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Post by rberman on Nov 5, 2019 18:18:37 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures #29Greenberg- ...Morrie is taken into an alley, surprises the killer with a thrown rock and runs away... It does look like a boulder in the second panel. But it's actually the lid of a nearby trash can seen in the first panel which Morrie grabs and flings upward, catching the killer on the way. Hence the Captain America reference.  |
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Post by berkley on Nov 5, 2019 18:43:57 GMT -5
Sienkiewicz's artwork looks amazing but for me not at all suited to the superhero genre and therefore thrown away on this Daredevil story.
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Post by MDG on Nov 6, 2019 9:41:27 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures #29 The Lawnmower Man... I was very into King at the time, so, oh yeah, I bought this (and had it signed by Simonson at some point).
Don't know if I ever read the other stories, or if I did, they made no impression on me. It is nice to see, though, that by this time, the different artists were using their own approaches to black and white (Simonson, line art; Leialoha, rendering in limited tones; Wiacek, zipatone) rather than the indiscriminate use overuse of washes in earlier Marvel mags.
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Post by beccabear67 on Nov 6, 2019 12:47:06 GMT -5
I bought Bizarre Adventures regularly (maybe the only b&w magazine I did) and had that one. Definitely weird/creepy/scary... and I've always hated the noise pollution from most lawn-mowers. Hell for me would be endless suburbia with constant lawn-mowing and hedge trimming with gas-powered chainsaw sounding things! I blame the Scottish for all this somehow! Golf must be the root of all evil...  Would a guy on all fours making eating noises be an improvement though... er, no.  |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Nov 6, 2019 16:48:39 GMT -5
Not sure if King wrote the script or if Walt adapted it; but, the story works really well. GCD credits the script to King and says Simonson has confirmed this. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 6, 2019 17:40:44 GMT -5
Not sure if King wrote the script or if Walt adapted it; but, the story works really well. GCD credits the script to King and says Simonson has confirmed this. I didn't go looking; but thought, at this point in time, he might have. I know he was involved in the Creepshow comic, but really acted as more of an editor, with the Dark Tower comics. |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Nov 8, 2019 1:59:08 GMT -5
And King wrote the back-up story for Vertigo's American Vampire, to virtually no fanfare.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 14, 2019 15:39:43 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures #30 More Paradox. Oh, joy! Creative Teams: Paradox_Bill Mantlo, Mike Vosburg & Joe Jusko; Silhouette-Peter Gillis & Gene Day;Honor-Steve Skeates, John Buscema & Bob Wiacek; Bucky Bizarre-Steve Skeates & Steve Smallwood; Denny O'Neil-edits Synopsis: Paradox-Above Mercury, in one of the floating cities, an Interplanetary Security Agent is supposed to meet his contact, while investigating a rebel faction. He finds him dead, is surprised by the rebels, who use a portable transporter to beam him into the atmosphere, where he boils to death, instantly. They prepare to move their food to a new colony before more agents arrive. We learn that the Terran Empire lords it over its colonies (with genetically modified colonists) because it produces all of the food. In a floating city above the Earth, a group arrives at a meeting wioth the danseur, Paradox...  Paradox is belligerent but does his job. He gets the exposition dump and is off to the races. He is to prevent an attempt on the Emperor's life, while he takes a tour of the colonies. He is being dispatched to Titan. On Titan, he displays his shapeshifting ability and we get some clumsy scenes of racial discrimination by the Terrans towards the Saturnian genetically modified lifeforms. Paradox used the form to go to a Terrans-only bar and stirs up trouble. This gets the notice of a group of servants: Ice-a telempath, Razor, whose fingernails are talons, and Fire-who has jets of flame. They are an ISA special strike team and they check out a tip about a warehouse with rebel food storage. Ice senses plant life, bo no sentience. Food production is restricted to Earth. They go in and find a hydroponics lab and are ambushed and Ice is killed. The rest fight their way free, only for Paradox to reveal he is the mole within the ISA and kill Fire. Paradox recaps the previous story and Razor attacks, out of revege for the death of Ice. They fall into a canal and only Razor emerges. The Emperor arrives on Titan and Razor is with the ISA chief. She then fires an eyebeam into the landing controllers, destroying them, revealing she is Paradox. As the Emperor's ship crashes into the surface of Saturn, the servants rebel against their overlords. Silhouette-Captain Cross, of the freighter Shakti offloads cargo and takes payment, just as word comes that the value of it has plummeted and the people have been cheated. he vamooses and the planet's fighter follow. He escapes to the Shakti. He meets with his crew, and first mate, Graub, a cyborg. We also meet the Fraetor, a priest of the Clementine State. ...  They trade their goods and Cross goes to visit an old contact, for some fun and runs into authorities. He is bashed on the head and taken to see Silhouette. She is a mysterious enemy of the Clementine State and hires Cross and his ship for a mission. They head off and Silhouette and her people dispose of the State soldiers, but the Fraetor eludes them. They go to Madstar, a mining complex around a triple-star system. The Fraetor shows up, they fight, The Fraetor alerted the State and a fleet arrives. Silhouette triggers a nova, destroying the fleet in one go...  Honor-A man breaks out of a hospital and is attacked by vagrants, outside. he smooshes them and runs off with a woman, who gives us the exposition...  He stays the night, then goes back to the hospital to chase down a memory. As he approaches, it becomes clearer. He was to be the host body for the mind of an important general and he ran off. He gets hit and dragged inside to be the host body, still. Bucky Bizarre-Bucky crashes onto a planet in the future, where two species fight it out to make a bad Reagan satire and a pun.  Thoughts: Meh...... Nothing of any real note, here. Paradox was massively over-written, with tons of text bubbles, overwhelming the art, though it wasn't Vosburg's best. It pretty much telegraphed from the beginning that Paradox was a turncoat. Pretty derivative stuff. Silhouette was the same way, though Gene Day made it look nice. It's not up to Starlin's Warlock or Dreadstar, The Sacred & the Profane or the Cody Starbuck Color Special. It's just a middling story with decent art. Honor wishes it was an Twilight Zone or EC piece and fails to be either. Little character or plot development, in its few pages. Bucky Bizarre continues to be a waste of pages. Not a particularly memorable issue and hardly a challenge to Heavy Metal or Star*Reach. Not sure how hands on Denny was with this; but, he seems to be coasting on fumes. Mantlo's sci-fi isn't particularly strong and Gillis is a bit raw. Not sure why Skeates is getting work, other than they need something to fill the book. Hardly his best. Quite a come down from last issue.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 14, 2019 16:55:58 GMT -5
Marvel Graphic Novel #25, Alien Legion: A Grey Day to Die Alright, listen up you maggots! Creative Team: Carl Potts-plot, Alan Zelenetz-plot & script, Frank Cirocco-pencils & colors, Terry Austin-inks, Phil Felix-letters, Steve Oliff-colors; Archie Goodwin, margaret Clark and Dan Chichester-edits Synopsis: This is a tale of the Legion, the footsoldiers of the Galarchy. On Abagnus, the Legion HQ is home to the relics of the past and the place where recruits are signed up. A new batch is given the tour of the Legion's honors, including the bionic arm of Captain Vektor, who held an outpost with 60 soldiers, against a thousand of the enemy...  Captain Sarigar plays a holo-battle game against Lt. Montroc. The game is anonymous; but, Sarigar recognized Montroc's tactics. They meet up later and Sarigar chastises Montroc for thinking too much with his heart, in combat. Later, Sarigar is summoned for a briefing and Nomad Squadron is ordered to assassinated Dethron, leader of the Technoids, to throw chaos into their rebellion. He sends orders out to his troops to assemble and we see them on R & R. They get into a brawl when the recall comes in and hotfoot it to base. They assemble and board a transport and receive their briefing. Montroc isn't happy with the idea of assassination; but, the men just want to fight. Later, Montroc openly questions their orders and is told by Sarigar to stow it and follow his orders. Dethron prepares his speech, then spends time in a secret garden, suggesting he was once flesh and blood and seeks revenge on the Legion and the Galarchy.  While Nomad Squadron goes incognito, they learn of a depot for the worldly goods of people who convert to Technoids. Grimjod gets the idea to hit the place for some loot. The others fall in with him and they are ambushed and captured. Montroc alerts Sarigar that the men are gone and is ordered to carry out the mission alone. Sarigar is troubled by the tactics of Dethron. He also worries that Montroc is trying to sabotage the mission. Nomad Squadron is interrogated. They learn little and Dethron is angered and tells them to increase the torture. Montroc recons the meeting stage and plants a boobytrap. Dethron transmits a message to Sarigar and Sarigar recognizes his quotation as the poem spoken by Captain Vektor. Dethron relates how Vektor became Dethron...  He plans to use the Technoids to destroy the Galarchy and the Legion, out of revenge for being abandoned to die. Sarigar calls in the fleet. Meanwhile, mescad, of the Legion, tricks his torturer and breaks free. At the rally, Dethron addresses the populace, then Montroc triggers the bomb and walks away, disgusted with himself. Sarigar briefs the fleet for the assault on the palace. The assault begins and it provides a distraction for the rest of Nomad Squadron to escape. Mescad believes the others are dead and is about to top himself when one of his comrades has a telepathic image of his suicide attempt and directs the others to stop him; but, they are to late. Fighting is heavy, around the palace...  Sarigar locates Dethron and battles his old mentor. He must use dirty tactics and shoots Dethron from behind, killing him. He could have taken him alive; but, it would have tarnished the history of the Legion. We end back at Legion HQ, where the story is being told to new recruits, with Mescad's weapon on display, with the rewrite that he died a hero, rather than took his own life. Thoughts: Well, one thing is clear; neither Potts nor Zelenetz ever served in the military as their tactics would have them greased by even an ROTC cadet. They play up the unitl legends of the Legion, borrowing from the history of the French foreign Legion, playing to the romantic notions of honor among the brothers, who fight for the Legion. One of the Legion relics is the wooden hand of Captain Jean Danjou, who led a company of 62 legionnaires and 3 officers against nearly 3000 Mexican loyalists. Only 6 men were left and 3 died in a bayonet charge, while the surviving 3 were captured, but allowed to return to French lines with Danjou's body. This forms the basis to the backstory of Captain Vektor. However, Potts and Zelenetz turn this tale of glory into a propaganda lie and reveal that Vektor and his men were abandoned to aid a politically connected ambassador and Vektor survived to seek revenge. Mescad is dumped at the beginning and re-ups, but is in a state of depression, developing a deathwish. he kills himself and is turned into a hero of the Legion. Nomad Squadron is tasked with political murder, rather than protecting citizens are fighting and invader. Here, the team dispels the romantic notions of valiant warriors and lays bare the idea that they are stormtroopers for a corrupt regime, pure and simple. They are a mercenary company attached to the service of an Emperor. The actual French Foreign Legion has a similarly sordid history. Danjou was killed in Mexico as France sought to force repayments of loans to the Mexican government, under Benito Juarez. The invasion was carried out while the US was distracted with the Civil War, preventing the Monroe Doctrine from being invoked. France colluded with Church interests, Mexican nobles, and some indigenous groups to undercut reforms that Juarez had introduced. Juarez was eventually able to drive out the French with a guerrilla war of attrition and re-establish the Republic. The Cinco De Mayo celebration commemorates the Mexican victory over the French, at the Battle of Puebla. At the beginning, I was willing to dismiss the story as gung ho romantic nonsense, ala PC Wren's Beau Geste, which is filled with such tripe. However, Potts and Zelenetz turn those ideas on their head. As such, this ends up being a bit more subversive, especially in the Reagan years, where heroic military fiction was on the rise and US troops were being deployed in Latin America to prop up governments in Honduras and El Salvador, while the CIA ran a clandestine war in Nicaragua. After the dark decade of the 70s, the 80s were very much about US military power as an extension of foreign policy, eventually leading into bigger and bigger military operations, from the invasion of Grenada, to the first Gulf War, to the current, never-ending War on Terror. This work shows both the idea of the brotherhood of soldiers and the dirty jobs their governments assign them. It also shows that they are not mindless killing machines, blindly following orders, as Montroc does just that. However, in the end, he plants a bomb and lives with his conscience. Some who may have been drawn to Alien Legion for military sci-fi adventure might have found a bit of a surprise. There are weaknesses here, as we don't really get to know much about the Nomad Squadron soldiers and they end up being military cliches, seen in your typical war movie. However, there was the regular Epic series for that. This isn't a work on par with the later A Sailor's Story; but, it is a better use of the format than many of the other Marvel GNs. This tale could have been told in a one-shot comic; but, the size allows a bit of room for the art, though I don't think they took full advantage of it, compared to Walt Simonson's Star Slammers.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 20, 2019 17:15:52 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures #31 I think we can see how previous issues have been selling. Creative Teams: Philistine-Denny O'Neil & Frank Miller; Dr Death-Larry Hama & Ralph Reese; Hangman-Mark Gruenwald & Bill Sienkiewicz; Violence Wears...-John Bryne; Recondo Rabbit-Larry Hama, Mark Armstrong & Joe Abelo; Let there....-Tom DeFalco & Herb Trimpe; A Frog...-Steve Bissette & Steve Perry; Bucky Bizarre-Steve Skeates & Steve Smallwood; Denny O'Neil-edits. More of a straight anthology here, with more features and fewer pages for individual stories. Philistine-A warrior has journeyed long and hard and is invited into an art museum....  There, the curator speaks of how the mob doesn't appreciate art and how you must surrender to art, as images and statues come alive and attack the warrior. He fights them off and leaves a heap of bodies. Finally, he impales the curator, who calls him a philistine. Dr Deth, wyth Kip and Muffy- Some mutants bring in a woman, for dinner (at a diner). They speak of two others with more food, but the bounty hunter, Dr Deth trailing. We sson see how deadly Dr Deth is...  Dr Deth and Muffy turn up in time to rescue the girl and kill the other mutants. DD then leaves with the chicks. Hangman-Critic Matt O'Brien watches a cheap horror flick and is disgusted. Behind him is the Hangman, who protects society from filth. He is writing down the names in the credits. The next day, O'Brien sees that the director has been murdered and tries to warn the police and then the studio and actors, wihout success. He crashes a studio party, where the Hangman is in attendance. The Hangman kills more, than hurts a woman and is stricken with remorse. O'Brien then kills the Hangman, with his own scythe. He then prints a positive review of a violent film, speaking to the catharsis of the violence...  Violence Wears Many Faces-a minister stirs up a group about attacking smut. The mob goes off to a library and grab armloads of books for burning...  Recondo Rabbit-Two anthropomorphic rabbits talk about the younger ones brawlin against Billy Bear and the young one relates his experiences in Vietnam, as his camp comes under siege. The older one talks about a Luger he has that he used to stop an attempted robbery of the payroll. The younger takes the gun to go to the bar ad face Billy Bear...  Let There Be Life-A group of soldiers in Afghanistan are seeking out terrorists. One of them takes a hit and they make it to a local doctor, to patch him up. They are wary, becuase the peopel have hidden the terrorists. The doctor says he knows his duty, but his loyalty to his neighbors wins out and he is shot, as he tries to kill the wounded soldier. The rest of the squad are saved from an attack by the arrival of tanks and reinforcements. The year is 1979 and the soldiers are Russian...  A Frog is a Frog-Two friends read comics, some with high doses of violence. They go off to the quarry pits to bum around, but one catches a frog and takes it into an old shack for a few minutes, while the other, not wanting to go in, looks into the water. Banging sounds are heard then the other comes out and they head to the quarry. Wally, the boy who caught the frog, pushes Boomas, the other kid, into the water and runs off. Boomas chases Wally to their treehouse and they have a fight and Wally tells him to get away from him. Boomas sulks at home and his mother asks about the fight. She says that he should forgive Wally and he says Wally is crazy. She then says he should help Wally, as that is what friends do. Boomas sees Wally run past his bedroom window and goes out after him. There are police cars, as a young girl, Jenny, a new kid in school, has been found nailed to the wall in the old shack. There are frog carcasses nailed there. Boomas finds Wally at the treehouse. he can't distinguish the fantasy of the comic stories from reality. Boomas tries to help him...  Bucky Bizarre-Bucky lands in the Roaring 20s and the world of gangsters and makes another bad joke. Letters page includes one from an art student, by the name of Mark Badger, who would enter the field, a few years later. Thoughts: Violence was the theme for the issue and each looks at violence in different contexts. Philistine satirizes art critics and afficianadoes and points to the levels of violence often inherent in artwork. It's not particularly strong satire but is visually interesting. Dr Deth is a Underground-styled piece, making comment on things like Judge Dredd and post-apocalyptic fiction. Our hero looks like an innocent tyke, yet perpetuates as much violence as the mutants. Humanity seems to be lost. The females are all victims or perpetrators, of course. Hangman brings back the Hangman character from the early Spider-Woman issues (with the bondage covers). He is a vigilante out to protect women from society, whether they like it or not. In the Spider-Woman story, he carries her off and makes her his prisoner, to protect her. here, he hunts down the makers of violent horror films. He is encountered by a film critic who hates the violence in the film as cheap pandering. However, he is caught up with knowledge of real violence. He tries to warn everyone then must use violence to end the terror. it shifts his perspective and he suddenly finds worth in the cinematic violence. Commentary on how the use of violence depends heavily on perspective. Violence Wears Many Faces is silent, with only printed signs. It is overly simplistic; but, touches upon real issues, as there were book burnings in the time and groups like the Moral Majority were on the rise, making themselves the self-appointed guardians of society. Speaking as a former bookseller, the majority of people who try to ban books always see themselves as the righteous, eliminating a threat to good society. It works from both ends of the political spectrum, in my experience, either because of "strong moral values" or "offensive content." The kneejerk reaction is to ban, rather than refute the content and hold it up for people to find the truth of what it is. You can't educate people about the Holocaust by banning Mein Kampf any more than you can save people from Communism by suppressing the writings of Marx and Engels. Recondo Rabbit juxtaposes cartoon characters and real violence. The young rabbit only feels alive when he is brawling in a bar, with a cartoon bear, after a stint in Vietnam. Now he goes back for the bear, armed with a gun. It is only the horror of Vietnam that changes this from a Looney tunes plot. Many criticized the violence in cartoons, over the years, saying it desensitizes people to real world violence. Others say we are drawn to violence in our entertainment because of our exposure to real violence. The truth is somewhere in the murky middle, no doubt. Let There Be Life is a typical war comics tale, of a heroic squad of soldiers, who just happen to by Soviet military, during the invasion of Afghanistan. The sentiments reflect those of stories about Vietnam, with a similar POV. We have far more in common with our enemies than we acknowledge and hero and villain are often a matter of perspective. A Frog is a Frog gets in separating fantasy from reality and demonstrates the problem of people who can't due to mental illness. Common threads of the history of serial killers include violent behavior towards animals, in adolescence. here, it is Wally and frogs. He is drawn to violent tales, but can't separate their fictional world from ours and does the same things he sees. Often, this mental illness is a byproduct of deep neglect and abuse. Many try to pin the blame on the media, for depicting violence, but rarely shine the light on child rearing, for more harm comes from bad parenting and abuse than from violent images in the media. The violent images do play a part in feeding the illness, but the vast majority who witness the fantasy violence don't carry out acts of extreme violence, on a personal level. The desensitization effect may play out in accepting violence in society or from government agents, such as war or police brutality. No fantasy monster, though, is worse than the real ones we create ourselves, in the real world. Bucky Bizarre continues to be pointless bad jokes and little more. They aren't even groaners that are charming; they're just lame. Interesting experiment which yields some thought-provoking material, though some better executed than others. This was the first issue of the magazine I ever encountered and bought, mainly due to the Frank Miller connection (this was the late 80s, when I found it). I soon found other issues of it and the earlier Marvel Preview. Next, Thor and other gods.
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Post by MDG on Nov 20, 2019 17:50:26 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures 31 is a book I still seem to see a lot in junk bins at shows. Like Camelot 3000 #5, I don't know if dealers saw the cover and overordered or regular readers didn't want people to think they were buying "porno" comics and left it on the stands.
I don't remember the stories too well, but it's still one of Miller's best inking jobs. Reese really drew on Wood for the Dr. Deth character design--wouldn't be surprised if it came from a Wood sketch. The photo ref in the last panel of the page reproduced here really sticks out.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 20, 2019 17:58:02 GMT -5
Marvel Graphic Novel #26, Dracula: A Symphony in Moonlight and Nightmares What, no Gene Colan.. Fah! Oh, wait, Jon J Muth? Fah withdrawn! Creative Team: Jon J Muth-everything, Ann Nocenti-edits This is another Epic work, with Muth retaining ownership. Thank Kirby for Archie Goodwin and Epic, the last bastion of idiosyncratic work, at Marvel! Muth has travelled a bit in this world, as he would also adapt Fritz Lang's M, which is a mixture of horror and crime fiction. Synopsis: At sea, in a storm....  Lucy Seward writes of friend Mina Harker's sleepwalking an declining health. The ship crashes on the shores of England, with no survivors. Renfield unloads cargo, while Dr Seward and Jonathan Harker look at the dead mate.  Dr Seward dines with a count and more bizarre behavior follows. Wolves are seen in the night...  Abraham Van Helsing arrives and finds his daughter Mina. He must destroy his child. he goes to rescue Lucy from the same fate an meets the count in battle...and loses!  Lucy is united with her lover and a new day dawns. Thoughts: Alternate take on Dracula, inspired by the Stoker original. here. Mina Murray is Mina Van Helsing, daughter of Abraham. We juxtapose the voyage of Dracula, on the cursed Demeter and the behavior of Mina and Lucy. Our vampire hunters fail to stop Dracula. Mina is killed and Lucy joins with Dracula. Here, Dracula wins out. Muth portrays it as a series of images, in a dreamlike world, with text pieces from diaries and other writings, as in the original. It is an interesting experiment; more of a visual poem than a true piece of narrative fiction. It succeeds in being something new, to the Dracula world and faithful to the source, with a divergence. The art is soft and gauzy, the haze of dreams and nightmares. Artistically, it is arguably the best graphic novel so far, though as a work of graphic narrative, it falls short of Elric or Starlins pair of GNs. Once again, Epic shows the way with the format; but, we will see more glorified generic Marvel stories than works of art like this.There will still be a few that do something else with the format, such as Sam Glanzman's upcoming semi-biographical A Sailor's Story. Next, though, I Emperor Doom.
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Post by berkley on Nov 21, 2019 5:30:39 GMT -5
The Day and the Trimpe artwork would have been the main attractions for me in those respective mags had I seen them at the time, and might be enough even now for me to seek the back issues, even though mjothing else attractedme much.
The Muth Dracula looks interesting: not a style I think would work for a straight adaptation, so when you describe it as an interpretation that encourages me to give it a chance.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 26, 2019 17:30:43 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures #32 I HAVE THE POWER!!!!!!! No, wait, that's He-Man................ Creative Teams: Thor-Alan Zelenetz & John Bolton, Demon's Bridge-Larry Hama, What Fools...-Tom DeFalco & Steve Smallwood, Streak-Ann Nocenti & Greg Larocque, Prophet-Mark Gruenwald & Val Mayerik, G-D-Al Milgrom, Bucky Bizarre-Steve Skeates & Steve Smallwood, Denny O'Neil-edits Synopsis: Sea of Destiny (Thor)-The Asgardians are having a party; but the band is kind of lame...  Thor goes off to hang with the Norns instead, who show him his past. Thor is partying down, when he gets a text prayer from Runolf, a viking alone at sea, in the middle of a storm. he calls for Thor to take pity on him. Thor wants to help a brother out; but, Fate says Runolf is FUBAR. Thor says nuts to that and goes to lend a hand. He lands on the longboat and then seas a literal sea horse rise out of the water...  It comes for Runolf and tHor fights it and eventually kills it, but Runolf ends up crab food, as a result of the fight. Thor goes home to face Ward, who tells him he is very disappointed in him and punishes by making him visit the Norns every year to relive the events and be humbled in the face of Fate. That and no tv for a month. Demon's Bridge-A couple of samurai meet on a bridge, trash talk, then try to gut one another...  The young dude kills the Mifune wannabe, then helps to skeezy-looking guy haul up his drunken god. The god is a patron of pimps, prostitutes, thieves and ronin and the worshiper solicits a tithe to it. Then there is stuff about magic beads, a demon warrior riding an old Hag (hag, not nag) and then said demon shows up and fights the ronin. One head cut later, the ronin brags of the new technique he has learned, gives the beggar and god his gol, then goes looking for a guy and a kid, in a cart. What Fools These Gods Shall Be-Some anthropomorphic animals are waiting for the donkey dude to fix the tv, when an explosion occurs fusing wires. Amazingly, the set works and they see the story of Daedalus & Icarus, then discover, by accident, that they can affect the story...  They think they can milk this and decide to help the dudes escape, with the idea to make wings. The story plays out as expected, the donkey feels bad and runs away, while th pig decides to mess with some guy named Noah. Gods of the 80s-Mad rip-off...  Th Streak-Ray Stevens music plays in the background, as Jules Kleen, a gambler, runs into a woman and we get a lot of stuff about gambling, then Hermes whisks him to Olympia and recruits him to be a God of Luck, which leads to a Vegas trip and transformation from human form and a lot of bad satire and pretension.  The Prophet- A climber in the Canadian Rockies runs into Shazam...  The Prophet had been a spiritual leader earlier on (looking like Gruenwald's Aquarian version of Wundarr aka Jesus) and something about people gaining superpowers and bugering off to the stars. The prophet goes off to be alone. The climber had a bad life and needs the prophet's guidance. he is moved and forsees a spaceship coming to Earth. they meet it and it is filled with the superbeings from the earlier time and the climber goes off with them. G-D-God rants about getting no respect, as he descends to Earth and runs into Rodney...  He decides to create miracle, goes into an arcade and gets the high score, then gets his pocket picked. Bucky Bizarre-Bucky arrives at the dawn of time...  Thoughts: Mixed issue, but mostly good. The Bolton and Zelenetz piece looks nice, but isn't anything terribly new. It fits well with the MCU version of Thor, as Thor learns a lesson. Beautiful art, though. The Larry Hama thing isn't deep; but, it is entertaining, with contemporary speech patterns on a Kurosawa set. The What Fools thing is kind of Underground-ish, with an attempt at satire that is so-so. Nothing awe-inspiring, but good. Gods for the 80s is literally a swipe of the average Mad issue piece. The Streak tries to be satirical; but, it kind of throws a lot in there, without much landing. Nocenti was a neophyte and she is stretching. Prophet is Gruenwald attempting something cosmic and is okay. G-d is like an extended Editori-Al, in Marvel Fanfare. Not as funny as it thinks it is but fine. Bucky Bizarre is still a waste of 2 pages. Nothing major in this issue; but, it's a decent, if forgettable read. The O'Neil issues are living up to the name; but, they aren't producing great comics, as a whole. A few contributors try something different.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 26, 2019 18:03:36 GMT -5
Marvel Graphic Novel #27 "Oh, wow; cool, this has Bob Hall art!" That phrase has never been uttered! Creative Team: David Michelinie-writer, Bob Hall-art, Kent Williams-add'l inks, Bill Oakley-letters, Jim Salicrup-edits Concept by Michelinie, Mark Gruenwald and Jim Shooter. So, not suffering from the "Too many cooks" syndrome, then... Synopsis: Kilgrave the Purple Man is kidnapped from somewhere tropical. Namor is walking around NYC, in disguise. He is spotted by a cop, then goes into a restauran, where he meets up with DR Doom. Doom has a plan to rule the world, with a Psycho-Prism and the Purple Man...  He offers Namor dominion over the seas, unmolested by the surface world. He even has a way to get around people like the Vision. Namor agrees. He infiltrates Avengers West Coast HQ, whammies Eros & Scarlet Witch, then slips the control disc on the Vision. Doom lands on his private island, where Kilgrave is hooked up. he tries to manipulate Doom and fails. Namor bobbytraps other mechanicals, including Machine Man and Ultron, while the Avengers track down Doom's island and fight his defenses. They get inside his compound, as Doom wanted and he whammies them with Kilgrave's magnified power. They go off and leave him be. Doom goes to the UN and convinces them to cede control of the world to him...  Doom double-crosses Namor. Doom creates a utopia...  Then, Wonder Man wakes up from a bath, where he was shielded and screws everything up. The Avengers fight him. He runs away. he talks to a blind woman and gets inspired. he deprograms Cap. They handle the rest and go after Doom. Every one fights Doombots and other machines and Kilgrave is freed and the utopia crumbles. Thanks a lot, guys! Thoughts: Um, yeah; Marvel tries to be Alan Moore and fails miserably. I suppose this started out with "What if Doom wins and rules the world; then what?" That would be a cool premise for an interesting story (and sort of is for Doom 2099); but, that gets dumped for this, which is woefully underwhelming. Nothing awful, just rather trite and it has tons of plot chasms, not just plot holes. Namor goes along rather easily, when he always bickered with Doom, in the past. Doom has a convenient answer for everything, but it unravels easily. Just not a lot of thought put into this. The art, from Bob Hall is fine, though the coloring isn't great. His figures are rather angular, as if he isn't comfortable with drawing curves for muscles and other body features. It all reads like a Shooter storytelling textbook and lacks the substance of the work of the people who left Marvel. The type of story they want cries out for a Byrne or Perez, or someone with more power and style to their work. That ain't Bob Hall. To me, this is typical of a lot of Marvel's 80s output; not horrible, but nothing as notable as what was happening elsewhere in the industry, apart from the usual suspects (Miller, Simonsons, etc...)
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