Category: Daredevil

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Dazzler Marvel Masterworks volume 2


By Danny Fingeroth, Steven Grant, Frank Springer, Mark D. Bright, Mike Vosburg, Vince Colletta, Danny Bulanadi, Jon D’Agostino & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2867-4 (HB), 978-1-3029-3678-5 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Until relatively recently US comics had very little in the way of positive female role models and almost no viable solo stars. That seriously started changing in the 1980s and look at us now. As part of its late-but-dedicated effort to involve women readers with women characters Marvel began a program of female versions of top stars but also devised original titles to expand audiences – and none more so than Alison Blaire AKA Dazzler.

Attempts in the early 1970s had added to the canon and character roster but not publishing charts for any length of time. Nevertheless, the company kept on plugging and eventually found the right mix when Ms. Marvel launched in her own title (cover-dated January 1977). She was followed by equally copyright-shielding Spider-Woman (Marvel Spotlight #32, February 1977), who secured her own title 15 months later) and Savage She-Hulk (#1 February 1980). That last one was supplemented by music-biz inspired (and hopefully trend-exploiting) Dazzler, who sagely premiered in issue #130 of top-selling title Uncanny X-Men the same month. She followed up with a few guest shots in other big star books and inevitably graduated to her own book, but it was a little more convoluted than that…

Dazzler the character was born of another of those 1980-1990s doomed-from-the-start cross-media deals wherein comics companies attempted to break out of their “ghetto” into the real money world – like toys, movies and TV shows. In 1979 Disco specialists Casablanca Records began a development project with Marvel to create a television character who would release records like The Archies or The Monkees, but be set in an animated Marvel Universe. A giant-sized comics special was begun but when the deal was cancelled, the House of Ideas was left with a lot of talented people going “now what?”

In the interim Dazzler had already launched: guesting in the company’s other top titles (Fantastic Four #217 and Amazing-Spider-Man #203, both cover-dated April 1980). Failing to find other record companies willing to commit, big boss Jim Shooter decreed the comics special would be expanded and recycled as #1 & 2 of her own title. The singer went dark for a year before landing her own starring vehicle and her rocky road to stardom has risen and fallen ever since.

Having crushed and disappointed her austere father Judge Carter Blair by quitting law school to pursue a frivolous, worthless life on stage, Alison’s life continued to spiral crazily after meeting the X-Men. After subsequently facing petty, spiteful Asgardian Amora the Enchantress with the entire Marvel Universe in attendance, Alison steadfastly pursued her career dreams. That meant clashing in rapid order with Doctor Doom; dream demon Nightmare; evil mastermind Techmaster; The Enforcers (Ox, Montanna & Fancy Dan); Federal nemesis Mr. Meeker of energy thinktank Project Pegasus; supervillain Klaw; Galactus, his herald Terrax and – after being remanded to Riker’s Island for “murdering” Klaw – Titania and the Grapplers (Screaming Mimi, Letha & Poundcakes).

She did make some friends on the way, ranging from mob-fixated street-level masked vigilante Blue Sheild to major players like Bruce Banner and The Hulk as well as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent/occasional Avenger Quasar (Wendell Vaughn), but the real gamechangers were her fraught associations with W.C. Fields-channelling agent/promoter Harry S. Osgood who began shaping her music career; obnoxious Lancelot Steele (sexist macho jerk/stage manager/field rep for Harry) and increasingly controlling boyfriend Dr Paul Jansen. At least Alison’s Grandma Bella still supports her, confident that one day Dazzler will be a star…

A mix of mainstream level superheroics, soap opera romances, telenovela melodrama and the hoary plot of A Star is Born, the complicated life of Alison Blaire now included an increasingly unstable father who despised her for daring to disobey him; a long-missing mother: a succession of creepily uptight and frankly dubious boyfriends; the countless moral and physical perils besetting lonely, pretty girls who would do (almost) anything to achieve their dreams of fame and assorted gods, monster, terrors and supervillains who couldn’t believe Dazzler didn’t care about them and Did Not Want To Fight.

The idea was still to address and remedy the lack of a significant female readership (after all, what normal girl would read X-Men, Spider-Man or the Hulk?) that had presumably dropped to insignificance once the company’s romance, nursing and humorous fashion titles were cancelled.

In an effort to be daring and different but still keep attracting readers the only way they knew, the editors and writers and artists did what they always did but honestly sought a different path. However, for Marvel at the time the medium was the message and somehow that meant a super fight every issue and lots of underwear, shower, and getting dressed/undressed moments in the quiet times…

Somehow Blaire never truly escaped traditional Marvel tropes and superhero schtick while forging her own path, as seen in this second collection of comic sagas taken from Dazzler #14-25, plus a bonus yarn from What If? #33, collectively covering April 1982 – March 1983. Following scripter Danny Fingeroth’s context-packed Introduction ‘This Was a Long Time Ago’, the drama resumes with #14 ‘…Without Getting Killed or Caught…!’ as Fingeroth Frank Springer & Vince Colletta reveal how after making waves as an opener for aging stadium-filler Bruce Harris, Alison and her band are caught in the crossfire when a top hitman targets Blue Shield. As the would-be killer ludicrously believes Lance is the crime-crusher, the snafu then leads Dazzler into an ambush where she must battle a deranged, mesmerised She-Hulk temporarily mind-controlled by the Mob…

It’s still team-up time in #15 as ‘Private Eyes’ sees Harris’ tour hit San Francisco and Alison hiring investigator Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) to track down her long-missing mom after her own amateur snooping provokes a misguided clash that brings the wrath of S.H.I.E.L.D. down on both of them…

Dazzler arrives in Seattle with #16, despondent that Harris wants her fired for making him look old and tired. Things get even worse in when The Enchantress returns and even the sudden appearance of current beau – straitlaced lawyer Ken Barnett – cannot deflect the terror of a singing contest in Asgard, judged by the gods and with the odds heavily stacked in favour of the cheating scheming ‘Black Magic Woman!’

Victorius and returned to the Big Apple, Alison’s head is turned in #17 as ‘The Angel and the Octopus!’ finds her the object of unwanted affection of multi-millionaire mutant Warren Worthington III just as Ken is becoming overly clingy. She really doesn’t need this grief right now as her producer Harry is auditioning younger, prettier potential rival songstress Vanessa Tooks and her father is on the edge of a mental breakdown…

It’s almost a relief when The Angel sweeps her off her feet for wining, dining and a furious fight against mech-augmented multi-armed madman Doctor Octopus…

Her plans to be as normal as possible are further threatened when super-criminal Crusher Creel hunts her down to be his hostage in a planned ambush of the Avengers in ‘The Absorbing Man Wants You!’ Sadly, after the simple-minded thug overconsumes her energies and grows out of control, Dazzler endures ‘Creel… and Inhuman Treatment!’ until Inhuman king Black Bolt intervenes to avoid a escalating catastrophe. Meanwhile, as Judge Blaire deteriorates, Warren, Vanessa and Grandma Bella all take circuitous but convergent steps that will soon uncover the hiding place of Alison’s mother…

The roads meet in #20 as ‘Out of the Past!’ details the hows and whys of Barbara (Blaire) London’s absence and even fills in some hidden passages in the life of Alison…

The full story arrives behind a photo-cover by Eliot Brown, Bob Larkin and model June McDonald as double-sized Dazzler #21 declares ‘Alison Blaire, This is Your Life!’ with the singer headlining a major benefit gig that draws ALL of her family together for a major reconciliation and reset, with every superhero in town along for the show…

A new tone infects #22 as evil mutants ‘The Sisterhood’ maliciously target Angel. The larger goal of Mystique, Destiny and wild child Rogue is to destroy the entire X-Men team but after Alison humiliatingly defeats Rogue and her parents, the unbalanced teenager becomes obsessed with punishing Dazzler. However, before that ‘Fire in the Night!’ changes tack to find Alison and her newly-found half sister Lois London endangered by manic arsonist Flame and her own vile property speculating landlord. Meantime, believing the Sisterhood behind the attack Alison has contacted a certain Heroes for Hire team and soon Luke Cage and Iron Fist prove worth every discounted cent…

They continue earning their keep in ‘A Rogue in the House!’ (#24 and Fingeroth, Springer & Colletta’s last collaboration in this collection) as the uncontrollable young mutant mind & powers leech assaults Alison and Lois. Brave and bold the bodyguards are ultimately defeated by their own stolen abilities and, desperate and furious, Dazzler decides to settle the grudge her own way…

The main comics biography pauses here with Dazzler #25, wherein the living transducer experiences every performer’s greatest nightmare. Crafted by Steven Grant, Mark Bright & Danny Bulanadi, ‘The Jagged Edge’ exposes her response to an appreciative fan who slowly crosses the line from heartfelt appreciation to lethally psychotic stalker. Sweet, shyly attentive admirer Karl Fredericks rapidly devolves to possessive maniac after finally meeting his idol, thereafter attempting to own Alison by killing all her friends and relatives. This prompts an extreme reaction from the horrified mutant musician…

To Be Continued..

With covers by Springer, Bill Sienviewicz, John Romita Jr., Bob Wiacek, John Romita Sr., and Dave Simons fronting each enthralling episode, the brief posterior Bonus Section opens with a tale from What If? #33 (June 1982), crafted by Fingeroth, Mike Vosburg & Jon D’Agostino asking and answering the burning question ‘What If The Dazzler Had Become the Herald of Galactus?’, supplemented by Dazzler’s entry from 1983’s Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe as supplied by Mark Gruenwald, Springer & Josef Rubinstein and the original character design for ‘Vanessa’ as crafted by then-current Marvel intern Lance Tooks.

Although very much of its troubled times, this collection sees the transformative shift in attitudes that resulted in women becoming less decorative and unshakably ornamental, and increasingly authors of their own fates. Even if not to everyone’s taste there is enough of significance here to make Dazzler worthy of any modern readers attention.
© 20201 MARVEL.

Today in 1934 comics loving speculative fiction iconoclast Harlan Ellison was born, followed in 1951 by Canadian superstar George Freeman (Captain Canuck, Green Lantern, Wasteland) and Mark Wheatley (Mars, Blood of the Innocent, Breathtaker, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall) in 1954)

On this date in 1949 we lost Robert Ripley (Ripley’s Believe It or Not!); Mark Trail creator Ed Dodd in 1991, ceiling shattering Japanese cartoonist Machiko Hasegawa (Sazae-san) in 1992 and Al Hartley (Archie Comics, Patsy Walker, Thor/Journey into Mystery) in 2003.

In 2006 Alex Toth died.

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Marvel Visionaries: Gil Kane


By Gil Kane, with Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter, Tony Isabella, Dan Slott, Mike Esposito, Joe Sinnott, Dan Adkins, Frank Giacoia, Dick Giordano, Klaus Janson, Jim Mooney & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-0888-7 (TPB), 978-1-3029-3737-9 (Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

This year marks the centenary of Eli Katz, who, as Gil Kane, worked from the Golden Age until his death (on January 31st 2000) to make comics the art form it is today. Diligent, resolute and always challenging himself, Kane was a trendsetting pioneer in style, in form and in comics philosophy. He was also a visual architect of the superhero revival in the Silver Age and a key component in the evolution of the Graphic Novel.

Kane started young and toiled as an artist all his life. An ever-more effective and influential one, he drew and wrote for many companies since his debut (thus far verified as inking Carl Hubbell on The Scarlet Avenger in Zip Comics #14 and cover-dated May 1941): illustrating superheroes, action/adventure, war, mystery, romance, horror, movie adaptations and, perhaps most importantly, Westerns and Science Fiction tales. In the 1950s he was one of DC editor Julius Schwartz’s go-to artists for regenerating the superhero. Yet by 1968, at the top of his (admittedly much denigrated) profession, this relentlessly revolutionary and creative man felt so confined by juvenile strictures of the industry that he struck out on new ventures, jettisoning job security, and the editorial format bounds of comic books for new visions and media. However, the time was not right and after brief forays at other companies (like Dell and Tower) and attempting to create graphic narratives outside the comic book industry – such as His Name Is Savage and Blackmark – Kane began selling his services to Marvel Comics…

Kane’s earliest comic book output included Boy Commandos, Young Allies & Newsboy Legion, Doll Man, Zip Comics, Airboy Comics and many more, but by the Fifties he was settled at National/DC and working on Johnny Thunder, Jimmy Wakely, Matt Savage, Hopalong Cassidy, Rex the Wonder Dog and hundreds of genre yarns – romance, war, sci fi, western and horror. When Superheroes returned, he co-created Green Lantern and The Atom, and generated countless pages and captivating covers for Plastic Man, Batman, Superman, Flash, Teen Titans, Robin, Batgirl, Hawk and Dove, Captain Action and everything in between. Then, in 1966, with ever-increasing bureaucracy and panic over a new upstart rival gripping DC, Kane tentatively – and initially using the pseudonym Scott Edwards – began looking at other publishers, leading to breakthrough art for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent, Dell Four Color, The Lost World, Brain Boy, The Frogmen, dozens of TV westerns and other licensed properties, and began his long association with modern Marvel Comics.

Initially a poor fit (he was asked to draw The Hulk over Jack Kirby’s layouts!), Kane persisted, going on to spectacularly redefine if not pictorially reinvent Amazing Spider-Man, Conan, Captain America and Captain Marvel; co-create Adam Warlock, Morbius, and Iron Fist and put his indelible stamp on Thor, Hulk, Ka-Zar, Daredevil, Marvel Team-Up and all the rest. Kane adapted John Carter, Warlord of Mars and other literary adventure-fantasy properties and reinvigorated dozens of horror-hero and superhero stalwarts, all while filling in on seemingly every character and cover going. Restless and craving what the medium could still achieve, he worked on newspaper strips too. Even before co-creating Star Hawks in 1977 with Ron Goulart, he had limned the daily Flash Gordon for King Features in the 1960s, and Tarzan Sunday pages.

Kane’s latter career included animation/design, and choice comics book outings as well as numerous special projects like Jason Drum for Le Journal de Tintin and The Ring of the Nibelung.

Although Marvel Visionaries: Gil Kane was originally released in 2002, it’s still readily available as it was digitally rereleased in 2021, so if you can read this you can find that…

Offering a brief selection of the many tales crafted by Kane, this tome re-presents gems first seen in Tales to Astonish #76; Tales of Suspense #88-#91; Captain Marvel #17; Amazing Spider-Man #99; Marvel Premiere #1 & 15 and Daredevil #146 plus material from What If #3 & #24 and Marvel Comics Presents #116, as well as offering a host of appealing production and art extras at the far end.

The trek through Marvel History begins with a fulsome appraisal of the artist’s career and achievements from frequent collaborator Roy Thomas in his foreword ‘The Mark of Kane’ after which it’s “on with the motley” and that first foray from Tales to Astonish #76. Cover-dated February 1966, this was on sale from November 4th 1965 and saw Kane draw – over Kirby layouts and under Mike Esposito finishes – an episode of a time-bending sequence with the Green Goliath helplessly trapped in a compounded by a doom-drenched duel with time-lost Asgardian immortal The Executioner…

Assume and accept that you will need to find other collections to experience the full force of these extracted snippets and then move on to those portions of Tales of Suspense #88-#91 (cover-dates April -July 1967) that featured Captain America. Here Lee scripts all four chapters of a classic clash as Kane takes his first run on the character. The extended saga comprises ‘If Bucky Lives…!’ and ‘Back from the Dead!’, as inked by Kane before Joe Sinnott joins as embellisher for ‘…And Men Shall Call Him Traitor!’ and ‘The Last Defeat!’ for a superb thriller of blackmail and betrayal starring the Red Skull. The fascist felon had baited a trap with a robotic facsimile of Cap’s dead partner, triggered it with malign super-hirelings Power Man and The Swordsman whilst blackmailing the Star-Spangled Sentinel into betraying his country and stealing a new atomic submarine. It all turned out okay in the end though…

Next up is Captain Marvel #17 (cover-date October 1969), sole example from a stunning and influential run on the Kree Captain Mar-Vell. Captain Marvel as we know him really begins with this reinvention wherein Thomas, Kane & Dan Adkins totally retooled and upgraded the character.

‘And a Child Shall Lead You!’ sees the imperilled star warrior inextricably bonded to voice-of-a-generation/professional sidekick Rick Jones who – just like Billy Batson (the boy who turned into the original Fawcett hero by shouting “Shazam!”) – switched places with a mighty adult hero when danger loomed by striking together a pair of ancient, wrist-worn “Nega-bands”. This allowed them to temporarily trade atoms: one active in our universe whilst the other floated, a ghostly untouchable, ineffectual voyeur to events glimpsed from the ghastly Negative Zone. As thrilling and as revolutionary as the idea of a comic written from the viewpoint of a teenager was, the real magic comes from Kane’s experimental page layouts and phenomenally kinetic artwork, and whose mesmeric staging of proportionally warped yet somehow still perfect human-form-in-motion rewrote the playbook on superhero illustration with this series.

Kane’s ascendancy was confirmed as he became the regular illustrator on Marvel’s greatest hit. A monumental first run on the wallcrawler is marked here by Amazing Spider-Man #99 (August 1971) portraying ‘A Day in the Life of…’: an all-action, social drama-tinged palate-cleanser with Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy finally getting their love-life back on track, only marginally diverted by a prison breakout easily quelled by the Arachnid Avenger, whilst highlighting the growing scandal of prison conditions…

Jump forward to tumultuous turbulent November 1971 where the April cover-dated Marvel Premiere #1 boldly proclaimed on its cover The Power of… Warlock. Inside, the stunning fable by Thomas, Kane & Adkins declared ‘And Men Shall Call Him… Warlock’ neatly recapitulated artificial man Him’s origins as a lab experiment concocted by rogue geneticists eager to create a superman they could control for conquest. Also on view is the manufactured man’s face off with the Fantastic Four, and clash with Thor over the rights to a mate before returning to an all-encompassing cosmic cocoon to evolve a little more.

Now that shell is plucked from the void thanks to the moon-sized ship of self-created god The High Evolutionary. Having artificially ascended to godhood, he is wrapped up in a bold new experiment…

Establishing contact with Him as he basks in his cocoon, the Evolutionary explains that he is constructing from space rubble a duplicate planet Earth on the opposite side of the sun. Here he will replay the development of life, intending that humanity on Counter-Earth will evolve without the taint of cruelty and greed and deprived of the lust to kill. It’s a magnificent scheme that might well have worked, but as the Evolutionary wearies, his greatest mistake intervenes…

Man-Beast was over-evolved from a wolf and gained mighty powers, but also ferocious savagery and ruthless wickedness. Now he invades the satellite, despoiling humanity’s rise and ensuring the new world’s development exactly mirrors True-Earth’s. The only exception is the meticulous exclusion of enhanced individuals. The beleaguered orb has all Earth’s woes but no superheroes to save or inspire its people. A helpless witness to the desecration, the golden being furiously crashes free of his cocoon to save the High Evolutionary and rout Man-Beast and his bestial cronies (all similarly evolved animal-humanoids called “New-Men”). When the despondent, enraged science god recovers, he decides to erase his failed experiment but is stopped by his rescuer. As a helpless observer, Him saw the potential and value of embattled humanity. Despite all their flaws, he believes he can save them from imminent doom caused by their own unthinking actions, wars and intolerance. When his pleas convince the Evolutionary to give this mankind one last chance, the wanderer is hurled down to Counter-Earth, gifted and graced with a strange “Soul Gem” to focus his powers, on a divine mission to find the best in the fallen and a name of his own…

Enjoying and thriving in an era and atmosphere of experimentation, Kane returned to Marvel Premiere with #15 (May 1974) for the debut of masked martial artist Iron Fist. His saga began on a spectacular high with Thomas, Kane & Dick Giordano’s ‘The Fury of Iron Fist!’, as a teenaged masked warrior defeats the cream of a legendary combat elite in a fabled other-dimensional city before returning to Earth.

Ten years previously little Daniel Rand had watched his father and mother die at the hands of Harold Meachum whilst the party of millionaire adventurers risked Himalayan snows to find the legendary city of K’un Lun. Little Danny had travelled with his parents and business partner Meachum in search of the fabled city – which only appeared on Earth for one day every decade. Wendell Rand had some unsuspected connection to the fabled Shangri La but was killed before they found it, whilst Danny’s mother sacrificed herself to save the child from wolves and her murderous pursuer.

As he wandered alone in the wilderness, the city found Danny. The boy spent ten years training: mastering all forms of martial arts in a militaristic, oriental, feudal paradise while enduring countless arcane ordeals, living only for the day he would return to Earth and avenge his parents. After conquering all comers and rejecting immortality, the Iron Fist returned to Earth, a Living Weapon able to channel his force of will into a devastating super-punch…

Alternate worlds vehicle What If? #3 (June 1977) provided one of the most memorable stories of the era and one of Kane’s greatest triumphs. Scripted by Jim Shooter and inked by Klaus Janson ‘What If the Avengers Had Never Been?’ diverted from established Marvel Continuity at the end of Avengers #2 when Hulk quit the still-forming team. In this instance, the act sunders the entire squad who go their own ways with shocking, spectacular and ultimately tragic consequences. If you buy this book for only one tale it will be this one…

That same month in Daredevil #146 the artist again demonstrated his brilliance in staging dramatic fight scenes. Scripted by Shooter and inked by Jim Mooney, ‘Duel!’ saw the sightless swashbuckler searching Manhattan for maniac marksman Bullseye even as his quarry was setting up a lethal showdown. The brutally bruising climax came when the crazed killer took an entire TV studio hostage but ended with his being soundly defeated yet again…

With Tony Isabella writing and Frank Giacoia inking, Kane revisited one of his greatest comics triumphs in What If? #24 (December 1980), as ‘What If Gwen Stacy had Lived?’ explored an Alternity where Spider-Man saved his fiancée from Green Goblin Norman Osborn and went on to marry her before losing everything he loved to the obsessive hatred of J. Jonah Jameson…

This compelling compilation notionally concludes with a late treat from Marvel Comics Presents #116 (cover-dated November 1992) with future superstar scripter Dan Slott taking Kane back to his cowboy roots for a short rip-roaring romp featuring the Two-Gun Kid. Here the occasional Avenger and prototype Marvel Mystery-man hero serves up ‘Just Deserts’ to vicious scheming owlhoots John Baker and the Unlucky Thirteen Gang before marching the sole survivor back across the searing Devil’s Cauldron back to Tombstone city jail…

Providing pertinent covers by Kane, this tome offers additional pictorial treats including Kane’s favourite cover (Mighty Marvel Western #44) plus a gallery of others such as Western Gunfighters #31, Kid Colt, Outlaw #161, Sub-Mariner #44 & Captain Marvel #23), the extras also deliver a vast selection of page layouts, design roughs, fully-pencilled pages and covers as well as inked and completed pages of marvels.

Also working as Gil Stack, Scott Edward, Stack Til, Stacktil, Pen Star and Phil Martell, Gil Kane became a foundation stone of comics and remains a vivid, vital inspiration to future generations of creators and readers. With all that in mind why not have a far too brief look at some of the man’s early Marvel superhero triumphs and gently remind the Powers-that-Be that this is only the tip of a graphic iceberg that includes plenty of room for barbarian, sci fi and horror collection one day…
© 2021 MARVEL.

Born today in 1924, cartoonist Brad Anderson (Marmaduke), Belgian illustrator Willy Lambillotte AKA Lambil (Sandy, The Bluecoats, Pauvre Lampil) in 1936 and cartoonist/illustrator Norm Fueti (Retail, Gil, The King of Kazoo) in 1970.

Today we lost someone you’ve probably never heard of: letterer, designer and production artist/manager Gerda Gattel (October 28th 1908 – May 14th 1993). She was filling the ballons and fixing pages for Timely-Atlas from 1947 to the company’s implosion and then moved across town to National DC where she did the same thing from 1958 to her retirement as Production Coordinator in 1973.

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Doctor Doom Epic Collection volume 1 (962-1969): Enter Doctor Doom


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Larry Lieber, Roy Thomas, Don Heck, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, George Roussos, Chic Stone, Vince Colletta, John Tartaglione & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-6612-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As the world’s greatest supervillain (Sorry, Donny Littlehands!) prepares for his next big screen debut, expect to see a bunch of books featuring the dark side of the eternal war between Good and Evil. And if that isn’t the perfect metaphor for the Master of Latveria I don’t know what is…

Doctor Doom is one of the most monumental villains in comics: definitely Top 3 and to many the absolute number 1 nemesis. Once upon a time, you hadn’t really made it as a Marvel superhero (or villain) until you’d clashed with him. Victor Von Doom is a troubled genius who escaped the oppression heaped on his Romani people in a backwards looking Balkan autocracy via an ultimately catastrophic scholarship to America. Whilst there proud, arrogant Victor succumbed to an intense rivalry with young Reed Richards, even then perhaps the most brilliant man alive.

The smug, openly hostile student performed unsanctioned experiments which went wrong and marred his formerly-perfect features, leading him down a path mastering and merging super-science and sinister sorcery, and fuelled his overwhelming hunger for ultimate power and total control. From the ashes of his failure, Von Doom rebuilt his life, returned to seize control of his homeland and become a danger to the world and the multiverse.

This carefully curated compendium traces his public progress and greatest battles via landmark moments of triumph and tragedy, collecting wholly or in part material from Fantastic Four (1961) 5-6, 10, 16-17, 23, 39-40, 57-60, 73; Fantastic Four Annual (1963) 2-3; Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #5; Avengers (1963) #25; Daredevil (1964) #36-38 and Marvel Super-Heroes (1967) #20 and opens without preamble as it must, with that debut in Fantastic Four #5 cover-dated July 1962 and on sale from April 10th.

At that time, aliens and especially monsters played a major part in young Marvel’s output. However, after a tentative start, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby’s recreation of superheroes embraced the unique basics of the idiom, and took a full bite out of the Fights ‘n’ Tights apple by introducing the first full-blown, unrepentant supervillain to their budding Marvel Universe. Mole Man debuted in FF #1, but that tragic little gargoyle, for all his world-dominating schemes, wouldn’t truly acquire the persona of a costumed foe until his more refined second appearance in FF #22.

Inked by the sublimely slick and perfectly polished Joe Sinnott, ‘Prisoners of Doctor Doom!’ had it all. A brazen attack by a mysterious enemy from Reed ‘Mr. Fantastic’ Richards’ past; bizarre fringe-science, magic, lost treasure, time-travel, and even pirates. Ha-Haar, me ‘earties!

The tale is sheer comics magic and the creators knew they were on to a winner as the deadly Doctor returned in the very next issue, teaming with the recently revived and recalcitrantly reluctant Sub-Mariner to attack our heroes as ‘The Deadly Duo!’ in the first Super-Villain Team-Up of the Marvel Age…

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner was the second superstar of the Timely Age of Comics – but only because he followed cover-featured Human Torch in the running order of Marvel Mystery Comics #1 in 1939. He has had, however, the most impressive longevity of the company’s original “Big Three” – Torch, Subby & Captain America. The Marine Marvel was revived in Fantastic Four #4; once again a conflicted but noble villain, and remains prominent in the company’s pantheon to this day.

Inked by Dick Ayers, FF #6 reintroduced the concept of antiheroes as Namor was promptly betrayed by Doom, and ended up saving the quirky quartet from death in space. This created a truly complex dynamic with his fellow rogue monarch and the FF. The Devil Doctor’s inevitable betrayal has coloured the relationship of both sinister sovereigns ever since.

1963 was a pivotal year in the development of Marvel. Lee & Kirby had proved their new high concept – human heroes with flaws and tempers – had a willing audience. Now they would extend that concept to a new pantheon of heroes and even the bad guys. Here is where that second innovation came to the fore. Previously, superheroes were sufficient unto themselves and shared adventures were rare. Now, however there was a shared universe where characters often tripped over each other, sometimes fighting each other’s enemies! The creators themselves might turn even up in a Marvel Comic!

Cover-date January 1963, Fantastic Four #10 was released in October of 1962 and saw ‘The Return of Doctor Doom!’ Here, the archvillain used Stan & Jack themselves to lure Richards into a trap where his mind is switched with the bad Doctor’s. Unfortunately the scheme does not survive his own impatience as alien body-swap techniques come undone because Doom cannot keep up the sham long enough to spring his shrinking-ray ambush on the rest of the team…

Thematic follow-up Fantastic Four #16 explores ‘The Micro-World of Doctor Doom!’ in a spectacular romp guest-starring emergent superhero Ant-Man. Despite his resounding rout, the steel-shod villain promptly returned to the larger universe with more infallible, deadly traps a month later in ‘Defeated by Doctor Doom!’ (#17, August 1963, and on sale from May 9th). Of course, they actually weren’t and soon sent the sinister tyrant packing in what seemed a fall to his death…

Doom was the most frequent threat to the FF, and the first foe to break another unspoken rule by going after other heroes in the cohesive shared universe Lee & Kirby were building. Cover-dated October 1963 and with Ditko on pencils & inks, Amazing Spider-Man #5 saw the webspinner ‘Marked for Destruction by Dr. Doom!’ and not so much winning as surviving his unwanted duel against the deadliest man on Earth. In a titanic comedy of errors Doom seeks another super-powered pawn in his war on humanity, but utterly underestimates his obviously juvenile opponent. Moreover, in this tale, Peter Parker’s nemesis, jock bully Flash Thompson, first displayed depths beyond the usual in contemporary comic books, beginning one of the best love/hate buddy relationships in popular literature…

Fantastic Four #23 (February 1964) heralded ‘The Master Plan of Doctor Doom!’, and introduced his frankly mediocre minions the Terrible Trio – Bull Brogin, Handsome Harry and Yogi Dakor. Even after they were augmented by Doom’s science these goons were sub-par opponents for the FF, but the Iron Dictator’s uncannily menacing “Solar Wave” was enough to raise the hackles on my 5-year-old neck… and still does! (Do I need to qualify that with: all of me was five but only my precious neck had developed hackles worth boasting of back then?)

The one-dimensional evil genius was recast as a tragic figure forever shackled by his flaws thanks to the primary contents of Fantastic Four Annual #2 (September 1964) wherein Chic Stone inked ‘The Fantastic Origin of Doctor Doom!’ A short (12 page) scene-setter, this momentously detailed how a brilliant “gypsy” youth remade himself into the most dangerous man in creation, ruthlessly overcoming obstacles such as ethnic oppression, crushing poverty and the shocking stigma of being the son of a sorceress. That past informed the present as the ultimate villain again attacked old college classmate Reed Richards and is left falsely believing he has achieved ‘The Final Victory of Dr. Doom!’ However, he has actually suffered his most ignominious defeat after Richards turned the despot’s guile, subterfuge and mind-control tools against him. This clash also introduced a long-running and bewildering plot thread connecting the Monstrous Monarch to time-travelling tyrant Rama Tut/Kang the Conqueror…

Jumping forward to the summer of 1965, FF #39 (cover-dated June, and on sale from March 11th, with Frank Giacoia AKA “Frank Ray” inking) saw the team deprived of their powers. Having remembered he had not beaten his enemies at last, an enraged Doom targets the helpless heroes in ‘A Blind Man Shall Lead Them!’ with sightless swashbuckling vigilante Daredevil stepping up to provide their only hope of staying alive. The tale concluded in #40’s ‘The Battle of the Baxter Building’ with Vince Colletta inking a bombastic battle revealing the undeniable power, overwhelming pathos and indomitable heroism of the brutish Thing as – deprived of his greatest wish and cruelly restored to his monstrous mutated form – Ben Grimm hands Doom the most humiliating defeat of his life…

After a brief but significant tenure, Colletta signed off by inking one of the most crowded Marvel stories ever. Fantastic Four Annual #3 famously featured every hero, most of the villains and lots of ancillary characters in the company pantheon… such as teen-romance stars Patsy Walker & Hedy Wolf and even Stan and Jack themselves. ‘Bedlam at the Baxter Building!’ spectacularly celebrates the Richards-Storm nuptials, despite a massed attack by an army of baddies mesmerised by the diabolical Doctor into crashing the wedding party. In its classical simplicity it signalled the end of one era and the start of another…

With inker Ayers backing up Lee & Don Heck, Avengers #25 (cover-dated February 1966 but released before Christmas 1965. The still-learning but ever-improving new squad of Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch face their greatest test yet after being lured to Latveria and captured by the deadliest man alive in ‘Enter… Dr. Doom!’ With the entire nation imprisoned under an energy the trainees are forced to fight their way out of the tyrant’s utterly cowed, hyper-militarised kingdom…

Quiet for almost a year, the Iron Dictator exploded back into the forefront of comics with an absolute epic spanning Fantastic Four #57-60 released in the last four months of 1966. After a sequence of yarns introducing The Inhumans, Black Panther, Silver Surfer and Galactus, Lee & Kirby were at their sublime best and concocted what for many was the ultimate Doom saga.

Packed with unbearable tension, breathtaking drama and shattering action on all fronts it sees the most dangerous man on Earth steal and empower himself with the Silver Surfer’s cosmic forces, even as in a parallel story arc, those long-imprisoned Inhumans at last win their freedom even as we learn the tragic secret of mute Black Bolt in all his awesome fury. It begins with a jailbreak by Sandman in #57’s ‘Enter… Dr. Doom!’, escalates in ‘The Dismal Dregs of Defeat!’ as Doom tests his limitless stolen power and crushes all earthly resistance; builds to a crescendo in ‘Doomsday’ with the FF’s total defeat and humiliation before culminating in brains and valour saving the day – and all humanity – in truly magnificent manner in ‘The Peril and the Power!’

Read it, not about it!

Daredevil 37-38 (February & March 1968 and available December 12th 1967 and January 9th 1968 respectively) saw an early crossover event. In the interests of completeness they are preceded by the cliffhanging final page from DD #36 (Lee Gene Colan & Giacoia) wherein the injured Man Without Fear is captured by Doom.

With John Tartaglione on brushes, DD is penned in the Latverian Embassy and the full story unfolds in #37. ‘Don’t Look Now, But It’s… Doctor Doom!’ reveals how the Iron Tyrant uses his old body swap gimmick to trade meatsuits with Matt Murdock, while sharing the secret of how he escaped the judgement of Galactus after depowering the Silver Surfer.

Initially helpless before the Iron Dictator, DD is trapped in ‘The Living Prison!’ (Giacoia inks) as Doom anticipates a perfect sneak attack on his despised foes. However, after warning the FF, DD outwits Doom anyway… but forgets to notify them. Thus Doom’s devilish ploy culminates in a stupendous Lee, Kirby & Sinnott crafted clash in Fantastic Four #73. Outmatched and unable to convince the Human Torch, Thing and Mr. Fantastic any other way, DD enlists currently de-powered Thor and the ever-eager Spider-Man to solve the problem Marvel style – with a spectacular, pointless and utterly riveting punch-up: ‘The Flames of Battle…’

Closing this first annal of atrocity, is a yarn from experimental try-out title Marvel Super-Heroes #20 (May 1969) which awarded the villain his first full-length solo shot. Written by Larry Lieber & Roy Thomas, and illustrated by Lieber, Giacoia & Colletta, ‘This Man… This Demon!’ restated Doom’s origins and revealed a youthful dalliance with an innocent Romani maid named Valeria. In the now, that failed relationship is exploited by demon alchemist Diablo who claims to need an ally and partner but truly seeks a mighty slave. Doom deals with the charlatan in typically effective style…

This villain vehicle led to the Master of Menace winning his own solo series in Astonishing Tales #1-8, but that’s a topic for another time…

With covers by Kirby, Sinnott, Ayers, Stone, Ditko, Colan, Wood, Giacoia, Lieber, Colletta, Gil Kane, John Romita Sr., Sal Buscema, John Buscema, John Verpoorten and more, the bonus treat selection begins with landmark house ads for Doom’s earliest appearances by Kirby, Bob Powell and Marie Severin; a selection of Doom pinups from Fantastic Four Annual #1 (1963, by Kirby) and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1(1964, by Ditko) and Kirby original art pages.

These are backed up by a series of reprint and premium covers from Marvel Triple Action; Marvel Treasury Edition #11 (1976); Spider-Man Classics #6 (Ron Frenz & Terry Austin, September 1993); Spider-Man Collectible Series #11 (Frenz & Milgrom, October 2006); Essential Fantastic Four vol. 2 (1999 by Alan Davis & Marie Javins): Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four vol. 3 (2023 by Leonardo Romero): Doctor Doom: The Book of Doom Omnibus (2023 by Greg Land & Frank D’Armata) and Fantastic Four Facsimile Editions #5, 6 & 10 (all 2025 by Ryan Brown, Ema Lupacchino, Rachelle Rosenberg, Mark Buckingham & Alex Sinclair).

This graphic grimoire contains sheer comic enchantment, and is a book no lover of fantastic fiction and appreciator of arcane evil can afford to ignore – just as long as they remember which side they’re on…
© 2025 MARVEL.

Today in 1909, Golden Age All Star Everett E. Hibbard (Flash, Justice Society of America) was born, as was erotic comics artist Tom of Finland/AKA Touko Valio Laaksonen in 1920 and master mangaka Kazuo Koike (Lone Wolf and Cub, Lady Snowblood, Crying Freeman) in 1936.

Today in 1938 Filipino artist Adrian Gonzales (All-Star Squadron, Arak, Son of Thunder, Super Powers) and French master Jean Giraud/Moebius (Blueberry, Arzach, The Incal) showed up for the first time, like Full Metal Alchemist creator Hiromu Arakawa in 1973, Planetes mangaka Makoto Yukimura in 1976 and Jamie McKelvie (The Wicked + the Profane, Phonogram, Young Avengers) in 1980.

In 1961, Nicholas P. Dallis & Alex Kotzky’s strip Apartment 3-G began on this date but we lost UK humour stalwart Thomas Watson Williams (Creature Teacher, Peter Pest, Stevie Star for Shiver and Shake, Whizzer and Chips, Monster Fun and Cor!!) in 2002, and the irreplaceable Maurice Sendak in 2012.

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Daredevil Marvel Masterworks volume 17


By Frank Miller, Roger McKenzie, Klaus Janson, Terry Austin & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4925-9 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Matt Murdock is a lawyer obsessed with saving the innocent. Thanks to a childhood nuclear accident in his Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood, he lost his sight but discovered his remaining senses were hyper-stimulated to a miraculous degree. This allowed him to become an astonishing acrobat, formidable fighter and living lie-detector. He also developed a kind of biological radar giving him complete awareness of his local environment.

Very much a second-string hero for most of his early years, Daredevil was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due in large part to the captivatingly humanistic art of Gene Colan. DD fought gangsters, super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion (specifically the sight-stealing Queega). He quipped and wise-cracked his way through life and life-threatening combat, but under the auspices of Jim Shooter, Roger McKenzie and finally Frank Miller, the breezy hero morphed into a dark, moody avenger and grim, quasi-religious metaphor of justice and retribution…

This compilation – representing Daredevil #182-191 and spanning May 1982 to February 1983) – sees the Sightless Swashbuckler on top of the comics world as Miller & Klaus Janson continued to reinvent him through increasingly dark, bleakly nihilistic, Noir-stained thrillers, set in an increasingly mythological corner of Manhattan where the streets and towers became part of the tightly woven cast.

Following an Introduction from Ralph Macchio (with a matching one by Janson at the back, taken from 2001’s Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller vol. 3) the action opens with ‘She’s Alive’ as bereft, grieving Murdock seeks to prove his delirious belief that first love Elektra Natchios – recently murdered by Bullseye – is not in her grave. As the Devil rampages through Manhattan, at Ryker’s Island penitentiary, new inmate The Punisher is reducing prison overcrowding his way, until a spook with no official connection to law-enforcement offers a deal: liberty in exchange for certain services…

Frank Castle saw his family gunned down in Central Park after witnessing a mob hit. Dedicating his life to eradicating criminals everywhere, his methods are violent and permanent. It’s intriguing to note that unlike most heroes who debuted as villains (Wolverine, Hawkeye or Black Widow, for example), The Punisher actually became more immoral, anti-social and murderous, not less. It was the buying public that shifted a communal perspective; Castle never toned down or cleaned up his act, nor did his moral compass ever deviate…

Comics gossip goes that Marvel were reluctant to give Punisher a starring vehicle in their standard colour comic-book line, feeling the character’s very nature made him a bad guy and not a good one. Debuting as a deluded villain in Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974), he was created by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. & Ross Andru, in response to popular prose anti-heroes such as Don Pendleton’s Mack Bolan: the Executioner and other returning Viet Nam vets who all turned their training and talents to take on organised crime.

Maybe that genre’s due for a revival as sandy GI boots hit US soil in the months to come?

The crazed crime-crusher had previously starred in Marvel Preview #2 (1975) and Marvel Super Action #1 (1976) but these were both monochrome magazines aimed at a far more mature audience. However, in the early 1980s, high profile guest shots in Captain America #241, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 and the extended epic here convinced the Powers-That-Be to finally risk a miniseries on the maniac vigilante…

As Murdock finally accepts Elektra is gone, ‘Child’s Play’ (#183) sees Castle clandestinely removed from prison to stop a shipment of drugs the authorities can’t touch. Of course, once he’s killed the Kingpin’s mobsters, Castle refuses to go back to jail. This story, concerning school students using drugs, was started by Roger McKenzie & Miller but shelved for a year due to heavy protests by the Comics Code Authority, before being reworked into a stunningly powerful and unsettling tale once Miller & Janson assumed the full creative chores on the title.

It begins as Murdock visits a High School and is a helpless witness to a little girl going berserk, attacking staff and pupils prior to throwing herself out of a third floor window. She was high on Angel Dust and after the appalled hero vows to track down the dealers he encounters her distraught younger brother Billy, determined to exact his own vengeance. The boy then encounters coldly calculating Castle who has the same idea, far more experience and no shred of mercy. The hunt leads Billy, Punisher – and late-coming DD – to a certain street pusher; and they all find their target at the same moment. After a spectacular clash thoroughly beaten Daredevil is left with only a bullet-ridden corpse with Billy holding a smoking gun…

The kid is innocent – and so, this time at least, is Castle – and after Murdock proves it in court, the investigation resumes and focuses on the dead pusher’s boss Hogman. When DD’s super-hearing confirms the scumbag’s claims of innocence, alter ego Murdock successfully defends the vile dealer, only to have the exonerated slimeball gloatingly admit to committing the murder after all. Horrified, shocked, betrayed and determined to have justice, Daredevil eventually finds a connection to a highly-placed member of the school faculty deeply involved with Hogman…

Concluding chapter ‘Good Guys Wear Red’ sees that information come far too late. Castle and Billy have both decided to end the matter Hogman’s way…

Tough, disturbing, beautiful and chillingly plausible, this epic encounter redefined both sides of the heroic coin for decades to come and remains one of the most impressive stories in both character’s canons. It also sparked a wave of reprint mania as the burgeoning comic store explosion supported a wave of expensive archive-trawling reprint collections that publishers were delighted to release for collectors to eagerly scoop up.

Meanwhile back in bread-&-butter periodical publishing, Daredevil #185 hones in on Murdock’s wealthy fiancée Heather Glenn as she battles her own crooked – and potentially murderous – board of directors beside Matt’s best friend Foggy Nelson. When those struggles bring them into contention with the Kingpin, the old reliable DD is on hand to secretly save Heather and ‘Guts’ Nelson – although it does lead to the hero being again exposed to radioactive materials…

An archaic archenemy sort-of steps up in #186 as Stilt-Man is hired to remove Heather. Sadly, what the plotters get is second-rate substitution as ‘Stilts’ sees another sidebar cast member in over his head and utterly unable to deliver, especially after an oddly-off-kilter Man Without Fear joins the party…

DD #187’s ‘Overkill’ reveals how that second radiation bath has amped the Devil’s senses to an uncontrollable, intolerable degree, prompting a desperate hunt for old mentor Stick, just as old flame Natasha Romanoff is facing ninjas who evaporate when defeated. The hunt expands into magical oriental fantasy in #188 wherein ‘Widow’s Bite’ exposes her to mind-altering contamination just as Stick begins the slow laborious process that will rebalance Murdock. The old man is thus exposed as part of ancient warrior sect The Chaste, sworn to contest evil Ninja cult The Hand – sneaky invasive infiltrators with a nasty knack of resurrecting the dead, such as their lethal champion Kirigi – and who are planning something similar with dear departed Elektra…

Thankfully in ‘Siege’, Murdock’s expedited cure allows him to join Stick (and Chaste allies Claw, Stone and Shaft) in a costly fightback to save the Black Widow before all the complex double-dealing is brought to light and (mostly) thwarted in #190’s epic climax. This exposes the missing years of Elektra, who – having impatiently abandoned study with The Chaste – joined The Hand in search of vengeance for her assassinated father. However, her death and ‘Resurrection’ costs all concerned far more than they can afford to lose (such as a unwise , far-reaching alliance with Kingpin) but leaves the reborn warrior woman ready for a fresh start…

We close for now with the Terry Austin inked Daredevil #191, as a recent case involving innocent kids with crooked parents prompts the unpicking of painful childhood memories for Matt Murdock. These he assuages by visiting the bedside of paraplegic paralysed archfoe Bullseye for some therapeutic psychological torture and a little game of Russian ‘Roulette’ …

A truly monumental bonus section kicks off with Mark Gruenwald-produced pages from The Official Handbook of The Marvel Universe (1983), and info-briefings of Daredevil; his Apartment and Billy Club; Angar the Screamer; The Ani-Men; Black Widow and her Sting/Line; Bullseye; Death-Stalker; Elektra; Kingpin, Frog-Man; Jester; Man-Bull, Mauler; Mister Fear, The Owl; Paladin; The Plunderer; Punisher; Purple Man; Queega; Silver Samurai; Stilt-Man (with schematics of his Battle-Suit) and Torpedo, backed up by dozens of unused/Comics Code rejected pages by Miller, Janson & Austin and published original art, followed by the layouts, breakdowns and colour guides for DD #190.

Also included are covers and editorial page of reprint Spider-Man and Daredevil Special Edition #1 (March 1984) and pertinent Elektra Saga material from Marvel Age #10 which precedes all of the modified, reformatted and new art from partial reprint series The Elektra Saga #1-4 (1984), as well as its wraparound covers, pinups, frontispieces, biographies and introductions by Mike W. Barr, Jo Duffy & Dennis O’Neil.

The covers of Elektra Magazine #1 & 2 from November & December 1996 by Claudio Castellini are followed by ‘Marvel Press Poster #14’ by Miller & Janson and ‘Daredevil and the Punisher: Child’s Play (1988)’ cover by Geof Darrow and the book provides editorial pages including Forewords by Macchio & Mike Baron; illustrated biographies of Miller & Janson plus Anne Nocenti’s ‘Afterword’ .The bounty concludes with the covers of ‘The Punisher vs. Daredevil #1’ (June 2000) and ‘Marvel Age #127’ (August 1993) by Miller & George Roussos – which became ‘Marvel Press Poster #152’ when painted over by Paul Mounts. Also seen are Miller & Steve Buccellato’s cover to ‘Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller vol. 3’ and its ‘Elektra frontispiece by Miller’…

This is pure compulsive comics magic that you must see – before… or even after… you die!
© 2023 MARVEL.

Today in 1926 we all greeted future writer/cartoonist William Overgard (Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, Rudy), jobbing artist/sought after inker Sal Trapani (Nukla, Airboy Comics, Metamorpho) in 1927; Dutch comics artist Martin Lodewijk (Agent 327, Minimum Bug) in 1939 and cartoonist Bill Plympton (Plympton) in 1946.

In 1958 Blondie artist Denis Lebrun came along as did Nat Gertler in 1965. However we lost irreplaceable, nigh-metafictional Belgian star Jean De Mesmaeker – AKA Jidéhem (Sophie, Starter, Ginger, Uhu-man, Spirou et Fantasio, Gaston Lagaffe) in 2017.

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The Avengers Marvel Masterworks volume 19


By David Michelinie, Steven Grant, Roger Stern, Mark Gruenwald, Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, Tom DeFalco, John Byrne, George Pérez, Sal Buscema, Carmine Infantino, Arvell Jones, Ron Wilson, John Fuller, Dan Green, Ricardo Villamonte, Josef Rubinstein, Jack Abel, Gene Day, Mike Esposito, Brett Breeding, Joe Sinnott, Bruce Patterson & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1637-4 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

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 are absent, it merely allows the team’s lesser lights to shine more brightly. Of course, all founding stars were regularly featured due to the rotating, open door policy, which means that every issue includes somebody’s fave-rave – and the boldly grand-scale impressive stories and artwork are no hindrance either. With the team now global icons, let’s look again at the stories which form the foundation of that pre-eminence.

Re-presenting Avengers #189-202, plus a pertinent tale from Marvel Premier #55 (August 1980) and a lost snippet from Tales to Astonish (vol. 2 #12, November 1980) these sagas encompass cover-dates November 1979 to December 1980. Jim Shooter, having galvanised and steadied the company’s notional flagship moved on, leaving David Michelinie to impress his own ideas and personality upon the team,. However such transitions are always tricky and a few water-treading fill-ins were necessary before progress resumed. For behind the scenes details you can read of his recollections in his fascinating ‘Introduction by David Michelinie’ before diving in to the fabulous action and drama. Another Introduction by latterday editor Tom Brevoort can be found in the book’s Bonus Section, eulogising and appreciating the return of George Pérez to the Avengers before diving in to the fabulous action and drama…

Previously: After defeating the Absorbing Man, apparently resolving the convoluted origins of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, inviting Ultron’s robot bride Jocasta into their midst, defeating vintage murder-mech enigma Arsenal and stopping world conquering sentient elements, the team were ready for a break but would be disappointed…

Avengers #189 reveals how deeply unhappy official reservist Hawkeye takes a day job at (corrupt and EVIL) tech company Cross Technological Enterprises and inadvertently begins his steady march to solo stardom. When the current administration began interfering in Avengers business intrusive and obsessive NSA Agent Henry Peter Gyrich laid down the law and winnowed the army of heroes down to a federally acceptable (and “manageable”) seven-and-a-spare: Captain America, Iron Man, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wasp, Beast and Ms. Marvel. Gyrich had spitefully rejected the in-your-face archer in favour of Falcon – who was parachuted in (against his own wishes!) to conform to government affirmative action quotas…

Feeling rejected by the team and definitely still persona non grata to the obnoxious pencil-pushing Government gadfly, Hawkeye goes corporate in ‘Wings and Arrows!’ (Steven Grant, John Byrne & Dan Green). It’s not too long before he’s earning every penny as the new security chief by battling alien avian interloper Deathbird of the Shi’ar…

As a terrifying horror from space crashes to Earth and rampages through Manhattan, the Avengers ae summoned to tribunal seeking to close down the group. However, with a monster in the streets, Beast sees a way to dent Gyrich’s credibility and win back Avengers autonomy in chilling monster-mash ‘Heart of Stone’. Despatched to stop the thing, their subsequent battle draws in scarlet swashbuckler Daredevil who helps expose an old enemy in disguise…

Scripted by Micheline, concluding chapter ‘Back to the Stone Age!’ sees the assemblage overwhelmed by petrifying space pirate The Grey Gargoyle and the Falcon prove his worth until the team can rally and render the marauder helpless, after which artists Arvell Jones & Ricardo Villagran limn #192’s ‘Steel City Nightmare!’ When former industrialist/inventor and occasional Avenger Simon Wonder Man Williams visits Detroit to finalise selling his old steel mill to Tony Stark, they uncover an old but lasting connection to Thor’s uru hammer and the site’s new covert status as a centre of organised crime activity. When a whistle-blower is murdered only to return as a rampaging vengeance-driven flame monster, the call goes out and the Avengers find ‘Battleground Pittsburgh!’ (illustrated by Sal Buscema & Green) to be almost more than they can handle.

Inked by Josef Rubinstein, George Pérez draws the Micheline-scripted ‘Interlude’ in #194, as roster changes saw the Scarlet Witch (briefly) and Falcon leave and Wonder Man return. With Jocasta destabilizing the Vision’s marriage, tensions are high but the later discovery that wannabe actor Simon Williams is moonlighting as a clown on children’s television takes off a lot of edges. Focus abruptly shifts when an apparent escaped mental patient circumvents Avengers security, breaks into the mansion and begs for help. Returned to his carers at the Solomon Institute, Selbe’s plight remains uppermost in Wasp’s thoughts. When she investigates the facility she exposes an horrific science abomination in progress before vanishing without trace…

New Ant-Man Scott Lang got his first dose of team action in Avengers #195 (May 1980) in Michelinie, Pérez, Jack Abel & Green’s ‘Assault on a Mind Cage!’ When his benefactor Hank Pym/Yellowjacket asks Lang to help infiltrate the suspect Solomon asylum he believes holds the Wasp hostage the miniature marvels uncover illegal cloning for spare parts and a murderous madman also capitalising on the facilities to profitably train better henchmen for major villains and mob bosses…

The climactic clash resulting from ‘The Terrible Toll of the Taskmaster’ (by Michelinie, Pérez & Abel) wrecks the joint but leaves former burglar and convict Lang one step closer to true redemption…

Cold War paranoia fuels Avengers #197’s ‘Prelude to the War-Devil!’ (illustrated by Carmine Infantino, Abel and a horde of helpers) wherein overwrought scientist Dr. Cowan absconds from Stark Detroit facilities inside a super-mecha warrior initially built to destroy the undisputed king of Kaiju (see Godzilla: The Original Marvel Years). Unable to stand the tension any longer, the boffin intends triggering WWIII and ending the anxiety of humankind once and for all, but must first face the deployed and increasingly desperate Avengers in ‘Better Red Than Ronin!’ (art by Pérez, Brett Breeding & Gene Day) and cataclysmic climax ‘Last Stand on Long Island’ (inked by Dan Green).

Away from the mounting carnage, a disturbing subplot played out as a strange, terrifyingly rapid transformation sees Carol Danvers (Ms, and these days Captain Marvel) impossibly pregnant and bringing an unknown baby with no father to term in a matter of days. Reaching out to the Scarlet Witch, the hasty decision is to call in the full resources of the Mighty Avengers…

The mystery is solved in bonanza anniversary issue #200 (October 1980 by plotters, Jim Shooter, Pérez & Bob Layton; scripter Michelinie, and artists Pérez & Green). In ‘The Child is Father To…?’ with almost the entire past roster on hand, the miracle baby is born without incident, but consequently hyper-rapidly matures as time goes wild around the city. With different eras overwriting the present, the unearthly boy begins building a machine to stabilise the chaos despite the profoundly suspicious heroes misunderstanding his motives. Marcus claims to be the son of time-master Immortus, seeking to escape eternal isolation in transdimensional Limbo by implanting his essence in a mortal tough enough to survive the energy required for the transfer.

Literally reborn on Earth, his attempts to complete the process are foiled by the World’s Most Confused Heroes and he is tragically drawn back to his timeless realm. Carol, suddenly declaring her love for Marcus, unexpectedly goes with him. The heroes unquestioning acceptance of the result might well be the greatest failure and betrayal in Avengers history…

The clean-up begins in #201 where ‘The Evil Reborn’ sees Michelinie, Pérez & Green adapt a Jim Shooter short story as Tony Stark succumbs to previous, deep-buried hypnotic programming to reconstruct cybernetic conqueror Ultron…

The tale is cut short as back-up strip ‘Bully!’ by Michelinie, Roger Stern, Pérez & Day explores the off-duty life of butler Edwin Jarvis as he improves his home neighbourhood with a little human-scaled heroism and defiance in the face of insurmountable odds…

The Avenging escapades pause for now with bombastic brutal closing chapter ‘This Evil Undying’ (Micheline, Pérez & Mike Esposito) as the team (Captain America Thor, Wasp, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Jocasta free Iron Man from the metal maniac’s domination and apparently end the threat forever…

Supplementing the main drama are a brace of contemporaneous tales beginning with the first Wonder Man solo saga, as published in Marvel Premiere #55 (August 1980). ‘A Force of Two!’ by Micheline, Layton, Ron Wilson & Joe Sinnott sees Simon Williams return to another of his old factories (in Brooklyn this time) to clean out the criminal trash who took over after his “death” and eventual resurrection as being of ionic energy. Even he isn’t quite enough to oust entrenched Maggia mobsters – and their lawyers – and requires a little offbeat assistance from an old pal who risks everything to atone…

Next comes a six-page vignette starring The Vision, created during a rookie initiative program in 1976 by Tom DeFalco, John Fuller & Bruce Patterson, ‘Double Vision’ sat in the inventory drawer until seen in Tales to Astonish (vol 2 #12, November 1980) and relates how the eerie android saves a diplomat and other caught in a plane hijacking…

With covers by Byrne, Pérez, Frank Miller, Dave Cockrum, Wilson, Sinnott, Green, Bob McLeod, Rubinstein and Terry Austin; original art pages from Byrne, Pérez, Green & Day; the Pérez/Tom Smith painted cover to Avengers Visionaries: George Pérez (1999) and the aforementioned Brevoort appreciation of the artist from that tome, this compelling collection is available in hardback and digital iterations, and a must-read moment of wonder every fan must see.
© 2019 MARVEL.

Today in 1877 Catalan comics creator and pioneer Tomàs Padró died, as did French surrealist cartoonist and multimedia maven Roland Topor in 1997. In 1934 Chilean Disney artist Vicar (Víctor José Arriagada Ríos) was born, as was arch-stylist Paul Rivoche (Mister X, Batman, Exile of the Aeons) in 1959.

On this date in 1990 The Times of India supplement Indrajal Comics published its last issue. Started in 1964 its 805 issues brought The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake, Garth, Rip Kirby, Phil Corrigan, Buz Sawyer, Mike Nomad, Kerry Drake, and others to millions of readers, and in 1976 debuted homegrown Indian hero Bahadur by Aabid Surti.

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Daredevil Epic Collection volume 8: To Dare the Devil (1978-1981)


By Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, David Micheline, Jo Duffy, Michael Fleischer, Mike W. Barr, Frank Robbins, Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Klaus Janson, Frank Springer, Josef Rubinstein & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-60537 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, making him an astonishing acrobat, formidable fighter and living lie-detector. He also developed a kind of biological radar, granting him complete awareness of his immediate environment. A second-string hero for much of his early career, Daredevil was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due mostly to the captivatingly humanistic art of Gene Colan. DD fought gangsters, super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion, quipping his way through life and life-threatening combat, utterly unlike the grim, moody, quasi-religious metaphor of justice and retribution that he became.

Under the auspices of Jim Shooter, Roger McKenzie and finally Frank Miller & Klaus Janson, the character transformed into a grimly modern figure, but here we find him navigating choppy relationship waters. After a disastrous on-again, off-again relationship with his secretary Karen Page, Murdock took up with Russian émigré Natasha Romanoff, infamous and notorious former soviet spy Black Widow, but their similarities and incompatibilities led to her leaving and Matt taking up with flighty, fun-loving trouble-magnet heiress Heather Glenn…

Spanning cover-dates November 1978 to October 1981, this crucial compilation comprises relevant material from Daredevil #155-176, plus spin-off material generated for a readership that simply could not get enough of their newly darkened avenging devil and his secret paramour, as first seen in What If? #28 & Bizarre Adventures #28. The visual tumult and tension begin sans any delay or debate…

Heroic endeavours resume with writer Roger McKenzie describing the repercussions of a massive ambush on the hero by his worst enemies. Guest-starring Black Widow, Hercules and The Avengers, aftermath episode ‘The Man Without Fear?’ is illustrated by Frank Robbins & Frank Springer, wherein a brain-damaged Murdock repeatedly attacks innocent bystanders and his allies before collapsing. Keenly observing, macabre mystery menace Death-Stalker spots an opportunity and follows the hospitalised hero into #156’s ‘Ring of Death!’ (McKenzie, Colan & Klaus Janson). As DD undergoes surgery and suffers deadly delusions of fighting himself, the teleporting terror with a death-touch seeks to end the scarlet swashbuckler’s meddling forever, but finds the Avengers almost too much to handle…

The assault ends in DD #157’s ‘The Ungrateful Dead’, with Mary Jo Duffy scripting from McKenzie’s plot. Now, after frustrating the vanishing villain, Matt is cruelly kidnapped by a new squad of the Ani-Men (Ape-Man, Cat-Man & Bird-Man) all leading to Miller’s debut as penciller in #158’s ‘A Grave Mistake!’ With McKenzie writing and Janson inking, all plot threads regarding Death-Stalker spectacularly conclude as the monster gloatingly shares his true origins and reasons for haunting the Sightless Swashbuckler for so long. As always, Villain underestimates Hero and the stunning final fight in a graveyard became one of the most iconic duels in superhero history…

From this point on, Daredevil was increasingly repositioned as an outcast urban defender and compulsive vengeance-taker: a tortured demon dipped in blood. The character makeover was carried on initially by McKenzie from his predecessor Jim Shooter, and fully manifested in collaboration with Miller until the latter fully took control to deliver audacious, shocking, groundbreakingly compelling dark delights, making Daredevil one of comics’ most momentous, unmissable, “must-read” series.

That revitalisation resumes with ‘Marked for Murder!’ (McKenzie, Miller & Janson) wherein infallible assassin-broker Eric Slaughter comes out of retirement for a very special hit on the hero of Hell’s Kitchen. Meanwhile elsewhere, veteran Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich works a nagging hunch: slowly piecing together dusty news snippets that indicate a certain sight-impaired attorney might be far more than he seems……

The spectacular showdown between the Crimson Crimebuster and Slaughter’s hit-man army inevitably compels his covert client to eventually do his own dirty work: brutally ambushing and abducting former flame Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow…

After a single-page fact-feature on ‘Daredevil’s Billy Club!’, the saga continues in #160 with our hero having no choice but to place himself ‘In the Hands of Bullseye!’ – a stratagem culminating in a devastating duel and shocking defeat for the villain in cataclysmic conclusion ‘To Dare the Devil!’

Next issue offered a fill-in tale by Michael Fleisher & Steve Ditko wherein another radiation accident impairs our hero’s abilities and induces amnesia just as a figure from his father’s pugilistic past resurfaces. Becoming a boxer for crooked promoter Mr. Hyle, Murdock unknowingly relives his murdered dad’s last days in ‘Requiem for a Pug!’… until his own memories return and justice is served…

Stunning David & Goliath action belatedly comes in #163 as the merely mortal Man Without Fear battles The Incredible Hulk in ‘Blind Alley’ (McKenzie & Miller, inked by Josef Rubenstein & Janson) wherein Murdock’s innate compassion for hounded Bruce Banner inadvertently endangers Manhattan and triggers a desperate, bone-breaking, but ultimately doomed attempt to save his beloved city…

In #164 McKenzie, Miller & Janson deliver an evocative ‘Exposé’, retelling the origin saga as meticulous, dogged Urich confronts the hospitalised hero with inescapable conclusions from his diligent research and a turning point is reached…

The landmark tale is followed by accompanied by Miller’s unused cover for Ditko’s fill-in yarn, and precedes a mean-&-moody modern makeover for a moribund and over-exposed Spider-Man villain. DD #165 finds the Scarlet Swashbuckler in the ‘Arms of the Octopus’ when Murdock’s millionaire girlfriend Heather is kidnapped by Dr. Otto Octavius. Her company can – and do – rebuild his mechanical tentacles with Adamantium, but “Doc Ock” stupidly underestimates both his hostage and the seemingly powerless Man Without Fear…

A long-running plot thread of Matt’s best pal Foggy Nelson’s oft-delayed wedding finally culminates with some much-needed comedy in #166’s ‘Till Death Do Us Part!’, with true tragedy coming along too as old enemy Gladiator has a breakdown and kidnaps his parole officer. With visions of Roman arenas driving him, tormented killer Melvin Potter only needs to see Daredevil to go completely over the top…

David Michelinie wrote #167 for Miller & Janson, with a cruelly wronged employee of tech company the Cord Conglomerate stealing super-armour to become ‘…The Mauler!’ and exact personal justice. Constantly drawn into the conflict, DD finds his sense of justice and respect for the law at odds when another avoidable tragedy results…

The tale is backed up by an info feature revealing the ‘Dark Secrets’ of DD’s everyday life before segueing neatly into the story that changed everything.

With Daredevil #168 Miller took over the writing and with Janson’s art contributions increasing in each issue, rewired the history of Matt Murdock to open an era of noir-tinged, pulp-fuelled, Eisner-inspired innovation. It begins when Daredevil encounters a new bounty hunter in town which prompts recall of lost college-days first love. Back then, diplomat’s daughter Elektra Natchios shared his secrets – until her father was kidnapped and murdered before her eyes, partly due to Matt’s hasty actions. She left him and vanished, apparently becoming a ninja assassin, but is now tearing up the town hunting Eric Slaughter. Matt cannot help but get involved…

When Daredevil last defeated Bullseye, the psycho-killer was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and in #169 escapes from hospital to enact another murder spree. He is deep in a delusional state where everyone he sees are horn-headed scarlet-draped ‘Devils’. A frenetic chase and brutal battle results in countless civilian casualties and great anxiety as Daredevil has a chance to let the manic die… but doesn’t.

Yet another landmark resurrection of a tired villain begins in DD #170 as Miller & Janson decree ‘The Kingpin Must Die’. The former crimelord of New York had faded into serene retirement in Japan by impassioned request of his wife Vanessa, until this triptych of terror sees him return, more powerful and resourceful than ever. It all begins when the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen hears rumours the syndicate that replaced Wilson Fisk are trying to kill their old boss. Apparently, he has offered all his old records to the Feds…

When Vanessa hires Nelson & Murdock to broker the deal, all hell breaks loose, assassins attack and Mrs Fisk goes missing. Further complicating matters, having survived brain surgery, Bullseye now offers his services to the syndicate, mercenary killer Elektra senses a big business opportunity and a murderously resolute Kingpin sneaks back into the country resolved to save his Vanessa at any cost…

The title at last returned to monthly schedule with #171 as the city erupted into sporadic violence with civilians caught in the crossfire. DD dons a disguise and goes undercover but is soon ‘In the Kingpin’s Clutches’, and seemingly sent to a watery grave prior to Fisk gambling and losing everything.

The saga ends in all-out ‘Gangwar!’ as, with Vanessa lost and presumed dead, Wilson Fisk destroys the in situ Syndicate and takes back control of New York’s underworld. At least Daredevil scores a small-yet-toxic victory by apprehending the Kingpin’s assassin, all the while aware that every death since Bullseye’s operation has been because Murdock was not strong enough to let the monster die…

… And deep in the bowels of the city, an amnesiac woman wanders, a future trigger for much death and destruction to come…

With the city increasingly awash in mobsters, monsters, assassins and deviants, Daredevil 173 returns to the difficult, painful redemption of mentally-ill former foe The Gladiator. Having suffered an emotional crisis Melvin Potter prays his violent old life is over, but when a woman is brutalised in the streets, she identifies the anxious supervillain as her attacker. Murdock begins a stout defence of the ‘Lady Killer’, but despite his truth-sensing abilities, even his confidence takes a battering when his own assistant Becky Blake reveals Potter is the man who put her in a wheelchair years previously. Shocked and betrayed on all sides, Matt lets DD take charge and exposes a world of horror and abuse while tracking down a cunning, opportunistic human beast who tortures women just for kicks…

Elektra co-stars in #174 as her former master The Jonin demands ‘The Assassination of Matt Murdock’, introducing resurrecting zombie ninja cult The Hand just when the Potter trial is going badly and faithful partner Foggy Nelson has abandoned him. The cult’s expansion into America is lethally and effectively countered by Elektra, but when Daredevil joins the fight he is wounded and loses his greatest supersense, leaving him to depend on her and Melvin reluctantly returned to his Gladiator persona…

Now targeted by immortal super ninja Kirigi, Elektra goes after Jonin in ‘Gantlet’ and leaves DD to his own devices prior to ‘Hunters’, showing severely impaired Matt hunting for the old guy who first taught him to use his super senses. He rattles his old foes and street sources so badly that even Z-grade thugs Turk and Grotto are scared enough to steal a super-armour suit and settle with the Scarlet Swashbuckler for good…

To Be Continued…

Here, however, the events sparked a number of ancillary delights represented here by What If? #28’s ‘Matt Murdock, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ (by Mike W. Barr, Miller & Janson, and cover-dated August 1981), seeing what might have been had Anthony Stark and Nick Fury been nearby when young Matt was hit by that senses-altering radioactive cannister. That’s followed by spectacular monochrome prequel ‘Elektra’, crafted by Miller for Bizarre Adventures #28 (October 1981) with the hired killer going off-book after she finds out an unsavoury truth about her client.

Supplementing throughout with the covers by Colan, Springer, Janson, Rubinstein, Al Milgrom, Miller, Ditko, Bob McLeod, George Roussos and Bob Larkin, this roster depicting the resurgent rise in comics form is further bedecked and bedazzled with contemporary house ads; the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page heralding Miller’s debut; original art and Miller’s full Daredevil character bible, written in 1980 as he prepared to take over the writing. Also on view are Miller & Janson’s pages from Marvel Comics 20th Anniversary Calendar 1981 (June) and their Spider-Man vs DD plate from Marvel Team-Up Portfolio One. Those are supplemented by Miller covers & frontispieces for Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller volume 1 & 2 (with Steve Buccellato) before closing with M&J’s iconic Amazing Heroes #4 cover from September 1981.

As the decade closed, these gritty tales set the scene for truly mature forthcoming dramas, promising the true potential of Daredevil was finally in reach. Their narrative energy and exuberant excitement are dashing delights no action fan will care to miss.

… And the next volume heads full on into darker shadows, the grimmest of territory and the breaking of many more boundaries…
© MARVEL 2025.

In 1958 horror artist John Totleben was born, as was Italy’s Antonio Serra (Nathan Never) in 1963, Tim Bradstreet in 1967 and Warren Ellis one year later.

We lost letterer/colourist/comics artist/animator Frank Engli in 1977 but we can still enjoy Popeye, Betty Boop, Terry and the Pirates, Male Call, Steve Canyon, Scorchy Smith and his own creations On the Wing and Rocky the Stone Age Kid. Don’t you want to go look him up now?

In 1963 UK standby Knockout finally lay down after 24 years and in1980 Nutty launched with the debut of Bananaman. And in 2017 dutchman designer Dick Bruna died, having introduced us all to his bunny star Miffy way back in 1955.

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Marvel Team-Up Omnibus volume 1


By Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Steve Gerber, Ross Andru, Gil Kane, Jim Mooney, Sal Buscema, Don Heck, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Steve Mitchell, Frank Bolle, Don Perlin, Sal Trapani, Wayne Howard, Dave Hunt, Vince Colletta & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-6699-7 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Inspiration isn’t everything. In fact, as Marvel slowly grew to a position of market dominance in the wake of losing their two most innovative and inspirational creators, they did so less by experimentation and more by expanding proven concepts and properties. The only real exception to this was the assembly line creation of horror and horror-hero titles in response to the industry down-turn in super-hero sales – a move expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with less well-selling company characters – was not new when Marvel decided to award their most popular hero the lion’s share of this new title, but they wisely left their options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch. In those long-lost days editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since superheroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.

Marvel Team-Up was the second regular Spider-Man title (abortive companion title Spectacular Spider-Man was created for the magazine market in 1968 but died after two issues). MTU launched at the end of 1971 and went from strength to strength, proving the time had finally come for expansion and a concentration on uncomplicated action over sub-plots…

This engaging hardback and/or eBook compilation gathers the first 30 issues of Marvel Team-Up (spanning cover-dates March 1972 to February 1975) and includes crossover fun from Daredevil (and the Black Widow) #103, plus double length larks from Giant-Size Super Heroes #1 and Giant-Size Spider-Man #1-3. As well as a monolithic assortment of nostalgic visual treats at the back, this mammoth tome is dotted throughout with editorial and letters pages (from ‘Team-Up’ to ‘Mail it to Team-Up’) and also includes recycled Introductions from previous Marvel Masterworks editions (namely Gerry Conway’s ‘Behold: An Introduction’ and Roy Thomas’ ‘A Long, Loose Leash’ and ‘Full Credit – or Blame’) plus other contemporary editorial announcements as seen in each original issue, just to enhance overall historical experience…

Marvel Team-Up #1was crafted by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito as a mutual old enemy reared his gritty head in charming seasonal saga ‘Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!’. A light-heated romp full of Christmas cheer, rambunctious action and seasonal sentiment, the story set the tone for all epics to follow. Merry Marvelite Maximii can award themselves a point for remembering which martial arts/TV hero debuted in this issue, but folk with lives can simply take my word that it was Iron Fist’s sometimes-squeeze Misty Knight…

Gerry Conway assumed the writer’s role and Jim Mooney the inks for ‘And Spidey Makes Four!’ in the succeeding issue as our hot and sticky heroes then take on and trounce the Frightful Four and Negative Zone bogeyman Annihilus before without pause going after Morbius the Living Vampire in #3’s ‘The Power to Purge!’ (as inked by Frank Giacoia). The new horror-star was still acting the villain in MTU #4 as the Torch was replaced by most of Marvel’s sole mutant team (The Beast having gone all hairy – and solo) in ‘And Then… the X-Men!’

Inked by Steve Mitchell, this boldly enthralling thriller was illustrated by magnificent Gil Kane at the top of his form. Kane became a semi-regular penciller, and his dynamic style and extreme-action anatomy lifted many pedestrian tales such as #5’s ‘A Passion of the Mind!’ (Conway script & Esposito inks), pitting Spidey and The Vision against manipulative mesmeric Puppet Master and robotic assassin the Monstroid. The bad guy again carried over to the next issue and joined by the Mad Thinker in ‘…As Those Who Will Not See!’ pitted the wallcrawler and The Thing against cerebral scoundrels in a cataclysmic battle no Fights ‘n’ Tights fan could be unmoved by…

MTU #7’s ‘A Hitch in Time!’ was produced by Conway, Andru & Mooney: guest-starring Thor with otherworldly Trolls freezing Earth’s time-line as a prerequisite step to conquering Asgard, after which #8 provides a perfect example of the team-up comic’s other function – to promote and popularise new characters. ‘Man-Killer Moves at Midnight!’ was most fans’ first exposure to The Cat (later retooled as Tigra the Were-Woman) in a painfully worthy if ham-fisted attempt to address feminist issues from Conway & Mooney. The hard-pressed heroes joined forces here to stop a male-hunting murderer paying back abusive men. These days we’d probably be rooting for her…

Iron Man collaborated in the opening foray of 3-part tale ‘The Tomorrow War!’ (Conway, Andru & Frank Bolle) as he & Spidey are kidnapped by Zarkko the Tomorrow Man to battle Kang the Conqueror. The Torch returned to help deal with the intermediate threat of a ‘Time Bomb!’ (with art by Mooney & Giacoia) before the entire race of Black Bolt’s Inhumans pile in to help Spidey stop history unravelling in culminatory clash ‘The Doomsday Gambit!’ – this last chapter scripted by Len Wein over Conway’s plot for Mooney & Esposito to illustrate.

Deftly delineated by Andru & Don Perlin, Wein scripted a Conway plot for ‘Wolf at Bay!’ in MTU #12 wherein wallcrawler meets Werewolf By Night Jack Russell to maul malevolent mage Moondark in foggy San Francisco, after which we divert to the Man Without Fear’s own title. Here they share some left coast limelight as Daredevil and the Black Widow #103 (Steve Gerber, Don Heck & Sal Trapani). This sees them join the still-California-bound wallcrawler as a merciless cyborg attacks the odd couple while they pose for roving photojournalist Peter Parker in ‘…Then Came Ramrod!’…

Kane & Giacoia limned ‘The Granite Sky!’ wherein Wein pits Spidey & Captain America against Hydra and Grey Gargoyle in a simple clash of ideologies, after which ‘Mayhem is… the Men-Fish!’ (inked by Wayne Howard – and, yes bad grammar, but great action-art!) matches the webslinger with the savage Sub-Mariner against vile villains Tiger Shark and Doctor Dorcas as well as an army (navy?) of mutant sea-beasts.

Wein, Andru & Perlin created The Orb to bedevil Spidey and Ghost Rider in ‘If an Eye Offend Thee!’ in #15 before Kane & Mooney limn ‘Beware the Basilisk my Son!’: a gripping romp featuring (the original Kree) Captain Marvel, concluding with ‘Chaos at the Earth’s Core!’ (inked by “everybody”!), as Mister Fantastic joins the fracas to stop Mole Man inadvertently blowing up the world. Human Torch Johnny Storm teams with The Hulk in MTU #18 to stop antimatter malcontent Blastaar in ‘Where Bursts the Bomb!’ (Giacoia & Esposito inks), but Spidey blazes back a month later with Ka-Zar in situ to witness ‘The Coming of… Stegron, the Dinosaur Man!’ (Wein, Kane & Giacoia). His plans to flatten New York by releasing ‘Dinosaurs on Broadway!’ is foiled with Black Panther’s help… as well as the artistic gifts of Sal Buscema, Giacoia & Esposito.

Dave Hunt replaced Esposito inking ‘The Spider and the Sorcerer!’ in #21 as Spidey and Doctor Strange once more battled Xandu, a wily wizard first seen in Spider-Man Annual #2, before we pause for a brief lecture.

Giant-Size titles were quarterly double-length publications added to the schedule of Marvel’s top tier heroes, and the wallcrawler’s were used to highlight outré or potentially controversial pairings such as Dracula and Doc Savage. Here they are represented by try-out Giant-Size Super Heroes #1 which pitted the wallcrawler against Living Vampire Morbius as well as hirsute and manic Man-Wolf. In a classic clash by Conway, Kane & Esposito. Within months a quarterly double-length Spider-Man team vehicle was added to Marvel’s schedule….

Back in MTU #22, Wein, Sal B & Giacoia’s ‘The Messiah Machine!’ brings the monthly story glories to a brief pause after depicting Hawkeye and the Amazing Arachnid frustrating deranged computer Quasimodo‘s ambitious if absurd mechanoid invasion. Then – cover-dated July 1974 and courtesy of Conway, Andru & Heck – Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 saw the webspinner in frantic pursuit of an experimental flu vaccine, improbably carried on an ocean liner in ‘Ship of Fiends!’ The quest brought him into chilling contact with newly-revived vampire lord Dracula and a scheming Maggia Capo at ‘The Masque of the Black Death!’…

Here that bizarre battle is accompanied by its original editorial text feature ‘An Illuminating Introduction to Giant Size Spider-Man’ before we move on to monthly MTU wherein the Torch & Iceman fractiously unite to stop Equinox, the Thermo-Dynamic Man on ‘The Night of the Frozen Inferno!’ (Wein, Kane & Esposito). Still embracing supernatural themes and trends, the webslinger learns ‘Moondog is another Name for Murder!’ in a defiantly quirky yarn illustrated by Mooney & Trapani which brings the decidedly offbeat Brother Voodoo to the Big Apple to quash a Manhattan murder cult…

Wein, Mooney & Frank Giacoia then determine that ‘Three into Two Won’t Go!’ as Daredevil joins Spider-Man in thrashing inept kidnappers Cat-Man, Bird-Man and Ape-Man, after which Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 sees the amazing arachnid drawn into battle with Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu as sinister immortal Fu Manchu frames Spider-Man in ‘Masterstroke!’ The duped heroes clear the air in ‘Cross… and Double-Cross!’ before uniting to foil the cunning Celestial’s scheme to mindwipe America from the ‘Pinnacle of Doom!’

MTU #26 finds the Torch and Thor battling to save the world from Lava Men in The Fire This Time…’ by Wein, Mooney, Giacoia & Hunt. At this time, in a desperate effort to build some internal continuity into the perforce brutally brief encounters, the scripters introduced a shadowy trio of sinister observers with an undisclosed agenda who would monitor superhero episodes and eventually be revealed as providers of outrageous technologies for many of the one-shot villains who came and went so quickly and ignominiously…

They weren’t involved when the Chameleon frames Spider-Man (again) and tricks the Hulk into freeing a man – for the most unexpected reason of all – from the New York Men’s Detention Center in #27’s ‘A Friend in Need!’ (Wein, Mooney & Giacoia). They did, however, have a cloaked hand in ‘The City Stealers!’ (#28 by new regular creative team Conway, Mooney & Vince Colletta) when strange mechanoids swipe the island of Manhattan, necessitating Spidey and Hercules (mostly Hercules) having to drag it back to its original position…

After that implausible minor miracle Spider-Man experiences time-displaced disaster as Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 (Conway, Andru & Esposito) explores ‘The Yesterday Connection!’ Now lovely alien Desinna seeks the aid of Spidey in 1974 and – in ‘The Secret Out of Time’ – the hands-on help of legendary 1930s adventurer Doc Savage. Across a gulf of four decades the heroes individually discover something is not right in ‘Other People in Other Times!’ With the escape of a savage rampaging monster, two eras seem doomed to destruction, at least until wiser, more suspicious heads and powers prevail in ‘Tomorrow is Too Late’ ensuring that ‘The Future is Now!’…

Marvel Team-Up #29 displays a far less constrained – or even amicable – pairing as flaming kid Johnny Storm and patronising know-it-all Iron Man butt heads whilst tracking a seeming super-saboteur in ‘Beware the Coming of Infinitus! or How Can You Stop the Reincarnated Man?’ before in #30 Spider-Man and The Falcon find ‘All That Glitters is not Gold!’ whilst tracking a mind-control drug back to its crazy concoctor Midas, the Golden Man.

However, adding extra lustre are visual treats aplenty in the form of contemporaneous house ads; covers and frontispieces from seasonal tabloid treasury Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag (with art from John Buscema & John Romita Sr.) and original art pages and covers from Andru, Kane, Esposito, Perlin, Mooney, & Giacoia plus Kane pencil layouts. Also on view are covers from Marvel Tales #234, 249, 254, by Todd McFarlane, Marshall Rogers, Brian Stelfreeze, complete with new bridging pages by Jae Lee. Jan Harpes & Renee Witterstatter, and another gallery of Spider-Man Megazine covers (#1-6) by James Fry, Hector Collazo, Stelfreeze, Jung Choi, Ron Frenz, Al Milgrom, Stuart Immonen, Kirk Jarvinen, Jason Moore and Mark Buckingham, plus the unpublished cover of #7 as crafted by John Romita Sr & Jr.. Closing the book is a truly unique unused cover for #8 by Brian Bolland.

These stories are of variable quality but nonetheless all exhibit an honest drive to entertain and please. Artistically the work is superb, and most fans of the genre would find little to complain about so, although not really a book for casual or more maturely-oriented readers, there’s bunches of fun on hand and young readers will have a blast, so there’s no real reason not to add this tome to your library…
© 2025 MARVEL.

Today in 1892 Korky the Cat creator James Crighton was born as was Golden Age great Creig Flessel in 1912 and Al McWilliams in 1916. Writer/editor/publisher Bob Shreck joined the party in 1955, three years after Crocket Johnson released the final episode of Barnaby.

Back in 1938, the very first Donald Duck newspaper strip was syndicated and in 1987 the astounding Ken Reid drew his last breath – as did Dutch comics maestro Lo Hartog van Banda in 2006. As always, look in the blog for more or just buy anything with these guys’ names on it…

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Fantastic Four Epic Collection volume 11: Four No More (1978-1980)


By Marv Wolfman, Bill Mantlo, Len Wein, Keith Pollard, Roger Slifer, John Byrne, Sal Buscema, George Pérez, Bob Hall, John Buscema, Joe Sinnott, Pablo Marcos, Bob Wiacek, Dave Hunt, Diverse Hands (Al Milgrom, Frank Giacoia, Frank Springer, Marie Severin), Bob Budiansky, Jack Kirby & various (MARVEL
ISBN: 978-1-3029-6055-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content from less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Utter Acme of All-Ages Adventure… 8/10

For Marvel everything started with The Fantastic Four.

Monolithic modern Marvel truly began with the eccentric monster ‘n’ alien filled adventures of a compact superteam as much squabbling family as coolly capable costumed champions. Everything the company and brand is now stems from that quirky quartet and the inspired, inspirational, groundbreaking efforts of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby…

Cautiously bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961, Fantastic Four #1 – by Stan, Jack, George Klein & Christopher Rule – was raw and crude even by the ailing outfit’s standards; but it seethed with rough, passionate, uncontrolled excitement. Thrill-hungry kids pounced on its dynamic storytelling and caught a wave of change beginning to build in America. It and every succeeding issue changed comics a little bit more… and forever. As seen in the premier issue, maverick scientist Reed Richards, his fiancée Sue Storm, their close friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s bratty teenaged brother survived an ill-starred private spaceshot after cosmic rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding.

All four were permanently mutated: Richards’ body became elastic, diffident Sue became (even more) invisible, Johnny Storm burst into sentient living flame and poor tragic Ben shockingly devolved into a shambling, rocky freak. After initial revulsion and trauma passed, they solemnly agreed to use their abilities to benefit mankind. Thus was born The Fantastic Four.

Throughout the 1960s it was indisputably the key title and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters. Kirby was approaching his creative peak: unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot, and intense, incredible new characters whilst Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas ever seen. Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their powers and full of the confidence only success brings, with The King particularly eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed… which is rather ironic since it was the company’s reticence to give the artist more creative freedom that led to Kirby moving to National/DC in the 1970s.

Without Kirby’s soaring imagination the rollercoaster of mindbending High Concepts gave way to more traditional tales of characters in conflict, as soap opera schtick and supervillain-tirades dominated Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas. With Lee & Kirby long gone but their mark very much stamped onto every page of the still-prestigious title, this full-colour compendium reruns Fantastic Four #192-214 and Annuals #12-13, spanning March 1978-January 1980.

What You Should Know: After facing his own Counter Earth counterpart Reed Richards lost his stretching powers. With menaces like Salem’s Seven, Klaw and Molecule Man still coming for him and his family, weary and devoid of solutions, Richards made the only logical decision and called it a day for the team…

Incoming writer/editor Marv Wolfman, brought a new direction which closely referenced the good old days with #192 proclaiming ‘He Who Soweth the Wind…!’ (illustrated by George Pérez & Joe Sinnott), as newly independent, fancy-free Johnny heads west to revisit his childhood dream of being a race car driver and unexpectedly meets old pal Wyatt Wingfoot.

Back East, Ben and girlfriend Alicia Masters ponder options as Reed gets a pretty spectacular job offer from a mystery backer. Suddenly, though, Johnny’s race career is upended when superpowered mercenary Texas Twister attacks at the behest of a sinister but unspecified stalker with a grudge to settle…

The admittedly half-hearted assault fails, but when Ben offers his services to NASA a pattern begins to emerge after he and Alicia are ambushed by old foe Darkoth in ‘Day of the Death-Demon!’ (plotted by Len Wein & Keith Pollard, scripted by Bill Mantlo, and illustrated by Pollard & Sinnott). The near-forgotten cyborg terror is determined to destroy an experimental solar shuttle, but doesn’t really know why, and as Ben ponders the inexplicable incident, in Hollywood, Susan Storm-Richards’ return to acting is inadvertently paused because alien shapeshifting loon the Impossible Man pays a visit. The delay gives Sue a little time to consider just how she got such a prestigious, dream-fulfilling offer so completely out of the blue at just the right moment…

At NASA, when Darkoth strikes again his silent partner is exposed as scheming alchemist Diablo, whilst in upstate New York, Reed slowly discovers his dreams of unlimited research time and facilities is nothing like he imagined. Finally, launch day comes and The Thing pilots the Solar Shuttle into space, only to have it catastrophically crash in the desert…

Joined by additional inker Dave Hunt, the creative pinch-hitters conclude the saga with ‘Vengeance is Mine!’ as Ben survives impact and searing sandstorms, tracks down his foes and delivers a crushing defeat to Diablo and Darkoth, whilst in FF #195 Sue learns who sponsored her revived Tinseltown ambitions when Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner renews his amorous pursuit of her. Embittered and lonely, he has fully forsaken Atlantis and the overwhelming demands of his people and state. Sadly, they have not done with him and despatch robotic warriors to drag him back to his duties in ‘Beware the Ravaging Retrievers!’ (Wolfman, Pollard & Pablo Marcos). Like everybody else, the metal myrmidons have utterly underestimated The Invisible Girl and pay the price, allowing the once-&-future prince to reassess his position and make a momentous decision…

As Johnny links up with Ben & Alicia, strands of a complex scheme begin to appear. In #196 they gel for self-deceiving Reed Richards as ‘Who in the World is the Invincible Man?’ depicts the enigmatic Man with the Plan secretly subjecting Reed to the mind-bending powers of the Pyscho-Man, just as Sue rejoins Ben & Johnny in New York City before being impossibly ambushed by a former FF foe. This time the man under the hood is not her father, but someone she loves even more…

Reunited with Reed, the horrified heroes are confronted by their greatest, most implacable enemy and the complicated plot to restore Reed’s powers finally unfolds. Victor Von Doom craves revenge but refuses to triumph over a diminished foe, but his efforts to re-expose Richards to cosmic rays is secretly hijacked by a rival madman in ‘The Riotous Return of the Red Ghost!’ (Wolfman, Pollard & Sinnott). Of course there’s more at stake, as Doom also seeks to legitimise his rule through a proxy son: planning to abdicate in his scion’s favour and have Junior take Latveria into the UN and inevitably to the forefront of nations…

Fully restored and invigorated, Mister Fantastic defeats an equally resurgent Red Ghost before linking up with Nick Fury (senior) and S.H.I.E.L.D. to lead an ‘Invasion!’ of Doom’s captive kingdom. Beside Latverian freedom fighter/legal heir to the throne Prince Zorba Fortunov, Richards storms into Doomstadt, defeating all in his path and foiling the secondary scheme of imbuing the ‘The Son of Doctor Doom!’ with the powers of the (now) entire FF and exposing the incredible secret of Victor von Doom II…

Months of deft planning (from Wolfman, Pollard & Sinnott) culminate in epic confrontation ‘When Titans Clash!’, as Doom and Richards indulge in their ultimate battle (thus far), with the result that the villain is destroyed and the kingdom liberated. For now…

A post-Doom era opens in FF #201 (December 1978) as the celebrated and honoured foursome return to America and take possession of empty former HQ the Baxter Building. Unfortunately, so does something else, attacking the family through their own electronic installations and turning the towering “des res” into ‘Home Sweet Deadly Home!’: a mystery solved in the next issue when it subsequently seizes control of Tony Stark’s armour to attack the FF again in ‘There’s One Iron Man Too Many!’, with John Buscema filling in for penciller Pollard. The monthly mayhem pauses after #203’s ‘…And a Child Shall Slay Them!’ wherein Wolfman, Pollard & Sinnott reveal the incredible powers possessed by dying cosmic ray-mutated child Willie Evans Jr.

When the foremost authority on the phenomenon is called in to consult, Dr. Reed Richards and his associates – and all of Manhattan – face savage duplicates of themselves manifested from FF devotee Willie’s fevered imagination…

Although the regular fun pauses here, two chronologically adrift King-Size specials follow, beginning with Fantastic Four Annual #12’s ‘The End of the Inhumans… and the Fantastic Four’ (Wolfman, Bob Hall, Pollard, Bob Wiacek & Marie Severin. When Johnny’s former flame Crystal – and gigantic Good Boi Lockjaw – teleport in seeking aid in finding the abducted Inhuman Royal Family, the team confronts ruthless Inhuman supremacist Thraxon the Schemer before exposing that megalomaniac’s secret master: the immortal unconquerable Sphinx. Despite his god-like powers, the united force of the FF plus Blackbolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal and former Avenger Quicksilver proves sufficient to temporarily defeat their foe… or does it?

A year later, Annual #13 offered a more intimate and human tale from Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Sinnott as ‘Nightlife’ revealed how New York’s lost underclass was systematically being disappeared from the hovels and streets they frequented. With cameos from Daredevil and witch queen Agatha Harkness, the tale reveals a softer side to the FF’s oldest enemy and a return to addressing social issues for the team.

In monthly FF #204, Wolfman, Pollard & Sinnott detail ‘The Andromeda Attack!’ as Johnny goes out gallivanting and governess/guardian Agatha Harkness picks up little Franklin Richards, just as – with only grown-ups in residence – the building’s supercomputers pick up an astral anomaly, and materialise an alien princess in the lab. She’s instantly followed by a Super-Skrull who blasts her before falling to the FF’s counterattack. Interrogating the wounded woman, they learn she has come seeking help for her shattered world and near-extinct civilisation of Xandar…

Already illicitly supported by a Watcher breaking his oath of non-intervention, the last survivors of Andromeda’s most benign culture have been reduced to a quartet of domed stations linked together and careening through space, defended only by the last of their peacekeeper Nova Corps. Now the fugitives are being targeted for extinction by rapacious Skrulls and desperately need someone’s… anyone’s… assistance…

The FF are keen to help Suzerain Queen Adora return and happy to help the Xandarians, but the Human Torch has a new girlfriend and opts to stay behind for now to woo enigmatic Frankie Raye. He’s also set on finally following up on his long-postponed higher education commitments and has enrolled in specialist academic institution Security College. Naturally, Johnny promises to catch up later, but no sooner do his partners beam out to the stars than he’s attacked on campus by an old foe…

For #205, ‘When Worlds Die!’, Reed, Sue & Ben’s arrive with Adora at New Xandar finds the planetary remnants under attack by a Skrull war fleet, they join the Nova Corps to repel the assault, consequently driving closely-monitoring Skrull Emperor Dorrek insane with fury. Although Xandar’s physical resources are almost gone, he actually wants their greatest asset and treasure – a repository of their knowledge and power stored in an awesome array of superprocessors linking countless generations of expired citizens together: the Living Computers of Xandar! Chief administrator Prime Thoran and severely wounded Nova Centurion Tanak have been holding back the storm with ever-diminishing forces, but now need the FF to turn the tide, while back at Security College, Johnny has stumbled into mystery and peril too, as a strange force seizes control of the students…

In Andromeda, his family’s first foray against the Skrulls leads to their defeat and capture. Humiliated, tortured and put on display in a cruel show trial, they are ultimately blasted with a ray that will inescapably result in ‘The Death of… The Fantastic Four!’, rapidly aging them to the end of their natural lifespans in a matter of days. Dorrek’s gleeful gloating is spoiled, however, by the arrival of his terrifying, ambitious wife Empress R’kylll, the increased resistance of the Xandarians and, inevitably, the escape of the fast-aging Fantastic Four…

Ordering all-out assaults on the battered prey, Dorrek is further frustrated by Prime Thoran who gains astounding power by merging with the Living Computers of Xandar and the arrival of a colossal ship from Earth…

Here the saga dovetails with another Wolfman series that had recently ended its run on a cliffhanger. The Man Called Nova was in fact a boy named Richard Rider, a working-class nebbish in the tradition of Peter Parker, except he was good at sports and bad at learning, attending Harry S. Truman High School, where his strict dad was the principal. His mom worked as a police dispatcher and he had a younger brother, Robert, who was a bit of a genius. There were many more superficial similarities and cosmetic differences to Spider-Man. For more, you can either check out our numerous reviews or better yet, the actual comics tales, best seen in Nova Classic volumes #1-3. The 2-year saga culminated with Nova joining despised enemies The Sphinx (last seen battling the FF and Inhumans in Annual #12), Chinese superbrain-in-a-robot-body Doctor Sun, dastardly thug Diamondhead and hero-team The New Champions (The Comet, Crime-Buster and Xandarian refugee Powerhouse) aboard a pre-programmed, out-of-control spaceship hurtling towards Andromeda. Nova volume 1 ended with #25, with the unhappy crew lost in space and attacked by very angry Skrulls…

Meanwhile back at this review, those newcomers’ arrival piled on the pressure and concatenated the chaos as both the magical ancient immortal and futuristic Sino-cyborg abandoned ship, each determined to take the limitless power of Xandar’s Living Computer network for their own. Back on Earth for #207, Wolfman, Sal Buscema & Sinnott tune in on the Torch and favourite frenemy Spider-Man as they unite to expose the scandals of Security College, deprogram its students and almost fall foul of the sheer destructive ‘Might of the Monocle!’, after which the Torch joins his team in Andromeda. Aghast at the ongoing death sentence they’re enduring, Johnny is just as helpless before ‘The Power of The Sphinx!’ (Sal B & inking cavalry “D Hands” AKA Al Milgrom and Franks Giacoia & Springer) is boosted even further by stealing all the wisdom of the Living Computer system. With hyper-energised Prime Thoran busy battling Skrulls, the Sphinx soon solves the eternal secrets of the universe and heads back to Earth, resolved to turn back time and prevent his agonising eons of existence even happening, whilst seeing all reality endangered, increasingly elderly Reed has only one gambit to try…

John Byrne began his first tenure on the Fantastic Four with #209 (August 1979) as the reunited quartet seek to enlist the aid of cosmic devourer Galactus, pausing only long enough for Reed to construct – with Xandarian aid and resources – an all-purpose assistant. The result is the Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics (latterly, Highly Engineered Robot Built for Interdimensional Exploration; don’cha just love nominative deterministic acronymics?).

At this time, an FF cartoon show had rejected fire hazard Johnny for a cutely telegenic robot, and Wolfman cheekily made that commercial rejection in-world canon here, dividing fans forever after, as the bleeping bot is pure Marmite in most readers eyes…

Riding the mile-long starship Nova & Co arrived in, the FF’s search takes them across the universe before leaving them ‘Trapped in the Sargasso of Space!’ to face murderous aliens determined to use the new vessel to escape their stasis hell. Meanwhile, the New Champions and Xandar’s forces prepare to face their final battle, just as impatient R’kylll divorces her husband with a single ray gun blast and changes the course of history…

Despite odd, inexplicable increasingly hazardous incidences, the FF continue ‘In Search of Galactus!’ and at last locate him, causing chaos in his colossal world-ship. Ultimately, they convince the Devourer to stop the Sphinx, but only by rescinding the vow that prevents Galactus from consuming Earth, and if the humans first bring him a new herald…

That occurs in ‘If This Be Terrax’, on a distant world enslaved by brutal despot Tyros, when the pitiless killer is painfully subdued by the heroes and converted by Galactus into a being who will rejoice in finding worlds to consume irrespective of whether civilisations will be consumed with them…

In #212, Earth trembles as the Devourer unleashes his herald to cow humanity whilst his master faces The Sphinx, but ‘The Battle of the Titans!’ is subject to mission creep when the immortal Egyptian wizard sees his new knowledge as a way to restore his own past glories. With his master fully occupied in cosmic combat, Terrax the Tamer seeks to settle scores with the humans who toppled Tyros’ kingdom, only to fall ‘In Final Battle!’ for a ploy devised by Reed and executed by H.E.R.B.I.E. It’s the last hurrah and a massive “Hail Mary” ploy as Reed joins Sue and Ben in cryo-suspension, seconds from death, and barely aware that Galactus has triumphed, but at immense cost…

Tragedy becomes triumph in closing episode ‘…And Then There Was… One!’ (FF #214, January 1980) as Johnny frantically seeks a cure for his family. When S.H.I.E.L.D., The Avengers and any others all prove helpless, a fortuitous attack by vengeful cyborg Skrull-X offers a grain of hope, but one necessitating a huge gamble: defrosting Reed and hoping he can use what the defeated alien revealed before rampant decrepitude ends the Smartest Man on Earth…

Of course, it all works out, but for what comes next you’ll need the next volume…

Here the compilation concludes with bonus material supplementing all those fabulous covers by Pérez, Sinnott, Giacoia, Pollard, Marcos, John Buscema, Steve Leialoha, Kirby, Milgrom, Dave Cockrum, Walter Simonson, Byrne, Ron Wilson, Joe Rubinstein and Rich Buckler. It includes House ads for comics and the TV cartoon; editorial corrections; Cockrum’s cover rough for #197; Kirby & Sinnott’s original cover art for #200 and the covers for Marvel Treasury Edition #21 by Bobs Budiansky & McLeod.

Also on view are Budiansky’s pencils for the cover of F.O.O.M. #22 and the printed final result from Autumn 1978 as inked by Sinnott, plus interior features ‘HERBIE the Robot Blueprints!’ and ‘Stan Lee Presents: The Fantastic Four Cartoon Show’…

Although the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” never quite returned to the stratospheric heights of the Kirby era, this collection offers an appreciative and tantalising taste-echo of those heady heights and a potent promise of fresher thrills to come. These extremely capable efforts are probably most welcome to dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but will still thrill and delight the generous and forgiving casual browser looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement.
© 2025 MARVEL.

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The Marvel Comics Covers of Jack Kirby volume 1: 1961-1964


By Jack Kirby, with Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, Paul Reinman, Bill Everett, George Roussos, Joe Sinnott, Chic Stone, Vince Colletta, George Klein, Sol Brodsky, Al Hartley, Stan Goldberg, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various, Introduction by Patrick McDonnell (Dark Horse Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-50673-246-6 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-50673-247-3

Today in 1917 on New York’s Lower East Side, Jacob Kurtzberg was born to Jewish-Austrian parents. He grew up to be one of the most influential and recognised artists in world history. The reason why can be read here.

The Marvel Comics Covers of Jack Kirby chronologically collects The King’s superhero cover art in a spectacular hardcover coffee table book which simultaneously preserves the wonderment in a digital edition, thus allowing instant enlargements of any and all bits you might have glossed over or missed before…

Preceding the massive and momentous art attack comes heartfelt appreciation from Patrick McDonnell (Mutts) in his Introduction and via collector memory ‘Echoes of the King’ by Vincent Iadevaia. At the far end of the collection there’s a succinct biography and appreciation of Jack for those of you who don’t know him as well as we declining comics stalwarts do.

In between those points reside a torrent of those visual highpoints that served to introduce new and revolutionary ways of seeing and enjoying comic books. These collectively span cover-dates November 1961 to December 1964 as seen on The Avengers #1-11; Fantastic Four #1-33; Incredible Hulk #1-5; Journey into Mystery #83-111; Strange Tales #90, 101-127; Tales to Astonish #25, 27, 35-62; Tales of Suspense #39-56, 58-60; X-Men #1-8; Amazing Fantasy #15; Amazing Spider-Man #1; Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1-13; Daredevil # 1-4 plus Strange Tales Annual #2, Marvel Tales Annual #1, Fantastic Four Annuals #1-2, a few (far too few!) pre-Marvel genre covers including combat classic Battle #65, and a selection of monster book covers…

Inkers, colourists and letterers are not credited here, but that oversight is hopefully covered by us in the great big shopping list under the title…

Despite the too-tight brief – where are all the war, romance and particularly western and sci fi covers!? – this is a magnificent meander around the things that literally drew most of us into comics… that eye-grabbing first image. Jack Kirby was a master of electric storytelling, but he was also the god of the perfect moment and single pictures worth a thousand words. Look here and learn how and why…

© 2025 MARVEL.

Win’s First Christmas Gift Recommendation of the year!: Utter Acme of Visual Iconography… 9/10

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Mighty Thor Epic Collection volume 9: Even an Immortal Can Die (1977-1979)


By Len Wein, Roy Thomas, Roger Stern, Bill Mantlo, Don Glut, Don Thompson, Maggie Thompson, Walter Simonson, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Alan Kupperberg, Wayne Boring, Val Mayerik, Jim Starlin, Virgilio Redondo, Rudy Nebres, Tony DeZuñiga, Tom Palmer, Ernie Chan, Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson, Chic Stone, Pablo Marcos & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4868-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Once upon a time, disabled physician Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway, only to stumble into an alien invasion. Trapped in a cave, he found an ancient walking stick which, when struck against the ground, turned him into the Norse God of Thunder! Within moments, he was defending the weak and smiting the wicked. Months swiftly passed, with the Lord of Storms tackling rapacious extraterrestrials, Commie dictators, costumed crazies and cheap thugs, but these soon gave way to a vast kaleidoscope of fantastic worlds of incredible, mythic menaces, tackled by an ever-changing cast of stalwart immortal warriors at his side…

Whilst the ever-expanding Marvel Universe had grown ever-more interconnected as it matured through its first decade, with characters literally tripping over each other in New York City, the Asgardian heritage of Thor and the soaring imagination of Jack Kirby had most often drawn the Thunder God away from mortal realms into stunning, unique landscapes and scenarios.

However, by the time of this power-packed compendium, the King was long gone – or more accurately enacting his Second Coming – technically Third, and definitely Second Return to the House of (mostly his) Ideas – and only echoes of his groundbreaking presence remained. John Buscema had visually made the Thunder God his own over interceding years, whilst a succession of scripters had struggled with varying success to recapture the epic scope of Kirby’s vision and Stan Lee’s off-kilter but comfortingly compelling faux-Shakespearean verbiage…

Spanning June 1977 to February 1979, this power-packed compilation re-presents The Mighty Thor #260-280, Annuals #6 & 7 and Marvel Preview #10 in a panoply of unceasing stellar adventure spanning time and space and well-explored regions.

Previously, embattled Asgardians had survived another invasion only to learn their divine Liege Lord Odin had gone missing. Having exhausted every avenue of location available, son-&-heir Thor – prompted by vague hints from all-knowing but hostile spirit Mimir – departed to search distant galaxies for a “Doomsday Star” …

Aboard starfaring dragonship Starjammer, the Thunderer, Lady Sif and Warriors Three Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg (solar) sail off, leaving the beleaguered Eternal Realm under Balder the Brave’s stewardship, albeit ably assisted by his dark inamorata Karnilla the Norn Queen. Now in the wake of travail, torment and cruel misunderstanding, and accompanied by the Recorder (a Rigellian AI robot guide), ‘The Vicious and the Valiant’ sees the interstellar questors finally locate the Doomsday Star.

Scripted by writer/editor Len Wein with Walter Simonson (inked by Tony DeZuñiga) making his first major artistic contributions to the mythology, the interstellar quest’s end coincides with an attack on far-distant Asgard where Balder and Karnilla resist an invasion helmed by arch-traitors Enchantress and Executioner. As the voyagers strive to reach a hostile planet with a strict and extreme no-visitors policy, #261 expands the scope and intensifies the action as the questers falter before ‘The Wall Around the World!’ (inked by Ernie Chan): a terrifying global-scaled construct comprised of the power-drained husks of dead gods.

Resolute and determined the seekers push on, learning Odin has been captured and gradually diminished and consumed by energy-leeching “Soul-Survivors” whose civilisation subsists on stolen divine lifeforce. As they valiantly strive to save their sovereign, the roving Asgardians learn to their cost that ‘Even an Immortal Can Die!’ (#262, limned by Simonson & DeZuñiga).

Thankfully, ‘Holocaust and Homecoming!’ proves Odin both wily and still potent as the heroes’ ferocious clash and hard-won victory results in a weary, wounded pantheon returning to Asgard, only to find it taken over by Loki and his cohort of treacherous allies. With Odin in a coma – and ultimately abducted again – covert civil war erupts between the newly restored champions and the city citizens Loki has subverted. ‘Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me!’ sees the sinister scheme exposed, but not before Loki unleashes ultimate weapon The Destroyer against his adoptive brother…

Inked by Joe Sinnott, #265’s ‘When Falls the God of Thunder…!’ sees Loki losing control of his ultimate sanction, and once again, everyone survival hinges on the determination of Thor and his valiant resistance to chaos, until #266’s ‘…So Falls the Realm Eternal!’, where Wein, Simonson & DeZuñiga show the Thunderer at his indomitable best, holding Loki at bay and off balance until the Warriors Three rescue and revive an extremely unhappy All-Father…

This saga presaged a change of narrative focus but before that Roger Stern, Sal Buscema & Klaus Janson craft ‘Thunder in the 31st Century!’ (as first seen in Thor Annual #6 December 1977). A riot of time-busting mayhem commences with Thor plucked from contemporary Manhattan: accidentally summoned to the time period of the original/future (time travel tenses suck!) Guardians of the Galaxy by a cyborg maniac named Korvac. The immortal god-warrior briefly joins Vance Astro, Charlie 27, Yondu, Nikki, Martinex and Starhawk in bombastic battle against super-powered aliens to thwart the sinister cyborg’s scheme to become master of the universe. At the conclusion, Thor returns to his own place and time, unaware how Korvac would reshape the destiny of reality itself in coming months…

The collaborations of Wein and Simonson had already shaken the title out of its conceptual doldrums; as the big change approached they went into overdrive and an seemingly backward direction. After All-Father Odin was kidnapped, drained like a battery and died, he was rescued, resurrected and restored to an Asgard riven with conspiracies. Conquered by old enemies, Thor faced ultimate weapon The Destroyer before triumphantly saving everything. In #267 (January 1978, Wein, Simonson & DeZuñiga) we see the hero bound ‘Once More, To Midgard!’, following a rare moment of filial fondness rather than the usual arguments with Dad. Thor has been missing for quite some time and his absence has left Don Blake’s life in tatters until old colleague Dr. Jacob Wallaby arranges a job with Stark International’s Free Clinic. That good deed leads to more chaos as deranged super-criminal Damocles ruthlessly raids the hospital’s radiation lab in search of synthetic cobalt to power his new super-gun. Before Blake can react, the smash-&-grab attack is done, leaving furious Thor to pursue the murderous madman, aided by Damocles’ guilt-fuelled sibling Bennett Barlow. He pays a heavy price for his civic service in concluding clash ‘Death, Thy Name is Brother!’

The concentration on Earthly scale and situations continues in #269 as ‘A Walk on the Wild Side!’ sees a mysterious mastermind contract mechanistic mercenary Stilt-Man to secure a certain high-tech package. A raft of deadly upgrades prove pointless after the Thunderer stumbles upon the heist in the skies over Manhattan, but Thor has far more trouble facing the plotter’s power-packed partner Blastaar in middle chapter ‘Minute of Madness… Dark Day of Doom!’

The triptych of terror terminates in Thor #271 as, with the aid of Tony Stark, Nick Fury (I), S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers, the Storm Lord meets the true architect of destruction and imminent global domination in orbit ‘…Like a Diamond in the Sky!’ This epic includes cameos from Shang-Chi, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Human Torch, Nova, Daredevil and many more Marvel stalwarts; serving as a big celebratory send-off for Wein & Simonson, whilst signalling a major change of direction.

Mighty Thor #272 saw the return of Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Tom Palmer depicting ‘The Day the Thunder Failed!’ as the hero shares moments of humiliating childhood defeat with a crowd of fannish kids. The incidents were all adapted from classical mythology and served as an appetiser to a mega-saga in the making, with TV reporter Harris Hobbs (who visited Asgard way back in Journey into Mystery #123) making Thor an offer he cannot help but refuse…

Still channelling tales from the Eddas – specifically about how Ragnarok would end the reign of the Aesir/Asgardians – #273 is set ‘Somewhere… Over the Rainbow Bridge!’ Although the journalist’s pleas to film a TV special in the Home of the Gods is sternly rebuked and rejected, wicked Loki has his own plans and smuggles in Harris and his film crew, triggering the beginning of the long-prophesied end…

If you haven’t actually read the original myths, go do that. It will make you appreciate these clever riffs on the theme so much more as the secret history of Asgard and Odin’s plots are exposed in #274. With Loki on the loose, the story of how the All-Father sacrificed his eye to fiery seer Mimir for knowledge of the future is revealed, as are the dirty bargains Odin made to forestall inevitable, inescapable doom. As Sif leads home the long-missing goddesses of Asgard, mortal cameraman Roger “Red” Norvell beholds the Thunder God’s raven-haired beloved and is gripped by uncontrollable desire. Another prerequisite of The End then occurs as Loki orchestrates Balder’s death in ‘The Eye… and the Arrow!’…

In #275 ‘A Balance is Struck!’ when Odin uses all his power to suspend the dying God of Light in a timeless state, pausing the Ragnarok countdown. Loki, meanwhile, uses ancient spells and his adoptive brother’s Belt of Strength and Iron Gloves (created when the Prince was a child to help control and wield mighty Mjolnir) to become a new, very different Thor. The newcomer even seizes the mystic hammer from its enraged rightful owner as he beats the thunder god and abducts Sif, declaring in #276 ‘Mine… This Hammer!’

Red is barely aware he has killed his best friend for power. Loki and Death Goddess Hela rouse all Asgard’s enemies to march on their hated foes as ‘Time of the Trolls!’ seems to indicate doomsday has finally fallen. However, the forces of evil are not the only devious schemers with an endgame in view, and a monstrous plan is exposed whereby the All-Father seems to cheat the powers of prophecy and trick Ragnarok by creating a false Thor to die in place of Asgard’s true saviour. All it required was timing, boldness and a few necessary sacrifices…

With veteran Thor inker Chic Stone applying his stylish lines, #278 heralds ‘At Long Last… Ragnarok?!’ as all plots and perils converge with reality – the Nine Realms portion of it at least – battling fate to a draw as the apocalypse is deferred a while longer… but only after another tragic, valiant and ultimately futile demise. In the aftermath, the trueborn Odinson cannot abide what has been done in his name and sunders all contact with his scheming sire.

The split is genesis to an even more momentous and spectacular saga postponed here for a crucial sidebar seen in Thor Annual #7 (1978) wherein Thomas, Simonson & Ernie Chan here detail a forgotten “first contact” moment triggered by the reactions to Balder’s “death” due to Loki’s machinations to trigger Ragnarok. When Thor reluctantly consults hostile prophet Mimir, the flaming seer of the Well of Wisdom instead emphasises how untrustworthy Odin is and illustrates his point by sharing of an event the Thunderer cannot remember even though it was one of his most significant exploits…

Tale within a tale ‘And Ever… The Eternals!’ reviews the creation of and war between Asgardian and Greek pantheons – which Thor readily recalled – before going on to disclose how the proud prince had continued seeking new mortal worshippers. Roaming Midgard doing heroic deeds, he had encountered and barely defeated a monstrous mind-controlling horror dubbed Dromedan. Moving on, in what would be later called Central America, he meets another – unsuspected – god-like race: Polar Eternals Ajak, Druig, Valkin and Virako.

Thor then reexperiences how he was informed that Midgard was a laboratory preserve of incredible super-gods from space: “Celestials” who had genetically modified proto-hominids to create humanity, Eternals and horrific predatory Deviants. These subspecies had battled for ownership of Earth in wars spanning the length of human existence…

Confronted by such sheer heresy and baffled by obvious nonsense, Thor learns now that his new friends were as treacherous as any god or mortal, with all knowledge of Celestials excised after he and the Eternals defeated a resurgent Dromedan and horde of Deviants and Mutates. Mindwiped, he returned to Asgard, oblivious to the fact that Space Gods would periodically return to judge the progress of their three-pronged project… as indeed they were doing at that very moment under a colossal gleaming dome in Earth’s Andes mountains…

When Kirby’s series debuted in 1976, we met anthropologist Professor Daniel Damien and daughter Margo, whose explorations revealed giant aliens had visited Earth in ages past: sculpting hominid beasts into distinct sentient species: Human Beings; genetically unstable Deviants and god-like superbeings who called themselves Eternals. Moreover, those Space Gods had occasionally returned to check up on their experiment.

Over 19 issues and an Annual, the series avoided true contact with Marvel continuity as modern mankind’s military and moneyed movers-&-shakers dealt with the politics and panic of a world-shattering event. Ikaris (son of Valkin and Virako), Margo, Ajak, Sersi, Makkari, Zuras, Thena, Sprite and Druig fought and foiled Deviants Kro, Brother Tode, Dromedan, Ransak & Karkas, with humanity terrified in the background and under the microscope as The Fourth Host of Celestials hovered above the world in a city-sized ship, pondering final judgement: a process that would take 50 years.

Never a comfortable fit with the rest of the Marvel Universe – only S.H.I.E.L.D. ever really got involved – The Eternals further embodied Kirby’s fascination with Deities, the immensity of Space and potential of Supernature through the lens of very human observers. Once the series ended, Kirby moved on and other creators eagerly co-opted his concepts (with mixed success) into the company’s mainstream continuity…

In Mighty Thor #279 (cover-dated January 1978) the new quest is briefly diverted as Don Glut, Alan Kupperberg & Pablo Marcos detail how the Thunderer’s latest exile to Earth prompts more reminiscing and “untold tale” ‘A Hammer in Hades!’ Long ago, a chance encounter with pre-goddess first love Jane Foster led to her imprisonment in the underworld and Thor flew right into an ambush organised by Loki, Grecian death god Pluto and super-troll Ulik, but still proved more than even that trio of terror could handle…

Still preparing to confront the relatively undiscovered Fourth Host, Thor is again forestalled in #280 where Thomas, Wayne Boring & Tom Palmer pastiche DC’s Annual JLA/JSA summer team-ups with ‘Crisis on Twin Earths!’ after Superman-analogue Mark Milton/ Hyperion of the Squadron Supreme requests Thor’s assistance on his own alternate Earth. Sadly, the evil Hyperion of the Squadron Sinister manages to replace his goody-goody doppelganger and a shattering battle erupts before order and dimensional stability is restored…

This titanic tome ends on a rare treat stemming from the period’s growing love-affair with fighting fantasy. Cover-dated Winter 1977, Marvel Preview #10 was a monochrome magazine in Marvel’s mature-oriented line: free of Comics Code scrutiny and (ostensibly) the strictures of shared continuity. Although MP was an anthology/showcase title, other periodicals in the Marvel Magazine Group included off-kilter features like Howard the Duck, Rampaging Hulk and Tomb of Dracula.

Thor the Mighty almost joined that elite roster in 1975, and nearly three full issues were prepared for a barbarian Thunder God vehicle before the plug was pulled. As a result, much material was sitting in drawers when the decision came to use one lead tale and a thematic back-up in the try-out title. Another story had already been modified and published as Thor Annual #5 (for which see Marvel Masterworks Thor #15)…

Behind a painted Ken Barr cover, frontispiece by Jim Starlin and illustration plates from Virgilio Redondo and Rudy Nebres, ‘Thor the Mighty!’ was scripted by Wein, and rendered by Starlin & DeZuñiga, telling of a time long past when Odin sent his rowdy sons Thor and Loki on a quest to secure a mystic Crystal of Blood threatening to erase all existence. The mission pitted his sons against seductive sorceresses, trolls ogres, giants, dragons and – as ever – each other…

The lusty yarn was backed up by an exploit of Hercules The Prince of Power when he was still half-human and sailing with Jason as an Argonaut. Here, courtesy of Bill Mantlo & Val Mayerik, the shipmates faced constant, mythologically-tinged peril on ‘The Isle of Fear!’ – but nothing like the political intrigue engineered by corrupt sponsor King Kreon of Pylos…

Following a Nebres pinup and never attained next issue ad, a bonus section offers the letters page editorial from Thor #272, Thomas’ editorial from Thor Annual #7, the cover to Marvel Index #5 by Tom Conrad, the Franc Reyes Contents page and contemporary house ads.

The tales gathered here may lack the sheer punch and verve of the early years but certainly prove that after too long calcified, the Thunder God was again moving to the forefront of Big Idea Comics Storytelling. Fans of ferocious Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy will find this tome stuffed with intrigue and action, magnificently rendered by artists dedicated to making new legends. This a definite must-read for all fans of the character and the genre.
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