, supposedly, intended to be a special magazine comic, with 3-D effects. The art was even designed to take advantage of it. However, the costs of producing a 3-D comic were too high for the budget and the magazine idea was scrapped for a brief run in Marvel Premiere.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,201 
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Post by Confessor on Apr 3, 2019 15:20:06 GMT -5
The 3-D Man three-parter in Marvel Premiere sure ain't amazing or anything, but I think it's entertaining enough. I picked up all three parts from the £1 box of a comic shop that used to be in my home town a few years back and, although it's been a while since I read them, I remember being pretty happy with my purchase.
I had no idea that this arc was originally intended to be printed in 3-D. That's really interesting.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 3, 2019 15:24:53 GMT -5
Marvel premier #36-37  Rock and Roll is the Devil's music? Naw, that was Lawrence Welk..... Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, Jim Craig-pencils, Dave Hunt-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, George Roussos & Donald Warfield-colors Don Glut is credited with plot assist on issue 36; but, according to Roy, he assisted on both issues. Should have let him write the thing, if you ask me... Synopsis: 3-D Man helps save a Prof. Potter from some biker punks that try to mug him, outside Griffith Observatory...  (as seen in rebel Without a Cause and The Rocketeer) He buggers off, leaving Hal Chandler, who had an appointment with the Prof, as we get a rehash of last issue, after the professor talks about cataloging recent UFO sightings. Hm... Hal returns home and his dad is building a bomb shelter. They go inside to watch have Gun, Will Travel, when they see a piece about Vince Rivers and his rock and roll show. Pop Chander condemns rock n roll as devil's music and rants about a song, title "Rocket in My Pocket," when his son died testing a rocket plane (or did he?). Meanwhile, Jimmy Lloyd wants his cut of the royalties.... We get a tv performance of Vince Rivers (rather than Johnny Rivers, sadly) and a riot breaks out when rockers clash with the square cops. 3-D man shows up and sense Skrulls...  Turns out, he has the wrong guy, as the cops arrest Vince, even though he hasn't done anything but sing. The real Skrull is DJ Doc Rock, the biggest DJ since the Payola Scandal (too early, Roy). The next issue has Vince in jail, as he is visited by Doc Rock, who gives him his guitar, with a Skrull device inside. It picks up the chant of the crowd of teeny boppers, demanding "We Want Vince!" It explodes, in a Great Ball of Fire and Vince escapes from jail in a snazzy custom car. 3-D Man chases after the car, which crashes and the Skrull leader tries to follow him when he leaves the scene. He tries to zap him; but, it doesn't work, as 3-D an disappears into Hal's glasses and he awakens. The Skrull goes off to see another scientist, appearing as Vice President Nixon...  The prof has developed some device which turns him into a superhuman, with extreme cold powers, and Nixon/Skrull dubs him the Cold Warrior. Of course, he meets 3-D Man and they fight, 'cause why not?  3-D Man wins (obviously) and Cold warrior is dumped in the ocean and the Skrull walks away, tail between his legs, vowing never to again appear as the man he impersonated. Probably. Thoughts: Again, lots of references, some off on the time period. 3-D Man states it is 1958and the Payola Scandal is brought up, though the Congressional hearings weren't until 1960. Doc Rock is probably meant to be Dick Clark, though the character is too generic to say for sure. Nixon is supposed to be a bit of fun; but, isn't hokey enough to really be fun and the whole Cold Warrior thing falls a bit flat. This really needed to be more off-the-wall to really work. Gerber could have made this amazing lunacy; but, Roy just doesn't really do gonzo well. Give him epic or give him WW2 and he's golden; but, give him satire and he is pretty hit and miss. Mostly miss, here. Roy would give 3-D man one more go round, in What If?, with the 1950s Avengers, featuring the character shoehorned in with 1950s Atlas characters, who would go on to become the Agents of Atlas, much later. He also got a couple of issues of the Hulk. Later, his powers got turned over to triad, after use in Avengers Forever. Quite frankly, his long absence was justified as there isn't much there, unless you want to go nuts with that and Gerber was busy with Howard. These two issues also have more art suggesting the 3-D intent that didn't happen. makes me wonder if the magazine was to include this material, as well as the origin story. Craig is still drawing the X-15 in the flashback, while Roy still calls it the XF-13. That's what happens when you edit your own material!
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 3, 2019 15:32:00 GMT -5
The 3-D Man three-parter in Marvel Premiere sure ain't amazing or anything, but I think it's entertaining enough. I picked up all three parts from the £1 box of a comic shop that used to be in my home town a few years back and, although it's been a while since I read them, I remember being pretty happy with my purchase. I had no idea that this arc was originally intended to be printed in 3-D. That's really interesting. It's fine, in that generic Marvel sense. Roy didn't write many bad stories; though, there is so much potential just lying there, because Roy is more of a traditional writer, than someone wilder, like a Gerber or Giffen. Heck, Simon & Kirby, after the serious first issue of Fighting American, went nuts with it, as they realized that the Commie element did work seriously; but, by taking it to an extreme, it made it far more memorable (especially with villains like Rhode Island Red, Double-Header, and such). Roy has a good idea, with the Skrull infiltration and a rather interesting time period, which keeps you going, when the material falls a bit flat. I think he was probably more on the right track with the What If story, about the 1950s Avengers. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 3, 2019 16:22:47 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight, Vol2, #1-4    I've already discussed issues 1-3, in my Courting Death thread, reviewing the appearances of Thanos. Issues 1-3 pick up where the canceled Captain Marvel series had left off, with CM and Drax facing the legacy of Thanos, via his corruption of the sentient computer ISAAC, which controlled the environment of the hollow moon, Titan. Mentor, Eros and the rest are prisoners of ISAAC and his lieutenants (Gae, Stellarax, Chaos, and Elysius), until freed ny Mar-Vell, after also getting Ellysius to switch sides. Issue 3 recaps CM's past and sets he, Rick Jones, Elysius, and Gertie (Rick's girlfriend) return to Earth (with an encounter with Eon, along the way) and the discovery of a derelict spacecraft, which has records of Captain marvel being their target. We are promised that as the next issue; but, something happened along the way and Doug Moench did not complete his story. Instead, issue 4 features a different tale, from Archie Goodwin and Steve Ditko. Creative Team: Archie Goodwin-writer, Steve Ditko-artist, Joe Rosen-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Roger Stern-edits, Jim Shooter-General Marvel From a plot by Marv Wolfman, which suggests an inventory story developed in case of deadline doom, which got turned into this. Synopsis: A guy runs from a shadow and is killed. he is found by police and a reporter, who was supposed to meet him, about a new breakthrough. They believe he died of a heart attack. Captain Marvel's Cosmic Awareness says differently. he checks out the man's house and is attacked by a shadow creature. He disintegrates it with a photon blast and is then pulled by another into a new realm.  There, things gets really Ditko...  The dud who grabbed him is part of a group of freedom fighters, battling the Shadow Masters. They conquered their world, via a dimensional rift. Now, the dead scientists experiments have opened another rift, for the Shadow Masters to attack Earth. CM teams up with the rebels and trains them to fight.  They go into battle against the Shadow Masters and their citadel and Primus' woman, Starra, gets there early, thanks to some Screamers and is killed. CM leads the rest in battle, Primus is mortally wounded and gives CM a new soul. The Masters are defeated and CM sent back to Earth, with a new purpose.  Thoughts: This gets all kinds of confusing and really has no point, other than as filler that could be inserted elsewhere. One throw off piece of dialogue links the previous issue; but, there is no other connection, verifying that this was inventory. I'm not even sure it was intended for Captain Marvel or someone else, like Dr Strange. About the only thing of note is Ditko doing what Ditko did best...  Ditko will be back for the next issue, which has nothing to do with Captain Marvel. Mar-Vell won't be doing much of anything, as he will die in a few years.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 3, 2019 16:45:48 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #5 Creative Team: Marv Wolfman-script/edits, Steve Ditko-art, Elaine Heinl-letters, Roger Slifer-colors, Jim Shooter-"Consulting Editor" I suspect Shooter's label means he picked up this inventory Godzilla story to use here and had changes made, since Marvel didn't have the license. Synopsis: 1582-Godzilla attacks fishing boats and the mainland, though his appearance is different... Tako-San, a samurai commander reports failure to stop Godzilla to his master, the daimyo. He asks to be allowed one last desperate pla. he swipes gunpowder from a foreign ship and attacks the monster, with sword and explosives.  Tako-San dies in the battle and his son swears to avenge his name, learning to be a sorcerer. His knowledge is passed through the generations, to the present, where a new Tako-San works for an electronics company and lives in the suburbs. He learns that Godzilla is coming back.  He runs home, gets his spellbook, sword, and goofy costume and proceeds to embarrass his wife, in front of the neighbors...  Giant monster fights giant monster spells...   He wins and controls Godzilla, forcing him to help rescue his family and depart for good.  Thoughts: Not bad, for what it is. Godzilla is altered in appearance and called the Wani, in the story; but, he might have as well been called Gorgo, as Ditko gets to relive his Charlton days. Ditko does monster smashing almost as well as Kirby. though his hero is a bit different. Not sure what the point of using this was, as Godzilla was gone, unless there was a hole in the schedule and this was the best inventory story they had available. It all looks very Charlton, too, apart from the lettering and coloring. This would be Dragon lord's sole appearance, until the Avengers Initiative gave us Tak-San's death, mostly as a throw away gag.
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Post by brutalis on Apr 3, 2019 17:24:43 GMT -5
Yes it was fun to see Ditko doing art chores on Captain Atom and Gorgo again! Who worries over copyright protection when the original company is long dead and gone?!?
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