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Post by Myke Gee on Jan 24, 2023 15:20:16 GMT -5
Another good month. The 17 books read averaged out to 7.2. I think the average should be 7.65. And, once again, you're right! Where was my brain back in 2020?!! |
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Post by Myke Gee on Jan 24, 2023 17:37:17 GMT -5
This was the first time that I split the reviews in half because I felt like they were becoming too long as more and more comics were being released. For the sake of this post, I'm going to combine the first and second parts as they were posted on Facebook. Let me know if you think they that they are too long and would prefer separate posts or if you all are okay with one long post. *** ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON APRIL 25, 2020 ***
AUGUST 1972 (Cover Date: November 1972)
Hello, everyone. This month, there are 22 books that I've read. That's a lot of reactions! So, for the sake of keeping this as short as possible, as I stated in January 1972's reaction, this is where I break them up into two parts. This week will be the first two weeks of August and next week, the final two. So, here are my thoughts on the books published in the first two weeks of August 1972.
On sale August 1, 1972 DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #93. “A Power Corrupt!” - Script by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tom Palmer. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Palmer. A mind-controlled Black Widow attacks Daredevil. Damon Dran uses the power of Project Four to turn himself into the Indestructible Man. First appearance of the Indestructible Man. An above-average tale that, frankly, could have been much better with a better artist. Or maybe I should say a better-suited artist. I know that Colan is beloved and a comics legend in his own right, but I’m just not a big fan of him drawing superhero comics. He’s incredible on TOMB OF DRACULA, but I’m just not crazy about his Daredevil work. Grade: 6.5
INCREDIBLE HULK #157. “Name My Vengeance: Rhino!” - Script by Archie Goodwin, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover art by Herb Trimpe. The Leader places his mind in the Rhino's body and attacks the Hulk on the eve of Talbot and Betty's wedding. When I first began this journey, there were certain villains that I just couldn’t understand what the hype was about. While I’m slowly turning the corner on Dr. Octopus and the Green Goblin, my feelings about the Leader remains the same. I just don’t find him very interesting. With that said, this is still a pretty good issue. The Rhino is not a favorite, but I never disliked him, either. I’ve always considered the Hulk way out of his class, but if the Leader can continue to cause problems for the Jade Giant, I can accept the Rhino as a plausible foe. Grade: 7.5
IRON MAN #52. "Raga: Son of Fire!" - Story by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska and Vince Colletta. Cover by Gil Kane. Tony Stark decides to get away from New York for a while, so he takes a vacation to California. It's a very relaxing trip until a new villain, Raga, the Son of Fire, starts a forest fire in the Santa Monica Mountains! Shell-Head appears to be on the way to victory until he becomes trapped in a lava flow! Another cover that had me rolling my eyes. “Raga: Son of Fire?!! *Sigh* Give me a break!” Turns out, he’s not as cornball as I thought. Well...maybe he is, lol, but the story was really good. So, that’s probably why he seemed less so. Grade: 8.5
• KID COLT #164
• MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #33
• MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN #21
• WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #12
• WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #18
On sale August 8, 1972 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #114. “Gang War, Shmang War! What I Want to Know Is...Who the Heck Is Hammerhead?” - Script by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Romita and Jim Starlin, inks by John Romita and Tony Mortellaro. Cover art by John Romita. Dr. Octopus and Hammerhead are at war, with Spider-Man against them both. Origin of Hammerhead. James Cagney is alive and well and living in the Marvel Universe, lol!!! The last couple of issues are my first time ever reading a story with Hammerhead (at least, that I can recall). This guy is a hoot!!! A cool villain that you cannot wait to see get punched in the mouth, lol!!! Really good issue!! Grade: 9.0
AVENGERS #105. "In the Beginning Was the World Within!" - Script by Steve Englehart. Pencils by John Buscema. Inks by Jim Mooney. Cover by John Buscema and Jim Mooney. The Avengers have survived their epic encounter with the Sentinels, but there's one big problem. Quicksilver is missing! Pietro disappeared during the battle in Australia. And now the Scarlet Witch is frantically trying to find him! Luckily, Wanda gets a tip about mysterious disappearances occurring in Chile. After the Black Panther rejoins the team, the Avengers take off for South America! Upon landing, T'Challa leads the group of heroes to the Savage Land and the former citadel of Magneto. Poking around the Master of Magnetism's old base of operations...is that a good idea? There could be danger lurking! Particularly evil mutants like Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild, Equilibrius, Gaza, Lorelei, and Lupo! Can Earth's Mightiest Heroes make short work of Magneto's minions? Or will the Beast-Brood halt the Avengers' jungle safari? Interesting that they’re called the “Beast Brood” instead of the “Savage Land Mutates” in this story. Does anyone know if there is a back story on this? At any rate, the SLMs are favorites of mine. So, it was really good to see them again. Great action-packed story. Grade: 9.0
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #155. "The Incredible Origin of the Other Captain America” - Script by Steve Englehart and Stan Lee (page 13, panels 3-5; pages 14 and 16), pencils by Sal Buscema and John Romita (page 13, panels 3-5; pages 14 and 16), inks by Frank McLaughlin and John Romita (page 13, panels 3-5; pages 14 and 16). Cover pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Jim Mooney. After defeating Steve, Falcon, and Sharon through deceit and brute strength, the phony Captain America reveals his and Bucky's secret origin to the captive trio. Partial reprint from YOUNG MEN #24 by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr. Hard to believe that this is the book that I used to bash for being boring and repetitive. First Gerry Conway and, now, Englehart has made this one of the best books of its time. Grade: 8.5
SUB-MARINER #55. "The Abominable Snow-King” - Script and art by Bill Everett. Cover art by Bill Everett. The mysterious destruction of a cargo vessel draws the Sub-Mariner's attention. He witnesses a strange assortment of sea creatures recovering the cargo, guided by some unseen hand. He follows them and uncovers the mastermind, Torg the Abominable Snow-King. Namor keeps Torg busy long enough for the survivors of the wreck to be rescued. He then leads Torg into a trap and forever dooms the monstrous creature. When I first saw the cover, my first thought was, “Oh no! Not another generic monster!” Thankfully, Torg the Snow-King was anything but that. The story, like the villain, was a rather good one-and-done. Grade: 7.5
THOR #205. “A World Gone Mad!" - Script by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Frank Giacoia. The Thunder God vs. Mephisto - in the haunted halls of the Sub-World! And the demon's allies are none other than Thor's most trusted friends - including Lady Sif! This was a great issue! Thor vs Mephisto was worth the price of admission! An issue that seemed to serve as a reminder of how much of a badass Thor is and that’s fine. It’s good to see our heroes display their full might, sometimes. Grade: 9.0
• CHAMBER OF CHILLS #1
• MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #7
• MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #39
• SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #7
• TWO-GUN KID #107
So, that's the first half. Next week, I will finish up August, plus give my summary and the Books and Covers of the Month. Until then, take care, everyone.
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*** ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON MAY 2, 2020 ***
Hello, everyone. Here is the second half of my reactions to the August 1972 books.
On sale August 15, 1972 AMAZING ADVENTURES #15. "Murder in Mid-Air!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Tom Sutton, inks by Frank Giacoia and John Tartaglione (as John Tartag). Cover pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Joe Sinnott. Injured during his battle against Quasimodo, the Beast stumbles to the apartment shared with Patsy Walker and her husband Buzz. Only Patsy is home, and she takes the wounded Beast to her couch and administers first aid. In a delirious state, the Beast reveals that he is really Hank McCoy and explains the series of events that led to him being turned into the Beast. While explaining that he was injured fighting Quasimodo, Beast considers the idea that he is continuing to mutate. Later on, the Beast and guest star, the Angel, fight the Griffin. I’ve always liked the Griffin. I first discovered him from THE CHAMPIONS series. Now, I’ve finally read his first appearance and it did not disappoint. Good to see the Angel again, too. Grade. 8.0
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #20. “The Black Hound of Vengeance” - Written by Roy Thomas, pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith, inks by Dan Adkins. Cover art by Barry Windsor-Smith. Conan infiltrates the Temple of Tarim and kills a black hound. Fafnir loses his arm and is thrown overboard by Balthaz to drown. Conan kills Balthaz and flees Yezdigerd's ship. An action-packed tale that I enjoyed far more than the previous issue. Such is my up and down, hot and cold interest in this book. Grade: 8.0
MARVEL FEATURE #6. "Hellstorm!"- Written by Mike Friedrich. Pencils by Herb Trimpe. Inks by Mike Trimpe. Cover by Herb Trimpe. Hank Pym finally makes it back home! And just in time to discover his wife passed out on the floor! What happened to Janet? Unfortunately, there's not much time for answers once the Whirlwind attacks! Ant-Man and the Wasp successfully repel the mutant speedster twice, but during the second encounter, their house catches on fire! With both tiny avengers still stuck at miniature size, the battle to escape their burning home becomes more dangerous than fighting the Whirlwind! Will Hank and Janet reach safety before everything goes up in flames? Once again, the inconsistency of the size-changing hero is on display. Why is it that sometimes they retain their normal size strength when they’re small and then when they need it most, they don’t have it? Same with their voices. One minute, everyone hears them just fine, the next, “I’m too small for my voice to be heard”. *Sigh* Anyway, this issue was okay. Seems like this series is beginning to lose its luster; what little it had. Grade: 6.0
MARVEL TEAM-UP #5. “A Passion of the Mind!" - Written by Gerry Conway. Pencils by Gil Kane. Inks by Mike Esposito. Cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. Spider-Man and the Vision battle the Puppet Master in the Baxter Building. I bought this issue about 10 years ago and, as I read it, I realized that I never read it. Nothing about it was familiar. An average team-up. Had some fun moments, but nothing special. Grade: 5.5
NIGHT NURSE #1. "The Making of a Nurse!" - Written by Jean Thomas, art by Win Mortimer. Cover art by Win Mortimer. Linda Carter, Georgia Jenkins, and Christine Palmer all are studying to be nurses. Marshall Michaels asks Linda Carter to marry him but insists that she give up on being a nurse. When all of the city's power goes out Ben Jenkins (Georgia's brother) and Rocky try to hold the hospital's generator hostage. When Ben listens to his sister and tries to stop Rocky, he is shot. Linda turns down Marshall's marriage proposal to become a nurse. I don’t know what I was expecting with this book, but I truly wasn’t expecting it to read like an issue of MY LOVE or OUR LOVE STORY. There was a somewhat interesting subplot about planting a bomb in the hospital, but otherwise, it mostly read like a teen romance book. I’ll hang in for one more issue. Hopefully, it’ll be a bit more than what I’ve read. Grade: 4.0
RED WOLF #4. “The Wrath of the Man-Bear” - Written by Gardner Fox and Roy Thomas, art by Syd Shores and Vince Colletta. Cover by Syd Shores. Ursa, a young Cheyenne who was separated from his tribe and raised by bears, steals cattle and horses from the Cheyenne which nearly causes a war with the soldiers of Fort Rango, who are blamed for the theft. Marvel has a Man-Ape, a Man-Wolf, a Man-Thing, a Man-Beast, and now, a Man-Bear. *Sigh* Okay. Why not? 😅 Simple little story that is as simplistic and formulaic as the Westerns that read when I first started this. Still, it had its moments. Grade: 6.0
• MARVEL TALES #39
• MY LOVE #20
• RAWHIDE KID #105
• RINGO KID #17
• SPOOF #2
On sale August 22, 1972 CAPTAIN MARVEL #23. “Death at the End of the World!" - Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Wayne Boring, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Joe Sinnott. Captain Marvel and Megaton begin to fight as Megaton’s radioactivity levels steadily increase. Marvel drops Megaton on a power station, which then explodes, weakening the pair. Megaton blacks out and Marvel's photon levels drop, causing him to turn back into Rick Jones. Rick makes it to the club where Lou-Ann Savannah is performing, just before he passes out. Lou-Ann takes Rick back to her uncle, Benjamin Savannah, for another photon treatment. Megaton is arrested and put in jail, where he recovers and attacks his cellmate. Megaton thinks back to how he got his powers, from a machine in a Kree outpost in the Artic that subjected him to his worst fears. The other expedition members had saved him but then the base blew up, killing everyone but Megaton. Back in the present, Megaton drains his cellmate of his life force, killing the prisoner, before breaking out of prison and, once again, encountering Captain Marvel. Thankfully, only one more issue before Jim Starlin arrives, because this stuff harkens back to what led to the book’s initial hiatus. Grade: 5.0
THE CAT #1. "Beware the Claws of the Cat!" - Written by Linda Fite, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by Wally Wood. Wood cover (Severin pencils?). In her first Marvel Universe appearance, we learn the origin of Greer Grant and her unusual role in an experiment. While it wasn’t great, it was a bit better than I thought it would be. The origin really pushes the Women’s Lib agenda, but that’s cool. It shows the shaping of a strong female character. It also shows that Marvel was getting really comfortable with darker comics. The horror comics were becoming popular around this time and I’ve noticed that the subject of death, lately, hasn’t been danced around as it has been in Marvel’s earlier comics. Villains would always say “I will destroy you” instead of “kill”. Now, we have a hero that has killed on her first outing. Interesting. Can’t wait to see where this goes. Grade: 7.5
CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #20. New story: “What Price Victory?” featuring Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars. - Written by George Alec Effinger. Art by Gray Morrow. Cover by Gil Kane. Art by Don Heck. Reprint: “Only One Is Human!” - A human unit on Mars realizes that a disguised martian is in their midst, they cannot tell the imposter and the real human apart, until a false piece of bad news makes the real human weep, uncovering the Martian. Art by Steve Ditko. “For Whom the Drum Beats!” featuring Max Kole and Grimm. As always with this book, my interest is in the lead feature, not the reprints of 1950s sci-fi tales. Never heard of George Alec Effinger, but his writing was nowhere near the equivalent of Graw Morrow’s great artwork. While this series started off interestingly, it’s dipping into the doldrums really fast. Grade: 5.5
FANTASTIC FOUR #128. "Death in a Dark and Lonely Place!" - Written by Roy Thomas. Pencils by John Buscema. Inks by Joe Sinnott. Cover by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. The Mole Man has everything going his way in his subterranean lair! The confused Fantastic Four are fighting one another, while the preparations continue for the destruction of the surface world! But there may be a traitor (or two) in the midst that could foil the Mole Man's plans of grandeur! Can the mindless Subterraneans be trusted? And what about Kala and Tyrannus? Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny will take all the help they can get when the battle royal begins! This book is starting to return to form. The year started with a great Galactus/Air-Walker story, then cooled off considerably with the Monster from the Lost Lagoon story. This Mole Man two-parter was really good and hopefully a sign of things to come. Grade: 9.0
KULL THE CONQUEROR #5. "A Kingdom by the Sea" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by John Severin. John Severin cover. Kull faces betrayal on the island of Demascar. Not much to say about this one. Honestly, I’m really trying with the barbarian books, but as I’ve said numerous times, it’s really not my cup of tea. I’m really considering dropping both books. As for this one, a decent story with the usual great artwork from the Severins. Grade: 6.5
MARVEL PREMIERE #5. “The Lurker in the Labyrinth!” - Written by Gardner F. Fox, pencils by Irv Wesley, inks by Don Perlin. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Strange escapes being sacrificed to Sligguth and learn of the slumbering evil of Shuma-Gorath. The Ancient One, weakened from giving power to Strange, is carried away by Shadowmen of sunken Kaa-U. Featuring concepts created by Robert E. Howard. Thank goodness that the story was good because going from Barry Smith and Frank Brunner to Irv Wesley (whoever he is) and Don Perlin was a huge step backward artistically. While they didn’t suck by any means, still...we’re talking about Smith and Brunner! A pretty good story that’s continued next issue. Grade: 8.0
TOMB OF DRACULA #5. "Death to a Vampire-Slayer!" - Written by Gardner F. Fox. Art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. Cover by Gil Kane. Can even the mighty Taj survive when the Lord of Vampires drags him through the Black Mirror?! Dracula is transported into the past and Frank and Rachel use the Black Mirror to follow him. Another really good issue as this book is getting better and better. Grade: 8.0
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #2. “The Hunter---and the Hunted!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Mike Ploog, and inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Jack is captured by Mark Cephalos, who wants to capture the energy released by the werewolf transformation. So far, this was the only so-so issue of WBN, to me. I stopped reading it a couple of times, then came back to it. While it wasn’t horrible, I felt like I was making myself finish it. Grade: 5.5
• LIL PALS #2
• SGT FURY #104
• CHILI #20
Grading Chart
• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 5.5 = Very Good
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed on
Including last week’s books, that’s 22 books overall which average out to 7.18. Again, another good month of comics. Hopefully, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT returns to form and NIGHT NURSE becomes something more than just a soap opera. As always, thanks for the support and let me know what you liked and didn’t like. Until next week, take care, everyone.
Top Books of the Month
1. FANTASTIC FOUR #128
2. THOR #206
3. AVENGERS #105
4. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #114
5. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #152
Top Covers of the Month
1. RED WOLF #4
2. THE CAT #1
3. KULL THE CONQUEROR #5
4. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #152
5. AMAZING ADVENTURES #15
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Post by Myke Gee on Jan 25, 2023 15:03:32 GMT -5
*** PART 1 WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON JUNE 8, 2020 *** SEPTEMBER 1972
(Cover Date: December 1972) Hey, everyone. My packing and relocating are done!!! I am now a retired resident of the great state of Texas!!! With that out of the way, it’s back to the reactions. This month, I read 20 books. As with the August ’72 reactions, I will be breaking this review into two parts. The first two weeks of September (which includes the last couple of days of August) this week and the last two weeks next week. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on comics for the month of September 1972. On sale August 29, 1972 DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #94. “He Can Crush the World!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, and inks by Tom Palmer. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Palmer. DD, the Black Widow, and company take on the Indestructible Man, but it is Danny French who sacrifices his life to stop the ultra-powerful Dran. So, the “Project Four” story is over, now, and unlike the Mr. Kline tale from last year, it didn’t have a lukewarm ending. Yet, it was hardly a masterpiece, either. I’d label this one as “satisfying enough”. Grade: 7.0INCREDIBLE HULK #158. “Frenzy on a Far-Away World!” - Written by Roy Thomas and Steve Gerber, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover art by Herb Trimpe. While Hulk takes a trip to Counter-Earth where he battles the Rhino, gets involved in a New Men civil war, and meets his counter alter ego (Bruce, his wife Betty, and their son Bobby), back on his own Earth, Betty Ross and Glenn Talbot are busy getting married. Of course, there’s a cameo appearance by Adam Warlock. Ssooo...once again, the Hulk breathes and talks in outer space. 😏🙄 *Sigh* Okay, enough of looking for any semblance of plausibility with this book. What we do get is a rather good story made more interesting by giving us a glimpse of Counter-Earth’s counterparts. Good stuff. Grade: 8.0IRON MAN #53. "The Black Lama!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska, Jim Starlin, and Vince Colletta. Cover by Gil Kane. The golden avenger has two missions in this issue: first, prevent a lava flow from destroying a Southern California town, and then second, stop Raga, the Son of Fire, from killing two local civilians. Can Iron Man successfully achieve both objectives? And where does the mysterious Black Lama fit into the story? Originally, I didn’t think much of Raga, Son of Fire. I mean, just try to say that name without rolling your eyes, lol!!! However, it was a surprisingly good two-parter and the Black Lama was pretty interesting, too. Grade: 8.5SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #1. "Shanna the She-Devil!" - Written by Carole Seuling and Steve Gerber, pencils by George Tuska, and inks by Vince Colletta. Cover art by Jim Steranko. The origin of Shanna. Shanna O'Hara Plunder is the daughter of a diamond miner. Born in Africa, she spent her childhood in the jungles of Zaire. After Shanna's father accidentally kills her mother, Shanna moves back to the United States to live with relatives, and Shanna grows up to become an accomplished athlete and then becomes a zoologist. She returns to Africa and patrols the jungle living freely with the land. “Rima the Jungle Girl, Lorna the Jungle Queen, Hell, even Jane Porter. Did we really need another Jungle lady?” These were my thoughts going into this book. I’ve read so few Shanna stories, I couldn’t help but see her as a knockoff of the other ladies. However, not a bad story, at all, though. Interesting enough to get me back next issue. Grade: 7.5SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #1. “It” - Written by Theodore Sturgeon (Original Story) and Roy Thomas (Adaptation), pencils by Marie Severin, inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover art by Jim Steranko. The muck-encrusted monster named It shambles thru the forest, where it encounters the Drew family. About five or six pages into this story, I knew that it wasn’t for me. I’ll try again next month instead of tearing down a story that’s not something that I can appreciate. Grade: N/A
• KID COLT OUTLAW #165
• MILLIE THE MODEL #199
• MONSTERS ON THE PROWL #20
• WYATT EARP #31
On sale September 5, 1972 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #115. “The Last Battleground!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Romita, inks by John Romita and Tony Mortellaro. Cover art by John Romita. In the midst of the war between Dr. Octopus and Hammerhead, Spider-Man finds himself held at gunpoint by Aunt May. The conclusion to the debut of Hammerhead. While I found Hammerhead bizarrely cool, I’m still having a hard time accepting Doc Ock as a formidable opponent, but damn if he isn’t. He’s growing on me and you all have no idea how painful that was to admit. 😂 Oh, and Aunt May is still a scatterbrain. 😅 Grade: 8.5AVENGERS #106. "A Traitor Stalks Among Us!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Rich Buckler and George Tuska. Inks by Dave Cockrum. Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia. Wanda has found another lead in the search for her missing brother. In hopes of finding Pietro, four avengers explore an underground tunnel in Manhattan! But something strange is going on beneath the streets...and the Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, and Hawkeye suddenly begin fighting one another! Could an old foe from long ago be manipulating the Avengers? Or maybe a super-villain of a more recent vintage? Perhaps the answer is both! Meanwhile, at Avengers Mansion, the Vision continues to ponder the Grim Reaper's offer to inhabit Simon Williams' comatose body. Captain America attempts to counsel the synthezoid Avenger but is interrupted by Rick Jones' barging into the mansion! Upon seeing Rick, the shield-slinger suffers a flashback to a battle vs. Hydra several months ago (in CAPTAIN AMERICA #113)! Very strange indeed! The first thing that I took note of was the artwork. This is, probably, the first time I’ve ever seen Cockrum as an inker that I can recall. His inks over Buckler’s Adam-like pencils are fantastic and he very much enhanced Tuska. Overall a really good issue that looks like the beginning of another spectacular Avengers adventure. Grade: 8.5CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #156. "Two into One Won't Go!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Dave Cockrum. It's the final showdown between Captain America and his greatest fan, the insane Captain America from the 1950s. *Sigh* What can I say that I haven’t said already about this book? Unbelievable that I was never that much of a fan of his solo book, but I loved him in THE AVENGERS. Now, in this era, at least, it continues to be one of the best books of its era. This issue is no exception. Grade: 9.0DOC SAVAGE #2. "Master of the Red Death”, part two of an adaptation of the Kenneth Robeson novel "Man of Bronze”, the first Doc Savage adventure. Written by Steve Englehart and art by Ross Andru and Ernie Chua. Jim Steranko cover. In part two, Doc and his team discover a hidden civilization in Central America as they continue their quest to find who killed Doc's father. This issue has a one-page brief history of the Doc Savage magazine. This is only the second time I’ve ever read any Doc Savage story of any kind. (Actually, I did have his MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE appearance, but I don’t recall a thing about it) So, it appears that he’s some sort of well-trained, super-intelligent adventurer. Benton Quest and Race Bannon rolled into one body. Okay, I’ll buy it. However, this issue didn’t do as much for me as the first. I still dug it to some extent, though. Grade: 7.0SUB-MARINER #56. “Atlantis Mon Amour" - Written by Dan Adkins and Mike Friedrich, art by Dan Adkins. Cover art by Alan Weiss and John Romita (alterations). A young Atlantean woman, Coral, finds the Sub-Mariner and seeks his help to help a threatened Atlantis. Namor reluctantly agrees and returns to his realm to confront the monstrous Haab creatures. The battle ends when their alien masters make first contact and announce that they come in peace. Namor leaves them behind as he no longer has any interest in Atlantis. However, a barbarian raiding force kills them all including Coral. First appearance of the Banari; Tamara Rahn’s race. A story that feels like it’s setting up something. I know that Tamara Rahn is coming, and I’ve been curious about her ever since I first saw her in SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP. Yet, she’s not here yet and I’m eagerly awaiting her arrival. Also, the Dan Adkins artwork was great. That splash page is one of the most iconic in Sub-Mariner lore. Grade: 7.0THOR #206. "Rebirth!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover by John Buscema. The Absorbing Man returns, heeding a mysterious summons that he can't ignore. Unfortunately, he crosses Sif and Hildegarde's paths, knocking them both out, which just angers Thor all the more. Creel follows the summons to a small house and discovers Loki. My list of favorite villains is, relatively, small. But, the Absorbing Man makes the cut. He’s always fun even if the writers, sometimes, have his power set all over the place. Here, he’s no less fun as he and Thor have a near-classic battle. Grade: 8.5• MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #8
• OUTLAW KID #13One half down with the other half coming Saturday morning…-ish, lol!!! Some really good books in this first half ( SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS aside, lol). Will the second half carry its weight? You’ll know Saturday. Until then, take care, everyone. _____________________________________________________________________________________ *** PART 2 WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON JUNE 13, 2020 *** Hey, everyone. Here’s the second part of my reactions to the books published in September 1972. On sale September 12, 1972. ASTONISHING TALES #15. "...And Who Will Call Him Savage?" - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Sutton. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Bill Everett. While pledged to watch over Dr. Calvin until she is healed, Ka-Zar finds himself stuck in the city. He rescues a pusher from an attack and ends up involved in a turf war. Last issue was a reprint of a story from SAVAGE TALES #1. In this issue, Ka-Zar does the “Tarzan’s New York Adventure” bit. Even still, jungle law vs “civilization’s” law made for a very entertaining read. Ka-Zar is another that’s slowly winning me over. Grade: 8.0CONAN THE BARBARIAN #21. “The Monster of the Monoliths” - Written by Roy Thomas, breakdowns by Barry Windsor-Smith, pencils by Craig Russell and Val Mayerik. Inks by Dan Adkins and Sal Buscema. Cover art by Barry Windsor-Smith. Conan is taken captive in Makkalet when he defects from the Turanian army. Conan joins and is betrayed by Makkalet forces. Conan fights a giant toad-god. Adapted in part from the story "The Black Stone" by Robert E. Howard. I’ll say one thing about this book, if I were giving out weekly awards for interior art or Best Artist, Barry Smith would, probably, win every time. In my opinion, his work on CONAN is, by far, the best and most consistent on every issue. He’s progressed way beyond his Kirby-esque days. Beautiful stuff!! As for the story, add a giant frog to the list of various giant creatures that Conan has fought. 😏 Still, the story was engaging enough. However, I will be glad when this Makkalet/Turan story is over. Beautiful artwork is not saving this uneven tale. Grade: 7.0FEAR #11. "Night of the Nether-Spawn!" - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Jim Mooney. Cover art by Neal Adams. Man-Thing battles Thog the Nether-Spawn, who makes his first appearance. Jennifer Kale also makes her first appearance. Steve Gerber's first full story as a professional writer. "The Spider Waits”, Art by Fred Kida. Sven's childhood fear of spiders turns to enjoyment as he kills them indiscriminately at his factory cleaning job. He meets a woman who is actually a human spider who lures him into her web, literally. Wow!! My first Gerber-written Man-Thing story and it did not disappoint. That’s saying a lot for me because, as I’ve said before, I’m not, particularly, a Man-Thing or Steve Gerber fan, and I’m really not a fan of characters that don’t speak. All of that went out the window with this fast-paced page-turner. Grade: 9.0GUNHAWKS #2. “The Night They Rode Old Dixie Down!” - Written by Gary Friedrich. Art by Syd Shores and Jack Abel. Cover by Syd Shores. Reno Jones and Kid Cassidy continue their search for Reno’s lost love when they stumble upon a plantation owner who kidnaps freed slaves and enslaves them again. Good story and one that I find a bit risqué for 1972. Interesting to me that Reno seems to be the actual star and the Kid is the sidekick. Also, pretty bold for this era. Grade: 7.5LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #4. "Cry Fear...Cry Phantom!" - Written by Archie Goodwin, art by Billy Graham. Billy Graham cover. Luke Cage is awakened from his sleep by a nightmarish apparition. The only problem is, this Hero for Hire doesn't believe in ghosts. However, Cage will have to come to grips with his beliefs when he confronts the Phantom of 42nd Street. So far, I’ve genuinely enjoyed this series. However, this is probably the weakest story to date. A half-interesting mystery that has its moments, but not enough to make it a great story. Graham handles the artwork alone this time and does a great job. Grade: 7.0• COMBAT KELLY #4
• HARVEY #6
• MARVEL TALES #40
• RAWHIDE KID #106
• X-MEN #79On sale September 19, 1972 DEFENDERS #3. “Four Against the Gods” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Jim Mooney. Cover pencils by Gil Kane and John Buscema (Silver Surfer), inks by Gil Kane and Sal Buscema (Silver Surfer figure). The Defenders try to help Silver Surfer leave the Earth by taking him to another dimension. They encounter the Nameless One and free Barbara Norris. This book came out the gate better than any new title in a while. A lot of books spend the first few issues trying to find their footing, but not this one it’s been a great read from the start, including this issue. Grade: 8.5FANTASTIC FOUR #129. "The Frightful Four...Plus One!" - Written by Roy Thomas. Pencils by John Buscema. Inks by Joe Sinnott. Cover by John Buscema, Frank Giacoia, and John Verpoorten. The Fantastic Four have returned to the Baxter Building after finishing their adventure with the Mole Man last issue. But things don't remain quiet for long as Johnny surprisingly announces his intention to go to the Great Refuge! And in a flash, the Human Torch departs for the Hidden Land to see Crystal! Moments later another bombshell drops when Agatha Harkness informs Reed and Sue that she can no longer take care of young Franklin. After all the outbursts, Ben decides to go for a walk across town to clear his head. However, he walks right into a battle between the past and present members of the Frightful Four! At an abandoned construction site, Ben Grimm and Medusa fight for their lives against the Sandman, Trapster, Wizard, and Thundra! First appearance of Thundra. They kept it action-packed with this one!! This fast-paced story gets a big thumbs up!!! Grade: 9.0
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #7. “Die, Die, My Daughter” - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Curly, the leader of the biker gang Satan’s Saints, tries to sacrifice Roxanne to Satan. Continued next issue. The first part of this story was better, in my opinion. Something was just...off with this issue. The Ploog/Chiaramonte art team was less than stellar, as well. Not a good sign when the best scene was our hero running from the police. Grade: 6.0WARLOCK #3. "The Apollo Eclipse” - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Sutton. Cover art by Gil Kane. Two of Warlock’s teenage followers are kidnapped by the mysterious Apollo. Will Warlock be forced to submit in order to save Eddie and Ellie Roberts? The twins are held hostage! Shocking revelations about the New Men of Counter-Earth! High Evolutionary guest appearance. Hulk and Rhino cameos. Nothing like the jaw-dropping action of the last issue, but still some excitement in this issue. Good story, thus far. Grade: 7.5• JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #2
• JUNGLE ACTION #2
• LI'L KIDS #9
• OUR LOVE STORY #20
• SGT. FURY #105Grading Chart:• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Very Good
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed onSo, there you have it, my fellow comics lovers. My 2 cents, lol!!! Of the 20 books that I attempted to read, I only graded 19 because the SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS story couldn’t hold my interest. The 19 books that I did read averaged out to a 7.84. Seems like every month, the books fall in the 7.0 – 7.9 range, which is good. I wish that I were doing this when I was reading the late 60s books. I remember a lot of high scores from that era. Anyway, as always, thanks for the support, and let me know what you liked and, most importantly, didn’t like. I’ll see you all next Saturday with part 1 of the October 1972 books. Until then, take care. This Month’s Top 5 Books:
1. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #156
2. FEAR #11
3. FANTASTIC FOUR #129
4. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #115
5. DEFENDERS #3
This Month’s Top 5 Covers:
1. DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #94
2. FEAR #11
3. GUNHAWKS #2
4. LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #4
5. SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #1 |
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Post by Myke Gee on Jan 27, 2023 16:03:41 GMT -5
***Part 1 OF OCTOBER 1972 WAS POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON JUNE 20, 2020***
OCTOBER 1972
(Cover Date: January 1973)
Hey, everyone. Coming into the home stretch for the 1972 issues. Three heavy-hitters appear this month: The Abomination, the Absorbing Man, and the Juggernaut. Four, if you count Ares, God of War, which he is, but he’s not as prominent as the others in those days. I’m hoping that they will make for exciting stories. Marvel published 53 magazines this month; 10 of which (on sale October 31, 1972) will be included with the November reactions. No sense in having two DAREDEVIL or IRON MAN reactions this month. Of the other 43, I read 23 of them. Here are my reactions to the first two weeks of October 1972.
On sale October 3, 1972
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #95. “Bullfight on the Bay!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Tom Palmer. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Palmer. Man-Bull escapes from prison in New York and heads to San Francisco to have his revenge on Daredevil. The Man-Bull is really a hokey character, but at least, he’s not the Man-Elephant, lol!!! I’ve read very few stories with him and he just comes off as.....well.....a Bull in a china shop. His motivations always seem to be revenge for some perceived slight. No real scheme or rationale. While this doesn’t make for a bad story, DD & BW fighting him just feels forced, somehow. Fortunately, the action was good enough to keep me into the story. Grade: 7.0
INCREDIBLE HULK #159. “Two Years Before the Abomination!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover art by Herb Trimpe. Bruce returns home from Counter-Earth only to have his shuttle blasted to atoms by Thunderbolt Ross. Ross sends the Hulkbusters out to capture the Hulk, but they come home with the Abomination instead. In order to ensure that Betty continues to think the Hulk is dead, Ross makes a deal with the Abomination, ensuring him a cure for his gamma-irradiated condition and his freedom if he captures the jade giant. Abomination battles the Hulk but, realizing that Ross has deceived him, tells Hulk that Betty has married Glenn and they are honeymooning in Niagara Falls. Who doesn’t love a good Hulk/Abomination fight? Always a fun time! Grade: 8.0
IRON MAN #54. "Sub-Mariner: Target for Death!" - Written by Mike Friedrich and Bill Everett. Art by George Tuska and Vince Colletta. Cover by Gil Kane. It's a cataclysmic confrontation between Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner off the coast of Seattle! One of the heroes is being forced to fight against his will, but which one? And once the battle moves underwater, does Shell-Head have a chance to defeat Namor? First appearance of Moondragon as Madame MacEvil. Okay, so I read SUB-MARINER #57 first and it said that this issue of IRON MAN was the first part. So, now that I’ve read the “first part”, I’m even more confused. Not about the story, itself, but, how this story links to SUB-MARINER #57. At any rate, it was fun to see the first appearance of Moondragon. (Thank goodness they didn’t stick with Madame McEvil. Maybe one of the corniest names this side of Matter-Eater Lad) Also, as I’ve stated many times, I’m a sucker for a hero vs hero fight. Grade: 8.5
• KID COLT: OUTLAW #166
• MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #34
• MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN #22
• WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #13
• WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #19
On sale October 10, 1972
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #116. “Suddenly...The Smasher!” - Written by Stan Lee and Gerry Conway, pencils by John Romita, inks by Jim Mooney and Tony Mortellaro. Cover art by John Romita. Spidey tackles the Smasher, a ten-foot goon who is busting up a billboard for political candidate Richard Raleigh. Finding that his friends are in Raleigh's camp, Pete attends a political rally but, during Raleigh's speech, the roof starts to fall in on the crowd. “Suddenly, the Smasher!” reprints approximately the first twenty pages of "Lo, This Monster" from the SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 magazine, though many pages have been redrawn or touched up by John Romita Sr., and the Man Monster has been renamed Smasher. The new dialogue is by Gerry Conway. Because the 1968 magazine is black-and-white, this marks the story's first appearance in color. If there has been one book that has been enjoyable from its inception, it’s this one. As a person who rarely bought ASM, this has been and continues to be a great series. Grade: 8.0
AVENGERS #107. "The Master Plan of the Space Phantom!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Jim Starlin (pages 1-3, 13-20) and George Tuska (pages 4-13) Inks by Dave Cockrum. Cover by Rich Buckler. The Space Phantom is back! And the Grim Reaper is right by his side! Four avengers have already fallen to the deadly duo and now only Captain America and the Vision remain free! The star-spangled avenger visits an old Hydra hideout to solve the mystery of his sudden flashbacks, while the synthezoid avenger wanders through Central Park. When the Grim Reaper catches up to the Vision, he makes him a final, yet different offer: Forget the body of Simon Williams, take the body of Captain America instead! Wow, would the Vision agree to that? Stay tuned! Most of the action comes in the Captain America flashback, which is more than satisfying. The framing sequences around the flashback are a lot of dialogue between the Space Phantom and the Grim Reaper towards the captive Avengers and, later, between the Reaper and the Vision. All of it makes for an interesting story. Grade: 8.0
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #157. "Veni, Vidi, Vici: Viper” - Written by Steve Englehart and Steve Gerber, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten. Cover pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten. Captain America and the Falcon battle the Viper, who has been ordered to kill them at the request of The Cowled Commander. The two heroes battle the Viper on a New York rooftop and the Viper poisons them. *Ho-hum* Yet another great issue! Action-packed from beginning to end. The dialogue was a little odd at times, but I’m guessing that it’s 70’s New York lingo. Otherwise, I loved it! Grade: 9.0
SUB-MARINER #57. “In the Lap of the Gods!" - Written and drawn by Bill Everett. Cover art by Bill Everett. Namor rescues a mysterious young woman from the elements during a wicked storm. Namorita calls upon Namor to help her look for her missing teacher, Prof. Vicki Starr. As it turns out, this missing teacher is more than meets the eye. She's Venus, Goddess of Love, and Ares, the God of War, has vowed to return her to Olympus. Fortunately, Namor helps Venus defeat Ares which allows her to stay on Earth and continue her efforts to promote peace. Continued from IRON MAN #54. Kind of a kooky little story. Unfortunately, I read this part first. After reading both books, I’m still not too sure how they’re connected. Even still, both books were enjoyable. Grade: 8.0
THOR #207. “Fire Sword!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema and Marie Severin, inks by Vince Colletta. Plot crossover with Rutland stories in AMAZING ADVENTURES #16 and Justice League of America #103 (DC Comics). The Bullpen staff was penciled by Marie Severin from John Buscema layouts. Finished art by Vince Colletta. Gil Kane/Joe Sinnott cover. Rutland, VT was really a hotspot in the early 70s. Some really cool adventures took place in that town. It’s almost become a character unto itself. Originally, I thought that it was a fictitious place, but quick research revealed an interesting truth. I remember the town from an AVENGERS story and, later, the Defenders in MARVEL FEATURE. I had no idea that DC Comics used this town, as well. Pretty cool. Also “pretty cool” was the battle between Thor and the Absorbing Man and Loki. The use of the town piqued my curiosity so much that I read the JLA story and included it in this month’s reactions. Grade: 8.5
Justice League of America #103. “A Stranger Walks Among Us!” - Written by Len Wein, pencils by Dick Dillin, inks by Dick Giordano. Cover art by Nick Cardy. Phantom Stranger was invited to join the Justice League. This story takes place in Rutland, Vt. NOTE: This story is part of a trilogy revolving around Rutland, Vermont's Halloween parade hosted by Tom Fagan. MARVEL COMICS printed two stories during this time which were also located in Rutland, Vermont. They are THOR #207 and AMAZING ADVENTURES #16. Further, a number of the parade goers are dressed up in costumes of superheroes that were not part of DC Comics Earth-One continuity. Aside from the Earth-Two (JSA) and Earth-S (Shazam) costumes, there were reasonable facsimiles of popular MARVEL COMICS characters. They included: "Commando America", based on Captain America, "Thunder God" based on Marvel's Thor, An unnamed arachnid character resembling Spider-Man. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to read this and I’m glad that I did. A really enjoyable tale featuring very thinly veiled Marvel analogs. I enjoyed this “crossover” far more than I thought that I would. Grade: 8.0
• CHAMBER OF CHILLS #2
• CRYPT OF SHADOWS #1
• MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #40
• MONSTER MADNESS #1 (B&W Magazine)
• SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #8
• TEX DAWSON, GUN-SLINGER #1
• TWO-GUN KID #108
• WAR IS HELL #1
Welp! That's the first half of the month. See you guys next week for the second. Until then, take care.
___________________________________________________________________
***Part 1 OF OCTOBER 1972 WAS POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON JUNE 27, 2020***
Hey, everyone. Here are my thoughts on the second half of the October 1972 books.
On sale October 17, 1972
AMAZING ADVENTURES #16. "And the Juggernaut Will Get You... If You Don't Watch Out!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Marie Severin and Bob Brown, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Frank Giacoia. On the way to their friend Tom Fagan in Rutland, Vermont, Marvel Bullpen members Roy Thomas, his wife Jeannie, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, and his wife Glynis are startled into a stop when the Beast jumps into the path of their car. Beast darts into the woods where he changes back into his civilian guise of Hank McCoy and reunites with his old girlfriend Vera Cantor to tell her that he managed to flag down a car to finish their trip. Exiting the woods, they introduce themselves to the drivers and manage to hitch a ride with them at least to Rutland. As they drive off, a portal appears, and out pops the Juggernaut who is exhilarated that he is back on Earth. Juggernaut attacks Beast. This has been a pretty uneven series, but it’s never been dreadful. Much like this issue. I’ve never got the sense that the Beast would be able to take on the Juggernaut and win. Especially, since his mutating seems to have stabilized to the level he was in the Avengers. (SN: he said that his fur was black, not blue. So, once again, blue highlights have turned black into blue) Anyway, a solid, if not spectacular, issue. Grade: 7.0
CONAN THE BARBARIAN #22. Despite the new Barry Windsor-Smith cover, this issue actually reprints “The Coming of Conan” from issue #1, written by Roy Thomas, with pencils by Windsor-Smith, and inks by Dan Adkins. Cover art by Barry Windsor-Smith. Conan battles at Vanaheim and sees his future. Tara returns to her dimension. Also, in this issue: previously unpublished Windsor-Smith pin-up.
LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #5. "Don't Mess with Black Mariah!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by George Tuska, inks by Billy Graham. Graham cover. Martin Lawrence's "Big Momma" has got nothing on the newest crime boss Black Mariah. Luke Cage has his hands full with 800 lbs. of fighting mad woman. So, Black Mariah, huh? I don’t quite know what to make of her. The character is dripping with stereotypes. Her dialogue was nearly unreadable. I wasn’t sure if it was broken English or some type of Caribbean dialect. The Aunt Jemima look didn’t help either. Amazingly enough, the story was entertaining enough to keep me from hating it. Grade: 6.5
MARVEL FEATURE #6. "Paranoia is the Para-Man!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Pencils by Craig Russell. Inks by Dan Adkins and Mark Kersey. Cover by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott. It's an off-beat tale as Ant-Man and the Wasp (both still stuck at insect size) are captured by an eccentric man and his robotic creation, Para-Man! But oddly enough, it's the robot who is calling the shots, and thus the parameters are set! The first thing that I took note of was the art team. Russell and Adkins are both great artists and what they turned in was really good. But, honestly, seeing those two made me think that I was about to see something truly amazing. It fell short of that, but it was still very satisfying. More than the story, at least. Not a bad story, at all, but a bit bland. Grade: 6.5
MARVEL TEAM-UP #6. "As Those Who Will Not See!" - Written by Gerry Conway. Pencils by Gil Kane. Inks by Mike Esposito. Cover by Gil Kane, Mike Esposito, and Frank Giacoia. Spider-Man and the Thing battle the Puppet Master and the Thinker. Origin of the Puppet Master. A follow-up, if not the conclusion, to the last issue. It was a pretty standard story, but what stuck out to me was how this book, sort of, mended fences between Spidey and the superhero community. Up to this point, almost everyone, including other heroes, always looked at Spidey as some kind of villain or they just weren’t sure. Here, Spidey reassesses his opinion of Ben Grimm and the rest of the FF. A very small part of the story, no doubt, but it made me think about how the rest of the Marvel Universe sees him later and why the opinions changed. Grade: 6.5
NIGHT NURSE #2. “Night of Tears... Night of Truth!" - Written by Jean Thomas, pencils by Win Mortimer, inks by Win Mortimer and Frank Giacoia. Cover pencils by John Romita, inks by Frank Giacoia. Linda and Christine care for hit-and-run victim Betsy Greeley, who later dies. Christine becomes involved with Betsy's doctor, William Sutton, but soon discovers his criminal practices, which he pressures her to conceal. Linda meets resident Dr. Jack Tryon. Christine eventually realizes she must reveal that Dr. Sutton is the driver who killed Betsy Greeley. Another soap opera-ish issue. Oddly enough, I found myself rather engaged, lol!!! What is happening to me?!?!! 😂😂 Pretty good art from Win Mortimer....whoever he is. 😏 Grade: 6.5
RED WOLF #5. “The Man Who Gunned Down Red Wolf!” - Written by Gardner Fox and Roy Thomas, art by Syd Shores and Chic Stone. Cover by Gil Kane. A wealthy man hires Fast John Silver to kill Red Wolf so that he can steal land that belongs to a Cheyenne tribe that has the water supply he needs. I think I’m beginning to understand why this book failed. At least, one of the reasons why, anyway. There are never any multi-part storylines. Just simple, formulaic stories like the ones that the Western comics of this time reprint. While I loved those tales, they seem a bit out of place in this era of comics. Still, the stories are enjoyable, but nothing epic. Grade: 6.5
• MY LOVE #21
• RAWHIDE KID #107
• RINGO KID #18
• SPOOF #3
On sale October 24, 1972
CAPTAIN MARVEL #24. “Death in High Places!" - Written by Marv Wolfman, pencils by Wayne Boring, inks by Ernie Chan (as "Ernie Chua"). Gil Kane cover pencils. Captain Marvel battles Dr. Mynde, the Android-Man. Thankfully, Mike Friedrich and Jim Starlin take over next issue. These bland stories since the end of the hiatus symbolize the entire series up to this point. A bunch of decent stories, at best, that had some good moments, but never amounted to a great series. This issue was no different. Grade: 6.0
THE CAT #2. "The Owl and the Pussycat!!" - Written by Linda Fite, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by Jim Mooney. John Romita Sr. cover? It's a Chicago skyline battle as the Cat goes claw-to-talon with Daredevil's enemy, The Owl! This book is actually rather good after two issues. The writing felt a little “choppy” at times, but overall, I like it. One other thing: This issue and the last talked about Greer Grant being a student of science. Yet, nothing about her as Tigra suggested that she was scientifically inclined. Just a thought that ran through my mind. Grade: 7.5
CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #21. New story: “Two Worlds to Win!” featuring Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars. Written by George Alec Effinger. Art by Gray Morrow. Art by Joe Sinnott. Cover by Jim Steranko. Reprint: “I Was a Prisoner of the Martians!” Written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. Art by Larry Lieber and Matt Fox. A bullying director is kidnapped by Martians using the science fiction movie he's filming as a cover. Reprint: “The Green Thing!” A psychic alien plant lands on Earth and torments a human to prove its power, but it is eaten by a crow. The Gullivar Jones story has concluded. A very uneven series, for me, mainly because, even though it’s more of a sci-fi tale, it felt more like a “sword without the sorcery” series. The last two issues featured great artwork by Gray Morrow and that’s all I’ve really got. I didn’t hate the series because it started well, but it deteriorated into the doldrums. A decent finale, though. Next up: Thongor!!! Grade: 6.5
FANTASTIC FOUR #130. "Battleground: The Baxter Building!" - Written by Roy Thomas. Pencils by John Buscema. Inks by Joe Sinnott. Cover by Jim Steranko and Joe Sinnott. The Wizard basks in the glow of the Frightful Four's triumph over Medusa and Ben Grimm! And now the fearsome foursome set their sights on their next targets: Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl! Inside the Baxter Building, the final showdown takes place: Reed, Sue, Ben, and Medusa vs. the Sandman, Trapster, Wizard, and Thundra! Will the Fantastic Four survive? Meanwhile, the Human Torch arrives in Attilan, but he can't find Crystal. Where is the Inhumans' elemental? Johnny will have to outmaneuver Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton to find out! I thoroughly enjoyed this mainly because of Thundra. I’ve always loved that character. Another great FF tale. Grade: 9.0
THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #1. "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein!" - Written by Gary Friedrich, early classic artwork, and cover by Mike Ploog. Marvel begins its own unique take on the Frankenstein mythos by, in essence, continuing the Mary Shelley story--beginning with the discovery of the monster frozen in ice and bringing it back to life! An interesting tale set in the late 1800s. I couldn’t help thinking, though, since the Monster will, eventually, make an appearance in MARVEL TEAM-UP, how will they bring it to “modern” times? 🤔😂 Ploog’s best work to date, in my opinion. Grade: 7.5
KULL THE CONQUEROR #6. "The Lurker Beneath the Earth" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by John Severin. John Severin cover. Kull travels to the buried city of Qar to kill a creature that is poisoning Valusia’s water. *Sigh* Yet another tale about an ancient city that has a giant creature (this time a worm) protecting it. I am honestly thinking about dropping both KULL and CONAN after I finish the 1972 books. I still haven’t decided yet. For the millionth time, this just isn’t my thing. I’ve been hot and cold with both books. Some stories have been fairly good while I struggle to get through others; much like this one. Maybe I’m just not sophisticated enough to appreciate these books. I love the artwork in both, but the stories are too up and down for me. Grade: 5.5
MARVEL PREMIERE #6. “The Shambler from the Sea” - Written by Gardner F. Fox, pencils by Frank Brunner, inks by Sal Buscema. Cover art by Mike Ploog and Frank Giacoia (alterations). Strange kills Sligguth, which wakens Shambler from the Sea, N'Gabthoth. Clea and Wong are overcome by the Starksboro cult. Strange frees them from sacrifice to N’Gabthoth and discovers a map of Stonehenge. Featuring concepts created by Robert E. Howard. Dr. Strange is a character that I’ve always liked, but mostly as a guest star or as a member of the Defenders. I’ve never been overly crazy about his solo series until I read his STRANGE TALES stories, as well as his Vol. 1 tales. This story has had its ups and downs and I’m happy that the Starksboro tale is done. While it had some great moments, it wasn’t a great story. Grade: 7.0
TOMB OF DRACULA #6. "The Moorlands Monster!" - Written by Gardner F. Fox. Art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. Cover by Neal Adams. Dracula will soon learn that there be things that even a vampire fears when he ventures into the dark, foreboding moors! A really cool story that kept me wanting more. This series keeps getting better. I truly did not expect to enjoy this book. Grade: 8.0
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #3. “The Mystery of The Mad Monk!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Father Ramon Joquez, who was studying the Darkhold for Jack, is possessed by Aelfric who was trapped in the Darkhold. A little bit better this issue. I always tend to have issues with characters that don’t speak. The first-person narrative helps this tremendously. I’ve still yet to be “wowed” by Ploog and I suspect that it has to do with his inkers because, when he inked himself in FRANKENSTEIN #1, his art was exceptionally good! Grade: 7.0
• LIL PALS #3
• SGT FURY #106
23 books graded out to a 7.32 average (I did not include the JLA story in the average). Seems like the first half of the month was much better than the second. Lots of high scores last week. This week…quite a few 6.5s. Still, some very strong stories for the month as a whole. Next month, two particularly important debuts. A certain Norse woman on a winged horse and…a mad Titan. As always, thanks for the support. Let me know what you liked and didn’t like. Until next time, take care, everyone.
Grading Chart:
• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Very Good
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed on
Books of the Month:
1. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #157
2. FANTASTIC FOUR #130
3. THOR #207
4. IRON MAN #54
5. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #116
Covers of the Month:
1. CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #21
2. TEX DAWSON, GUN-SLINGER #1
3. RED WOLF #5
4. IRON MAN #54
5. CHAMBER OF CHILLS #2
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Post by Myke Gee on Jan 30, 2023 16:32:04 GMT -5
***ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON JULY 4, 2020*** NOVEMBER 1972
(Cover Date: February 1972) Good morning, everyone. This week, I’ll give my thoughts on the entire month of November 1972. There were 20 books that I read this month. So, I figure that this review won’t be as long as the months of 20+ books. So, here are my thoughts. On sale October 31, 1972
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #96. “The Widow Will Make You Pay!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Ernie Chan [as Ernie Chua]. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Palmer. With DD in the hospital suffering from a bullet wound administered by Man-Bull's flunky, the Widow takes on the villain on her own. When folks start arriving at the hospital transformed into man-bulls by a tainted water supply, DD pulls himself together and takes down Man-Bull. “Daredevil could beat the Man-Bull with one arm tied behind his back!”, said no one ever! LOL!! Well, if someone did, we have proof that it’s true.....sort of. With a bullet wound to his shoulder, DD earns his “Man Without Fear” title in this issue. Fortunately, it’s the Man-Bull, who isn’t too bright, lol!!! Grade: 7.0INCREDIBLE HULK #160. “Nightmare in Niagara Falls!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover by Trimpe and Trapani. The Hulk tracks Betty and Talbot to Niagara Falls where they are celebrating their honeymoon. Tiger Shark, who is also hiding out at the Falls, attacks Hulk thinking he is working with the Sub-Mariner. A no holds barred brawl between the two. Tiger Shark is one of my favorite villains. So, it was a whole lot of fun watching him mix it up with ol’ Jade Jaws! Grade: 8.5IRON MAN #55. "Beware the Blood Brothers!" - Written by Jim Starlin. Art by Jim Starlin and Mike Esposito. Cover by Jim Starlin and Joe Sinnott. One of the landmark Marvel issues of the Bronze Age. Drax the Destroyer is a prisoner of Thanos at the evil Titan's Earth fortress. In an effort to escape, Drax telepathically reaches out to Tony Stark for assistance. But, before Iron Man can come to the rescue, Shell-Head is ambushed by the Blood Brothers! Can Drax and the golden avenger defeat the Blood Brothers and Thanos? First appearance of Thanos. Also, the first appearances of Drax the Destroyer, Starfox (in a flashback), and Mentor. So, this one, of course, I’ve read a few times. My first exposure to Thanos, Captain Marvel, and the whole Starlin space opera was in WARLOCK #11. Bought it off the rack and it was pretty heady stuff for a 9-year old. lol! Once I read the reprinted issue in the early 80s, I was a bit more mature and capable of processing what I read. This first chapter was great then and now. Grade: 9.0• CHILI #21
• KID COLT OUTLAW #167
• MILLIE THE MODEL #200
• MONSTERS ON THE PROWL #21
• OUTLAW KID #14
• SHIELD #1
• WYATT EARP #32On sale November 7, 1972 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #117. "The Deadly Designs of the Disruptor" continues reprinting pages from "Lo, This Monster" in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 (1968)--see comments on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #116 for details. However, there is quite a bit of new material here by scripter Gerry Conway, penciler John Romita Sr., and inkers Romita, Jim Mooney, and Tony Mortellaro. New cover by Romita. A very solid story continues this issue. I need to go back and read the B&W version. The Disruptor seems like a fairly good villain. He’s a maniac, lol!! Fun read. Grade: 8.5AVENGERS #108. "Check and Mate!" – Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Don Heck. Inks by Dave Cockrum and Joe Sinnott. Cover by Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott. In a shocking development, the Vision accepts the Grim Reaper's offer! How could the synthezoid avenger betray his teammates?! Perhaps the Vision along with Captain America has an ulterior motive to trick Eric Williams! The two avengers successfully fool the Grim Reaper, but not the Space Phantom! In the strange alien's headquarters, Earth's Mightiest Heroes fight to the finish vs. the Reaper, the Phantom, and the hordes of Hydra! An action-packed issue! A fast-paced page-turner!! Grade: 9.0CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #158. "The Crime Wave Breaks!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten. Cover pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Frank Giacoia. It's Round 2 for the Falcon and the Viper. This time, the antidote for the Viper's poison is a swift kick to the face. Captain America gains super-strength. Englehart is killing it on this title. Fast-paced and fun superheroics. I’ve been eagerly anticipating the next chapter of this story. Grade: 9.0DOC SAVAGE #3. "Death in Silver” - Written by Steve Englehart and art by Ross Andru and Tom Palmer. Jim Steranko cover. Part one of an adaptation of the Kenneth Robeson novel of the same name in which Doc and his team battle the Silver Death's Heads gang. This issue is mostly Doc kicking tail and taking names. My favorite issue, so far. Andru and Palmer make a really good team. I’ve never seen this pairing before. Grade: 8.0SUB-MARINER #58. "Hands Across the Water, Hands Across the Skies” - Written by Bill Everett and Steve Gerber, pencils by Sam Kweskin and Bill Everett, inks by Bill Everett. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Bill Everett. Namor returns to Atlantis and defeats a roaming Haab monster. He meets with Vashti and is introduced to Tamara Rahn and her cause. The Atlanteans help repair her spaceship and send her on her way. Unfortunately, she turns her ship's weapons on Atlantis forcing a confrontation with Namor. Namor subdues her and destroys her ship. Tamara throws herself at the mercy of Vashti and is put in the guardianship of Namor. From the moment I first saw Tamara Rahn in SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP, I was intrigued by her. A red woman with blonde hair made for a unique and striking visual. Now, my curiosity about her, origin, powers, and abilities have sated. Really cool character. Grade: 8.5THOR #208. "The Fourth-Dimensional Man!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Frank Giacoia. Thor and Hildegarde return to Avengers Mansion to think about what they must do. Meanwhile, Mr. Sarron returns to Don Blake's office and transforms himself into Mercurio by absorbing the ambient energy leftover from all of Blake’s transformations into Thor, but there is not enough energy, and he partly materializes. Passing over his old office, Thor notices a light inside and investigates, only to be attacked by Mercurio. While in Avengers Mansion, the Warriors Three notice the battle on a monitor and go to help Thor. When they arrive, they begin to attack, but don't notice that Thor is gone. I’ve always loved Mercurio’s look. A great design. Yet, this is the first story that I’ve ever read with him. His powers remind me of Equinox and Martinex. A great battle between him and the Thunder God. I genuinely enjoyed this issue. Grade: 9.0 • MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #9
• VAULT OF EVIL #1
• X-MEN #80On Sale November 14, 1972 ASTONISHING TALES #16. “To Stalk a City!” - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Rich Buckler (pages 1-15) and John Buscema [uncredited] (pages 16-31), inks by Chic Stone and Al Milgrom (backgrounds on page 1). Cover pencils by Rich Buckler and Gil Kane (pages forming the background), inks by Frank Giacoia and Tom Sutton (pages forming the background). Ka-Zar defeats The Pusher and helps to save Vinnie's life. Dr. Calvin wakes up and is relieved to find out that her son is with her and is a hero. As I said about the last issue, Ka-Zar is slowly winning me over. He’s a character that I liked best as a guest star. Yet, “Ka-Zar’s New York Adventure” shows a strong lead character in a really good story. Grade: 8.0CONAN THE BARBARIAN #23. “The Shadow of the Vulture” - Written by Roy Thomas, pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith, inks by Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins, and Chic Stone. Cover art by Gil Kane. Conan delivers a message from Makkalet to Pah-Disha. Red Sonja saves Conan's life twice. Conan kills Mikhal Oglu (vulture) and sends his head to Yezdigerd. Adapted from the non-Conan story by Robert E. Howard featuring the first appearance of Red Sonja. Well, it appears that even the debut of Red Sonja wasn’t enough to make me love this book. Maybe I’m missing the steel bikini. 😏 Again, I’m struggling to get into this current Makkalet/Turan story. It has its moments, but not enough of them. Grade: 6.5FEAR #12. “No Choice of Colors!" - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Rich Buckler. Cover pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Herb Trimpe. Wallace Corlee the hateful, racist sheriff of Topequa, Florida, pursues a black man named Mark Jackson into the swamplands outside of town. Corlee shoots Jackson in the shoulder, but the refugee manages to evade capture until he finally collapses from exhaustion. When he revives he finds the Man-Thing standing in front of him. He tells the Man-Thing that the sheriff framed him for burglary and is chasing him because Mark was romantically involved with a white woman. Wow! Straight out of today’s headlines. This one was interesting on so many levels. It touches on a subject that’s still relevant 48 years later. It features an all-star cast of creators. More importantly, it’s the second issue that is making me rethink my opinion of Gerber. Grade: 9.0GUNHAWKS #3. “Massacre at Medicine Creek!” - Written by Gary Friedrich. Pencils by Dick Ayers. Inks by Jack Abel. Cover by Syd Shores. The title says it all. Reno and the Kid get separated as U.S. troops slaughter the majority of Native Americans living in a small village. Reno is taken prisoner for trying to stop the carnage and the Kid tries to stay alive among the survivors. Not a bad story at all. Also, a rare two-part Western. Looking forward to the next issue. Grade: 7.5LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #6. "Knights and White Satin!" - Written by Steve Englehart and Gerry Conway, pencils by Billy Graham, inks by Paul Reinman. Graham cover. Two beautiful sisters come to hire Luke Cage to find out why someone is trying to murder their father. But why would anybody want to murder a man who will be dead in a week anyway? This one felt a little rushed. First, there’s this big mystery. The next minute, mystery solved and, honestly, you can see the answer a mile away. Grade: 6.5SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #2. “The Invisible Man” - Written by H. G. Wells (Original Story) and Ron Goulart (Adaptation), pencils by Dan Adkins (layouts) and Val Mayerik (pencils), inks by Dan Adkins. Cover art by Jim Steranko. Adapted from the novel by H. G. Wells, a scientist creates the means to turn himself invisible. Much better than the “It” adaptation. Although I’ve never read H.G. Wells’ novel, aside from obvious reasons, I can tell that this was a condensed version of the book, but I’m guessing that it hit all the “high notes” to make its point. Although, I never quite understood why this story is a part of the horror genre or why it’s in a book called SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS. Even still, rather a good issue. Grade: 8.0• COMBAT KELLY #5
• MARVEL TALES #41
• RAWHIDE KID #108On sale November 21, 1972 DEFENDERS #4. “The New Defender!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover pencils by John Buscema and Jim Starlin (cover layout), inks by Frank Giacoia. Enchantress transforms Barbara into the Valkyrie and turns the Black Knight to stone. Valkyrie takes Aragorn as her horse. Omegatron down to 89 hundredths. A great month for super-teams as the Avengers, FF, and, now, the Defenders all feature excellent stories. Grade: 9.0FANTASTIC FOUR #131. "Revolt in Paradise!" - Written by Roy Thomas. Pencils by Ross Andru. Inks by Joe Sinnott. Cover by Jim Steranko and Joe Sinnott. A fighting-mad Human Torch busts into the Great Refuge's barricaded tower looking for Crystal! Johnny Storm finds her all right...and then finds the biggest shock of his life: Quicksilver! What is the mutant speedster doing in Attilan? And in the company of Crystal? Cooler heads don't prevail, and suddenly it's the Human Torch vs. Quicksilver! But a powerful earthquake rocks Attilan and halts the heroes’ fight! The Inhumans proceed to round up the usual suspect, Maximus, and press him for answers. But Black Bolt's brother doesn't seem to be the enemy this time...it's the Alpha Primitives and Omega! How Quicksilver and Crystal got together is something that I always wondered. The revelation was not a disappointment, at all. Plus, I got a brief hero vs hero battle. This is probably, for me, the most interesting Quicksilver has ever been outside of the Avengers/Wundagore Mountain story. Grade: 8.5MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #8. “The Hordes of Hell” - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Jim Mooney. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Ghost Rider and Crash are transported to Hell to fight one another. Satan sends demons to help Crash. Also, Ghost Rider puts his demonic powers against the magical Native American, Snake-Dance. Two stories in one, actually, as the Crash Simpson/Satan storyline that began in SPOTLIGHT #6 concludes in the first half of the book and the Snake-Dance story begins in the second half. Overall, it’s a good issue. Grade: 7.0SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #2. “The Sahara Connection!" - Written by Carole Seuling, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover art by Jim Steranko. Shanna is asked by Jakuna Singh to stop a notorious slaver and drug dealer named El Montano. A fast-paced story that kept me intrigued. Interesting that she allowed her pet leopards to kill a man. I see that Shanna and the Cat are a new breed of heroines. Grade: 7.5WARLOCK #4. "Come Sing a Searing Song of Vengeance!" - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Sutton. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Joe Sinnott. One of Warlock’s friends meets a tragic end at the hands of the New Man, Triax. Colonel Roberts gets involved in Warlock’s battle with the New Men, but soon wishes he hadn’t. A shocking conclusion no reader will expect! Cameo by Counter-Earth's Victor Von Doom. What intrigues me the most about this series is how different it is from the Starlin series that follows a couple of years later. This Warlock is more of an adult child with a messiah complex. It makes for an interesting read, at times, like with this issue. This series has gotten better as it has gone along, in my opinion. Grade: 7.5Lots of really good stuff this month. A lot of high scores. The 20 books average just over 8.07. This made for a tough time ranking the Top 5 Books of the Month. However, it’s a great problem to have. Also, if anyone is wondering why there is no grade for SHIELD #1, that’s because it’s a reprint from STRANGE TALES and SHIELD VOL. 1. Next month, we get two hero vs hero battles, Hawkeye ditches that monstrosity of a costume, a hero’s tenure in a book ends and Starlin begins on CAPTAIN MARVEL!!! As always, thanks for the support. Let me know what you liked and didn’t like. Until next week, take care. Grading Chart:• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Very Good
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed onTop 5 Books of the Month:1. FEAR #12
2. IRON MAN #55
3. AVENGERS #108
4. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #158
5. DEFENDERS #4Top 5 Covers of the Month: 1. ASTONISHING TALES #16
2. SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #2
3. DEFENDERS #4
4. SHANNA, THE SHE-DEVIL #2
5. FANTASTIC FOUR #131 |
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Post by Myke Gee on Feb 1, 2023 13:47:42 GMT -5
***ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON JULY 11, 2020***
DECEMBER 1972
(Cover Date: March 1973) So, I’ve reached the end of another year in Marvel Comics’ history. Hard to believe that I’ve read the first 12 years of the Marvel Universe from the iconic FANTASTIC FOUR #1. I was going to split this one into two weeks, but honestly, I’m ready to take a break. So, please forgive me for this long post. Anyway, here are my thoughts on this month’s books. On sale November 28, 1972 DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #97. “He Who Saves” - Written by Gerry Conway (plot) and Steve Gerber, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Ernie Chan (as Ernie Chua). Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Frank Giacoia. A young street performer meets with an accident and is transformed by a mysterious figure into the super-powerful Dark Messiah. The Messiah breaks a gang of kids out of prison, leads them to Golden Gate Park, and erects a force field so that no one can get in. DD gets involved and makes it through the force field, but the power of the Messiah is too much and Hornhead goes down. I remember the Messiah from a few issues later. My dad gave me that book and it was the coolest thing ever to an eight-year-old. So, now I’ve read his first appearance and I still think that he’s pretty cool. Grade: 8.0INCREDIBLE HULK #161. “Beyond the Border Lurks Death!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. The Hulk stumbles across a remote cabin in Canada where Hank McCoy is trying to cure the Mimic of a condition that is making his powers go out of control. The heroes fight and Mimic temporarily absorbs the gamma radiation out of the Hulk, turning him back to Banner, but possibly killing the Mimic in the process. Alright!!! Another hero vs hero fight! My favorite! Only, this time....it lacked something. The Beast is a....perplexing character to me. I loved him in the Avengers and he was interesting enough in the X-Men. However, as a solo feature or guest star (such as in MTU), he’s kinda boring. Same thing here. Even in a weakened state, the Hulk was more than a match for him. I’m starting to re-examine the character’s worth to a team. In the X-Men, he was the strong guy, but not extraordinarily strong. He definitely wasn’t the strong guy in the Avengers. Heck, even the Valkyrie was stronger than him in the Defenders. Anyway, I’m straying away from my reaction to this story. It was good to see the Mimic again. The Hulk/Beast battle was hardly Hulk/Thing 4, but satisfying enough, I guess. Grade: 7.0IRON MAN #56. “Rasputin's Revenge!" - Written by Steve Gerber. Art by Jim Starlin and Mike Esposito. It's science vs. magic. How can Iron Man hope to defeat a being that is all the evils of mankind rolled up into one destructive entity? Doctor Strange cameo. Kinda goofy (as it was probably intended to be), but a fun tale as Iron Man battles an animated statue brought to life by a crazy old magical Dr. Sivanna knock-off called Rasputin. Starlin’s artwork helped this to be a fun read. Grade: 8.0• KID COLT OUTLAW #168
• MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #35
• MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN #23
• WAR IS HELL #2
• WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #14
• WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #20On Sale December 5, 1972 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #118. "Countdown to Chaos" concludes the storyline that reprints pages from "Lo, This Monster" in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 (1968). However, there is also new material here written by Gerry Conway, penciled by John Romita Sr., and inked by Romita, Jim Mooney, and Tony Mortellaro. New cover by Romita. Yeah, I’ve definitely got to check out the original story. While the ending was what I predicted it would be, it was still a highly entertaining story. Grade: 8.5AVENGERS #109. "The Measure of a Man!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Don Heck. Inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover by John Buscema and Sal Buscema. Hawkeye feels restless in his current stint with the Avengers because the Scarlet Witch has declared her affection for the Vision. The ace archer decides to leave the Fifth Avenue mansion and shortly thereafter bumps into a man called Champion. He's a 9-foot tall multi-millionaire that wants Clint Barton to teach him the sport of archery! Hawkeye agrees and the duo departs for California to begin training. Everything with the archery instruction is going smoothly, but perhaps a little too smoothly! Especially when Hawkeye discovers Champion's diabolical plot to bomb the San Andreas Fault! Fortunately, though, the remaining avengers decide to check up on their teammate...and just in the nick of time! Earth's Mightiest Heroes clash on the coast to dethrone the Champion! One thing that I’ve loved about this project is discovering “new” characters that I’ve never seen before. As far as I knew, Champion was a 9-foot-tall alien with long hair. I found this guy just as interesting, if not more. Good to see Hawkeye get the spotlight and ditch that horrible costume. Grade: 8.0CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #159. "Turning Point” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten. Cover pencils by Sal Buscema. Still sick from the effects of the Viper's venom, Steven Rogers gets kidnapped by NYPD Sgt. Brian Muldoon and his patrol partner Bob Courtney. Because Rogers has disappeared several times on patrol for missions as Captain America, they believe him to be a criminal; maybe The Cowled Commander. Cap breaks free as his strength has greatly increased. He changes into Captain America and he and the Falcon go to confront the super-powered crime wave. So, as 1972 closes, it’s pretty obvious that my book of the year is CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON. Hard as that is for me to believe, it’s been consistently good to great all year. Not one mediocre to bad issue; including this one. Grade: 9.0SUB-MARINER #59. "Thunder Over the Seas” - Written by Bill Everett and Steve Gerber, pencils by Sam Kweskin, inks by John Tartaglione. Cover inks by Bill Everett and Marie Severin (alterations). A pompous and arrogant Atlantean soldier, Lorvex, makes a pass at Tamara who rebukes his advances. She's later caught in a fishing net and eventually brought to New York City. Namor learns of her capture and makes his way there only to be challenged by Thor. Namor engages Thor and quickly learns the full power of the Thunder God. Namor returns home to ponder a full-scale invasion of the surface world. Yes! Unlike the Hulk/Beast battle, this one was a bit more satisfying. Thor appears to be the #2 in the strength department of the Marvel Universe. In these days, I’m not sure how I would rank the Thing, Namor, and Hercules. Anyway, Tamara Rahn seems like she’s going to be an interesting addition to the book. Unfortunately, with issue #60 coming next month, there are only a handful of issues left before the cancellation. Well, I’m here until the wheels fall off. Grade: 8.0THOR #209. "Warriors in the Night!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Joe Sinnott. Thor is in England searching for Sif, when the Demon Druid awakens, and begins tearing a path through the town. Thor tries to stop him, but the Druid is too powerful. One of the police officers discovers that the Druid is not attacking anyone, he is only acting in self-defense. When the Druid gets to Stonehenge, he is transported home. I only vaguely remember hearing the name Demon Druid. He’s pretty cool and I’d love to see him again. Overall, a fantastic issue. Grade: 9.0• BEWARE #1
• CHAMBER OF CHILLS #3
• CRYPT OF SHADOWS #2
• MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS #41
• SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #9
• TWO-GUN KID #109On sale December 12, 1972 AMAZING ADVENTURES #17. "Birth of the Beast!" - Written by Arnold Drake, pencils by Arnold Roth, inks by John Verpoorten and John Tartaglione. The Beast origin reprinted, plus two new pages written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Jim Starlin, and inks by Mike Esposito. The reprinted material includes pages from the backup stories in X-MEN #49-53. Guest starring the original X-Men. Last Beast story in AMAZING ADVENTURES. New Jim Starlin/Frank Giacoia cover. No point in grading reprints. Next issue: the debut of Killraven!!! (Salivating! 😅) Grade: N/ACONAN THE BARBARIAN #24. “The Song of Red Sonja” - Written by Roy Thomas, pencils by Barry Windsor-Smith. Cover art by Barry Windsor-Smith. Conan and Red Sonja start a barfight, bathe in a fountain, scale temple walls, break in and steal a snake-tiara, and fight a magical snake. In the end, Sonja tricks Conan and leaves for Pah-Disha. The Red Sonja story continues in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #1. Final Windsor-Smith art on this title. More than likely, my final issue of this title. While this was a fine issue, my hot and cold tolerance of this title has run its course. One of the things that kept me here was Smith’s art. Now that he’s gone, I just don’t see the point. Grade: 8.0LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #7. "Jingle Bombs!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by George Tuska, inks by Billy Graham. Cover by Graham. Can Luke Cage stop a madman from ruining Christmas in New York before it's too late? An odd little tale about a disillusioned maniac set on starting World War III. Interestingly enough, we never learn who he is. Grade: 7.0MARVEL FEATURE #8. "Prelude to Disaster!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Pencils by Craig Russell and Jim Starlin. Inks by Jimmy Janes. Cover by Jim Starlin and Mike Esposito. At the end of the last issue, Janet Pym was transformed from her normal self into a grotesque-looking wasp! And now she's in hot pursuit of Ant-Man! As Henry Pym scampers away from his mutated wife, his mind wanders back to how it all began in TALES TO ASTONISH #44. (Notes: This issue features 3 pages of new art. The remainder of the issue reprints TALES TO ASTONISH #44 the origin of the Wasp. Written by Ernie Hart. Pencils by Jack Kirby. Inks by Don Heck.) Although the framing sequences are new, this is essentially a reprint, which I don’t grade. As much as I enjoyed the 60s comics, the early 60s stuff, outside of FANTASTIC FOUR and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, were, at times, difficult reads. It didn’t help that Hank and Jan just weren’t strong enough characters to support their own book, as their eventual ousting from this series will further prove. Grade: N/AMARVEL TEAM-UP #7. “A Hitch in Time!" - Written by Gerry Conway. Pencils by Ross Andru. Inks by Jim Mooney. Cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. Spider-Man and Thor battle Kryllk, the Asgardian troll, in a battle that takes our heroes from the asteroid belt to majestic Asgard! Pretty standard fare with this one. Although, the “heroes meet then battle” aspect was avoided this issue. Thankfully! What made this a bit lackluster was the villain, Kryllk the Cruel. He’s so generic, I almost forgot his name two panels later. Grade: 6.5NIGHT NURSE #3. “Murder Stalks Ward 8!” - Written by Jean Thomas, art by Win Mortimer. Cover art by Win Mortimer. Linda becomes involved in danger when a mob war breaks out in the city. Crime boss Victor Sloan is admitted to the hospital and Linda and Dr. Tryon save him from hired killers. Georgia's brother Ben is convicted for his part in the extortion plot in issue #1. I feel a bit....strange. Nauseated, even. Why? BECAUSE I’M ENJOYING NIGHT NURSE MORE THAN RED WOLF, LOL!!! For a comic book soap opera, this book keeps the action coming. Good issue. Grade: 7.5RED WOLF #6. “Night of the Demon Rider!” - Written by Gardner Fox and Roy Thomas, art by Syd Shores and Jack Abel. Cover by Syd Shores. Demon Mask wishes to stir up trouble between the Cheyenne and the soldiers of Fort Rango for his own purposes until he is exposed by Red Wolf. Pretty standard “whodunit”. I’m more curious about the next issue as the setting shifts to “present-day” Marvel. Grade: 6.5• MY LOVE #22
• RAWHIDE KID #109
• RINGO KID #19
• SPOOF #4On sale December 19, 1972 CAPTAIN MARVEL #25. "A Taste of Madness!" - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Jim Starlin (first work on the series), inks by Chic Stone. Cover pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Joe Sinnott. In an elaborate scheme of the Skrulls and their mysterious Masterlord, Super-Skrull, and Kl'rt, Rick Jones is framed for the murder of Dr. Benjamin Savannah and brought to a run-down police precinct. Using Super-Skrulls invisibility as well as other Skrull technology, Mar-Vell and Rick are led to believe that many of his long-time friends and foes have returned and are attacking him. Rick and Mar-Vell identify the ruse, and Mar-Vell attacks the Skrulls. The building collapses in the battle and the Skrulls escape. Beginning the Starlin era. Of course, this one I’ve read a few times (although, an awfully long time since I last read it). It still holds up. Not an awesome beginning, but a very solid one. One that I still thoroughly enjoy after all these years. Grade: 8.5CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #22. “Thongor, Warrior of Lost Lemuria!" - Written by George Alec Effinger, pencils by Val Mayerik, inks by Vince Colletta. Jim Steranko cover. Based on the Lin Carter story "Thieves of Zangabal.” First comic book appearance of Thongor. Reprint: "Gundar!" with a script by Stan Lee, and art by Steve Ditko. So, in the month that I decided to be done with the whole sword and sorcery bit, CotL gives us Thongor. 🙄 Well, I read it and it was decent enough, I guess, but I think that I will hold off on reading this book until the Man-Wolf arrives. Grade: 6.5
FANTASTIC FOUR #132. "Omega! The Ultimate Enemy!" - Written by Roy Thomas. Art by John Buscema (breakdowns) and Joe Sinnott (finishes). Cover by Jim Steranko and Frank Giacoia. In the underground lair of the Alpha Primitives, the awesome Omega has seized Crystal! And now the Human Torch and Quicksilver must join forces to set her free! However, the massive android is powerful indeed! It's going to take all of the Inhumans plus Mr. Fantastic and the Thing to stop the invasion of the Alpha Primitives! Can the FF and the royal family defeat the Alphas and Omega? But even if the heroes win, Johnny Storm is still going to lose. A really good conclusion to the Alpha Primitives/Omega story. The resolution was a little hokey, but I’ve read worse. Plus, I finally got to see Johnny’s switch to the short-lived red and gold costume. Grade: 8.5THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #2. "Bride of the Monster!" - Written by Gary Friedrich, art and cover by Mike Ploog. Part re-telling of the Shelley classic, part new "Marvel" story. This one took me completely by surprise! I knew that the Monster was capable of speech, but I had no idea that it would be so eloquent. A fascinating story as a tale is told within a tale and Ploog renders that tale so beautifully. Fantastic issue! Grade: 9.5KULL THE CONQUEROR #7. "Delcardes' Cat” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Marie Severin, inks by John Severin. Adapted from the short story by Robert E. Howard. John Severin cover. Kull spends most of this issue taking counsel from a talking cat and fighting various giant creatures. As with CONAN THE BARBARIAN, beautiful artwork (by the Severins) isn’t enough to keep me with this title. Grade: 6.0MARVEL PREMIERE #7. “The Shadows of the Starstone!” - Written by Gardner F. Fox, pencils by Craig Russell, inks by Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, and David Hunt. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Henry Gordon inherits a Witch House in England and discovers his uncle's occult library. He finds sunken Kalumesh and is attacked by the demon Dagoth. The Starstone comes to life, from which writhes evil matter. Featuring concepts created by Robert E. Howard. I must confess that I’ve always been more of a fan of the idea of Dr. Strange than the stories told in his books. I’ve always found the rhyming spells kind of goofy and the bug-eyed monsters and demons that he faced to be somewhat repetitious. (Seen one demon, you’ve seen them all, lol). Even still, there have been moments of great joy reading his exploits; particularly, the early STRANGE TALES stories. This story falls somewhere in between “joy” and “meh”. Dagoth, while formidable, is just another demon, to me. Fortunately, the first part of the Witch House is interesting enough. Grade: 6.5TOMB OF DRACULA #7. "Night of the Death Stalkers!" - Written by Marv Wolfman. Art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer. Cover by Neal Adams. The harsh cold of winter descends on London and brings with it the terror known as Dracula. When the Count's enemies gather to plot his demise, Dracula attacks using the most unthinkable weapon of all - the children! First appearance of Quincy Harker. Marv Wolfman begins his epic run on this series. Still getting better and better. No need to say much else. Another great issue! Grade: 9.0WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #4. “The Danger Game!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Frank Bolle. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Joshua Kane captures Jack so he can hunt a Werewolf. Plus, Lissa learns Jack's secret. An homage to the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell. Aside from a couple of issues ago, this book has been surprisingly consistent and good. So far, the horror genre has been far more enjoyable than the sword and sorcery books. I guess, for me, it helps that these characters are a part of the Marvel Universe. Good stuff! Grade: 8.5• LI'L PALS #4
• SGT. FURY #108Grading Chart:• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Very Good
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed onWell, that’s it for 1972. As I stated earlier, I’m going to take some time off from this to get acclimated to my new home city and state. I’ll see you guys in September with my thoughts on the books published in January 1973. As always, thanks for the support. Until then, take care, everyone. Books of the Month:1. MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #2
2. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #159
3. TOMB OF DRACULA #7
4. THOR #209
5. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #118Covers of the Month:1. CONAN THE BARBARIAN #24
2. MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #2
3. CAPTAIN MARVEL #25
4. FANTASTIC FOUR #132
5. AMAZING ADVENTURES #17 |
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Post by Myke Gee on Feb 11, 2023 15:24:54 GMT -5
*** ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON SEPTEPMBER 5, 2020 ***
JANUARY 1973
(Cover Date: April 1973)
Hey, everyone! I’m back with reactions to a new year of comics. About 10 to 15 years ago, I started collecting a bunch of back-issues and I decided that, since I couldn’t afford to buy FF #1 and up, I would pick a year and buy as many from that year forward. 1973 was the year. While I didn’t collect everything from that year, a lot of these will be somewhat familiar to me. I bought them and read them once or twice, but it wasn’t the same as fresh off the spinner rack when I read them dozens of times. So, with that said, here are my thoughts on the January 1973 issues.
On sale January 2, 1973
THE CAT #3. "From Far Beneath the Mirror of the Moon!" - Written by Linda Fite, breakdowns by Paty Greer, and finished art by Bill Everett. Rich Buckler cover pencils? The Cat's hyper senses pick up the trail of one Commander Kraken! And a lake house retreat goes to the dogs! Letter to the editor from comic artist/writer Frank Miller praising the first issue of the series. A gratifying issue, but hardly a spectacular one. The Cat shows that she’s a capable heroine, but definitely a bit naive as she’s new to this. A shame that there is only one more issue coming. I would have loved to see her grow as the Cat. Grade: 7.5
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #98. “Let There Be--Death!” - Written by Gerry Conway and Steve Gerber, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by Ernie Chan (as Ernie Chua). Cover art by George Tuska. DD has a psychedelic fight with the Dark Messiah and his minions. It feels like the Black Widow has been out of action for so long that, when she shows up in the book, it was like a reminder that she’s the co-star. Even here, she’s out after one punch. It seems like, as in her brief stint in AMAZING ADVENTURES, the writer doesn’t know what to do with her, at times. Still, it was a fairly good story, even if the ending was, somewhat, abrupt. Grade: 7.5
INCREDIBLE HULK #162. “Spawn of the Flesh-Eater!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Hulk is lost in the Canadian woods when he runs across a distressed young woman who is looking for her missing brother. Hulk rescues a man from the Wendigo whom he thinks to be her brother, but Marie tells him that it is her brother's friend, Georges. When Georges regains consciousness, he tells a chilling tale of an act of cannibalism that turned Paul Cartier into the Wendigo. I once owned INCREDIBLE HULK #181, but I don’t really remember anything about the story. Everyone knows that Wolverine and the Wendigo were in it, but that’s all I remember. My first real experience with the Wendigo was UNCANNY X-MEN #139 & 140. I was 15 years old and he still terrified me, lol!!! While he wasn’t as terrifying in his debut, he was still awesome. The Hulk, like Thor, works best, in my opinion, when he faces opponents as powerful as he. These two put on quite a show. Grade: 9.0
IRON MAN #57. "Strike!" - Written by Steve Gerber. Art by George Tuska, Esposito, and Giacoia. Just when things are getting out of hand, the Mandarin strikes where Iron Man least suspects it. Can Tony Stark handle both personas? Or will he have to choose between the two? It’s hero vs. businessman in this issue! Of all the arch-villains in the Marvel Universe, I’ve always considered the Mandarin the goofiest. His past schemes were always so silly, and he wears 10 immensely powerful weapons on his fingers, yet he’s always trying to impress Iron Man with his martial arts skills, which he does again in this issue. After reading his appearances in TALES OF SUSPENSE, I’d taken to calling him the “Morondarin”. Fortunately, this is a really good story. So, I’m willing to overlook the sillier side of the character. It certainly helps that the Unicorn returns the next issue. Now, him I like! 😄 Grade: 8.0
• CHILI #22
• KID COLT OUTLAW #169
• MILLIE THE MODEL #201
• MONSTERS ON THE PROWL #22
• OUTLAW KID #15
• SHIELD #2
• WYATT EARP #33
On sale January 9, 1973
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #119. “The Gentleman's Name Is... Hulk!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Romita, inks by John Romita and Tony Mortellaro. Cover by John Romita. Peter visits Aunt May at her new home in Westchester, which is being guarded by gunmen of Doctor Octopus. He was asked to deliver an urgent telegram by Mrs. Watson. He is concerned as to the importance of Aunt May to Doc Octopus after he overhears a conversation by the guards. Peter excuses himself, and heads back to his apartment to read the telegram but runs into Harry and his father Norman. Harry appears sick and is whisked away by his father. Peter decides to head to Montreal, using the paper's resources to find out about the mysterious Mr. Rimbaud, and gets involved in a fight with The Hulk. Okay, aside from the fact that the mysterious telegram just happens to come from the same part of Canada that the Hulk is in 🙄, I found this story to be an amusing diversion if nothing else. Fun in some parts, eye-rolling in others. Grade: 7.5
AVENGERS #110. "And Now Magneto!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Don Heck. Inks by Mike Esposito and Frank Giacoia. Cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. The return of Quicksilver! Thor interrupts an Avengers training session to tell the Avengers he received a galactic transmission from Pietro! Turns out Quicksilver was in Attilan, the homeland of the Inhumans, where he was nursed back to health by Inhuman princess Crystal. Now, Quicksilver and Crystal are in love and plan to marry. Following this transmission, the Avengers receive an urgent message from the Xavier Institute where the X-Men are in grave danger! Well, at least Don Heck remembered that the X-Men had new uniforms. 😀 A pivotal issue as future Avengers mythos is established this issue. Quicksilver’s disdain for Wanda and the Vision’s relationship. The first “clue” to the identity of Wanda and Pietro’s father, despite the “dolls like father used to make us...” comment. Plus, the Daredevil and the Black Widow tie-in. Fantastic issue! Grade: 9.0
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #160. “Enter: Solarr!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Gil Kane-Alan Weiss/Frank Giacoia cover. As Cap flexes his newfound power, the Falcon finds himself suddenly obsolete. But as Sam goes off to ponder his role, a new threat rises that will test the limits of Cap's abilities. First appearance of Solarr. Another one that I’ve been eagerly awaiting. Don’t know why, but I’ve always kinda liked Solarr. His origin is beyond ridiculous, lol, but he and his origin (and mostly every character’s origin) is why we love comics. The complete suspension of disbelief. While not as good as the last storyline, this one was still a lot of fun. Cap and the Falcon keep rolling. Grade: 8.0
DOC SAVAGE #4. "The Hell-Diver” Part two of the adaptation of the Kenneth Robeson novel "Death in Silver." Written by Steve Englehart and art by Ross Andru and Tom Palmer. Gil Kane cover. In part two, Doc tries to track down his team members who were kidnapped by the Silver Death's Heads gang. Again, I never quite “got” this character. His adventures are set in the 1930s and, outside of his appearance in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, they’re not set in the Marvel Universe. I’m hanging in there with this book because there aren’t many issues left. I really enjoyed the first part of this story, but this is a tough read, for me. Grade: 6.0
SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #3. "The Moon of the Fear-Bulls” - Written by Carole Seuling, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover pencils by John Buscema, inks by Joe Sinnott. The Hour of the Bull is near for Shanna, Queen of the Jungle. Intro and death of Erakes and Phobotauros. A pretty lackluster issue. Phobotauros was a boring villain and even Shanna didn’t do anything interesting in this issue. Felt like an inventory story. Next issue is the first appearance of the Mandrill. Hopefully, that will be as good as I anticipate. Grade: 5.0
SUB-MARINER #60. “The Invasion of New York!" - Written by Bill Everett (plot) and Steve Gerber (script), pencils by Sam Kweskin (layouts) and Jim Mooney (finished art), and inks by Jim Mooney. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Joe Sinnott. Invaders from the deep! Namor and Lorvex engage in a full-scale battle with the surface world to rescue Tamara. Will Namor become Prince of Atlantis once more? SUB-MARINER has been one of the most baffling titles that I’ve read. Dull and meandering in some issues, then fast-paced and action-packed like this issue. It just hit me as I was reading that one of the problems with this series is the lack of a supporting cast. Vashti pops up here and there, but he’s hardly charismatic. That being said, Gerber turns in a really good script to Everett’s story. Grade: 8.0
THOR #210. "The Hammer and the Hellfire!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema (layout) and Don Perlin (finished art), and inks by Vince Colletta. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Joe Sinnott. Ulik is trailing Thor once more, but this time…he's not alone. The Thunder God must lunge into action against the mighty Rock Trolls! This story takes me back to questions that I’ve always had about Thor. Primarily, how powerful is he without Mjolnir? Is he bulletproof? Is he indestructible to some extent? Ulik tricks Thor into fighting him without the hammer (and what a slugfest it is), but it is what he did at the end to retrieve his hammer that made the questions resurface. Guess I’d better pull out the OFFICIAL HANDBOOK.....or...I could just wait until the next issue. 😀 Grade: 8.0
• GUN-SLINGER #2
• MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #10
• MONSTER MADNESS #2
• VAULT OF EVIL #2
• X-MEN #81
On sale January 19, 1973
ASTONISHING TALES #17. “Target: Ka-Zar!” - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Dan Adkins, inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Cover art by Dan Adkins. While on board the SHIELD helicarrier Ka-Zar sees Gemini steal the super-soldier serum from Dr. Wilma Calvin. He pursues Gemini and ends up finding out that Gemini was working with his brother Lord Plunder (and Gog). “Ka-Zar’s New York Adventure” continues. I must admit, I’ve never found the Zodiac particularly interesting as a team. Yet, when individual members are featured in a book, I like them. Don’t know why this is. Same thing here. The story, also, refers to the Link brothers’ (Gemini) appearance in AT #8, but I went back and skimmed through that issue and I didn’t see them. Anyway, a very good issue. Grade: 8.0
FEAR #13. “Where Worlds Collide!" - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Val Mayerik, inks by Frank Bolle. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Frank Giacoia. A secret cult believes that the Man-Thing is the key to the world's salvation. Meanwhile, Jennifer Kale tries to convince her boyfriend to stay away from the swamp. Ultimately they all end up in the swamp, and reality starts getting really weird! First, let me comment on the absolutely fantastic artwork from Mayerik and Bolle. I caught Val’s art in his declining years. I never knew that his stuff was this good. Once again, Gerber turns in another great script. So far, he blends magic and science perfectly. Grade: 8.5
GUNHAWKS #4. “Trial by Ordeal!" - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Syd Shores, inks by Jack Abel. Reprint: "The Mystery of Waco Mesa" (art by Dick Ayers). Shores cover. Kid Cassidy must survive three deadly trials of the Cheyenne tribe and Reno sets out to find him. A lot of social ideas are thinly veiled in this story (and series); ideas about how people should live versus how it actually was. But, enough of that. The story and action were pretty cool. Grade: 7.5
LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #8. "Crescendo!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by George Tuska, inks by Billy Graham. Graham cover. Robots disguised as humans are attacking Luke Cage from all sides. And the culprit behind it all--Doctor Doom--will shock the Hero for Hire to his very core. Man, have I been waiting for this one!!! So far, part one has delivered. Fast-paced story and great art. Graham makes Tuska much more tolerable. I definitely can’t wait for the next chapter of this one. Grade: 9.0
SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #3. “The Valley of the Worm!” - Written by Roy Thomas (Adaptation), Gerry Conway (Adaptation), and Robert E. Howard (Original Story), pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Ernie Chan (as Ernie Chua). Cover pencils by Gil Kane. A swordsman battles a huge creature. A shame that the gorgeous artwork by Kane and Chan wasn’t enough to hold my interest. Just another barbarian tale with swords and monsters, to me. 🙄 Next issue is Robert Lewis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde”. Now, this I might be able to get into. We’ll see. Grade: N/A
• COMBAT KELLY #6
• CONAN THE BARBARIAN #25
• MARVEL TALES #42
• RAWHIDE KID #110
On sale January 23, 1973
DEFENDERS #5. “World Without End?” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten. Valkyrie struggles with her aggression towards men, turning to Doctor Strange for advice on finding peace with her teammates. But the Defenders had better learn to get along soon- especially when they must battle mega-robot Omegatron! In my earliest days of reading the DEFENDERS, I never really liked or disliked the Valkyrie. She was always “just there”, to me. I grew to like her over the years, but at this point, she’s like a less malevolent version of the Man-Killer (who debuts this month). I’m really going to be paying attention to the evolution of this character. I put this mag down a couple of times and came back to it. That’s a sign that I was only moderately enjoying this issue. Grade: 7.0
FANTASTIC FOUR #133. "Thundra at Dawn!" - Written by Roy Thomas (plot) and Gerry Conway (script). Pencils by Ramona Fradon. Inks by Joe Sinnott. Cover by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. Thundra is still on the run to confront Benjy. To do so, Thundra captures Alicia on New Year’s Eve and asks him for a public fight in a stadium. Thundra is again on the winning side but stops the fight when Reed briefly changes Ben back into a regular human. Alicia is released, and Thundra vanishes with the promise that they (that is, she and Ben) will meet again soon. For most of the fight, Ben is getting his butt kicked, but it’s a highly entertaining battle. Yet, its conclusion seemed so abrupt; kinda like one of those deus ex machina endings that come out of nowhere. Still, a good story. Grade: 8.0
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #9. “The Snakes Crawl at Night” - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Tom Sutton, inks by Chic Stone. Cover art by Mike Ploog. After failing his run at Copperhead Canyon, Johnny Blaze transforms into Ghost Rider to prevent Bart Slade from attempting the stunt. Meanwhile, Roxanne faces the wrath of Snake Dance! Visually, the Ghost Rider is awesome. Yet, I’m coming to the conclusion that, like Dr. Strange, I am a bigger fan of the idea of the Rider than I am the stories in his book. I remember liking the early GR stories up to around issue #30 or so. Then, the Michael Fleischer era began. Anyway, I’m way ahead of myself. As for these early stories, like Warlock, I haven’t read a lot to warrant a solo series. These are some pedestrian stories. This issue isn’t much better. Grade: 6.0
MARVEL TEAM-UP #8. “The Man-Killer Moves at Midnight!" - Written by Gerry Conway, art by Jim Mooney. Cover by Mooney/Romita Sr. Spider-Man and superheroine the CAT take on an all-new man-hating menace: the murderous MAN-KILLER! I can’t remember the first time I saw Man-Killer. She’s about as crazy as they come, but a fun villain. Her debut seems like an attempt to get some new fans for the CLAWS OF THE CAT comic. Obviously, that didn’t work and, while this story was good, it wasn’t good enough to garner new fans. Grade: 7.0
WARLOCK #5. "The Day of the Death Birds!" - Written by Ron Goulart, pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Tom Sutton. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Frank Giacoia. Warlock vs. the Death Birds! Devastated by Eddie’s death, Warlock retreats to his "cocoon". Adam awakes after he is alerted to a dangerous plot launched into action by President Rex Carpenter. The first appearance of Victor Von Doom of Counter-Earth. Guest appearance by the High Evolutionary. One of the coolest things about Counter-Earth is that it is like a different dimension. (Actually, since the High Evolutionary shifted it out of phase with “our” Earth, is it a different dimension?) These stories almost feel like “What If...?!” stories. Counter-Earth Victor Von Doom is startlingly different from the Doom we all know and love. Can’t wait to see C-E Reed Richards next issue. Grade: 7.5
• CRAZY #2
• JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #4
• JUNGLE ACTION #4
• LI'L KIDS #11
• OUR LOVE STORY #22
• SGT. FURY #109
So, with 20 books read (I bailed on SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS), the grades averaged out to 7.7, which makes this a good to very good month. Some epic moments are coming in ’73 such as the Avengers/Defenders Clash and Jim Starlin’s classic CAPTAIN MARVEL saga! The debut of new characters like Killraven, the Son of Satan, the Zombie, the Punisher, Shang Chi, and Brother Voodoo. The Black Panther comes to JUNGLE ACTION while the Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, and Ka-Zar are awarded their own self-titled solo books. We also say goodbye to tiles like THE CAT (unfortunately), WARLOCK (for now), SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL, NIGHT NURSE, DOC SAVAGE, and MARVEL FEATURE. We, also, say goodbye to an immensely popular character in Gwen Stacy. Many of the older members say that the 60s was Marvel’s heyday. I say that they’re just getting started and I can’t wait to delve into the rest of this decade. Fun times are ahead. See ya next week, everyone. Thanks for the support and take care.
Grading Chart:
• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Very Good
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed on
Book of the Month:
1. INCREDIBLE HULK #162
2. AVENGERS #110
3. LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #8
4. FEAR #13
5. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #160
Covers of the Month:
1. AVENGERS #110
2. CAPTAIN AMERICA #160
3. ASTONISHING TALES #17
4. VAULT OF EVIL #2
5. LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #8   |
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Post by Myke Gee on Feb 18, 2023 13:30:51 GMT -5
*** ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 *** FEBRUARY 1973
(Cover Date: May 1973)
Hey, everyone. These are my thoughts on Marvel comics published in February 1973.
On sale February 1, 1973
• FOOM #1 (Subscription Only)
On sale February 6, 1973
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #99. “The Mark of Hawkeye!” - Written by Steve Gerber, art by Sam Kweskin (designs) and Syd Shores (embellishes). Cover pencils by John Romita Sr., inks by John Verpoorten. Daredevil and Black Widow are greeted by Hawkeye upon their return from battling the Dark Messiah. This time, Clint Barton won't leave San Francisco until Natasha agrees to rekindle their romance. Sometimes, it’s really hard to like Hawkeye. He’s the very definition of a jerk; especially in those days. Oh, and from the Department of Contrivances, we have the Avengers in need of help and the obvious choice (according to T’Challa) is...Daredevil?!? 🙄 I wasn’t really crazy about this issue when I read it years ago, but I don’t think that it’s terrible either. Even the hero vs hero battle did little for me. Grade: 6.5
INCREDIBLE HULK #163. “Trackdown” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover art by Herb Trimpe. General ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross and Hulk, captives of the Gremlin! Kidnapped by the Russians, Bruce Banner and Ross have no choice but to forge an alliance. But where Banner agrees to cooperate…the Hulk refuses! A rather...typical issue. Hulk gets captured. Hulk beats up the capturer. Hulk escapes. Good issue, but nothing special. Grade: 7.0
IRON MAN #58. "Mandarin and the Unicorn: Double-Death!" - Written by Steve Gerber and Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska, Frank Giacoia, and Mike Esposito. The Mandarin and the Unicorn join forces to fight Iron Man! Shell-head is defeated in round one as his chest plate is severely damaged. After realizing that his once weak heart has now healed, Tony repairs his armor and sets out to find the deadly duo. Will Shell-Head win round two? While I’m not a fan of the Mandarin, the Unicorn is another story. Possibly my favorite Iron Man villain besides the Spy-Master. I’m a sucker for sympathetic villains and the Unicorn is as sympathetic as they come. He’s always used as someone’s pawn, it seems. It’s no different here. Pretty good story as the villains give Iron Man all that he can handle. Grade: 8.5
• KID COLT OUTLAW #170
• MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #36
• MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN #24
• WAR IS HELL #3
• WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #15
• WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #21
• WORLDS UNKNOWN #1
On sale February 13, 1973
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #120. “The Fight and The Fury!” - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gil Kane and Paul Reinman (art assist), inks by John Romita and Tony Mortellaro. Cover by John Romita Sr. Peter Parker is in Montreal in response to a mysterious telegram to Aunt May. While he's there, Spider-Man battles the Hulk, with General Ross being a nuisance. Definitely a bit contrived, for the most part. One of those stories where the writer creates this unlikely premise just to get two characters to meet and/or fight. Good battle sequences are what this issue, mostly, has going for it. So...we all know what happens next issue. Unlike most in this group, I’ve never read it. *Cliché Alert* One of the most eagerly anticipated issues on my list! Grade: 7.0
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #161. "If He Loseth His Soul!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten. Buscema/Romita Sr/Verpoorten cover. Cap has lost his best ally in the Falcon and is soon to discover that Sharon has split as well. In order to find the woman he loves, however, he knows he must first reconcile his differences with Sam, because he'll need all the help he can get. Plus, who is Dr. Faustus' prisoner and why is Captain America so shocked?! I’ve never quite understood how Dr. Faustus could give Cap so much trouble. This issue, he grabbed Sharon and she noticed how strong he was. Maybe that’s it because a killer shrink isn’t that convincing to me. 😏 Again, not as strong as the Cowled Commander story, but more than decent. Grade: 7.5
SUB-MARINER #61. "The Prince and the Pirate” - Written by Bill Everett and Steve Gerber, pencils by Bill Everett and Win Mortimer, inks by Bill Everett and Jim Mooney. Cover by Bill Everett. Atlantis celebrates the return of its prince. Namor decides it's time Namorita returns to her undersea realm, but discovers that she has been taken hostage on a plane that has been hijacked. He follows the trail to the Hydrobase where he's attacked by Dr. Hydro and his amphibian men. Dr. Hydro defeats Namor and gloats over him as his invasion force is set to take over Atlantis. Bill Everett passed away after finishing only the first three pages. Completed by Mortimer and Mooney. The series is starting to plateau a bit. Namor is now the Prince of Atlantis again and, once again, a second-rate version of Namor has delusions of grandeur. (One that you’d think that Namorita would be able to handle.) Interesting enough story that, hopefully, will pick up in the second half. Grade: 7.0
THOR #211. "The End of the Battle!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema (layout) and
Don Perlin (finished art), inks by Vince Colletta. Cover pencils by John Buscema, inks by John Romita Sr. and Marie Severin. Thor manages to grab Mjolnir before 60 seconds are up and prevents his death as Donald Blake. Meanwhile, Ulik and his army of trolls attack the surface. Thor and the Warriors Three try to stop them. I keep saying that, like the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner, Thor’s stories work best when his opponent is his equal or close to it. Ulik is ruthless and powerful. All of this is on full display as is hard-pressed to defeat him. A highly satisfying issue. Grade: 8.5
• Beware #2
• Chamber of Chills #4
• Crypt of Shadows #3
• Marvel's Greatest Comics #42
• Special Marvel Edition #10
• Two-Gun Kid #110
On sale February 20, 1973
AMAZING ADVENTURES #18. "The War of the Worlds!" - Roy Thomas (Plot), Neal Adams (Plot), and Gerry Conway (Script), pencils by Neal Adams (pp 1-11) and Howard Chaykin (pp 12-20), inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Cover by John Romita Sr. New York City, 2018 AD, Martians have invaded the Earth and nearly destroyed humanity. Only one man can still stand up and fight their dominance -- KILLRAVEN! This issue marks the very first appearance of Killraven, Warrior of the Worlds! Funny to think that, while this is 15 years into the future when this was written, it’s now 2 years in our past. This is a series that I have read before. I’ve read it a couple of times, actually. Normally, this is one of those swords and ray-guns series that I usually have no patience with. But, Killraven teamed up with Spider-Man, so that was enough to draw me in. This first issue’s creative staff is rife with comics legends. So, no wonder it’s engaging from beginning to end. A fine start to the series. Grade: 9.0
AVENGERS #111. "With Two Beside Them!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Don Heck. Inks by Mike Esposito. Cover by John Romita and Joe Sinnott. Story continues from DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #99. Magneto is holding the X-Men and most of the Avengers captive. The Master of Magnetism reveals his plans to create a nuclear army of brainwashed mutants. Plus, the Black Widow becomes an official member of the Avengers team, when it’s up to her to save the day. I may have liked this issue more if I didn’t have to endure Heck’s horrible artwork. In the early days, I could tolerate him because there weren’t that many others outside of him, Kirby, Ditko, and Colan. At this point, we now have Starlin, Russell, Ploog, and even Cockrum. Even Steranko and Adams are still around the company. I wanted to love this issue, but Heck brought it down. Grade: 7.0
LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #9. "Where Angels Fear to Tread!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by George Tuska, inks by Billy Graham. Luke Cage breaks into the Baxter Building, but the Fantastic Four are at the ready! A battle ensues, but once Cage explains his mission to receive payment from Dr. Doom, Reed Richards gives him an aircraft to fly to Latveria! Luke Cages travels overseas to come face-to-face with the nefarious ruler of Latveria! Only Luke Cage can go to Latveria, fight some robots and guards, go toe-to-toe with Doom, and walk away from it as cool as Jim Kelly in “Enter the Dragon”, lol!!! For years, the stereotypical aspect of this character really annoyed me. Still does. Yet, this issue, and the series, has been a lot of fun. Grade: 9.0
MARVEL FEATURE #9. "The Killer Is My Wife!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Pencils by Craig Russell. Inks by Frank Bolle. Cover by Craig Russell and Jack Abel. Ant-Man is trapped at ant-size, and to make matters worse, he has two baddies to battle: his own wife, who has mutated into a killer wasp, and one mean tabby cat! While Don Heck’s artwork took away from this month’s AVENGERS, P. Craig Russell’s enhances a, somewhat, mundane story in this book. Unfortunately, not enough to make it highly enjoyable. Grade: 6.5
NIGHT NURSE #4. "The Secret of Sea-Cliff Manor!" - Written by Jean Thomas and Linda Fite, art by Win Mortimer. Cover pencils by John Romita, inks by Joe Sinnott. Christine takes a job working for Edna Porter at Sea-Cliff Manor, caring for her wheelchair-bound nephew Derek. Mysterious and dangerous events ensue before a startling revelation about Derek arises. Final issue of the series. Here’s my analogy of this series: Marvel Comics’ OUR LOVE meets Nancy Drew. The first issue threw me a bit with its teenage romance feel. There was always a mystery aspect of the stories, and in the end, I couldn’t help but wonder what type of story were they actually trying to tell. Oddly enough, I didn’t hate this series. I just didn’t see the purpose of it. Grade: 7.0
RED WOLF #7. “Echo from a Golden Grave” - Written by Gardner Fox and Roy Thomas (dialogue re-write), pencils by Syd Shores, inks by Jack Abel. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Joe Sinnott. After Red Wolf stops a mugging, he accuses the victim, Rhonda, of not having anything in her purse worth stealing. He suggests that she get the film in her video camera developed. The film reveals that the gangsters attempting to steal her camera had been caught on film gunning someone down in a drive-by. The gangsters appear in time for Red Wolf to subdue them and turn them in to the police. With this issue, the series, inexplicably, shifts to the “present day”. His wolf’s head is slightly altered, and his speech is more modern, but he still kicks butt like the old west Red Wolf. The only problem is that this issue feels like it was written by a 12-year-old. Simple story with amateurish dialogue. Grade: 6.5
TOMB OF DRACULA #8. "The Hell-Crawlers!" - Written by Marv Wolfman. Art by Gene Colan and Ernie Chua. Quincy Harker has poisoned Dracula with a wooden dart. Desperate to be free from the pain, Dracula seeks out Heinrich Mortte, a doctor with a terrible secret. Discover the secret here! While the hypnotized children attack the vampire hunters, Dracula uses a device to raise an army of undead. Wolfman’s second Dracula script was as good as his first. The new line of horror comics continues to be impressive. Grade: 8.5
• CONAN THE BARBARIAN #26
• DRACULA LIVES #1
• RAWHIDE KID #111
• RINGO KID #20
• SPOOF #5
On sale February 27, 1973
CAPTAIN MARVEL #26. “Betrayal!" - Written by Mike Friedrich, plot and pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Dave Cockrum. Cap battles the Thing. Second appearance of Thanos. 1st appearance of Death as a personification with Thanos. Super-Skrull appearance. The cosmic opera still holds up. I’ve read this storyline a few times and it never gets old. Grade: 8.5
FANTASTIC FOUR #134. "A Dragon Stalks the Skies!" - Written by Gerry Conway. Art by John Buscema (breakdowns) and Joe Sinnott (finishes). Cover by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. Since leaving the FF four issues ago, Susan Richards and her son have been enjoying life in rural Pennsylvania far away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Unfortunately, though, the Invisible Girl and young Franklin are not far enough away from the grasp of the Dragon Man! Why has the android beast traveled to the keystone state and abducted the wife and son of Mr. Fantastic? The answers lie inside a Long Island research plant...owned by one Gregory Gideon! Exactly 100 issues after his first appearance, Gregory Gideon is back. I knew nothing about him when I read his first appearance, but it was one of the better early FF stories. Also, Dragon Man is always a plus. Strong issue. Grade: 8.0
MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #3. "The Monster's Revenge!" - Written and adapted by Gary Friedrich, art and cover by Mike Ploog. Elizabeth Frankenstein, the wife of Victor, succumbs to the wrath of her husband’s creation. Victor pays the ultimate price. Will the monster have his way? This issue is a part retelling of the Shelley classic, part new story. The retelling continues to be eloquently told. Friedrich and Ploog have this book off to an incredible start. Grade: 9.0
MARVEL PREMIERE #8. “The Doom That Bloomed on Kathulos” - Written by Gardner F. Fox, pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Frank Giacoia and David Hunt. Cover pencils by Jim Starlin. Strange battles demons at Stonehenge and is transported to the living planet Kathulos. Strange slays the plant/planet and is marooned far from Earth. The first thing that I took note of was that Strange spends the majority of this issue talking to himself. Another is that the last couple of issues were based on concepts by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. Thus, we have the sorcery without the sword (although, Doc was, briefly, attacked by sword-wielding demons 😏) Just as with the Conan books, this tale really didn’t do much for me. Great artwork from Starlin, but Strange vs a bunch of demons with unpronounceable names moves the needle only so much, for me. Grade: 6.0
MARVEL TEAM-UP #9. "The Tomorrow War!" - Written by Gerry Conway. Pencils by Ross Andru. Inks by Frank Bolle. Cover by John Romita and Joe Sinnott. Three hundred years into the future, Spider-Man and Iron Man find themselves in the middle of a war between Zarrko the Tomorrow Man and Kang the Conqueror! Okay, so I somewhat remember Zarrko from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY and the story is moving forward nicely. Then, Kang the Conqueror shows. There goes my boredom sense. Still...the story is interesting. Hopefully, Kang won’t ruin it for me next issue. Grade: 7.5
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #5. “A Life for a Death!” - Written by Len Wein, art by Mike Ploog. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Jack Russell is forced to try to kill a reclusive millionaire by Luther Kane, brother of Joshua Kane (see last issue), who holds Jack's sister hostage. This issue, as the last couple of issues of the MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN, has me convinced that Ploog’s art works best when he inks himself. Although, it still seems better on FRANKENSTEIN. As for the story, I’m becoming more intrigued with the Werewolf. He seems to have a rudimentary Intelligence in his lupine form. This should make for even more interesting tales in the future. I like that this book continues to surprise me. Grade: 8.0
• CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #23
• KULL, THE CONQUEROR #8
• LI'L PALS #5
• MY LOVE #23
• SGT. FURY #110
MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN continues to impress. I really did not expect this. Three books rated 9.0 and 4 at 8.5, plus 2 more at 8.0. That’s nearly half of the 20 books that I read that scored particularly good marks with me, this month. 7 more received 7.0 or 7.5 which is still good. This month, it felt like all of the books were exceptional even though they weren’t. It helps when the majority receive high marks. Can’t think of the last time that happened. As always, thanks for the support. See ya next week. Take care.
Grading Chart:
• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Very Good
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed on
Books of the Month:
1. MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #3
2. LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #9
3. AMAZING ADVENTURES #18
4. TOMB OF DRACULA #8
5. CAPTAIN MARVEL #26
Covers of the Month:
1. AMAZING ADVENTURES #18
2. MARVEL TEAM-UP #9
3. CHAMBER OF CHILLS #4
4. CAPTAIN MARVEL #26
5. MARVEL PREMIERE #8
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Post by Myke Gee on Feb 20, 2023 15:12:54 GMT -5
*** ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2020 *** MARCH 1973 (Cover Date: June 1973)
What’s up, everyone?!! Here are my thoughts on Marvel comics published in March of 1973. Hope ya likes!!!
On sale March 6, 1973
THE CAT #4. "Stampede!" - Written by Linda Fite, pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Alan Weiss. Back-up reprint: Marvel Girl story, "The Female of the Species!" - Written by Fite (her first story for Marvel), pencils by Werner Roth, inks by Sam Grainger. John Romita Sr. cover pencils and Tony Mortellaro cover inks. The misogynistic Man-Bull feels the wrath of The Cat after the brute lashes out in a bar! Final issue of the series. “Next issue: The Cat Meets...?!” That’s what the final panel says, anyway. So, there were, obviously, plans for THE CAT #5. A shame because, honestly, I find the Cat much more interesting than Tigra. Was this a great series? No, but it managed to string together four pretty solid issues. I don’t think that DAREDEVIL ever did that, and it lasted 100 issues up to this point. Keep the stellar art team from this issue and they may have really had something. Oh well, on to MARVEL CHILLERS when that comes out. As a series overall, I’d rate it the same as this issue. Grade: 7.5
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #100. “Mind Storm!” - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Gene Colan, inks by John Tartaglione. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Frank Giacoia. Daredevil returns to San Francisco in time to give an impromptu interview to Rolling Stone Magazine. Suffering from hallucinations, DD fears that he may have cracked at long last. But there is a more sinister force behind these mind games. First appearance of Angar the Screamer. One of my first DAREDEVIL issues was around five issues later. DD and the Widow fought the Screamer, Dark Messiah, and Ramrod. As an 8-year-old, I thought that they all were so cool. Captain Marvel was also there. Now, I’ve read the first appearance of the Screamer who was barely in the book. As milestone issues go, this was, yet another, letdown. Not that I hated it or anything. It just adds to, my curiosity as to how this book lasted 100 issues! It’s certainly been a hit-or-miss book. Mediocre is how I would describe the first 100. Grade: 7.0
INCREDIBLE HULK #164. “The Phantom from 5,000 Fathoms!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover art by Herb Trimpe. Where General Ross is in hot water with the Russians, the Hulk is in cold water- literally! While trying to cross the Arctic Ocean, Hulk requires an assist from one Captain Omen. But is Omen as benevolent as he seems? Plus, Fury makes plans to rescue Ross. First off, I’ve never even heard of Captain Omen! Unless he dies at some point, he’d make a great Namor villain. As a Hulk villain, he shouldn’t be giving the Hulk problems, but he is. I, actually, felt kind of sorry for the Hulk in this issue. Even more for Banner. It really hit me this time. Imagine waking up in some strange place not knowing how you got there or what happened before. Imagine waking up in the Arctic! It doesn’t get more hopeless than that. When I read the premise for this story, I didn’t think that I would like it. I was pleasantly surprised. Grade: 8.0
IRON MAN #59. "A Madness in Motown!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska and Mike Esposito. Cover by Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott. Tony Stark takes a business trip to Detroit to oversee a stock transfer involving the shares of Roxanne Gilbert, but Tony does not know that Roxanne's brother is...Firebrand! Iron Man and Firebrand settle their differences in a graveyard. Meanwhile, Marianne Rodgers is admitted to a sanitarium. Firebrand is quickly becoming one of my favorite Iron Man villains and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because, while cliché, his motivations are well-defined. It, also, doesn’t hurt that he makes our hero earn it every time! Grade: 8.5
• CHILI #23
• KID COLT OUTLAW #171
• MILLIE THE MODEL #202
• MONSTERS ON THE PROWL #23
• OUTLAW KID #16
• SHIELD #3
• WYATT EARP #34
On sale March 13, 1973
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #121. The Green Goblin kills Gwen Stacy in "The Night Gwen Stacy Died”; a story that fans still talk about. It was the first big shocking death in comics (perhaps even ushering in the bronze age!). Scriptwriter Gerry Conway is remembered by many as "the writer who killed Gwen" (even though obviously Stan Lee himself okayed a story of this significance). Gil Kane provides the unforgettable pencils, with inks by John Romita Sr. and Tony Mortellaro. Romita cover. One could say that fans should have seen this coming. That is, those old enough to have read this off the rack. I’ve noticed, as I’ve continued this journey, that Gwen was being used less and less in recent issues. Maybe, subconsciously, I noticed this because I knew that I was getting close to this issue. I, also, noticed that Conway didn’t seem to know what to do with her. So, I guess, in his mind, he felt like the best thing was to kill her off. A decision that has been and still continues to be reviled among ASM fans. Honestly, I never became too “attached” to Gwen (another subconscious decision, maybe). She was a great character, but to this day, the only character death that really bothered me was Mar-Vell. So, as far as the story goes, I enjoyed it. The Goblin and Doc Ock were never my favorite villains, but boy do they make a splash when they show up! Grade: 8.5
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #162. “This Way Lies Madness!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten. Jim Starlin/Joe Sinnott cover. Captain America is thrown into a hallucinatory prison that he cannot escape as Dr. Faustus continues tormenting the Star-Spangled Avenger. The problem with this project is that, while I’ve read all the books from FF #1, I don’t retain all the stuff that I’ve read. Of course, I’ve heard of Peggy Carter and I know who she is to Cap, but I don’t remember any of the previous stories with her in them. Anyway, she’s the key to victory for Faustus. I’m still not convinced that he’s a viable opponent for Cap, but the story more than made up for what he lacks as a formidable villain. Grade: 8.0
DOC SAVAGE #5. "The Monsters" - Written by Steve Englehart and Gardner F. Fox and art by Ross Andru and Tom Palmer. Gil Kane cover. The comic book version of the classic pulp magazine hero Doc Savage. This issue features part one of an adaptation of the Kenneth Robeson novel of the same name in which Doc and his team investigate a murder committed by giant monstrous men. As someone who has only mildly enjoyed this series, at best, I actually enjoyed this issue. So much so, I’m actually looking forward to the next issue. Grade: 8.0
SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #4. "Cry Mandrill" - Written by Carole Seuling (plot) and Steve Gerber (script), pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover art by John Romita. Shanna's upscale dinner with her jungle cats goes horribly awry when the mind-enslaving Mandrill shows up for the main course. First appearance of the Mandrill. I’ve always had mixed feelings about Mandrill and Nekra. They were, both, visually cool, but I don’t recall a story with them that I enjoyed very much. Next issue, Nekra debuts, but the Mandrill’s debut was much like the other stories: good, but not great. Grade: 7.0
SUB-MARINER #62. "A Realm Besieged” - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Sam Kweskin, inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover by John Romita. Namorita finds Namor and frees him from Dr. Hydro's prison. Meanwhile, Dr. Hydro and his amphibians have attacked Atlantis. Tamara Rahn leads Atlantis into battle and with the return of Namor and Namorita, the tide of the battle is turned. This book also contains another story, the first "Tales of Atlantis” written by Steve Gerber, co-plotted and penciled by Howard Chaykin, and inked by Joe Sinnott. These stories relate the origins of sunken Atlantis, although this one is set in the Hyborian age between Kull and Conan and deals with pre-Cataclysm Atlantis. While I was hoping for a bit more from the next chapter, the story remained entertaining. It was good to see Namorita and Tamara Rahn in action. The second feature has beautiful artwork from Chaykin and Sinnott, but the story is more along the lines of Conan, which I’m no longer interested in. Grade: 7.0
THOR #212. "Journey to the Golden Star!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by John Buscema and Don Perlin, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Frank Giacoia. Finding Asgard godless and full of lizard men, Thor goes to the Golden Star to save his father from being sold as a slave. The biggest problem that I have with this story, so far, is that Odin, even in these days, is supposed to be one of the baddest of the “Big Bads”. Yet, he’s captured by insect aliens with ray guns and lizard men with swords?!! The God that fought off Mangog and Galactus?!! *Sigh* I’m not gonna rip this story yet because it was really entertaining. But, next issue, there’d better be a really bad “Big Bad” behind the curtain. Grade: 8.0
• GUN-SLINGER #3
• MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #11
• VAULT OF EVIL #3
• X-MEN #82
On sale March 20, 1973
ASTONISHING TALES #18. “Gog Cometh!” - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Dan Adkins, inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Cover art by John Romita. Ka-Zar manages to get the super-soldier serum back from Gemini. Gog uses his alien powers to transport himself away while Gemini and Lord Plunder escape. I’ve always found it interesting to see a guy like Ka-Zar take on threats like Gemini and Gog. Gemini, I can see, but Gog is another level entirely. Even Spider-Man had trouble with him. Despite this, Friedrich delivers a good story and Adkins continues to be one of the most underrated artists in the biz. Grade: 7.5
AVENGERS #112. "The Lion God Lives!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Don Heck. Inks by Frank Rolle. Cover by Don Heck. The Avengers Mansion is stormed by African-American protesters who believe Black Panther has “sold out to the White establishment.” The mob is organized by a mysterious man known as the Lion God, a mythic hero from Africa who wants Panther to return to his African roots. First appearance of Mantis. When I first saw the Lion God on the cover, I rolled my eyes and thought, “this is gonna suck!” Thankfully, I was wrong. The story was fun and more engaging than I thought it would be. What I did find intolerable was the artwork. You don’t dangle a steak in front of a starving lion (no pun intended) and expect him not to be pissed when you snatch it away. That’s how I felt looking at Don Heck’s artwork after giving us the superior art team of Rich Buckler and Dave Cockrum. Grade: 7.5
FEAR #14. "The Demon Plague” - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Val Mayerik, inks by Chic Stone. Cover art by Alan Weiss. People all over the world are behaving strangely. Joshua Kale suspects mass demonic possession and leads his cult to the Nexus of All Realities to perform a counter ritual. Unfortunately, it results in Jennifer Kale and Man-Thing being spirited off to a far-off world! Note: This is the first issue where Man-Thing's eyes are colored red. In previous issues, they were referred to as 'golden' in color, and colored yellow, or as 'black orbs'. Also, in this issue, we meet Dakimh the Enchanter. I’m only familiar with these characters because of their appearance in MARVEL TEAM-UP #68. It’s fun to see them here. In every issue, the Man-Thing proves to be quite formidable. Also, not to be dismissed is the incredible job that Mayerik and Stone did on the artwork. Grade: 7.5
GUNHAWKS #5. "The Reverend Mister Graves” - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Syd Shores, inks by Jack Abel. As Reno and Grey Fox begin to fight, they are interrupted by Reverend Graves; a weapons seller who has plans for the Indians and the Cavalry. Back-up story: “The Rustler!" - Written by Stan Lee, art by Gene Colan. Of all the Western comics that I’ve read, this is the only one that had a multi-part story. Not a big deal. Just making note of that. A solid conclusion to a solid story. Grade: 7.5
LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #10. "The Lucky and the Dead!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by George Tuska, inks by Billy Graham. Cover by Graham. Luke Cage is fed up with fending off thugs on the late Frank Jenks account, so he decides to dig deeper into Frank’s personal affairs. An illegal casino operator named Señor Suerte learns of Cage’s probing and decides to silence Cage no matter the cost! Señor Suerte is kinda cool and kinda goofy at the same time. His “spin the wheel on my chest” power is the goofy part. Yet, despite that, Englehart continues to establish himself as one of Marvel’s better writers. Good stuff all around from the creative team. Grade: 8.0
SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #4. “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!” - Written by Robert Louis Stevenson (Original Story), and Ron Goulart (Adaptation), art by Win Mortimer. Cover pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Ernie Chan and John Romita (retouches). Adapted from the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, a doctor creates a potion that brings out his dark side. I’ve never read Stevenson’s novel, but the Jekyll/Hyde story is so well known, reading this adaptation, I feel like I have as almost every part of the story was familiar to me. Decent issue. In two months, it’s what I’ve been waiting for: The Living Mummy. Hopefully, this will pleasantly surprise me as FRANKENSTEIN, WEREWOLF BY NIGHT and TOMB OF DRACULA did. Grade: 7.0
TOMB OF DRACULA #9. "Death from the Sea!" - Written by Marv Wolfman. Art by Gene Colan and Vince Colletta. Dracula is recovered by a fisherman in the town of Littlepool and brought inside a church. Can the Lord of Vampires escape the hallowed ground to continue his reign of terror? Dracula faces the Fire-Cross, a holy power that no vampire can escape! A different side of Dracula is shown in this issue. One that shows that he’s not all monster. Artistically, of the various inkers that have rendered Colman’s pencils, I cannot believe that I’m loving Vince Colletta’s the most. Yet, I did like him inking Kirby on THOR. Something about the artwork really worked for me on this issue. Really good issue all around. Grade: 8.5
• COMBAT KELLY #7
• CONAN THE BARBARIAN #27
• HAUNT OF HORROR #1
• MARVEL TALES #43
• MONSTERS UNLEASHED #1 (I read the first story thinking that it was the Werewolf by Night, but it wasn’t. So, with no direct tie to the Marvel Universe, I decided to pass on this one. Lots of great artwork, though.)
• RAWHIDE KID #112
On sale March 27, 1973
DEFENDERS #6. “The Dreams of Death!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover art by Sal Buscema. Doctor Strange is under mystical attack! Desperate to prove his strength over the Sorcerer Supreme, Cyrus Black casts illusions splitting the Defenders into chaos. Will Strange see through the machinations of Black’s mind? Or will another Defender rise to save the day? Not much to say about this one. Not a spectacular story, but not a bad one, either. Good to see the return of the Surfer. Grade: 7.0
FANTASTIC FOUR #135. "The Eternity Machine" - Written by Gerry Conway. Art by John Buscema (breakdowns) and Joe Sinnott (finishes). Cover by John Buscema and Mike Esposito. Gregory Gideon is in complete control! The Fantastic Four are his prisoners, and the evil mastermind's Eternity Machine is set to siphon the life forces of Reed, Sue, and Franklin! However, the FF's newest member, Medusa, has a chance to earn her stripes if she can free the Thing, the Human Torch,...and the Dragon Man! Will the fire-breathing beast fight with or against the FF this time? I like Gregory Gideon. Although, I liked him better as a scheming, manipulative businessman instead of a super-powered villain. I know that that flies in the face of dislike of villains not on the same power level as the heroes, but something about this character resonates with me and I don’t know what it is. Suffice it to say, he and the always likable Dragon Man made for a very enjoyable story. Grade: 8.0
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #10. “The Coming of Witch-Woman” - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Tom Sutton, inks by Jim Mooney. Cover pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Frank Giacoia. Linda Littletrees becomes Roxanne’s savior when she delivers a life-saving antidote. Snake Dance’s worshippers may have turned on their master, but a life still hangs in the balance! The true face of Witch-Woman is revealed. How can you not say the words “Witch-Woman” without answering “That one!” 😂😅😀😊🙂😐😒😔☹️ *ahem*….Sorry….. Anyway, Witch-Woman was actually kind of interesting, as was this story. Ghost Rider has so much potential, but reading this series, thus far, he’s mostly a one-trick pony that gets by on a really cool visual appeal. Still, this has been the best chapter in the Snake-Dance storyline. Grade: 7.5
MARVEL TEAM-UP #10. "Time Bomb!" - Written by Gerry Conway. Pencils by Jim Mooney. Inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover by John Romita and Mike Esposito. Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Human Torch continue their battle against Kang the Conqueror and Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. The Tomorrow War rages on! With Iron Man trapped in the future, Spidey needs to find reinforcements, and who better to answer the call than the Human Torch? One thing that I’ve learned during this journey is that every issue doesn’t have to be epic; it doesn’t have to be FF #48 or UNCANNY X-MEN #137. Sometimes, good is good enough. That’s this story, so far. Despite the epic cast, it’s not an epic. But it is a pretty good story. Next month, the Inhumans. Grade: 8.0
WARLOCK #6. "The Brute!" - Written by Roy Thomas, Ron Goulart, and Mike Friedrich, pencils by Bob Brown, inks by Tom Sutton. Cover by John Romita. Warlock walks straight into a trap set by Astrella. There, Warlock encounters the Brute, a former human trapped in a monster’s body. When Warlock discovers a way to revert the Brute to human form, his true identity is revealed. Introducing Reed Richards of Counter-Earth! First appearance of Counter-Earth's Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. I was half expecting the Brute from ATLAS COMICS. As I stated last review, Counter-Earth stories feel like “What If.. ?!” stories. While it’s fun seeing new takes on familiar characters, these stories feel a little forced, at times; tales that explore alternate “realities” just for the sake of it. Doesn’t mean that it’s bad, though. Grade: 7.0
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #6. “Carnival of Fear!” - Written by Len Wein, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Frank Bolle. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Jack Russell has been kidnapped by the mystic Swami Rihva, who has thrown the Werewolf into a cage for the world to see! When I first started reading this series, I was really digging it. It’s not like I’m not enjoying it any longer, but it’s starting to become a little pedestrian. Steadily good enough, but not getting better or worse. I really wish Ploog was inking himself. The roll call of inkers isn’t doing him justice. Grade: 8.0
• CRAZY #3
• JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY VOL. 2, #5
• LI'L KIDS #12
• OUR LOVE STORY #23
• SGT. FURY #111
So, I reviewed 23 books this month. I included them all here, but I wonder: would you all prefer if I broke any review with more than 20 books into two posts, as I have done in the past, or is the extremely long (IMO) post not a big deal? Let me know in the comments, please. This may be the first month that doesn’t have a book that rates 9.0 or better. LOTS of 8.0s and 8.5s, so it’s still a great month. Speaking of “great”, in the ratings, I’ve changed the 8.0 and 8.5 from “Very Good” to “Great”. The VG seemed a little redundant, lol! As always, I hope that you all enjoyed this post. Let me know what you liked and, more importantly, what you didn’t like. See ya next week, guys. Also, as always, take care.
Grading Chart:
• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Great
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed on
Books of the Month:
1. IRON MAN #59
2. TOMB OF DRACULA #9
3. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #121
4. FANTASTIC FOUR #135
5. MARVEL TEAM-UP #10
Covers of the Month:
1. DAREDEVIL #100
2. HERO FOR HIRE #10
3. SUB-MARINER #62
4. MARVEL TEAM-UP #10
5. VAULT OF EVIL #3   |
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Post by Myke Gee on Feb 21, 2023 18:22:46 GMT -5
*** ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON OCTOBER 3, 2020 *** April 1973 (Cover Date: July 1973)
Hey, everyone. It’s that time again for my thoughts on Marvel Comics that I’ve read for the first time. Last weekend, I was pretty busy. So, I wasn’t able to post this review. Hope ya likes! So, here are my thoughts on Marvel Comics from April 1973.
On sale April 3, 1973
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #101. “Vengeance in the Sky with Diamonds!” - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Frank Giacoia and John Romita (Daredevil figure alterations). Angar’s mysterious boss sends him to drive DD mad but some timely words by Matt Murdock make Angar decide that he wants to be a man of peace. When the police show up to take Angar down, DD and the Widow are forced to fight him once again. Pretty standard superhero fare. Angar the Screamer has gotten a lot of hate in this group, but I like him. Yeah, his power is kinda silly, but is it any sillier than the Banshee? I can’t wait for the team-up with the Dark Messiah and Ramrod. Grade: 7.5
INCREDIBLE HULK #165. “The Green-Skinned God!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover art by Herb Trimpe. Hulk’s been shanghaied into Captain Omen’s crew, but will he wriggle his way free? If Hulk doesn’t get himself out of this bind quickly, he could forever remain on the ocean floor! Plus, Maj. Talbot and company finish their training and head off to rescue Ross from the Russians. Man, this was a strange and depressing story. I found Captain Omen’s people interesting in an odd sort of way and I felt that once they got to the surface, something bad was going to happen. What am I talking about? You’ll just have to read these two issues. Grade 7.0
IRON MAN #60. "Cry Marauder!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska and Mike Esposito. It's iron versus steel in this action-packed issue! Iron Man takes on the Steel, but little does he know, villains seldom work alone! Enter: The Masked Marauder! The Marauder breaks into Stark Industries and steals the first operational Space Shuttle! Someone in this group once started a thread or made the comment “Until the movie, Iron Man was never an A-list character”. I was completely stunned by that comment because, for the most part, all I knew of Iron Man was his days in the Avengers and the brilliant Michelinie/Romita Jr/Layton era. I mean, he’s one of the Avengers’ “Big Three”! Yet, as I read his series from the TALES OF SUSPENSE days up to the current issue, I find myself agreeing with the group member. Iron Man has some good to, even, great stories, but his book always seem to drop into the doldrums after something really good. Last month, we got Firebrand, which always seems to make for a fun time. This month we have part one of the story featuring the cornball Masked Marauder. Better than most M.M. stories, though. Grade: 7.0
TALES OF THE ZOMBIE #1. "Alter of the Damned" - Written by Steve Gerber and Roy Thomas and art by John Buscema and Tom Palmer. Simon Garth dies but is brought back to life as a zombie and doomed to walk the earth as one of the living dead. “Zombie" - Written by Stan Lee and art by Bill Everett. “Night of the Walking Dead" - Written by Steve Gerber and art by John Buscema and Syd Shores. A former employee's revenge seals Garth's fate into becoming a zombie but he still fights to protect his daughter. This issue also has "Iron Head” - Written by Stan Lee, art by Dick Ayers. An article about the zombie in the movies, "The Thing from the Bog" - Written by Kit Pearson and Marv Wolfman and art by Pablos Marcos, and "Mastermind" - Written and art by Tom Sutton. This was really cool. In life, Garth was not a nice man. It will be interesting to see how much of his living personality influences his afterlife. Artistically, Buscema and Palmer do their usual bang-up job. The second story seems to be a reprint of an earlier story by Stan and much better artwork from Ditko than he ever did on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN or STRANGE TALES. The third part capped off the opening Zombie tale nicely. Shores is no Tom Palmer, but he complimented Buscema more than well enough. I read the “Iron Head” story which didn’t do much for me and, honestly, I just skimmed through the rest of the stuff. The Zombie is the main attraction here although, reading this, it has a Man-Thing vibe going. Maybe it’s just me. At any rate, I’m eagerly awaiting the next issue. Grade: 8.5.
• JUNGLE ACTION #5 (A reprint of AVENGERS #62)
• KID COLT: OUTLAW #172
• MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #37
• MIGHTY MARVEL WESTERN #25
• WAR IS HELL #4
• WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #16
• WHERE MONSTERS DWELL #22
• WORLDS UNKNOWN #2
On sale April 5, 1973 • MONSTER MADNESS #3
On sale April 10, 1972
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122. "The Goblin's Last Stand" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Gil Kane, and inks by John Romita Sr. and Tony Mortellaro. In the previous issue, the Green Goblin kills Gwen Stacy. Peter must deal with the death of his long-term love, but how will he seek revenge on The Green Goblin? This issue, Spider-Man is out for blood! The death scene of the Green Goblin (Norman Osborn) is stunning and inspired a similar moment in the 2002 Spider-Man movie. In some ways, I don’t know what to make of this issue. I really liked it, but how is Peter Parker not under severe psychiatric care? I’ve never seen a character’s personal life endure so much turmoil. At any rate, R.I.P. Gwen Stacy. I can only imagine what the next couple of years is going to be like for the web-spinner in this book. Grade: 8.0
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #163. “Beware of Serpents!" - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by John Verpoorten and Tony Mortellaro. Buscema/Verpoorten cover. Recovered from her amnesia, Peggy Carter is set to ease back into the world with the help of Cap and the others. When the Serpent Squad strikes, she is quick to realize that the world she knew is gone, replaced by one that is perhaps starker. In the ’70s, I was into the artwork mot than the story, believe it or not. In my earliest days of collecting comics, it was Sal Buscema that stood out to me. His artwork was so action-packed! I don’t know that I had a favorite writer, but I knew that I liked Englehart. I’m gonna be really saddened when these two leave the book. They have made this title one of my favorites of this era. Grade: 8.0
SUB-MARINER #63. "And the Seas Shall Explode!" - Written by Bill Everett and Steve Gerber, pencils by Sam Kweskin, inks by Syd Shores. Cover pencils by John Romita, inks by Joe Sinnott. The final showdown between Namor and Doctor Hydro is here at last! Can the prince of the blood defend his realm from catastrophe? And the ancient legend of Atlantis continues! This book also contains another story, the second "Tales of Atlantis”. When Dr. Hydro was introduced in issue #61, I dismissed him as, yet another second-rate Namor. Well, it seems that he’s a bit more powerful than displayed in the first two parts. Despite that, it doesn’t make for a great issue. It’s enjoyable enough, I guess, but I can see how this book is headed toward cancellation. Grade: 7.5
THOR #213. "The Demon Brigade!!" - Written by Gerry Conway (Plot) and Len Wein (Script), pencils by John Buscema and Don Perlin, inks by Vince Colletta; Cover pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Frank Giacoia. The battle is great, but the Asgardians are defeated. Thor awakens in a dungeon and discovers that the food is drugged, keeping the rest of the Asgardians enthralled. Thor breaks free and frees Hildegarde and Tana Nile who have yet to be drugged. They meet up with Gregor and his resistance and agree to help them overthrow Sssthgar and the Vrellnexians. They destroy the drug factories and abandon Sssthgar to the former slaves of Golden Star, but not before he tells Thor the location of Lady Sif. Okay, so they drugged Odin and the other Asgardians to make them docile. A bit hackneyed, but at least it is an explanation as to why Odin was subservient to a Space Curt Conners. Overall, it was a good story, but nothing to write home about. Grade: 7.5
• BEWARE #3
• CHAMBER OF CHILLS #5
• CRYPT OF SHADOWS #4
• MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS #43
• SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #11
• TWO-GUN KID #111
On sale April 17, 1973
AMAZING ADVENTURES #19. "The Sirens of 7th Ave." - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover pencils by Herb Trimpe and John Romita (alterations), inks by Mike Esposito and John Romita (alterations). Killraven and his gang are captured by Skarlet, Queen of the Sirens, and taken to the Arena to do battle to amuse the Martians. First appearances of M'Shulla, Hawk, and Arrow. I’ve read this series more than a couple of times and I never noticed how different Conway’s story was from Don McGregor’s. Without going into the details, I find myself wondering what this book would be like if Conway had remained. I wish that we had gotten more than two issues from Chaykin, though. As it is, next month is a whole new creative team. Grade: 8.0
AVENGERS #113. "Your Young Men Shall Slay Visions!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Bob Brown. Inks by Frank Rolle. Cover by Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott. After an image of the Scarlet Witch and Vision embracing goes viral, the Avengers receive more hate mail than ever. Turns out, “normal” folk are offended by a romance between a sentient robot and a mutant. The Avengers are attacked by the “Living Bombs”, a group of extremists who believe the Avengers are destroying American values. First, a bit of trivia: In what issue did Thor and Iron Man discover each other’s true identities? Answer: why, this one right here! 😄 That was a pleasant surprise in an otherwise good, but not great story. While a story about a group of bigots using terrorist tactics was entertaining enough, it’s the little tidbits of the Marvel Universe that I like discovering; especially since I’ve always wondered when the two of them revealed their identities to each other. After all, the scene itself made it blatantly obvious. A shame that Englehart didn’t use the opportunity to include T’Challa in the big reveal. Grade: 7.5
LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #11. "Where there's Life...!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Art by George Tuska and Billy Graham. Left to drown in a tunnel by Señor Suerte, Luke Cage breaks free at the very last minute! Determined to make Señor Suerte pay, Cage tracks the villain down to his secret hideout. But the Señor is ready for the attack…and has planted a series of gambling-related traps! Luke Cage vs. the Wheel of Fate! Señor Suerte/Muerte seems a bit like Arcade before there ever was such a character. Or rather, his death traps reminded me of Murderworld. At any rate, watching Cage battle through the death traps was a lot of fun. Grade: 8.0
MARVEL FEATURE #10. "Ant-Man No More!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Pencils by Craig Russell. Inks by Frank Chiaramonte. Cover by Craig Russell and Frank Giacoia. Dr. nemesis wants to prove himself to A.I.M., by taking out the Pyms. Nemesis wants Ant-Man to join him in a raid on Avengers Mansion! Or he will kill Janet! Left with no other options, Hank Pym infiltrates his old stomping grounds with his devious blackmailer in tow! Is Doctor Nemesis setting a trap for the Avengers? Or is Ant-Man actually setting a trap for Doctor Nemesis? (Note: This issue completes the seven-issue run in the MARVEL FEATURE title featuring Hank Pym as the Astonishing Ant-Man.) Hank and Jan are great characters. Lovable characters, even. But they’re just not interesting enough to hold their own series. What is it about the shrinking and underwater characters (Ant-Man & Wasp/the Atom, plus Namor and Aquaman) that seem so interesting in team books or as guest stars, but struggle to maintain their own solo features? As this issue goes, it really wasn’t bad at all. Dr. Nemesis was probably the best Ant-Man villain in a long time. Certainly, more interesting than the losers they fought in TALES TO ASTONISH. I had so much hope for this series, but I guess I should have known from their short tenure in the book that it wasn’t going to be very good. Good ending, though. Grade: 7.5
RED WOLF #8. "King Cycle Deals Death!" - Written by Gardner F. Fox, pencils by Syd Shores, inks by Chic Stone. Red Wolf takes on a motorcycle gang that steals fine art. I’ve always liked the character Red Wolf. However, Fox writes this series like a guy going through the motions; as if he’s writing out of obligation instead of love for the character. Or...maybe he just didn’t have any good ideas for the series. Whatever the reason, a character with so much potential deserved better. Grade: 6.0
TOMB OF DRACULA #10. "His Name is Blade!" - Written by Marv Wolfman. Art by Gene Colan and Jacki Abel. Half-human, half-vampire, all attitude! His name is Blade and he's here to destroy Dracula once and for all. Will Blade be able to work alongside the vampire hunters or will his lone wolf attitude get the best of him! The first appearance of Blade, The Vampire Slayer! Before Wesley Snipes made him somewhat of a household name, Blade was an Afro-wearing, goggles-wearing vampire hunter that used wooden stakes, broken English, and a bad attitude. Not too stereotypical. Not as bad as Luke Cage, at least, lol!! With all that said, Wolfman still makes him and the story pretty cool. Grade: 8.5
• CONAN THE BARBARIAN #28
• DRACULA LIVES #2
• RAWHIDE KID #113
• RINGO KID #21
On sale April 24, 1973
CAPTAIN MARVEL #27. “Trapped on Titan!" - Written by Mike Friedrich, plot and pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Pablo Marcos. The Super-Skrull continues to pester Captain Marvel. Meanwhile, Thanos seeks out the Cosmic Cube. The second chapter was a little dryer than I remember. Yet, still very strong. Starlin and Friedrich’s classic storyline remains impressive. Grade: 8.0
FANTASTIC FOUR #138. "Rock Around the Cosmos!" - Written by Roy Thomas (plot) and Gerry Conway (script). Art by John Buscema (breakdowns) and Joe Sinnott (finishes). Cover by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia. Having escaped Gideon’s clutches, the Fantastic Four must now take on the Wild Ones Gang! But how does Slugger Johnson fit into this madness? And finally, an ending where the FF doesn’t win! What did I just read? Really strange story, but not without its moments. Always good to see the Shaper of Worlds, though. Grade 7.0
MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #4. "Death of the Monster” - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by John Verpoorten. Ploog cover. The part re-telling of the Shelley classic concludes. Robert Walton and cabin boy Sean are pulled from the ice by Frankenstein’s Monster. The creature continues his tale, this time recounting his brush with death at the hands of savage tribesmen. What a fabulous opening story for this series! I enjoyed all four issues of this story immensely. Verpoorten is easily the best inker for Ploog when he’s not inking himself. Grade: 9.0
MARVEL PREMIERE #9. “The Crypts of Kaa-U!” - Written by Steve Englehart (co-plot, script) and Frank Brunner (co-plot), pencils by Frank Brunner, inks by Ernie Chan (as Ernie Chua). Cover art by Frank Brunner. Strange escapes the desolate, lifeless planet following a mystic trail of energies. He encounters Shuma-Gorath on his journey and eventually touches down outside the Kaa-u crypts. He finds his mentor, the Ancient One, near death and learns that is exactly the Ancient One's desire. The secret behind Shuma-Gorath's rebirth is revealed, but what does it have to do with the Ancient One? A bit more exciting than the last issue. It really helps to have the stunning artwork of Brunner and Chan. For me, great artwork can boost an average story. Grade: 7.5
MARVEL TEAM-UP #11. "The Doomsday Gambit!" - Written by Gerry Conway (plot) and Len Wein (script). Pencils by Jim Mooney. Inks by Mike Esposito. Cover by John Romita. Spider-Man enlists the aid of the Inhumans to defeat Kang and Zarrko and rescue the Avengers in the 23rd century. Again, despite its star power, this story isn’t the epic you would think that it would be. Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Human Torch, and the Inhumans should have been one of those classic multi-part stories. Yet, while it falls a bit short of epic, it is quite enjoyable. If I had to guess why it didn’t live up to the billing, I’d say that it’s the villains. Zarkko is not particularly interesting and, despite my dislike of Kang, he’s usually involved in great, memorable stories. Yet, they were barely in this tale; well, Kang wasn’t. Even still, it’s still good enough for me to revisit one day.....maybe. 😏 Grade: 7.5
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #7. “Ritual of Blood!” - Written by Len Wein, pencils by Mike Ploog, inks by Jim Mooney. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Jack escapes from the circus and the control of Swami Rihva and the Bloodstone. While the story was decent enough, I’d like to get into the artwork. For years, I’ve heard about the great Mike Ploog. There’s no doubt that he’s an incredible talent, but the biggest issue I have with the art has nothing to do with his talent, but the people that they have inking him. Even some of those guys are well-respected talents, but they don’t mesh well with Ploog. So far, it seems that the best inker for Ploog is John Verpoorten and Ploog, himself. The issue MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN where he penciled and inked was outstanding! I know that, like Steranko, his time with Marvel was short. I’m hoping to get one more glimpse of the true Mike Ploog before he exists. Grade: 6.5
• CREATURES ON THE LOOSE #24
• KULL THE CONQUEROR #9
• MY LOVE #24
• SGT. FURY #112
So, another month is done. Since I changed the 8.0 – 8.5 rating from Very Good to Great, I find that I’m giving out 8.0 and 8.5 a little less. To me, there is a huge difference between very good and great, and some of these issues didn’t warrant, in my mind, the rating of great. Look at it like this: 7.0 is Good and 7.5 is very good if you will. With that said, there were some great issues, still. When I pick the Top 5 books, I feel bad, sometimes, because, like this month, great issues like HERO FOR HIRE #11, CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #163, and AMAZING ADVENTURES #19 were left off the list, and I refuse to cheat by using the “tied for 3rd place” copout. Well, that’s a wrap. See ya next week and take care.
Grading Chart:
• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Great
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed on
Books of the Month:
1. MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN #4
2. TALES OF THE ZOMBIE #1
3. TOMB OF DRACULA #10
4. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #122
5. CAPTAIN MARVEL #27
Covers of the Month:
1. TALES OF THE ZOMBIE #1
2. MARVEL PREMIERE #9
3. CAPTAIN MARVEL #27
4. CRYPT OF SHADOWS #4
5. INCREDIBLE HULK #165
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 22, 2023 21:31:40 GMT -5
THE CAT #4. "Stampede!" - Written by Linda Fite, pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Alan Weiss. Starlin and Weiss drew themselves into this issue - page 2, panel 1. They don't speak, but the drawing is much more detailed than usual for background characters. Starlin has long sandy hair and Weiss has glasses and a hat. |
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Post by Myke Gee on Feb 23, 2023 0:29:31 GMT -5
*** ORIGINALLY POSTED ON FACEBOOK ON OCTOBER 10, 2020 *** MAY 1973 (Cover Date: August 1973)
Good morning, everyone! This month, we say hello to a new black & white magazine, VAMPIRE TALES. That one took me by surprise because I’ve never been a big Morbius fan. But I’m getting ahead of myself. So, without further delay, here are my thoughts on Marvel Comics for May 1973.
On sale May 1, 1973
VAMPIRE TALES #1. First story: “Morbius” - Written by Steve Gerber. Art by Pablos Marcos. Morbius moves to the west coast and is searching for Martine Bancroft. When he is convinced to consult psychic, Madame Laera, he ends in a battle with a demon named Nilrac. A surprisingly good story with beautiful art from Marcos. 2nd story: "To Kill a Werewolf" - Writer unknown. Art by Bill Everett. Reprint of a story from MENACE #9. 3rd story: “The Vampyre” - Written by Ron Goulart. Art by Win Mortimer. Reprint of a story from JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #15. 4th story: “Satan Can Wait” - Writer unknown. Art by Paul Reinman. Last story: "Revenge of the Unliving" - Written by Gardner Fox. Art by Jodi Bernet. Again, my only interest in these horror strips is their connection to the Marvel Universe. So, I didn’t bother to read the reprint stories. I did skim through the last story and the artwork by Bernet is really cool. Grade: 8.0 (Morbius story)
On sale May 8, 1973
DAREDEVIL AND THE BLACK WIDOW #102. “Stilt-Man Stalks the City!” - Written by Chris Claremont, pencils by Syd Shores, inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Frank Giacoia. The Stilt-Man arrives on the west coast where DD and the Black Widow have to keep him from using a molecular condenser to knock California into the ocean. It’s really hard to take the Stilt-Man seriously. Well, as serious as you can take any comic book character, anyway. Fortunately, we were spared a multi-part storyline with him as the main antagonist. Stilt-Man is a done-in-one villain if I’ve ever seen one. This made for a good issue. Kick Stlit-Man’s butt and send him on his way, lol! Grade: 7.0
INCREDIBLE HULK #166. “The Destroyer from the Dynamo!” - Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Herb Trimpe, inks by Sal Trapani. Cover art by Herb Trimpe. Hulk swims ashore in New York City just in time to assist Hawkeye in taking on the electrical menace of Zzzax. Meanwhile, in Russia, Talbot and his forces successfully rescue Thunderbolt Ross from his captors, but Talbot ends up getting captured himself. The story continues from AVENGERS #109 and continues into DEFENDERS #7. So, this kind of went like I thought it would. Hawkeye would fight the Hulk (thankfully, for a very brief moment), then the heroes would (in this case, somewhat...) team up to fight the bad guy. I’ve heard of Zzzax, but I’ve never read a story with him in it. I like him. Can’t wait for his next appearance. Grade: 8.0
IRON MAN #61. "Death Knells over Detroit!" - Written by Mike Friedrich. Art by George Tuska and Mike Esposito. Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia. Iron Man has been captured by the Masked Marauder. Shell-head must now escape and defeat the Marauder otherwise Detroit will be destroyed by an atomic bomb! Meanwhile, marital tension is growing between Pepper and Happy Hogan as their separation due to work commitments continues. I, honestly, never even heard of the Masked Marauder until I started this project and read his DAREDEVIL appearances. I never thought that he’d make a good villain for anyone but Daredevil. However, he’s more formidable than I thought. He’s still kinda goofy, but this conclusion was better than the first part mainly because of a good battle between him and Iron Man. Grade: 7.5
• CHILI #24
• KID COLT: OUTLAW #173
• MARVEL SPECTACULAR #1
• MILLIE THE MODEL #203
• MONSTERS ON THE PROWL #24
• OUTLAW KID #17
• SHIELD #4
On sale May 15, 1973
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #123. "...Just A Man Called Cage!" - Written by Gerry Conway. Art by Gil Kane (pencils), John Romita (pencils, inks), and Tony Mortellaro (inks). Cover by John Romita and Tony Mortellaro. Spider-Man meets Power Man! Following Gwen Stacy’s funeral, J. Jonah Jameson solicits Luke Cage for his services; to capture Spider-Man dead or alive. As I always say, I’m a sucker for superhero battles. Spidey vs Cage did not disappoint. I know that this is one of ASM’s iconic covers that I’ve seen a gazillion times in the group, but for some reason, I think I had this issue. If I did, I didn’t remember a thing about it and that’s just great. That makes this a fresh, first-time read. Also, as a MARVEL TEAM-UP fan that’s reading that series’ early issues for the first time, I’ve noticed that the standard formula is not there yet. Heroes meet, heroes fight over some misunderstanding, heroes halt to compare notes, then take on the bad guy. All of that was here except the last part (that is if you don’t count J. Jonah Jameson, LoL!). I wonder if this was the issue that made them adopt that formula for MTU. Great issue! Grade: 9.0
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #164. "Queen of the Werewolves!" - Written by Steve Englehart, art by Alan Weiss. (Many of Cap's heads were retouched by John Romita Sr., creating quite a clash of styles!) John Romita Sr. cover. Werewolves ripping a seemingly helpless Captain America to shreds? Can this truly be Cap's fate, or is it but part of a larger conspiracy? Cap is at the mercy of Nightshade and her werewolf army! First appearance of Nightshade. Nick Fury cameo. Brief Yellow Claw appearance. The first thing that caught my eye was the creative team. Pretty much all are legends in the field of comics and, if he isn’t, Weiss should be. I was hoping that the end result would be spectacular, but while it was pretty good, it fell a bit short of my expectations. Maybe it was seeing a werewolf with an afro that threw me off, lol!!! Grade: 8.0
DOC SAVAGE #6. "Where Giants Walk” - Part two of an adaptation of the Kenneth Robeson novel "The Monsters" Written by Gardner F. Fox and art by Ross Andru and Frank Giacoia. Gil Kane cover. Doc and his team encounter more of the giant men as they continue to investigate a murder. You know, I’ve really tried with this series. I really wanted to like it. While I liked the first part of this story, the conclusion didn’t grab me as much. Thankfully, this series has only two more issues left. Otherwise, I would be dropping it. Grade: 6.5
SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #5. "Where Nekra Walks - Death Must Follow!" - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Vince Colletta. Cover art by John Romita. Shanna battles Nekra, the Priestess of Darkness. First appearance of Nekra. Final issue. I’ve always found Nekra a bit more interesting than the Mandrill. Especially here in her first appearance. Her chapter in this tale was much better than the Mandrill’s. Alas, as a series overall, I can see why it was canceled. The characters were, mostly, interesting, but the same cannot be said for the stories. They weren’t horrible, at all. Just nothing special. Ending the series on a cliffhanger didn’t help. The series gets a 7.0. This issue....? Grade: 7.5
SUB-MARINER #64. "Voyage into Chaos!" - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Don Perlin. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler and John Romita (alterations), inks by Bill Everett and John Romita (alterations). The Council of Elders has decided to segregate the Hydro-Men in a prison camp outside of Atlantis. Namor frees them and decrees that they should be free to mingle with the Atlantean people. Once again, Namor is called to defend an underwater realm, but this time, it's not Atlantis. Who are the mysterious Zephyreans? Tales of Atlantis back-up story, "In the Wake of the Warriors!" - Written by Howard Chaykin and Steve Gerber, pencils by Howard Chaykin, inks by Joe Sinnott. It’s good to see that, while the series is getting a little stale, a pretty entertaining story can still come along once and a while. Honestly, that’s, pretty much, how I view the entire series; good runs followed by lulls followed by good runs. Wash, rinse, repeat. Grade: 8.0
THOR #214. "Into the Dark Nebula!" - Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Jim Mooney. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito. Return of the 4-D Man! And this time, Mercurio brought an army! Will Thor and company be trapped in the mines of the Dark Nebula? This series is, also, starting to plateau a bit. Fortunately, the stories are still good, if not epic like they were during the Lee/Kirby/Colletta days. The return of Mercurio helps. Such a cool-looking character. Grade 8.0
• HAUNT OF HORROR #2
• MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION #12
• VAULT OF EVIL #4
• X-MEN #83
On sale May 22, 1973
ASTONISHING TALES #19. “...And Men Shall Name Him--Victorius!” - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Dan Adkins (pages 1-15) and Jim Starlin (pages 16-19), inks by Jack Abel. Cover art by John Romita. Victorius kidnaps Bobbi Morse and takes her to his AIM fortress. Nick Fury gives Ka-Zar the super-soldier serum and sends him after them. If I’m not mistaken, this is the last storyline for Ka-Zar in this series. The stranger in a strange land angle has been so-so to pretty good. Yet, I can’t wait for him to get back to the Savage Land. I read his upcoming solo book once. I loved learning the backstory of the events that happened in UNCANNY X-MEN #115-116. As for this last story: file this one under the pretty good category. Victorius makes for an interesting villain. I’m sure that the next issue will reveal his secret. Hope that it’s worth the wait. Grade: 8.0
AVENGERS #114. "Night of the Swordsman" - Written by Steve Englehart. Pencils by Bob Brown. Inks by Mike Esposito. Cover by Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott with possible contributions from Ron Wilson and John Romita. Wanda is hurt by her brother’s protests against her love affair with Vision. After storming out of Avengers Mansion, she is retrieved by Swordsman’s partner, Mantis. With the current roster depleted, the Swordsman and Mantis are given a second chance to join the team of heroes. But will the two scoundrels prove their worth? The Swordsman has made enough appearances for me to know that I don’t see anything special about him. I have extraordinarily little knowledge of Mantis. About 10 years ago, I bought the 1974 issues and up until I caught up to where my AVENGERS collection began. I read those stories once, but I don’t recall much about them. What I do remember is that Mantis referred to herself as “This one”, which is absent in this issue. I say all this because she has been one of my biggest curiosities. Despite the return of the Lion-God, this was an interesting start to what looks like a “new” era in Avengers history. Grade: 8.0
FEAR #15. "From Here to Infinity!" - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Val Mayerik, inks by Frank McLaughlin. Cover art by Frank Brunner. The demon invasion of Earth intensifies, and the strain is too much on the Man-Thing who collapses, apparently dead. Meanwhile, the Cult of Zhered-Na reconvenes to try to recover the ancient tome that will put things right! The Man-Thing stories continue to pleasantly surprise, as does Gerber. I was never really a fan of his writing. “Weird for the sake of being weird” was always my opinion of him. He’s truly proving me wrong by making the characters and situations surrounding a less-than-charismatic character interesting and intriguing. Unlike some of the other characters that have occupied these “tryout books”, I can see why he graduated to his own magazine. Grade: 8.0
GUNHAWKS #6. "Death of a Gunhawk" - Written by Gary Friedrich. Art by Herb Trimpe and Vince Colletta. Cover by Dick Ayers and Jack Abel. This issue: the death of Kid Cassidy. Reno and the Kid argue over why the Kid let the love of Reno’s life ride away with Grey Fox. So infuriated was Reno, he challenges the Kid to a duel and kills him....or did he? One thing that I noticed about this book is that Reno Jones is the star of the book. All of the character development (such as it is) centers around him. Aside from the last issue, Kid Cassidy is almost treated like a footnote. When Power Man and Iron Fist became a team, I always looked at the Fist as something of a sidekick. Same here, only in 1973, that’s a pretty bold move to have the Black man as the superior character to his White co-star. One of the better stories in a floundering series, but this is a lost cause at this point. One more issue to go. Grade: 7.5
LUKE CAGE: HERO FOR HIRE #12. "Chemistro!" - Written by Steve Englehart. Art by George Tuska and Billy Graham. While Luke Cage was off fighting Spider-Man, a new villain emerged in New York City! Enter Chemistro, the inventor behind the alchemy gun! Cage is hired to defeat this new foe, but Chemistro won’t retire easily! Another good done-in-one. Fortunately, Chemistro is a bit more interesting than the Stilt-Man. Grade: 7.5
SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #5. “The Revenge of the Monster!” - Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Frank Chiaramonte. The Living Mummy comes to life and seeks out a descendant of the man that cursed him 3000 years ago. First appearance of The Living Mummy! This was a treat mainly because it’s the first time I’ve ever read a Living Mummy story. Of all the comics that I’ve read since I started this project, this is completely new to me. (Well...so was TALES OF THE ZOMBIE) I’ve only been reading these horror-based “heroes” because of their ties to the Marvel Universe, but, I must admit, I had no idea that I would enjoy them as much as I have. A very solid start to this series. Grade: 8.0
TOMB OF DRACULA #11. "The Voodoo-Man!" - Written by Marv Wolfman. Art by Gene Colan and Jacki Abel. Cover by Gil Kane and Tom Palmer. Dracula sets his eyes on the group of malevolent bikers who wronged him! He will finally have his revenge! A couple of issues ago, Dracula, in a weakened state, was attacked by a group of bikers. I thought it odd that he never sought revenge for such an affront once his strength returned. Wolfman crafts a really good story while tying up a loose end. Grade: 8.5
• COMBAT KELLY #8
• CONAN THE BARBARIAN #29
• MARVEL TALES #44
• RAWHIDE KID #114
On sale May 29, 1973
DEFENDERS #7. “War Below the Waves” - Written by Steve Englehart (plot, script pages 1-7) and Len Wein (script pages 8-19), pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Frank Bolle. Cover pencils by John Romita. Hawkeye vs the Defenders! What has led this superhero team to take on the Avenging Marksman? Plus, Hawkeye and the Defenders try to stop an attack on Atlantic City by Attuma and end up captured by Attuma and the Red Ghost. Two villains that I’m not exactly crazy about, but in those days, Englehart always seemed to write a good story no matter what characters he was using. Same thing here. Grade: 8.0
FANTASTIC FOUR #137. "Rumble on Planet 3" - Written by Roy Thomas (plot) and Gerry Conway (script). Art by John Buscema (breakdowns) and Joe Sinnott (finishes). Cover by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. The Shaper of Worlds has rewritten reality! The FF's adventure into a time-warped 1950s America continues...as Mr. Fantastic and the Thing invade a medieval castle looking for a man called the Brain (aka Slugger Johnson incognito)! Moments later, Medusa and the Human Torch join the fight too! After skirmishing with one another, the Fantastic Four finally face their main foe: Warhead! With help from the wild ones, the FF will try to disarm Warhead! As I said about the last issue, strange story. I get it, really, but this storyline just didn’t do a lot for me. While I enjoyed the Shaper’s appearance, it just wasn’t enough. Grade: 6.5
MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #11. “Season of the Witch-Woman” - Written by Gary Friedrich, pencils by Tom Sutton, inks by Syd Shores. Cover pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Mike Esposito. Linda offers her origin story to Ghost Rider, chronicling her rise as Witch-Woman. Still entrenched in her deal with Satan, Ghost Rider has little choice but to turn on a former ally. Continued in GHOST RIDER #1 (1973 series). So, the Snake-Dance story concludes, and the Ghost Rider is awarded his own series. This reminds me of reading Warlock’s stories in MARVEL PREMIERE and wondering what was escaping me. How could such average stories merit a solo book? Welp! He got his book and the rest is history. As for this issue, ...meh. It wasn’t too bad. Grade: 6.5
MARVEL TEAM-UP #12. “Wolf at Bay!" - Written by Gerry Conway (plot), by Len Wein (script), pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Don Perlin. Gil Kane/John Romita Sr. cover. Spider-Man and the Werewolf by Night battle Moondark the Magician. Daredevil and Black Widow cameos. MTU served another purpose other than seeing Spider-Man meet and fight alongside other heroes. It served as a means to draw interest to other characters that had their own book. I don’t know if this helped sales for WEREWOLF BY NIGHT or night, but if that was the intent, with this story, it probably only received a lukewarm boost. Grade: 6.5
WARLOCK #7. "Doom: At the Earth's Core!" - Written by Mike Friedrich, pencils by Bob Brown, inks by Frank Giacoia. Cover pencils by Gil Kane, inks by Frank Giacoia. Warlock’s teenage companions reveal that they are targets of discrimination. After the teens are placed in protective custody, Warlock decides to free his friends despite protests from Von Doom. Plus, Reed Richards takes on Doctor Doom of Counter-Earth, but this time, the roles are reversed! Action from top to bottom in this one. The problem is, I didn’t find it to be highly engaging. Far from boring, it just cameJack’s plight of suffering from the curse of the werewolf off as “standard”, at best. Of all the books that were and going to be canceled this year, only THE CAT was a head-scratcher, in my opinion. The rest (including this one), I completely understand. One more issue before the hiatus. Grade: 7.5
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #8. “The Lurker Behind the Door!” - Written by Len Wein, pencils by Werner Roth, inks by Paul Reinman. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Jack Russell accidentally releases Krogg from the cave where he was trapped. What I’m starting to realize about the Werewolf is that he’s not exactly a powerhouse. He’d crush an ordinary human, but he’s nowhere near Dracula’s level of power. I find that kind of refreshing and I guess I would, seeing as how some of my favorite superheroes aren’t really super at all. Reading this and TOMB OF DRACULA, there’s a stark difference between the two lead characters. Dracula is evil defined and, while the Werewolf is a monster, he’s a sympathetic one. I always read all of these books in a particular order, and I read the horror-based books (TOD, WBN, FEAR, SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS, etc.) together. I’m very disappointed in myself that I took this long to realize what makes each book unique. Now, as for this issue, the Werewolf fought some random, double-consonantal demon, which usually sets off my boredom sense. Not this issue. It’s Jack’s plight of suffering from the curse of the werewolf that keeps this book interesting. It’s like a horror-based version of the Hulk. Grade: 8.0
• JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #6
• MONSTERS UNLEASHED #2
• OUR LOVE STORY #24
• SGT FURY #113
For the second month in a row, three of my top 5 books were “horror” books. I cannot lie. They are making a far bigger impact on me than I thought they would. Still, a pleasant surprise. We say goodbye to SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL, but she returns later in the year in KA-ZAR #1. Some particularly high marks this month; more high than mediocre or average. Lots of good stuff next month. The Thanos War heats up, GHOST RIDER #1, the return of STRANGE TALES and the debut of Brother Voodoo, the final issue of RED WOLF, the beginning of Panther’s Rage, and a sneak peek at MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE in MARVEL FEATURE. Always fun doing this, guys! Until next week, take care!
Grading Chart:
• 10.0 = Classic (rarely given)
• 9.0 – 9.5 = Excellent
• 8.0 – 8.5 = Great
• 7.0 – 7.5 = Good
• 6.0 – 6.5 = Above Average
• 5.0 – 5.5 = Average
• 4.0 – 4.5 = Below Average
• 3.0 – 3.5 = Poor
• 2.0 – 2.5 = Very Poor
• 1.0 – 1.5 = Utter Shite
• 0.0 – 0.5 = Not worth the paper it’s printed on
Books of the Month:
1. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #123
2. TOMB OF DRACULA #11
3. SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS #5
4. FEAR #15
5. CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FALCON #164
Covers of the Month:
1. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #123
2. VAULT OF EVIL #4
3. AVENGERS #114
4. WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #3
5. DOC SAVAGE #6
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Post by chaykinstevens on Mar 5, 2023 18:08:56 GMT -5
AVENGERS #105. "In the Beginning Was the World Within!" - Script by Steve Englehart. Pencils by John Buscema. Inks by Jim Mooney. Cover by John Buscema and Jim Mooney. The Avengers have survived their epic encounter with the Sentinels, but there's one big problem. Quicksilver is missing! Pietro disappeared during the battle in Australia. And now the Scarlet Witch is frantically trying to find him! Luckily, Wanda gets a tip about mysterious disappearances occurring in Chile. After the Black Panther rejoins the team, the Avengers take off for South America! Upon landing, T'Challa leads the group of heroes to the Savage Land and the former citadel of Magneto. Poking around the Master of Magnetism's old base of operations...is that a good idea? There could be danger lurking! Particularly evil mutants like Amphibius, Barbarus, Brainchild, Equilibrius, Gaza, Lorelei, and Lupo! Can Earth's Mightiest Heroes make short work of Magneto's minions? Or will the Beast-Brood halt the Avengers' jungle safari? Interesting that they’re called the “Beast Brood” instead of the “Savage Land Mutates” in this story. Does anyone know if there is a back story on this? At any rate, the SLMs are favorites of mine. So, it was really good to see them again. Great action-packed story. Grade: 9.0 I have no information about this, but I imagine someone thought Beast Brood was punchier than the previous name, and they could put it on the cover without a lot of people wondering how a land might mutate.
MARVEL PREMIERE #5. “The Lurker in the Labyrinth!” - Written by Gardner F. Fox, pencilIrv Wesley, inks by Don Perlin. Cover art by Mike Ploog. Strange escapes being sacrificed to Sligguth and learn of the slumbering evil of Shuma-Gorath. The Ancient One, weakened from giving power to Strange, is carried away by Shadowmen of sunken Kaa-U. Featuring concepts created by Robert E. Howard. Thank goodness that the story was good because going from Barry Smith and Frank Brunner to Irv Wesley (whoever he is) and Don Perlin was a huge step backward artistically. While they didn’t suck by any means, still...we’re talking about Smith and Brunner! A pretty good story that’s continued next issue. Grade: 8.0
Irv Wesley was a pseudonym for Sam Kweskin, who had previously worked for Marvel in the 50s when they were called Atlas. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Mar 5, 2023 18:32:11 GMT -5
Was there a reason why you skipped this one? I've never read it myself, but the creative teams involved were reasonably promising: Conway/Colan/Palmer, Thomas/Weiss/Giordano and Gerber/Buckler/Marcos. |
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Post by chaykinstevens on Mar 5, 2023 18:40:56 GMT -5
THE CAT #4. "Stampede!" - Written by Linda Fite, pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Alan Weiss. Back-up reprint: Marvel Girl story, "The Female of the Species!" - Written by Fite (her first story for Marvel), pencils by Werner Roth, inks by Sam Grainger. John Romita Sr. cover pencils and Tony Mortellaro cover inks. The misogynistic Man-Bull feels the wrath of The Cat after the brute lashes out in a bar! Final issue of the series. “Next issue: The Cat Meets...?!” That’s what the final panel says, anyway. So, there were, obviously, plans for THE CAT #5. Weiss was co-penciller, with Frank McLaughlin providing the inking. Most of the unpublished Cat #5, drawn by Ramona Fradon and Jim Mooney, can be read here. |
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