Category: Captain America

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks Captain America volume 1: The Sentinel of Liberty


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers, George Tuska, John Romita & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1302946159 (PB/Digital edition)

During the natal years of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s Stan Lee & Jack Kirby opted to mimic the game-plan which had paid off so successfully for National/DC Comics, albeit with mixed results. Beginning cautiously in 1956, Julie Schwartz had scored incredible, industry-altering hits by re-inventing the company’s Golden Age greats, so it seemed sensible to try and revive the characters that had dominated Timely/Atlas in those halcyon days two decades previously.

A new Human Torch had premiered as part of the revolutionary Fantastic Four, and in the fourth issue of that title the amnesiac Sub-Mariner resurfaced after a 20-year hiatus (everyone concerned had apparently forgotten the first abortive attempt to revive an “Atlas” superhero line in the mid-1950s).

The Torch was promptly given his own solo lead-feature in Strange Tales (from issue #101 on) where, eventually (in Strange Tales #114), the flaming kid fought a larcenous villain impersonating the nation’s greatest lost hero…

Here’s a quote from the last panel…

“You guessed it! This story was really a test! To see if you too would like Captain America to Return! As usual, your letters will give us the answer!” I guess we all know how that turned out…

With reader-reaction strong, the real McCoy was promptly decanted in Avengers #4 and, after a captivating, centre-stage hogging run in that title, won his own series as half of a “split-book” with fellow Avenger and patriotic barnstormer Iron Man, beginning with #59.

This premiere Mighty Marvel Masterworks Cap collection assembles those early appearances from Tales of Suspense #59-77, spanning November 1964 to May 1966) in a cheap, kid-friendly edition that will charm and delight fans of all vintages…

Scripted throughout by Lee, it begins with eponymous opening outing ‘Captain America’ – illustrated by the staggeringly perfect team of Kirby & Chic Stone. The plot is non-existent, but what you do get is a phenomenal fight as an army of thugs invades Avengers Mansion because “only the one without superpowers” is at home. They soon learn the folly of that misapprehension…

The next issue offered more of the same as ‘The Army of Assassins Strikes!’ on behalf of evil arch enemy Baron Zemo, before ‘The Strength of the Sumo!’ proves insufficient when Cap invades Viet Nam to rescue a lost US airman. Incidentally, that flyer was a black serviceman, signalling early on Kirby’s resolve to break comic books’ colour bar…

The Star-Spangled Swashbuckler then took on an entire prison to thwart a ‘Break-out in Cell Block 10!’: a glorious action riot simply dripping with irony…

After these simplistic romps, the series took an abrupt turn and began telling tales set in World War II. Crafted by Lee, Kirby & Frank Ray (AKA Frank Giacoia), ‘The Origin of Captain America!’ recounts how patriotic, frail physical wreck Steve Rogers is selected to be guinea pig for an experimental super-soldier serum, only to have the scientist responsible cut down by a Nazi bullet and die in his arms…

Now regarded as forever unique, he is given the task of becoming the fighting symbol and guardian of America, all while based as a regular soldier in a US boot camp. There he is accidentally unmasked by Camp Mascot Bucky Barnes, who then blackmails the hero into making the kid his sidekick.

The next issue (Tales of Suspense #64, cover-dated April) kicked off a string of spectacular episodic thrillers adapted from Kirby & Joe Simon’s Golden Age run, with the flag-bedecked heroes defeating Nazi spies Sando and Omar in ‘Among Us, Wreckers Dwell!’ before Chic Stone returned heralding Cap’s greatest foe in landmark saga ‘The Red Skull Strikes!’

‘The Fantastic Origin of the Red Skull!’ sends the series shooting into high gear – and original material – as sub-plots and characterisation are added to the ardent action and spectacle. At last we learn the backstory of the most evil man on Earth: revealed to a captive Sentinel of Liberty… Then ‘Lest Tyranny Triumph!’ and ‘The Sentinel and the Spy!’ (both inked by Giacoia) combine espionage and mad science in a late-exposed plot to murder the head of Allied Command…

The All-American heroes stay in England for moody gothic suspense shocker ‘Midnight in Greymoor Castle!’ (illustrated by Dick Ayers over Kirby’s layouts) before second chapter ‘If This be Treason!’ finds Golden Age veteran and contemporary Buck Rogers newspaper strip artist George Tuska perform the same function.

The final part – and last wartime operation – then reveals what happens ‘When You Lie Down with Dogs…!’ with Joe Sinnott inking Tuska over Kirby’s layouts to deliver a rousing conclusion to this frantic tale of traitors, madmen and terror-weapons.

We return to the present – that’s 1964 to you – ToS #72 where Lee, Kirby & Tuska reveal that Cap has been telling war stories to his fellow Avengers for our last nine months. The reverie triggers a long dormant memory when ‘The Sleeper Shall Awake!’, kicking off a classic catastrophe countdown as a dormant Nazi super-robot activates 20 years after Germany’s defeat, programmed to exact world-shattering vengeance.

Continuing in ‘Where Walks the Sleeper!’ and concluding in ‘The Final Sleep!’, this masterpiece of tense suspense deftly demonstrates the indomitable nature of the perfect American hero.

With John Tartaglione inking, Ayers returns to pencil Kirby’s breakdown designs in ‘30 Minutes to Live!’: introducing both Gallic mercenary Batroc the Leaper and a mysterious girl who would eventually become Cap’s long-term girl-friend. In deference to the era’s fascination with superspies, S.H.I.E.L.D. was rapidly gaining dominance throughout Marvel continuity and one of their best was Agent 13 – Sharon Carter.

The taut 2-part countdown to disaster ends with ‘The Gladiator, The Girl and the Glory!’, limned by John Romita: the first tale with no official artistic input from Kirby, although he did lay out the next issue (TOS #77) for Romita & Giacoia. ‘If a Hostage Should Die!’ again focuses on WWII, hinting at both a lost romance and tragedy to come, and a possible connection between Agent 13 and the girl Steve Rogers lost in the dying days of war…

Rounding out this patriotic bonanza is a brief gallery of original art pages by Kirby, Stone & Ayers, taken from these tales of dauntless courage and unmatchable adventure.

Fast-paced and superbly illustrated, these adventures introduced a new generation to Captain America, restoring the Sentinel of Liberty to the heights his Golden Age compatriots the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner never truly regained. These yarns are pure escapist magic: unmissable reading for the eternally young at heart and constantly thrill-seeking.
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Mighty Marvel Masterworks Black Panther volume 1: The Claws of the Panther


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Frank Giacoia, Barry Windsor-Smith & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4709-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Golden Oldies for Kids of All Ages… 9/10

The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line was designed with economy in mind. Classic tales of Marvel’s key characters by the founding creators, re-presented in chronological order have been a staple since the 1990s, but always in lavish, expensive collectors editions. These books are far cheaper, but with some deletions like the occasional pin-up. They are printed on lower quality paper and – crucially – are physically smaller, about the dimensions of a paperback book. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but they’re perfect for kids and if you opt for the digital editions, that’s no issue at all…

This tome gathers in whole or in part early Black Panther adventures from Fantastic Four #52-54, 56; Tales of Suspense #97-99; Captain America #100; The Avengers #52, 62, 73-74 and Daredevil #52 spanning July 1966-March 1970: including his debut and career as a peripatetic guest star before finally securing a series of his own…

Acclaimed as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first appeared in the summer of 1966.

As created by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee and inker Joe Sinnott, T’Challa, son of T’Chaka, is an African monarch whose secretive kingdom is the only source of vibration-absorbing wonder mineral Vibranium. The miraculous alien metal – derived from a fallen meteor which struck the continent in lost antiquity – is the basis of Wakanda’s immense wealth, making it one of the wealthiest and most secretive nations on Earth. These riches allowed the young king to radically remake his country, creating a technological wonderland even after he left Africa to fight as one of America’s mighty Avengers.

For much of its history Wakanda was an isolated, utopian technological wonderland with tribal resources and people safeguarded and led since time immemorial by a human warrior-king deriving cat-like physical advantages from secret ceremonies and a mysterious heart-shaped herb. This has ensured the generational dominance of the nation’s Panther Cult and Royal Family…

The highly guarded “Vibranium mound” had guaranteed the nation’s status as a clandestine superpower for centuries, but modern times increasingly found Wakanda a target for subversion, incursion and even invasion as the world grew ever smaller.

It all began with Fantastic Four #52-53 (cover-dated July and August 1966) as the innovative and unforgettable character launched in ‘The Black Panther!’: an enigmatic African monarch whose secretive kingdom was the only source of a vibration-absorbing alien metal. These mineral riches had enabled him to turn his country into a futuristic marvel who introduced himself by luring the FF into his savage super-scientific kingdom. Although the team was oblivious to the danger, it was all part of T’Challa’s extended plan to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father.

After battling the team to a standstill, the King revealed his tragic origin in ‘The Way it Began..!’, revealing how his father was murdered by marauding sonic science researcher Ulysses Klaw. However, even as the monarch details how he took vengeance and liberated his people, word comes of incredible solidified-sound monsters attacking the region. Klaw has returned at last…

The cataclysmic clash that follows set the scene for the African Warrior-Chieftain to guest star with a number of Marvel superstars before breaking out into the wider world, but it would years before he finally won his own solo series…

In the aftermath, Human Torch Johnny Storm and his tag-along college roommate Wyatt Wingfoot embark on a quest to rescue the Torch’s Inhuman lover Crystal (imprisoned with her people behind an impenetrable energy barrier in the Himalayas). Their journey is greatly assisted by the Panther’s incredible technology but here that means FF #54’s ‘Whosoever Finds the Evil Eye…!’ ends on page 8, and you’ll need to find a different collection to finish that tale…

The monarch and his personal nemesis returned in #56 when ‘Klaw, the Murderous Master of Sound!’ – reborn as a being of sentient sound energy – ambushes the team in their own home. Happily, the Panther is able to assist them in the nick of time…

Marvel’s inexorable rise to dominance in the American comic book industry really took hold in 1968, when a number of their characters finally got their own titles. Prior to that and due to a highly restrictive distribution deal, the company was tied to a limit of 16 publications per month. To circumvent this, Marvel developed titles with two series per publication, such as Tales of Suspense where original star Iron Man shared honours with late addition Captain America. When the division came, Shellhead started afresh with a First Issue, and Cap retained the numbering of the original title; thereby premiering with #100.

The last few issues of the run – ToS #97-99 and the freshly re-titled Captain America #100 opens with the Sentinel of Liberty having just retired from superhero service and revealed his secret identity to the world, However, he hurtles straight back into the saddle for S.H.I.E.L.D. in ‘And So It Begins…!’: a 4-part saga featuring the Black Panther.

It tells of the apparent return of long-dead Nazi war criminal and Master of Evil Baron Zemo who is attacking the world with an orbital death ray controlled from somewhere in Africa. The epic was scripted by Lee and bombastically plotted and drawn by King Kirby with Sinnott & Syd Shores inking, and sees chaos escalate in ‘The Claws of the Panther!’ and ‘The Man Who Lived Twice!’ before climactically closing in explosive action and a very Big Reveal in ‘This Monster Unmasked!’…

As a result of his aid in ending the crisis, T’Challa was recommended by Cap and won his first regular slot in super team, beginning with The Avengers #52 (cover-dated May 1968). At that time, the active team had been reduced to Hawkeye, the Wasp and a recently re-powered Goliath. This changed when they belatedly welcomed new recruit Black Panther. That delay was because ‘Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes!’ was a fast-paced murder mystery by Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Vince Colletta which also introduced obsessive super-psycho The Grim Reaper, who had seemingly murdered the trio and let bewildered newcomer T’Challa take the rap…

After clearing his name and resurrecting the teammates, the Panther settled in as a high-profile international superhero but remained very much a mystery until Avengers #62 (March 1969, by Thomas. Buscema & George Klein), where in the aftermath of a mystic crisis in Africa, Hawkeye, The Vision and occasional ally Black Knight were invited to visit Wakanda…

‘The Monarch and the Man-Ape!’ was a revelatory if brief interlude in the hidden nation and a brutal exploration of the African Avenger’s history and rivals which resulted in a deadly coup attempt when a super-strong trusted regent turned usurper, declaring himself leader of a banned cult and living icon M’Baku the Man-Ape…

Returned to America, the African Avenger stepped in as another acrobatic superhero loner struggled with identity issues.

Daredevil #52 (May 1969, by Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith & Johnny Craig) saw the Scarlet Swashbuckler at his lowest ebb: battling robotics genius, Mad-Scientist-for-Hire and certified lunatic Starr Saxon. The war of wills was wickedly engaging: frantically escalating into a psychedelic thriller wherein Saxon uncovers the hero’s greatest secret after the Man Without Fear succumbs to toxins in his bloodstream and goes berserk.

That saga climaxes here in stunning style on ‘The Night of the Panther!’ as the African Avenger joins the hunt for the out-of-control Daredevil before subsequently helping thwart, if not defeat, the dastardly Saxon. The radically unsettling ending blew away all conventions of traditional Fights ‘n’ Tights melodrama and still shocks today…

These initial forays finish with another 2-part tale, beginning with Avengers #73 and ‘The Sting of the Serpent’. Another Thomas triumph – illustrated by Frank Giacoia & Sam Grainger – it pits the Panther (at the height of the Civil Rights campaign) against his natural prey in the form of seditious racist hate-mongers determined to set New York ablaze, leading to a spectacular and shocking clash between whole team and The Sons of the Serpent in ‘Pursue the Panther!’ when the sinister supremacists capture the hero and set a doppelganger loose to destroy his reputation…

With covers by Kirby, Sinnott, Gene Colan, Giacoia, Buscema, Klein, Marie Severin & Palmer, this tidy tome is a wonderful, star-studded precursor to the Black Panther’s solo exploits and a perfect accessory for film-fans looking for more context.
© 2022 MARVEL

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Avengers Epic Collection volume 8: Kang War 1974-1976


By Steve Englehart, Roy Thomas, Tony Isabella, Sal Buscema, Dave Cockrum, George Tuska, Don Heck, George Pérez, Keith Pollard, Joe Staton & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3352-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Amazement Assembled!… 9/10

One of the most momentous events in comics (and now, film) history came in the middle of 1963 when a disparate gang of heroic individuals banded together to combat an apparently out of control Incredible Hulk.

The Avengers combined most of the company’s fledgling superhero line in one bright, shiny and highly commercial package. Over intervening decades the roster has never stopped changing, and now almost every character in the Marvel multiverse has at some time numbered amongst their colourful ranks…

After instigators Stan Lee & Jack Kirby moved on, the team prospered under the guidance of Roy Thomas who grew into one of the industry’s most impressive writers, directing the World’s Mightiest Heroes through adventures ranging from sublimely poetic to staggeringly epic. He then handed over the scripting to a young writer who carried the team to even greater heights…

This stunning compilation assembles Avengers #129-149 and Avengers  Giant-Size #2-4: collectively covering November 1974 to July 1976, to conclude an era of cosmic catastrophe and cataclysmically captivating creativity.

The Avengers have always proved that putting all one’s star eggs in a single basket pays off big-time: even when all Marvel’s classic all-stars such as Thor, Captain America and Iron Man were absent, it merely allowed the team’s lesser lights to shine more brightly. Of course, as in this volume, the founding stars were regularly featured due to the rotating, open door policy which meant that every issue included somebody’s fave-rave. The boldly grand-scaled stories and artwork are no hindrance either.

It all begins as Englehart explores the outer limits of Marvel history and cosmic geography to construct an epic revelation of universal structure, the true beginnings of Marvel time and the formative years of some of the most intriguing characters in comics…

The drama opens with Avengers #129 and ‘Bid Tomorrow Goodbye!’ (illustrated by Sal Buscema & Joe Staton) as Kang the Conqueror abruptly appears, determined to possess the legendary female figure he calls “the Celestial Madonna.”

Apparently, this anonymous being will birth the saviour of the universe, but since no records survive disclosing which of the three women in Avengers Mansion at that crucial moment – mutant sorcery student Scarlet Witch, martial artist Mantis and aged witch Agatha Harkness – she actually is, the time-reaver is resolved to capture all three and forcibly make himself the inevitable father of the child…

This time, not even the assembled Avengers can stop him and, after crushing and enslaving them, Kang makes off with his hostages, leaving only the recently-injured and swiftly declining Swordsman free to contest him…

The tale continues in Giant-Size Avengers #2, with ‘A Blast from the Past!’ (limned by Dave Cockrum) as reluctant returnee Hawkeye rushes to the fallen team’s rescue, uniting with old adversary/mentor Swordsman and enigmatic entity Rama-Tut – who eventually reveals himself as Kang’s reformed future self…

Against all odds, the merely mortal heroes manage to liberate the enslaved Avengers and rout the unrepentant Kang – but only at the cost of Swordsman’s life…

Avengers #130 posed ‘The Reality Problem!’ (with art from Sal B & Staton), depicting how heartbroken and much-chastened Mantis joins the team in Vietnam to investigate her mysteriously clouded past, only to be drawn into pointless combat with Soviet/Chinese Communist exiles and former Avenger foes Titanium Man, Radioactive Man and Crimson Dynamo …thanks to the devious manipulations of petty sneak thief The Slasher…

Brief but heated battle concluded, the origin trail leads to ‘A Quiet Half-Hour in Saigon!’ during which the American adventurers are again attacked by Kang, who traps them in Limbo and unleashes against them a macabre Legion of the Unliving comprising mind-controlled, currently “dead” heroes plucked from the corridors of history…

With yet another chronal villain Immortus added to the mix, ‘Kang War II’ sees resurrected heroes and villains Wonder Man, 1940’s android Human Torch, the Monster of Frankenstein, martial arts assassin Midnight, the actually spectral Flying Dutchman and the first Baron Zemo decimate the team. Moreover, the trauma and tragedy are further exacerbated as Mantis keeps seeing the ghost of her dead lover…

This absorbing thriller by Englehart, Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema & Staton segues inexorably into Giant-Size Avengers #3’s ‘…What Time Hath Put Asunder!’ Illustrated by Cockrum & Joe Giella, it sees Earth’s Mightiest Heroes pulling victory from the ashes of defeat and receiving a unique gift from one of the assembled Masters of Time…

Avengers #133 voyages to ‘Yesterday and Beyond…’ (by Englehart, Sal B & Staton) as the shocked heroes accompany Mantis to the beginnings of recorded Galactic history to unravel of her true past, whilst The Vision is separately dispatched to glimpse his own obscure and complex origins: a double quest encompassing both the Kree and Skrull empires, the previously defeated monstrous Star-Stalker, long-deceased Priests of Pama, Thanos and telepathic Titan Moondragon, as well as a goodly portion of classic superhero history in ‘The Times That Bind!’ before #135 reveals how ‘The Torch is Passed!’ (limned by George Tuska & Frank Chiaramonte), before bringing all the disparate elements together in Giant-Size Avengers #4.

‘…Let All Men Bring Together’ (art by Don Heck & John Tartaglione) brings a satisfactory conclusion to the long-standing. pitfall-plagued romance between the Scarlet Witch and Vision and details another, far more cosmic union with a brace of weddings and the ultimate ascension of the Celestial Madonna – despite demonic extra-dimensional despot Dormammu attempting to despoil the matrimonial celebrations…

A new era was supposed to begin in Avengers #136 but a deadline was missed and instead ‘Iron Man: DOA!’ by Englehart, Tom Sutton & Mike Ploog was reprinted from Amazing Adventures #12, wherein the newly-mutated and furry Hank McCoy AKA The Beast had attacked the Armoured Avenger whilst mind-controlled by evil mutants. You can find the story here.

This book, however, only offers the spiffy cover by Gil Kane, Joe Sinnott & John Romita, before normal service resumed with the Assemblers addressing their staffing issues by declaring ‘We Do Seek Out New Avengers!!’

Illustrated by Tuska & Vince Colletta, #137 depicted an eclectic mix of applicants – including Moondragon, Yellowjacket and The Wasp and an athletic, enigmatic guy bundled up in a raincoat…

No sooner have introductions begun than a cosmic villain attacks, hunting the honeymooning Scarlet Witch and Vision, but at far from his expected level of puissance. Easily escaping imminent doom, our heroes smell a rat – but sadly, not before the Wasp is gravely injured, resulting in a blazing battle with a ‘Stranger in a Strange Man!’ who proves to be far from what he claims…

After all the intergalactic, hyper-cosmic extravaganzas and extended epic antics, Avengers #139’s ‘Prescription: Violence!’ and #140’s ‘A Journey to the Center of the Ant’ resort to mayhem on a comfortingly down-to-Earth scale as malevolent foe Whirlwind tries to murder the bed-ridden Wasp, even as her devoted defender and husband Hank Pym/Yellowjacket succumbs to a growing affliction which dooms him to exponentially expand to his death… but only until a refreshed, returned Vision and bludgeoning Beast save the day in an extraordinary riff on classic Avengers history (which you can see in Avengers #93, if you want to)…

A new Englehart saga starts in #141 which also welcomed George Pérez & Colletta as new art team. ‘The Phantom Empire!’ heralded another complex, multi-layered epic combining superheroic Sturm und Drang with searing – for 1975, at least – political commentary. It all starts when Beast is ambushed by mercenaries from corporate behemoth Roxxon Oil.

He’s saved by ex-Avenger Captain America who had been investigating the company on a related case and – after comparing notes – realises something very big and very bad is going on…

Linking up with Thor, Iron Man, trainee Moondragon and the newly-returned newlyweds Vision and Scarlet Witch, they learn of another crisis after Hawkeye goes missing: probably captured by time-tyrant Kang…

Just as the Assemblage are splitting into teams, former child model Patsy Walker-Baxter (star of a bunch of Marvel’s girls’ market titles such as Patsy Walker and Patsy & Hedy) bursts in, threatening to expose Beast’s secret identity…

When he had first further mutated, McCoy had attempted to mask his anthropoid form, with Patsy helping in return for his promise to make her a superhero. Now she resurfaces, prepared to blackmail him into honouring his pledge. She is dragged along as one squad (Cap, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch and Vision) join Beast in returning to his old lab at Brand/Roxxon …where they are ambushed by alternate-Earth heroes The Squadron Supreme…

Meanwhile, Moondragon and Thor co-opt sometime ally Immortus and follow Hawkeye back to 1873. Bushwhacked, they are soon battling Kang beside a coterie of cowboy legends (Kid Colt, Night Rider, Ringo Kid, Rawhide Kid and Two-Gun Kid) in ‘Go West, Young Gods!’, even as the present-day team learn their perilous plight involves a threat to two different dimensions…

Roxxon have joined with the corporations that rule the Squadron Supreme’s parallel-Earth America – thanks to the malignly mesmeric Serpent Crown of Set. Inked by Sam Grainger, Avengers #143 sees the Wild West showdown culminate with the apparent death of a deity in ‘Right Between the Eons!’

Elsewhen, the 20th century heroes have commenced a counterattack in the esoteric weaponry factory at Brand, and – whilst running rampant – liberate from a storeroom a technologically-advanced, ability-enhancing uniform originally belonging to short-lived adventurer The Cat. When Patsy dons it, the hero-groupie neophyte dubs herself Hellcat in ‘Claws!’ (Mike Esposito inks)…

Soon after, the Avengers are cornered by the Squadron and as battle resumes, Roxxon president Hugh Jones plays his trump card and transports all combatants to the other Earth…

The dreaded deadline doom hit just at this crucial juncture and issues #145-146 were taken up with a 2-part fill-in by Tony Isabella, Heck & Tartaglione, with additional pencils by Keith Pollard for the concluding chapter.

‘The Taking of the Avengers!’ reveals how a criminal combine takes out a colossal contract on the team, but even though ‘The Assassin Never Fails!’ the killer is thwarted and Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Beast, Vision and Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Yellowjacket and The Falcon are all safely returned to their various cases, untroubled by the vagaries of continuity or chronology… which makes this rather impressive yarn such an annoyance in this specific instance…

Trans-dimensional traumas resume in Avengers #147, describing a ‘Crisis on Other-Earth!’ courtesy of Englehart, Pérez & Colletta). With the corporate takeover of other-America revealed to have been facilitated by use of the serpent crown, the Scarlet Witch takes possession of the sinister helm as her teammates try desperately to keep the overwhelming Squadron Supreme from reclaiming it.

On our Earth, Hawkeye brings Two-Gun Kid to the modern world, but chooses to go walkabout rather than rejoin his comrades, even as Thor and Moondragon start searching for their missing colleagues…

‘20,000 Leagues Under Justice!’ (Grainger inks) begins the final showdown with the Avengers’ victory over a wiser and repentant Squadron Supreme, and as the heroes return to their home dimension ‘The Gods and the Gang!’ reunites them with Moondragon and the Thunder God in time to clean up Brand/Roxxon. However, the Corporate cabal has one nasty trick left to play: a colossal, biologically augmented Atlantean dubbed Orka, the Human Killer Whale!’ He’s not enough to save them…

Supplementing the circumstances above described is the cover to all-reprint Giant-Size Avengers #5 (by John Buscema & George Roussos) and contemporaneous features from Marvel’s FOOM magazine #12 which spotlighted the romance and weddings with a Vision cover by John B & P. Craig Russell, back cover image by Paty (Cockrum) & Al Milgrom; an overview of the awesome android in ‘Visions’ and ‘Vision, This is Your Life!’ and David Anthony Kraft’s ‘The Scarlet Witch: Meditations on a Ms.’ – all including early art contributions from John Byrne, Paty, Dave Wenzel – plus an extended family pin-up.

Also on view are a Charley Parker spoof strip starring ‘The Visage’, extended interviews ‘Steve Englehart Speaks!: Journey to the center of a Vision’ and ‘Roy Thomas Speaks!: Journey to the center of a Vision’.

The next issue would see a drastic changing of the guard, but this epic tome concludes with even more extras including the covers – by Jack Kirby & Frank Giacoia – and Frontispiece contents page of tabloid Marvel Treasury Edition #7; a wealth of rousing house ads; Neal Adams’ painted cover for Marvel Index #3, its back cover by Franc Reyes and Frontispiece by Peter Iro; the pre-corrections cover to Giant-Size Avengers #2 plus pages of original art by Sal Buscema, Staton, Tuska & Chiaramonte.

Roy Thomas and Steve Englehart were at the forefront of Marvel’s second generation of story-makers, brilliantly building on and consolidating the compelling creation of Lee, Kirby & Ditko: spearheading and constructing a logical, fully functioning miracle-machine of places and events that so many others were inspired by and could add to. Between them they also showed how much more graphic narratives could be, and these terrific tales are perfect examples of superhero sagas done just right.

This type of timeless heroic adventure set the tone for fantastic Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas for decades to come and can still boggle the mind and take the breath away, even here in the sleek, cool and permanently perilous 21st century…

No lovers of Costumed Dramas can afford to ignore this superbly bombastic book and fans who think themselves above superhero stories might also be pleasantly surprised…
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Carnage Epic Collection: Born in Blood 1991-1994


By David Michelinie, Tom DeFalco, Terry Kavanagh, J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, Ron Lim, Alex Saviuk, Tom Lyle, Sal Buscema, Steven Butler & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4662-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Massive Marvel Mayhem… 7/10

After a shaky start in 1962 The Amazing Spider-Man soon became a popular sensation with kids of all ages, rivalling the creative powerhouse that was Lee & Kirby’s Fantastic Four. Soon the quirky, charming, action-packed comicbook soap-opera would become the model for an entire generation of younger heroes elbowing aside the staid, (relatively) old costumed-crimebusters of previous publications.

You all know the story: Peter Parker was a smart but alienated kid bitten by a radioactive spider during a school science trip. Discovering he had developed astonishing arachnid abilities – which he augmented with his own natural chemistry, physics and engineering genius – the kid did what any lonely, geeky nerd would do with such newfound prowess: he tried to cash in for girls, fame and money.

Making a costume to hide his identity in case he made a fool of himself, Parker became a minor media celebrity – and a criminally self-important one. To his eternal regret, when a thief fled past him one night he didn’t lift a finger to stop him, only to find when he returned home that his guardian uncle Ben Parker had been murdered.

Crazed with a need for vengeance, Peter hunted the assailant who had made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known, finding, to his horror, that it was the self-same felon he had neglected to stop. His irresponsibility had resulted in the death of the man who raised him, and the traumatised boy swore to forevermore use his powers to help others…

Since that night the wondrous wallcrawler has tirelessly battled miscreants, monsters and madmen, with a fickle, ungrateful public usually baying for his blood even as he perpetually saves them.

In the anything-goes, desperate hurly-burly of the late 1980s and 1990s, fad-fever and spin-off madness obsessed the superhero genre in America as comics publishers hungrily exploited every trick to bolster flagging sales. In the mad melee Spider-Man spawned an intractable enemy called Venom: a disgraced and deranged reporter named Eddie Brock who bonded with Parker’s black costume (an semi-sentient alien parasite called the Symbiote) and become a savage, shape-changing dark-side version of the amazing arachnid.

Eventually the spidery adversaries reached a brooding détente and Venom became a “Lethal Protector”, dispensing a highly individualistic brand of justice everywhere but New York City.

However, the danger had not completely passed. When the Symbiote went into breeding mode it created a junior version of itself that merged with a deranged psycho-killer named Cletus Kasady (in Amazing Spider-Man #344, March 1991). The relevant pages by David Michelinie, Erik Larsen, Mark Bagley & Randy Emberlin open this collection…

Totally amoral, murderously twisted and addicted to both pain and excitement, Kasady became the terrifying metamorphic Carnage – a kill-crazy monster who carved a bloody swathe through the Big Apple before Spider-Man and Venom united to stop him.

Collecting a franchise-wide crossover which originally appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #331-363, 378-380, Web of Spider-Man #101-103 Spectacular Spider-Man #201-203, Spider-Man #35-37, and with material from Amazing Spider-Man #344-345, 359-360, Spider-Man Unlimited #1-2 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 (spanning February 1991 to August 1993), this mammoth and extremely controversial summer event featured the inevitable return of the terrifying travesty and his bloodcurdling assault on everything Parker held dear: family, responsibility, love and the heartfelt faith that killing was never justifiable…

It all begins with pertinent extracts from Amazing Spider-Man #344 &345 (March & April 1991) and 359-360 (February – March 1992) as Michelinie, Chris Marrinan & Keith Williams detail Carnage’s escape and first kills before the beast’s proper debut in Amazing Spider-Man #361-363 as Michelinie, Bagley & Emberlin unleash the shapeshifting slaughterer on New York in ‘Savage Genesis!’, ‘Savage Alliance!’ and ‘Savage Grace!’, necessitating Spidey and the Human Torch breaking Venom out of his well-deserved incarceration to help stop a murder spree beyond imagining…

All that is mere aperitif to a monstrous main course of fast, furious and ferocious chaos that kicks off in‘Carnage Rising!’ by Tom DeFalco, Ron Lim & Jim Sanders III from Spider-Man Unlimited #1.

When a seemingly powerless Cletus Kasady is moved from ultra-high security penitentiary The Vault to an experimental lab at Ravencroft Asylum, ambitious psychiatrist Dr. Pournella believes she can cure the monster’s underlying psychosis. Those opinions die with her and the rest of the staff and security officers when the long-dormant Carnage entity manifests and breaks free…

Across town, tormented by guilt and shame, newlyweds Peter Parker and Mary Jane (nee Watson) are attending the funeral of their friend Harry Osborn – who had gone mad and perished battling Spider-Man as the second Green Goblin. As the downcast hero wallows in soul-searching and wonders at the point of his life, in Ravencroft a nihilistic scourge of insane bloodlust rampages through the facility until he is stopped in his tracks by another inmate.

Shriek is a creature after Carnage’s own heart: a survivor of appalling childhood abuse who found she possessed incredible powers to make all her vile drives and dreams come true…

Instantly attracted to each other, the pair join forces as a twisted “couple”, resolved to kill as often and as many as they can…

Escaping into New York they soon encounter and battle a mystical, nigh-mindless Spider-Man Doppelganger – which has been stalking the Webslinger since the end of the Infinity War crossover event – and adopt it. Together, the ultimate embodiment of a dysfunctional family set out to teach the city the pointlessness of life and the imminent inevitability of remorseless death…

Peter meanwhile has quarrelled with Mary Jane, but after making up, he hears of the bloodbath at Ravencroft and dutifully rushes off to recapture Carnage. Utterly unprepared for the trio of terror, he is savagely beaten: barely escaping with his life…

The tale continues in ‘Dark Light: Maximum Carnage  Part 2’ (Web of Spider-Man #101, by Terry Kavanagh, Alex Saviuk & Don Hudson) wherein the incapacitated Arachnid is accosted by street thugs hungry for vengeance and only saved by the appearance of homeless vigilantes Cloak and Dagger.

These nomadic teens are juvenile runaways who fell into the clutches of drug-pushing gangsters. Amongst a group of abducted kids they were used as guinea pigs for new designer drugs, but though all other test subjects died horribly, Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen were mutated by the chemical cocktail into something more – and less – than human.

Isolated, alone, and vengeful they swore to help other lost kids by fighting drug dealers and all who preyed on the weak in the blackest corners of New York City.

Cloak is connected to a dimension of darkness: able to teleport, become intangible, amplifying and feeding on the wickedness in his targets. His unceasing hunger for negative emotions must be regularly – if only temporarily – sated by super-acrobat Dagger’s dazzling radiance. Her power too has advantages and hazards. The light can cleanse the gnawing dependency afflicting addicts, but constantly, agonizingly, builds up within her when not released. Thus Cloak’s incessant hunger can be assuaged by her light-knives and his apparently insatiable darkness.

Whilst tending to Spider-Man – whose injuries include cripplingly painful broken ribs – Cloak & Dagger are ambushed by the Carnage clan and the consequent catastrophic clash razes the church they are sheltering in.

Shriek especially revels in chaos. She has battled Cloak before and loathes him, taking sublime joy in tormenting him. Her greatest triumph comes when she uses her sonic powers to disintegrate his beloved Dagger before his horrified eyes…

Succeeding chapters open with ‘Demons on Broadway’ (Amazing Spider-Man #378, by Michelinie, Bagley & Randy Emberlin) ramp up the tension as Venom returns to New York, determined to exterminate the appalling threat he inadvertently created. Severely wounded, Spider-Man seeks to console Cloak who is crazed with grief and fury. Elsewhere Carnage, Shriek and Doppelganger are simultaneously gloating, planning further bloodshed and fighting each other…

When Cloak disappears in a blink of black torment the barely conscious Wallcrawler resumes his search for the trio of horrors and instead stumbles upon another old foe – Demogoblin.

Originally a science-powered super-crook, the mercenary killer was cursed: mystically transformed into a supernatural scourge dedicated to cleansing Earth of sin. To his diseased mind that means slaughtering humans because they are all sinners…

As the messianic devil thrashes the utterly exhausted and overstretched Spider-Man in Central Park, Venom tracks down Kasady but is similarly crushed by Doppelganger, Shriek and his sadistically exultant “offspring”…

Brock barely escapes with his life and crawls to Peter and Mary Jane’s apartment in Spider-Man #35, driving Mrs. Parker crazy with fear and resentment. It seems as if the entire city is on the edge and ready to explode in rage, negativity and violence…

As Spider-Man resigns himself to working again with his murderous worst nightmare, Demogoblin joins Carnage’s fiendish family. The good guys recruit Peter’s ex-girlfriend The Black Cat to even the odds in ‘Team Venom’ (Michelinie, Tom Lyle & Scott Hanna), but by the time they find their constantly bickering homicidal foes, Cloak has already impetuously attacked them and lies close to death…

As another blockbusting battle ends in defeat for the heroes, the Amazing Arachnid finds himself berated and deserted by his own allies. Taken to task for his foolish unwillingness to use lethal force, Peter questions his ingrained reluctance to go ‘Over the Line!’ (Spectacular Spider-Man #201, by J.M. DeMatteis & Sal Buscema) even as Carnage adopts another psychotic menace into his growing killer kin. Cadaverous mutated clone Carrion shares their ambitions and eagerly joins in their avowed mission to kill every human in New York.

The blood-soaked brood are aided in their task by the very citizens they imperil, as an inexplicable wave of fear and hatred grips the populace, sparking savage rioting and a tide of death. The inflamed innocents even attempt to lynch Spider-Man when he comes to their aid…

As Parker faces an overwhelming crisis of conscience in ‘Sinking Fast’ (Kavanagh, Saviuk & Hudson from Web of Spider-Man #102), Venom’s vengeance squad recruits another old Spider-Man foe in the ghastly shape of Michael Morbius – a science-spawned Living Vampire with an unquenchable appetite for human blood. After years of death and torment, the helpless victim had recently begun to seek a form of redemption by only slaking his thirst on the truly wicked…

With her husband insanely risking his life beside allies as bad as the villains, Mary Jane attempts to ease her own rage by going clubbing, just as Carnage’s “carnival of chaos” tears into the fashionable nightspot eager to display their warped philosophy of senseless death.

She is only saved by the appearance of Team Venom, with Spider-Man arriving far too late to help. After helping to drive off the macabre marauders a heartbroken Parker is forced to accept the antihero’s methods: rejoining the squad in time to confront ‘The Gathering Storm’ (Amazing Spider-Man #379, Michelinie, Bagley & Emberlin).

As the notional white hats again spectacularly and pointlessly clash with the cotillion of crazies – resulting in the collateral deaths of the NYPD’s Extreme Emergency Team – a new player enters the conflict.

Deathlok was pacifist scientist Michael Collins until his consciousness was imprisoned within a cyborg body built to be the ultimate battlefield weapon. Rebelling against the corporate monsters who doomed him to “life” as a mechanical zombie, Collins turned the war body into a macabre force for justice, so when he detected strange energies at work in town he immediately entered the fray – and is trashed by Clan Carnage, just as Spider-Man and Cloak recruit idealistic mutant Firestar to their side…

Fighting chaos and terror with logic, the webspinner reasons that since all Symbiote spawn are chronically susceptible to excessive heat (as well as high energy sonic assault) a champion capable of emitting microwaves could turn the tide in humanity’s favour…

As the heroes lay their plans, ‘Hate is In The Air’ (Spider-Man #36; Kavanagh, Lyle & Hanna) exposes Kasady’s horrific childhood and events that shaped the unrepentant kill-crazed fiend. Meanwhile, martial arts hero Iron Fist steps in to rescue the broken Deathlok before the Venom gang again engages Carnage’s crew. They almost succeed, but for the rallying efforts of the increasingly rebellious and independent Shriek…

A secret is revealed in ‘The Turning Point!’ (Spectacular Spider-Man #202, DeMatteis & Buscema) as a crazed mob attacks the battling metahumans, and Shriek discloses her powers enable her to broadcast her own madness to the entire city, driving everyone into paroxysms of despair and fury. With Spider-Man actively urging Firestar to kill Carnage, the heroes’ ethical collapse seems assured…

From the depths of his soul Peter’s moral core finally breaks through the madness and he stops the equally conflicted microwave mutant from committing the ultimate sin, just as inspirational legend Captain America arrives to take charge…

With both Avengers and Fantastic Four otherwise occupied, the Sentinel of Liberty has rushed back to save ‘Sin City’ (Kavanagh, Saviuk & Hudson, Web of Spider-Man #103) from Armageddon: instantly rallying the hard-pressed heroes and their more ambivalent allies.

Sadly, his presence causes a schism and as mysterious vigilante Nightwatch joins the dark defenders in still more reactive, pointless violence, ‘Soldiers of Hope’ (Amazing Spider-Man #380, Michelinie, Bagley & Emberlin) sees Parker at last use his brains rather than brawn. With Cap’s resources, the philosophical discipline of Iron Fist and technical skills of Deathlok, a weapon is devised to disable and even cure the frenzied killers running wild in the streets…

An even greater turnabout occurs in ‘The Light!’ (DeMatteis, Lyle, Hanna & Al Milgrom; Spider-Man #37) as, at the height of the most savage battle yet, all factions are stunned by the luminescent resurrection of Dagger, who spearheads a triumphant ‘War of the Heart!’ (Spectacular Spider-Man #203, DeMatteis & Buscema) that crushes the clan and kills Carnage…

Of course it’s never that easy and the cunning maniac is only shamming, as exhausted and traumatised Spider-Man and Venom discover when the blood-red maniac ambushes them in one last all-or-nothing attack in ‘The Hatred, the Horror, & the Hero!’ by DeFalco, Bagley, Lim, Sanders III & Sam de la Rosa (Spider-Man Unlimited #2). It almost works, but in the end, battered, bruised bloodied but ultimately uncompromised, the heroes are triumphant and the horrors are caged again…

By way of epilogue Amazing Spider-Man Annual #28 (1994) picks over ‘The Mortal Past’ (Michelinie, Steven Butler & Bud LaRosa) as Kasady escapes whilst being transported to the Vault and Spider-Man goes after him. More appalling secrets of the killer’s childhood are exposed and buckets of blood are spilled as the maniac takes refuge with his only friend… until the wallcrawler spoils that too and earns Carnage’s undying hatred all over again…

Also included are an unused cover and a bound-in poster and the 1993 Carnage TPB by Bagley & Emberlin; facts, pranks and illustrations from Marvel-Year-in-Review: Bring on the Bad Guys; the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition; A wraparound cover by Bart Sears from Wizard Magazine, and Micheline’s Introduction from another TPB, DeMatteis’ Afterword, plus covers of successive editions by Ron Lim, Emberlin, deleted and edited scenes. There is trading card art by Steve Lightle & Paul Mounts, the cover – by Lyle – and articles from Marvel Age #123 (April 1993), a wealth or original art pages by Bagley Emberlin & Lyle and variant and 2nd print covers.

If you love the extended hyperbolic, continual conflict which is at the core of all Costumed Dramas, this non-stop battle bonanza is a grand way to spoil yourself. Logic and pacing are subsumed into one long, escalating struggle, and a working knowledge of the players is largely unnecessary to the raw, brutal clash of wills, ideologies and super-powers. One fair warning however: although handled with a degree of reserve and taste, this yarn has an appalling body count and scenes of torture that might upset younger fans of the Amazing Arachnid.
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Black Panther: Visions of Wakanda


By Jess Harrold, Rodolfo Muraguchi & Adam Del Re with Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas & John Buscema, Don McGregor, Rick Buckler, Billy Graham & Gene Colan, Ta-Nehisi Coates & Brian Stelfreeze and many & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1302919382 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Categorically Picture Perfect… 9/10

Celebrated as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since the 1960s when he first attacked the FF (in Fantastic Four #52; cover-dated July 1966) as part of an elaborate plan to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father.

T’Challa, son of T’Chaka was revealed as an African monarch whose hidden kingdom was the only source of a vibration-absorbing alien metal upon which the nation’s immense wealth was founded. Those mineral riches – derived from a fallen meteor which struck the continent in primeval antiquity – had powered his country’s transformation into a technological wonderland. That tribal wealth had long been guarded by a hereditary feline-garbed champion deriving physical advantages from secret ceremonies and a mysterious heart-shaped herb that ensured the generational dominance of the nation’s warrior Panther Cult.

After being a steadfast if minor Marvel stalwart for decades, the character and his world finally achieved global stardom thanks to a series of stunning movie interpretations and is now an assured icon of planetary consciousness…

With accumulated years of superb comics material to fall back on, the company would be crazy not to use that in reprints and overviews like this one: creating a resource for new fans to consult and veterans to relish again.

They’re not crazy and this spiffy landscape edition – written by Jess Harrold and designed by Rodolfo Muraguchi & Adam Del Re – came out a couple of years ago. With a sequel in cinemas and the Holiday Season looming, it’s only sensible to point you in this direction if you’re seeking gift suggestions…

Following Introduction ‘Dear Brian…’ by 1990s scripter Christopher J. Priest, what follows is a series of informative, contextualising – but accessibly fun – essays, dotted with candid behind-the-scenes illustrations (like Kirby’s original concept of “The Coal Tiger”), quotes from contributing creators and artwork from classic issues and storylines: tracing the entire career of the Hero/Heroes who have steered Wakanda through Marvel Comics history…

It starts with Chapter One and ‘Enter… The Black Panther!’, with the aforementioned debut and early days supplemented by printed pages, and original art by Kirby & inker Joe Sinnott, highlighting not just the man but especially the astonishingly futuristic kingdom he ruled. As well as origins, there are introductions to concepts and villains who would shape the destinies of the characters and country…

After treading the guest star route, T’Challa got his first regular gig as Captain America’s replacement on the World’s Mightiest Supergroup. ‘Avengers Assemble!’ reprises those walk-ons and traces the solitary hunter’s career as part of a team, with excerpted art and covers from Kirby, John Buscema, Frank Giacoia, Sal Buscema, Rich Buckler, George Tuska, John Romita Sr., Arthur Adams, Marcos Stein and Phil Noto.

‘Panther’s Rage’ reveals how the King faced an existential threat in his homeland as, after policing the Marvel Universe, the summer of 1973 saw the Black Panther finally advance to solo star in his own series. In Jungle Action #6-18, Don McGregor scripted an ambitious epic of love, death, vengeance and civil war: inventing from whole cloth and Kirby’s throwaway notion of a futuristic jungle, the most unique African nation ever imagined…

With art from Rich Buckler, Klaus Janson and Billy Graham, the chapter highlights the unique structure and page design of what is arguably one of comics’ earliest graphic novels. Also provided are the first maps of Wakanda and hits of McGregor’s follow-up tale.

The Panther versus the Klan shifted focus from war stories to crime fiction, replacing exotic Africa for America’s poverty-wracked, troubled, still segregated-in-all-but-name Deep South for a head-on collision with centuries of entrenched and endemic racism. The multi-layered tale ended but did not conclude as Jungle Action was cancelled before its time…

Two months later, under the auspices of returning creative colossus Jack Kirby, a wholly different kind of Black Panther enjoying utterly unrelated adventures was launched, and ‘The Return of the King’ celebrates a new era of excitement.

Kirby’s return proved to be controversial. He was never slavishly wedded to tight continuity and preferred, in many ways, to treat his stints on titles as a “Day One”. His commitment was to wholesome, eye-popping adventure, breakneck action and breathless, mind-boggling wonderment. Combined with his absolute mastery of the comic page and unceasing quest for the Next Big Thrill, it made for a captivating read, but found little favour with those readers fully committed to the minutiae of the Marvel Universe.

With Black Panther #1, what they got was a rollercoaster ride of classic Kirby concept-overload as the Hereditary King of a miraculous Lost Kingdom gallantly pursued fabulous time machines, fought future men and secret samurai clans, thwarted the plots of super-rich artefact stealers and foiled schemes to nuke his hidden homeland, usurp his rule and even consume his faithful subjects. Kirby even introduced an entire, unsuspected extended Royal Family: a Panther clan who would become an intrinsic part of the new mythology.

All this is dynamically revealed in a wave of wonder from Kirby before ‘Where Prowls the Panther?’ explores the 1980s – and a relative dry spell for the hero. Primarily back as a guest star, T’Challa nevertheless completed the “The Klan” saga, revealed a childhood adventure with Storm of the X-Men and closed the decade with a politically-charged miniseries confronting Apartheid. Art contributors here include Jerry Bingham, Al Milgrom, John Byrne, Bob McLeod, Walter Simonson, Steve Rude and Denys Cowan.

Chapter Six examines ‘Panther’s Quest… Panther’s Prey’ when, – as the 1990s began – South Africa’s morally bankrupt ruling system was buckling and became an acceptable target in many creative fields. McGregor returned after years away from the comics mainstream, and with artists Gee Colan & Tom Palmer, spun a shocking tale of intolerance as an epic serial in 25 chapters (published in fortnightly anthology Marvel Comics Presents #13-37, from February to December1989).

One of the most thought-provoking mainstream comics tales ever released, Panther’s Quest reveals how T’Challa infiltrated totalitarian South Africa in search of Ramonda, the beloved stepmother he had believed dead for decades. His hunt for her uncovered conspiracy and abduction, whilst placing him at the forefront of the battle for survival daily endured by the black majority. The saga added pressure to the ever-growing Anti-Apartheid movement in comics and western media, by examining not only the condition of racial inequality but also turning a damning eye on sexual oppression.

It was followed by prestige Limited Series Panther’s Prey, set in Wakanda and again examining the dichotomy of tradition versus progress that had underpinned Panther’s Rage. McGregor’s chilling script was transformed by the art of Dwayne Turner, as seen here in numerous pages and covers from the series, counterpointed by excepts from 2018’s reprise of the tale illustrated by Daniel Acuña from Black Panther Annual #1.

As seen in ‘The Marvel Knight’, T’Challa’s story took a huge leap when Christopher Priest utterly revamped and modernised the hero – and Wakanda – in an epically transformational run. How and why is supported by sketches, designs, finished art and covers by Mark Texiera, Joe Quesada, Joe Jusko, Mike Manley, Sal Velluto, Norm Breyfogle, Andy Kubert, Jim Calafiore, Kyle Hotz, Tomm Coker. Bruce Timm and more.

Screenwriter Reginald Hudlin’s tenure is covered next with ‘Who is the Black Panther?’ as the king takes a wife and full charge of his country in truly perilous circumstances, just as the secret history of Wakanda is revealed at last…

This epic period of change and revelation was supported by many artists and included here are John Romita Jr., Janson, Esad Ribi?, Fran Cho, David Yardin, Scot Eaton, Olivier Coipel, Leinil Francis Yu, Michael Turner, Joseph Michael Linsner, Trevor Hairsine, Mike Deodato Jr., Gary Frank, Nico Henrichon, Simone Bianchi, Arthur Suydam, Cafu, Alan Davis, Francis Portela, Jason Pearson, Jefté Palo and Denys Cowan.

Tribal wealth had always been guarded by hereditary feline champions deriving physical advantages from secret ceremonies and a mysterious heart-shaped herb. This ensured the generational dominance of Wakanda’s warrior Panther Cult. However, in recent years, Vibranium made the country a target for increasing subversion and incursion. After clashes with Namor the Sub-Mariner and an attack by Doctor Doom, T’Challa was forced to render all earthly Vibranium inert, defeating the invader but leaving his homeland broken and economically shattered.

During that cataclysmic clash, the King’s flighty, spoiled brat half-sister Shuri took on the mantle of Black Panther, becoming clan and country’s new champion whilst her predecessor struggled with the disaster he had caused and also recuperated from near-fatal injuries.

Despite initially being rejected by the divine Panther Spirit, Shuri proved a dedicated and ingenious protector, serving with honour until she perished defending Wakanda from alien invader Thanos. When T’Challa resumed his position as warrior-king, one of his earliest tasks was resurrecting his sister. She had passed into the Djalia (Wakanda’s spiritual Plane of Memories) where she absorbed the entire history of the nation from ascended Elders. On her return to physicality, she gained mighty new powers as the Ascended Future…

That’s addressed in rapid succession via ‘Shuri… the Black Panther!’, ‘The Most Dangerous Man Alive!’ and ‘King of the Dead’ – with art from J. Scott Campbell, Ken Lashley, Paul Neary, Paul Renaud, Will Conrad, Romita Jr., Mike Del Mundo, Francesco Francavilla, Simone Bianchi, Andrea Silvestri, Patch Zircher, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Alex Maleev, Adam Kubert, Tom Raney, Steve Epting, Deodato Jr., Jim Cheung, Christian Ward, Valerio Schiti, Kev Walker, Esad Ribi? and Kenneth Rocafort – before ‘A Nation Under Our Feet’ shows how writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and artists Brian Stelfreeze imagined the concept.

That 2016 reinvention again tackled revolution in Wakanda, but also addressed democracy versus autocracy, science against magic, women’s rights, freedom of education and body autonomy whilst telling astounding powerful heroic tales. Stelfeeze’s art and designs are augmented by art and commentary from Chris Sprouse, Wilfredo Torres, Leonard Kirk, Paolo & Joe Rivers and Janie McKelvie & Matthew Wilson.

The series sparked a renaissance and flurry of spin-off titles and ‘The World of Wakanda’

examines that expanded universe, and utilises art by Alitha E. Martinez, Stelfreeze, Jen Bartel, John Cassaday, Butch Guice, Sprouse, Juan Ferreya, Ed McGuiness, Davis, Deodato Jr., Sam Spratt, Leonardo Romero and Kirbi Fagan.

The Panther’s tale pauses here with Coates final storyline ‘The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda’ as T’Challa abandoned Earth to investigate a vast cosmic tyranny somehow based on his beloved country: a mystery gradually unfolded through the art of Stelfreeze, Acuña and Jen Bartel before we close with ‘Portraits of a Panther’ and a treasure trove of more incredible images that have resulted from the characters and stories preside here. This includes work and commentary by Bianchi, Mike McKone, Alex Ross, Kirby, Skottie Young, Coipel, Neal Adams, Yasmine Putri, Larry Stroman, Acuña, Mike Perkins, Sanford Greene, Jamal Campbell, Inhyuk Lee, Sophie Campbell, Tradd Moore, Natacha Bustos and Ribi?.

Emotionally engaging, powerfully inspirational, and cathartically thrilling, the fictive realm of the Panther People is one that every fan of thrills and lover of wonder should enjoy. This spectacular visual feast is certainly the only guidebook you should need…
© 2020 MARVEL.

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Captain America – Truth


By Robert Morales, Kyle Baker & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3427-9 (TPB/Digital Edition) 978-0785136668 (Premiere HB)

It’s never been more apparent than these days, but Truth is a Weapon. Facts, events and especially interpretations have always been manipulated to further a cause, and that simple premise was the basis of one of the most groundbreaking and controversial comic book stories of all time…

Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby in an era of frantic patriotic fervour, Captain America was a dynamic and highly visible response to the horrors of Nazism and the threat of Liberty’s loss. Consequently, the concept quickly lost focus and popularity after hostilities ceased. Fading away during post-war reconstruction, only to briefly reappear after the Korean War: a harder, darker sentinel ferreting out monsters, subversives and the “Reds” who lurked under every American bed.

He abruptly vanished once more, until the burgeoning Marvel Age resurrected him just in time to experience the Land of the Free’s most turbulent and culturally divisive era. Cap quickly became a mainstay of the Marvel Revolution during the Swinging Sixties, but lost his way after that, except for a politically-charged period under scripter Steve Englehart.

Despite everything, Captain America became a powerful symbol for generations of readers and his career can’t help but reflect that of the nation he stands for…

Devised in the Autumn and on newsstand by December 20th 1940, Captain America Comics #1 was cover-dated March 1941 and an instant monster, blockbuster smash-hit. The Sentinel of Liberty had boldly and bombastically launched in his own monthly title with none of the publisher’s customary caution, and instantly became the absolute and undisputed star of Timely’s top-selling “Big Three” – the other two being The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. He was, however, one of the first to fall from popularity as the Golden Age ended.

For all that initial run, his exploits were tinged – or maybe “tainted” – by the sheer exuberant venom of appalling racial stereotyping and heady fervour of jingoism at a time when America was involved in the greatest war in world history. Nevertheless, the first 10 issues of Captain America Comics are the most exceptional comics in the fledgling company’s history…

You know the origin story as if it were your own. In ‘Meet Captain America’ Simon & Kirby revealed how scrawny, enfeebled patriot and genuinely Good Man Steven Rogers, after being continually rejected by the US Army, is recruited by the Secret Service.

Desperate to stop Nazi-sympathizing atrocity, espionage and sabotage, the passionate teen accepts the chance to become part of a clandestine experimental effort to create physically perfect super-soldiers. However, after a Nazi agent infiltrates the project and murders the pioneering scientist behind it, Rogers is left as the only successful graduate and becomes America’s not-so-secret weapon.

For decades the story has been massaged and refined, yet remained essentially intact, but in 2002 – in the wake of numerous real-world political and social scandals (like the Tuskegee Experiment/Tuskegee Syphilis Study 1932-1972) – writer Robert Morales (Vibe Magazine, Captain America) & Kyle Baker (Nat Turner, Plastic Man, The Shadow, Why I Hate Saturn) took a cynical second look at the legend through the lens of the treatment of and white attitudes towards black American citizens…

The result was Truth: Red, White & Black #1-7 (January-July 2003), initially collected as a Premiere Hardcover edition in 2009 and here in trade paperback and digital formats. This hard-hitting view of the other side of a Marvel Universe foundational myth forever changed the shape of the continuity: using the tragedy and inherent injustice of the situation to add to the pantheon more – and more challenging – heroes of colour and contemporary role models.

‘The Future’ begins at “Negro Week” of the 1940 New York World’s Fair where Isaiah Bradley and his bride Faith learn yet again they are still second class citizens, and that their rights and freedoms are conditional. December in Philadelphia sees young firebrand and workers’ rights activist Maurice Canfield painfully realise that even his father’s hard-earned wealth and position mean nothing as long as their skin is dark in America…

Cleveland in June of 1941 and negro war veteran “Black Cap” is still in the army. It’s fiercely segregated and he’s been demoted to sergeant, but Luke Evans is content to have work and purpose. Since returning from the Great War, Evans has lived through so much crap – even a year of race riots and near-revolution that threatened to wipe out his kind – that he’s content to take each day as it comes.

Everything changes for these black men and thousands like them when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941…

‘The Basics’ opens in 1942 at Camp Cathcart, Mississippi. The base is tense, and strife between partitioned white and black recruits at a perilous boiling point. Brawling between races is constant. Into the explosive situation comes oily G-Man Homer Tully and scientist Dr. Josef Reinstein who petition openly racist commander Major Brackett to give them two battalions of coloured recruits and cover up the fact that they ever existed…

Wartime secrecy is then employed to mask an appalling act of racist cynicism, as hundreds of patriotic black men are trained and callously discarded as Reinstein methodically perfects his super-soldier serum on expendable lower race guinea pigs.

The scene switches to Project Super Soldier (location classified) where Colonel Walker Price supervises ‘The Passage’ of the survivors from human to something else. Bradley, Canfield, Evans and the others have endured a cruel barrage of chemical interventions. Of three hundred, only a handful survive, and all are radically changed… or, more accurately, mutated. Reinstein is acutely aware that his former colleagues in Nazi Germany are just as close to solving the riddle of superhumanity and pushes on with increasing disregard for the laws of science or ethics of civilisation…

Next of kin are informed that their loved ones have been killed in training, but Faith Bradley knows the corpse in the casket is not her man and starts making waves…

Ultimately, military pragmatism supersedes scientific caution and the seven remaining negros – all immensely powerful in radically changed bodies – are pressed into action as an expendable super-suicide squad. Commanded by white supremacist Lieutenant Philip Merritt, ‘The Cut’ sees them deployed to the Black Forest with orders to destroy the rival Uber-mensch project. The mission catastrophically fails, but survivor Isaiah Bradley is coerced by Walker Price into returning to Germany on a solo suicide mission to eradicate the facility. Apparently, the “real” Captain America is unable to get there in time…

Rebellious to the end, Bradley complies, but steals and dons the flashy star-spangled uniform worn by the public – blue-eyed, blonde and exceeding white – face of America’s Super Soldier Project. It’s October 1942 and the last time the world hears from or about Bradley…

The horrors he saw and his spectacular triumph only start emerging in ‘The Math’ as – today in the Bronx – superhero Steve Rogers meets Bradley’s widow and discovers something truly astounding…

Whilst crushing domestic terrorism, Captain America had captured unrepentant mastermind Merritt and learned how the monster had been instrumental in Reinstein’s death decades previously. Further investigation uncovered ‘The Whitewash’ Merritt and his superior Walker Price instigated, and what they perpetrated after Bradley unexpectedly battled his way back to America…

Stunned to have unearthed a secret history of oppression and immorality that occurred all around him without his slightest inkling, Rogers is distraught and furious, resolved to set things right at all costs…

That mission takes him to the highest echelons of government and darkest corners of military intelligence in ‘The Blackvine’, where he learns more uncomfortable truths about his origins and the true nature of the country he loves and represents. Shellshocked and despondent, Cap returns to the Bradley’s home and gets a welcome if belated chance to salve his soul, set history straight and repay moral debts unknowingly incurred in his name…

With covers by Baker, promo art by Joe Quesada, Danny Miki & Richard Isanove, and unused cover treatments, this landmark saga is backed up with a context-laden, disturbingly informative Appendix by Robert Morales: clarifying and expanding on many previously sidelined moments of actual and black history that informed the story.

Powerful, engaging, enlightening and immensely gratifying, this is a story to enrage and enthral, and one no socially aware superfan should miss.
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Black Panther Adventures


By Jeff Parker, Marc Sumerak, Christopher Yost, Elliot Kalan, Roy Thomas, Manuel Garcia, Ig Guara, Scott Wegener, Christopher Jones, Chris Giarusso, John Buscema & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1034-1 (Digest PB/Digital edition)

From its earliest days, Marvel always courted and accommodated young comic book consumers, often through separates titles and imprints. In 2003, the company instituted the Marvel Age line to reframe classic original tales by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others for a fresh-faced 21st century readership.

The experiment was tweaked in 2005, becoming Marvel Adventures. The tone of all the tales was very much that of the company’s burgeoning TV animation franchises, in execution if not name. Titles bearing the Marvel Adventures brand included Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and The Avengers and ran until 2010 when they were all cancelled and replaced by new volumes of Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man.

Most of those comic book yarns have since been collected in digest-sized compilations such as this one, gathering a quartet of all-ages Black Panther tales but also including a brace of early1960s episodes from his first stint in mainstream MU series The Avengers.

Acclaimed as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first debuted as a character in Fantastic Four #52.

In that 1966 landmark the cat king attacked Marvel’s First Family as part of his extended scheme to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father, before eventually teaming up with them to defeat malign master of sound Klaw.

This eclectic compilation – comprising Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #10, Marvel Adventures The Avengers #22, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1, Marvel Universe Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #8, plus Silver Age epics from Avengers #52 and 62 – begins by broadly reimagining that initial FF encounter in ‘Law of the Jungle’ by Jeff Parker, Manuel Garcia & Scott Koblish (from Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four #10; May 2006) wherein the quixotic quartet are suckered into buying smuggled Vibranium.

The miracle mineral is Wakanda’s only export and the illegal sale quickly brings the duped heroes into savage conflict with a mysterious cat-garbed super-warrior. Tracking the Black Panther back to his super-scientific jungle kingdom, the team  eventually convince the king of their innocence and good intentions before teaming up to tackle the true villains…

Two years later Marvel Adventures The Avengers #22 (May 2008 and by Marc Sumerak, Ig Guara & Jay Leisten) revealed the ‘Wakanda Wild Side’ as sightings of murderous mutant Sabretooth in Africa draws Wolverine, Storm, Captain America, Spider-Man, Giant-Girl and the Hulk into an uncharted kingdom. They needn’t have bothered: Wakanda’s Panther chieftain is more than equal to the task of taking down the savage invader…

Following a page of comedic Marvel Mini Classics by Chris Giarusso, a short vignette from Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #1 (November 2010) as Christopher Yost & Scott Wegener reveal how rival heroes T’Challa and Hawkeye work out their ‘Trust’ issues whilst battling crazed villain Whiplash.

Never the success the company hoped, the Marvel Adventures project was superseded in 2012 by specific comics tied to those Disney XD television shows designated as “Marvel Universe cartoons”, but these collected stories are still an amazingly entertaining and superbly accessible means of introducing characters and concepts to kids born sometimes three generations or more away from the originating events. They’re also pretty good fun for us old lags too…

Another short tale – this time from Marvel Universe Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes #8 (November 2012) – unites the Panther with the Hulk. Crafted by Elliott Kalan, Christopher Jones & Pond Scum, ‘Mayhem of the Madbomb!’ finds Green Goliath and Cat King furiously fighting Hydra to prevent he detonation of an insanity-inducing WMD stashed in the Empire State Building…

Wrapping up the action are a brace of classic exploits from Roy Thomas & John Buscema.

On Captain America’s recommendation the Black Panther joined the Avengers in #52’s ‘Death Calls for the Arch-Heroes!’ (May 1968, inked by Vince Colletta): a fast-paced murder mystery which also saw the advent of obsessive super-psycho The Grim Reaper who tried to frame the freshly-arrived-in-America T’Challa for the murder of Goliath, The Wasp and Hawkeye.

Then ‘The Monarch and the Man-Ape!’ (Avengers #62, March 1969, and inked by George Klein) offered Marvel fans the first real view of hidden Wakanda – and a brutal exploration of T’Challa’s history and rivals – as his trusted regent seeks to usurp the kingdom and overturn the state religion after declaring himself to be ‘M’Baku the Man-Ape!’…

Augmented by a cover gallery from Carlo Pagulayan & Chris Sotomayor, Leonard Kirk & Val Staples, Scott Wegener & Jean- François Beaulieu, Khoi Pham & Edgar Delgado and John Buscema, these ferociously enthralling riotous mini-epics are extremely enjoyable and engaging, but parents should note that some of the themes and certainly the level of violence might not be what everybody considers “All-Ages Super Hero Action”…
© 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ultimate Comics Avengers: Blade versus The Avengers


By Mark Millar, Steve Dillon, Andy Lanning, Scott Hanna & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4009-2 (TPB/Digital)

Marvel’s Ultimates sub-imprint began in 2000 with key characters and concepts retooled to bring them into line with the tastes and sensibilities of modern readers – a potentially discrete market from the baby-boomers and their descendants. The line proliferated and prospered, but eventually this darkly nihilistic new universe became as continuity-constricted as its predecessor.

In 2008, cleansing event Ultimatum culminated in a reign of terror that killed dozens of superhumans and millions of lesser mortals. Although a strong seller, the saga was largely trashed by the fans who bought it, and the ongoing new Ultimatum Comics line quietly back-pedalled on its declared intentions…

The key and era-ending event was a colossal tsunami that drowned the superhero-heavy island of Manhattan. This post-tsunami collection (re-presenting Ultimate Comics Avengers 3 #1-6) focuses on a more or less dried out world with diminished global populations adapted to the new status quo.

Before the Deluge, Nick Fury (a black iteration so popular that he not only became the film version, but was also retrofitted into the mainstream MCU and replaced the white guy from WWII) ran a super-secret Black Ops team of superhumans designated the Avengers. He was eventually ousted from his position for sundry rule-bending antics – and being caught doing them. Now, as the world dries, he’s firmly re-established, running another black ops team, doing stuff his publicity-courting, officially sanctioned Ultimates team wouldn’t dream of…

Fury’s secret army consists of Hawkeye – the man who never misses; James Rhodes: a fanatical soldier wearing devastating War Machine armour; Gregory Stark, Iron Man’s smarter, utterly amoral older brother; Nerd Hulk – a cloned gamma-monster with all the original’s power but implanted/programmed with Banner’s brain and milksop character; size-shifting insect queen Red Wasp and ruthless super-spy Black Widow.

Also popping in when no one’s looking is resurrected WWII super soldier Captain America – part of the bright and shiny squad, but always happy to slum it when necessary…

Here the dark-side heroes stumble into an ancient and clandestine war that has continued uninterrupted by the end of the world, which sees half-human vampire-hunter Blade on the unaccustomed defensive. The undead bloodsuckers he has historically picked off with ease are now far better organised, more effective and more dangerous. As the story unfolds, it transpires they have found a new king with a grand plan…

This mysterious mastermind is wearing Iron Man’s old armour and now ignores ordinary mortals, preferring to turn super-heroes into a vampiric army. The situation starts bad and gets exponentially worse with metahuman heroes and guest-stars – like Kid Daredevil, Slavic thunder god Perun, numerous Giant-Men, and zen hero-trainer Stick – dropping like flies. With all possible saviours succumbing to the unstoppable plague, it looks hopeless when only Fury, Black Widow and Hawkeye are left untainted, and only the greatest miracle or boldest masterstroke can save humanity. After Cap also succumbs to the curse of the undead, the team’s unwelcome sometime-ally Blade makes a bold but surely suicidal move…

With covers and variants by Leinil Francis Yu, Marte Gracia, Ed McGuinness, Morry Hollowell, Olivier Coipel, Laura Martin, Greg Land, Frank D’Armata, this dark, moody and fast-paced thriller comes from Mark Millar (Judge Dredd, Civil War, Superman, Kick-Ass, The Kingsman, American Jesus, Jupiter’s Legacy) and Steve Dillon (Laser Eraser & Pressbutton, Abslom Daak, Judge Dredd, Animal Man, Preacher, Hellblazer, The Punisher): a wry, violent and powerfully scary romp that is engrossing and eminently readable.

This spooky, cynical, sinister shocker is another breathtakingly effective yarn that could only be told outside the Marvel Universe proper, but one that will resonate with older fans who love the darkest side of superheroes (and remember fondly the days when heroes could be horrors) as well as casual readers who know the company’s movies better than the comics.
© 2020 MARVEL. A British edition published by Panini is also available.

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Mighty Avengers: No Single Hero


By Al Ewing, Greg Land, Jay Leisten & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0785188742 (TPB/Digital edition)

Following blockbuster Avengers Versus X-Men publishing event, company-wide reboot MarvelNOW! reformed the entire overarching continuity: a drastic reshuffle and rethink of characters, concepts and brands with an eye to winning new readers and feeding the company’s burgeoning movie blockbuster machine…

Moreover, many disparate story strands were congealing to kick off the always-imminent Next Big Thing, with the cosmically expanded Avengers titles forming the spine of an encroaching mega-epic. The colossal Infinity storyline detailed a grandiose advance into Armageddon as an intergalactic Hammer of Doom fell with an all-out attack by impossibly ancient race The Builders. They claim to have sparked universal life, but now seek to rectify their mistake on Earth – and woe betide any species or intergalactic civilisation in their way.

When The Avengers mobilised most of their assemblage off-planet to tackle the threat before it reached them, Thanos of Titan took advantage of the dearth of metahuman defenders to invade, leaving the remaining superheroes with an almost impossible task…

Written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Greg Land & Jay Leisten, Mighty Avengers volume 2 #1-5 (November 2013 – March 2014) describes how those left behind unite as a resistance force and stayed together as a decidedly different kind of crusading team… one primarily comprising heroes of colour, not the usual bunch of white guys and ones who looked at problems beyond a self-appointed cosmic jurisdiction…

The action opens as Thanos hits Earth, where blithely unaware ex-Avenger Luke Cage is pitting his Heroes for Hire apprentices White Tiger and a new, teenaged Power Man against seasoned super-thief The Plunderer. Their efforts are interrupted and derided by the Superior Spider-Man who orders them to quit before insultingly offering Cage’s kids a real job.

Everybody sees that the wallcrawler has become insufferable since he technologically upgraded his act and hired a paramilitary gang as his deputies. Many of his oldest friends even think he might be going crazy. What no one knows is that the mind inside the arachnid hero’s head is actually archvillain Otto Octavius AKA Doctor Octopus who – despite a passionate initial desire to reform – is slowly reverting to his true manner and bad habits…

The webspinner’s derision spurs White Tiger into quitting, but only fuels her male teammates into trying harder to prove Spider-Man wrong…

Elsewhere ex-Avenger Monica Rambeau (formerly Captain Marvel and Photon, but now calling herself Spectrum) is getting back into the crime-busting game after a bout of retirement. She’s sorting out her costume and talking over old times with an enigmatic fellow champion when the first wave of the Titan’s invasion force smashes into New York.

Donning a store-bought comedy costume, the stranger – also black – joins Monica as a generic “Spider Hero” and converges on the landing site where Cage and the still-enraged Superior Spider-Man are battling the Titan’s ferocious warlord Proxima Midnight…

Elsewhere, Mystic Master Doctor Strange has been possessed and corrupted by the Ebony Maw – the most personally ambitious of Thanos’ lieutenants – whilst at the bottom of the sea  Dr. Adam Brashear receives a cosmic visitor. A forgotten African American superhero forbidden by Presidential mandate from operating during the Civil Rights era, The Blue Marvel is thus stirred from a lengthy self-imposed exile and grudgingly agrees to return to the world which shunned and sidelined him…

In New York, ‘The Assembly’ give battle, but the Amazing Arachnid seems more concerned with suing his “copyright infringer” than defeating the invaders, and Spectrum is gravely wounded by Midnight. As Cage tackles Proxima, ordinary citizens are emboldened to join the struggle, compelling ever-watching Thanos to order a retreat.

It’s not over though, as the ravaged metropolis is then assaulted by an overwhelming aspect of voracious Elder God Shuma-Gorath, summoned by enslaved Stephen Strange. The rampant horror gleefully begins transforming native New Yorkers into ghastly demon duplicates…

As Blue Marvel rockets to the rescue, temporarily stymieing the devil god and healing Spectrum, mystically empowered White Tiger and Power Man arrive and Spider Hero -demonstrating a keen knowledge of arcane rites – devises a scheme to drive the Lovecraftian horror back to its own dimension for good.

Cage then has a eureka moment, realising ‘No Single Hero’ could have managed, declaring that they are all Avengers…

Originally parked above Manhattan, the Inhumans’ floating city Attilan was destroyed during the war and its ruins now languish in the Hudson River. Moreover, when Thanos personally attacked Black Bolt, the embattled Inhuman monarch released genetically transformative Terrigen Mists thereby unleashing a host of new super-powered warriors from the ranks of the humans below…

Issue #4 is set after the invasion is finally repelled, with the city engrossed in rapid reconstruction. The space-bound Avengers are still missing off-world but life is returning to normal.

Sleazy entrepreneur Jason Quantrell despatches his personal industrial spy Quickfire – a recent recipient of Terrigen-induced abilities – to raid the sunken citadel in search of fresh mutagens he can monetise, whilst in Times Square Cage has turned his old Gem Theatre offices into a storefront Avengers HQ.

He has a bold new idea: opening the heroic volunteer brigade to the public who can come to them with meta-related problems or issues of injustice. Even though Reservist The Falcon has come aboard, Spider-Man is becoming increasingly intolerant, alternately demanding to be placed in charge and ordering Cage’s crew to cease and desist. Unable to convince them, the furious superior wallcrawler storms off…

Meanwhile Spider Hero – who has some ominous magical acquaintances older fans might recognise – has detected an encroaching mystic crisis and resolved to stay. Adopting the vacant costume and identity of martial arts mystery man Ronin, he invites the team to join him in stopping an impending burglary in Attilan. It’s not Quickfire’s illegal raid that’s the problem, but rather that she’s going to inadvertently awaken the slumbering submerged threat of the Death Walkers if somebody doesn’t stop her…

However, as the most recent Ronin leads the Avengers to the already-in-progress monster catastrophe, Octavius returns to the Gem Theatre and – in a manic fit of frustrated rage – attacks Cage with all the paramilitary resources he can muster: mercenaries, spider-bots and urban assault vehicles all primed to shut down the Avengers forever.

Happily, the harassed Hero for Free had already contacted his lawyer and is delighted to follow Jennifer Walters’ guidance… which basically boils down to “She-Hulk Smash!”…

Fast, furious and fantastically offbeat, this epic epistle also offers a selection of editorial features from the issues in question and a covers gallery, as it delivers hard, fast, thrilling and funny stories about heroism on the other side of the tracks…
© 2013 Marvel Characters Inc.. All rights reserved.

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Hawkeye Epic Collection volume 1: The Avenging Archer 1964-1988


By Stan Lee & Don Heck, Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Steven Grant,  Mark Gruenwald, David Michelinie, Mike Friedrich, J.M. DeMatteis, Scott Edelman, Roger Stern, Charlie Boatner, Jack Kirby, Gene Colan, Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Carmine Infantino, Greg LaRoque, George Evans, Jimmy Janes, Paul Neary, Joe Staton, Dick Ayers, Mike Netzer, Trevor Von Eeden, Eliot R. Brown & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3723-8 (TPB/Digital edition)

Clint Barton is probably the world’s greatest archer: swift, bold, unerringly accurate and augmented by a fantastic selection of multi-purpose high-tech arrows. Other masked bow persons are available… including a young, female Hawkeye…

Following an early brush with the law and as a reluctant Iron Man villain, Barton reformed to join the Mighty Avengers, serving with honour and distinction, despite always feeling overshadowed by his more glamorous, super-powered comrades.

Long a mainstay of Marvel continuity and probably Marvel’s most popular B-list hero, the Battling Bowman has risen to great prominence in recent years, boosted by his film and television incarnation.

This brash and bombastic collection – available in paperback and digital formats – re-presents breakthrough miniseries Hawkeye #1-4, the major early appearances from Tales of Suspense #57, 60, 64 and momentous moments from The Avengers #16, 63-65, 189, 223: supplemented by outings in Marvel Team-Up #22, 92, 95; Captain America #317 and pertinent material from Marvel Tales #100; Marvel Fanfare #3, 39 and Marvel Super Action #1, all chronologically covering September 1964 to August 1988. It should be noted that some of these tales feature his occasional wife and partner Mockingbird…

It naturally begins with a blockbusting debut from Tales of Suspense #57. In ‘Hawkeye, the Marksman!’ – by Stan Lee & Don Heck – as the villainous Black Widow resurfaces to beguile an ambitious and frustrated former carnival performer-turned-neophyte-costumed vigilante. She convinces him to attack her archenemy Iron Man and, despite a clear power-imbalance, the amazing ingenious archer comes awfully close to beating the Golden Avenger…

Natasha Romanoff (sometimes Natalia Romanova) was a Soviet Russian spy who came in from the cold to become one of Marvel’s earliest female stars. She started life as a svelte, sultry honey-trap during Marvel’s early “Commie-busting” days, periodically targeting Tony Stark and battling Iron Man. She was subsequently redesigned as a torrid, tights-&-tech super-villain before defecting to the USA, falling for an assortment of Yankee superheroes – including Hawkeye, Daredevil and Hercules – and enlisted as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., setting up as a freelance do-gooder before joining (and occasionally leading) The Avengers.

Tales of Suspense #60 (December 1964, by Lee, Heck & Dick Ayers) featured an extended plotline with Stark’s “disappearance” leading to Iron Man being ‘Suspected of Murder!’. Capitalizing on the chaos, lovestruck Hawkeye and the Widow again attacked the Armoured Avenger, but another failure led to her being recaptured and re-educated by enemy agents…

Abruptly transformed from fur-draped seductress into gadget-laden costumed villain, she resurfaced in #64 (April 1965 by Lee, Heck & Chic Stone), again steering the bewitched bowman into attacking her enemy. Her final failure led to huge changes…

Most importantly, one month later, Avengers #16 saw the superstar team split up following climactic battles against Zemo and the Masters of Evil. Laid out by Jack Kirby & embellished by Ayers, ‘The Old Order Changeth!’ introduced a dramatic change of concept for the series. As Lee increasingly wrote to the Marvel’s unique strengths – tight continuity and strongly individualistic characterisation – he found juggling individual stars in their own titles in addition to a combined team episode every month was almost impossible…

As Captain America and substitute sidekick Rick Jones fight their way back to civilisation, the Avengers institute changes and seek out their own replacements. The big-name stars resigned making way for three erstwhile villains: Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye, all reformed, reenergised and hungry for redemption…

The Straightshooter became a mainstay and backbone of the team, but in Avengers #63, survived a battle epiphany that triggered a big change after returning from a mission in Wakanda.

Beginning a 3-part tale illustrated by Gene Colan & George Klein ‘And in this Corner… Goliath!’ saw Barton abandon the arrow schtick in favour of true super-powers as Roy Thomas finally gave the enigmatic Avenger an origin.

The first chapter was part of a broader tale: an early crossover experiment intersecting with the 14th issue of both Sub-Mariner and Captain Marvel, wherein a coterie of cerebral second-string villains combined to conquer the world by stealth…

Within the Avengers portion of proceedings, Hawkeye revealed his civilian identity for the first time. He was ex-circus performer Clint Barton and shared his origins before forsaking bow and trick-arrows to become a size-changing hero using Pym particles. He then adopted the now-vacant name Goliath to save the Black Widow.

In #64’s ‘Like a Death Ray from the Sky!’ he reluctantly reunited with his mobster brother Barney Barton and led the team against a terror satellite scheme cooked up by Egghead before #65 (inked by Sam Grainger) saw him attacked by his old enemy/mercenary mentor the Swordsman in ‘Mightier than the Sword?’

Jumping to June 1974 – a time when the archer pursued a solo career – Marvel Team-Up #22 (by Len Wein, Sal Buscema & Frank Giacoia) unleashes ‘The Messiah Machine!’ as Battling Bowman and Amazing Spider-Man frustrate deranged computer Quasimodo’s ambitious if absurd mechanoid invasion of Earth.

Cover-dated February 1979, reprint title Marvel Tales #100 concealed ‘Killers of a Purple Rage!’: a new short tale by Scott Edelman, Michael Netzer & Terry Austin which finds time-displaced Two-Gun Kid and Hawkeye battling each other and then mind controlling menace Killgrave the Controller…

Avengers #189 (November 1979, by Steven Grant, John Byrne & Dan Green) then reveals how official reservist Hawkeye get a day job at Cross Technological Enterprises in ‘Wings and Arrows!’ Before long, he’s earning every penny as the new security chief by battling alien avian interloper Deathbird…

For Marvel Team-Up #92 (April 1980) Grant, Carmine Infantino & Pablo Marcos reunite Archer and Arachnid after a new iteration of Mr. Fear steals CTE technology and almost cripples the heroes with ‘Fear!’ after which vigilante activist El Águila raids the corporate citadel in a tight tale from Marvel Fanfare #3 (July 1982). Crafted by Charlie Boatner, Trevor Von Eeden & Josef Rubinstein, ‘Swashbucklers’ at last opens Hawk’s eyes to what his bosses are truly like and what they do with their discoveries…

Cover-dated September 1982, Avengers #223 talked ‘Of Robin Hoods and Roustabouts’. Devised by David Michelinie, Greg LaRocque, Brett Breeding & Crew, it saw reinstated Avenger Clint Barton join Ant-Man Scott Lang, when he and daughter Cassie attend a circus and stumble into a clash with skills-mimic Taskmaster to extricate an old friend from the maniac’s clutches and influence.

Hawkeye was always a team player and unlucky in love, but that was all about to change. In the interests of complete clarity, this collection pops briefly back to 1976 for some classy comics context and the first (costumed) appearance of occasional wife and frequent paramour Bobbi “Mockingbird” Morse as first seen in January 1976.

Preceded by a Howard Chaykin frontispiece from monochrome Marvel Super Action #1, former Ka-Zar romantic interest Dr. Barbera Morse was reinvented by Mike Friedrich, George Evans & Frank Springer in ‘Red-Eyed Jack is Wild!’ Adopting unwieldy nomme de guerre Huntress, skilled combat operative Morse devotes herself to cleaning up corruption inside S.H.I.E.L.D., no matter what the cost…

Huntress became Mockingbird in Marvel Team-Up #95 (July) in a smart thriller by Grant, Jimmy Janes & Bruce Patterson. ‘…And No Birds Sing!’ ended the long-extant S.H.I.E.L.D. corruption storyline as Morse invited Spider-Man to join forces and expose the true cancer at the heart of America’s top spy agency…

All this was laying the groundwork for something truly game-changing…

Written and drawn by the hugely underrated and much-missed Mark Gruenwald, assisted by inkers Brett Breeding & Danny Bulanadi and running from September-December 1983, Hawkeye #1-4 was one of Marvel’s earliest miniseries and remains one of the very best and most eventful adventures of the Ace Archer. Much like the character himself, this project was seriously underestimated when first released. Most industry pundits and the more voluble fans expected very little from a second-string hero drawn by a professional writer. Guess again, suckers!

 ‘Listen to the Mockingbird’ sees Clint still moonlighting as security chief for electronics corporation CTE when he captures a renegade S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She reveals that his bosses are all crooks, secretly involved in shady mind-control experiments.

After some initial doubts, in ‘Point Blank’ Barton teams with the svelte and sexy super-agent to foil the plot, gaining in the process a new costume and an instant rogues’ gallery of archfoes such as Silence, Oddball and Bombshell by third chapter ‘Beating the Odds’…

As the constant hunt and struggle wears on, Barton succumbs to – but is not defeated by – a life-changing physical injury leading to permanent disability. He also impetuously marries in explosive conclusion ‘Till Death us do Part…’ wherein the sinister mastermind behind everything is finally revealed and summarily dealt with.

In those faraway days both Gruenwald and Marvel Top Gun Jim Shooter maintained that a miniseries had to deal with significant events in a character’s life, and this bright and breezy, no-nonsense, compelling and immensely enjoyable yarn certainly kicked out the deadwood and re-launched Hawkeye’s career.

In short order from here the bowman went on to create and lead his own team: The West Coast Avengers, gained a regular series in Solo Avengers/Avengers Spotlight and his own titles, consequently becoming one of the most vibrant and popular characters of the period and today as well as a modern-day action movie icon…

However, there are still treats to share

Next here is fun foray from Captain America 317 (May 1986) by Gruenwald, Paul Neary & Dennis Janke. In ‘Death-Throws’ Hawkeye and Mockingbird hunt circus-themed villains and their boss Crossfire with the Sentinel of Liberty reduced almost to a spectator and proud dad watching the kids grow up…

The comics wonderment concludes with a little-seen story from Marvel Fanfare #39 (August 1988). Courtesy of J.M. DeMatteis, Joe Staton & Kim DeMulder, ‘The Cat’s Tale’ finds the Ace Archer seriously off his game until taken on a vision-quest by Navajo shaman Jesse Black Crow to confront the predatory feline spirit that is poisoning his existence…

Packed with terrific tales of old-fashioned romance, skulduggery and derring-do, this book comes with extras including the Gil Kane cover to Marvel Triple Action #10, text articles on the Hawkeye miniseries from Marvel Age #6; the event’s 1983 house ad by Gruenwald & Brett Breeding and the covers and introduction from the 1988 TPB collection (and three subsequent re-releases), plus text pieces from Archie Goodwin, & Gruenwald.

Also on view are contemporaneous info pages from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, about Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Death-Throws, Ringleader, Oddball, Bombshell, Tenpin and KnickKnack, plus diagrammatic cutaways by Eliot R. Brown, detailing the secrets of ‘Hawkeye’s Skymobile’, ‘Hawkeye’s Quiver and Bows’ and ‘Mockingbird’s Battle-Staves’.

This is a no-nonsense example of the straightforward action-adventure yarns that cemented Marvel’s reputation and success and a collection to enhance any Fights ‘n’ Tights fans’ place of honour on the bookshelf.
© 2021 MARVEL.