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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 22, 2018 14:18:07 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #3 Creative Team: Stan Lee-scenario, Barry (Windsor) Smith-plot & art, Dan Adkins-inks, John Costanza-letters Synopsis: Dr Strange is riding the Earth, as it plays pinball...  He's a pinball wizard, there must be a twist....... Sorry. Dr Strange is walkin' in the rain; tears are fallin' and he feels the pain. And he wonders......... He wa-wa-wa-wa-wonders........... I'll stop now. Doc walks along the streets of Greenwich Village, oblivious to the world around him. he walks in front of a truck and some bystanders shout. He turns and freezes the truck, then heads inside the Sanctum. There, he meditates and leaves his body. He notices mists swirling around and calls up the Ancient One on the cosmic instagram. AO is looking rather like a Hindu guru, rather than Ming the Merciless and he offers vague mumbo-jumbo about "His Power is his secret and his secret is his power. It sounds something like this... Doc finds his path back to his body blocked. Then he sees his body possessed. there is a lot of magicking and oaths and the body tries to jump out the window. Doc stops it falling, then the possessor leaves and it goes limp. Doc reinhabits it and lands in a weird place, where he sees trees with his face. They talk to him and he uses the Eye of Agamotto to see the truth. Turns out, he was hit by the truck and is in the ER, dreaming. he realizes his foe is Nightmare, who turns up on his horse. They magic fight, and Doc wins, then climbs back into his real body and sneaks out of the hospital, to begin guarding against whoever was behind Nightmare, who let it slip. Thoughts: The whole thing is rather metaphysical and stream of consciousness, with a lot of questions and intrigue; but, not a lot of story. Mostly, it is a showcase for BWS to go to town...     Don't know what it all means; but, that is how you start a series! How much you want to bet BWS won't be back for the next issue? Okay, no bet, because he does come back; but, he doesn't stay with the series. However, we will see Jim Starlin take a crack at it, some Gardner Fox stories, and then the beginning of the Englehart/Brunner run. So, stick around. Now, a song...
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 22, 2018 15:48:23 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #3 Jack Russell vs Lilian Munster!  Creative Team: Conway-script, Ploog-art, Rosen-letters, Lee-flea bath. Synopsis A cop calls in about losing some bikers on the road, near Malibu. Lissa Russell is driving home, thinking about how Jack said never drive the highway at night. It is dark and foreboding. Then.....the bikers turn up, like demons on their steel horses; riders from the gates of hell................. They chase Lissa to the house. The drooling apes want her badly. They smash their way inside, where they find.........  Jack precedes to open a can of lycanthropic whoop-ass on said bikers. Finally, the cops show up and take a potshot at the were wolf. He scampers off into the woods and watches the police search. A doctor consults with Jack's step-father. He leaves and jack crawls off and falls asleep by a tree. He awakes in the morning and goes hitchhiking, without a shirt and is picked up by the doctor. the doc had spotted him, earlier and knows he is a werewolf. he takes him home to meet the wife...  She's looking for a book, left to him by his father. he doesn't know what she is talking about. After she slaps him around, a hunchback, named Kraig, dumps him in a cell. The doc goes to check on him and apologize; but, finds the wolfman (Jack). Kraig rescues the doc and Jack gets really mad....  Jack tires out and transforms back and is brought before the wife again. The doc tries to stop the torture and Kraig gets involved and Jack beats feet. He is hiding in a barn, trying to remove his shackles (with and anvil and file) when the moon comes out and so does the wolfman. He smashes his chains and then goes back for some payback. The weird lady sicks Kraig on him and we get a monster slobberknocker, until lightning strikes Kraig's metal claw hand. The wife disappears and Jack heads home and later remarks hearing that the woman tried to summon monsters, without the Book of the Darkhold and failed and died. Jack begins a search of his mother's things for the book.  Thoughts: Bikers vs Werewolves would be a kick-ass movie! Probably better than Dog Soldiers (British Army squaddies vs werewolves, with Kevin McKidd, Sean Pertwee, and Liam Cunningham). This introduces the Darkhold, Marvel's answer to HP Lovecraft's The Necronomicon (both total fiction). It will play a major part, as a mcguffin, in many Marvel supernatural stories, including the classic Avengers storyline with Cthon possessing Scarlet Witch, on Wundagore Mountain. Ploog's bikers are a bit prophetic, as he will be handling another biker, in a couple of issues. I don't know is the name of Jack for Marvel's werewolf has anything to do with Wolfman Jack; but, it's a nice coincidence, if not.  Kraig may be a reference to EC artist Johnny Craig, whose cover of an axe murderer, holding a severed head, caused Bill Gaines a lot of problems in the Kefauver hearings. Craig did more than a few stories with misshapen monsters, like Kraig. Like many of the EC masters (especially Jack Davis and Graham Ingels, Mike Ploog's cartoony style really lends itself well to over-the-top horror comics. Michael T Gilbert's similar Eisner-influenced style will also grace his fabulous creation, Mister Monster (well, borrowed from a Canadian comic), which began it's career with a werewolf story. Lot of synchronicity there.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 22, 2018 16:29:03 GMT -5
Marvel Feature #6 (I know it's Whirlwind, here; but, what the hell? Ultravox was a great band and Midge Ure is the unsung hero of Band Aid and Live Aid!) Creative Team: Mike Friedrich-script, Herb Trimpe-pencils, Mike Trimpe-inks, Sam Rosen-letters, Roy Thomas-edits. Mike Trimpe is Herb's brother, who was a graphic artist and was between jobs. This is his only comic book work. Synopsis: Hank shows up back home to find Jan unconscious and the skylight shattering. He pops open a conveniently placed umbrella to protect her and dives into a heating duct. Jan is saved; but Hank is stuck down in the vent. The chauffeur shows up and is concerned about Jan, as well as familiar. He says Hank is dead and he wants to help her, especially with her money. She shrugs him off, refusing to believe Hank is dead (and missing the comments about her money. When he leaves, Hank tries to get Jan's attention. He concocts a catapult, out of a bobby pin and a rubber band, and launches his helmet, which beans her hand. She finds the helmet and realizes Hank must be nearby. She calls down the vent and splashes tears and the pair are reunited.  They rebuild the lab and even Orkie lends a paw (boy he keeps coming and going). They try to isolate the chemical that is blocking hank from growing. They hit the jackpot, when Whirlwind shows up. he gasses Jan and Hank thinks quickly. He hits a button to seal the door, then turns off the lights. Whirlwind turns on a flashlight and spots Hank. Hank fires a ball bearing out of an improvised pneumatic tube, shattering the light. Whirlwind lights a match and stalks Hank, who turns on a gas burner and Whirlwind ends up igniting the flame.  Whirlwind is stunned, then gets up and finds the light; but, jan is gone. he spins his way out and then Jan and Hank get back to work, while Hank remarks about the similarity between WW and the chauffeur. The time drags on and they are without success. Jan is stressed, as they are hiding the truth from the Avengers and others. Hank wants to double-check things and Jan loses it and gulps the antidote herself, to test it. She shoots up to giant size and bashes her head on the ceiling, stunning her.  Jan reverts back to her pint-sized form and, when revived, can't return to normal size. They go back to work in seclusion, when there is, eventually a knock at the door. Hank hops on Orkie to check it out, when Whirlwind turns up, knocking Orkie out (awwwwww.................)  He fires some doohickey, which launches de-oxygenating pellets, to force Jan to grow in size or die. Then, he sets the place on fire. Hank has a brainstorm and turns on a high pressure hose and grabs a box and he and Jan ride the water stream to safety. They are still surrounded by fire; but, are able to use a helium tank to inflate a balloon and float to safety. They make it outdoors and collapse in exhaustion. We later see a newspaper delivered, with a headline that says a fire claims the lives of 2 Avengers. To be continued. Thoughts: Best story so far! Lots of great action, with interesting angles by Herb Trimpe and a really inventive plot. it plays up the size problem well and it allows Hank to strut his scientific stuff. i love a story that lets a science hero use science to beat a bad guy (Science!). Jan is pretty dense, not seeing the connection between Whirlwind and the chauffeur, though Hank hasn't fully pieced it together, either; but, at least he suspects the guy. Jan is now also stuck at micro-size, for an interesting turn of events. Just a really great issue. Still, one question remains...... WHAT HAPPENED TO ORKIE?  ?? The poor little guy was out cold and the two superheroes don't even offer a thought about him. Little old meanies! Someone call the ASPCA!
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Post by kirby101 on Nov 22, 2018 21:21:01 GMT -5
Thanks for this cody. You are so in my wheelhouse. The glory of Marvel's Bronze Age here.
The Smith Dr Strange was like an acid trip. And a late Stan script to boot.
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Post by berkley on Nov 23, 2018 1:48:17 GMT -5
Never read much of the Thomas/Kane Warlock, though I did see an issue or two when I was young. I'm such a fan of the Starlin version of the character in Strange Tales and then in his own short-lived series, that the earlier series will always feel secondary for me, even though it was first in time.
Not particularly a fan of the character I'm going to have to find those Ant-Man comics just for the Trimpe artwork - and doing his own inks!
BWS's style was so well-suited to Dr. Strange, it's really too bad he didn't have a longer run. I admit that I'm such a fan that I probably would have liked it on any character - and in fact his artwork on everything from Conan to Ka-Zar to the Avengers always seems special to me I mean once he found his own "voice" as an artist, not so much the Kirby-imitations he was doing earlier on. But I really do think it was an especially good fit with the introspective, atmospheric Dr. Strange stories. He was always as effective with the sorcery as with the sword in his Robert E. Howard comics, and you can see how that carried over to his work here on Strange. Loved Mike Ploog's Werewolf by Night and much as I love the Don Perlin WbN, especially once he started inking his own pencils, I'll always associate the character and the series with Ploog's art - even though I don't think the writing was nearly as good as it eventually became under Doug Moench and Perlin. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 23, 2018 3:28:19 GMT -5
I don't know is the name of Jack for Marvel's werewolf has anything to do with Wolfman Jack; but, it's a nice coincidence, if not. Well, as you stated earlier, his name actually seems to be a reference to a certain breed of terrier; personally, I've always thought that that name was the second choice since Marv Wolfman was already taken... |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 23, 2018 11:07:03 GMT -5
I’m quite obviously a Warlock fan. I like RR (edit that was actually berkley that made that post above) read Starlin’s version in, at that time, the Baxter reprints before I set out on getting the actual issues. I went to a comic convention in Cape girardeau Missouri where I bought a “certified” Gil Kane signed copy of Marvel Premiere 1. While Starlins version is quite easily my favorite I sought out all the other Warlock appearances as well. The two issues in Hulk being particularly good. Like Rob Allen I too had religious upbringing so the parallels in Thomas’ Warlock struck a cord just like Starlin’s religious story telling hit home.
Mike Ploog’s art is so amazing it’s hard for me to even read a WbN he didn’t do the art on. I have one of his art books and his skill with macbre is as amazing as Bernie Wrightson. Both gods in the arena of macbre art. For what ever reason he didn’t I wished Ploog would have done more with Marvel’s monsters and horror titles.
Edit: These Marvel Premiere Strange issues are the ones that got me looking into Strange as a character. Who I don’t think was really greatly used in the 90’s. He didn’t fit the bill of what a lot of 90’s character overhauls were getting done to. But these issues with Starlin and P Craig Russel art really knew how to make Strange jump off the page into your imagination.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 23, 2018 16:23:31 GMT -5
Never read much of the Thomas/Kane Warlock, though I did see an issue or two when I was young. I'm such a fan of the Starlin version of the character in Strange Tales and then in his own short-lived series, that the earlier series will always feel secondary for me, even though it was first in time.
The early Warlock and the Starlin Warlock were so different as to seem to almost be different characters, but I loved them both to death back in the day. The concept of Warlock as "What if Jesus was a hippie superhero" was so... so 1970s!!! The plots of those first ten issues (plus the crossovers in Hulk) were sort of generic, but the tone was pretty unique. Michael Moorcock, I'm sure, would have loved the series. And that Kane art... Marvel Premiere #1 remains one of my favourite individual issues of all time. I remember the exact time I first read it (well... its translated version, which in Quebec was titled "Warlock #1"). No joke, it is one of my happiest childhood memories. (Don't judge me! You had to be there!  ) |
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Post by berkley on Nov 23, 2018 18:21:11 GMT -5
Never read much of the Thomas/Kane Warlock, though I did see an issue or two when I was young. I'm such a fan of the Starlin version of the character in Strange Tales and then in his own short-lived series, that the earlier series will always feel secondary for me, even though it was first in time.
The early Warlock and the Starlin Warlock were so different as to seem to almost be different characters, but I loved them both to death back in the day. The concept of Warlock as "What if Jesus was a hippie superhero" was so... so 1970s!!! The plots of those first ten issues (plus the crossovers in Hulk) were sort of generic, but the tone was pretty unique. Michael Moorcock, I'm sure, would have loved the series. And that Kane art... Marvel Premiere #1 remains one of my favourite individual issues of all time. I remember the exact time I first read it (well... its translated version, which in Quebec was titled "Warlock #1"). No joke, it is one of my happiest childhood memories. (Don't judge me! You had to be there! ) You don't have to convince me - I'd say many if not most if my happiest childhood memories involved reading of one kind or another - if not comics, then books. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 23, 2018 21:25:53 GMT -5
To me Thomas’ Warlock paralleled religion in an innocuous way or as an intentional parallel with parables in the Bible. Whereas as Starlin’s Warlock was written as a foreboding tale of letting religion do our thinking and the dangers of collective religious mind hives. The Universal church could be applied to almost any secular religion. And Magus at the helm just like any secular/political figure using religion to satiate the masses.
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Post by tingramretro on Nov 24, 2018 7:27:53 GMT -5
I don't know is the name of Jack for Marvel's werewolf has anything to do with Wolfman Jack; but, it's a nice coincidence, if not. Well, as you stated earlier, his name actually seems to be a reference to a certain breed of terrier; personally, I've always thought that that name was the second choice since Marv Wolfman was already taken... Sorry, I've always assumed the name Jack Russell was an obvious dog joke. Are Jack Russell terriers not that well known in America? They're a popular, very common breed in the UK. |
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Post by rberman on Nov 24, 2018 9:06:50 GMT -5
Well, as you stated earlier, his name actually seems to be a reference to a certain breed of terrier; personally, I've always thought that that name was the second choice since Marv Wolfman was already taken... Sorry, I've always assumed the name Jack Russell was an obvious dog joke. Are Jack Russell terriers not that well known in America? They're a popular, very common breed in the UK. They are pretty well known in the USA as well. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 24, 2018 11:49:00 GMT -5
Well, as you stated earlier, his name actually seems to be a reference to a certain breed of terrier; personally, I've always thought that that name was the second choice since Marv Wolfman was already taken... Sorry, I've always assumed the name Jack Russell was an obvious dog joke. Are Jack Russell terriers not that well known in America? They're a popular, very common breed in the UK. No, I know the dog reference (mentioned it in the first issue); but, Conway has gone on record that he doesn't recall the origin of the name and he never had a dog and wasn't making the obvious connection. Meanwhile, Wolfman Jack was a major media figure in the US, having been a hugely influential radio DJ in LA, who got national exposure through tv appearances and in movies, like American Graffiti. I wonder if they idea didn't start out as, "What do we call our 'wolfman'?" "Jack" "Why Jack?" "Woflman Jack." "Cute. Okay, what about his last name?" "Russell!" "Russell? "Yeah, like the terrier...." |
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Post by tingramretro on Nov 25, 2018 8:25:56 GMT -5
Sorry, I've always assumed the name Jack Russell was an obvious dog joke. Are Jack Russell terriers not that well known in America? They're a popular, very common breed in the UK. No, I know the dog reference (mentioned it in the first issue); but, Conway has gone on record that he doesn't recall the origin of the name and he never had a dog and wasn't making the obvious connection. Meanwhile, Wolfman Jack was a major media figure in the US, having been a hugely influential radio DJ in LA, who got national exposure through tv appearances and in movies, like American Graffiti. I wonder if they idea didn't start out as, "What do we call our 'wolfman'?" "Jack" "Why Jack?" "Woflman Jack." "Cute. Okay, what about his last name?" "Russell!" "Russell? "Yeah, like the terrier...." I've never heard of Wolfman Jack... |
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Post by rberman on Nov 25, 2018 8:30:24 GMT -5
No, I know the dog reference (mentioned it in the first issue); but, Conway has gone on record that he doesn't recall the origin of the name and he never had a dog and wasn't making the obvious connection. Meanwhile, Wolfman Jack was a major media figure in the US, having been a hugely influential radio DJ in LA, who got national exposure through tv appearances and in movies, like American Graffiti. I wonder if they idea didn't start out as, "What do we call our 'wolfman'?" "Jack" "Why Jack?" "Woflman Jack." "Cute. Okay, what about his last name?" "Russell!" "Russell? "Yeah, like the terrier...." I've never heard of Wolfman Jack... Time for you to see American Graffiti then! |
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