shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Jun 23, 2019 22:41:38 GMT -5
Pssst...Make sure to check out the Advance Warning Thread before jumping in with your selection! Absolutely everyone is welcome to participate once you've read-up on the event.6. Usagi Yojimbo vs. Gunichiby Stan Sakai Usagi Yojimbo (vol. 1) #1 (July 1987) I was torn between two Usagi battles for my Top 10. I ultimately decided that, while this battle was less significant in Usagi's adventures, and also so early on that Sakai's artwork was nowhere near the level it is at currently, this battle scene ultimately means so much more to me. While Usagi had previously existed in a series of anthology books and one-shots, this was the first scene ever depicted of Miyamoto Usagi where I feel like author Stan Sakai was really and truly in it with all of his heart.   These opening pages to volume 1 #1 were most readers' first introductions to the character and, while Sakai's art has matured tremendously since this early outing, the panel arrangements, pacing, and camera eye are all positively brilliant. This is a brutal, dramatic, and yet strangely elegant introduction to Usagi's world. It's an approach, inspired by the samurai films Sakai grew up with, that he would repeat many many times in his work on Usagi, but this was his first, most poignant attempt, and it left an impression that continues to resonate.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2019 23:13:03 GMT -5
Smaug vs. Bard, the Battle of Laketown from the Hobbit #3 (Eclipse) by Chuck Dixon and David Wenzel adapting Tolkien (or pages 110-112 of the collected edition of the comics adaptation) It doesn't get much more epic than Tolkien, and since Helm's Deep never made it into a comic, the Battle of Laketown is the poster child for epic Tolkien combats in comics and David Wenzel delivers it in spades.   -M |
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Post by rberman on Jun 24, 2019 0:07:47 GMT -5
6. Doctor Doom vs the idea of Captain America (Secret Wars #12, Jim Shooter/Mike Zeck, 1986) Someone else already posted the epic Secret Wars battle in which Doctor Doom stole the Beyonder’s godlike power. He immediately used that power to kill all the heroes participating in Secret Wars. The final issue of the series sees the villains squabbling among themselves while Doom frets. Has he really won? The heroes have seemed defeated so many times in the past. His insecurity leads him to subconsciously resurrect them, and even after getting incinerated repeatedly, Captain America keeps coming back, because the idea behind him is just too powerful for Doom to shake. It’s a great moment for Jim Shooter as a writer. Less so for Mike Zeck; this art is pretty rough for what was supposed to be a marquee project.  |
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 24, 2019 1:35:56 GMT -5
# 6. Kitty home alone but not alone with one of the Brood N'Garai. Uncanny X-Men # 143 ( 1981 ) by Chris Claremont & John Byrne, John Byrne & Terry Austin   |
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Post by brianf on Jun 24, 2019 1:54:26 GMT -5
#6 Iron Man #127
by David Michelinie, John Romita Jr. and Bob Layton Iron Man vs Justin Hammer's super-army Such an enjoyable run of comics and this was a neat issue
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2019 3:33:21 GMT -5
6. Batman VS Mr. Freeze & his "henchmen" from Batman #308 (1979)  Mr. Freeze has tricked some wealthy men into believing he can offer them an increased lifespan. Freeze is simply using them as an experiment, hoping to offer eternal life to his new lover, Hildy. The businessmen are instead turned into "zombies". The images above don't do the "rumble" justice (I was lucky enough to read a glossy UK reprint as a kid). It's a brutal fight. Bats can't do much against those "zombies". He throws everything he can at them. What he does throw would probably have slowed down the Rhino or Killer Croc. On them, it does nothing. It looks hopeless. They are "ice zombies" who feel no pain. It looked very bad for Batman. It got very bad. And it was fun.
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 24, 2019 6:15:22 GMT -5
Iron Man vs. The Hulk and The Submariner
What If ? # 3
1977
Jim Shooter/Gil Kane/Klaus Jansen
In what might be the best What If? Story ever published, we follow a parallel of the events from Avengers #3 from the 1963 book which has the Assemblers square off against Namor and the Hulk. The difference being that , this time, Thor has left the group and the remaining people feel they lack the raw power to take the duo on. They are right. But Iron Man has a plan to give Hank, Jan and Rick Jones all their own Iron Suits to even the odds. Unfortunately, they don’t take to the suits well and they abandon the idea. The trouble is that Tony feels he has to meet the two anyway and goes to face them in a 100% charged up armor hoping to beat them quicky. While he goes to face them, Rick Jones ( see The Captain ? ) contacts the others and surmises that Tony is going on a suicide mission and they put on the suits to follow after him. Iron Man gets an upper hand by downing the Hulk but uses all his reserves in doing it , leaving himself at the mercy of Namor. He is beaten badly by Namor as the others arrive and give a good accounting of themselves but Giant-Man is hurt badly by Namors strength and left to die. Tony sacrifices his remaining power to revive and save Giant-man but dies because of it. The two antagonists are repelled but at the cost of Tony Stark’s life. Just stunning artwork by Kane and Jansen.    {Spoiler: Click to show}  
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Post by rberman on Jun 24, 2019 7:09:21 GMT -5
# 6. Kitty home alone but not alone with one of the Brood Uncanny X-Men # 143 ( 1981 ) by Chris Claremont & John Byrne, John Byrne & Terry Austin It's a great fight. However, it's not a Brood. It's a N'Garai demon, as first seen in X-Men #96.  This fight is reprised in the prologue of #143.  Kitty does go solo against several Brood Sidri in #168, which is the deservedly famous "Professor Xavier is a jerk!" issue. That fight is perhaps less great since Kitty loses, requiring rescue from a combination of Lockheed and Colossus.  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 24, 2019 13:30:39 GMT -5
Number 6 is Our Army at War #160. The story is called "What is the Color of Your Blood?" and focuses on Jackie Johnson. By this point (published in 1965), history be damned and both the Howling Commandos and the Combat Happy Joes of Easy Company had a black member. Rock being more of the introspective series, explored more of the human element of war and this issue tackled racism head on. Jackie is a former world heavyweight boxing champion, who lost his title to a German, mimicking Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. This boxer is a German fallschirmjager, or paratrooper, and he proclaims his victory proves the superiority of the "Master Race." Rock and Easy are captured by a group of Germans, including his ex-opponent, "Stormtrooper" Uhlan. Jackie is forced to fight the German, so he can again prove his superiority and that Johnson's blood is black. Johnson takes a bad beating, as he is holding back out of fear that the germans will shoot the men of Easy, in reprisal...  Rock realizes what is going on and reflects on seeing Johnson box...  He then reflects on the times that Johnson saved the men of Easy, yet is still haunted by his loss. he finally realizes what he must do and he and Wild Man attack the German paratroopers, only to be beaten down...  Jackie see this and starts to fight back, to save Easy and KOs Uhlan..  The Germans open fire on both Johnson and Uhlan, until Easy takes them out. In a twist of fate, the only person who has the right type of blood to save Uhlan is Johnson and he willingly donates it for a transfusion. Uhlan awakes to learn the truth...  The story was published during the Civil Rights era and is a deliberate attack on racist ideas of superiority and differences in blood, exploding such myths. MASH would later doa similar episode, where Hawkeye pulls a prank on a racist soldier who was worried about getting the wrong color of blood, dying his skin to make him think it has happened, then revealing to him that Dr Charles Drew, the doctor whose research into blood transfusions created modern blood banks, yet he was turned away at a white's only hospital, after an auto accident and died. MASH perpetuated a story that was disproven, as passengers in the car (a physician) stated the severity of the injuries killed Drew and nothing would have saved him. Such things were known in hospitals; but, Drew was not refused treatment. The story kind of retcons Jackie Johnson into a boxer, drawing elements from the lives of Jack Johnson (as dramatized in the play and film, The Great White Hope) and Joe Louis, who lost a fight to Schmeling, in 1936, to become number one contender for the Heavyweight title (held by Jim Braddock). Schmeling had won the title in 1932 and lost it to Max Baer (father of the Jethro Bodine actor, Max Jr). By this point, the Nazis were using the defeat as propaganda about the superiority of the Aryan Race. Schmeling had been boxing in the US since 1928, before the Nazis came to power. Louis ended up getting the fight with Braddock, instead of Schmeling. They met again in 1938 and Louis knocked out Schmeling in the first round, which was used as anti-nazi propaganda. Schmeling returned to Germany and did serve as a fallschirmjager. He became good friends with Louis, after the war, right up to Louis' death. The fights are bare knuckle and brutal, and both fighters have cauliflowered ears (due to broken blood vessels) and swollen eyes. Joe Kubert showed the damage of the fight and captures the drama of it beautifully. You can tell what these men have been through and it makes Johnson's victory that much more impactful, given the punishment he takes at the beginning. This story is one of the seminal DC war comic stories, which demonstrated to deeper tone that they took, compared to the competition, in this period. Kanigher and Kubert were central to these classic stories, as was Russ Heath and Sam Glanzman. In many ways, their stories were more mature and showed the way for creators who wanted to do comic stories with more depth, though they did have their cliches. |
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Post by brutalis on Jun 24, 2019 14:00:07 GMT -5
I tell ya codystarbuck, your choice here with Jackie Johnson deserves so much more than just a single like/thumbs up! If I could be 6 armed Spider-Man then I would give you 6 thumbs up for sure!!! |
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 24, 2019 17:55:59 GMT -5
Iron Man vs. The Hulk and The Submariner
What If ? # 3
1977
Jim Shooter/Gil Kane/Klaus Jansen
In what might be the best What If? Story ever published, we follow a parallel of the events from Avengers #3 from the 1963 book which has the Assemblers square off against Namor and the Hulk. The difference being that , this time, Thor has left the group and the remaining people feel they lack the raw power to take the duo on. They are right. But Iron Man has a plan to give Hank, Jan and Rick Jones all their own Iron Suits to even the odds. Unfortunately, they don’t take to the suits well and they abandon the idea. The trouble is that Tony feels he has to meet the two anyway and goes to face them in a 100% charged up armor hoping to beat them quicky. While he goes to face them, Rick Jones ( see The Captain ? ) contacts the others and surmises that Tony is going on a suicide mission and they put on the suits to follow after him. Iron Man gets an upper hand by downing the Hulk but uses all his reserves in doing it , leaving himself at the mercy of Namor. He is beaten badly by Namor as the others arrive and give a good accounting of themselves but Giant-Man is hurt badly by Namors strength and left to die. Tony sacrifices his remaining power to revive and save Giant-man but dies because of it. The two antagonists are repelled but at the cost of Tony Stark’s life. Just stunning artwork by Kane and Jansen. {Spoiler: Click to show}
THIS was Marvel back in the day !
One of the most perfect single issue stories ever and my favorite What If of all time.
10 / 10
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 24, 2019 17:57:37 GMT -5
# 6. Kitty home alone but not alone with one of the Brood Uncanny X-Men # 143 ( 1981 ) by Chris Claremont & John Byrne, John Byrne & Terry Austin It's a great fight. However, it's not a Brood. It's a N'Garai demon, as first seen in X-Men #96. This fight is reprised in the prologue of #143. Kitty does go solo against several Brood Sidri in #168, which is the deservedly famous "Professor Xavier is a jerk!" issue. That fight is perhaps less great since Kitty loses, requiring rescue from a combination of Lockheed and Colossus.
Of course you're right ! I haven't read them since high school.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 24, 2019 18:47:12 GMT -5
Sandman Vs. Lucifer Poetry 'Slam' Sandman #4 Gaiman/Keith The fight might be metaphor, but that doesn't make it less awesome... one of my favorite comic books scenes ever.   |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 24, 2019 20:07:28 GMT -5
He-Man Versus Skeletor Gerald Forton Masters of the Universe Comic Strip,"vengeance of the viper king" 1986 It's probably a sign of my age but in my mind when I try to picture what an elemental battle between good and evil I inevitably picture He-Man duking it out with Skeletor, and it makes sense as it's a guy big blonde guy in glowing white light battling a guy with a skull for head in a purple robe so you can't get much of a clearer visual cue for good and evil than that. While the two clashed thousands of times across various types of media, what I like about this one in particular is that it really plays up that awesome transformation scene of Prince Adam into He-Man which was always my favorite part. He raises his sword above his head, calls down the Power of Grayskull and with a bolt of lightning and a brilliant flash of light he's He-Man which blows away the bat-pole and a telephone booth by a country mile in terms of becoming a hero.   |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 24, 2019 20:09:19 GMT -5
Pssst...Make sure to check out the Advance Warning Thread before jumping in with your selection! Absolutely everyone is welcome to participate once you've read-up on the event.6. Usagi Yojimbo vs. Gunichiby Stan Sakai Usagi Yojimbo (vol. 1) #1 (July 1987) I very nearly chose this scene, but went with another further up in my list. |
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