I've long felt Bob McLeod is one of the BEST inkers to ever work in the biz. But while in many case, someoone doing full art is the idea situation, in his case, I've always felt his inks were like 10 TIMES better than his pencils, so when he does pencils, it seems a waste of his best talent.

Kinda like Joe Sinnott.

Tony DeZuniga, on the other hand, ALWAYS looks better to me when he does his own pencils, not when he's inking someone else.

Marvel Graphic Novel #5, X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills



Now this is something that was worthy of a graphic novel format. The project was conceived by Jim Shooter, per Neal Adams, who came up with the plot. Shooter recruited Adams to work on this X-men special project, and Adams agreed, provided it not be under a standard Work-for-hire contract, as he felt they were too one-sided. Shooter said he thought he could swing it and Adams started working. However, when the contract came in, with standard work-for-hire language, Adams bowed out. He produced 6 pages of artwork, which showed Magneto being chased by someone, fighting with weapons at hand, before being taken down, which alerts prof X, who is observing the X-Men in the Danger Room.

Here are samples of Adams unpublished pages (later included in a special edition of the graphic novel)...





That led to changes and Brent Anderson was recruited to draw the book. Anderson had finished Ka-Zar and was wanting something that let him spend more time on the work to give it his best. He was offered the X-Men, as the regular penciller; but, turned it down. Claremont went to see him about it and pitched the graphic novel to him, which was exactly what he was looking for. Marvel wanted to slot it into the 4th position; but, Weezie and Claremont held off, not wanting to hurt the quality and New Mutants got dumped in there, instead.

Creative Team: Chris Claremont-writer, Brent Anderson-art, Tom Orzechowski-letters, Steve Oliff-colors, Louise Simonson-edits, Danny Fingeroth-associate edits, Jim Shooter-plot (per Adams, not credited in the book), EIC. Mary Jo Duffy is thanked for assistance and criticism, by Claremont.

Synopsis: In suburban Westport, CT, two African-American children are running across the grounds of the local elementary school. They are Mark and Jill and they are running for their lives. Their mother and father are gone. Mark is shot and goes down. He pleads for his sister to run, when the shooters come upon them. They call themselves Purifiers and they tell the children they have no right to live, as they shoot them in cold blood.



Their dead bodies are hung on a swing set, with the word "muties" displayed. They are found by someone who takes it personally....Magneto....



We cut to New York and the headquarters of the William Stryker Evangelical Crusade, a massive gleaming tower, which would seem at odds with the teachings of Jesus. Stryker is alerted to the briefing tapes prepared for him and he studies a report of the X-Men, before heading to appear on tv.

We cut to Westchester, where Kitty Pryde is beating the defecation out of a kid name Danny. Illyana Rasputin tries to pry her off, which opens her for a receipt, from Danny. Illyana's older brother, Peter, comes along and stops the fight, as dance instructor Stevie Hunter catches up to the brawlers. Danny was speaking about Stryker's crusade against mutants, his parents are members. Kitty swung on him. Danny parrots Stryker's hateful dogma. Peter says both have had their say and suggests Danny leave. Kitty is still mad and everyone cautions her that her combat training could have led to serious injury to Danny, with her uncontrolled anger. Kitty then asks Stevie how she would react if someone used the N-word to her and storms off....



Stevie sends Peter and Illyana after Kitty, to make sure she gets home safely and turns back to her studio, hurt by Kitty's words, since she believes she has a point. She is observed by Purifiers, who argue about killing her, but move on. The X-Men arrive home and Wolverine and Nightcrawler are told of the fight, as Kitty changes. They all sit down to watch ABC's Nightline, where prof. Xavier will be speaking, along with Rev. Stryker.

Xavier treis to speak rationally of mutants as individuals and Stryker plays to the cameras, sighting Sen. Kelly's report about the growing dangers of mutant powers. The tv crew don't like Stryker; but, he is good tv and he gets more focus than Xavier, who gets cut off before he can respond, for a commercial. By the end, Stryker has been the dominant figure. Even Scott and ororo, who were in the studio, see it. Xavier played to ideals, Stryker to fear. Xavier also came across as cold and grim on the tv. They are bumped by an aid to Stryker, who informs them the attack will go down, in central park. At the Mansion, the others blow off steam in the Danger Room.

Scott, Ororo and the Prof are attacked by the Purifiers and their car crashes. Scott is shot by a sniper, as he emerges from the car, followed by Ororo. A rocket launcher is fired at the car and the Purifiers report Mission Accomplished.

The X-men receive word at the mansion that the trio are dead. Kitty goes out on the grounds to be alone with her grief; but, Illyana comes along to comfort her. they argue, then find a hidden remote camera and sensory array. They stake it out to see who panted it. In NY, Peter, Logan and Kurt survey the wreckage and Logan says the scent is wrong, that it wasn't their friends in the vehicle and the accident was staged. They go to find out who staged it.

The Purifiers are observing; but, they lose sight of the X-men, who then pop up, in costume and take them down. One tries to escape in a vehicle and is stopped by Peter, who gets attacked by an armored foe. he is rescued by a surprise ally...



Kitty and Illyana spot the Purifiers when they come to collect the sensor. Kitty surprises them; but, Illyana ends up stunned by one and taken prisoner. magneto and the X-men take their prisoners to the Mansion, for interrogation. Wolverine tries to intimidate with his claws. Magneto takes over and gets the job done, as Peter and Kurt express dismay with their methods.

Meanwhile, Xavier is fed images of being crucified and his students attacking him, only to be saved by a divine presence, though his mind fights. Scott and Ororo are tortured to feed pain to Xavier, whose link is boosted by drugs. Stryker reveals his past and a mutant child he murdered as an abomination. He tells of his calling, and his crusade. he then gets reports and orders Kitty's death (her sneaking into the Purifier car was detected by sensors).

The Purifiers stop in the Bronx, put a "mutie" sign on the trunk, and shoot it up. When the trunk opens, Kitty is not there, having phased out. They track her signature with the device that alerted them to her presence originally. She runs into a street gang and Ann, the female Purifier catches up. They challenge her and the standoff gives Kitty a chance to bolt, and Ann gets knifed, after shooting their leader. Other Purifiers show up and are sent after Kitty. She phases inside a bodega and makes a call to the mansion. The Purifiers catch up and she gets aboard an El train. They burst in and wound a transit authority cop. kitty is too tired to phase and they don't care about the cop. Then, the cavalry arrives...



Stryker continues trying to program Xavier. he succeeds and Charles unleashes a psychic blast which kills Scott and Ororo. Their bodies are removed, as Kitty catches up to Stryker's scientist , who is interrogated by Kurt. The bodies are taken down in an elevator, when it suddenly reverses course upward, and weapons fly from Purifier hands. Ann, gets free, as the elevator is pulled from the building by Magneto. The X-men survey the bodies and Wolverine pronounces them alive. Magneto revives them with an electrical jolt and it turns out Prof X put them into a catatonic state, still fighting the programming. Magneto explains to the revived Scott and Ororo why he is helping and they debate his aims vs theirs.

Stryker has set up an event at Madison Square Garden and invited press and politicians. ABC's John Cheever remarks that even fundamentalist evangelicals have begun questioning Stryker's crusade. inside, we learn that Stryker intends to unleash Xavier's power, amplified, through transmitters, which will cause brain hemorrhages (which is misspelled, in the lettering). Stryker begins his address and many sound uneasy with his rhetoric. A switch is thrown and the X-men feel it and see others go down.

Magneto arrives and attacks Stryker and is hit with concentrated psychic energy. A senator starts bleeding from the ears, just like nightcrawler. Even Stryker's Purifier, Ann, starts bleeding from the nose. Stryker pusher her off the dais and she falls to the ground, landing on her neck and snapping it, on live tv. magneto has been holding back a mob and comments on Stryker's action. the mob call for his blood; but, the NYPD are facing off against them.

Cyclops and the X-men take out Stryker's machinery and free the professor, then Scott says they have to confront Stryker's ideas and the united X-men go to make the Opposition Response.

Scott rebuts his ideas an asks who anointed him spokesperson for God. he says they are no different than other gifted people and Stryker retorts by singling out Kurt. Kitty comes to his defense...



Stryker falls, shot by an NYPD officer, before he can shoot Kitty. The mob challenges the cops and are told off by a senior officer, who lets the X-men go. Later, at the mansion, Magneto says his goodbyes. He calls the X-men fools for thinking they can change things and Charles agrees with him, until Scott reminds him of his mission, that they are part of humanity and they must face those challenges for a better tomorrow for all; a peaceful way forward. Magneto leaves and Ororo tells Scott how proud she is of him.

Thoughts: This was truly a story that needed a large canvas. it is regrettable that Neal Adams didn't complete work on it, for the pages he did suggest it would have been magnificent. However, brent Anderson is up to the challenge. The story gets to the heart of the X-men as a metaphor for oppressed minorities, drawing distinct parallels to both the Civil Rights Movement and the Holocaust. Claremont isn't especially subtle (not his greatest strength); but, he delivers the message in a fine fashion. Kitty is the voice of youth and hope and it is fitting that she be the one most affected. the others have lived with hatred and fear, while she is relatively new to it. he status as a Jew also adds another layer, as she knows of her religions past, and sees how that mirrors her mutant present.

The alliance with magneto does much to set the stage for later treatment of the character, especially in the films. X2 directly borrowed much of this for the plot and for the general approach to the characters. Magneto especially.

Claremont has spoken of the climate of the period, with groups like the Moral Majority claiming they were reclaiming American values and Ronald Reagan being very friendly to the Religious Right. In the extra materials from the later edition, he spoke of seeing evangelical preachers on tv, who spoke a message that was greatly different from his readings of the Christian Bible and religious teaching. Those same preachers would spend the next couple of decades mired in financial, political, and personal scandals that exposed them for their reality, vs their rhetoric.

The story continues today, as we have hateful messages attacking THEM, whether THEY be immigrants, muslims, homosexuals, people of color, women, liberals or whatever the target of hate is. When a president tweets out that his critics of color should go back to where they came from, the message of this book is still very timely. Ignorance and fear breeds hatred and hatred destroys. Hatred must be challenged, ignorance enlightened and the weak and the innocent defended.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

ps for Marvel Preview #11

On the letters page, someone suggests they adapt John Norman's gor series of fantasy novels. Either no one was familiar with them at Marvel, or they just blew it off; but, they ask readers to let them know what they think. They could do the first three; but, then would have to do a ton of excising of material (even from the first two) as those things were filled with BDSM fantasy, as the series progressed. The first novel is a decent Burroughs pastiche and the second mostly is, with the kink waiting until the end of the book. The third gets into the background of the planet, so it is more restrained (no pun intended). After that, they get pretty overt with bondage and domination, and the idea that women secretly yearn to be dominated. I liked the first two books, third was kind f dull, then stopped reading a 4th (amy not have been chronologically the 4th; but, it was my 4th book of the series) and thought it was getting pretty damn weird and stopped reading. I glanced at another and read the BS about women and chucked the whole stack out (I had bought about a half dozen at a used bookstore, after seeing the first at my cousin's house).

Even in a non-Code magazine, those books would not fly and Marvel wasn't ready for outright porn.

I think even they would have thought it was misogynistic.  I mean, the Blonde is silly fetish fun; but Gor is just a messed up mentality.  The sad thing was that is started as a pretty good Burroughs pastiche and could have continued in that mode, without the kink.  The Boris Vallejo covers did a lot to help sell them, too.

Norman also wrote this piece of trash, Imaginative Sex.  The Daw Books versions of the Gor series used to list it as one of Norman's books; but, I never saw it in any book stores, new or used.  Years later, when I worked for Barnes & Noble, we got in a reprint of Tarnsman of Gor and Outlaw of Gor, for the Fantasy section and the same publisher reprinted Imaginative Sex, which went into our sexuality section.  It's nothing but cliched sexual fantasies, mostly involving bondage and slavery, with roguish kidnappers (pirates, desert tribesmen, vikings, etc) being a common thing.  the title should have been challenged under the truth in advertising statutes!

I actually went to see the first Gor movie, when it came out, out of curiosity.  I knew there was no way it was going to be as kinky as the books, based on the rating; but, I wondered if they captured the adventure stuff of the first novel.  It was such low budget drek that it might as well have been kinky.  It was just dull.  Poor Oliver Reed was slumming badly in it, as the villain, who is barely more than a cameo.  Then, there was a set-up, at the end, for the sequel, with Jack Palance (which was savaged on MST3K).  Palance I wouldn't say was slumming, as he had been doing junk like that since the 60s.

I don't know which I wanted back more, the money or my time.

Marvel Preview #12



Well, back to the old dumping ground!

Dracula! Zombies! Gilgamesh?



Lilith's outfit pretty much suggests this should be on the Paging Dr Wertham thread.

Creative Teams: Lilith- Steve Gerber-writer, Bob Brown-pencils, Frank Springer-inks; Ravenswood Mental Institution- Doug Moench-writer, Mike Kaluta-art; Gilgamesh- David Anthony Kraft-writer, Bob Brown-pencils Pablo Marcos-inks; Andrea- Doug moench-writer, Sonny Trinidad-art; Roger Slifer-edits, Roy Thomas-consulting (original) editor.

Slifer says he pitched a revival of Haunt of Horror as a regular magazine, with a mix of regular features and short stories. Stan agreed to a one-shot. Slifer hoped to use this to launch the book. It did not happen. It is not stated; but, the material seems to be unused inventory material, as artist Bob Brown died in January of 1977 and the magazine's copyright says Fall 1977 and mentions Star Wars (which wa in May). The listing of Roy Thomas as Consulting Editor suggests inventory material from his tenure, with the earlier horror magazines. Steve Gerber had contributed to the earlier horror magazines; but, not the later magazines, further suggesting this is old material.

Synopsis: Lilith- Fraser is sitting in the Cheers bar...........whoops; wrong Lilith. Lilith is falling out a window, as gerber comments about the post-Vietnam recession. As she plummets, she sees Martin Gold, Angel O'Hara and Roger McGuire. Gold is a writer, whose career as a novelist isn't happening; but, his agent has secured a gig writing PR brochures for Kallen Chemicals. Martin rails against selling out to a company that made money on plastic explosives and is a major polluter. Angel is pregnant and wants him to think of the baby. He rails about principles but gives into practicalities....



Lilith turns into a bat and flies back to the window she fell out of: the office of Walter Kallen, head of Kalen Chemicals. we get a flashback of Martin meeting Kallen. Kallen speaks to him much like Stan probably did the damn dirty hippies who started writing the comics, at Marvel. He wants Martin to write brochures to help sell a new machine that will break down pollutants to natural components, cleaning up rivers and things, for good. martin is a happy hippie and gets to work.

Martin is writing; but, is troubled by what happens to the miracle compound, after it breaks down the other pollutants. He needs a file. he asks for it the next day and is given it, despite not being allowed in the room where it is stored. Someone lost their job there! Martin discovers that the compound continues purifying, by killing of algae and other beneficial life within the water, making it unsustainable for life. he is pulled in for a conference, to hear the company's side. The boss calls Angel to let her know Martin will be delayed. She smells a rat and transforms into Lilith..............

DUNH-DUH-DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN..................

She goes to the offices and overhears that they are working on the problem, but that shouldn't halt selling it now. Martin objects and is threatened and in smashes Lilith. A fight ensues, she gets yanked out by her cape, flies back to find Robert on the floor dazed and the rest gone. She threatens Robert for the info and bites out a chunk of flesh from his throat and spits it out and he talks (yuck!). She goes after them, and catches up to the car on the Brooklyn Bridge, dives through the window and the car goes over the side...



The car is fished out and Martin is gone. He wakes up in his apartment, screaming about Lilith, and Angel quiets him.

Ravenswood- Dan Yercich, night janitor at Ravenswood mental Institution, goes through his routine, cleaning while dealing with patients. he tries talking to some and hears their varies lunacies, while thinking about mother. Eventually, he finishes his shift and heads home. he's headed inside the door as security guards at the hospital find the dead yercich and something missing from the kitchens, as we see "Yercich" enter the house, with a meat cleaver.



Gilgamesh- In an African village, an old juju-man, W'sulli, is having fits. the place is attacked by a zombie and he calls on Gilgamesh, the Eternal Warrior to save them. Gil tromps off, kills the zombie, then kills Mi'chi'li and brings the body back to W'sulli, who turns out ot be his dad.



Andrea- A detective goes over the details of a murder case as he talks to a portrait of the victim. A towel was found awauy from the body, lots of blood that splashed down from a height, and no signs of a struggle or murder weapon. The cop goes over it again and again in his head and we see that the girl was surprised by Dracula, dropped her towel on his command, got some throat action and died. The girls boyfriend shows up, who the detective believes is the prime suspect, only for the victim to show up. The cop leaves confused, here's a struggle, comes back to find Andrea drinking blood of the boyfriend and fly off. The cop kills her with a stake, stakes the boyfriend, then is interrupted by Dracula; but, not before tossing the bodies onto a fire. he tries to face Dracula, whose mental powers are too much and he ends up a vampire, relating all of this to the portrait.



Thoughts: Ii don't have confirmation; but, this all reads like inventory material. Lilith had appeared in Vampire Tales and Dracula Lives! Gerber wrote her stories. Sonny Trinidad contributed several stories to the original Haunt of Horror. The story Portrait of Andrea adapts the plot of the novel Laura, by Vera Caspary, which spawned the 944 movie, with Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and vincent Price. The twist is that unlike the novel and film, which features the return of the victim, who was mistakenly identified, after a shotgun to the face, it is the real victim, now a vampire. This would appear to have been a story for Dracula Lives! (possibly Vampire Tales). The Moench and Kaluta tale sounds like something for the original haunt of Horror (the regular magazine, not the digest format one). Kaluta didn't do a ton of work outside of DC, until later. This publication appear during the timeframe that Kaluta is part of The Studio, working on fine art and illustration projects.

The material is mostly very good, though the Lilith thing is a bit lighter than the rest. This is Gerber doing a satirical horror version of the Twilight Zone, where a chemical company exec (obviously based on either Dow or Dupont) gets his just deserts, from the Daughter of Dracula. It's not particularly strong; but, it isn't bad. It makes for an entertaining one-shot; but, I wouldn't want a series of these.

The Moench/Kaluta tale is great, with Kaluta's wonderful artwork giving it a ton of modd. I was actually fooled by the ending, sort of, as I was expecting them to reveal that the janitor was actually a patient. Well, he is, sort of.

The Dracula tale is quite engaging and trinidad's art is lush and really sells it. it also gets prettyerotic, with Dracula and Andrea. Trinidad slips in nude statues and nude paintings, even though Andrea is not revealed as naked, always carefully covered by her towel or Dracula. It's a non-Code book; but, Marvel was still squeamish about going much further. The early black & whites pushed it a bit more than the later ones did.

The Gilgamesh thing is fine, though not at the same level, as the rest. DAK contrives a twist story; but, you don't really care, much. Gilgamesh isn't much of a character and just serves as a weapon. The narration says he has been known by many names and is a conqueror, swiping from Moorcock's Eternal Champion, among other things, though not really drawing from the Epic of Gilgamesh. I assume this was something that DAK conceived, though there was an Argentine comic called Gilgamesh the Immortal, from Lucho Olivera, from 1969. it is possible that DAK came across that and wanted to do his own version. The basic idea also turns up in Valiant's Archer & Armstrong and Eternal Warrior.

Like Marvel Premiere, Marvel Preview was supposed to be a launching point for new features, potentially; yet it found itself a dumping ground for inventory material. Thankfully, it was as constant as something like Marvel Fanfare, which just stayed a dumping ground. Preview at least continues to offer some new stuff, as there wasn't that much inventory black and white material.

Next issue, it treads into UFO territory, which was likely spawned by the success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.