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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 17, 2019 16:10:41 GMT -5
PS I have trouble taking Star Lord seriously, after Brendon Smalls shot this epic... Just substitute Lord for Boy and you will see what goes through my head, when I see or hear the name! I could hear almost nothing over the background noise (music, effects, etc.) in that. 90 seconds was all I could handle. Home Movies is an acquired taste. Brendon Small and Lauren Bouchard created it, after working on the Comedy central cartoon series, Dr Katz. It was first shown on UPN, then transferred to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. Brendon Small, Jason, and Melissa are school kids who make their own movies, mostly in Brendon's basement. many are pseudo-musicals, parodying all kinds of stuff. My favorite element was H Jon Benjamin, as Coach McGuirk, Brendon and Melissa's soccer coach. This was one of my favorite episodes, revolving around Brendon's failing history, because he spends too much time making movies and not enough studying, causing him to mix historical figures in weird movie plots. Ever time I see or hear the name Star Lord, I hear that theme..."Star Boy....and the Captain of Outer Space!" Same with Star Boy, of the Legion of Superheroes. I've tried Small's Metalocalypse; but, could never really get into it. Home Movies has a more goofy charm. On the flip side, I hated Aqua Teen Hunger Force. No problems with Sealab 2021 or The Brak Show, or Harvey Birdman; but, ATHF was the one Adult Swim show that did nothing but annoy me (though Cowboy Beebop's title sequence was way cooler than the actual series episodes). |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 17, 2019 16:23:25 GMT -5
I could hear almost nothing over the background noise (music, effects, etc.) in that. 90 seconds was all I could handle. Home Movies is an acquired taste. Brendon Small and Lauren Bouchard created it, after working on the Comedy central cartoon series, Dr Katz. It was first shown on UPN, then transferred to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. Brendon Small, Jason, and Melissa are school kids who make their own movies, mostly in Brendon's basement. many are pseudo-musicals, parodying all kinds of stuff. My favorite element was H Jon Benjamin, as Coach McGuirk, Brendon and Melissa's soccer coach. This was one of my favorite episodes, revolving around Brendon's failing history, because he spends too much time making movies and not enough studying, causing him to mix historical figures in weird movie plots. Ever time I see or hear the name Star Lord, I hear that theme..."Star Boy....and the Captain of Outer Space!" Same with Star Boy, of the Legion of Superheroes. I've tried Small's Metalocalypse; but, could never really get into it. Home Movies has a more goofy charm. On the flip side, I hated Aqua Teen Hunger Force. No problems with Sealab 2021 or The Brak Show, or Harvey Birdman; but, ATHF was the one Adult Swim show that did nothing but annoy me (though Cowboy Beebop's title sequence was way cooler than the actual series episodes). I don't think I'd ever sampled Home Movies. Adult Swim has always been hit or miss. I LOVE Harvey Birdman. I like Sealab fairly well and The Brak Show is okay. Metalocalypse is unwatchable. I don't think I've ever watched Aqua Teen either. Stuff was always on way after midnight in Idaho so any Adult Swim I've watched has been streaming or DVDs. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 17, 2019 17:14:36 GMT -5
Marvel Spotlight #9-11   Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer, Steve Ditko-artist, G Simek, Annette Kawecki & Joe Rosen-letters, Ben Sean-colors, Al Milgrom-edits I'm lumping these together as I really didn't think much of them. Captain Universe, in the original storyline of Micronauts, was a manifestation of the Enigma Force, which inhabited the body of former astronaut Ray Coffin, who worked at Human Engineering Life Laboratories (HELL), for NASA, with Phillip Prometheus. His son Steve met the crew of the Microsip Endeavor and helped them escape the forces of Baron Karza, as well as Prometheus. Prometheus had created a dimensional well that led to the Microverse, which allowed Baron Karza to escape to Earth, while Ray stopped prometheus by tackling him and dropping them both through the well, into the microverse (which also allowed Karza to cross over, via Prometheus' body. The Enigma Force, via a time traveller, offered Ray a chance to set things right and inhabited his body, returning him to Earth as Captain Universe. he battled Karza to a standstill, forcing him to retreat back to the Microverse, whereupon the Enigma Force departed Coffin, returning his body to him. The Micronauts left father and son behind and took the fight back to the Microverse, building to the climax of the storyline, the confrontation between Baron Karza and Commander Rann. This was an attempt at creating a series out of Captain Universe, with a premise mostly swiped from Dial H For HERO. The twist is that, instead of one or two regulars conjuring different heroes, one hero (or entity) inhabits different people in need. Not a bad concept; but, not especially well executed by Mantlo. Synopsis: Issue one finds Ray Coffin and Steve doing yardwork, when the Unipower (the sub-set of the Enigma Force) tries to inhabit Ray, causing a heart attack.  He's rushed to the hospital, where Steve notices all kinds of weird goings on. He is inhabited by the Unipower and becomes Captain Universe, fighting a series of shadow creatures, by making light nunchucks and such.  He finds out they are the goons of Mister E, who is preparing to invade this reality. It all culminates in a lot of Ditko cosmicy stuff and a space shuttle trip into the sun. Steve returns to his usual self and we are teased about who will be the next Captain Universe.  It runs out to be a pair of sisters....  One, Claire, is a private eye, focused on her career. The other, Ann, is a homemaker, married to a district attorney. Claire and Edward, Ann's husband, have been investigating the crime family of Nemesis, a mysterious figure. Nemesis kidnaps Edward and Claire senses danger (don't you know, all twins have telepathy? At least, according to Mantlo). She crashes in through a window and gets the drop on the thugs, then she and Ann are transformed into twin Captains Universe...  ...complete with high heels! They track down Nemesis and his gang, do a bit of fighting and escaping death traps...   ...then capture Nemesis, who turns out to ne Edward, whos says they can't live like they do on his salary. (DAs aren't especially underpaid. he's not a public defender, you know). Anyway, Ann will stand on her own two feet. Next is a cat burglar, which had to peeve Ditko to no end.  Burglar Monty Walsh (a play on the Lee Marvin movie character) tries to rob Maggia (cause changing an F to tw Gs hides who you are talking about) boos, named Guido Carbonio (seriously?). he gets caught, throws back the money, then gets shot for his trouble.   He then gets the Unipower, which saves him...  Then goes after Carboni and his gang.  Eeven J Jonah applauds the hero...  Walsh and Carboni meet up and you can guess the end. Except, it turns out that Walsh intends to take over Carboni's operation...  But, the Unipower departs, leaving the already dead body of Walsh for the police to find, sealing Carboni's downfall. That was it for the run,except for a final splash page of Mantlo begging readers to write in so CU could get his own series.  It didn't work. Thoughts: The first story isn't bad and Steve's use of the Unipower is inventive. However, the story is slight, elevated by Ditko's cosmic touches. the second story is more mundane and would work better without the superhero angle or the endless references to housework or anti-housework. It reads as a rather insulting look at the debate of career vs family that waged among women, who faced new economic opportunities and necessities, as real wages stagnated and dropped and single incomes proved insufficient to support the modern family. If it was an attempt at a feminist message it failed by being patronizing. The last issue is a weak crime story, helped by Ditko's dynamic art, though it mostly seems like generic Ditko. Mantlo tries to reference Spider-Man as much as he can, despite Ditko refusing to return to the character, out of spite (and it's a well earned spite). Ultimately, Mantlo is only able to fashion cliched ideas out of all of this and you are left wondering why you need the superpower angle to it? Ditko is fine; but his heart isn't into it and it's not the same, which reflected much of his work upon his return to Marvel. A 12th issue, with another Captain Marvel story is announced, with Jerry bingham on art; but, the book was cancelled. It would eventually see the light of day, in 1990, in the revived Marvel Super-Heroes. That is all for this second volume of Marvel Spotlight. Little of consequence came from it. It began by finishing up the final storyline, already in progress, in Captain Marvel, then turned into filler material and repurposed stories. Star Lord got a color tryout that didn't lead to much and then Captain Universe got a meager try out. No wonder this book was yanked. So, where to next? Well, since we mentioned Marvel Super-Heroes, how about there? I'm only going to look at the tryout issues, not the point where it became Hulk reprints.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 17, 2019 17:20:25 GMT -5
ps I think Ditko hung around Eric Stanton far too long. Ann and Claire look like they are corseted to the hilt! Ditko shared a studio with fetish artist Eric Stanton, in the 60s, inking some of Stanton's material, especially The Kinky Hook, and rumors of Stanton inking some of Ditko's non-Spider-Man Marvel stuff, which Ditko denied. Ditko denied knowing Stanton, though Stanton published photos of them together in the studio. I suspect Ditko was embarrassed about being associated with a "pornographer." Some of Ditko's Dr Strange material showed a bit of overlap with Stanton's usual story elements, particularly bondage devices (especially in Dr Strange)   |
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Post by brutalis on Apr 17, 2019 17:29:51 GMT -5
Yeah, the only attraction for those Captain Universe issues was the Ditko art. While not overly inventive it still was at the time new Steve Ditko artwork, so of course I had to buy them! A rotating person playing a hero is creative but makes for a difficult ongoing series. DC's Deadman pulls it off because he is the main character and speaks and it is his actions driving the story. Without any thoughts or characterization to Captain universe other than the person who is currently inhabited by the Enigma Force it makes for dull reading. Now if Mantlo had gone full on Kirby Infinity Man and allowed the E-Force to being more "alive" with some spirit, soul and thoughts when it inhabits/unites with the host, then it might have been more successful.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 17, 2019 18:39:03 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #28 Here's the full cover...  "Murder By Numbers" Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer, Ken Steacy-everything else. Al Milgrom-edits. Alpha Flight handled by a native-born Canadian (Byrne was an emigree)! Get out your maple leafs, your Molson, and your touques, eh? Synopsis: Okay, our topic for today is , like Alpha Flight and Northstar runs through Toronto, past the Silver Snail (Beauty comic shop, eh?) trying to reach an old friend in time; but, he's like too late, as some hoser has blown him up and created a fire. Northstar uses his AF ID to get past the police perimeter and see the body. Later, the team is, like, summoned to the office of retired RCMP Commander Giles McHeath, for some beer and back bacon. He reveals Northstar's link to the dead man, a member of the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) and brings up Jean-Paul's past membership in this group (revealed in AF #22). McHeath is concerned in tracking down the killer, as they are targeting other past members, and he speaks of the October Crisis, the routing of the FLQ and the splinter Cell Combattre, who refused to surrender and ambushed an RCMP office. Northstar is revealed to have been a courier for this cel, but McHeath doesn't want him to sell out his comrades, just get them to turn themselves in, before the killer finds them.  So, like, Northstar goes off alone to find his friends, telling Ato stay out, eh? AF follows, tracking implants put in their head by the original Guardian, when he formed the team. McHeath is tracking them, via a dusting of particles on them. Hey, hosehead lied to them!  They track Jean-Paul and some guy in an armored suit, called Scourge, follows. The suit is a copy of the prototype Jamie Hudson created for Can-Am, which he swiped and became the basis for the Guardian/Vindicator battlesuit. Someone has a copy of the plans. They track JP to a theater and arrive too late, as a bomb goes off, killing Clementine, Numero Deux (also seen previously in AF).  Northstar takes off, after telling AF to take off, hosers! he heads for Numero Trois and Lettre A and find them, though they pull guns on him. AF shows up and tears up a bus and fight with northstar. The two FLQ members run and a bomb goes off. Arguments happen, lots of political debate, then JP goes for Letteres B and C. Scourge follows and moves in on target, when he is ambushed by AF. Beauty plan, eh? They take down the hoser, who removes his helmet to reveal McHeath, who wants revenge for the killing of his men.  He goes to backshoot Northstar; but, Snowbird turns into a bear and stops him. They all pop some beers and cook up some back bacon for the end. Thoughts: Eh.....not bad, not memorable. Mantlo attempts to whitewash Northstar's past with the Quebec separatists movement and the terrorist cells involved, something Byrne already established. byrne went for a more complex character; Mantlo wants to whiten him up. He dumps a bit of history here, without much discussion. The debate is rather one-sided. In the end, Northstar receives a pardon for his past, so he can move on. Mantlo was writing Alpha Flight, though hardly with the acclaim of Byrne's run (as creator, though better than that awful coming out issue, much later. Ken Steacy uses traditional line art and coloring process, rather then his painted work, as seen in his Iron man story in MF. He is stuck with a lot of over-emoting, which leads to less spectacular art from that quite excellent artist. The Silver Snail is a call out to Canadian comic book fans and pros, as well as a landmark for Toronto, for comic lovers. I assume the people we see looking out the windows are friends, as I believe the once shared studio space above the store, with Dean Motter and some others, at various points.above the store. No idea who anyone might be, though I think one of the guys in an upper window is Dean Motter, possibly some of the other Vortex people.
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Post by MDG on Apr 18, 2019 8:32:01 GMT -5
ps I think Ditko hung around Eric Stanton far too long. Ann and Claire look like they are corseted to the hilt! Ditko shared a studio with fetish artist Eric Stanton, in the 60s, inking some of Stanton's material, especially The Kinky Hook, and rumors of Stanton inking some of Ditko's non-Spider-Man Marvel stuff, which Ditko denied. Ditko denied knowing Stanton, though Stanton published photos of them together in the studio. I suspect Ditko was embarrassed about being associated with a "pornographer." Some of Ditko's Dr Strange material showed a bit of overlap with Stanton's usual story elements, particularly bondage devices (especially in Dr Strange) I recently read the bio of Stanton that came out and it goes into his relationship with Ditko quite a bit. The book also speculates that one reason Ditko did such masterful wash work on his Warren stories was that Stanton taught him (or even worked on some of the early stories) since he was very proficient in wash.
It's a shame Ditko felt he had to deny working with Stanton. When you look at some of the work, it's pretty hard not to see Ditko:
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2019 9:44:47 GMT -5
codystarbuckIn my life, I read about 70 percent DC and 30 percent Marvel ... and wondering who is Captain Universe? ... I never heard of this hero and wondering is there is a DC Comics Counterpart that's similar to it? Thanks ...this is totally new to me.
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Post by badwolf on Apr 18, 2019 10:12:33 GMT -5
Mantlo would use Captain Universe again in a Hulk Annual.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 19, 2019 8:19:01 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #42 Creative Team: John Warner-plot, Ed Hannigan-plot & script, Mike Vosburg-pencils, Ernie Chan-inks, John Costanza-letters, Francoise Mouly-colors, Jim Shooter-edits Synopsis: Tigra is in New orleans, prowling around rooftops, looking for Dr Joanne Tumolo, when, wouldn't you know it, she suddenly appears under a street lamp...  She warns Tigra that "Tabur has the ray" and that she must warn the others. Then she disappears. Tigra is left confused, like someone turned off the laser pointer, after she chased the red dot around the room (cat people understand). Since it is New orleans, it must be Mardi Gras and we see a party, with someone who had a suit made out of Dr Strange's cloak...  They are in the way of Dr Richard Dannemiller, who is trying to make a delivery. He nearly runs down a kid and gets taunted by drunken partiers. He is agitated and speeds off to a mansion, where he runs into a cat person that attacks him, with him spouting about also being a Cat Person and they don't kill each other. Cut to some secret cliff entrance (around New Orleans? I don't think any of these guys have been there...) Tigra meets up with the Cat People, who share balls of yarn and take hits of catnip. She is shown the dead body of Dr Tumolo, who gave her her cat powers, as we get flashbacks to backstory about how Greer Nelson, the Cat (as opposed to T.H.E. Cat, who was Robert Loggia) became Tigra, then about Tabur, one of the High Evolutionary's New Men, who hid away when Thor and HE fought the Man-Beast. He met up with the cat people, who tried to help him; but, he spent too much time as an alley cat and now seeks revenge, with a reverse evolutionary ray, which will revert humans to apes, even though they evolved from an ape-like ancestor, not actual chimps or gorillas.  He's unleashed mastadons and tapirs on New Orleans, so Tigra and the kitty folk go to fight him and he turns the ray on the moggies, turning them into sabre-tooth tigers. They still stick with Tigra, who gets the ray away and turns it on Tabur, who turns into a little tabby, while the kitty krew get turned back into their form.  Thoughts: Yet another issue to wrap up an unfinished story from a canceled book. You are pretty well left in the dark for the first half, get a big info dump, then it is conclusion. Hanigan was doing much the same in Defenders. It's a rather slight story. Facial expressions are a bit off in some panels, as Tigra looks happy when she learns of Dr Tumolo's death. Less a tryout; more a conclusion. Tigra won't do a whole lot until she becomes a member of the Avengers, for no really good reason, as I recall, except to flirt with Jarvis. She made a fun addition; but, seemed like she had crashed the party.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 19, 2019 8:44:21 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #43 Creative Team: Don Mcgregor-writer, Tom Sutton-artist, Bruce Patterson-letters, Many Hands-colors, Jim Shooter-edits Synopsis: Paladin bursts in on Phantasm menacing Marsha Connors, his employer. Lots of pages of fighting follow, with Tom Sutton going to town, while on runs off at the typewriter...  Phantasm is named Dennis ("I didn't know you were called Dennis" "You didn't bother to find out! What I object to is being automatically being treated like an inferior." "Well, I am king." "Oh, very nice; and how did you get that, eh? By exploiting the masses..") and has a past with Marsha and is mad and trying to kill her. After the pages of fights, Don gives us two pages of his history...  Phantasm causes a mass blackout, then kills Marsha, proving Paladin is a schmuck. He goes looking for him, after carrying off the body and tracks him to Chinatown...  They fight, Phantasm emotes, Paladin shoots and, it turns out Marsha is alive, since Paladin didn't actually check her pulse or breathing. Phantasm just goes fetal and cries, while Paladin catches up to Marsha. There is then a dedication to John Verpoorten, who had recently, and suddenly, died. Thoughts: Over-written, over-rendered; that pretty much sums this up. There is little rhyme or reason to this story, just lots of narration and pointless action. Paladin is a character I always thought had great potential, yet never turned out to be much. The costume didn't help, especially the color scheme. I kind of liked the padded helmet and chest piece and the knee boots; but, the purple and green colors really didn't work. It was later altered to mostly purple, with the cape being given a miss; but, he never amounted to much. Part of it was he wasn't given a backstory; he's just a mercenary/private investigator, with a high tech suit and gun. No one ever seemed to think much beyond that, except to give him a swashbuckling style. That gave him some potential, yet no one did anything substantial with him. I suppose it doesn't help that he was pretty much a rip-off of the Richard Boone tv series, transposed to urban superhero. I like Don McGregor's stories (especially Panther's Rage) and Tom Sutton's art; but, neither are on good form in this one.
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 19, 2019 13:26:15 GMT -5
I agree that Captain Universe was an interesting idea but not especially well executed. Sorry, but the Ditko art was a major turn-off for me.
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Post by badwolf on Apr 19, 2019 13:39:03 GMT -5
I love that Tigra issue. To me, that's how Tigra should be handled. Some other writers have done well by her, but many have not.
Never realised it was closing up an unfinished story.
I think the art is great.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 19, 2019 13:44:17 GMT -5
I love that Tigra issue. To me, that's how Tigra should be handled. Some other writers have done well by her, but many have not. Never realised it was closing up an unfinished story. I think the art is great. In general, the art is quite good; it's just the odd wonky facial expression that seems to run contrary to the dialogue. My main problem with the story is that you had to have followed her previous series to really get the impact of what is going on. otherwise, you have to absorb a lot of exposition and backstory, right in the middle of things. This might have worked better, for me, as a two parter, with the first catching you up and the second leading into the main plot. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 19, 2019 14:33:18 GMT -5
Marvel Super-Heroes #12 Captain Marvel? That doesn't look like the Big Red Cheese! No, I didn't skip the first 11 issues. Marvel Super-Heroes began life as Fantasy Masterpieces, which reprinted both Golden Age and more recent material. With issue #12, it was re-named Marvel Super-Heroes and became a tryout book, before settling into a long run as a Hulk reprint. Creative Team: Stan Lee-writer, Gene Colan-pencils, Frank Giacoia-inks, Artie Simek-letters Synopsis: Captain Marvel is doing the splits over a rocket...  Actually, he is inside; Captain Mar-Vell, of the Kree Space Militia. he has been ordered by Col. Yon-Rogg to survey the planet, alone. Medic Una, Mar's girlfriends mixes the breathing potion and whines about the danger, while Y-R plots to get rid of his rival for Una's affections.  Out the pixie goes, tru da door or tru da window. His fancy space stuff helps him fly and protects him, while the breathing potion helps with the atmosphere. He spots a missile base and scopes it out. The military launches a Nike Hercules missile...  and Mar checks it out, while musing about the FF destroying a Kree Sentry robot and the Avengers kicking Ronan the Acuser's butt, to remind us of the Kree (as opposed to the First Nations tribe, in Canada and the upper parts of the US). The missile goes off course and the military scans the area and notices strange radiation readings which may have affected the guidance system. The scan the area and spot Mar-Vell, who is trying to hide. They scramble security and you have GIs running everywhere, without radiation protection, despite the weird readings, 'cause, comics! Actually, the Army might have done something that stupid in the 40s and 50s (they did similar things); but, by the 60s they had learned some hard lessons. Anyway. Mar changes into civies and hitchhikes to the nearest town, where he hides out in a motel room, even though he has only 1 hour's breathing without his helmet. Somehow, that doesn't include the atmosphere inside the motel. Oh, nope, wait; turns out, he hitchhiked and got the room within the hour, as he dons his helmet to breath, after getting a message that he was to follow up on the Sentry and Ronan, as ordered by the Supreme Intelligence, while Yon-Rogg leaves him to his fate.  Thoughts: Mostly set up here, as Mar-Vell is dumped on the planet and alerts the nearby grunts. Fairly typical sci-fi stuff, lacking Kirby's spark in the plotting. Stan adds a love triangle and a dirty back-stabbing villain, so all the cliches are handy. Kind of a, underwhelming debut; but, we'll have to see what happens next issue.
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