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Post by badwolf on May 10, 2019 9:03:23 GMT -5
I liked Lee and Scott together too. Didn't like seeing her with Magneto although otherwise I did love that run.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2019 9:32:04 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #49 Gotta love seeing a kid on a Big Wheel, on a comic cover! Cover by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson, which upsets a young James Owsley, as covered in his critical letter, published in issue #52. Creative Team: Mark Evanier-writer, Sal Buscema-pencils, Dave Simons-inks, Jim Novak-letters, Ben Sean-colors, Roger Stern-edits, Jim Shooter-cleaning the droppings off the sidewalk Synopsis: Sam Wilson is in Washington DC, doing his morning run, when some whit guy keeps lapping him, saying "On your left." Oh, wait, that was the movies.... Actually, Sam is in New York, attending a reception at the Bodavian (land of the Bodacious people) Embassy (uh, Mark, that would be a consulate, not an embassy), as the Falcon. He is well known in Bodavia, somehow, and is introduced to Sigjid Roskoff, a very vocal critic of Captain America and the country, as a whole. the engage in some pleasant sniping, when Fighting American busts in and takes the guy hostage...  Actually, he calls himself the Silencer and he zaps Roskoff with a raygun that shuts him up. Falcon attacks and knocks him around, then gets blindsided, in a confusing series of panels. He goes after Silencer, who took Roskoff away, and finds him dead, with a confession. The not is from Roskoff, denouncing his past statements; but, there are dots under certain letters that seem to be some kind of code. No one can figure it out and even J Jonah opens it up to Bugle readers. Meanwhile, Sam dumps some jerk in a trash can when he praises Sam for not saving a 'subversive." Sam has dinner with Leila; but, is preoccupied. She's had enough of him ignoring her and tells him off and splits. Sam flies off and meets up with Cap, who is jogging in the park. Sam says, "On your left" and they have a chat about Roskoff and his criticisms of Cap, about not spending enough time defending the Bill of Rights. Cap says he has a point. Sam heads back home and Rodney Allen Rippy  lets him know that Fighting American.....er, Silencer, is busting up some Free Speech. Fighting Murican is yelling about no free speech in Ruskie country (this ain't the USSR, so suck it up and deal with free speech here, bub!) Fightin' Murican zaps Sam and he loses the power of speech; but, he saves the crowd from a grenade, with the world's longest fuse. Sam goes to speech by Count Barzon, who was Roskoff's compatriot, when Fightin' Murican shows up to shut him up and Barzon shoots him dead. The cops don't care and let Barzon go (after IDing Murican as some minor thug), Sam ignores Leila and then figures out the mystery and confronts the Baron. Turns out the letters, OTTFFSSEN, mean One Two Three, etc; in other words, "The Count." He slugs him and the case is solve-ed.  Thoughts: I like Mark Evanier; I do not like this Sam-I-ain't. It was done as an inventory story for Captain America, when they needed a break and got dumped here. it's completely generic and the mystery isn't particularly engaging. The letters hook is rather a reach. How would he have had that much time to insert a message, at gunpoint and why make it that hard to solve. OTTFFSSEN decoding as the series of numbers is one thing; but, then concluding that means a "count?" Your reaching there, ME. Sal's art is serviceable but hardly spectacular. I have to wonder whose idea the Silencer's costume was, as it is Fighting American.  My guess would be Evanier, since Silencer is a rabid anti-communist, love it or leave it kind of guy and Fighting American fought Commie agents, in a parody of the Red Baiting of the time. Unfortunately, this doesn't get very deep into things. The Falcon deserved better. Meanwhile, an embassy is a nation's home for their representatives to a foreign government, in that nation's capital. A consulate is a secondary location, often in centers of commerce. Evanier gets it wrong, as do others, since the Latverian Embassy is also in NY. That would be in Washington (though why anyone has diplomatic relations with Latveria is a poser. Not that that hasn't stop the US before). James Owsley wrote a letter critical of the issue and its depiction of black characters. He says the cover is filled with nothing but stereotypes and criticizes Samm's banter in the Bodavian Embassy reception as being uncouth, and not the way someone in Sam's position would act. They are fair points, though it takes the story a little too seriously. On the other hand, you can understand why it might have more impact on someone who has seen too much of that kind of thing, especially in a story with a black lead character. Owsley would get to put his money where his mouth was, in terms of writing black characters and did a fine job, under that name and as Christopher Priest. Next, the strangest star of the series, bar none!
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2019 10:13:17 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #50 Well, feed my Frankenstein! Creative Team: Alice Cooper, Jim Salicrup & Roger Stern-plot, Ed Hannigan-script, Tom Sutton-pencils, Tery Austin-inks, Tom Orzechowski-letters, Marie Severin-colors, Jim Salicrup-edits This is based on Cooper's concept album, From the Inside, about a stay in a sanitarium, for alcoholism, where the songs were based on people in the sanitarium. Lyrics were co-written by Bernie Taupin. Hang on, it's going to get weird. Synopsis: Alice is trying to escape the sanitarium, when nurse Rozetta shows up...  He is grabbed and taken to Dr Fingeroth, who tosses him into the Quiet Room (a padded cell), where Alice tells us how he got there.  Alice is going of the rails with booze and drugs (well booze, since this is a Code comic, even after the changes in the rules) and checks himself into a clinic, where he is told to take a seat next to Alex Cooper, a psycho with a radial tire fetish. Toddy and Muldoon grab the wrong guy and off Alice goes to the sanitarium. His snake gets the boot. Alice gets cleaned up; and, horror, a haircut! he meets some of the other patients, including Jerome, who has a foot fetish and worships Nurse Rozetta's white shoes; and Jackknife Johnny, a burnt out Vietnam Vet. Dr Fingeroth also molests one Tiffany Sleek, she of the Tina Louise persuasion...  He also meets Millie and Billie, a loving couple who murdered Millie's ex-husband. Alice starts freaking out and has to break out. He nabs Nurse Rozetta and uses her as a hostage, to break out, joined by Jackknife Johnny, who grabs Tiffany. jerome attacks Alice, for harming his beloved and it gets loopier. He gets tossed back into a cell, which is where we find him at the start and escapes out the window (presumably after the Chief has gone out of it) and finds veronica, his snake and heads off, only to find rabid fans and he goes bonkers some more, ending up back in a cell; but, at least he has Veronica with him, this time...  Thoughts: Well, this is bats@#$ crazy! The story basically adapts concepts from the album, which was heavily criticized, at the time, for being too serious and intellectual, which seemed at odds with Cooper's personna and the style of his stage shows and previous albums. The comic seems to be going for that satire, which might explain why Cooper made the deal with them, apart from having been a fan, in the 60s. Sutton and Austin's art is fantastic and it has a very Mad feel, especially with the graffiti in the background and Marie Severin's colors. Sutton employs a rather Wood-esque style, though much of that is Austin's inks. I assume Dr Fingeroth is a nod to Danny Fingeroth and there appear to be a few Marvel staffers in the asylum. A guy named Tony, in a straightjacket, is on the phone to Roy (Tony Isabella, calling Roy Thomas?), while I suspect others are in the background. there are also all kinds of cameos, including Alley Opp, Popeye, Whimpy and Bluto, the Hulk and several others (including Toody and Muldoon, from Car 54, Where Are You). It's all a bit of fun; but makes for a weird departure from the norm. Surprised this wasn't a magazine sized Super Special, like the KISS comic (the obvious inspiration for doing this). We'd also get the Not ready For Prime Time Players (the SNL cast, for you youngin's) in Marvel team-Up, around this time frame. Alice would later return, in a mini-series done in conjunction with Neil Gaiman.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2019 10:35:24 GMT -5
Marvel Super-Heroes #17 Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer, Howard Purcell-pencils, Dan Adkins (& Co.)-inks, letters-Sam Rosen, Sharon Kay-colors, Stan Lee-edits GCD lists inkers as Adkins and Tom Palmer, with Paul Reinmann and Dick Ayers as question marks, though the notes state they did pages, and contributions were made by Marie Severin, Herb Trimpe and John Romita. With that many cooks, why did this not go to series? Synopsis: Dane Whitman is in England, to see the castle he inherited, while a tour guide drops his Hs, 'cause all Limeys do that, you know? Hollywood says so! he goes wandering around and trips a hidden switch and ends up in a secret room, where he lights a mystical brazier (so he can cook some Dairy Queen hamburgers) and meets his ancestor, Sir Percy of Scandia, the original, Arthurian Black Knight...  We get a bunch of Arthurian recap of the old Atlas character, then Dane gets a magical sword and draws the wrath of Mordred. Mordred latches onto an amnesiac magician, called Le Sabre (a Buick man!) and turns him into his stooge. Dane turns into the Black Knight and they fight...  That's pretty much the extent of it. Thoughts: Pretty cliched story, though this tied the new character to the original Atlas dude. However, it dumped the scientific angle of Dane's villainous uncle in favor of Merlin's magic and all that jazz. Eh, Hal Foster did it better. Black Knight was more interesting with the Avengers, where he provided some contrast. here, not so much. Nice art, though. Roy is pretty darn wordy.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2019 10:40:46 GMT -5
Marvel Super-Heroes #18 I already covered this comic, in my Guardians of the Galaxy thread. Nothing much to add, except that it didn't lead to anything until Steve Gerber put the guys into the Defenders. This original story reads more as traditional sci-fi, since Arnold Drake handled it in that manner, rther than the more sci-fi superhero tak that Gerber and everyone who followed, had. Gene Colan does the nice, moody art. Vance Astro, thankfully, gets a makeover in Defenders. Star-Hawk wasn't around yet.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2019 13:20:57 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #34-37    The Warriors three get some more fun, with Charles Vess. Creative Team: Alan Zelenetz-writer, Charles Vess-art, John Workman-letters, Elaine Lee-colors, Al Milgrom-edits. This is a story with each of the Warriors Three in a solo tale, which parallels each of the others, before it is wrapped up with Thor butting his big nose into things (Loki is at the heart of things, though). Synopsis: Everything revolves around the wedding of Mord and una, two Asgardians who must marry at Midsummer, or Asgard is in deep doo-ddo. Loki, upon hearing this and not getting an invite, decides to play Puck.  our first part deals with Volstagg, who is escaping the horrors of home for some booze and food, said horrors coming from the "trouble and strife" (wife) and "bin lids" (kids), who look rather like Mama and the Katzenjammer Kids...  Guess that makes Volstagg Der Kapitan. Loki turns Mord into a goat, which runs off. una goes looking and finds a shepherd (or goatherd) who has him and tells her about a magic well, at a castle; but, she will need a brave warrior to take him (goat Mord) there.  As luck would have it, Volstag is nearby and Una runs into him and commissions him to take Mord to the castle. Volstagg heads off' but, his horse won't go into Wolf Castle's territory. he ends up at a witches house and gets a mule which takes him there. It's dark and spooky and he reconsiders, until he pictures his wife with a rolling pin and decides wolves and monsters are more attractive. he heads inside, gets attack, fights off the wolf and dunks the goat...  And nothing happens! The rest of the issue features pin-ups from Vess and Mike Mignola, including one of Baron Zemo and the Red Skull, which look rather like one of the cover layouts from the later Epic Fafhrd and Gray Mouser mini that Mignola and Chaykin did. Kind of Fafredhed and Gray Mauser! BA-DUMP-BUMP! Thank you, thank you; enjoy the veal! Hey, it's no worse than some of the gags in this issue: "You're in good hands, with Volstagg!" Part 2 has Hogun (minus his Heroes) who first has an encounter with a troll, at a bridge (this story does have a goat, you know), who gets dumped over the side when he annoys Hogun with bad jokes, then Hogun runs into Una's mother, after Mord has been turned into a goat (she meets the disguise Loki, who gives her a different goat than Una got)  She also sticks him with a punny squire, as they tra  He ends up meeting back up with the squire, climbs a tree to get the fruit, fights a serpent, but is losing until the squire tickles it into releasing him. he gives the goat the fruit; but, it doesn't change back and then Hogun cracks up to his own joke about his quest being fruitless! My joke was better. Chapter 3 has Fandral, or Philandral, as would be more appropriate. he is feeding a line to a fair maiden, when her sister shows up, reminding him he gave her the same line before. he fights off some guards and hotfoots it to the Stag's Inn, where he was supposed to meet Fandral. Loki did his goat magic and now Una's father is the stooge who brings a goat to the Inn, where Philandral, is trying to pick up girls. "Marriage, goat, need help" yada-yada-yada and Philandral is off on his quest, to the Isle of Love, where there are only women (of course!). He vows to mary the boat maiden, then fights a kraken, vows to marry at least 3 other ladies, before Freya's priestesss yanks him into her chambers (so to speak) and threatens to clot him one around the ear. Quest, yada-yada-yada and magic proves unable to change goat into groom. Priestess recognizes Loki's hand in this, then gets word that the boat maiden is on the cliff, about to jump, for forsaking her vows. philandral confesses his part and goes off to talk her down. he confesses that he is scum and that she has been forgiven by the priestess. The priestess sends him off to gather the other two Stooges (or Marx Brothers, if you prefer) and go after Loki. As he leaves, he gives a "sorry" note to be delivered to the ladies he has dumped, which turns out to have a pretty long list of names...    Part 4 has Thor stick his Asgard into things Fandral is riding to meet up with the guys, when Loki sicks some crows on him. he fights through and alerts the other two about what is going on. they head for Loki's castle and the punny squire is sent to alert Odin and the Gang, who are on their way to the wedding. he sends Thor on ahead.  They guys get to the castle, Loki turns into a dragon (wonder where that idea came from...)   It hypnotizes the guys, but, their previous adventure helps them get past Loki's temptations. They open up a can of whoopeth-ass on Loki...  ...but, he shakes them off and dumps the goat off the side of his castle and down the chasm. Guess who shows up?  Mord is saved and changed back and the wedding goes on, with Loki in attendance...  The boys drop Volstagg at home, where Mama is waiting with her rolling pin! Thoughts: Now that's what this comic should be about! This was actually supposed to be a Warriors Three mini; but, Jim Owsley, the editor, got fired and the schedule was thrown off, dumping it here. Still, Vess on Asgard is great stuff and there is a ton of comedy, with allusions to the Katzenjammer Kids, the Billy Goat's Gruff, Abbott & Costello, Errol Flynn's reputation, Sleeping Beauty (the Perrault version, by way of Disney) and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Nice combo! It's fun as hell, though I would have preferred that Thor have been kept out of it and let the Warriors IQ of 3 handle things. Luckily, he isn't that big of a presence in the story. Issue 34 has portfolios from Vess (Warriors Three and sundry) and Mike Mignola (all kinds of stuff, including the one mentioned above. 35 has portfolios from Craig Hamilton and Brett Blevins. 36 has a Man-Thing back-up, from Michael Fleischer and Tom Sutton.   MT saves a blind girl from kidnappers, while displaying more intelligence than usual. the girl can't see her rescuer, so she doesn't scream at him. She protects him from the cops, at the end. 37 has Norm breyfogle on a story of Reed Richards trying to use Dr Doom's time machine to get more hours in the day to accomplish his work, because of constant family interruptions. it all goes screwy, fast.    he ends up ticking off Sue, anyway, despite his time hopping to be done in time.  More pin-ups from Blevins, Simonson, Art Adams, and Tom Sutton. Nice string of issues!
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Post by Phil Maurice on May 14, 2019 13:31:13 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #50 I was a massive Cooper fan at the time this came out. In fact, I can track my interest in Alice to the day. It was January 13, 1975. Alice performed "Unfinished Sweet," a song about dental hygiene (seriously!), on the first episode of the re-tooled "Smothers Brothers Show." In the vignette, Alice plays a very square businessman nervous about a visit to the dentist.  When they hit him with the novocaine, the office transforms into a hell-scape and Alice finishes the song in full horror regalia. I've never forgotten it. For me, MP #50 left a lot to be desired. The artwork by Sutton and Austin was fine, but was neither's best work. The writing seemed corny at the time, and reads no better today. There are some lazy call-outs to Cooper lyrics. For example, ". . .and personally, I DON'T CARE!" is lifted without context from "Elected." The whole endeavor feels forced. In the end, it comes across as a lackluster, cross-promotional stunt that left me cold. . .Ethyl.  |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on May 14, 2019 13:38:04 GMT -5
Alice is going of the rails with booze and drugs (well booze, since this is a Code comic, even after the changes in the rules) Or trying to be accurate, as Alice never did drugs. Never read this, but it looks like good fun. I should try and track it down. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 14, 2019 14:32:01 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #34-37(...) I was less impressed with these; the art is beautiful, but I found the story pretty forgettable. In fact, that's been my reaction to pretty much everything I've read by Alan Zelenetz - I know I've read a few of his Conan stories, but for the life of me I can't remember a thing about them except that the art is nice. |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2019 15:07:54 GMT -5
Alice is going of the rails with booze and drugs (well booze, since this is a Code comic, even after the changes in the rules) Or trying to be accurate, as Alice never did drugs. Never read this, but it looks like good fun. I should try and track it down. My mistake, re: drugs, from a quick glance at Cooper's wikipedia entry for context. Then again, only real difference between alcohol and pharmaceuticals is delivery method, when you get down to the core (apart from strength of the effects). |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 22, 2019 14:26:53 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #51-53   Black Panther? Cool! Is Don McGregor back, to finish his Klan story? Creative Team: Ed Hannigan-writer, Jerry Bingham-pencils, Gene Day & Al Gordon (53)-inks, Diana Albers-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Roger Stern & Jim Salicrup (53)-edits Apparently not...... These are actually Black Panther #16-18, which were in the pipeline, when the series was cancelled. Jungle Action had been cancelled, in the middle of McGregor's Klan story and a new Black Panther comic, with Jack Kirby doing his hidden empires and treasures pulp version, took over. Kirby didn't really want to do that book (or Captain America); but, like at DC was stuck doing other work, just so he could do his own stuff (despite creating both characters, Jack preferred to create new characters than revisit old). Hannigan and Bingham came on with issue #13; doing their own story, when the book got canned, two issues later. They were, however, working on finishing the Klan story, which is what we get here. Nothing against Hannigan (and certainly not against Bingham, who was a great, vastly under-rated artist); but, he wasn't exactly doing "Panther's Rage"-level work. Let's see where he goes with this. Synopsis: T'Challa has arrived at the Wakanda Consulate, in New York and is ticked off that American movers are manhandling his country's priceless artefacts. After nonsense about union rules, Windeagle attacks, though T'Challa doesn't remember him  He defeats him with a head scissors, despite being carried aloft by Windeagle and then seems to not remember fighting Windeagle before, nor having met Monica Lynne and George Trueblood, who were both involved in the Klan fight.   After a bath, T'Challa is introduced to Monica, who brings us up to speed on the Klan storyline, from Jungle Action. Her sister Angela was murdered, in Georgia, and Monica went to see her grave, where she was accosted by some cultists, the Sons of the Dragon Circle. She meets the sheriff, who claims it was a suicide, then meets Kevin Trueblood, an investigative reporter for the GA Sun, writing about the Klan and a shady real estate deal. next thing you know, it's all white hoods and burning crosses and T'Challa barely survives being barbequed on a cross. he is attacked by Windeagle and survives, then recalls nothing. They are interrupted by Windeagle, who is back and they fight some more, before a sniper kills Windeagle and T'Challa finds only an abandoned rifle.  T'Calla consults with the police and medical examiner's office and gets the 411 on Windeagle. He is Hector Ruiz, of Dominican origin, who was involved in street gangs, armed robbery and assault, while also falling under the spell of heroin. he ended up in prison, where he was a model prisoner and met with a street missionary group, the Spiritual Light Society. The SLS got involved in a political scandal and moved to the South. They became the Sons of the Dragon and Ruiz became Windeagle, with stolen Wakandan technology. T'Challa thinks there is more to the story, as Windeagle's wounds aren't consistent with the rifle found. He heads back to the consulate, when his car is attacked by a yellow muscle car (looks Camaro-ish) and we find out that the creative team have seen too much Starsky & Hutch and/or The French Connection. On car in the drink later and a smashed muscle car and T'Challa has some goons.  The sniper returns and kills the goon. T'Challa finds a piece of paper with a Klan symbol on it and tracks it to their NYC offices. he spies on a rally..   ...which is busted up by the Soul Strangler. He aims his trident at T'Challa's hiding place and the Klan attack the Panther. SS disappears and BP fights his way out. He had overheard that the Klan have been hornswoggled by some reverend, who was in league with the Sons of the Dragon. So, the Klan is being set up? T'Challa, Monica, and Kevin head down to Georgia, where Monica is reunited with her folks. They check in with the local sheriff and the cultists have been let go, with the last leaving now. T'Challa has flashbacks. he was captured, tortured and brainwashed to forget, by the cult.  So that's the amnesia. We see a cult rally and find out that Monica's father is a member.  A Klan rally gets busted up and the reverend and some other Klan goons, head off, with T'Challa following. They end up in a bayou and find slave hosts and the Soul Strangler...   The ghosts and strangler disappear, leaving only the Rev and the Klansman, who are picked up by the sheriff. The rev was behind Angela's murder, when she found proof of the real estate scandal, which was also an F-U to the Klan, or something. It's kind of muddled. Thoughts: The execution is good; but the story is rather a mess. We have to have a convenient amnesia for T'Challa to explain why he hadn't taken down the Klan by now. Then we have a Guyana-style cult (they even name drop Jim Jones), with crooked business deals, Klan money and poorly constructed murder mysteries. Hannigan seemed to lose the thread in it. The Cult brainwashing is a bit too convenient and hard to swallow. There is a lot of contemporary name dropping, aside from Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre. At one point, T'Challa is speaking to the President, who can be identified as Jimmy Carter, thanks to references to UN Ambassador Andrew Young (a Carter appointee) and Sec. of State Cyrus Vance (same). We do see an inter-racial romance, in mostly dialogue, for Monica and Kevin. Still have to wonder if this was McGregor's intended conclusion of if this was the watered down version that Marvel wanted substituted, because of threats from the South. The original McGregor storyline was making people uncomfortable, much like when Simon & Kirby had Cap punching Hitler. Difference was, Marvel didn't have a Kirby around to stand up to the threats (at the time). Bingham and Day (and Gordon) are all great, on the art, though it has more of that generic Marvel look that became the standard, under Shooter. Next up, Marvel's next big western hero, who most fans never heard of.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 22, 2019 14:40:46 GMT -5
I'll say.
Couldn't the story have simply resumed from the point we had left it, with Jack Kirby's series being said to have occurred at some other time in T'Challa's life? Scrapping the relationship between our hero and Monica like that was really a waste of carefully crafted character development.
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Post by profh0011 on May 22, 2019 14:57:30 GMT -5
Just before this 3-part "Klan" story came out, I met Don McGregor for the first time, and told him what Marvel was planning on doing. He replied: "How can they? THEY DON'T KNOW HOW IT ENDS!"When the BLACK PANTHER book began someone on the letters page (I'm pretty sure it WASN'T me) suggested that the entire series Kirby was writing would make far more sense if it was promoted as "retroactive continuity", and took place sometime shortly after FANTASTIC FOUR #53, when T'Challa first decided to became a globe-hopping adventurer and help the world, not just Wakanda. That made perfect sense to me. Kirby created the Black Panther entirely on his own (as he did all his characters in the 60s), and it was originally intended as a solo series before Martin Goodman changed his mind about a possible expansion of the line. When he did, several new concepts were all introduced in FF instead. It wouldn't surprise me if the stories Kirby wound up telling in the BP book hadn't been rattling around in his brain in some form since 1966. It continues to amaze me that 2 of Marvel's BEST writers-- Kirby & McGregor-- were both treated so shabbily over the years by Marvel management. One thing they shared in common was, they both bucked the system. NEITHER were working "Marvel Method", as it came to be in the 70s. Kirby insisted on doing in all himself (including the dialogue, having had his stories mangled for a decade in the 60s), while McGregor more-or-less worked "Harvey Kurtzman" style-- FULL SCRIPT and layouts. This is why, no matter which artist got on his stories, the stories always remained exactly the way McGregor wrote them. I foind it fascinating, decades later, when someone pointed out that the outragious " King Solomon's Frog" story seemed to neatly predict " RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK" by a couple years. Kirby was always ahead of the curve, even when he was borrowing ideas from movies, TV, pulp novels, or issues of POPULAR MECHANICS. In the same story he also brought back "Mr. Little", a character he'd written in the LATE 1930s for a short-lived western newspaper strip. The thing is... cancelling JUNGLE ACTION and then debuting BLACK PANTHER without skipping a beat seems a move deliberately designed as a slap-in-the-face to BOTH McGregor & Kirby. On one hand, McGregor was having a series he poured his heart and soul into cancelled right in the middle of a story. On the other, no matter what Kirby did, McGregor fans were sure to HATE it. The change was just too jarring and different. And it certainly wasn't Kirby's fault at all. So when someone else then decided to "finish" Don's story-- and insist that the entire Kirby run plus a few issues after it ALL took place between Don's last episode and the "finale"... it's simply one of the most INSANE, IDIOTIC editorial ideas I've ever run across, in all my decades of reading comic-books. Around 30 years after it was interrupted, Roy Thomas & Dick Giordano were both commissioned by someone at Marvel to finish their adaptation of " DRACULA". Ever since, I've been waiting and hoping that somebody-- ANYBODY-- who was an editor at Marvel would do the same with " Panther Vs. The Klan"-- while some of the people who worked on the series are STILL WITH US. Billy Graham, Gil Kane & recently Rich Buckler have all passed away, as has Jim Mooney. Don, Keith Pollard & Bob McLeod are still around. WHAT THE HELL is Marvel waiting for?  ? I would eagerly write off the 3 " PREMIERE" issues in favor of finally getting the REAL thing. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 22, 2019 15:12:13 GMT -5
I have mixed feeling about the Panther issues of Marvel Premiere. On the one hand, I agree that they just completely fail as a conclusion to McGregor's Klan story: they don't come close to matching the passion and depth of McGregor's story, and they even fail as a story. As noted by codystarbuck, it's all kind of muddled and anti-climactic. The art is very nice, though.
On the other hand, when I first bought those off of the spinner racks, I had no clue about what had come before. And it was the little starred editorial notes referencing events that had been recounted in Jungle Action that led me to track down those issues - and that introduced me to McGregor's Black Panther run.
Also this, so much this:
In my head canon, there is no other love interest for T'Challa besides Monica.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 22, 2019 15:13:45 GMT -5
Marvel Super-Heroes #19 Tarzan! or, er.......Zandar...um, Zantar.....Kant-Czar....Ka-Zar! So, is it pronounced Kuh-Zar or Kay-Zar? Or is it pronounced "throat-wobbler-mangrove?" Creative Team: Arnold Drake & Steve Parkhouse-writers, George Tuska-pencils, Sid Greene-inks, Sam Rosen-letters, Stan Lee-conception and edits. Synopsis: Lord Greystoke....er, Plunder is back home, in England and is about to interrupt a fox hunt. These people are particularly evil, as the seem to be using mastiffs, rather than foxhounds (or Tuska knows squat about dogs and or fox hunting). Zabu is there, too and spooks a lady's horse and Kev, or Ka-Zar, to his jungle friends, comes to the rescue. before you can say Bomangani, Kev's brother, Edgar Plunder (sounds like the lead singer of a glam rock band) shows up and yells at him for endangering a guest. They spa and we move on to the castle.  That night, Edgar is badmouthing Kev, to his guests, when he shows up for dinner, after all, though he thinks a t-shirt and green trousers are suitable dinner attire.  Savage! Edgar relates the story of their father and his discovery of anti-metal, with a lot of snarling and teeth gnashing, then can't understand why Kev won't give him his half of a key that hides the secret away. Kev has it hidden back in the Savage Land. he is attacked outside the castle, when he goes snooping and Edgar is scheming with some guy, from the Golden People, of the Savage Land (who looks like Egg Fu, from Wonder Woman, if he had leggs and more of a torso). Well, everyone jets down there, quick as you please and it all ends up in a fight, which also includes reptile men, under the command of an alien, masquerading as a god. Fights break out, lasers blast and the girl's father is killed, before he can tell Kev the truth, though he scribbles a message in the sand.  Thoughts: Can't imagine why this didn't go to series... This is pretty much a cliched copy of every third Tarzan adventure, with slightly more modern tech and less style. It also feels overloaded with the added plot element of the alien, masquerading as a god. The Golden People are about as racist as the Yellow Claw. Not much to recommend here, unless you are looking for Ka-Zar's first solo story, after his X-Men debut. This wasn't the first Ka-Zar. he was originally a pulp novel rip-off of Tarzan, from Martin Goodman's lower echelon line of pulp magazine rip-offs. Goodman never met a character or concept he didn't swipe, cheapen, an flood the market. He then got turned into a comic book swipe, in the 40s and revived in the 60s. He's dabbled around a bit since. This didn't help him much and he wouldn't get a sustained run until Bruce Jones came on as writer.
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