Marvel Spotlight #9



Lot of women getting chained and tied to things in this series.

Ploog does the cover; but, not the interiors, as Tom Sutton takes over.

Creative Team: Gary friedrich-story, Tom Sutton-art, Chic Stone-inks, Shelly Leferman-letters, Roy Thomas-edits

Synopsis: Ghost rider plunges into Copper Canyon and Snakedance looks on. The next day, no one can find Johnny Blaze at the rodeo. They start searching for him and Roxanne digs at Casey, the rodeo boss.



He mentions the canyon and Roxanne figures that is where Johnny went. Casey sends Sam Silvercloud to take Roxanne out there. he ranst about his fight with the government, then reveals that Johnny is dead and takes Roxanne prisoner prisoner, tying her up (see remarks above).



Johnny comes to at the bottom of the canyon, alive. turns out he was saved by Satan, who won't let him die at the hands of another mortal or jhe doesn't get his soul. Johnny is found by a helicopter and returns for the show, where road manager Bart Slade is going to do the jump. Roxanne is delivered to Snakedance, to be used in a ritual. She gets tied to a snake totem and friedrich swipes from Live and Let Die....



Blaze tuns into Ghost rider, stops Slade and des the show, forces Sam Silvercloud to lead him to Roxanne, burns a bunch of snakes and takes Roxanne for medical aid, while spouting racist phrases, like "red devils."

Thoughts: Well, lot of creepy snake imagery (I hate snakes, just like Indy); but, Ploog is missed. Tom Sutton is good at this stuff; but, seems a bit restrained (probably in part due to the Stone inks). Lot of bondage imagery here, though that is a recurring thing in satanic horror stories (and pulp horror in general). The whole thing has a rather "rapey" vibe, if you ask me. Freud would have a field day with bound women, menaced by snakes. Not exactly an obscure metaphor here.

Marvel Fanfare #2



Creative Team: Claremont & Golden, Joe-Rosen-letters, Milgrom-edits, Shooter-over-shoulder looking

Synopsis: Tanya Anderssen is stumbling through a swamp and has met up with a T-Rex. She is about to be lizard food, when a cry comes out of nowhere and Tarzan attacks to lizard...



Or at least, Ka-Zar and Zabu. A bunch of warriors show up to help finish it off and Tanya is reunited with Karl Lykos. We get a recap and the enclave is attacked by a crashin triceratops and a mutated Angel and Spider-Man...



Spidey holds back, when he recognizes Ka-Zar; but, Angel grabs Tanya and flies away.

Later, in the destroyed citadel of Grokk, the mutates have Tanya strapped to the table, under the mutation machine. karl and Ka-Zar show up to rescue her; but, Karl blows the element of surprise. vertigo messes with their heads, as Karl gets off a shot, which creases her skull. Zabu then attacks barbarus, who pounds on the kitty, only for Ka-Zar to get a shot at him. Angels grabs Ka-Zar; but, is stopped by Spidey. Tha machine gets trashed and Brain Child gloats. Tanya has been turned into a blonde neanderthal. Karl figures that his energy draining power might change her back, while Petey asks Ka-Zar to kill him, since he can't change back. Ka-ar refuses, saying there is hope and Karl sucks out the mutation energy from Tanya, succeeding in changing her back.



Karl then snatches Angel and sucks out his energy, leaving Warren lying on the ground; and, then Peter, but, turning Karl into Sauron. Sauron flies away before Ka-Zar can do anything. Warren and Petey are taken to the Navy base and sent home for medical treatment, while tanya stays with Ka-Zar, to help find and cure Karl.

"Annihilation"

Creative Team: Roger MacKenzie-writer, Trevor Von Eden-art, Armando Gil-inks, Diana Albers-letters, Glynis Wein-colors, Al Milgrom-edits

Synopsis: Sue and Ben come rushing into Reed's lab, saying the Frightful Four are on a rampage. Reed ignores them. it was a ruse to get his attention, as he has forgotten his anniversary. He stretches across the neighborhood and steals flowers for Sue, then rushes her out of the lab, along with ben and Johnny. he is working on another attempt to cure ben. he needs a crystal, from the Negative Zone and goes after it. he has been overworking and passes out, then soon wakes up again. he finds the crystal and brings it out, only to find he has inadvertently freed Annihilus. The gargoyle-faced goon attacks Reed, who stays out of the way and sends Annihilus into the gateway back to the Negative Zone; but, not quite through it. A grabs Reed and tosses him in, only for Reed to stretch his fingers to grab the edge of the gateway. reed spots an asteroid and smacks Annihilus with it and gets back to the Baxter Building, where he uses his Cosmic converter to send Annihilus back to the Negative Zone, destroying the chance to cure Ben. he falls asleep, exhausted, where Ben finds him, muttering about failing Ben and that he must never know. ben quietly pulls a blanket over reed and departs.

Thoughts: The Savage Land story is ended rather quickly, if you ask me, thereby showing it was plotted as an MTU issue, rather than something new. the story is calling for more and Karl Lykos solves the mutation problem rather easily. This cried out for at least one or two more issues. Golden's art is still great, even with the cliche of the woman strapped to the table in front of the sciency thing (same with the guys). Nothing especially memorable with the story, apart from Golden's dynamic and stylistic art. Claremont definitely wasn't going bigger. It's a decent two-parter, even with the abrupt ending.

The Reed back-up is a chance to show how resourceful he is on his own and has a nice melancholy touch that fits the past of trying to cure Ben. It's not especially original; but, it works well enough for what it is. Barry Windsor Smith's Thing story, down the road, will be much more original and fun. Trevor Von Eden channels Kirby, for the flashback sequence, which, given his fight with Marvel, is a bit dubious. Von Eden's heart is in the right place, though.

Well, that's...unfortunate.

Marvel Premiere #11



Creative Team: Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Synopsis: Englehart and Brunner couldn't meet a deadline, so they reprinted Strange Tales #115 and 117: "The origin of Dr Strange." and "The Many Traps of Baron Mordo."

Thoughts: There is a framing sequence from Englehart and Brunner; but it just makes a reprint more annoying. However, this is classic ditko Dr Strange, when that was one of the most visually inventive books on the stands. So, there is a bit of a consolation for upsetting momentum.



Dr Strange has 3 more issues of MP; so, let's move on.

Marvel Premiere #12



Creative Team: Englehart and Mike friedrich-story, Frank Brunner-pencils & colors, Crusty Bunkers-inks, Costanza-letters, Thomas-edits

Synopsis: Dr Strange is floating in a desert, meditating (somebody probably read Castaneda, or something), when Wong and Clea show up. He comes out of it and makes a lot of pompous statements about being the Sorcerer Supreme and the responsibility of holding all life in his hands, while clea makes sexy poses. They maci back to the Sanctum and Wong reminds Dr Strange that his jeep, which they left behind, was rented. So, Doc magics it back to the rental place. Later, Doc finds Clea in the study and tells her he is making her his disciple, because she has the experience and talent, not because they are doing the horizontal mambo. Yeah, teacher-student affairs usually work out well! He gives her a reading assignment and goes off to tell baron Mordo that he is now his superior and they should make peace. Yeah, that's a good place to start peace negotiations.

He heads for Mordo's homeland and meets up with some stereotypical gypsies, and gets whammied by their queen. She gets him to reveal who he truly is (real supreme sorcery on Doc's part) and she then recruits him to help her reclaim the Book of Cagliostro, from Baron Mordo, who stole it from her. they go to his floating castle (pretty cool idea) and levitate up to it, where they find the book on an altar, just lying there. Doc touches it and faces a gargoyle...



The gargoyle attacks, Doc is hindered and the gypsy queen releases him and gets blasted by the gargoyle. doc defeats him and cries over the girl, then discovers that the book of Cagliostro allows time travel, without afecting one's own existence. He has to find Mordo to keep him from messing things up; so, he magics away, with some cool scenery.

Thoughts: Mostly opening chapter stuff, explaining why Baron Mordo stories were picked for reprint last issue, as we see that doc will face him. brunner does a pretty sexy Clea, though Englehart hasn't done much to elevate her position, yet, despite making her Doc's official disciple. Englehart gets pretty melodramatic here (right down to the whole gypsy stereotypes)' but, Brunner makes it all look damn pretty. At least one of the Crusty Bunkers was Larry Hama. Klaus Janson also did some work on some of these Dr Strange stories,doing backgrounds for Dick Giordano.

This kind of illustrates some of the problems I have getting into supernatural stories. One, the writing in this era got overly-dramatic, which makes reading it a bit of a chore. Two, magic doesn't seem to have definite rules. Dc is the Sorcerer Supreme, yet a gypsy woman can hypnotize him. It should take more power than that. Third, spells rarely seem earned. The books where I felt magic was effective usually had some trial to earn their use later; or, some rule system that defined their power. For instance, n Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea works, true names are the source of magical power (and in Glen Cook's Black Company series). Once you uncover the true name of something, you gained power over it; but, you had to undergo an ordeal to find that true name. In other stories, you have to hunt down the record of spells or find objects of power to defeat the enemy. Dr Strange, when it is at its best, follows these tenets; but, too often, magic works however is convenient for the plot and the plot often isn't that deep.

Now, this story is setting up the Book of Cagliostro as being the powerful mcguffin that will bring victory over Mordo; so, we have something that intrigues me, though Englehart could have stood to tone down all of the melodrama. It's kind of hard to take it seriously. It brings out the wiseass in me(which isn't ried that deep, I'll grant you). I like Englehart, as a writer; but, he is a bit pompous in his writing, sometimes. He's young(ish) though, still trying to show off. You kind of see all of the great comic book writers go through that phase, before they really craft their classics. Englehart is one of the classic Dr Strange writers and oe of the few to make the book sell (aided greatly by Brunner).

Marvel Spotlight #12



This isn't just someone who sold his soul to Satan, this is Daddy's Little Boy!

Creative Team: Gary Friedrich-ancient scrolls, Herb Trimpe-arcane imagery, illuminated by Frank Chiaromonte, calligraphy by John Costanza, paint by Marie Severin, collected into a manuscript by Roy Thomas

Synopsis: Okay, big problem here. This story picks up from Ghost Rider #2 and then runs into Ghost Rider #3. In GR #1-2, Linda Littletrees is catatonic, not dead. Sam Silvercloud decides she is possessed and sends for an exorcist. Since Max Von Sydow is unavailable, he gets Daimon Hellstrom.



Johnny Blaze is shot by cops when he runs a barrier; but, is okay after he changes to GR, later in the evening. Bart Slade dies doing the canyon jump. Linda wakes up possessed by Satan, and disappears from the hospital. Johnny feels guilty over Bart's death and loses it, telling Satan to take his soul, so Linda shows up. She decides to take Johnny's soul and Linda's and they are pulled into Hell. Bikers turn up and interrupt things and Daimon breaks loose from mystical bonds, as he transforms into the Son of Satan, leading into this issue.

Daimon breaks free, scares the piss out of Sam Silvercloud and Linda's grandpa, and then calls up a sweet-sweet chariot



and heads off. He runs into the bikers, who have Roxanne, after Linda departed with ghost rider. Daimon forks them up and saves Roxy. He then takes his horse to Hell, leaving roxy behind, in the desert, with the bikers; and, battles demons and Pop for Johnny Baze's soul (and Linda, too!)



Issue 3 of Ghost rider then has Daimon depart, and Johnny learns from Linda how to use Hellfire to create his chopper and Roxy gets carried off by the bikers.

Thoughts: Not exactly the best way to start a new series. You had to pick up Ghost rider one and 2 to understand what the Hell is going on in this first issue of Daimon Hellstrom's story. It's fine to follow Ghost Rider to his own book; but, a bit much to have to go look for them if you are first encountering Daimon here. That was something that kept me from being a big Marvel fan in this era. if I picked up a DC comic, I was pretty sure I didn't need to read the previous issue and wouldn't have to have the next one to finish the story. At worse, I would read a one page recap and be done, as they rarely went more than two parts (until the Marvel writers started defecting). In the days before comic shops, this was asking a lot of readers. From a marketing standpoint, it's not a bad way to entice readers to pick up a new series (or a new concept within an anthology series); but, the distribution network didn't support that idea as easily as the Direct Market would, in the future. You might find Spider-man on the newsstand consistently; but, you might not find Ghost Rider, due to the Satanism angle, but Marvel Premiere might slip past, since the title isn't overtly supernatural. Some vendors wouldn't carry such things and others didn't even notice (or care). Even Warren kept their tales of horror confined to the current issue of Eerie or Creepy (or Vampirella).

Leaving comic buying woes of the early 70s behind, this is a bit of a confused mess. Obviously, the concept is a mixture of the success of Ghost Rider and The Exorcist. Marvel and Friedrich try to one up William Peter Blatty and William friedkin by making the exorcist Satan's own progeny. Problem is, they can't quite compete with Friedkin's imagery, because they are still a Code book, however less restrictive the Code has become. Personally, I think that is why Son of Satan never had a very long run. You can't really go gonzo enough to really make this work and compete with horror movies (and the early/mid 70s was a golden era for horror, before the slasher film took over). The movies could add the blood and relative gore or freaky imagery that comics just couldn't. Besides that, movies could aim at an adult audience (within the censorship of the MPAA), while comics still had to fight the perception (often self-imposed) that they were strictly juvenile reading material. Warren set themselves firmly in the adult world, by rejecting the code and selling on newsstands, alongside other adult magazines (even if many of their readers were juveniles). They and Mad were mostly immune to censorship, apart from economic censorship by vendors or distributors, which was a much better system. Marvel and DC were stuck with the house they had made, until the growth of the Direct Market. The irony is that, had they gone Warren's route, they might have achieved the same freedom, without shrinking their audience by catering to that shrinking niche. No guarantee, though as we see that Warren didn't survive on newsstands, while DC and Marvel have continued, despite a miniscule market.

Marvel Fanfare #4



Creative Team: Chris Claremont-story, Paul Smith-pencils, Terry Austin-inks, Janice Chiang-letters, Glynis wein-colors, Al Milgrom-edits.

Paul Smith's first X-Men story.

Synopsis: Angel wakes up to find Ka-Zar feeding Zabu some dead dino...



He recaps things and Ka-Zar has to shoot him down when he suggests calling the FF or Avengers (which would make sense, yet Claremont can't use them). He gives Angel a pep talk, as he is gun shy after being transformed (get used to that idea, buddy) and the guys pair up to attack Sauron's citadel. Sauron is feeding off energy and the X-men return to normal. Then, Ka-Zar and Angel knock on the door, via catapult and Sauron goes after Angel. While he is distracted, Ka-Zar swims in via the moat (after killing another dino). Angel gets whammied by Sauron and taken inside.

Brainchid tries to put moves on the weakened Storm (devoid of power, at the moment) and has a bit of sabretoothus interruptus...



Storm and Ka-Zar go searching and find the devolved Shanna and Tanya Anderssen. They go after Sauron and Zaladane and Storm is about to bust her up, like she did Callisto (or will, rather). However, rather than use a knife, she is mad enough to still contact primal forces and unleash nature on Zaladane, though it takes it out of her. She and Ka-Zar turn off power to the bonds holding the X-Men and they get loose and woe to the Mutates...



They then have to deal with a returning Sauron, but take him out with teamwork. Wolverine shreds his wings...



and Colossus dumps a mountain on him, and Storm hits him with some lightning, forcing him to dispel his remaining energy and revert to Karl Lykos. He tells Tanya to kill him and Wolverine pops claws, only to be stopped by Storm. prof X has a cure and they take Karl back and fix him.

Thoughts: Still more visually appealing than from a story standpoint; but, it's a pretty decent overall adventure. It still feels like an inventory X-men story, though, rather than something special for a high end book. The Marvel Graphic Novel series had similar problems. For every story, like the Death of Captain Marvel, Elric: The Dreaming City or Dreadstar, which fit the idea of a special story for a special format, there were 5 books that could have been any issue of the Avengers or a Marvel Premiere two-parter.

"Mindgame"

Creative Team: David Anthony Kraft-story, Michael Golden-pencils, Bob Downs-inks,ARK-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Al Milgrom-edits.

Synopsis: Deathlok is hanging there, while technicians chatter.



He escapes, but meets up with images from his ast, of his wife Janice, of a favorite spot and each ends in violence and death. Finally, we hear the techs talk about how every time they try to separate his human side from the psychotic cyborg side, it ends badly and walk away, saying he is a creep. Luther hears it all and inwardly rages, as he felt every emotion, in every scenario, as his reality was played with and he reacted to the falsehood.

Thoughts: Fits well with classic deathlok, without adding anything, though it ignores his time travel element (unless you presume this is from before he meets with Godwulf).

"Ordeal"

Creative Team: David Michelinie, Michael Golden, Dan Green, and David Winn

Synopsis: Tony Stark fights the Mandarin in dreams, with metaphors for his anxieties and such.



Thoughts: Meh.......nothing special. Not enough room to really experiment with the idea. michael Golden makes it look good.