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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 15, 2020 16:01:13 GMT -5
Marvel Super Special #9 Conan the Librarian! Return the book in two weeks or be hacked to pieces, by Crom! Creative Team: Conan-Roy Thomas writer (from an L Sprague De Camp story), John Buscema-pencils, Tony DeZuniga-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, Marie Severin, Klaus Nordby & George Roussos-colors, Roy-editor, Rick Marschall & Jim Shooter-editorial eunuchs (thanks to Roy's contract). Red Sonja-Roy Thomas & Christy Marx-story, Howard Chaykin-art, additional pervy panels (just an assumption) Synopsis: Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the bartentender came to collect the tab, Conan was in the city of thieves (Washington?)....um....thieving, I guess. he hears a scream, finds some dudes torturing a hill tribesman and decides he could use an ally with those people and sticks his beak in where it doesn't belong. Things soon get all pointy...  Conan tells the victim to "git" and then follows, getting bonked on the noggin' for his troubles. He comes to and meets Sassan, who knows a lot about his business, including that he is looking for the thieves who stole Conan's map to an ancient treasure idol, that the torturers were the ones who took it and the hill tribes don't like anyone near the lost temple. So, guess where Conan is headed? Conan and Sassan follow tracks into the mountains and deserts and run into an ancient toll booth and a crooked toll collector...  They fight their way through one ambush, to end up in another with the torturers. Caught between Scylla and Charybdis, they broker a deal with the torturers, who want to treasure, but don't want to be arrow cushions. They fight the Hill people and Arshak, the brigand leader is killed and Conan takes command. Still trusts Sassan, though, for some reason. They find the temple and Sassan tries to open the gate, and ends up like Yosemite Sam...  Except this isn't Bugs Bunny. Conan stops the door from being raised back in place and goes inside. He finds a golden idol, covered in rubies and his partner decides to split the treasure 100-0. Conan guts him, then faces the Hill people and the guy he rescued. the dude asks if they can't let Conan off with a warning and the sarge says no and the dude tries to kill the sarge, but ends up dead and dumped off a cliff. the idol comes to life and kills the sarge.  The idol comes for Conan, who knocks his block off, but it keeps coming. Conan knocks it over the cliff and decides it is time to split. Don & Maggie Thompson write an article about Conan and REH fandom and Jim Neal has a timeline of the Conan comics. Red Sonja-Know also, O Prince, that this chick killed a king and will only sleep with a guy who defeats her in battle, which is pretty kinky, even for a dame in a chain mail bikini! Red is toolin' around and has come back home. She looks at the old place, flips through her old yearbook, and moves on. She passes the spot where she killed a guy who tried to raper her. Ah, memories! She ends up in canyons and finds a hidden city and runs into some old friends and enemies and some rival dame, who is pretty butch...  She is visited by Zora, another riot girl with a bad haircut, who gives Red the 411, about being the Pale destroyer, foretold to lead the "favored" to their end. Red says , "Whadjutalkinboutwillis?" Zora leaves and Red ponders.  Red gets trussed up and marched before Tamil, she of the Ginger People and is condemned and Zora comes to her aid. It turns into a pillow fight, with sword. The drommach, cave dwelling creatures, turn up and it all goes pear-shaped. Red rails at the goddess, who says she is her chosen and suck it up and Red tells her where she can stick her godhood.  Red sees Zora in trouble, as the Ginger people are losing and Red hacks her way to Zora and back out again, saving Zora and taking her to tend her wounds and loosen garments and massage things and other cliches from porn films.  Thoughts: Nothing overly notable about either tale, except they are Code Approved, so they can be more violent. Marvel is still squeamish about skin, though. Fairly average stuff; fine for what it is; but hardly special, let alone super special. Conan had his black &white mag and this was, no doubt, a color test, what with a movie in development.Decent stuff, if you are a fan, not likely to bowl you over if not. There are also ads for previous issues, which seems a bit odd.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 19, 2020 17:09:45 GMT -5
Marvel Super Special #10, Star-Lord Earl Norem with a cover that looks very Star Wars, with a bit of men's adventure pulp thrown in (and he knew a bit about that). I think that cover blurb is a bit on-the-nose, though. Creative Team: Star-Lord-Doug moench-writer, Gene Colan-pencils, Tom Palmer-inks; To Sleep...-Marc Dacy-writer, Ernie Colon-artist; Rick Marschall-editor Before we go to far; we already have a cover that seems to be swiping from one source; well, the interiors joined right in...  Yes, you will believe a man can fly and throws truckloads of money at Warner Bros. meanwhile, you will believe that Marvel sold their properties rather cheaply, when you watch those tv pilot movies and brief series. Oh, well; at least the Hulk was a good show; well, the first couple of seasons. Synopsis: Peter Quill is tooling around the universe, when he runs into a red energy tentacle from somewhere around a black hole.  Pete gets sucked through the conduit, until he severs it with his element gun then sees the origin, a huge ship, which is not the Cygnus, though it could be Earthship Ark, except it is even bigger.  He gets hit by the tentacle again, ends up in a jungle environment, fights some griffins, meets a chick, then a bunch of people. The ship is a light year in length and they are the remnants of a civilization, destroyed by a meteor storm. They relocated to space, built this massive vessel and are looking for a home. Pete is led to believe they are survivors of Earth; but, it turns out to be bogus and they have been tapping his thoughts and engineering animals to match, to snow him. They seek conquest and Earth is the target.  Pete and the lady unite to try to stop the conquest. turns out, there is a whole rebel faction. the militarist faction attacks and it gets all Star Wars and the rebels win and Ship reappears. To Sleep, Perchance to Die... An astronaut leaves on a deep space probe, but is pulled onto a planet and exits, finding a desert world.  He finds vegetation and water, then intelligent life, with swords. He is captured, gets free, heads into the desert, meets some other people, fights dragons...  There is more fighting, the astronaut gets hit on the head and wakes up back on his ship. There is an article by Maurice Horn (he of the World Encyclopedia of Comics), about sci-fi in animation, which is before the Heavy Metal movie was realized (Fantastic Planet was out there and he mentions stuff like the Jetsons & Space Sentinels). Thoughts: Confession time: I'm not a big fan of most of the Star-Lord stories. Some are better than others and I have covered most of them. To me, the art was always better than the story; plus, it seemed to change direction with every story. I really don't think much of this one, as it is just riffing on other sci-fi works, especially Harlan Ellison's The Starlost tv series. You know, the one he disowned. It featured a 200 mile long ark of humanity, Earthship Ark, with various biospheres, moving through space. So, that's one. The required Star Wars space duel stuff is there.....just nothing very original. Again, the art is the draw, with Gene Colan and Tom Palmer having fun with it. The Ernie Colon thing seems a bit of an homage to Jon Carter, by way of Space Oddity, with a Twilight Zone ending. Looks nice. This is kind of my reaction to a lot of the stuff that Marschall edited. At this point, Marvel Super Special is kind of trying to find an identity. It starts as a vehicle for a KISS comic, some color Conan stuff that goes beyond the comic series, film adaptations and some music bios. This is rather like Marvel Presents, with color. Next, we have three issues of Weirdworld. After that, we kind of settle down into being (mostly) movie adaptations (probably thanks to the success of Star Wars, carrying Marvel).
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 19, 2020 17:57:46 GMT -5
Marvel Graphic novel #46, Spider-Man: Parallel Lives Creative Team: Gerry Conway-writer, Alex Saviuk-pencils, Andy Mushynsky-inks, Rick Parker-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Jim Salicrup-editor. Synopsis: Richard and Mary Parker leave their infant son, Peter, with his brother Ben and wife May,, as they go off on a government assignment. Mary Jane Watson sees her writer father, in an alcoholic rage, scream at her mother and older sister. Peter grows surrounded by love, yet feeling that his parents' leaving had something to do with him...  Mary Jane's mother leaves her father and she spends her later years living with her aunt, next door to the Parkers, dealing with the hurt of the divorce through humor and a kind of self-centered search for fun.  One day, Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider and gains amazing abilities and earns some money taking on a pro wrestler. he fashions a costume and some web gimmicks to make more money. Meanwhile, Mary Jane is in the "in crowd", popular with the boys, a subject of jealousy by the girls. her home life is still rough, as they are living with her mother's cousin, keeping house. Older sister Gayle is married and pregnant and her hubby looks desperate for escape. mary Jane is desperate to hide out in watching tv or listening to music. She adores this Spider-Man guy she sees on the tv. Spider-man refuses to help a guard catch a robber, because there is nothing in it for him. MJ attends parties and dances. peter comes home to find his uncle murdered and his aunt with the neighbors. MJ sees Peter arrive hom and fight to get past the police. She sees Spider-man emerge from where Peter was and knows. She escapes from the reality to a party.  Spider-Man corners the murderer and it is the robber he let go. he is driven by guilt to fight criminals because he feels it is his responsibility. MJ parties to forget what she saw. Soon, Aunt May and MJ's Aunt Anna concoct a blind date of Peter and MJ. MJ compares Peter to her father, as he hides behind a mask, and wants nothing to do with him. peter can't say no to Aunt May and it affects his relationship with Betty Brant. The date falls through. Peter goes on with his adventures, MJ's sister ends up pregnant again and her husband runs off. her mother dies. MJ abandons her sister because she is willing to abandon her dreams. She returns to living with her Aunt, but looks down on Spider-Man,. One fateful day, Peter meets MJ, face to face and is bowled over. Eventually, the two marry. they are attacked by Doc Ock. Spider-Man defeats him, but comes to believe the villain's rhetoric that all the tragedy in his life is his fault. he tells MJ she was right that he shouldn't have chased after. he is ready to give up being Spider-Man to prevent danger to MJ and Aunt May. MJ rejects this and tells him that things happen and tragedy may not be avoided. She took a risk to leave her fear behind and go out with Peter and marry him. She asks his to take a risk and stay Spider-Man.  Thoughts: An interesting trip through the history of Spidey and MJ. It treads a lot of old ground, but the look at MJ's perspective adds a new dimension to it. Unfortunately, Alex Saviuk's art is pretty routine, which is a kind of waste of the format. He had been doing Spidey for a while and knew how to portray his feats and knew the characters; but, a graphic novel should be a chance to do something bigger. This mostly ends up being more product for the shops, though it has a glimmer of something different. I can't help to think that a better editor could have helped make this something more. Many of Marvel's best editors were gone to DC or elsewhere. It was reprinted later on.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 20, 2020 10:48:52 GMT -5
(...) The ship is a light year in length and they are the remnants of a civilization, destroyed by a meteor storm. Even at a young age, I frowned at that. I mean, how does a SF writer not know how insanely long a light year is? A back of the envelope calculation shows that to build this kind of ark (assuming a cross-section of a thousand meters, say), you'd need to use all the matter found on 10 million Earths. Hardly the kind of thing you build in a rush while being pelted by meteors. That's the story that made me a Colon fan! Inked by others, I thought his art looked rushed and anatomically challenged... but here, I can truly appreciate its quality. It doesn't look photo-realistic, because it doesn't try to. Inking it any other way is an error. |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 20, 2020 12:42:39 GMT -5
Confession time: I'm not a big fan of most of the Star-Lord stories. Some are better than others and I have covered most of them. To me, the art was always better than the story; plus, it seemed to change direction with every story. I didn't love the original Englehart story, although from what I know about it, it would have gone on to be very interesting had it continued. I loved the Claremont/Byrne episode. But everything after that has been underwhelming. I think he had potential but it's hard to be involved with a character who has no cast (other than his ship) and no social context or continuity at all. |
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Post by berkley on Feb 20, 2020 19:07:09 GMT -5
Beautiful Colan/Palmer artwok on that Starlord story.
Yeah, Claremont wasn't really the best writer in general, though he'll always deserve credit for making X-Men one of the last really fun traditional superhero team soap-operas - probably THE last of its kind, as far as my personal reading experience goes - and even there, much of the credit goes to Cockrum and Byrne. But I think his abilities were pretty strictly limited to that sub-genre of the traditional Marvel-style superhero comic. I remember being appalled when I saw they had given him the writing chores on the early-80s Man-Thing revival.
Englehart, as usual, had come up with an unusual, in some ways even unsettling, premise in his original Star-Lord story but didn't get the opportunity to develop it.
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Post by mikelmidnight on Feb 21, 2020 12:29:10 GMT -5
Yeah, Claremont wasn't really the best writer in general, though he'll always deserve credit for making X-Men one of the last really fun traditional superhero team soap-operas - probably THE last of its kind, as far as my personal reading experience goes - and even there, much of the credit goes to Cockrum and Byrne. But I think his abilities were pretty strictly limited to that sub-genre of the traditional Marvel-style superhero comic. I remember being appalled when I saw they had given him the writing chores on the early-80s Man-Thing revival.
I don't know how much this had to do with the 'slick' artists leaving the series, but post-Paul Smith the series became so dark and repetitive that I abandoned it and have not been able to read an X-title since.
Claremont was really good on Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, and Marvel Team-Up. I've always wondered what would have happened if his premier title was one with a smaller cast, or one which (like The Avengers, The Defenders, or The Fantastic Four) he didn't have carte blanche to devolve into the worst of his soap operatic excesses.
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Post by badwolf on Feb 21, 2020 13:30:10 GMT -5
I don't know how much this had to do with the 'slick' artists leaving the series, but post-Paul Smith the series became so dark and repetitive that I abandoned it and have not been able to read an X-title since. Bringing Rachel back was a big mistake. He should have let sleeping futures lie. |
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Post by berkley on Feb 21, 2020 19:34:33 GMT -5
Yeah, Claremont wasn't really the best writer in general, though he'll always deserve credit for making X-Men one of the last really fun traditional superhero team soap-operas - probably THE last of its kind, as far as my personal reading experience goes - and even there, much of the credit goes to Cockrum and Byrne. But I think his abilities were pretty strictly limited to that sub-genre of the traditional Marvel-style superhero comic. I remember being appalled when I saw they had given him the writing chores on the early-80s Man-Thing revival.
I don't know how much this had to do with the 'slick' artists leaving the series, but post-Paul Smith the series became so dark and repetitive that I abandoned it and have not been able to read an X-title since.
Claremont was really good on Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, and Marvel Team-Up. I've always wondered what would have happened if his premier title was one with a smaller cast, or one which (like The Avengers, The Defenders, or The Fantastic Four) he didn't have carte blanche to devolve into the worst of his soap operatic excesses.
I stopped reading at around #150 so I missed all that but it doesn't surprise me that the series eventually went off the rails. I mean, there's only so many different things you can do with that paradigm, so it was bound to deteriorate at some point. And yes, certainly without Byrne's or Cockrum's artwork I would have lost interest even when the book was at its height. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 22, 2020 18:36:12 GMT -5
I don't know how much this had to do with the 'slick' artists leaving the series, but post-Paul Smith the series became so dark and repetitive that I abandoned it and have not been able to read an X-title since.
Claremont was really good on Iron Fist, Spider-Woman, and Marvel Team-Up. I've always wondered what would have happened if his premier title was one with a smaller cast, or one which (like The Avengers, The Defenders, or The Fantastic Four) he didn't have carte blanche to devolve into the worst of his soap operatic excesses.
I stopped reading at around #150 so I missed all that but it doesn't surprise me that the series eventually went off the rails. I mean, there's only so many different things you can do with that paradigm, so it was bound to deteriorate at some point. And yes, certainly without Byrne's or Cockrum's artwork I would have lost interest even when the book was at its height. It’s actually surprising how Chris managed to keep things fresh for so long, even after issue 150. X-Men remained pretty engaging until issue 210 or so, when an attempt at changing the status quo (a gutsy move, I’ll grant that) backfired spectacularly. Killing your darlings might be good advice, but sometimes it goes too far. (Of course, to some readers, the following years were their favourites... but to me, the book went from a failed attempt at redefining itself to an endless rehash of old storylines). |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 22, 2020 20:37:28 GMT -5
I bailed on X-Men after Paul Smith. In part, I was consumed with starting college; but, when I saw the JRJR art, I really hated it. i couldn't believe this was the same guy I loved on Iron Man. Claremont's stories had also lost their luster, though I never really considered his writing that much, until I was disappointed with his Aliens vs Predator mini, which wasn't nearly as good as the first one (and he had been doing Alien since Kitty faced a demon) and Sovereign 7. On the other hand, I loved his Star Trek Graphic novel, though was disappointed he went to the Alien well even there. Adam Hughes made me not care much, though.
I kind of prefer the rougher, more swashbuckling X-Men of the initial Cockrum run. The Byrne run is great; but, has some ups and downs, before the consistent run through the Dark Phoenix prologue stages and into the story proper. Claremont has a better handle on the characters, during the Byrne years, which makes the writing there better, and his subplots add a layer to it; but, even with some of the real clinkers he had with Cockrum (like leprechauns, in Ireland), there was still such a greater enthusiasm at play.
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Post by badwolf on Feb 23, 2020 18:07:59 GMT -5
I stuck with the X-Men for a little while longer because I was so attached to the characters. There were some good stories (many of them with fill-in artists) but there was definitely a drop-off after Paul Smith left. Finally the messy JRJR (and later Silvestri) art, plus the uber-dark atmosphere, finally drove me off. I think I quit around Inferno.
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Post by rberman on Feb 24, 2020 13:16:52 GMT -5
All the images on the Conan and Star-Lord posts above are replaced by "do not enter" signs except the covers.  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 24, 2020 14:19:26 GMT -5
All the images on the Conan and Star-Lord posts above are replaced by "do not enter" signs except the covers. Covers came from a different source. I looked back and it happened to all of the Super Special images. Something must have happened to the links. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 28, 2020 17:11:59 GMT -5
Marvel Super Special 11-13, Warriors of the Shadow Realm   Creative Team: Doug moench-Writer, John Buscema-pencils, Rudy Nebres-inks, painted color art by Peter Ledger, various letterers, Rick Marschall-editor. Sadly, not here is Mike Ploog. Ploog was originally drawing theis, but was slow and Marvel finally paid him off and turned it over to Buscema. nothing against Buscema, who is at home in fantasy; but, Ploog brought a more unique styling to Weirworld; though, quite frankly, the stories don't do too much for me. They are fairly derivative fantasy, though the humorous touches help. Still, WIzard King or Cheech Wizard it ain't and it definitely isn't Tolkien, no matter what the cover blurb says. Synopsis: The elf Tyndall and his companions are enjoying some fishing, when they are interrupted by a visitor...  The elf crashes through and runs off and Tyndall, Velanna and the dwarf, mudd-Butt follow, run into a swamp serpent, then recap the previous Weirdworld stories (about Tyndall being sent on a quest and finding an egg, that hatched out Velanna). They set out for a city, get attacked by some bats and then make it to the city, in time to see some riders in green cloaks...  The riders come through town and everyone locks their doors and windows. In a tavern, the trio see a cloaked figure try to sneak out, who turns out to be the punk elf (with th mohawk). The elf is killed by the Shadow Riders and drops a pouch to Tyndall as says the name Zarthon. They find some jewels in it, that act weird at night, get attacked by ghouls, which are driven away by the same white wolf the saw in the swamps and they travel to where Zarthon lives. he identifies the jewels as those of Darklens, the creator of weirdworld and a nasty character. Some folks want to raise Darklens from the limbo between worlds and others want to stop this. the group continues questing, meet up with the other elves (and, presumably, Siouxsie and the Banshees or Bow Wow Wow), put the jewels in a temple, end up watching a battle between evil and the wolf, who is a merlin-like wizard they had met and it's all very Tolkien. Thoughts: Nothing new here. This is pretty much the same Tolkien pastiche that everyone was doing in the 70s, from Terry Brooks to Dungeons & Dragons. Same quest, small creatures dealing with something held by an evil being, who sends out minions to attack and they get the help of wise wizards. It's no coincidence that this follows on the heels of Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings (and his film Wizards) as the whole look of things follows right along. Of course, predating that was Wally Wood's Wizard King (which seems to have been a big influence on Wizards) and Vaughn Bode's more satirical Cheech Wizard (which was a definite influence on Wizards). Mike Ploog had worked on both Wizards and Lord of the Rings and had helped originate Weirdworld, in 1977, in Marvel Super Action (the magazine). The art is the main attraction here and the painted colors are breathtaking; but, there isn't much story meat upon which to hang the images. Marvel's cover blurbs make this thing sound far more spectacular than it was and also claims all kinds of acclaim and awards, though I haven't been able to turn up any notable awards for this. I suspect any acclaim may have come from fanzines; but not anything outside of that more insular world. It's not bad, but it is not particularly special, beyond the purely visual aspect. Tyndall and Velanna get no real character development whatsoever and many of the pages are turned over to recap and long conversations, without really advancing the plot. Three pars was definitely stretching things, though the actually amount of story content is about an average of 24-26 pages (minus recaps and whatnot). The rest are text supplements. I kind of get the feeling that Marvel attempted to get comic rights to Lord of the rings and failed, and went with this, instead. The only major difference is a lack of human characters, as most are dwarves or elves, apart from the wizards. No Aragorns or Faramirs, no Theoden's, no orcs, but we do get nazgul and a Sauron, not to mention a Saruman and a Gandalf.
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