|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 7, 2017 3:25:24 GMT -5
To my way of thinking, most of the original X-Men, particularly Cyclops and Angel, are now broken beyond anybody's ability to fix, so I'm currently more interested in their younger counterparts in All-New X-Men (though even there, they couldn't leave Angel alone. Wings of fire? Why!!?) I also have little interest in Emma Frost or most of the newer characters, which to me basically means anyone created after Kitty Pryde. Just have Scarlet Witch or the Beyonder or anyone wipe the last several decades of X-Men history out of existence and bring back the "real" Angel and Beast, the classic Cockrum "new" X-Men costumes and classic villains like Unus, Mesmero and Mastermind, and I'll be happy. Young Cyclops is also Part of the champions now. I know. That's a book I'm really enjoying (though if they were going to use X-Men in it, it should really have been Angel and Iceman). |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 6, 2017 15:21:14 GMT -5
I loved that series. One of the most underrated of its time. What ever happened to Zapper?
|
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 6, 2017 9:17:36 GMT -5
Meh. Nothing here that makes me want to jump back onboard the X-train. No Scott, no Emma, no go. To my way of thinking, most of the original X-Men, particularly Cyclops and Angel, are now broken beyond anybody's ability to fix, so I'm currently more interested in their younger counterparts in All-New X-Men (though even there, they couldn't leave Angel alone. Wings of fire? Why!!?) I also have little interest in Emma Frost or most of the newer characters, which to me basically means anyone created after Kitty Pryde. Just have Scarlet Witch or the Beyonder or anyone wipe the last several decades of X-Men history out of existence and bring back the "real" Angel and Beast, the classic Cockrum "new" X-Men costumes and classic villains like Unus, Mesmero and Mastermind, and I'll be happy. |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 6, 2017 8:52:41 GMT -5
A short lived new look for the members of X-Factor from the late eighties.  |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 4, 2017 7:51:07 GMT -5
Of Nighthawk's various designs the 2 best i liked are the classic blue and gold Sal Buscema design when he joined the Defenders and the blue and black redesign for Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme taking him back to his Batman roots with the large black flowing cape and the large bat ear like facial mask making his silhouette a bat shadow... I liked both of those, though I'm also very fond of the early eighties redesign of the blue and gold outfit, with the enlarged chest symbol linking into the belt. |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 4, 2017 3:16:47 GMT -5
No, it's not Judge Dredd - it's Judge Dread! (does anyone know if the character's name came from this song?) Given that the eponymous Judge from the song was notorious for handing out ridiculously tough sentences for relatively minor offences, I'd say that it's likely. But I bet tingramretro would know for sure. Mega City's finest was indeed inspired by the song, according to his creator. |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 3, 2017 12:06:46 GMT -5
Hah! I think Neil's time as London editor of Marvel UK was over quite awhile before he found his muse. He left Marvel in '77 and didn't meet Chris Lowe until 1981. No, I knew that. I saw the South Bank Show interview with them, where he talked about working for Smash Hits; but, hadn't heard he worked for Marvel UK until a few years ago. That was a bit surprising. I had trouble picturing him working in comics; then again, aside from that interview, one book and their videos, I don't claim to know much about their lives, outside of the music. Surprised no one has tried to tap him for a story, with all of the other celebrity writers DC and Marvel have tried. I almost interviewed Neil Tennant once, a few years ago when I was working for Crikey! magazine, but though he was quite willing in principle to talk to us, it proved more or less impossible to pin him down long enough. |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 3, 2017 3:54:38 GMT -5
Crimebuster
|
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 3, 2017 3:48:54 GMT -5
Or he could have just phoned up the London office and asked Neil Tennant anything he needed to know. He was too busy kicking in chairs and knocking down tables, in a restaurant in a West End town. Hah! I think Neil's time as London editor of Marvel UK was over quite awhile before he found his muse. He left Marvel in '77 and didn't meet Chris Lowe until 1981. |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 3, 2017 3:21:20 GMT -5
To be fair to Friedrich, it wasn't easy to do research into a foreign country, at that point in time. You pretty much had your local library and the quality of its reference materials (or lack of). Given the cursory nature of most encyclopedias, that doesn't give you a lot of material for dramatic purposes. You are stuck, then, with novels, movies and tv shows. The tv stuff would have been limited to the stuff shown on the local PBS station and movies would depend on tv showings, as you didn't yet have much in the way of video stores. I suspect, given how much he was writing at that point, he didn't have a lot of time to do much research. However, if he was taking this on long term, then, yes, he should probably get some material together. At least watch The Sweeney. Or he could have just phoned up the London office and asked Neil Tennant anything he needed to know. |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 2, 2017 10:12:06 GMT -5
I believe tingramretro posted about it in this thread at the time. I wish I had the time to watch all the Blakes 7 episodes.  It's worth making time. It's an underrrated classic. |
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 2, 2017 8:34:12 GMT -5
Captain Britain #16 (Jan '77)Script: Gary Friedrich Art: Herb Trimpe/Fred Kida "A Hero Unmasked!"  When we last saw Captain Britain, he was about to have his mask forcibly removed by Chief Inspector Thomas "in the name of the law", and that's exactly where we pick up here (though as previously noted, Thomas has no apparent jurisdiction and therefore no right to do what he's doing). Fortunately for CB, hi bacon is saved by the sudden arrival of Captain America, who intervenes to protect the secret identity of this costumed mystery man he doesn't know from Adam (and who Nick Fury warned him to be suspicious of last issue) by kicking Inspector Thomas's gun from his hand and yelling at our hero to run while he holds off "these minions of bureaucracy". I have a couple of problems with this. First off, it seems to me to be totally out of character for Captain America to attack a police officer, even if the bloke is clearly an idiot. Secondly, he has no evidence that CB is actually not a criminal. And thirdly, officers of Britain's Metropolitan Police service generally don't actually carry guns. Thomas certainly shouldn't be carrying one if he's in the area of jurisdiction of another Police force. Still, even if the Inspector and the visiting yank have forgotten all about little matters like the law, Captain Britain hasn't, as he responds to his rescuers ill judged actions by attacking him and ordering him to surrender! Yes, it's the obligatory superheroes-meet-and-fight-due-to-a-misunderstanding scene! Given that Captain America is supposedly the greatest fighter in the Marvel Universe and Captain Britain has been in the business for roughly two months at this point, one would expect the fight to be over pretty quickly. One certainly wouldn't expect Captain America to be felled by a simple judo throw, or to justify his attacking the forces of law and order by uttering a line like "back in the States a hero does whatever is necessary to protect his secret identity!" But then, this is Captain Britain's book, not his... At this point, we cut away to Braddock Manor, where our mysterious hooded villain is remotely monitoring the conflict. Startled into unmasking himself (to an empty room) by the arrival of his arch foe, he is revealed to be none other than the Red Skull! As the Skull returns to the task of reprogramming the late Dr. Braddock's unhinged computer "for its final assault on mankind", we rejoin our battling heroes, both of whom Dai Thomas is now trying to arrest. He is thwarted, however, by Captain America revealing that he's operating under orders from S.H.I.E.L.D "with clearance from your own C.I.D" (that's "Criminal Investigation Department" for the benefit of our colonial cousins). Thomas is understandably put out that it never occurred to Cap to show his credentials before, to which Cap replies that he didn't give him much of a chance (in fact, Cap made no attempt to explain himself before jumping in feet first). He then annoys the Inspector even more by declaring that Captain Britain is integral to his investigation and is therefore coming with him rather than leaving in the back of a police car. Thomas stomps off irritably, but CB is still not convinced this is the real Captain America he's dealing with, on the fairly sensible grounds that he should never have been able to hold his own against him. Captain America chides him for underestimating himself, and explains that his mission s "to check out a computer. I think it's inside that mansion". Reminded of his own recent tribulations, CB agrees to accompany him, and to brief him on the way. But the Red Skull is waiting for them... A pretty solid issue, all in all, though Captain America's characterisation still seems to me to be totally off, to me. And I really think Friedrich needs to do some research into British police procedures (and, indeed, geography).
|
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 1, 2017 13:11:32 GMT -5
I don't think launching the Blasters as a new team was ever really a priority; aside from their appearances in Invasion itself, they only appeared in one Special at the time, and were then basically forgotten until their creator brought them back in Valor #5 three years later.
|
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 1, 2017 9:02:27 GMT -5
Question: Did J'onn J'onzz use the identity of Marco Xavier anywhere other than House of Mystery #160-170 and JLA #60?
|
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 1, 2017 3:30:48 GMT -5
Once again, I'm reminded how lucky we are in the UK to have the National Health Service.
|
|
