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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 19, 2019 17:26:33 GMT -5
Marvel Preview #4 Starlord! Who? Oh, wait, I already did that joke....... Creative Team: Steve Englehart-writer, Steve Gan-art, Archie Goodwin-editor, John Warner-assoc editor, Wolfman & Thomas-consulting editors. Little top heavy on the editorial department. On the editorial page, Archie tells us that Marv conceived of a feature, to be called Starlord, and assigned it to Steve Englehart. Then, he became EIC and Archie inherited it. Archie also muses about Space Opera and his hatred of it, in the face of his love of Bradbury and similar sci-fi, and the EC Comics, who drew inspiration from said sources. That, is, until he was lobbied by Roy Krenkel to try Jack Vance's Star King and was hooked. So, space opera, doc! Steve Englehart gives us his tree-hugging hippie credentials (tarot, astrology, some doobage) in his intro to Starlord. So, you know, don't expect Heinlein or Pournelle POVs here! Synopsis: We open in the West, in 1962, as a baby is born to Meredith Quill. Her husband, Jake, doesn't think it is his (doesn't look like either of them, in his in-depth, scientific reasoning). He takes the baby outside and grabs an axe, then collapses, dead, of a heart attack. The baby is left to stare up at the stars, until Meredith is finally able to crawl to it (she's pretty weak, after the delivery, at home).  Peter grows, while his mother grows pale and sickly, seemingly hanging on tho care for Peter. he is an outcast among his peers, a dreamer who finds solace in Star Trek. He dreams of BEMs and sees a charred circle in the ground, near the woods. Hos mother tells him of a story of aliens landing there in 1930; but, tells him it is just a story. It matches Peter's dreams. Then, in 1973, just before school starts, a saucer lands and aleins come out. Peter grabs his mother and shows her and she tells him to hide and gets blasted by the BEMs, who bugger off...  The sheriff is called and doesn't believe that men from Mars did this and thinks Peter is crazy. he is taken off to an orphanage, after vowing to go into space and find those responsible. The orphanage sucks and he runs away, in 1975. Somehow, despite security background checks, he ends up in the NASA astronaut program and is the technical wunderkind; but, is cold and aloof to everyone and makes enemies with his attitude. In 1989, assignments are made for a Mars probe and he is left off, because no one can stand the jerk...  (Apparently, capes will be the standard uniform for NASA administrators, in 1989.) Quill is assigned to Space Station Eve and is there during a solar eclipse, when the station is contacted by outsiders, with a vision of the Starlord.  (Rather phallic space station, there. Bit more Frank Paul than Werner Von Braun). The voice says to chose someone to become the Starlord. Peter volunteers and is ignored, then goes postal (or whatever the astronaut equivalent is). He gets thrown in the brig, then sent home. He swipes a rocket and blasts back to Eve, zaps some guard, zaps the man picked to be Starlord, has a face off with the rest, then vanishes before laser beams can touch him. He arrives on an Al Williamson illustration....  He meets up with the wizard, Shazam, or God, or John Huston (possibly Ian McKellen, as Gandalf). He says he made a vow and Beardy McWeirdy makes him Starlord, giving him the suit and helmet. As soon as he tries it on he is flying and blasting things with his ray gun, which controls the four elements (how scientific!) and then goes into space to face the ship of BEMs that killed mom. ZAP! BAM! POW! and all of that and they are dead BEMs. He returns, free of his vengeance lust, then set on the path to be Starlord.  The Sword in the StarCreative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer, Ed Hannigan, P Craig Russel and Rick Bryant-art A rather ponderous essay introduces us to the notion that Mantlo basically swiped from Homer (well, more Virgil)to do a sci-fi Odyssey, with a bunch of academic speak about how Virgil and James Joyce did the same thing. Just say you cribbed the idea, Bill, and get on with it. A king is dying, a prince is over-emoting, and the Ithacans attack the planet again, in their black ships. The prince (Wayfinder; clever, isn't it?) and a wizard escape. They go to his private bunker, Wayfinder gets a history lesson, the Ithacans show up again, he kills their warriors and captures a ship; but, the wizard is killed in the process. Wayfinder heads off into the stars.  Thoughts: So, fairly standard space opera plot, with a modern take on the idea. Space opera was filled with heroes who take to the stars and fight evil aliens, pirates and criminals, sometimes after tragedy, sometimes 'cause their bored. You have your Skylark (from EE "Doc" Smith), your Captain Futures and your various space rangers and cadets. Then, you get your other space heroes, the more western outlaw types, like Northwest Smith (one of the inspirations for Han Solo). So, fairly standard stuff here, though with a more angsty, New Age take on things. And true to the Marvel formula, Peter Quill isn't exactly presented as the most heroic guy around. In fact, he's an obsessed loon. But, the lunacy gets squeezed out of him by Shazam, or whoever the bearded due is, so he can move on and be a space adventurer. It's a pretty decent tale, with some nice artwork, though setting the time frame so close to the present, yet making it all look like traditional Buck Rogers is a mistake. You can't talk about Star Trek and then have guys in Flash Gordon outfits. It doesn't work. Sure, it looks all EC and Al Williams (and Murphy Anderson, and Wally Wood, etc, etc..); but, it's a bit much for a modern audience to swallow. Lucas and his costumers were very shrewd, in that matter. They found looks that fit character types, yet never really feel old fashioned (well, Leia's seems very 70s; but, the rest work pretty well). Anyway, that's my only real quibble here. The science is bad; but, this is space opera, not SCIENCE Fiction. Englehart even name drops Perry Rhodan (a long running German space opera book series) and the Lensmen (the EE Smith series of galactic peacekeepers, which was mined heavily by Lucas, for both plot and many of the militaristic concepts of the Jedi). So, nice start to things. Oh, didn't I mention this was the debut of Starlord? Well, it was. Not exactly a huge debut, given the circulation on the magazines, compared to the comics; but, he proved a popular figure and, down the road, would be the lead feature for this magazine, before they turned it into Bizarre Adventures. Of course, modern Peter Quill is a different animal (as are all of the current GOTG); but, the origin is mostly intact, apart from the human dad, with the axe. He got a better soundtrack, though. Sword in the Star isn't bad; but, it isn't great, either. Mantlo over-writes the dialogue and there is nothing original or even clever here. It's pretty average stuff. the art is decent, though hardly groundbreaking, which doesn't elevate things. It just kind of "is." It's fine for a back-up; but, is never destined to be a lead feature, or even a small, but long running one. Mantlo wasn't exactly original on Micronauts or Rom; but, he did manage memorable and engaging. The letters pages are filled with suggestions for characters to feature in the Magazine, including Black Knight and Moon Knight, both who will appear in future issues; and, one that I thought made perfect sense, Deathlok. Imagine Deathlok in a non-Code magazine comic........apparently, Marvel couldn't (or wouldn't). Really, the magazine line was in dire straits, or at least nearing them. The recession wasn't helping things and they were axing a lot of them. This series continued and they did launch a few more, after axing others to make room. This one had a longer life than others.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 19, 2019 17:33:37 GMT -5
ps. I finished off Marvel Premiere precisely since it ended with Starlord and I was going to cover his debut in Marvel Preview. I wanted to do them together, which is why i did both the last two Doctor Who issues and the Starlord.
Gonna hold off adding a new series to this thread, until I have exhausted Marvel Fanfare. Logistically, it gets to be a chore going back and forth between collections of these books. When I do finish Fanfare, I will either be adding Marvel Super Special or the Graphic novel line; not sure which. Marvel Preview will continue through the end of the Bizarre Adventures retitling and end, which is a ways down the road.
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Post by zaku on Jun 20, 2019 2:54:03 GMT -5
Sometimes I wonder why Claremont never did a straight-BDSM story, after Marvel had ceased to adopt the Comics Code... I mean they did it when they published a Black Widow (not-Natasha, the second one) story in the Max imprinting...  Not comfortable admitting his interests? Hey, he's not Howard Chaykin!  Too bad Eric Stanton was gone, by that point; he could have done a whole line for Marvel. I don't know, he wasn't really a good storyteller, his comics were more a collection of pin-ups. By the way, he did some, ehm, super-hero adventures... {Spoiler: a little NSFW}  |
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Post by MDG on Jun 20, 2019 8:55:06 GMT -5
Too bad Eric Stanton was gone, by that point; he could have done a whole line for Marvel. I don't know, he wasn't really a good storyteller, his comics were more a collection of pin-ups. By the way, he did some, ehm, super-hero adventures... {Spoiler: a little NSFW} He also--allegedly--did some work on Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 20, 2019 11:23:48 GMT -5
Not comfortable admitting his interests? Hey, he's not Howard Chaykin! Too bad Eric Stanton was gone, by that point; he could have done a whole line for Marvel. I don't know, he wasn't really a good storyteller, his comics were more a collection of pin-ups. By the way, he did some, ehm, super-hero adventures... {Spoiler: a little NSFW} Yeah, Blunder Broad isn't exactly Marston; but, they do overlap in weird ways. Stanton's material wasn't exactly built for storytelling; but, from what I've seen, he was more than capable of it, had he been more inclined. He knew his audience and provided what they desired. A lot of his material was built around limited pages. He had a Bettie Page short story that was used for Bettie Page Comics, at Dark Horse. Bettie is tired of the same old thing, puts on a wig to disguise herself, and ends up doing exactly the same old thing, in a cute little "grass isn't always greener" bit. I don't think it was more than 6 pages, tops; but, tells a complete and engaging story. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 20, 2019 13:25:01 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #41 Sweet Dave Gibbons cover! Creative Team: Walt Simonson-writer, Dave Gibbons-everything else, except the stapling. Al Milgrom-signed the pay voucher. Synopsis: A storm brews outside, at 3:00 am, but Dr Strange is awakened by a presence, in the Sanctum. He quickly dresses and checks it out,  and finds an assassin, who zaps him. Ha, sucker! It was just Doc's cape. Strange pops out of a dimensional gate and zaps the assassin, then reconstructs him to return home, so he can follow. That leads him to a city that looks like a cross between a Hindu city and Mongo...  Doc gets strange sensations from the city and touches the buildings, which feel like skin. he starts drifting off and thinks he has been chosen for godhho. So, ego still intact there! He is awakened by nightmare and they fight.  He zaps him away and Nightmare falls into Eternity, who has come for Doc...  They fight and Doc escapes. he senses the thoughts of another and tracks it through the city, before eventually discovering the truth...  So, wait, the buildings are back pimples? Ewwwwwww................ Doc is standing on a sleeping giant and is part of his dreaming, and will be a permanent part, unless he conjures up something. He is destroyed; but, it is an illusion, as we see Doc hiding. He created an illusion for the dream and is able to go back home to bed, leaving Wong a note that he is sleeping in today. Thoughts: Pretty wacky, but entertaining. Simonson and Gibbons are a terrific team and you are left wishing they had done a bigger project together. Gibbons does some great stuff here, like the opening page, depicting the storm...  He even gives us a rear shot of Strange as he retrieves his decoy cloak, which reveals why it is a good thing that Doc wears a cape, or he would be mooning the world, what with the short tunic and all. Okay, he is wearing tights; but, nothing is being left to the imagination, here. The rest of the issue featres inkers pencilling pin-ups, with Mike Machlan doing his best Steranko...   and Kirby...  Could have made last week's contest, if that had been a cover. Al Milgrom finishes with a pin-up of himself and an empty mailbag, with a plea for letters. Not a good sign. if you aren't getting mail, it's because no one cares enough to write in. Kind of surprised the axe didn't fall soon after. The series will limp on, for another 19 issues.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 20, 2019 14:16:36 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #42 Creative Team: Carl Potts-story & Layouts, Terry Shoemaker-finishes, Jim Novak-letters, Petra Scotese-colors, Al Milgrom-edits Synopsis: Spidey goes to the Bugle to sell photos of the mayor, emerging from the river, after a helo crash, to the city editor. he's behind on rent, yadda-yadda-yadda. he makes a sale to the woman, Betty Brant sews up his split jeans, and he gets an assignment to cover Margaret Thatcher at the UN. He rushes to cash the check, waits in long lines, rushes to deposit the cash at his own bank, finds he was given too much, goes back to the bank to correct it, then get to the UN.  The next day, he finds out the teller lost her job, that she is a single mom (husband split, leaving her with two kids and back rent owed) and the landlord is going to evict her. Spidey takes his rent money and gets it to her (without her knowledge), then overhears her say she lost her job because she turned down the bank manager's advances. Spidey discovers he goes to prostitutes, gets some blackmail photos and sends it to him anonymously to get the teller her job back and to leave the other women alone. Thoughts: Meh.......Story is all over the place and not as clever as it wants to be. Humor never really comes across, nor does the emotion. Roger Stern could have made a story like this a classic. Potss is a decent writer (Alien Legion, for a start); but, this doesn't really come together. Captain Marvel Creative Team: Dennis Mallonee-story, Bob Hall-pencils, Bill Sienkiewicz-inks ( I think, signature could be a doctor's), Bill Oakley-letters, Sandy Plunkett-colors Synopsis: Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans summons Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) to he, to help get some vampire blood from the past, to use in her immortality serum. Doctor Strange spun a spell that destroyed vampires on Earth (until it didn't) and the past is the only place to find them. For no apparent reason other than curiosity, CM aggrees and goes back to Bourbon France and meets Cagliostro, who ends up taking her to meet Dracula. After narrowly avoiding becoming a vampire herself, CM brings back the blood, which explodes when she emerges in the 20th Century. The spell prevents it from existing.    Thoughts: Nice idea; but, a cosmic character doesn't necessarily lend itself well to a supernatural story. The only real connection is that Monica is from New Orleans. Her power is effective against vampires, though. It's a decent little tale, with the stuff in the past being the more compelling part. It does continue the depiction of Marie Laveau as a white woman, even though she is supposed to be the historical woman, who has lived for nearly 2 centuries. The real Marie Laveau was mixed race (mother was mixed African & Native American and father was white) and was born in 1801. Scarlet Witch provides advice to CM, before she meets with ML. The tale was originally meant for Solo Avengers; but, ended up in the Land of Misfit Stories, which is Marvel Fanfare. Sienkiewicz adds a really scratchy touch to Hall, who wasn't a particularly singular stylist. It aids the supernatural elements, to be certain. I'll admit I haven't read much of Monica Rambeau; but, it seemed like she was quickly given the mantle of Captain Marvel, to keep the trademark alive, then dumped soon after, with the name stripped for others. I can't say that she had real potential; but, it does feel like Marvel didn't try very hard. At least she got to be a cool kid in the Captain Marvel movie.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 20, 2019 15:16:14 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #43 Mignola and Russell in the hizzouse! Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer (uh-oh), Mike Mignola-pencils, PCR-finishes, Novak & Scotese-letters & colors, Milgrom-edits Synopsis: Namor is swimming around the Sargasso Sea, listening to Cindy Lauper (if the title is anything to go by) and tripping over dead Lizard Men, after Race Bannon was done with them...  (BEST EPISODE EVER!!!!) He runs into some weird algae and passes out, then wakes up to find a pirate ship firing on a merchant ship. He sees the victory and then notices that the pirate captain is a honey...  Namor rescues her from a trap, flies her back to her ship and gets down to some sweet pirate lovin. That is followed by some looting and pillaging, then morespawning, where Patience Drew, the she-pirate, vies him a gold earring. Later, the ship is lost in the Sargasso and Namor takes a dip to scout a course, finds the derelict pirate ship at the bottom of the ocean, and a skeleton. It was all a dream, or was it?   Thoughts: Hardly original; but not horrible. Namor seems a bit out of character, though he was a Mac(keral) Daddy, with the ladies (Betty Dean, Lady Dorma, Sue Storm, Marina, The Little Mermaid.....). Mantlo name drops real female pirate Anne Bonnie, just so we get the idea. Patience sounds rather like Robert Newton, minus the "Arrrrr" bit. Not every pirate was from Dorset! Human TorchCreative Team: Mantlo-story, Greg Brooks-art, Novak-letters, Scotese-colors, Milgrom-edits I'll get to Brooks in a minute. Synopsis: A fire breaks out at Four Freedoms Plaza and Reed is trapped. ben saves him by creating a vaccum, with a shockwave...  Johnny thinks about how it could have gone wrong, with Ben not thinking things through and runs into some crooks while musing. he chases them and they evade a police roadblock and hold up in an oil refinery, where some school kids are having a field trip. Torch must stop the crooks without using flame, or he will ignite the fuel (potentially). One of the three thugs is shot by another, after challenging him about shooting a kid. Johnny takes out the next one with a soccer kick to the face. The third he defeats with his flame, by going nova and sucking up all of the oxygen, before he can ignite any fuel.  The hood doesn't survive; but, the kid does. Thoughts: Mantlo seems to be trying for an EC-style morality tale, though his writing isn't quite on par. I'm no expert in thermodynamics; but, I would think there would be issues with generating that much heat and then reintroducing oxygen into the superheated environment. I would ask what school takes kids on a field trip to an oil refinery; but, my own class once went to a water treatment plant. You run out of ideas after everyone has been to the only museum in the area. Now, for the elephant in the room. Greg Brooks was an artist who had done a bit of work at DC, on Green Lantern and the Crimson Avenger mini-series (set in the 30s). He gained greater recognition for life outside comics when he murdered his wife, with a hammer, and dumped her body on a construction site. You can read more details here, if you are curious. It is a rather sordid tale. He was convicted and sentenced to prison, and eventually released. He did not work in comics, again. Mark Waid introduced a character inspired by him, which didn't get him into trouble until much later.
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Post by badwolf on Jun 20, 2019 15:39:49 GMT -5
I'll admit I haven't read much of Monica Rambeau; but, it seemed like she was quickly given the mantle of Captain Marvel, to keep the trademark alive, then dumped soon after, with the name stripped for others. I can't say that she had real potential; but, it does feel like Marvel didn't try very hard. At least she got to be a cool kid in the Captain Marvel movie. I really liked Monica as Captain Marvel. I think she kept that moniker for a good while. She was great in Roger Stern's (who created her in a Spider-Man annual) Avengers run; she was even team leader at some point.
I think she eventually changed her name to Photon and maybe something else later...but I wasn't reading the comics by that point.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 20, 2019 16:50:02 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #44 Ken Steacy! Creative Team: Ken Steacy-(nearly)everything. Rodney Dunn, Steve Leialoha, and Andrew Pratt-assists with everything. Andrew Pratt-letter things, Al Milgrom-whatever's left Synopsis: Iron Man has seen too many Looney Tunes cartoons....  Iron Man gets smacked and then starts laying into the machine and tears it a new one, while a stray laser guided munition lands enarby. He goes to a secluded trailer, where Rhodey is operating a remote control system that is like being on the spot...  Tony remarks at all they can do with this system and then Rhodey goes off for some sushi, while Tony goes to check out the stray munition. It isn't one of his and it releases a gas, which then Fs up Iron man's systems, leaving him a rather embarrassing statue.  Tony proceeds to have a hallucination of his other armors mocking him...  (love the Astro Boy armor), before he is saved from suffocation by Rhodey and Scott Lang. They go to check out his systems. Meanwhile, Dr Doom is preparing his itinerary for the International Robotics Show  which is where Tony and Rhodey are headed. Which is in Doomstadt, Latveria. Uh-oh. The conference is being funded by Doom and Latveria is neutral territory, so, go figure! Tony's plane's systems shut down, when they near Latverian airspace; but, they land using VFR (Visual Flight Reference). There, Steacy goes to futurist town...  (If you look closely, you can see the top of Robocop's head and Robbie the Robot. On the next page you can see a Dalek). Tony preps for his demonstration and meets the Canadian armored hero, Avro-X, aka Maj Colin Richard, who introduces him to Col Okada, of the Japanese Self Defense Forces and Maj Valentina Tupolev, aka Saberbat, of DDR (East Germany, though that is a Russian name). While Tony is thinking about how their systems were partially built with his stolen tech, there is a mid-air incident, involving all three, which Tony prevents from becoming a catastrophe. All of their flight systems conked out, just like Tony's aircraft. Tony smells a metal rat and goes to Doom's castle to confront him...  Doom all but admits to creating a virus that corrupts the control systems od technology, though dies in minutes, in a lab environment. However, it lasts indefinitely in organic material, where it is then transmitted to other sytems the host comes in contact. Tony is the carrier!  Doomis immune, until he is not and is infected by the mutated virus. His suit is powered by a micro-reactor, which no longer has coolant systems. Tony threatens Tintin (seriously, the guy has his hairstyle and everything, except Pilou/Snowy) to reveal the secret to destroying the virus and then goes to savs Doom and Latveria. He borrows Pym particles from Scott and shrinks down and climbs inside Doom's armor; but, runs into micro-sentries, which take him down. Rhodey and Scott are monitoring and Rhodey grabs the remote control system and syncs it with iron Man's armor and guides him remotely to shut down the reactor. Doom and Latveria are saved and he rewards the heroes by letting them leave alive. Magnanimous guy! Instead of a letters page, we have cartoon Al, with the circulation statement and yet another plea for sales and letters. Circulation is 50,000 which is on the low end of the spectrum, in this period. They'd drool all over themselves for those kinds of sales, today. Thoughts: Ken Steacy is always awesome and he excels at Iron Man. Too bad they never got him to do a mini or a graphic novel. Steacy is a tech junky (especially aerospace) and he knows his stuff. The name Avro-X, for the Canadian Iron Man is an homage to Avro Canada, the Canadian aerospace company (an outgrowth of the british Avro firm) that existed from 1945-1962, which built the CF-105 fighter...  and the experimental Avro Aerocar...  ...which was a literal flying saucer. The names of all 3 international pilots are aerospace firms: Okada Air, Avro and Tupolev (makers of Soviet bombers and civilian jet aircraft and the USSR's supersonic Tu-144, which was a bigger deathtrap than the Concorde(it predated the Concorde, but, it's safety record led it to being grounded before the Concorde crash). Steacy also fills it with robot cameos. Aside from the aforementioned Robby and Robocop (and Dalek) we see a police robot, from THX 1138, and Gort, from This Island Earth. A background banner has the letters RUR, which is from Karel Capek's play, of the same name (which in English stood for Rossum's Universal Robots), about a factory that creates robots (though these are more like Blade Runner's replicants) which rebel against their masters. The play is credited with popularizing the term "robot," for mechanical contrivances that perform the work of humans. Doom basically created the virus to sow chaos, which is a bit out of character; but, would fit into his dreams of conquest. Steacy just has a ball with it and indulges his love of advanced industrial design and aircraft, including Tony's pusher plane executive plane (with the prop in the rear of the aircraft, pushing it along) and several concept cars seen at the expo (concept cars are special designs used to present design and engineering ideas at trade shows to draw investment for practical models. Examples include the Ford Futura, which was the basis for the tv Batmobile)  The munition that Tony finds, which releases the virus, is based on actual laser guide munitions, as used in the Gulf War.  However, Steacy never lets techno-geekery get in the way of a good story. he sets up Rhodey and the remote system and Scott's Ant-Man tech helping him out early on, then carries it to the finale. The loss of avionics coming into Latveria sets up the demonstration mishap. Everything leads to a conclusion. Too bad comics didn't pay enough to keep Steacy working in them full time.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 23, 2019 19:34:01 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #45 Complete pin-up issue. Features illustrations from Art Adams, norm breyfogle, Bret Blevins, John Bogdanove, john Buscema, Walt Simonson, Ken Steacy, Howard Chaykin, Kevin Nowlan, Brent Anderson, Michael Golden, Steve Rude, Klaus Janson, Jackson Guice, Mike Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith, Steve Leialoha, Mike Mignola, Jim Lee, Rick leonardi, Sandy Plunkett, Bill reinhold, Marshall Rogers, Alan Weiss, JRJR, Mike Zeck, Charles Vess, Bill Sienkiewicz, P Craig Russell, Terry Shoemaker, and cover by John Byrne. Synopsis: Completely devoid of ideas or even crappy inventory material, Milgrom put out this. Thoughts: A $1.95 for this? I'm surprised the plug wasn't pulled at this point. Fanfare rarely lived up to its original mandate of best talent working on best stories; but, this is just trash. Using pin-ups as filler is one thing and there were some nice images there. There are some here. Ken Steacy doesn't an excellent job of Original Iron Man armor, as Prof Yinsen is gunned down. That is a nice homage, that looks really cool. Brett Blevins does a wicked Hela. Michael Golden does a Cap pin-up that is a cross between Steranko and the cover to the first issue of Team America.  (Are those old school Nazis or Neo-Nazis? One has an MP-40, the other has an Uzi. )   Jackson Guice, surprise, surprise, does an exploitive piece of Sue Storm in a skimpy bikini, surrounded by Cap, Thor, Reed, and some other dude (I can't identify him), in their regular costumes. Looks like swingers night at the Baxter Building. Kaluta's is nice, though I don't really get the idea here, other than Kitty Pryde as a babysitter who can walk through walls. Rude has a nice Black panther and Klaw, Walt has his Thor redesign and Alan Weiss does the Rawhide Kid (Weiss loves his Western characters and does a pretty nifty Western story, when he gets the chance). Zeck has a southpaw Punisher, holding a FN-MAG light machine gun (which ain't easy, for the average joe), with a lot of Marvel names in the graffiti in the background.     However, some of these are not even pin-ups. PCR's Killraven looks to be either from the Killraven graphic novel or for the intended follow up, that didn't happen. Bob Layton's Iron Man one I swear was used as a cover, though it might have just been used as a rear cover image, later. Jim Lee's Galactus I'm sure I have seen before, though, again, might have been reused later. A lot of this does look like repurposed promotional art. John Bogdanove does a really weird Volstagg and family that shows he couldn't illustrate children.  Some weird proportioning and faces there. I don't mind a pin-up book; but, not as an issue of a regular comic. You want to do a special release; fine. Definitely not for this kind of price, relative to a regular cover price, for the period. This book was desperate.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 23, 2019 20:25:25 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #46 Creative Team: Mike Barr-writer, Louis Williams-pencils, Bob Wiacek-inks, Jim Novak-letters, Glynis Oliver-colors (gave up the Wein, by this point), Al Milgrom-edits Louis Williams was an unknown to me. I see he had done some Daredevil, in 1987, 3 issues of Action comics Weekly, this, a a few other things; but, his tenure in comics seems fairly brief. I wasn't reading any of these comics (I tapped out on ACW before the Williams issues and stayed away until it was returned to a regular Superman book). Synopsis: Reed is installing a new surveillance system in Four Freedoms Plaza, which has some privacy objections from the team, leading him to reprogram the bedrooms as off limits, and then reveals that the system's infrared mode can see Sue.   The Awesome Android turns up and tells Reed it is the Mad Thinker, trapped inside and he needs reed's help. He swears he is not trying to trick Reed and Mr Genius fals for it. Then, the Thinker taps into the security system and turns its weapons on the team. They get their hinders smoked for a bit and Sue and Johnny retreat to her bedroom, where they fall into bed together...  I thought they were the Storm Siblings, not the Lannisters! Thinker can't see in there, which gives them a moment. Reed and Ben deal with some robots, elsewehere, before al 4 are reunited. ben questions Reed's leadership and reed offers to resign if his plan fails.  Reed threatens to destroy the power supply, trapping the Thinker in the FF's computers, forever and the Thinker gives in; so, Reed stays in charge. Thoughts: Story is okay, though not anything particularly special and this kind of thing has been done to death. The art, though, is fugly! Williams is really inconsistent and there is some really wonky anatomy...  At times, he looks like he is trying for a Barry Windsor-Smith thing; but, doesn't have the chops and at other times, it reminds me of Peter Chung, of Aeon Flux fame (and Phantom 2040). Johnny just looks plain weird, in this panel...  Ben is handled the most consistently and Williams handles him pretty well. I've taken numerous shots at Liefeld; but, I will take him over much of this, any day. "The Day After"Creative Team: Danny Fingeroth-writer, Tod Smith-art, Jim Novak-letters, Steve Bucellato-colors, Al Milgrom-edits Synopsis: Ben Grimm reflects back on his old relationship with Dr Linda McGill, from back when he was a test pilot. He was a hothead and nearly assaults an engineer, after a crash. Linda stops him and we later see Ben romancing her and taking her to a carnival, where he poo-poos some freak show performers, though Linda tells him it is what's inside that counts.  Flash forward and ben is now a monster and Linda finds him and runs away, terrified. She later comes back and is more calm and tells ben it doesn't matter. He then purposely acts like a monster to drive her away, rather than have her stay out of pity.  The story suggests her return was the spark that kept the Thing from losing it and that the first FF adventure soon followed. Thoughts: Danny Fingeroth tends to be remembered more as an editor than a writer. That may because he was a writer on things like Darkhawk and Dazzler, which aren't exactly on many top ten lists. He is trying something here; but, I don't think he succeeds very well. he did a better job on Dazzler, including her encounter with Galactus and Terrax, which made for an interesting What If back up story, where she became Galactus' permanent herald, rather than just who he tapped to bring in Terrax. One thing is for sure, if Ben had a temper like depicted, before his accident, he would have washed out of the test pilot program. Someone who loses their coo;l that easily is not test pilot material. Those guys were the essence of calm under pressure. Smith's art is a bit uneven, but serviceable. Not one of the better issues. At least it isn't a pin-up book.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 23, 2019 20:57:52 GMT -5
Marvel Fanfare #47 Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer & co-plot, Michael Golden-art, colors & co-plot, Jim Novak letters, Al Milgrom-edits Synopsis: While Peter Parker is shooting footage of J Jonah Jameson's old neighborhood, which is scheduled for redevelopment, by a councilman who seems not to care about its people, Nick Fury has Bruce Banner locked in a spacesuit, in Earth orbit. Luckily, this is Banner after he has full control of the Hulk.  Banner is there because a SHIELD spy satellite was bombarded with gamma rays and no one else can approach it. Why Fury is there, instead of a SHIELD pilot isn't explained, but falls under why Capt. Kirk was ever allowed to lead a ground party. Banner Hulks out, onb purpose, to deal with the radiation and discovers some alien go, which eats through his umbilical and attaches itself to him. Shades of Andromeda Strain. Fury gets him inside and back to the Helicarrier (this is published post-Nick Fury vs SHIELD; but, set before), where he is studied; but, the alien parasite causes Hulk to run amok, so we can have a lot of HULK SMASH!    Hulk Smashes his way out of the carrier and right into the neighborhood where Peter is about to be mugged by locals. On the Helicarrier, with Fury out cold, Quartermaster Waldo is in command and making bad decisions. he uses high tech weaponry to try to subdue the Hulk and creates problems every time, despite Val telling him he's a jerk and screwing up. Pete is in Spidey costume, trying to talk Hulk down and seems to succeed, when Waldo's attacks rile him up. We get a lot of urban renewal, the hard way, before Spidey subdues the Hulk by passing on his cold. Hulk passes out, after the parasite dies, and Fury shows up to assess damage.   Thoughts: Milgrom's editorial admits that this was commissioned a while back and was way late (hence, Golden being involved). Mantlo and Golden concoct the alien thing to give the Hulk a reason to go nuts, while the neighborhood renewal thing is just an excuse to have Peter Parker on scene. The whole thing feels like a left over MTU issue. Either Mantlo or Golden, or both, doesn't know what a Quartermaster is. In the Army, it is a supply sergeant (or other rank, involved in supply). In the Navy, it is an enlisted rating, for a navigator (the Navigation Officer is in charge of of the division, which is staffed by quartermasters. They are far more knowledgeable than the NAVO, well, the senior QMs.) It's not a rank in either branch. it also isn't likely to be a job for someone that senior in rank. Val has always been portrayed as one of SHIELD's highest ranking officers, so, why she isn't in charge makes no sense, other than to butt heads with an incompetent superior. Why she doesn't relieve him of command for said incompetence is another question. Logic has little use in this story. It sure is purty, though! Golden makes it look gorgeous and makes me wish he had at least done a SHIELD mini (not with Mantlo, though; someone like Archie Goodwin). As things go, it beats a lot of the stories in Fanfare. The ending is War of the Worlds-meets-Andromeda Strain. In that, the stuff with Val and the Quartermaster mirrors some of the arguments between scientists, in AS. You know, reading this, I am left to wonder if Mantlo consulted on Under Siege, 'cause no one involved with it kew the first thing about the Navy, either and it made just as little sense; but had a similar level of mayhem. Mantlo missed his calling, before his accident. Heck, Hollywood could use a couple of Roms and Micronauts.
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Post by badwolf on Jun 23, 2019 22:33:53 GMT -5
I actually loved the pin-up issue when it first appeared, for the same reason I loved the portfolio features. But looking at it now, there's a lot of mediocre illustrations in it. Some of the ones you mention, like the Blevins, Kaluta and Golden, are standouts. And the Byrne cover is cute. I had it up for sale at one point, but eventually decided to keep it for the good stuff.
I think the Hulk/Spider-Man issue is one of the best of the series. It might have made a nice MTU, but Golden's art (and colors) deserve the better paper.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 24, 2019 5:18:59 GMT -5
Jackson Guice, surprise, surprise, does an exploitive piece of Sue Storm in a skimpy bikini, surrounded by Cap, Thor, Reed, and some other dude (I can't identify him), in their regular costumes. I had to look through my scans of all of those pin-ups; that's actually the post-#300 line-up of the Avengers, i.e., the Fantastics, Cap, Thor and - Gilgamesh the Forgotten One: ...sans his oh-so-excellent helmet.
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