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Post by badwolf on Apr 25, 2019 15:58:51 GMT -5
I loved that Moon Knight issue. Still relevant, since some directors still think it's okay to use animals as throwaway props.
As for the moon stuff, MK is pretty superstitious (did we ever find out if he was really resurrected by Khonshu?) so I can give him a pass for believing in that stuff.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Apr 26, 2019 15:41:35 GMT -5
Wasn't that Spidey story reprinted in a Treasury Edition? Classic, I say! Yes, it was reprinted in the very first Marvel Treasury Edition. |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 1, 2019 16:05:29 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #45-46  Creative Team: David Anthony Kraft-writer, George Perez-pencils, Frank Giacoia & Ricardo Vilamonte-inks, Dian Albers-letters, Carl Gafford-colors, Roger Stern-edits Sharpen up your sword, as horror, fantasy and sci-fi intersect to create a Stargod! First, a bit of backstory to get you up to speed with what is going on here. These two issues were a continuation of a storyline that DAK and George Perez had going, in Creatures on the Loose, the series featuring Man-Wolf. in it, John Jameson was AWOL and had been traveling with a couple, in Georgia, when they were attacked by some people involved with a secret project. The group was led by the Hate Monger, who wanted to retake the space wheel orbital station, from his appearances in the old SHIELD comic. They had built a spacecraft to do that. Man-Wolf starts creating chaos and Nick Fury and the boys show up to buckle some swash and do a big Bond assault sequence. Jameson has reverted to human form, after the rocket has launched and retakes control, piloting it back to Earth. nick Fury tells him he is considered AWOL; but, offers him a way out. he reports back to the Air Force and is tasked to pilot the Hate Monger's rocket to the Space Wheel, where all communications have been lost. He agrees and heads into space, where he turns into Man-Wolf, when he encounters moonrise. He goes all growly and smashes into the station. There, he runs into some weird guys: Garth, Lambert, and Garjool, who are fantasy adventure types, from some place called Other Realm. They came through a portal, located on the moon, and used rocket packs to ascend to the station, avoid the residents, and sever communications, to lure up Earhters. They find Man-Wolf and want to take the moonstone off of him, as it is a powerful object, left behind by their lost hero, Stargod. Wolfie has issue with that and they fight. he reverts to human form when the station moves out of the moon's effect and is overpowered and forced to pilot his ship to the moon and land. of course, he goes all wolfy again and that takes us to this issue. Synopsis: Man-Wolf lands on the moon, stumbles through a portal, and finds that Jameson's mind is alert again, in wolf form, as a bunch of people welcome his as Stargod. We learn that the real stargod passed through the portal and perished, scattering his essence across the moon, along with the Godstone. jameson's mission found the stone; but, he was only partially transformed into Stargod, in the physical form; but not the mental. here, in Other Realm, he is at full capacity. Stargod was foretold to be reborn to save Other Realm. It just so happens that a guy named Arisen Tyrk has conquered Other Realm and life sucks. It also happens that he has Jameson's girlfriend, who was kidnapped by Tyrk, when he was disguised as Harrison Turk and masqueraded as her art teacher. Wolfie finds these people have suffered and agrees to help and tools up...   Apparently, Other Realm uses the same outfitters as the Taskmaster and Deathstroke! He and his buddies get on some flying horse/dragon creatures and head off. They eventually run into Tyrk's sky cavalry and fun and mayhem ensue...  One of his new buddies, Sashiel, a hot barbaran babe, gets knocked off her "horse" and it distracts Wolfie enough that he gets unseated, but he crashes into Gorjoon and the fall into a lake/swamp. They survive; but, find Sashiel dead, while Stargod's sword is embedded in a tree. he does the King Arthur bit and swears vengeance on Arisen Tyrk. Wolfie and Gorjoon find Tyrk's flying fortress...  whoops!  Wolfie fashions a spear out of a dagger, a staff and some vines and hurls it up, embedding it into the rock base of the fortress. He and Gorjool climb up the vines to the fortress, which defeats the purpose of having a flying fortress, if it is close enough to the ground for a javelin and rope to reach! They blast inside and find a torturer having fun with a woman chained to the wall, and Garth chained to the ceiling. It's all of Wolfie's buddies and he frees them. Lambert had his hands chopped off, so he couldn't work magic. Now Wolfie is pissed. He leads the charge through the walls, into the throne room and finds...  Kristine a prisoner of Tyrk. Garth is about to charge....  ...when Wolfie slaps him down. What's up with the guy in fishnets? Either Tyrk has his own Glam Rock band, or he's pretty progressive on gender roles. Wolfie turns out to be pretty powerful and flash-fries the Plasmatics and goes for Tyrk. Faster than you can say Dak-Koom (sound effect with an inside joke about the writer!), the fortress explodes, the good guys win, and we get the whole Ewok Celebration thing. Wolfie and Kristine are going to use the portal to head back to Earth, when Tyrk does a Goldfinger to ruin the moment. He blasts the portal after Kristine has gone through. He gets his from the one-handed barbarian babe and then Stargod stares at the destroyed portal. He can't go through, except he can! John Jameson emerges through it, barely and falls into Kristine's arms, as the Godforce sends him through. Thoughts: You are dumped into the middle of this, with little explanation, except for a text page, where DAK gives a synopsis of his run on Creatures on the Loose. Then you just stumble along. The action is brisk and Perez is in total battle mode, with cool sequences, effects and costuming; plus, plenty of scantily clad women, beefcake, dungeon bondage, and some gender rebel guards. Not the deepest comic in the world; but, pretty damn exciting! DAK would pick up Other Realm in Defenders, where we find out Tyrk was fragmented into the Lunatiks and is reformed and the Defenders have to fight him again to free Other Realm, which was kind of dull, actually (see my Defenders thread). Shooter wasn't fond of this; but, let it go ahead. It was all Star Wars-meets-Conan; so, why not? This is the kind of stuff that made Marvel premiere great. Not the continuation of a dead series (especially since you need some history to understand what is going on); but, just fun issues with some good pairings of writers and artists. Next up, the debut of Scott Lang!
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Post by profh0011 on May 1, 2019 16:05:41 GMT -5
I read somewhere (and then later read this was apocryphal, so who knows) that there was originally going to be a toy line based on the character. I thought the uniform with the clunky collar and all the add-on weapons completely made sense then, so prefer to believe it's true.
The early issues made unusual note of the cylindrical carrying bag he carried around with him; I could see that being a (lame) accessory to a toy figure. This is one of those things that, the instant I read it (some years back), I KNEW it had to be true. Because it made SO MUCH SENSE.
Almost immediately after CM's debut, they were already selling a t-shirt and a sweat-shirt (I think). It's clear Martin Goodman had ambitions for the name.
The problem, of course, is this is what happens when-- WORSE than editorial edict, a character is created by PUBLISHER edict. Goodman wanted a character with the name "Captain Marvel", just so nobody else could do one, and didn't care who or what he'd be.
From some interview I've read, somewhere, there was an indication that, as a direct sequel to "The Sentry Sinister" and "From Beyond This Planet Earth", Jack Kirby had in mind a follow-up storyline that would involve a KREE spy who came to Earth on a spying mission, but once here, developed sympathies for the people of Earth, and switched sides.
"Ye editor" NEVER had an idea up-front in his entire comics career. So, it's incredibly clear to me, that on hearing Kirby's idea, he passed it on to Gene Colan... who then WROTE the first issue himself (with the dialogue added by "ye editor" afterwards).
The moment that BAD soap-opera debuted (on page 2!), the whole momentum of the spy story was permanently derailed.
Also clearly, the editor had less interest than even usual, and so was happy to pass it onto his new right-hand, Roy Thomas, who absolutely DUMPED more painful references to OTHER series in than I could tolerate. If you read between the lines, you can see references to GREEN LANTERN, ULTRA MAN, and the LENSMEN series. Not to mention... SUPERGIRL. (It figures that, eventually, the blonde became Marvel's 1st female SPIN-OFF hero, in the late 70s.)
I've read the entire early run 3 times, and was inspired, around 20 years ago, to write a long-winded review of it, for the amateur press alliance I was in at the time.
Frankly, to ME, the series didn't begin to get interesting-- or READABLE at all-- until sci-fi fan Arnold Drake took over. The sad thing is, for his first 3 issues, incoming artist Don Heck got some of the WORST inks he received in all of the 60s. I felt Heck had a much better sense of storytelling, and design, than Colan, so it really hurt to see his work look like S***. I mean, really-- when Vince Colletta takes over the inks, and he's a HUGE improvement-- you know there had been a real problem.
Tragically (even more!), just as Drake was really picking up steam, he had a falling-out with the editor OVER POLITICS-- and was replaced for the next 5 issues with Gary Friedrich, who seemed to have NO idea what the hell he was doing at all. His issues are genuinely INCOHERENT !!!
The final part of a 6-parter Friedrich started was finished off by Archie Goodwin, Don Heck, and SYD SHORES (who supplied Heck with some of the BEST and most appropriate inks he got in the whole of the 60s). Goodwin's sole issue was SO good, made SO much sense, it not only came close to making you believe things had always been intended to go the way he laid out (but I'm not fooled), it also made me dearly wish that Goodwin, Heck & Shores had done ALL 18 episodes up to that point, from the beginning.
So when all 3 guys were KICKED off the book before their sole issue even got to the printers... it was like the last nail in the coffin. The next 5 issues were TOTAL CRAP. And yet, for reasons that forever escape me... a lot of "fans" insist they were "the best" part of the run. OY.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 1, 2019 16:37:10 GMT -5
Marvel Super-Heroes #15 At Vidal Sassoon, if you don't look Inhuman, we don't look Inhuman! Creative Team: Archie Goodwin-writer, Gene Colan-pencils, Vince Coletta-inks, Irv Watanabe-letters, Stan Goldberg-colors (except for the hair; that is Clairol!) (per GCD), Stan Lee-edits Synopsis: Black Bolt is throwing hissy-fits, since his machine to make him speak, without literally bringing the house down has failed. Medusa mentally "poor things" him...  and foes off in search of a cure, starting with her old criminal buddies. She goes to Paris, looking for Klaw and saves a pedestrian from being hit by a car, which earns her fear and derision, since this is Stan's soap opera stylings. It probably didn't help that she isn't French. The Frogs can be a snooty bunch. Medusa whips them with her hair and tells them to bathe once in a while and to lay off the Jerry Lewis movies! The Frightful Four have been searching for her and zap her with a beam of anti-gravity, that takes her to a chateau. She finds her old comrades and they fight, 'cause, Marvel! Trapster shoots his paste gun into her hair...  Shades of Something About Mary! Wizard tells her he can cure Black Bolt, if she will rejoin the Frightful Four. he gives her a demonstration with a sonic weapon and she agrees; but doesn't trust him. they go to steal fissionable materials from Nation, where we see an Army soldier, who is carrying an M1 rifle, in 1968 (it had long before been replaced by the M-14 and the M-16, which is still the main weapon of the US Army). They steal the material...  Then, Sandman lets it slip that Wizard lied and they are pulling a double-cross and it is on...  Medusa steals the stuff and exits the Wizard's flying craft, saving herself from being La Splat on Le Ground, by snagging the Eiffel Tower, with her flexible follicles. Black Bolt turns up for the final rescue and we fade out.  Thoughts: Fairly generic story with some purty Colan art. Medusa was up for a potential solo series; but, Martin Goodman nixed the idea. So, Stan put her in here, as a sort of try-out, dumping ground, for the plot. It's not the strongest debut in the world, since she needs rescuing (after a fashion), and all she really does is throw people around with her hair. I don't know what anyone was thinking with the Trapster squirting white goo everywhere, unless someone in the Bullpen had an adolescent son at home. Medusa woes about not being accepted, while she also teams with villains to steal NATO secrets. You have to be in the Trump Administration to be that clueless. Or a Millennial trying to comprehend the concept of a rotary phone. Quite Frankly, Medusa was always a supporting character that added some variety, not a star.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 1, 2019 16:42:26 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #31-32 Captain America fights................FOGHORN LEGHORN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  No, it's...I say it's The Claw! Yellow, that is! Nice villain; but about as sharp as a sack of wet mash! Creative Team: JM Dematteis-writer, Kerry Gammil-pencils, Dennis Janke-inks, Dian Albers-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Al Milgrom-edits Synopsis: Captain America foils an assassination attempt on the Bhagwan Sri Ananda, a Hindu spiritual leader.....  No, that's Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh....  No, that's Mega Maharishi....  That's him, in the crosshairs. Cap whoops the assassin's butt and is thanked by the Bhagwan; but, something doesn't sit right with him. he questions whether it is xenophobia or just pure gut instinct, which he has learned to trust. He heads off, suspicious. meanwhile, Leap Frog is out past curfew and runs into what appear to be muggers and, accidentally, saves the day. The victim is screaming about "The End Of Days" and runs off jabbering. The thugs have a knife and are about to carve some frog legs...  When Cap makes the save. Leap Frog turns into Fanboy.... Awwww, I miss Stephen Furst.   Cap tells him to go home and do his homework. leap Frog leaves; but, spots the victim being whsked away in a car, by more goons. He finds a blood trail and a matchbook for Grumpy's Diner. At home, he can't let the clue go; but Dad is mad about him prowling around again. Dad sees he is shaken and gets the story from LF. he says they will see the cops in the morning. Cap visits with the cops and the FBI IDs two of the goons as international assassins. Cap hasn't quite made the connection yet. LF goes back out to check out Grumpy's, which is closed by the Board of Health. he breaks in and strikes a match, for light, which opens a trap door entrance, in the floor, like in a James Bond film! He goes in and gets nabbed. Meanwhile, Cap visits the Bhagwan and talks to him, then gets high from the incense. The Bhagwan removes his disguise, revealing...  The Yellow Claw! Or Golden Claw, or whatever his more politically correct new name is. Cap and Leap frog are taken upstate to a secret base, where the drugged Cap is carted off to a cell, while Leap Frog is questioned by Yellow Claw and soils his britches. he basically balls like a baby and Yellow Claw sees he is o threat an monologues his back history and his new plan, to use the Bhagwan cover to sucker morons into following him (sounds familiar) while prophesizing the coming of the Kali-Yuga, a time of chaos and destruction (as opposed to the Kali Yogurt, which is creamy and destructive). He plans to make those predictions come true, to build up his followers and gain more power over everyone. Leap frog gets dumped in a cell, while his dad meets up with Spider-man (in black costume) to get help and tells him about last issue. Spidey goes looking for Eugene, aka Leap Frog. Cap is visited by the spirit of the real Bhagwan, who gives him his shield and he busts out of his cell, with it's Fu Manchu icky critters. Leap Frog has been given an ironic death, by being dumped in a cell with giant frogs, who chase after him, then befriend him...  Yellow Claw has a big outdoor rally (ala the Moonies) and puts on what looks like Immortus' crown, to suck up energy from his followers. One of his attendants turns out to be Cap, in a robe; and, he exposes the Claw. They fight and Leap Frog shows up with his amphibian homeboys, while Spidey turns up with Torch and 3/5 of X-Factor.  Claw unleashes the energy from his funky hat and gets a shield in the noggin...  Eugene's dad catches up and tells the boy he is proud of him.  We end with Cap reading about the real Bhagwan, who hasn't been seen since 1939 and the photo in the paper is the dude who gave him his shield; so, now he believes in miracles. Thoughts: This was partially inspired by the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his kooks, who dumped money on the con artist, while he had sex with the ladies and his followers plotted to poison people with salmonella and other hairbrained stunts (including assassinating a US Attorney). He was a pain in the rear in oregon, which inspired local pro wrestler Ed Wiskowski to take up the gimmick of Mega Maharishi. Wiskowski would become better known as Col. DeBeers, a racist South African heel, in the AWA, during the heyday of its show on ESPN. he would also be the unfortunate wrestler who accidentally revealed that Kerry Von Erich actually lost his right foot, after a motorcycle accident, and wore a prosthesis under his oversized boot, and not a leg brace. They had a match, where DeBeers was trying to pull Von Erich from the ring, by the leg, and the boot popped off, revealing a sock on a stump, with no foot. Von Erich grabbed the boot, rolled under the ring apron, put it back on, and finished the match; but, the crowd was too busy realizing what they had seen. The arena event is based on the Moonies mass wedding,as members of the Unification Church, of Sun Myung Moon, a South Korean con artist (with the same basic schtick). Yellow Claw was always a poor man''s Fu Manchu (one of dozens, in comics); but, he was pretty cool, under Steranko (who gave him the armored makeover). In many ways, he inspired the later Master of Kung Fu depiction of Fu Manchu, especially the Bond elements (which, Dr No was already the Bond Fu). The mix of the comedic parts, with Leap Frog (who takes the name frog Man, at the end) and the more serious Yellow Claw and Cap stuff is weird, especially the giant frog 3rd act commando raid. Kind of sets up what JMD and Kieth Giffen would do in JLI. The rest of the two issues feature a Mark Wheatley story of Dr Strange, dealing with a budding South American teen sorcerer, by telling him of his own past, via a cultural shift...  and a Norm breyfogle Daredevil short about a robbery interrupting his day...  The second issue features a Roger McKenzie & Paul Smith Vision & Scarlet Witch story where a homeless woman, named Rosie, who they befriend, is randomly killed by a serial killer. ben Urich writes about the killings and Vision goes searching for the killer, tracking him down and chasing him smack into a subway train. Shades of the Golden Age Vision (who was a knock off of the Spectre). Vision then visits the grave, with its bare marker, and uses his energy vision to carve the name Rosie on it, and a rose .  Artistically, all 3 are pretty good, though the Vision & Scarlet Witch story is pretty grim and dark. Go figure! Smith had a name from X-Men; but, Wheatley and Breyfogle were rookies, proving themselves. They still prove to be more interesting than most of the veterans producing stuff here. This is really the kind of stuff that they should have been developing, though the main Cap story is pretty good. Wheatley is still a highly underrated artist and writer. We all miss Norm Breyfogle; but, at least he achieved some fame and success, before his health failed him. Paul Smith gt to strut some more stuff , with James Robinson, on The Golden Age and Leave It to Chance. Kerry Gammil would go on to work on the Triangle Era Superman books, where he proved a popular artist.
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 1, 2019 16:53:33 GMT -5
(...) It was all Star Wars-meets-Conan; so, why not? I would say it's more Flash Gordon meets Conan, but close enough. And why not indeed. I remember absolutely loving these two issues back when they first came out, and *really* wanting an ongoing Man Wolf series that just continued in this same vein. |
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Post by brutalis on May 1, 2019 17:09:16 GMT -5
(...) It was all Star Wars-meets-Conan; so, why not? I would say it's more Flash Gordon meets Conan, but close enough. And why not indeed. I remember absolutely loving these two issues back when they first came out, and *really* wanting an ongoing Man Wolf series that just continued in this same vein. Yes an ongoing would have been awesome. Man-Wolf the Stargod was sheer perfect 70's fantasy/sci-fi with scrumptiously magnificent Perez art. Somebody really missed the opportunity there and instead Jameson is turned back into a mindless wolfman when as the intelligent Stargod he was so much more entertaining and exciting with loads of potential. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 2, 2019 3:24:45 GMT -5
No, that's Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.... Wow, that brought back memories; the whole Rajneeshi episode really dominated headlines in the local news in Oregon throughout the first half of the 1980s. |
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Post by brutalis on May 2, 2019 7:35:10 GMT -5
Hey look on your left Ma! It's the 3 Stooges as alien henchmen! Hey Larry! Hey Moe! Hey Curly! |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 2, 2019 10:01:51 GMT -5
Yeah, I forgot to mention that. Nyuck-yuck-yuck!
Notice Moe's gun has two barrels, like two fingers, poking you in the eyes?
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Post by earl on May 6, 2019 21:28:47 GMT -5
This thread is awesome and the exact Marvel Comics I find myself interested in these days.
Got to say, if you haven't read the original Warlock run give it a read. It is one of the more interesting early 70s Marvel comics. It is after-all, the first alternate Earth series in the Marvel U. I thought how it wrapped up in Hulk was pretty good. It's like chapter 1 with the Starlin' stories being the sequel, an excellent run of super hero comics of the period.
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Post by earl on May 6, 2019 21:34:50 GMT -5
That first Spider-man/X-men story from Marvel Fanfare should be re-printed along side the classic issues of both of them from the 80s, it is a really good one.
The Barry Windsor-Smith Thing/Human Torch story also should be reprinted in some 80s Fantastic Four books, as it is a classic.
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Post by chaykinstevens on May 7, 2019 11:19:09 GMT -5
DAK would pick up Other Realm in Defenders, where we find out Tyrk was fragmented into the Lunatiks and is reformed and the Defenders have to fight him again to free Other Realm, which was kind of dull, actually (see my Defenders thread). Ed Hannigan had replaced DAK as Defenders writer by the time the thread was revived, which added to the dullness. |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 7, 2019 11:42:12 GMT -5
DAK would pick up Other Realm in Defenders, where we find out Tyrk was fragmented into the Lunatiks and is reformed and the Defenders have to fight him again to free Other Realm, which was kind of dull, actually (see my Defenders thread). Ed Hannigan had replaced DAK as Defenders writer by the time the thread was revived, which added to the dullness. Yeah I thought of that afterwards; but was busy with another thread and never got back to edit things. Same thing with the Three Stooges reference. |
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