shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 10, 2019 10:43:31 GMT -5
Saw this on facebook today:  I know Marvel (and especially Stan Lee) was eager to branch out into new mediums as early as the 1970s, but this comes far earlier (1968) and sure looks like a wild departure from the source material. Does anyone know anything about this novel, or whether or not there were other such novels featuring Marvel characters around this time? |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Jun 10, 2019 10:45:16 GMT -5
Just found this:  from mycomicshop.com: "1st printing. By Otto Binder. Introduction by Stan Lee. Banded together to combat threats to humanity no single heroes can stand against, the Avengers are Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Captain America, the Sentinel of Liberty, Hawkeye, master bowman, Iron Man, brilliant walking Weapon of Mass Destruction, Wasp, diminutive heroine, and Goliath, ten-feet tall with the strength of a hundred men, must face their fiercest foe yet, the powerful force known as the Earth-Wrecker. Can these stalwart heroes hope to defeat Karzz, a monstrous alien creature from the future armed with an impenetrable force-shield, an array of wondrous weapons, and a superhuman mind? If they can't...mankind is doomed! Softcover, 4-in. x 7-in., 122 pages, Text Only. Cover price $0.50."According to Wikipedia the Captain America novel and The Avengers novel were the only two licensed by Marvel in the 1960s. |
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Post by Farrar on Jun 10, 2019 11:39:51 GMT -5
^^^
I keep meaning to pick up that Avengers book--I've seen it on eBay at times. I just love that beautiful cover painting by Robert McGinnis; fwiw Hawkeye and Goliath are based on the cover of Avengers #28 (Cap, just a bit). And Pietro and Wanda look great on the cover, but aren't in the book.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 10, 2019 11:46:11 GMT -5
I've got a copy of the Avengers book somewhere, but I don't think I've ever read it. I don't think I have the Cap book.
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Post by beccabear67 on Jun 10, 2019 12:54:35 GMT -5
Ted White was probably still editor of Amazing Stories at that time. Otto Binder (with brother Earl, thus Eando Binder) wrote a lot of Adam Link robot stories that were in paperbacks in the '60s (and of course used to write for the old Captain Marvel Fawcett comics).
I saw a Daredevil one of these once in passing, I think maybe someone here had it?
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,874
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Post by shaxper on Jun 10, 2019 12:56:28 GMT -5
Otto Binder (with brother Earl, thus Eando Binder) wrote a lot of Adam Link robot stories that were in paperbacks in the '60s Until this very moment, I'd always believed Adam Link had been an original concept created for Warren Publishing. WOW. I had no idea it had been an adaptation. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2019 13:17:45 GMT -5
There's a whole thread about comic and pulp heroes in prose here in which the Marvel novels get some discussion (the two Shax posted get brought up in the 3rd post in the thread). I picked up the Earthwreckers a year or so back from Lonestar but haven't had a chance to get to it yet. -M |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 10, 2019 13:31:55 GMT -5
Ted White was probably still editor of Amazing Stories at that time. Otto Binder (with brother Earl, thus Eando Binder) wrote a lot of Adam Link robot stories that were in paperbacks in the '60s (and of course used to write for the old Captain Marvel Fawcett comics). I saw a Daredevil one of these once in passing, I think maybe someone here had it? Far further back than that. Adam Link first appeared in the Jan. '39 issue of Amazing Stories in a story entitled "I, Robot." He went on to star in 10 stories in total. The 60s paperback was a reprint of those pulp stories. A number of the stories had also been adapted in E.C.'s Weird Science-Fantasy. |
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Post by beccabear67 on Jun 10, 2019 13:34:00 GMT -5
My mistake anyway, I think this Lancer (not Bantam) Daredevil must've had comics inside...  |
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Post by MDG on Jun 10, 2019 13:42:38 GMT -5
Ted White was probably still editor of Amazing Stories at that time. Otto Binder (with brother Earl, thus Eando Binder) wrote a lot of Adam Link robot stories that were in paperbacks in the '60s (and of course used to write for the old Captain Marvel Fawcett comics). Far further back than that. Adam Link first appeared in the Jan. '39 issue of Amazing Stories in a story entitled "I, Robot." He went on to star in 10 stories in total. The 60s paperback was a reprint of those pulp stories. A number of the stories had also been adapted in E.C.'s Weird Science-Fantasy. Interestingly (to me anyway), Joe Orlando drew Adam Link for both EC and Warren.  |
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Post by tarkintino on Jun 10, 2019 17:31:48 GMT -5
I have both novels, and although I have not read them in well over a decade, I can say that from memory, its the first time Marvel characters were treated as real people who happened to be costumed characters, and not in Stan Lee's idea of real people filtered through the Marvel method, but real people. The Captain America novel comes off like a Fleming book more than a Lee/Kirby tale, which is so fascinating and attractive as an outlier in superhero adaptations--much like the Disney/Marvel series' Captain America: The Winter Soldier also played that way among the other Marvel movies. Link to someone who claimed to know Ted white (sort of), and posts White's background on the Captain America novel's origins: bennypdrinnon.blogspot.com/2012/11/captain-america-and-great-gold-steal-by.htmlAccording to various sources, the dead-serious, striking cover is by legendary novel cover artist Mitchell Hooks, who would go on to provide art for one the covers of Bantam's Star Trek adaptations, as written by James Blish:  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 10, 2019 22:25:29 GMT -5
I had both. The Earthwreckers, though well written (and by someone who had written the original Captain Marvel) just didn't really work as well, for superheroes, in a prose story. Great Gold Steal and more action scenes that were in keeping with the comics.
The Lancer Daredevil book is a black and white collection of one or 2 Daredevil stories, rendered like the Peanuts or Dennis the menace collections. Panels were split across pages; so, you didn't get the same effect you had with the Pocket Books reprints, in the 70s.
There had also been a prose Batman book, in the 60s, when the Batman movie was out.
Quite frankly, the Marvel prose book series from the late 70s was better, though Great Gold Steal was better than the Cap novel of that later attempt, Holocaust for Hire. Of the 70s ones, the best is the Marvel Super Heroes anthology, with a Shooter Avengers story (vs Ultron, with Scarlet Witch as his target), a Claremont X-Men (with Magneto), a Daredevil story and, I believe a Hulk one. Still not as good as the Maggin Superman novels; but, better than many that came later.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2019 23:05:14 GMT -5
It's wikipedia, but I've found this list a useful references when looking at prose novels based on comic properties. -M |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 11, 2019 9:02:17 GMT -5
List is incomplete. There was more than one Blondie book.
Gotta love wikipedia. It's supposed to be a list of books, based on comics; yet, it includes the Varley-edited Superheroes anthology, which had no connection to any comic property. It was just a prose collection of superhero stories. By that token, you could add Robert Mayer's Superfolks, Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible, and the Wild Cards series.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2019 9:37:11 GMT -5
List is incomplete. There was more than one Blondie book. Gotta love wikipedia. It's supposed to be a list of books, based on comics; yet, it includes the Varley-edited Superheroes anthology, which had no connection to any comic property. It was just a prose collection of superhero stories. By that token, you could add Robert Mayer's Superfolks, Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible, and the Wild Cards series. hence the disclaimer, it's wikipedia. With anything there it's caveat emptor, but it is a good starting point if you are trying to find out what's out there for prose novels-not the be all and all list, but a good starting point. -M |
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