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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 6, 2023 11:48:22 GMT -5
At the time (the 70s), did really parents or whoever bought comics care if the CCA seal was present or not on the comics? I mean, other publishers didn't use it and there was no problem. And I doubt if Marvel had decided to no use it anymore Spider-Man would have orgies between one good deed and another. I mean, he doesn't do it today when his reading audience is now 40-year-olds. I'd say, by the early to mid-60s, no one gave a crap, except the publishers. Once the self-appointed moral crusaders moved on to other things, the furor died down and comics were safe. the Code had little to do with it; just short moral outrage attention spans. Once Marvel put out the Spidey drug issue, without the Code, it was shown that the "Emperor had no clothes." The only reason I can see for them not dropping it outright was a combination of inertia and the usual conservative thinking of the big publishers, to churn out what they believe is working...in this case, the Code protecting them from government action. The government had bigger problems. The rise of the Direct Market proved it had no teeth, at all, but DC and Marvel continued to submit for approval, well into the 90s, for newsstand material. Magazine distributors didn't care, as they were happily putting Warren, Marvel Magazine and stuff like Heavy Metal and National Lampoon on the same stands, without batting an eye. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 6, 2023 12:06:45 GMT -5
Maybe she meant mates in the British/Australian/Kiwi sense of 'true and undying friends'. What, kicking back endless beers and insulting each other's manhood? |
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Post by foxley on Aug 6, 2023 17:00:23 GMT -5
Maybe she meant mates in the British/Australian/Kiwi sense of 'true and undying friends'. What, kicking back endless beers and insulting each other's manhood? Exactly. 
Why? What's your definition of true and undying friendship?
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 10, 2023 22:53:11 GMT -5
Invaders #3 The Maltese Falcon, still in theaters! See kids, movies used to hang around for longer than just the opening weekend! The weird figure poses just make me think of the Marvel Super Heroes cartoons and their (extremely) "limited" animation. Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer & editor, Frank Robbins-pencils, Vince Colletta-inks, John Costanza-letters, Don Warfield-colors Synopsis: The Invaders are headed back to the US, after their British adventure, with Bucky at the controls of Namor's flagship. They pass over a merchant ship, bound for Britain, but with no convoy or escort (nope, not with strategic materials, no way) and Namor spots a periscope as an explosion rocks the ship, from a torpedo. He has Bucky put the ship in hover and dives down to smack the sub crew around, starting with der kapitan.....  The U-Boat crash dives and Namor goes after, while the Torch and Toro fly out to help with the fire aboard ship. Namor smashes their screw, then starts knocking holes in the hull and the crew prepare to abandon ship and don breathing gear for an emergency escape. Roy seems to think they do that via the torpedo tubes, as the captain orders them cleared and they fire a torpedo out the tube; but, Namor is there to block it and it explodes, blowing up the ship, but not even scorching Namor. The captain survives and is plucked out of the water by Namor. Cap searches the sausage-eater and finds some secret orders. Namor snatches them out of his hand to read, because it wouldn't be a Marvel team book without everyone acting like children. It's encoded, so Namor can't read it and he starts threatening the captain, but Cap stops him. After lecturing Namor about stooping to the enemy's level (someone needs to introduce Cap to both the SAS and the Marine Raiders), they take it back to Washington, to have their cyphers section examine it. They land on some building and meet up with their government liason. Roy recaps what Churchill was up to, on his Christmas holidays, then mentions he is due to return to the UK, via the battleship HMS Duke of York (did it have ten thousand men?) The decoded message sends Stuart, the liason man into a tizzy and he takes the Invaders to a screening room and shows them footage of what looks like a frogman attack, in the Caribbean. Then, he shows them something worse: Der Unterseemensch!  The dud is nearly 7 ft tall and also commands sea creatures to attack! The decoded message said that U-Man was to attack the Duke of York, and places all U-boats in the area under his command. Bucky points out the obvious and Stuart confirms that the "frogmen" were also blue-skinned and that they are sure their breathing gear was for out of the water, not in it and that they were all Atlanteans. They all look at Namor, who says his people are devoted to the defeat of the Axis powers and vows to learn who this traitor is and turn him into chum. He says he will do it alone, which gets Cap's boy scout up and it leads to the usual fight and Namor swats Cap and smashes through a door. Stuart calls for MPs, like that will help. Namor smashes through the wall and Torch follows, so Subby smashes through a nearby rooftop water tower and dowses Torch. Cap tackles, but gets a kick to the gut, for good measure. Toro flames on to help and Bucky hits him with an extinguisher, telling him to stay out of it and that Namor is on their side. They start punching each other. Cap and Namor are still at it when the Torch recovers. He encircles the flagship with a ring of fire, then he and Namor go at it, but a cloudburst puts out his flame and reinvigorates Subby. Torch plummets and Cap has to rescue him, with help from Bucky & Toro. Once he is safe, Bucky runs to the flagship and joins Namor. They take off and leave the others behind. Stuart alerts them that Churchill is en route, via flyingboat, to the Caribbean. The Invaders think they can beat it there and help protect it, while Namor goes after U-Man. Thoughts: Roy lets this get bogged down in one of the stereotypical Marvel fights, which always used to annoy me. These are supposed to be adults, yet they can't work together for 5 minutes without a fight nearly breaking out or actually breaking out. Toro and Bucky's hero worship makes it even worse. I wouldn't mind it, at the start, as they get used to working together; but, Roy never fully leaves it behind, in later issues. It was always a reason why I liked DC better than Marvel, when it came to characters, as DC writers tended to let them act like adults, until you had more younger writers, aping the Marvel style. I'm not as wild about the art here, though there are some good panels, like the attack by U-Man and his troops and Namor yanking up the sub periscope. That was straight out of a Bill Everett playbook and worked well. However, Robbins perpetuates the stereotype of curved periscopes. They weren't like that, on most classes, of that period.  Meanwhile, yes, U-boats launched torpedoes underwater; BUT, if they had no escort vessels to worry about, they tended to surface for better aim and then fire on an enemy vessel. For a target like that, they might actually save their torpedoes and use their deck gun. However, it is a moot point, because the US had been using convoys to ferry stuff to the UK, even during the Lend Lease period. That close to the US they would definitely have an escort and there would likely be submarine patrols. Robbins has the basic design of the U-boat relatively accurate; but as to which class of U-boat, it is hard to say. The "escape set" depicted on the captain is also fairly accurate, used to draw breath to get to the surface, after exiting a submarine, underwater. However, the crew would go out an escape hatch, not the torpedo tubes. The unit acts as a rebreather, where carbon dioxide is chemically absorbed, allowing the remaining oxygen to be breathed back into the lungs. Then, an oxygen supply added additional oxygen, depending on the size of the breathing bottle. Closed circuit diving rigs allowed for longer submergence than escape sets, which needed enough air to reach the surface, depending on depth. You also had to equalize internal pressure to match external, to open the escape hatch. The captain is shown as the stereotypically bald, clean shaven German (what, no monocle?); but, most would have hair, in some fashion; and, tradition meant they let their beards grow on voyages and would then shave and get haircuts, when they pulled back into port, as is seen in Das Boat. U-Boat crews were considered the elite of the German Kriegsmarine (Navy) and were treated like heroes. By necessity, they tended to be a pretty competent and efficient bunch. U-Man will appear more in the next issue; but, it is pretty obvious where the inspiration came from: Aquaman. Just as Master Man was a Nazi Superman, so U-Man is Aquaman. This is Roy's little in-joke for fans, as he puts together Nazi versions of the Justice League (well, of the Trinity). Later, he will use some other inspirations and we won't get "Wonder Woman," for a bit. Since Aquaman was inspired by the success of the Sub-Mariner, having this Aquaman be part of Namor's race is a no-brainer. We will get more of him later; but, as you can see in the panel, he commands and octopus and some swordfish, which were Aquaman standbys, especially the octopus (Topo). U-Man's troops remind one of the "lizard men," from the pilot episode of Jonny Quest. It's not far off from the actual frogman suits of the era, minus the scales. They generally wore rubber suits, for warmth, though they weren't as well insulated as modern neoprene suits. They had SCUBA, which was developed in 1939; but, more military divers used rebreather units. Movies tend to depict the Germans using frogmen and they had combat swimmers; but, the Italians were much more advanced in that area and the Germans used more Italian equipment. teh Italians also developed a piloted torpedo, to launch shipping attacks, which became the basis for the earliest swimmer delivery vehicles. The British captured one, off Malta and then developed their own, for use with the Special Boat Service. Here is an Italian WW2 frogman....  The US Navy developed the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), starting with the Navy Scouts and raiders, in 1942, which morphed into the UDT, in 1943. The first batch deployed were Seebees, naval construction engineers, who volunteered to train as divers and were deployed for the landings in Sicily. They were soon followed by volunteers from the Marines and Army Engineers. They conducted beach reconnaissance and demolition duties, for the Normandy landings. They were deployed to the Pacific, following the problems of the invasion of Tarawa. Their first combat mission was preparing the way for the landings at Kwajalein. They would then participate in most of the major amphibious operations, right up to Okinawa, and were training for Japan, when the war ended. The OSS also had a maritime unit, with John Spence as the recognized first combat swimmer or frogman. He was an enlisted Navy diver, who was recruited into the OSS, then trained UDT swimmers in the Pacific, taking part in operations at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Personally, I think the story gets bogged down with the fighting nonsense and they could have spent more time building up U-Man or have them meet up, initially, before the cliffhanger. Some of these early issues have some pacing problems, largely because of this kind of nonsense. Once we get it out of the way, and the whole Red Skull/Liberty Legion story out of the way, things start to move along at a better pace and Roy starts cooking with the plots. The letters page features just one letter, from Roy's old friend, Jerry Bails. he predicts problems from readers over depiction of the Nazis and "Nips" and cries of propaganda; but, points out that was part of wartime comics. He lobbies for more Frank Robbins aviation art, requesting P-38s, B-17s, Spitfires, BF-109 Messerschmitts, submarines, aircraft carriers and Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes. I'd like to sees some Grumman XF5F Skyrockets; but, I think DC would sue. HAWKAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa...............
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 14, 2023 23:11:44 GMT -5
Invaders #4 I loves me some Kirby; but, this isn't Jack's best cover and the redrawn heads just pull you out, regardless of who did them. Jack's got U-Man waaaaaaaayyyy out of proportion. Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer & editor, Frank Robbins-pencils, Vince Colletta-inks, John Costanza-letters, Janice Cohen-colors Synopsis: Cap, Torch and Toro arrive at an airbase, to hop a ride. They didn't radio ahead, so they aren't expected and the guards try to stop them. Torch melts a rifle, then we see 7 kinds of hell descend upon them, led by the base commander, General CB Slinkard, yelling for their arrest....  Cap tries to show his FBI clearance; but, it was destroyed by the heat from Torch's hand, when they flew in. With help from Torch, Cap vaults over the jeeps and commandeers a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber. Cap keeps talking about a plane that can carry three, but the Dauntless was a two man crew, pilot and rear gunner/radioman. Someone is mixed up, thinking the Dauntless was the same as the Douglas TBD Devastator or Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, which had a crew of 3; and, I'm pretty sure it isn't Frank Robbins! Cap takes off in the Dauntless, while Torch & Toro run interference. Meanwhile, Bucky and Namor speed along in his flagship, while Namor yaks about hating surface dwellers and Bucky is a bit shocked to learn that the Invaders aren't exempt from that, when the war is over. Bucky secretly flips him the bird, while Namor rattles on about Merrano's back history. He was a research scientist who tried to cozy up to the Nazis, the seize power and Namor banished him, but wishes he had stuck a fork in him. They continue towars bermuda, where Winston Churchill's flying boat is scheduled to rendezvous with HMS Duke of York. In Bermuda, we find a small motorboat running alongside the dreadnought and it is a group of reporters, including Betty Dean, the woman Namor has met before and with whom he has possibly spawned.  Betty is bragging about stopping Namor from destroying New York, when U-Man and his frogman team attack. They toss the men over the side and grab Betty, who warns them that Namor will fix their wagon and gets slapped by Merrano. She is then taken hostage, as they prepare to attack Churchill's flying boat and the Duke of York. There is also a wolf p[ack of U-boats in the area, awaiting Merrano's command. He tosses Betty below and a grunt says he hears the flying boat approaching and they come around to meet it. Betty, dazed, crawls to the radio. Merrano is boasting, as the Berwick, the Boing 314 Clipper aircraft makes its approach; but, it veers off, away from the sea. Betty has been successful in warning it. It is low enough that one of its stabilizing pontoons skims the water and Merrano races after it. He succeeds in snaring the pontoon and is carried up with the aircraft, then climbs onto the fuselage.  He uses his great strength to try to tear apart the wing, when Namor hits him, from above.  As they battle, Cap is winging his way to Bermuda, with Torch and Toro each on a wingtip. Cap then makes a belly landing, in the water, near Merrano's men and he takes the fight to them, as betty watches below. Namor and Merrano continue to tussle. Namor grabs him in a bearhug and lifts into the sky, where Merrano cannot breath, but he is able to get free and drop back into the water. The Berwick is captured in some kind of spiraling vortex, which pulls it backward. The Nazi U-boats surface and open fire, then they are lifted into the sky, by the vortex.  The combined efforts of Namor and the fiery duo push the Berwick out of the vortex, while Churchill sees a T-Rex. They land it, safely, then Churchill thanks the Invaders, then says no one will believe what he has seen. Namor is reunited with betty Dean and they all head for Bermuda, after Merrano and his men disappear. Thoughts: The opening stuff at the air base goes on way too long and we are expected to believe that no one called ahead to have a plane prepped and ready. Roy emphasizes Cap looking for a 3-seat plane, leading to the Dauntless; but, given the Marvel method, I think he misinterpreted what Robbins was drawing and thought the Dauntless was a three-seater, not a two-seater. he then tries to cover it in narration, when we see it in flight, as only Cap is seen inside the cockpit. Roy claims that Torch and Toro rode part of the way inside, then acted as jet propulsion for the plane the rest of the way. I don't think Robbins intended any such thing, just the firebugs acting as propulsion. I was going to make hay about a Dauntless on an Army Air Force base; but, the USAAF did fly the Dauntless....in the Pacific, from bases in Australia (after initially sending them for the Philippines, before it fell). Being on the East Coast is a bit of a stretch, though. The base sign is wrong, as it says US Army Air Corps; but, that was renamed the US Army Air Force, in June, 1941 and we are into 1942. The CO, CB Slinkard, is not a real general and he turns up again later, in the Marvel Universe. Visually, he looks like a cross between Stan and Patton. Robbins draws the Boing 314 Clipper accurately, as you would expect. Churchill did fly aboard the Berwick, to bermuda, where he did meet up with the HMS Duke of York, to return home, after the initial planning conference in Washington, in December, 1941. He did not get pulled into a vortex and witness dinosaurs or anything else from Skull the Slayer. Yup, the finale of the book was to try to drive readers to Skull,; but, it didn't work and the book only lasted 8 issues. Jim Scully's plane is pulled through a time vortex, in the Bermuda triangle, and he ends up in an alternate world of dinosaurs, hominoids and aliens; and, possibly, Roddy McDowell and Ike Eisenman.... (Jared Martin & Katie Saylor would also co-star in Men of the Dragon, a tv pilot movie, about sibling martial artists, one of whom is kidnapped, while the other teams up with an old friend to rescue her from Joseph Wiseman, doing his best Mr Han.) The fight with Merrano is pretty exciting and it is nice to see Betty dean, from the Sub-Mariner comics; but, the opening is a bit much and the ending is too deus ex machina Better to have developed the middle more, as it was the strong point. I know it was the 70s and Bermuda Triangle nonsense was at its height; but, it is one of the more ludicrous ideas in "unexplained phenomena.' For one thing, it's a massive area, arbitrarily drawn on a map. The number of unexplained disappearances is grossly exaggerated and no different from any other arbitrarily drawn area, if you also look at a large span of time, as most of the research does. The Great Lakes have had more ship disappearances that that, but, you don't see movies and tv shows about that. Realistically, they were probably lost in a storm and capsized, or attacked by pirates (in early days), or crashed in the ocean, like the missing Navy Flight 19, a group of 5 TBM Avengers, on a bombing and navigation exercise, but lost contact on the home leg, with sporadic radio transmissions where the voices said they could not locate where they were. Most likely, they crashed into the water, in a storm, or after exhausting fuel, after veering off course. they were conducting a training mission, which included long range navigation. The aircraft were missing clocks, which would help with longitude. The exercise was designed to employ dead reckoning skills, where known land masses or other reference points are used to plot location. However, this assumes accurate recognition of the reference point. Elapsed time in flight would be a factor in determining position via dead reckoning. It is believed that the flight was off course, after their bombing run and misidentified a group of islands as the Florida Keys, when they were actually near Grand Bahama and when they thought they were on a course to Florida, they were actually heading away from it. Nas Lauderdale, where the flight originated, had 95 training accidents, between 1942 and 1945; but, that doesn't stop the wackos from leaping to absurd conclusions. It is not uncommon for magnetic compasses to go haywire, near large magnetic mineral deposits. Also, airspeed acceleration or deceleration can affect magnetic compasses. Turning errors could have also caused problems. Or, it could be aliens, in which case, we just wait for them to turn up in Mexico, to be found by Francois Truffault. This ends up a bit of a mixed bag. I think Roy is overdoing parts of the story because of the Marvel cliches, rather than servicing the greater story. Plus, the cross promotion gimmick, via the time vortex, is just distracting and annoying. Better to have expanded upon Merrano's history with Namor and their battle. Roy seems reluctant to let Namor be the focus of the story , as he should be, given it is one of his rogue subjects who is the villain. The red Skull is up next, which should put Cap front and center; but, that isn't what is going to happen. This started well, then lost its way, which is a problem Roy had with All-Star Squadron, later, at times, and in other works. Personally, I think it is also a flaw of the Marvel Method, as the artist can go astray, if he isn't in sync with the writer, or vice versa. I kind of feel like that happened here, especially with the aircraft mix-up. I suspect Roy had in mind an Avenger or devastator, but communicated the wrong plane to Robbins, if at all, or misunderstood Robbins, if he originated the Dauntless. That isn't the only anomaly. We also see an African-American crew member or ground crew, crawling out of a B-17 gun turret and the USAAF was segregated, just like the rest of the Army. The 477th Bombardment Group (Colored) (that was the official designation, not my choice of words) wasn't formed until 1944 and was never deployed. they were training to fly B-25 Mitchell's, but had been abruptly relocated to Gordon Field, at Fort Knox, after race riots in Detroit. The field was not suitable for B-25 take-offs and landings and inhibited training. Racial unrest and discrimination led to further problems, which were only solved after moving more black officers into leadership positions. The surrender of Japan came before the squadron was readied for combat.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 17, 2023 21:27:19 GMT -5
Invaders #5 Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer & editor, Rich Buckler & Dick Ayers and Jim Mooney-art, John Costanza-letters, Phil Rachelson-colors Buckler & Ayers will figure into a crossover, down the road a bit. Synopsis: It's just another day at the office for the Invaders: check the mail, sign a few autographs, smash up a defense plant....  Wait......WHAT?  ?? Apparently, they've been listening to rock n roll music and badmouthing their country.........or maybe that would be wearing zoot suits, jumping, jiving and wailing and badmouthing their country. They go around trashing the place, mouthing fascist propaganda, which sounds eerily familiar to similar rhetoric of recent vintage. Meanwhile, Der Roter Schadel has interrupted Fibber McGee & Molly.....  It seems that the Invaders have turned heel and the Red Skull is their manager. he has turned the Invaders on the US, using them as Hitler's invasion of America. The crowd boos and the announcer reminds us that tickets are on sale, at the box office. FDR is yelling at FBI agent Stuart, who reminds him that the Red Skull seemed to have died several times and it isn't his fault. he flashes back to the Invaders returning to America to take part in a war bond rally. Tor & Bucky catch up on the latest comic books, but they only have Timely books, which means they are missing out on the great National and Fawcett Comics, which are the top sellers in the nation. They talk about fighting elsewhere, while the comics show them at home (Timely is violating their rights by using their likenesses, without permission, in fictional stories). They said they would wipe out any saboteurs, if they were at home. Cap wonders about the homefront, if they are away and we see newspaper reports of other heroes, like The Patriot and The Fin (a superhero named after a five dollar bill?) They are interrupted by Mr Lyles, an industrialist who has funded the rally and wonders why they are sitting around there, instead of selling bonds. They lower their heads and slink outside, to take part in the parade.  Then, some Nazi rats pull out guns and prepare to open fire, when the Invaders hit them. Then, the Red Skull appears in a swirling vortex, in the sky......  The Torch and Toro fly up to attack and disappear into the vortex. Namor goes after and disappears. Cap slings his shield and disappears, leaving only Bucky, which means we are screwed. He shakes a fist and the Red Skull laughs at him and the vortex goes away. Bucky goes back to the FBI and Stuart, tail between his legs. he wants to interrupt radio broadcasts for a plan to stop the Red Skull from hitting a defense plant (too late), but is told no and he mopes off. Thoughts: It's a nice idea, but the execution is weak on this one. I was never a fan of the shock opening and then flashback to how things came to be and Roy has a tendency to overuse it, like many Marvel clicheskull back and it is all overly melodramatic, which I think is Roy trying to write a Golden Age-style story; but, it is rather weak for a more sophisticated audience. As it is, this is mainly set up to launch something else, which will mostly end up proving that Timely didn't have a deep bench, for lead features, especially compared to National/DC, Fawcett, Quality and even MLJ. Cap, Namor and Torch were pretty much it. The Patriot and The Destroyer weren't setting the world on fire. However, that is Roy's idea, to reintroduce the other Timely mystery men to a 1970s audience. That will take place in the next installment, which requires you to not only be able to find the next issue of Invaders on the newsstand, you also have to find Marvel Premiere #29, for the debut of The Liberty Legion. This is why I read more DC, as a kid. The art really has me longing for some Frank Robbins. Two pencillers and a third artist inking doesn't give you a great consistency. Plus, only Robbins and Ayers lived through WW2. Ayers was great on westerns and Sgt Fury; but, I thought his Avenger work, for Magazine Enterprises, was better than a lot of his Marvel or DC superhero stuff, or his Archie/Red Circle stuff, in the 80s. Buckler can do this kind of thing; burt, either he didn't have time to do it well or he lacked the swipes. It's not bad art; just not anything special and lacking the zip of Robbins & Colletta. When I was a kid, I thought the Liberty Legion sounded cool; but, when I was older and found the actual stories, it was always a disappointment. Roy did far better with All-Star Squadron and was better able to make second and third string characters interesting. Then again, DC's second and third stringers tended to be better written and more developed than Timely's program of churning out knock-offs. The saddest part in all of this is that the Angel gets ignored, yet again. He makes a cameo at the end of the Kree-Skrull War, then is pretty much left forgotten until Ed Brubaker does something with him, in The Marvels Project (or, as I like to call it, The Invaders Remake Project, since it borrows heavily from the early Invaders issues, plus Nick Fury's first pre-US involvement in WW2 mission, with Sam Sawyer, plus Cap's origin). he actually made him a really great character and linked him to the Two-Gun Kid!
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Post by mikelmidnight on Aug 18, 2023 11:48:46 GMT -5
It does seem, based on my reading, that aside from the members of the All-Winners Squad, the most popular Timely characters were the Mighty Destroyer and the Angel. I can see why the Angel was neglected in this series, as he really is a fairly generic adventurer (it never occurred to him to write him as Simon Templar, I guess). On the other hand, that made him perfect for the Brubaker project, as he got the revival his popularity deserved but he also didn't detract from the more popular heroes.
And as I said earlier, I'd have respected the Liberty Legion more had R.T. indulged his historical geekery and featured Captain Terror, Jack Frost, Major Liberty, Rockman, the Whizzer, Miss America, the Defender & Rusty.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 18, 2023 23:33:51 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #29 Liberty Legion, comin' at ya....in 3D! Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer & editor, Don Heck & Vince Colletta-art, John Costanza-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors Ooh...Heck & Colletta........could be good, could be very bad. I liked Heck on The Avengers......we shall have to see. Frank Robbins is still looking very goo, to me. Synopsis: Bucky storms into a radio station and bulls past a bunch of MPs, who are there for some reason, despite this being a civilian commercial station; and, therefore, private property. The MPs can't handle him and he gets into the studio, where he interrupts a radio broadcast, with The Patriot. The Patriot questions whether he is Bucky, as anyone could be under the mask and Bucky says "Same to you, fella!" Bucky tries to grab the mic and Patriot goes to block, then Bucky hits him with a judo throw and it is on.....  Patriot counters with a leg sweep. They get back to their feet and Patriot goes for a clinch, but Bucky ducks under and tries for a go-behind, but Patriot clamps on a full nelson, just like Billy Jack Haynes....  Bucky taps out and Patriot lets him loose, then tells the MPs go back to hittin' on the secretaries at the station. Bucky explains what is going on, says he heard the Patriot was a regular on the radio and came to recruit him to help stop the whammied Invaders. Patriot thinks it is a good idea and lets Bucky make an appeal, across the network, for other mystery men. Bucky namedrops The Fin and The Thunderer, but they will not be seen with the Liberty Legion. Bucky says he will repeat his appeal every 15 minutes, until he gets a response. he and Patriot then confer about some of the known mystery men and Roy indulges in their backstories, such as they existed, starting with the Red Raven.  He was in a plane that disappeared over the Atlantic and he ended up being raised by Prince Vultan, of the Hawkmen. We then cut to RR doing his thing, intercepting a suspicious plane, with no running lights, which just happens to be full of Nazi agents. He gets conked on the back of the ehad and we learn why he only had one appearance, while Hawkman went on for years. Lucky for him, he was working with a partner, as another plane flies close by, with the thin Man aboard..... William Powell? (Technically, the murder victim is The Thin Man and Powell is Nick Charles. he had previous played detective Philo Vance, in several films) The Thin Man is Bruce Dickson.... No, that's Bruce Dickinson...... Bruce got lost in the Himalayas and found a hidden, utopian civilization (as you do, after Lost Horizon came out), he learned to make himself ultra-thin, because that is useful in fighting crime. However, he is able to leap out of his plane and pass through the edge of the door on the enemy plane and miss being shot. He frees Red Raven, they engage in some Nazi-smashing, then TTM gets a message from his lady co-pilot about Bucky's broadcast. Next, Bucky and Patriot discuss the most ridiculously named character of the Golden Age, the Whizzer, who has the ability to urinate buckets, on command. What? Super speed? Then why does he have a yellow costume? Are you sure it isn't just high velocity propulsion, via urination? See, we had this physics class at the Univ of Illinois, where an annual question was the rate of urination needed to reach escape velocity. Okay, anyway..... Whizzer (snicker...... Stop it!....) is Bob Frank, whose father was a doctor and researcher, who dragged his kid to snake infested jungles, where he was bitten by a cobra. Rather than get him anti-venom, like a reputable doctor, he injected him with mongoose blood, mistakenly believing that they are impervious to snake venom, not just fast enough to avoid being bitten. This being comics, it endowed him with super speed, even though a mongoose is relatively slow, across open ground. Now, if it had been a cheetah..........but, I digress.  See, even Roy thinks it is a stupid name and tries to distance himself from the inevitable fan jokes! We then see The Whizzer (snort......) outrun a speeding train, grab some dynamite left there by a saboteur (or negligent boy scout troop). Elsewhere, Miss America lands on the roof of the saboteur's car (or scout leaders) and we get her origin, which involves sexism, obviously.......  Miss America says you can stick the whole "feminine curiosity" right up your union suit! She whoops the bad guys solo, then Whizzer (tee-hee....) turns up to see if she needs someone to carry her unconscious goons for her. They hear Bucky's appeal, on the goons' car radio and they race to Manhattan, but Miss America lets him win, or else he will mope for a week. Next, we see Dr Elton Morrow, eminent anthropologist and resident crackpot theoretician, who found a space diamond, in the Antarctic, which somehow gave him the ability to be as hard as a diamond. The lecture is interrupted by masked Nazis or bundists and Elton slips out, changes clothes, then kicks ass....  After making some saur-krauts, he hot foots it before the cops turn up, but hears Bucky on the radio, as he goes. The whole bunch turns up at the radio studio, to answer Bucky's plea and then Whizzer (sngh......) gets bashed in the head by an engineer, who is a secret Nazi. His gun is frozen, before he can shoot, by a late arrival, jack Frost. Bucky then gives the team a name and they head off to get whooped by the Varsity Team.  Thoughts: Pretty much, this is all just an intro to the other mystery men, taking a page from All-Star Comics, with an origin page, and then modern action. The problem is, a lot of these origins were pretty lame, even in the 40s (not to mention the mid-70s). As it is, this isn't necessarily the best collection of characters. Miss America and the Whizzer, stupid name notwithstanding, had a good set of powers/abilities and they were a good couple. they are the only ones who will really stick around and they will be a significant factor in the Marvel Universe future. This explains why they were part of the Timely super-team, The All-Winners Squad. At one point, they were the parents of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, before that was retconned away and they became the children of Magneto. Red Raven and The Thin Man were pretty much jokes, in the 40s, to those who saw them. The Thin Man is an attempt at a Plastic Man knock off, but without the visual flair of a Jack Cole. Red Raven was no Hawk Man. His second appearance was in X-Men, which tells you how successful he was. still, that puts him ahead of The Thunderer and The Black Marvel. It took later guys, like Kurt Busiek, to drag those guys out (or JMS, with the batch in The Twelve). Blue Diamond and Jack Frost at least have useful powers. The real question is why Roy didn't use some of the characters with more memorable looks and powers, like the original Vision and The Blazing Skull. The Fin was a dumb look (big fin on his head); but, he would have been a counterpart to Namor. It's all relative. On the letters page, Roy gives his rationale for the members of the team (after mentioning he created a Liberty Legion comic, while in junior high, in the 50s). Red Raven was there because Roy had used him in X-Men and Whizzer and Miss America had the history with the All-Winners and were the top second stringers, at Timely. he claims Thin man is fun...whatever...and Jack Frost reminded him of Iceman and because he was sucking up to Stan, as it was an early feature for The Man. He purposely avoided characters who had modern counterparts, like Vision, Hercules, Falcon and Black Widow, as well as Defender, because of the team. he doesn't elaborate but says he nixed The Fin, Father Time, The Challenger and Major Victory, for "various reasons," and Destroyer and Blazing Skull, because they worked abroad. Roy's fan buddy, Bobby Vann (not the dancer/actor) suggested the Blue Diamond, so blame him. Roy does say that the lineup could change, but it didn't. No Thunderer, no Black Marvel, Captain Wonder, Electro, Phantom Reporter, no Angel (one of the original 3), no Citizen V........ Anyway, this would likely be a miss, if I encountered this on the stands, if I didn't have Invaders #5. Nothing much happens in it and the action isn't truly spectacular, but it is serviceable. Now, the art is pretty darn good, proving that the knocks on Don Heck are subjective and also depend on the era. Heck was still pretty good, by this point, but his work would decline, as he went to DC, depending on the inker. Superheroes were not his forte, as he did a damn fine western or romance; but, ya gotta eat. Colletta is a nice compliment to Heck and this is in line with Heck's Avengers work. In fact, I would consider it superior, by far, to Buckler, Ayers & Mooney. If it sounds like I am gripin' too much about the continuation, you have to remember the access to comics in the mid=70s. Newsstands were disappearing or shrinking and comics, with their thin margins, went first. Adult magazines, with better profit for the vendor, got the limited space. @#$% the kids! So, you had fewer places to find and buy comics, assuming you had the money (and I didn't, very often). Then, you couldn't depend on finding the same books there, every month, especially if you weren't there when the new stuff came in. You also had to flip through every slot on the display stand to make sure the book wasn't covered up by another title (which meant you bent the ones in front down, to see what was behind it, so lots of bent and damaged comics). You might be able to swing a two-parter; but, this is 4 issues, of two titles, one of which doesn't have a steady, regular feature. Next, back to the Invaders, for part 3, then back to Marvel premiere for part 4. Then, Invaders starts to get really good. ps I might also include Roy's 2 What If...? issues, relating to Cap and the end of the war, since that kind of crosses into this territory. I may save that for the end, ot I might throw it in there, somewhere in the middle, when the story starts to drag. Depends on how I feel, at the time. pps Given that Roy likes to suck up to Stan (I kid....), expect Stan's big Golden Age feature to turn up, down the road. No, not Jack Frost. I mean the guy who sounds like a wrestler. Actually, that covers a few Timely third stringers. See, these are the guys they should have used for the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, in The Thing solo series. They could have been the Old Time Veterans, like a Verne Gagne or Lou Thesz, who come in to do a Legends Match, while Thing and Demolition Dunphy are in the main event.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 20, 2023 22:39:53 GMT -5
Invaders #6 Miss America dumped the Whizzer and is now trying to snag Captain America, for herself! However, he just wants to dance with The Patriot. Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer & editor, Frank Robbins & Vince Colletta-art, John Costanza-letters, Phil Rachelson-colors Robbins & Colletta are back to liven things up. Synopsis: Roy recaps Bucky's efforts to recruit other mystery men to fight the mind-controlled Invaders. Robbins does a sweet action pose for Miss America....  She's a "healthy" girl! Bucky introduces the group to the radio audience and the listeners at home and reporters start talking smack about them. The Patriot even defers to Bucky, so they are screwed! They then move on to urs and spies, while the Invaders go unmolested.  Red Skull reads the headlines and rants, while we see that Krieghund is back, working for the Skull. Skull takes his anger out on him and Krieghund reminds him that he is the one who salvaged Brain Drain's equipment, to enable the Skuul to put the whammy on the Invaders. Skull acts like every middle manager and takes all of the credit....  Krieghund stands up for himself and gives Skull some snark, but Skull doesn't take back-sass lightly....  Skull tells Krieghund, "Let that be a warning!" He then grabs the radio and issues a challenge to the Liberty Legion, to meet the Invaders, at the Lincoln Memorial, Independence Hall and the Statue of Liberty, for a Dresden Death Match, Friday, bell time at 7:00 pm. get your tickets at all TicketMaster Race outlets! The Liberty Legion head to the venues and Jack frost and Blue Diamond ambush Namor, as he makes his entrance to the ring.....  Blue Diamond hits the frozen Namor with a shoulder tackle and Namor hits the drink, out of it. Skull recalls him to the dressing room. Patriot and Miss America meet up with Cap, at Independence Hall and Cap rings Patriot's bell! Miss America hits him with a dropkick from behind and then taps Tea for Two on his head, and then Patriot hits him with a right cross. Skull recalls him, too. Torch and Toro meet up with Whizzer, who just sprays them and puts out their flames. Okay, no, but you expect it, with that name. Red Raven attacks fromt he sky and batters Torch around, so that he is off balance. Whizzer uses his speed to snuff out Toro's flame. They get recalled. Bucky & Thin Man plot the course of the retreating heroes back to New York and try to triangulate where the Red Skull's base is; but, The Human Torch is headed right for the radio station they have been using as their base. Thoughts: Roy has to waste a lot of time and space filling in readers on what happened in Marvel Premiere, before doing the old Gardner Fox standby of splitting the team into smaller units, to face individual threats. Those fights don't go very long, before Skull breaks them off, which is kind of a letdown. Could have had more room if they had just done a one page summary of the previous installment, like on the inside cover, as they would do in the late 90s and 2000s. Robbins and Colletta do make this more dynamic, though Robbins does a pretty wonky Red Skull and in the characterization. The bit where he orders the Oberleutnant, who sides with Krieghund, shot is right out of a Monty Python Sketch, minus the North Minehead By-election. Back we go to Marvel Premiere!
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 21, 2023 23:50:21 GMT -5
Mr. Bimmler! You do have us on!
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 22, 2023 0:23:46 GMT -5
"Not much fun in Stalingrad.........."
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 22, 2023 23:20:30 GMT -5
Marvel Premiere #30 Only cowards attack people from behind! Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer & editor, Don Heck & Vince Colletta-art, John Costanza-letters, Phil Rachelson-colors Synopsis: The Human Torch is making a beeline for the radio station, where Bucky & the Thin Man are coordinating the Liberty Legion activities. Thin Man eggs Torch on, then Bucky hits him with a stream from a firehose, but a well placed fireball severs it and r the side of the building, requiring the Thin Man to rescue him. Then Torch buggers off. Red Skull isn't happy, as Torch broke off the attack on his own. Krieghund needles him and Skull warns him. They then recap the past few issues. We then learn that the Skull's HQ is in a sub-basement, beneath the radio station and he is masquerading as Better Man P Lyles, the sponsor of the war bond rally.  He sees Toro there, not under control, irks Patriot, then leaves. Later, Skull breaks in on broadcasts and challenges the Liberty Legion to meet the Invaders at Yankee Stadium. They make their preparations and Skull prepares his whammy to turn the Liberty Legion heel. The next day, the Legion is at the ballpark, with fans in the stands, waiting for the Invaders to turn up. The Invaders make their entrance from Skull's airship....  The Invaders strike from the air, like Col Kilgore, in Nam..... Patriot and Thin Man double team Cap, while Whizzer (hee-hee-hee...) and Blue Diamond deal with Namor. Miss America, Jack Frost and Red Raven triple-team Human Torch. Bucky and Toro sneak off and meet a G-Man and we learn that "Bucky" is a Yankee bat boy and Toro is actually Bucky Barnes. They faked the apeparanc eof Toro to fool the Skull, back when he was Betterman P Lyles. The FBI had run Lyles' fingerprints and found a match for the Skull. Miss America faked the stunt with the flaming V. Now, they are waking Toro, who heads for the source of his hypnosis, as Torch did, previously. he heads up into the clouds, towards Skull's airship. and faster than you can say, "Ho, the humanity...." the hydrogen-filled airship goes up in flames....  The Invaders snap out of it and they protect the crowd from the falling debris. Once everyone is safe they all shake hands and make up. Thoughts:Eh.........it's okay. I guess. The Liberty Legion doesn't really turn out to be anything really special and the Invaders kind of save things, when woken up and tehy work together to save the crowd; but, it just seems kind of a let down. The fight is kind of cliched and doesn't really have any truly memorable moments and I think that is why the Liberty Legion mostly stayed in the background for the duration of the series, apart from the Marvel Two-in-One appearance and a return visit (as captives) later on. Roy just really doesn't have any end game in mind, except for these guys to fill in, until the Invaders wake up. Nothing special is done with any of them and none are really developed. they all act like generic superheroes and if they hadn't of included their origins, in the previous MP issue, no one would really care who they are. They could have been Strong Guy, Cold Guy, Fast Guy, Stretchy Guy, Guy with Wings, Red, White and Blue Guy and Token Female. It would have been the same effect. This is also kind of a waste of the Red Skull. Usually, he is involved in longer term and nastier schemes. Krieghund could have done all of this on his own, really. The Skull should have been a super special villain; but, he was no more memorable than Brain Drain or U-Man. Just another Nazi supervillain. Fred, the bat boy, will return, in What If...?, which I will get to, at some point. This should have been epic; but, it ends up being just average. Thankfully, the Invaders is about to kick it up a notch and Roy will be on fire for a while, with the exception of one issue, which ends up being mostly a reprint. Get ready for some new villains and heroes, as the Invaders head back overseas. Meanwhile, try to feel secure in the knowledge that the homefront is being protected by the Third String batch.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 27, 2023 16:36:12 GMT -5
Invaders #7 Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer & editor, Frank Robbins & Vince Colletta-art, John Costanza-letters, Phil Rachelson-colors Synopsis: The Invaders are back in London and it it time for another air raid, by the German. A Stuka takes a pot shot at them, on the ground, and Namor takes exception to it....  Cap and Bucky make it to Namor's flagship and take to the air. They spot a Stuka zeroing in on a Spitfire (cheyeah......right!) and Cap hits him with ionized water jets, which blast if from thr sky. Cap's heart doesn't seem to be into the fight, nor does the Torch's. Cap reminds Bucky of the Red Skull's mind control and it seems they are feeling guilty. After they land and the raid is over, Cap & Bucky change into their Class-A's and garrison caps to go hit pubs and they take Toro with them, which is rather irresponsible on Cap's part. Namor goes for a swim, in the Thames, while Torch goes off alone, to sulk about not being human. Torch goes wandering the rubble-strewn streets and encounters a pair of Civil Defense volunteers (with American markings, rather than the correct British Air Raid Precautions markings). One of them is a beautiful blond and Jim Hammond, aka The Human Torch, smiles at her. She notices him, but continues on with her duties. As she and her partner climb into their vehicle, he is snatched from his seat by a flying figure.....  Torch hears the woman scream and rushes to her aid. What he finds astounds him.....  The vampire recoils in horror, from the Torch's flame and the girl moans, telling Torch that she is still alive. The vampire uses the distraction to hit Torch with wind, snuffing out his flame. He then swats the Torch aside, revealing that his name is Baron Blood. Torch flames-on and counter-attacks and succeeds in driving off the vampire. A storm whips up suddenly and Torch has to break off pursuit. he returns to the woman, to check on her. She regains consciousness, but is devastated by the death of her colleague. Torch drives her home, in her roadster. He tries to liven her spirits, but she grieves her friend and she is still shaken up by her encounter with Baron Blood. The woman directs Torch to an estate, outside London, with a huge manor house. He is introduced to her father, Lord Montgomery Falsworth and the lady is Jacqueline Falsworth. Lord Falsworth notes that Jim Hammond seems puzzled by Jacqueline's rather nonchalant attitude about introducing a famous American mystery man. He then tells Torch of his own history, in that line of work. During the First World War, Lord Montgomery Falsworth was known as the masked hero, Union Jack......  He was a special operative of the British government. He then joined with a group of heroes, from the Allied nations, to form the Freedom's Five....  ...joining the American flyer, The Phantom Eagle, the French swordsman The Crimson Cavalier and fellow Englishmen Sir Steel & the Silver Squire (sounds more like the name of a pub). Lord Falsworth grows melancholy as he recalls those friends lost, as only he survives. Jacqueline then shows him her wound and tells him that Baron Blood is back. Lord Falsworth explains that Baron Blood was an agent of the Kaiser, back in WW1 and he failed to defeat him. Torch decides he needs reinforcements and excuses himself to launch into the sky and make a flaming V-For-Victory symbol, to call the Invaders. They respond and head to rendezvous with Torch, when Baron Blood smashes into Namor's flagship. Cap is hurled from the craft and is saved by the Torch, then the Baron disappears. The Invaders land on the grounds of the estate. Elsewhere, Baron Blood lands somewhere nearby and removes his mask and adds false teeth, over his fangs and we see his real face....  The Invaders are then introduced to Lord Falsworth and Jacqueline, who has changed for dinner and is stunning. After she is introduced to Cap, she takes his arm and leads him to the dining room, to relate her father's adventures to the hunk of mystery manliness, while Torch looks on in stunned disbelief. He sulks as they are led off to dinner. Lord Flasworth then introduces his nephew, John, recently returned from abroad.....  Thoughts: Roy has shifted gears on the series and driven straight for awesome! He gets to swipe from some Stoker and vampire cinema, establishing a new Nazi villain, Baron Blood. This actually fits in quite well with the old Timely formula, as many early stories were pulpy tales of vampires, monsters, madmen and other horrors, defeated, often with real finality, by the heroes. Plus, it adds to the horror of Nazi experiments. besides, vampires are parasitic creatures, who prey upon innocents, which has more than a few parallels to Nazi atrocities. Roy also gets to indulge in some world building, as he introduces another patriotic hero, the British costumed adventurer Union Jack. Rather than make him o hero of the present, Roy makes him a masked soldier of the First World War, then gives us an ancestor to the current Invaders, in a previous group of Allied fighters. Most are brand new creations and figure s like the Crimson Cavalier and Sir Steel & the Silver Squire are mostly there to add numbers and play up national stereotypes. It is obvious that only Union Jack counts, since Roy is including him now. However, The Phantom Eagle already has a history, debuting in Marvel Super Heroes #16, from 1968. In that issue, Gary Friedrich and Herb Trimpe introduced the world to Karl Kaufman, a German-American fighting in WW1, but incognito, to protect German relatives. He helps foil an attack by a super-zeppelin, loaded with fighter planes (ala the USS Akron and Macon, two US Navy airships that carried 5 Sparrowhawk fighter planes). Roy borrows the established hero to add some weight to the group. Roy also gets to indulge in some melodrama, as he plays up The Human Torch's artificial existence and the melancholy of being an outsider. He reminds us that the Torch uses the identity of Jim Hammond, to try to fit in, but he never really does. He gets to play hero to the lovely Jacqueline Falsworth, then sees her turn her attention to the bohunk Captain America (well, since Peggy Carter isn't around to scratch her eyes out). To top off everything, Roy reveals that the vampire villain is actually a Falsworth family member, Lord Flsworth's nephew, John. So, we get a bit of horror, some emotional development, a new hero, and a dark mystery, all in one go. Plus, we have to come back next month to see what happens next. Roy fixes the somewhat erratic pacing of the earlier issues and keeps thing pretty well focused. The opening air raid leads us to the encounter between The Human Torch and Jacqueline, giving her a reason to be in the same area and then introduces Baron Blood. That spawns action and mystery. We then transition to the Falsworth manor and the introduction of more characters and the wrinkle that Baron Blood is actually Jacqueline's cousin, while her father was a masked hero, like the Invaders, int he previous war. It zips right along, wastes no time on excessive recap or cliched fighting, though the love triangle is a bit sappy. The art looks great and Robbins gets to indugle in WW2 aircraft, heroic Tommies, superhero action, horror and mystery, draw pretty girls, heroic men, and set it all in a moody landscape. This storyline is one of the highpoint of the series. As a point of trivia, baron Blood also adds to the Justice League pastiches, for the Nazis, as he acts as their Batm-Man. So, now we have a Superman, an Aqua-Man and a Bat-Man....who is next?
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Post by tarkintino on Aug 27, 2023 17:23:28 GMT -5
About the Marvel Premiere Libery Legion issues: as posted a couple of pages ago, I thought Bucky should've graduated to lead his own team. That would have made a great "other half" for Marvel's Golden Age retcons, but it was back to being one of the Invaders for young Mr. Barnes, that, and Marvel (like DC) always had a difficult time trying to create a timeline where Captain America and Bucky had so many solo missions, yet had time to be active members of a team. Plausibility (as much as one would need in comic books) always took a hit with that problem.
In the main title, Baron Blood was an interesting creation who Thomas managed to make distinctive, which was no small feat in a decade where the vampire came roaring back into comic books, with Morbius (intr. in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 / October, 1971), Marvel's Dracula (and assorted vampires spawned in his title), Gustav Decobra (intr. in Detective Comics #455 / January, 1976) all making memorable appearances (pretty much the cream of the comic book vampire crop in the 70s). Although the Baron would make the journey into the modern age in the pages of Captain America, he would never have as rich a characterization as seen in The Invaders. Art: Eh. Typically robotic Kirby cover from this period (even the very minor Romita touch-ups of the Torch & Sub-Mariner could not help matters), and the Robbins interiors were simply lacking. He desperately needed a more guiding inker, because Colletta was not suited for that job. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 27, 2023 19:11:41 GMT -5
As I said on page 0ne, I am not going to debate my love of Frank Robbins' art. I love his work and thought he was perfectly suited to this series. As soon as he was gone, all the excitement left the series. When there was a guest artist, it wasn't as good as his issues. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
Taste is subjective and my love of Robbins' art doesn't trump someone else's dislike; but, it also means that neither of us is "wrong." We just have different tastes. This is not even an amateur vs professional debate. Robbins is a skilled, highly experienced professional artist, who had tremendous success, on a national stage, with Johnny Hazard. I do think he has some flaws in trying to adapt his natural style to Marvel's house look; but, I think he found a better compromise style than most other artists in a similar situation. He maintained his own identity, while still working within the editorial parameters of Marvel.
I like the moodiness of Robbins' art and I even like the "rubberiness," depending on the panel. Sometimes it fails; but, generally, it succeeds in conveying motion and speed. Plus, he knows how to stage a fight and an action scene. He knows the period and captures the little details. He adds his own touches that are both in keeping with the time and an expression of his own style. He does pulp well and Timely was pretty pulpy, when it came to comic book art, especially during the war. With a character like Baron Blood, he is in his element, adding the horrific to the dynamic, while making it all look like wartime England or America. I don't feel he needed any "guidance." He was a top storyteller first and foremost and everything he does is in service to the story. If others don't like it, so be it. You cannot deny he made the series look unique.
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