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Post by badwolf on Nov 26, 2019 19:32:12 GMT -5
I like Bob Hall's art but those drawings of Namor at the beginning look weird.
Why am I not surprised this was a Shooter idea, yet another omnipotent being story. The guy was obsessed.
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Post by rberman on Nov 27, 2019 7:51:16 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures #32 Bolton's art is so beautiful. I wish it had sold well enough to become a new standard in American comic books. Not that there's no place for more cartony styles, but I really enjoy this degree of photorealism. Chris Claremont tells a similar "two samurai met at a bridge..." story in Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #4.  And again in issue #6 of that same series.  I wonder-- did he get it from this issue of Bizarre Adventurers? Or is this a well-known Japanese story intro like, "A man walks into a bar..." That's pretty funny, actually. I see they were willing to mock both conservatives and liberals in those days. |
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Post by badwolf on Nov 27, 2019 10:54:34 GMT -5
I'm a fervent worshiper of Jiggle.
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Post by MDG on Nov 27, 2019 12:03:55 GMT -5
I got the feeling that the editorial vision for Bizarre Adventures was, let's say, a bit unfocused around this time. Unless they were consciously trying to reproduce what was happening in contemporary fanzines.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 27, 2019 12:36:31 GMT -5
The samurai on a bridge is an old storytelling device in Japanese literature. I know the idea was used in Lone Wolf and Cub, as it makes for dramatic staging. Possibly used in Kurosawa (I haven't seen all of his films); but, I'm sure it was used in the jidaigeki. There is a legend of Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro meeting on a bridge, though not fighting there. They are two of the greatest legendary samurai and subject of many tales, films and tv series. Musashi is credited as the author of The Book of Five Rings a work of philosophy and military strategy, which is the foundation of Japanese management training.
I'm betting Claremont either saw it in a film or Lone Wolf & Cub (possibly one of the other samurai manga), which is where he took most of his samurai stuff.
Hama is more properly versed in the stuff, with his martial arts studying (he practices iado, which is a samurai art). Hama plays it for laughs, spoofing the convention.
Roy Thomas has lamented that the black & white mags were kind of the red-headed stepchild of Marvel, with few wanting to work on them and little editorial support from the rest of the company. They sure burned through editors. At least O'Neil was trying to do new stories and not just shoehorn inventory material, though it's possible that they had run out of inventory material for the mags.
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Post by rberman on Nov 27, 2019 13:01:41 GMT -5
Marvel Graphic Novel #27Concept by Michelinie, Mark Gruenwald and Jim Shooter. 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. When I see Michelinie, Gruenwald, and Shooter on a Doctor Doom/Namor "concept" together, it makes me think of an earlier period. Was this a Super Villain Team-Up two-part story that got juiced up into graphic novel length? Maybe one intended as a What If? Bob Hall did draw issues 10, 11, 12, and 14 of SVTU. In fact, Bill Mantlo had already told a similar story (beginning in SVTU #14 and ending in the Mantlo penned Champions #16 after SVTU went on hiatus) in which Doctor Doom puts the whole world, including Avengers, under mind control. It's up to Magneto to set them free, starting with The Champions. Is it a coincidence that Doom's mind-control machine was purple?   Gruenwald would tread similar ground on Squadron Supreme. What if mind control could be used to make the world a materially better place? Would we still object to it? More generally, will you excuse an evil leader if he gets results? The Walking Dead deals with this repeatedly. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 27, 2019 17:41:08 GMT -5
Bizarre Adventures #33 Photo cover from Michael Sullivan; don't recognize anyone in the photo, so, no idea if they are friends, models, Marvel staffers or just average New York weirdos. Creative Teams: Damballah's Deeds-Doug Moench & Dave Simons; Slayride-Bruce Jones & Bob Hall; Survivor-JM DeMatteis, Geof Isherwood, Ian Aikin & Brian Garvey; Blood Bequest-Steven Perry & Stephen R Bissette; Bucky Bizarre-Steve Skeates & Steve Smallwood; Denny O'Neil-edits. Despite the cover titles, these are all new stories, featuring characters from the old horror mags. Synopsis: Damballah's Deeds (Tales of the Zombie)-a zombie (possibly named Rob) is shamballing through a swamp, muttering something about Shooter being a genius and Kirby should just do what Marvel tells him. The narrator says his name is Simon Garth, so no Thunderkiss 1965. The narrator reminds us who he is, since he has been gone a while, while Albert the Alligator tries to attack and Pogo will have to find a new best friend...  Simon dumps some crooked swabbie, named Willie, overboard and stows away on a freighter, bound for New York. Cut to the Big Apple, where Frank Lukaikas is dying of progressive heart disease, but his wife, Myrna, only cares about buying trinkets at a curio shop. They meet Gideon Starr, an Anton La Vey wannabe (who was an Alistair Crowley wannabe, who was...you get the picture). He offers her the matching amulet to the zombie and tells her about Simon Garth, murdered by his gardner and brought back to undead form by a priestess of Damballah. Frank's had enough and storms off; but, Myna buys the amulet, a handy instruction book, a photo of the zombie and a set of Ginsu steak knives, for $59.99. Well, the zombie shows up in New York, muttering about Secret Wars being genius and that it is only a coincidence that the writing assignment was changed after they found out the first issue would be packaged with the toys. He bashes around some longshoremen, so now he has union trouble. On Long Island, Myrna is in her skivvies and dances in the moonlight, while Frank whines and drinks. Then, a zombie bursts out of the ground and Frank keels over of a heart attack. The zombie removes a mask and it is Gideon Starr, who concocted this scheme with Myrna, to kill off Frank. They move the body inside and have a toast, then Gideon keels over, poisoned. Faster than you can say Jame M Cain, Simon Garth knocks twice, through the wall. Myrna tries to shoot him, then tries the amulet, which is a fake and the zombie gets the real one and tosses Myrna on the fire and shambles off, speaking incoherently about Brand Ecch. Slayride (Vault of Evil)-Jake Darcy and wife Celia have come to a cabin in Alaska. For a manly vacation. Celia rails at Jake for dragging her out there and he chokes her, so she bashes him over the head with a brass bedwarmer and takes their snowmobile to get back to civilization. She leaves a note, telling him not to follow, while giving him her itinerary. Jake wakes up and plans to go after her. There is nothing but canned meat in the place and three small sled dogs. He decides to feed the spam to the dogs, then have them pull the sled, when wolves come in and kill the dogs. Jake runs into the cabin, wolf chasing and goes for a knife; but uses a skillet to stun the wolf. He then hooks him up to the sled harness and feeds it spam, when it wakes up. Jake cuts slices of meat and throws them ahead of the wolf to get him to pull the sled. Then, he runs out of meat and cuts his own fingers to get it to continue. He keeps going, until he is running out of body parts.  Jake wills the wolf to hunt Celia and it glares at her through her hotel window, as her train will leave in the morning. Survivor (Haunt of Horror)-In the 1950s, a woman miscarries, but, she and her husband find out there is a twin, still alive. In the 1980s, the surviving child relates the story to his girlfriend. They are about to do the horizontal mambo, when the dude freaks out and nearly chokes the woman. He is all sorry and runs off about "her" saying what he heard, about feeling guilty about surviving. He stumbles around, seeing her image everywhere. he wakes up in a strange bed; a guy's! He flips out and runs off. Turns out he is haunted by his sister, who manipulates him and the whole thing turns into something out of Cruising.  The guy slits his wrists and the ghost loses her hold and leaves. The guy them stumbles to the phone and calls an ambulance, free of his ghostly twin. Blood Bequest (Tomb of Dracula)-We learn about Dracula's father in darkness, as we see Vlad tepes, fighting the Turks, in 1459.  Old Vlad is not exactly winning the war and he is haunted by dreams of teeth and power. He has such a dream and sees Varnae, an undead creature. He also sees the Turks planning strategy and goes out to meet them. He fails and is badly wounded. The Turks want him as a puppet, so he is taken to a gypsy, for healing and is bitten and becomes a vampire, then a lot of stuff about Varnae and Drac that gets a bit icky and muddled and then he challenges Varnae for supremacy and becomes Lord of the Vampires and turns into Bela Lugosi. Bucky Bizarre-Same s@@#, different issue. Thoughts: Grisly issue, revisiting their old horror stuff, with newer talent, except Moench, who handled this stuff before. Tales from the Zombie is a fun twist, with the original Marvel Zombie. Slayride is typical Bruce Jones, with Bob Hall trying his best to do a Warren look. Kind of sickening. Survivor is an interesting idea, but seems cobbled from several influences and isn't particularly original; but, it works well enough. Interesting how they would have homosexuality in the B&W mags (more implied than depicted), yet wouldn't go near it in the regular comics, for a few years (even Northstar was implied, under Byrne). Code, I suppose. Dracula looks all nasty, with Bissette on art, but doesn't make a whole lot of sense, reading it. Lots of oaths and monologues and nightmare visuals; but, a bit lacking in story. One more issue before they put this magazine to bed.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 27, 2019 19:21:27 GMT -5
Marvel Graphic Novel #28, Conan the Reaver I didn't know Conan made blankets.... Oh, wait; that's Conan the Weaver..... Creative Team: Don Kraar-writer, John Severin-art, Marie Severin-colors, Phil Felix-letters, Larry Hama-edits Big John and Baby Sister Marie, on the same project!!!! Now, I love John Severin; but, the cover has me thinking this is Cracked does Conan. Aw, who cares; it's John MF-in Severin! On Conan! Synopsis: Prince Valiant.....I mean, Conan, is skulking in the shadows of an alley...  Soldiers are hunting for him, for trying to steal the king's treasure. He loses them in the mazes of the thieve's quarter, as beggars waylay the guards. Conan guts one then calls out another on a narrow plank bridge. he beats him (while getting 5 to 1 odds from the crowd) then faces another, who he disarms and dumps into a pit, where the thieves make him walk a rope, stretched across fire pots. The man has info about how to get past a monster that lurks in the catacombs, beneath the king's treasure vault, which Conan has targeted. he lets him live long enough to explain...  The soldier, Damonides, helps Conan infiltrate the palace, disguised as a guard, though they have to be careful about Lord Shaid, the Captain of the Guard. He gives a demonstration in swordsmanship to show he is the badass that Conan will face, down the road. Conan sees the king and Queen Yasmin (we see her a bit earlier, with a child that isn't the king's). They are meeting carpet sellers from Iranistan, who unroll the great rugs and assassins spring out. Conan saves the life os Yasmin and the assassins are slain. They go to the treasure chamber to reward Conan, while the king looks at a fire tree and says they have little time. Jack Benny...I mean the king ....takes them into the money vault, where Tigers used to roam and across a moat, where crocodiles used to slim, to the treasure chamber, where Conan eyes a scepter, which is atop a mound that crushed a man, some time ago, leaving his skeleton. Turns out, the sceptre has needles with poison on them, which killed the man. Conan is rewarded with the sword of a king, as they escort the prisoner to the Temple of the Mother of Darkness. They escort 3 traitorous nobles and see them blooded on an altar and tentacles come out of a pit and grasp them, dragging them down. Conan meets up with the conspirators, who are looking at the possible ways in, when one is grabbed by the Mother of Darkness. It has taken 3 of their people, already. They need the keys of the chamber to get in. Conan goes to sneak in and make wax impressions of them, to copy them and is caught by the crafty king. He has lived to be nearly 90, for good reason. he offers Conan a bargain, he will give him the keys if he will protect the queen and her child,. his days are near end, like the tree his father planted, when he was born. Conan begs off; but, is a man of honor and agrees. The next day, Conan and the guards are summoned to witness a sacrifice to the Mother of Darkness; but, it is by a Red Mist cult and they choose to sacrifice a child. Conan will have none of it and stops the sacrifice, then fights the Red Mist and slays them. Word comes that the king has been slain by the Red Mist. Conan tells Damonides to gather everyone and they will have the treasure. He unlocks the place and they cart it off to the waiting ship. The Red Mist are sacking the city. Conan tells them to keep his share and goes to rescue the queen and her child. She is trapped in her chambers by the Red Mist and their leader reveals himself...  Lord Shaid is more skilled than Conan; but, Conan can handle pain and defeats Shaid and slays him. It turns out he was the father of the queen's child. Conan leaves with them, as Red Mist cultists track them. They hide in the burial chambers of the catacombs, then the Mother of Darkness comes for them...  Conan breaks his sword, but spots the boobytrapped sceptre. He opens the spikes and hurls it into the mouth of the monster, where the poison kills it. They escape and meet up with an army from Zamora, lead by the queen's father (her marriage to the king of Turan was a political one). He proclaims his grandson the new king of Turan, as Conan's wounds are tended. The queen watches over him, in the night. When she falls asleep, Conan slips out, takes a sword and shirt of scale mail and rides off. Thoughts: Terrific story; classic Conan. Kraar does a great job of doing a traditional Conan story, with touches of humor and character (the thieves crowd, the sly old king and his traps). Severin does his best Hal Foster, as this looks greatly like Prince Valiant meets Conan, as it has a very medieval look. There are Middle Eastern garb and European armor, making the kingdom appear to be Constantinople or similar crossroad of regions. This is storytelling, in the best classic sense.
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Post by rberman on Nov 27, 2019 19:37:11 GMT -5
The Conan art is good, but the color process looks more like a regular comic book than a prestige product.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 28, 2019 12:05:54 GMT -5
The Conan art is good, but the color process looks more like a regular comic book than a prestige product. The 80s were a transitional time for coloring processes, in comics. However, this is well after new techniques had been introduced. Marvel lagged behind DC, on that front, until they acquired Malibu, in the 90s, and got their computer color department. With Marvel, it is hard to tell what was intended for the GN line and what was just put in there, last minute. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 28, 2019 19:24:51 GMT -5
Conan the reaver being a graphic novel, I don't mind its being completely out of continuity. The story was nice, if a bit closer to Hal Foster (as you point out) than to Robert Howard.
That Severin art brought very fond memories of the old Kull the conqueror book, too!
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Post by berkley on Nov 28, 2019 21:36:21 GMT -5
The John Severin inks immediately make me think this should be a Kull story, I associate that look so much with the character.
The meeting on the narrow bridge where each person refuses to let the other go first, this is also how Robin Hood and Little John met, isn't it? No idea if that's where it originated or if it's an even older tale that was incorporated into the Robin Hood cycle.
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Post by rberman on Nov 28, 2019 21:46:02 GMT -5
The John Severin inks immediately make me think this should be a Kull story, I associate that look so much with the character. The meeting on the narrow bridge where each person refuses to let the other go first, this is also how Robin Hood and Little John met, isn't it? No idea if that's where it originated or if it's an even older tale that was incorporated into the Robin Hood cycle. Is it possible that this was a Kull story that was rebranded as Conan to goose sales? |
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Post by berkley on Nov 28, 2019 23:41:01 GMT -5
The John Severin inks immediately make me think this should be a Kull story, I associate that look so much with the character. The meeting on the narrow bridge where each person refuses to let the other go first, this is also how Robin Hood and Little John met, isn't it? No idea if that's where it originated or if it's an even older tale that was incorporated into the Robin Hood cycle. Is it possible that this was a Kull story that was rebranded as Conan to goose sales? I haven't ever read the story, so I can't say if there are any clues in there that might support or undermine such a theory. No tell-tale scar on Conan's face, as there would be for Kull, but I suppose that's the kind of thing that could be easily altered. This comic came out after I had stopped reading Marvel so I never heard of it until now.
Agree about the colouring, BTW. Looks awful.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2019 23:47:31 GMT -5
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