Category: Iron Man

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Invincible Iron Man Epic Collection volume 7 (1976-1978): Ten Rings to Rule the World


By Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway, Herb Trimpe, Roger Stern, George Tuska, Keith Pollard, Keith Giffen, Carmine Infantino, Jeff Aclin, Mike Esposito, Don Perlin, Jack Abel, Fred Kida, Alfredo Alcala, Rudy Nebres, Bruce Patterson, Josef Rubinstein, Bob Wiacek, Pablo Marcos, Don Newton & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-6059-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Arch-technocrat and supreme survivor Tony Stark has changed profile and rebuilt himself many times since debuting in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963). There and then, as a VIP visitor to Vietnam assessing the efficacy of munitions he had designed, the inventor was critically wounded and captured by sinister, savage Communists. Put to work building weapons with the dubious promise of medical assistance upon completion, Stark instead crafted the first of innumerable technologically-augmented protective suits to keep himself alive and deliver him from his oppressors. From there it was a simple – transistor-powered – jump to full time superheroics as a modern Knight in Shining Armour…

Conceived after the Cuban Missile Crisis at a time when Western economies were booming and “Commie-bashing” was America’s obsession, a dashing new Thomas Edison employing Yankee ingenuity, wealth and invention to safeguard the Land of the Free and better the World seemed an obvious development. Combining then-sacrosanct faith that technology and business in unison could solve any problem, with the universal imagery of noble knights battling evil, Stark – the Invincible Iron Man – seemed an infallibly successful proposition.

Of course, whilst he was the acceptable face of 1960s Capitalism – a glamorous, benevolent, rich, technocratic and all-conquering hero when clad in super-scientific armour – the turbulent tone of the 1970s soon relegated his suave, “can-do” image to the dustbin of history. With ecological disaster and social catastrophe from myriad big business abuses new zeitgeists of the young, the Golden Avenger and Stark International were soon confronting some tricky questions from an increasingly politically savvy readership.

With glamour, money and fancy gadgetry not quite so cool anymore the questing voices of a new generation of writers began posing uncomfortable questions in the pages of a series that was once a bastion of militarised America. Collectively accommodating cover-dates November 1976 to October 1978, this Epic chronological epistle completes that transitional period, reprinting Iron Man #92-114, plus Annual #4 and a guest yarn from Marvel Premiere #44 as Bill Mantlo’s passionate writing triggered a minor renaissance in the Steel Sentinel’s chrome-plated chronicles that resulted in some of the best stories of the Eighties era. It also returned Iron Man to the top-rank of Marvel stars.

If you’re a fan thanks to the movie interpretation, that iteration starts right here, right now…

The mettle majesty opens with manic menace The Melter who soon regrets an ill-advised grudge rematch in ‘Burn, Hero… Burn!’ (Gerry Conway, George Tuska & Jack Abel) before Herb Trimpe returns to plot and pencil Iron Man #93. Pitting Old Shellhead against a British-based modern-day pirate in ‘Kraken Kills’ (Conway script & Abel inks), the self-declared Commander deduces Stark’s secret identity before blackmailing the inventor into building weapons for his super-submarine fleet. Never at a loss, though, Stark turns the tables, sparking ‘Frenzy at Fifty Fathoms!’ to scupper the madman’s plans…

Invincible Iron Man Annual #4 (August 1977) offers an all-action alliance with newly constituted super-team The Champions by Mantlo, Tuska & inker Don Perlin. When psychic assassin M.O.D.O.K. overwhelms the Golden Avenger, Iron Man calls in old allies Black Widow and Hercules (plus teammates Ghost Rider, Iceman, Darkstar and The Angel) to thwart ‘The Doomsday Connection!’

Also from that issue comes an out-of-place martial arts vignette by Roger Stern, Jeff Aclin & Don Newton. ‘Death Lair!’ stars former Master of Kung Fu villain Midnight on a mission of murder against old Iron Man enemy Half-Face…

The regular monthly climb to reclaimed pole position resumes with veteran Iron Man artist Tuska joining plotter Conway, scripter Mantlo and inker Perlin in unleashing giant android ‘Ultimo!’ (IM #95, cover-dated February 1977) against Washington DC. Clad in upgraded armour and in the Capitol to answer congressional questions about his company, Stark is targeted by a vengeful hidden nemesis who activates the mountainous monster for a classic B-movie sci fi rampage in the streets, with the Golden Avenger supplementing hard pressed Army and National Guard units… before falling in ignominious defeat due to sabotage…

Mantlo, Tuska & Abel prove you can’t keep a good Iron Man down as the embattled hero rallies and retaliates in ‘Only a Friend Can Save Him’ as former close ally and dutiful S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell joins the counterattack. Meanwhile, a long-simmering plotline advances as NYPD detective Michael O’Brien – who holds Stark responsible and accountable for the death of his brother Kevin – finally allows his obsession with a cover-up to pull him across legal lines and into collusion with shady PI Harry Key, whose latest client also has nasty plans for the playboy inventor…

Thanks to ingenuity and sheer guts, Stillwell & Iron Man seemingly destroy Ultimo deep below DC, but their triumph is short lived as a return to Stark’s Long Island factory provokes a ‘Showdown with the Guardsman!’ (Conway, Mantlo, Tuska & Perlin). When Mike takes PA Krissy Longfellow hostage, steals the armour suit that drove his brother insane and ambushes the Golden Avenger wearing it, the clash is swift and brutal. Thankfully this time, the blockbusting battle ends before another good man dies…

Whilst subsequently treating O’Brien, another distraction comes when an old frenemy attacks the facility and US interventionist economic practises. ‘Sunfire Strikes Again!’ sees the Japanese ultra-nationalist mutant warrior again seek to derail progress, unaware that he’s a pawn of the lurking presence gunning for Stark. However, the harried hero’s problems start with the fact that his greatest weapon is offline and he’s fighting in borrowed Guardsman armour. When the conflict frees imprisoned Michael O’Brien, the cop seeks to make amends by joining the battle in an obsolete Iron Man outfit, but – even with Mike Esposito inking – the new allies rapidly find themselves ‘At the Mercy of the Mandarin!’

During the melee, Key tries his luck in the Stark vaults once too often and encounters an unexpected problem, thanks to another insidious infiltrator planted by a different scheming mastermind. However, having freed himself, Tony is too now busy rushing to a far-distant, potentially world-ending final battle in anniversary issue #100. Invading China, Iron Man faces horrors, homunculi Death Squads, nuclear armageddon and his most obsessive enemy whose ‘Ten Rings to Rule the World!’ ultimately prove insufficient to the task…

With the tyrant’s countless plots to discredit Stark now exposed, our hero starts a long journey home, even as in Long Island, Harry Key, Sitwell and one of the traitors in Stark’s midst begin a cautious espionage dance…

Iron Man’s trip stalls when he’s shot down over Yugoslavia (just google it) and awakens in a creepy old castle filled with freaks and outcasts safeguarded by a familiar – to elderly or dedicated Marvelites at least – huge and daunting figure. Recovering in ‘Then Came the Monster!’ our weary voyager views Castle Frankenstein and panics: clashing with the gentle “Modern Prometheus” before the real menace emerges.

Inked by Esposito & Pablo Marcos, ‘Dreadknight and the Daughter of Creation!’ channels old Marvel horror tales as a brutal and brutalised escaped experiment of Doctor Doom’s laboratories seeks to compel the great granddaughter of Victor Frankenstein to share with him the secrets of creating life…

This ruthless high-tech paladin’s sadistic efforts are eventually thwarted by Iron Man and the original (good) Monster, after which the Steel-Shod Sentinel at last arrives home in #103’s ‘Run for the Money!’ by Mantlo, Tuska & Esposito. Sadly, it’s just in time for the next domestic crisis as Sitwell exposes the traitor only to be captured by revolting corporate villain Midas, who – patience exhausted – launches a truly hostile takeover using tanks, mercenaries, lawyers and the Stock Market…

He is temporarily checked by itinerant junior hero/innocent bystander Jack of Hearts who – as per standard Marvel protocol – is attacked by weary, late arriving Iron Man who misconstrues events and assaults the well-meaning stranger. Shock follows shock as Midas’ legal chicanery forces Iron Man’s surrender, ceding control of Stark International to his enemy, even as the villain’s agent and top lieutenant Madame Masque quits to ally herself with the defeated hero and his ousted, outmanoeuvred alter ego Tony Stark.

In the aftermath, repercussions of the takeover ripple outwards. With Stark no longer paying her bill, deeply disturbed super-telepath (and former Stark inamorata) Marianne Rodgers is kicked out of the sanatorium that has been keeping her psionic deadly tendencies in check…

The fightback begins in ‘Triad! (Mantlo, Tuska & Esposito) after Stark initially refuses the help of Masque. Thus she instead allies with former lover/patsy Sitwell whilst elsewhere, interested parties Michael O’Brien and Jack of Hearts also seek to stop Midas converting Stark’s purloined resources into a world-conquering armed force. Also heading slowly towards a showdown, Marianne graduates towards Long Island, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake…

With ‘Every Hand Against Him!’ and despite the stakes being so high, Tony has quit forever, preferring to hide in his father’s old house with Madame Masque. Less sanguine over the crisis and National Security threat, many of Iron Man’s allies join a volunteer force recruited by psychic superhero The Wraith and eventually consisting of Police Captain Jean de Wolf, former Iron Man stand-in Eddie March, The Guardsman & Jack of Hearts, covertly backed up by Sitwell and (the first) Nick Fury…

Still short of power, they co-opt through blackmail, Masque’s lethal skills and Tony’s last remaining armour suit to take out Midas. ‘Then There Came a War!’ (#106) sees the squad invade SI to face a legion of automated Iron Men. At the height of battle Marianne Rodgers – in a fugue state – finally reaches her destination. As Keith Pollard & Fred Kida step in to illustrate the catastrophic conclusion, ‘And, in the End…’ sees her power tip the scales, uncovering even more treachery in Tony’s inner circle and inspiring the despondent hero to take back his heritage, his company and his honour…

With most of his allies apparently dead, Iron Man calls in Avenging ally Yellowjacket (AKA original Ant-Man Henry Pym) to help whip up a miracle cure in #108 (Mantlo, Carmine Infantino & Bob Wiacek). This incurs some ‘Growing Pains!’ and a palate-cleansing action-filled monster-bash as the clear-up somehow reactivates Kang the Conqueror’s devastating Growing Man android to add to the wreckage and rubble…

Once the fighting is finished, rebuilding Stark International begins, with Mantlo, Infantino & Kida dictating the pace prior to another crisis after Jack of Hearts traces the Growing Man’s programming commands as emanating from Luna. Thus Iron Man and his superhero apprentice board a Quinjet and experiences a very painful ‘Moonrise!’ when their mission intersects a secret sortie by Soviet Super-soldiers Darkstar, Vanguard & Crimson Dynamo. The Communist cosmonauts are only investigating a bizarre alien artefact, but entrenched political and personal animosities spark a savage clash. Both sides are preoccupied when the silver egg activates, transporting those closest to it – the Americans – to somewhere far, far away…

Mantlo, Pollard & Kida stretch their fantasy muscles in an astral epic as the heroes materialise aboard a vast ship bearing Colonizers of Rigel to their next conquest. Sadly, these ‘Sojourners Through Space!’ have targeted Wundagore II – used by animal-enhancing man-made deity the High Evolutionary to store former experiments – and are soon caught up in a battle against formidable space Knights of Wundagore and two devastating late-arriving, quickly escaping human captives within their colossal Command ship…

When an alliance of humans and hyper-evolved Earth beasts proves too costly, the Rigellian venture is called off in ‘The Man, the Metal, and the Mayhem!’  but this in turn leads to renegade Colonizer subcommander Arcturus spitefully targeting Earth with a robot stolen from Galactus (the original Punisher from Fantastic Four #48-50). Upon its despatch, closing instalment ‘Moon Wars!’ (IM #112, July 1978 by Mantlo, Pollard & Alfredo Alcala) sees a swift, unauthorised Colonizer strike prompt a desperate dash back to Luna and shattering descent to Detroit for Iron Man, resulting in blistering battle with the cosmic weapon of chastisement and a new definition of the word “invincible” for the triumphant Golden Avenger…

With Mantlo scripting, Pollard layout pages and Trimpe’s pencilling for inker Josef Rubinstein, Iron Man #113 trumpeted a fresh beginning for Stark International after defeating the bloody takeover bid of Mr Midas. However, as the new complex opened for business, an old enemy is already infiltrating the company whilst a more brazen assault comes after a dying foe is manipulated into attacking the complex using ‘The Horn of the Unicorn!’

Seeking help for the beaten-and-at-death’s door Unicorn, the Metal Marvel consults The Avengers and inadvertently triggers a second assault by the villain who also activates a long-interred robotic threat that seems agonisingly familiar in ‘The Menace of… Arsenal!’ (Mantlo, Giffen & Bruce D. Patterson) leading to a turning point moment you’ll need the next book or another collection to enjoy…

To Be Continued…

Here, however, one last narrative nubbin comes from Marvel Premiere #44 (October 1978): the one-shot try-out of Stark’s former apprentice, by Mantlo, Giffen & Rudy Nebres). ‘The Jack of Hearts!’ reexamines the origin of trust fund brat Jack Hart, who was inundated in the experimental “zero fluid” invented by his murdered father. Seemingly resurrected and imbued with incredible energy and computational powers, Jack hunts The Corporation who ordered the hit and here – thanks to new connection in S.H.I.E.L.D. – inconclusively clashes with their preferred hitman Hemlock…

With covers throughout by Jack Kirby, Al Milgrom, Abel, Ron Wilson, Dan Adkins, Gil Kane, Dave Cockrum, Sal Buscema, Jim Starlin, Val Mayerik, George Pérez, Terry Austin, Frank Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, Joe Rubinstein, John Byrne, Wiacek, Pollard, John Romta Jr., Ed Hannigan & Frank Giacoia, other extras include house ads, cartoon fan letter ‘Printed Circuits’ (by Fred Hembeck from #112); editorial pages and style sheets from Marvel Premiere #44 and original art covers by Starlin, Mayerik & Cockrum.

From our distant vantage point the polemical energy and impact might be dissipated, but the sheer quality of the comics and cool thrill of the eternal aspiration of man in perfect partnership with magic metal remains. These Fights ‘n’ Tights classics are amongst the most underrated but impressive tales of the period and are well worth your time, consideration and cold hard cash
© 2025 MARVEL.

You’d think we barely have room for a review this time as it’s such an auspicious day for comics…

In 1912 today creepy cartoon colossus Charles Addams was born, and in 1929 both Buck Rogers by Dick Calkins and Hal Foster’s Tarzan strips debuted. In 1934 Alex Raymond & Don Moore launched Jungle Jim and a year later combined it with new idea Flash Gordon.

Underground and Mad magazine artist Jay Lynch was born in 1945 and two years later Milton Caniff premiered his other masterpiece with the launch of Steve Canyon. That ran until 1988.

In 1953, Bob Wiacek joined the party as did Karl Kesel in 1959, and publisher Fabrice Giger (Les Humanoïdes Associés) arrived in 1965. Surely by coincidence, two years after, that nativity was followed by the launch of Greg & Eddie Paape’s Luc Orient in Le Journal de Tintin.

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Marvel Comic Annual 1969


By Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, Bill Everett, Don Heck, Chic Stone, Dick Ayers, Mick Anglo Studios & various (World Distributors, Ltd.)
No ISBN ASIN: B001G8UJME

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

When Stan Lee rejuvenated the US comic-book industry in the early 1960s, his biggest advantage wasn’t the small but superb talent pool available, but rather a canny sense of marketing and promotion. DC, Dell/Gold Key and Charlton all had limited overseas licenses (usually in dedicated black-and-white anthologies like the much beloved Alan Class Comics such as Suspense) but Lee – or his business managers – went further, sanctioning Marvel’s revolutionary early efforts in regular British weeklies like Pow!, Wham!, Smash! and even the venerable Eagle. There were two wholly Marvel-ised papers, Fantastic! & Terrific! which ran from 1967 to 1968. These featured a plethora of key Marvel properties, and, appearing every seven days, soon exhausted the back catalogue of the company.

After years being a guest in other publications Marvel finally secured their own UK Annuals through World Distributors’ publishing arm and packaged courtesy of jobbing comics content outfit Mick Anglo Studios. This sparkling collection is one of the very best. Completely absent are the text pieces, quizzes and game pages that filled out British Christmas books, replaced with cover-to-cover superhero action mimicking the emergent House of Ideas at the very peak of their creative powers. It even includes a few almost Golden Age classics. Moreover it’s in full colour throughout – almost unheard of at the time.

A closer look by Marvel scholars would ascertain that all of the strips published here were actually taken from the wonderful 25¢ giants (Marvel Tales, Marvel Collector’s Item Classics and Marvel Superheroes) released during the preceding year, perfectly portioned out to fit into a book intended for a primarily new and young audience.

Behind the delightful painted cover the enchantment commences with a John Romita drawn Captain America tale from 1954, as the Sentinel of Liberty & Bucky lay waste to a scurvy gang of Red Chinese dope smugglers in ‘Cargo of Death’, followed by a spectacular Thor saga from Lee, Jack Kirby & Chic Stone as the Thunder God tackled ‘The Cobra and Mr. Hyde’, complete with cameo from the mighty Avengers.

The first of two Hulk shorts comes next, another Commie-busting classic with sci-fi overtones. Lee, Kirby & Dick Ayers’s ‘The Gladiator from Outer Space’ is a terrific all-action mini-blockbuster, perfectly complimented by Lee & Steve Ditko’s sinister crime shocker wherein Spider-Man is trapped between ‘The Goblin and the Gangsters!’

Unsung genius Bill Everett provided a brace of sublime Sub-Mariner tales, both from the fabulous 1950s. The secret origin saga ‘Wings on his Feet’ is the first and undeniable best of these, his magical line-work wonderfully enhanced by a bold colour palette and the crisp white paper stock of this comfortingly sturdy tome.

He’s followed by a masterful clash of titans as ‘Iron Man Faces Hawkeye the Marksman’ (Lee & Don Heck) before ‘The Hulk Triumphant’ (concluding chapter of the very first appearance wherein the Green Goliath ends the menace of Soviet mutation The Gargoyle)/ The book then closes with another enthralling Everett Sub-Mariner epic as the Prince of Atlantis defeats mad scientists and monsters ‘On a Mission of Vengeance!’

These oft-reprinted tales have never looked better than on the 96 reassuringly stout pages here: bold heroes and dastardly villains running riot and forever changing the sensibilities of a staid nation’s unsuspecting children. Magic, utterly Marvellous Magic!
© 1969 Perfect Film & Chemical Corporation, Marvel Comics Group. All rights reserved.

Today is pretty auspicious for births! In 1893 Robert Ripley (Ripley’s Believe It or Not!) was whelped, as was Red Ryder co-creator Stephen Slesinger in 1907, whilst Tarzan maestro and educational powerhouse Burne Hogarth showed up in 1911. Two years after that, Elliot Caplin (The Heart of Juliet Jones & Abbie an’ Slats) joined the party, whilst in 1920 Letterer Joe Rosen who lettered all the other Marvel classic stories was born.

Season’s Greetings, Boys, Girls and especially those Still Thinking About It!

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Man-Thing Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Steve Gerber, Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Gerry Conway, Val Mayerik, Gray Morrow, Rich Buckler, John Buscema, Neal Adams, Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Gil Kane, Dan Adkins, Jim Mooney, Frank Bolle, Chic Stone, Frank McLaughlin, Sal Trapani, Joe Sinnott, Frank Brunner, Mike Ploog & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5547-2 (HB/digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. This book also includes some Discriminatory Content included for dramatic and literary effect.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless, Remorseless, Evergreen Scary Stuff to Make You Think… 9/10

At the end of the 1960s American comic books were in turmoil, much like the youth of the nation they targeted. Superheroes had dominated for much of the decade; peaking globally before explosively falling to ennui and overkill. Older genres such as horror, westerns and science fiction returned, fed by radical trends in movie-making, where the kids who had grown up with Marvel now fulfilled the bulk of their young adult entertainment needs.

Inspiration isn’t everything. In fact as Marvel slowly grew to a position of market dominance in the wake of the 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 hasty hyper-generation of multiple horror titles in response to the industry down-turn in super-hero sales – a move vastly expedited by a rapid revision in the wordings of the increasingly ineffectual Comics Code Authority rules.

The switch to supernatural stars had many benefits. Crucially it brought a new readership to Marvel comics, one attuned to the global revival in spiritualism, Satanism and all things sinisterly spooky. Almost as important, it gave the reprint-crazy company an opportunity to finally recycle old 1950s horror stories that had been rendered unprintable and useless since the Code’s inception in 1954.

A scant 15 years later the Comics Code prohibition against horror was hastily rewritten – amazing how plunging sales can affect ethics – and scary comics came back in a big way with a new crop of supernatural heroes and monsters popping up on the newsstands to supplement the ghosts, ghoulies and goblins already infiltrating the once science-only scenarios of the surviving mystery men titles. In fact lifting of the Code ban resulted in such an en masse creation of horror titles (both new characters and reprints from the massive boom of the early 1950s) that it probably caused a few more venerable costumed crusaders to (temporarily, at least) bite the dust.

Almost overnight nasty monsters (and narcotics – but that’s another story) became acceptable fare on four-colour pages and whilst a parade of pre-code reprints made sound business sense, the creative aspect of the contemporary buzz for bizarre themes was catered to by adapting popular cultural icons before risking whole new concepts on an untested public. As always in entertainment, the watch-world was fashion: what was hitting big outside comics was to be incorporated into the mix as soon as possible.

The first fan-sensation of the modern era, (now officially enshrined as the Bronze Age of US comic books) Swamp Thing had powerful popular fiction antecedents and in 1972 it was seemingly a concept whose time had come again. Prime evidence was the fact that Marvel were also working on a man-into-mucky, muddy mess character at the very same time. Both Swampy and the Macabre Man-Thing were thematic revisions of Theodore Sturgeon’s classic novella It, and bore notable resemblances to a hugely popular Hillman Comics star dubbed The Heap.

He/it sloshed through the back of Airboy Comics (née Air Fighters Comics) from 1943 until the end of the Golden Age, and my fanboy radar suspects Roy Thomas’ marsh-monster The Glob (Incredible Hulk #121-November 1969 & #129-June 1970) either inspired both DC and Marvel’s creative teams, or was part of that same zeitgeist. It must also be remembered that in the autumn of 1971 Skywald – a very minor player with big aspirations – released a monochrome magazine in their Warren knock-off line entitled The Heap.

For whatever reason, by the end of the 1960s superhero comics were in another steep sales decline, again succumbing to a genre boom led by a horror/mystery resurgence. A swift rewriting of the Comics Code Authority augmented the changeover and at National/DC, veteran EC comics star Joe Orlando became editor of House of Mystery and sister title House of Secrets. These were short story anthologies embracing gothic mystery scenarios, taking their lead from TV triumphs like Twilight Zone and Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, but a horror themed lead meant a focus on character not plot, tragedy and empathy over twist endings and most precious of all, continuity…

No one was expecting satire and social commentary but that came along for the ride too!

Remarkably soon after the Comics Code prohibition against horror being amended, scary comics returned in force and a fresh crop of supernatural superheroes and monsters began appearing on newsstands to supplement the ghosts, ghoulies and goblins already infiltrating the once science-only scenarios of the surviving Fights ‘n’ Tights titles.

In fact, the lifting of the Code ban resulted in such an avalanche of horror titles in response to the industry-wide downturn in superhero sales, that it probably caused a few more venerable costumed crusaders to – albeit temporarily – bite the dust.

When proto-horror Morbius, the Living Vampire debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (cover-dated October 1971) and the sky failed to fall in, Marvel moved ahead with a line of shocking superstars. They began with a traditional werewolf and a vampire before chancing something new: a haunted biker who tapped into both Easy Rider’s freewheeling motorcycling chic and the prevailing supernatural zeitgeist: the all-new Ghost Rider (in Marvel Spotlight #5, August 1972). He had been preceded by western hero Red Wolf in #1 and the aforementioned Werewolf by Night in #2-4. From these beginnings spooky floodgates opened to such an extent there was even room for non-white stars like The Living Mummy and ultimately today’s star turn…

This quirky compendium collects the earliest exploits of Marvel’s muck monster, and not at all coincidentally traces the rise of a unique comics voice. Steve Gerber was a sublimely gifted writer with a ferocious social conscience who combined a deep love of Marvel’s continuity minutiae with dark irrepressible wit, incisive introspection, barbed cultural criticism, a barely reigned-in imagination and boundless bizarre surrealism. His stories were always at the extreme edge of the company’s intellectual canon and never failed to deliver surprise and satisfaction, especially when he couched his sardonic sorties as thinly veiled attacks on burgeoning cultural homogenisation and commercial barbarity. Via material from Savage Tales #1, Astonishing Tales, #12-13, Adventure into Fear #10-19, The Man-Thing #1 & Marvel Two-In-One #1 (communally spanning May 1971 to January 1974) we’ll see how Marvel increasing became the voice of a lost and dissatisfied liberality…

The revolution begins after an erudite Introduction by authorial everyman Steve Orlando (Scarlet Witch, Wonder Woman, Ben 10, Heavy Metal Magazine), before we trudge back to very different times and the beginning of a new kind of comics experience and Marvel’s continued experiments with the monochrome, mature reader marketplace…

Ranged amidst the grittier-than-usual adult-oriented material (that meant partial nudity and more explicit violence back then) Savage Tales #1 (cover-dated May 1971) was a mixed bag of sword & sorcery, sci fi, crime and horror stories featuring Conan, Ka-Zar and more. That line-up included a powerfully enthralling horror yarn entitled ‘Man Thing!’ Scripted by Gerry Conway & Roy Thomas, it offered a fairly traditional spooky story elevated to sublime heights by Gray Morrow’s artwork. It related how government biochemist Ted Sallis was hiding out in the swamps whilst finishing a new/recreated iteration of the much-prized Super-soldier formula that had created Captain America…

Sadly, his live-in lover Ellen is an agent for the opposition and when she and her minions made a play for the formula, Ted is wounded and flees into the murky mire. To preserve the only sample of his life’s work, the desperate, possibly dying boffin injects himself with it… and the bog mingles with the mix to spawn something tragic and uncanny…

Barely conscious or sentient, a shambling muck-monster emerges, apparently set on justice or vengeance…

Savage Tales was not a success and who knows how many manic Marvelites actually saw the anthology, but creators are stubborn brutes who can’t let things lie, so some months later the muck monster shambled back via a tenuous mainstream comic book connection…

Cover-dated June 1972, Astonishing Tales #12 sees the Savage Land’s self-appointed Sovereign Ka-Zar – and morphologically unsubstantiated primaeval saber-cat Zabu – abruptly relocating to Florida in pursuit of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbra “Bobbi” Morse only to find that ‘Terror Stalks the Everglades!’ Here Thomas, John Buscema & Dan Adkins deftly recast the Jungle King as a freelance “consultant” for the superspy network, assisting aging biologist Dr. Wilma Calvin – who just happens to be Morse’s mentor – in tracking down a missing scientist named Ted Sallis.

What Ka-Zar doesn’t know is that the project all of them are working on is the recreation of the super-soldier serum that created Captain America and what nobody (technically) alive knows is that Sallis succeeded before he vanished. However, when Advanced Idea Mechanic agents tried to steal it. Sallis had injected himself and the chemicals reacted with the swamp’s magical energies to create a mindless shambling monster.

Readers are clued in thanks to a lovely unused interlude intended for Savage Tales #2, with Wein & Neal Adams providing a chilling recap sequence detailing the macabre Man-Thing’s previous relationship with Calvin, before back in the now, AIM attacks, trapping Ka-Zar with the bog-beast…

In AT #13 (Thomas, J. Buscema, Rich Buckler & Adkins), the mystery grows as the Jungle Lord escapes the ‘Man-Thing!’ to focus on the real monsters, subsequently routing out a traitor and defeating AIM… for now. With the attention-grabbing overlap with mainstream Marvel done for the moment the path was clear if muddy for a new horror hero to forge ahead, but what was needed was the right tone of voice…

Steve Gerber was a uniquely gifted writer who combined a deep love of Marvel’s continuity minutiae with dark irrepressible wit, incisive introspection, barbed socio-cultural criticism, a barely reigned-in imagination and boundless bizarre surrealism. His stories were always at the extreme edge of the company’s intellectual canon and never failed to deliver surprise and satisfaction, especially when he couched his sardonic sorties as thinly veiled attacks on burgeoning cultural homogenisation and commercial barbarity. With Man-Thing he held up a peculiarly scummy mirror to many cordoned-off and taboo subjects and made history – and enemies – over and over again. However before him, Conway & Morrow returned, aided by Howard Chaykin as the bog beast won its own series, beginning in (Adventure into) Fear #10. Cover-dated October 1972, ‘Man Thing!’ (Say it again! Again!) saw the monster defy all odds to return an abandoned baby to a daddy who just did not want him… and would not take no for an answer…

After that conceptual interlude Gerber, Buckler & Jim Mooney opened an extended mystic parable in Fear #11 on the ‘Night of the Nether-Spawn!’ Gerber’s take was that the beast was empathic and all-but-mindless, reacting and responding to those in its vicinity, but having practically no personal volition. Here that relationship draws in teenagers Jennifer Kale and her little brother Andy who are about to get into all sorts of trouble because they stole something from their grandpa. Sadly, when you play with a magical tome belonging to an ancient cult, handed down over eons to the latest in a long line of guardian wizards, sinister stuff is likely to happen…

The upshot is that a demonic force comes looking for little Miss Kale and its evil emanations make it a painful intrusion the maddened muck monster cannot abide. With diabolical Thog the Nether-Spawn thus preoccupied battling the bonkers bog-brute all through small-town Citrusville, Andy & Jennifer are free to try to fix what they broke. All appearances and happy endings to the contrary, it’s too little, too late…

The nation’s racial tensions boiled over into Fear #12 as Gerber, Jim Starlin & Buckler discovered ‘No Choice of Colors!’ after the moss-heap slurped into a far-too-personal vendetta linking racist white sheriff Wallace Corlee and fugitive black murder suspect Mark Jackson. After initially and instinctively saving the wounded runner, Man-Thing is helpless against the literally paralysing hatred of both men: one condemned for loving the wrong shade of woman and the just other happy to have a legal reason to kill another “coloured man”…

Only after one of the enraged obsessives is no more can the swamp beast freely act against the other…

In #13, Val Mayerik begins his fruitful association with the series as – inked by Frank Bolle – ‘Where Worlds Collide!’ finds Gerber in universe-building mode: introducing Jennifer Kale’s Grandpa Joshua as high priest of a cult that has thrived secretly since Atlantis sank beneath the waves. They have safeguarded the world for eons, handing down the sacred Tome of Zhered-Na, but now Jennifer’s meddling as she innocently answered the call of her heritage has opened a portal to infernal terror that begins by taking Jen’s not-boyfriend Jaxon and opening pathways to devil-infested dimensions. When the Man-Thing follows, he finds a place where Ted Sallis is made manifest again and where Thog offers to make it permanent if the human will betray his world…

Ted’s violent refusal coincides with Joshua and the grandkids showing up and, in the flush of frantic battle and escape to consensus reality, the Kales discover Jennifer’s uncanny link to the mindless (again) monster…

Veteran Chic Stone inks #14’s ‘The Demon Plague!’ as, all over America, hate and insanity blossom. Everywhere, humans attack those nearest, dearest or even largely indifferent to them; and the deluge of violence even affects the wildlife in Florida’s swamps with Man-Thing pitilessly assaulted by everything that walks or hops or crawls or swims…

Joshua Kale soon determines that the not properly sealed dimensional portal is permitting demons to pass and possess mortals, and convenes a cult ceremony to close it from within the swamp – which just happens to be the Nexus of All Realities…

Despite best efforts the ritual goes awry and, curiously spying on them, Jennifer and the bog-beast are abducted from existence by a major mage dubbed Dakimh the Enchanter. Forced into gladiatorial actions to retain the sacred tome that only Jennifer knows no longer exists, everybody underestimates the shambling compost heap with flamethrower hands, and the Earthlings are promptly returned without giving away any more arcane secrets…

With Frank McLaughkin as guest inker this time, Gerber & Mayerik probe ‘From Here to Infinity!’ in Fear #15. With chaos gripping the entire planet, the Man-Thing seemingly killed by invading demons and no sacred tome to consult, Joshua Kale visits ancient Atlantis, seeing how mystic Zhered-Na personally dealt with the last such incursion, learning of an eternal war between divine realms – shining Therea and dark Sominus…

As the current cult leader views how his inspiration met her end, elsewhere Dakimh recruits promising potential sorceress Jennifer, revives the bog-beast and takes them both an a trans-dimensional voyage to save reality and stop the sorcerous shooting war…cat least for now and at the cost of the link to the swamp totem…

Abruptly switching tack and tone, Fear #16 ‘Cry of the Native!’ (inked by Sal Trapani) explores themes of Native American rights, ecological barbarism and callous capitalism run amok, when developer F A Schist attempts to drain the swamp and relocate its Indian occupants to facilitate his new airport complex. Complex issues of new jobs versus already broken treaties and promises lead to sabotage, riots and civil unrest, but what concerns the Kales most is how the disruption might affect the shaky barriers holding back the hungry hordes of Sominus…

This time, however, simply human pride, greed, bigotry and love of violence – all agonising felt by mindless, empathic Man-Thing – is enough to spark riot and butchery, and stall the project. In the aftermath (and with Trapani sticking around as inker) #17’s ‘It Came Out of the Sky!’ offers dark, wry parody as the bog-beast curiously opens a long-submerged space capsule buried in the hidden mire. Within is a super-powered baby sent from a world believed by one scientist/loving father to be on the imminent edge of extinction due to environmental collapse…

The capsule had fed and sustained the godlike being within for 22 years, but when Wundarr emerged to immediately imprint on the Man-Thing, nothing could convince the educationally and emotionally challenged – and fully-grown – waif that the unthinking moss-mass was not his mother. The rejection and indifference proved unbearable and the violent tantrums that resulted almost destroy the airport construction site and Citrusville…

The story notionally carries over into debuting superhero team-up book Marvel Two-In-One #1 (cover-dated January 1974) where, after a desert clash with Thanos, Fantastic Four stalwart Ben Grimm accidentally and improbably ends up in Florida for the premier issue of his own title. Crafted by Gerber, Gil Kane & Joe Sinnott, the ‘Vengeance of the Molecule Man!’ sees The Thing learn some horrifying home truths about what constitutes being a monster when battling with and beside ghastly, grotesque anti-hero Man-Thing after the essence of the reality-warping villain starts possessing bodies in the swamps

Back in Fear #18, Gerber, Mayerik & Trapani resume straight terror tropes and real-world controversy in ‘A Question of Survival!’ as a bus load of ordinary people and a drunk driver catastrophically intersect on a highway through the Everglades. Drawn to the emotional turmoil, the mire monster becomes unwilling witness and unintentional guide as the survivors learn about each other (this at a time when women and minorities were still legally second-class citizens, and pacifists & warhawks violently clashed over Vietnam) whilst trekking back to civilisation and medical treatment. Sadly, one of them really needs to be the only survivor and is not averse to more killing…

The series truly hit its innovative stride with its final appearance in (Adventure into) Fear #19 – cover-dated December 1973 – wherein Thog makes his grand move to conquer all realities and destroy the benign over-gods of Therea. That’s when Jennifer Kale officially becomes ‘The Enchanter’s Apprentice!’ (Gerber, Mayerik & Trapani) and joins another trans-planar trek as the formerly regulated realms of existence begin to collide, clash and combine. First task is to gather the heroes needful to the task and her far-from-united party rapidly expands to include tutor Dakimh, the mindless Man-Thing, a burly barbarian (Korrek, Warrior Prince of Katharta!) and a brusquely cynical talking mallard who calls himself Howard…

Hounded by Thog’s forces, their task is to traverse the twisting paths of existence and save the gods with the chase leading directly into The Man-Thing #1 (January 1974) and a world-shattering ‘Battle for the Palace of the Gods!’ Along the way, Howard is an early casualty, lost in a plunge through cascading universes and the chaos even briefly encompasses baffled heroes Daredevil and Black Widow; and all seems lost when the malign Congress of Realities smashes into seemingly undefended Therea. However, there are forces at play that are beyond even demons and devils, and the mysterious Man-Thing is their unknowing yet willing tool; and ultimately realties are rebalanced and life goes on…

With covers by John Buscema, Buckler, Morrow, Adams, Starlin, Kane, John Romita Snr., Alan Weiss, Frank Brunner, Sinnott, Frank Giacoia, Herb Trimpe & Ernie Chan, the extras in this moody tome of terror and extrospection also include – from November 1970 – Thomas’ original plot for the short story in Savage Tales #1; an original grey-toned art page by Morrow; more by Buscema & Adkins, Buckler, Mooney, Weiss, Brunner, Mayerik & McLaughlin. For your perusal, Gerber’s plot for Fear #16 follows, with lettering notes and Brunner’s cover for #17. More original art includes Romita’s cover for #18 plus interior art by Mayerik & Trapani. The cover art for #19 by Kane & Chan opens another gallery before segueing into house ads, Adams’ cover for Monsters Unleashed #3 and a cover gallery for reprint title Book of the Dead #1-3 (1993-1994) by Tennyson Smith & Morrow, and Ariel Olivetti’s cover to the 2012 Man-Thing Omnibus.

We – me especially – apply the terms milestone, landmark and groundbreaking as guarantors of quality that change the way comics are perceived and even created. It has never been more true or accurate than with these game-changing, socially aware horror yarns. These are stories you must not miss…
© 2024 MARVEL.

Today in 1894 the magnificent Elzie Segar was born. Go read some Popeye or even Thimble Theatre if you can find it.

In 1980 Berke Breathed chose the day to begin his almost-as-magnificent Bloom County strip, as we last saw in Bloom County: Real, Classy, & Compleat 1980-1989. Some of that last factoid is made up by me, but it could have happened…

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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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Fantastic Four: Behold… Galactus! (Marvel Select Edition)


By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott; Lee, John Buscema & Sinnott; and John Byrne & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1887-3 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

With today’s World Premier of the latest cinematic interpretation of the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” (Phew!!), here’s a cool collected assemblage of the stuff we comics geeks tuned into seven decades ago – and with sequels! – to prove that it’s never too late to catch up to the really good stuff…

Cautiously bi-monthly, cover-dated November 1961, and hiding timidly amidst the company’s standard monster ‘n’ aliens fare, Fantastic Four #1 – by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, George Klein & Christopher Rule – was crude and rough-hewn, but concealed on its pages a revolution of raw passion and uncontrolled excitement. Thrill-hungry readers pounced on it and the raw storytelling caught a wave of change starting to build in America. It and the succeeding issues changed comic books forever.

In eight short years FF became the indisputable core and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding ridiculously enthralling web of creation, bombarding readers with ceaseless salvos of fresh concepts and new characters. Kirby was in his conceptual prime, unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot. Clearly inspired, Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas that Marvel – or any publisher – had or has ever seen. Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their creative powers, and full of the confidence only success brings. The King was particularly eager to see how far the genre and medium could be pushed. A forge of stunning creativity and endless excitement, Fantastic Four was the proving ground for dozens of future stars and mesmerising concepts, none more timely or apt than freewheeling cosmic wanderer and moral barometer The Silver Surfer.

Collecting every cosmic crumb of pertinent material from Fantastic Four #48-50, 120-123, and #242-244, this compendium reprints a trilogy of landmark sagas of a morally ambiguous Stellar Sentinel, his globe-gobbling master and the greatest Explorers in Humanity’s history, spanning March 1966 to July 1982. The epic opens with elucidation as Ralph Macchio offers background and appreciation in his Introduction to one the greatest comics sagas ever made prior to the tale again being told…

Although pretty much a last-minute addition to Fantastic Four #48-50’s Galactus Trilogy, Kirby’s scintillating creation quickly became a watchword for depth and subtext in Marvel’s Universe, one Stan Lee kept as his own personal toy for many years to come. The debut was a creative highlight from a period where the Lee/Kirby partnership was utterly on fire. The tale is all power and epic grandeur and has never been surpassed for drama, thrills and sheer entertainment, so you should really read it in all its glory.

Here, without further preamble, the wonderment commences with ideas just exploding from The King. Despite being only halfway through one storyline, FF #48 trumpeted ‘The Coming of Galactus!’ with the Inhumans’ saga swiftly but satisfyingly wrapped up (by page 6!) as the entire clandestine race were sealed behind an impenetrable dome called the Negative Zone (later retitled Negative Barrier to avoid confusion with the subspace gateway Reed worked on for years). Meanwhile, a cosmic entity approaches Earth, preceded by a gleaming herald on a board of pure cosmic energy…

I suspect this experimental – and vaguely uncomfortable – approach to narrative mechanics was calculated and deliberate, mirroring how TV soap operas increasingly delivered their interwoven, overlapped storylines, and used here as a means to keep readers glued to the series. They needn’t have bothered. The stories and concepts were more than enough…

‘If this be Doomsday!’ sees planet-eating Galactus setting up shop on top of the Baxter Building despite the FF’s best efforts, whilst his coldly gleaming herald has his humanity accidentally rekindled by simply conversing with The Thing’s blind girlfriend Alicia Masters. Issue #50’s ‘The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer!’ climaxes the epic in grand manner as the Surfer’s reawakened ethical core and FF’s sheer heroism buy enough time for supergenius leader Reed Richards – Mister Fantastic – to literally save the world with a boldly-borrowed Deus ex Machina gadget…

Once again, the tale ends in the middle of the issue, with the remaining half concentrating on the team getting back to “normal”. To that extent, Human Torch Johnny Storm finally enrols at Metro College, desperate to forget Inhuman lost love Crystal and his unnerving jaunts to the ends of the universe. On his first day, the lad meets imposing and enigmatic Native American Wyatt Wingfoot, who is destined to become his greatest friend…

Jumping to 1972 long after Kirby had moved to DC to create his New Gods saga, revamp Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen and create new wonders such as Kamandi and The Demon, the Fantastic Four had carried on under Lee and a succession of more traditional illustrators. The Surfer had briefly enjoyed his own critically acclaimed but financially unhealthy title and been relegated to guest star status, especially if allegorical metaphors were required…

Joined by inker Joe Sinnott, Fantastic Four #120-123 (cover-dated March-June of that year) rather overplayed the biblical allusions for a blockbuster 4-parter. The ‘The Horror that Walks on Air!’ heralded the bellicose arrival of a seemingly omnipotent invader claiming to be an angel sent to scour and scourge Earth. Utterly unstoppable, this he does before revealing himself as the new herald of Galactus and declaring humanity doomed.

The tale vividly yet laboriously continues in ‘The Mysterious Mind-Blowing Secret of Gabriel!’ with the recently divided but now reunited quartet utterly overmatched in their resistance and only saved by the late-arriving Silver Surfer, before facing off against world-devouring ‘Galactus Unleashed’, who rampages like Godzilla through the city’s streets before an unexpected end comes and humanity survives another day thanks to Reed Richards who again outsmarts the cosmic god and prevents the consumption of ‘This World Enslaved!’

A lot can happen – and did – in ten years, and the last story here (from #242-244, May-July 1982) is another spectacular and rather revolutionary epic, as crafted by John Byrne soon after he took total creative control of the Quirky Quartet.

‘Terrax Untamed’ sees the team and Johnny’s new girlfriend Frankie Raye (who has fire powers mimicking his own) attacked by Galactus’ most recent herald – someone who quite justifiably bears them a grudge as the FF formerly dethroned him from the world he had conquered before handing him over to the Planet Devourer to use as his cosmic food-finder. Now, still possessing the “Power Cosmic” all heralds share, Terrax hits Earth like an extinction event and, after causing immense destruction across the city, uproots and maroons Manhattan Island 100 miles above the rest of the planet…

Terrax’s demand is simple and clear cut. Galactus is currently starving and depleted, so unless the FF kill him, the fugitive tyrant will drop the most populated rock on Earth with catastrophic effect…

The crisis takes a crazy turn next as the reluctant assault leads to the defeat and downfall of Terrax instead of Galactus and a surprise restoration of New York. Events evolve and go bad quickly however as the cosmic consumer runs out of power and seeks to refuel by eating the world to save himself. The question ‘Shall Earth Endure?’ is shockingly answered when an army of superheroes topple Galactus and watch aghast as the space god begins to expire…

They are even more astounded when Richards and Captain America successfully argue that they must all save his life and allow him to continue predating planets – if not necessarily civilisations – leading to triumph and, for Johnny, more tragedy in ‘Beginnings and Endings’ and a raft of star-borne consequences to come…

A perfect primer for beginners and welcome reminder for the faithful, this bombastic breviary comes equipped with plenty of art extras including cover reproductions for 1972 reprint title Marvel’s Greatest Comics #33-37 by John & Sal Buscema, Gil Kane, Frank Giacoia & Sinnott; back over art from Essential Fantastic Four vol. 3 (2007 by Kirby & Ian Hannin) and Essential Fantastic Four vol. 6 (2007 by John B & Hannin); composite cover art for 2002’s Wizard Ace Edition: Fantastic Four #48 (Mike Wieringo, Karl Kesel, Paul Mounts); the wraparound cover for 1992’s Silver Surfer: The Coming of Galactus! (Ron Lim, Dan Panosian & Mounts); Kirby & Dean White’s painted cover based on FF #49 (from Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four vol. 5) and José Ladrönn’s cover for The Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 2 HC (2007).

Completing the iconic art odyssey are the covers from Marvel Treasury Editions #21 by Bobs Budiansky & McLeod and Byrne’s cover for 1989’s Fantastic Four: The Trial of Galactus TPB.

Epic, revolutionary and unutterably unmissable, these stories made Marvel the unassailable leaders in fantasy entertainment and remain some of the most important superhero comics ever crafted. The verve, conceptual scope and sheer enthusiasm shines through on every page and the wonder is there for you to share. If you’ve never thrilled to these spectacular sagas then this book of marvels is the perfect key to another – far brighter – world and time.
© 2019 MARVEL. All rights reserved.

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Silver Surfer: Parable


By Stan Lee & Möebius; with Keith Pollard & Tom DeFalco, Josef Rubinstein, José Marzan, Chris Ivy, Paul Mounts, Michael Heisler & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-6209-4 (HB) 978-0-7851-0656-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

As Marvel’s cinematic arm tries once again to get it right with their founding concept and by extension ultimate allegory of God and Jesus, you can safely anticipate revisiting a selection of fabulous FF and associated material as well as new collections all culled from their prodigious paginated days…

The most eclectic and enigmatic of comic book cult figures, the Silver Surfer’s saga began with the deservedly lauded and legendary introductory story. Although pretty much a last-minute addition to Lee’s plot for Fantastic Four #48-50’s Galactus Trilogy, Jack Kirby’s gleaming god-adjacent creation became a watchword for depth and subtext in the Marvel Universe, and one Lee kept as his own personal toy for many years.

Sent to find planets for star god Galactus to consume, the Silver Surfer discovers Earth, where the latent nobility of humanity reawakens his own suppressed morality. He then rebels against his master, helping the FF save the world. As punishment, Galactus exiles the star-soaring Surfer to Earth, the ultimate outsider on a planet remarkably ungrateful for his sacrifice.

The Galactus Saga was a creative highlight in a period where the Kirby/Lee partnership was utterly on fire: an adventure with all the power and grandeur of a true epic and one which has never been surpassed for drama, thrills and sheer entertainment.

That one’s not here, but it can be found in many, many other compilations. Sorry.

In 1988-1989, ‘Parable’ was released as an Epic Comics micro-series. It featured an all-new interpretation of Galactus’ initial assault on our backwards world, illustrated by legendary French artist Jean Giraud/Möebius. As with the 1978 Fireside Books/Simon & Schuster Silver Surfer by Lee & Kirby, the story was removed from general Marvel continuity, allowing a focus on the unique philosophical nature of the Surfer and his ravenous master without the added distraction of hundreds of superheroes disrupting the flow.

It’s a beautiful piece of work and another one you really should read.

Basically, when Galactus reaches Earth in search of his absconded servant and herald – a spectacular exercise in scale and visual wonder – the Silver Surfer is hiding amongst us: a vagrant living on the streets and well aware of humanity’s many failings. However, when the star-god arrives and demands (like a huge cosmic TACO-PotUS) that everyone bows down and worships him, the solitary nomad is forced to confront his creator for the sake of beings who despise him.

Driven to extreme actions by his intimate knowledge of earthlings good and bad, the Surfer instigates a conceptual and spiritual fightback which soon devolves into blistering battle against his maker. With the sky literally falling, soon the tempted and terrified world rallies as Norrin Radd exposes the cosmic blowhard as a petty opportunist and inspires humanity to reject what seems like another deal too good to be true…

Isn’t it odd how fiction so often anticipates fact?

Tacked onto the ethereal, unmissable episode – one far more in tune with Möebius’ beliefs and interests than Stan’s – is an early Marvel Graphic Novel of the regulation Marvel Universe. The Enslavers is a rather self-indulgent but oddly entertaining slice of intergalactic eye-candy featuring the legendary icon of the counter-culture generation, and once again it depicts the ex-herald of planet-devourer Galactus as a tragic saviour and Christ metaphor. Now, though, it’s not our troubled humanity but the overwhelming power of slavers from space that threatens, and there’s a lot less breast-beating and soul-searching and far more cosmic action.

The story by Stan Lee (and Keith Pollard) has a rather odd genesis. Commissioned in the early 1980s by Jim Shooter, Lee’s original plot was apparently much transformed in the eight years it took to draw. By the time it was dialogued, it was a far different beast and Lee almost jokingly disowns it in his Afterword. Nevertheless, there’s lots to enjoy for fans who don’t expect too much in this tale of love and death in the great beyond. It’s inked by Josef Rubinstein, José Marzan & Chris Ivy, coloured by Paul Mounts and lettered by Michael Heisler.

Here, after a frantic rush through cosmic gulfs, Silver Surfer Norrin Radd crashes into the home of Reed & Sue Richards, just ahead of the colossal invasion craft of monstrous Mrrungo-Mu, who has been drawn to our world by the well-intentioned but naive Nasa probe Voyager III. Norrin’s homeworld Zenn-La has already been depopulated by the pitiless space slaver and Earth is next…

Moving swiftly, and exploiting the good intentions of an Earth scientist, the Enslavers incapacitate all our world’s superbeings and prepare to enjoy their latest conquest, but they have not accounted for the vengeful resistance of the Surfer or the debilitating power of the love Mrrungo-Mu is himself slave to: for the unconquerable alien warlord is weak and helpless before the haughty aloofness and emotional distance of his supposed chattel Tnneya…

Despite being – in far too many places – dafter than a bag of photonic space-weasels jonesing for disco lights, there’s still an obvious love of old, classic Marvel tales delivered at an enthusiastic pace informing these beautifully drawn pages, and the action sequences are a joy to behold. If you love cosmic adventure and can swallow a lot of silliness, this might just be worth a little of your time and money.

Altogether a very strange marriage, this is a compelling tome spanning the vast divide of comics from the ethereal and worthy to the exuberant and fun: a proper twofer you can get your teeth into…
© 1988, 1989, 1990, 2012 Marvel Entertainment Group/Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Mighty Thor Marvel Masterworks volume 18


By Roy Thomas, Don Glut, Don Thompson, Maggie Thompson, Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, Walter Simonson, Alan Kupperberg, Wayne Boring, Arvell Jones, Pablo Marcos, Tom Palmer, Chic Stone, Ernie Chan, Tony DeZuñiga & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1821-7 (HB/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 and incredible, mythic menaces, usually tackled with an ever-changing cast of stalwart immortal warriors at his side…

As the ever-expanding Marvel Universe grew increasingly interconnected and matured through its first decade – with characters literally tripping over each other in New York City – Thor’s Asgardian heritage and the soaring imagination of Jack Kirby most often drew the Thunderer away from mortal realms into stunning, unique landscapes and scenarios. Now as the King prepared to leave Marvel again and mostly mainstream comics entirely behind, his successors had room to play with his creations…

Spanning cover-dates January to December 1979, this power-packed compilation re-presents The Mighty Thor #279-290 and Thor Annual #7 & 8. By blending stints on Midgard with cosmic doom and whilst playing with established prophecy, inspired scribe Roy Thomas opens this tome with an engaging Introduction detailing his interest and relationship with Kirby’s other, other Marvel pantheon and discussing The King’s last great contributory concept to the House of Ideas…

Then the comics catastrophes and revelations resume with Thomas, Walt Simonson & Ernie Chan using the extra page count of Thor Annual #7 (cover-dated September 1978 and on sale from June 20th) to detail a forgotten “first contact” moment. After Balder is killed by Loki’s machinations in an attempt to trigger Ragnarok (Thor Marvel Masterworks #17), the Thunder God reluctantly consults hostile prophet Mimir. The flaming seer of the Well of Wisdom instead emphasises how untrustworthy Odin is by telling of an event Thor 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 learned 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 and 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 results in more reminiscing and “untold tale” ‘A Hammer in Hades!’ After a chance encounter with first love Jane Foster led to her imprisonment in the underworld, Thor flew right into an ambush organised by Loki, Grecian death god Pluto and super-troll Ulik, but proved more than even that trio of terror could handle…

Still preparing to confront the 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…

One last digression came in #281 as Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Keith Pollard & Marcos probe continuity in ‘This Hammer Lost!’ Thor prepares for his confrontation with the Celestials by time-travelling to the moment the First Host arrived. However, en route Mjolnir is snatched from him and the Thunderer ends up trapped in Limbo, confronting old foes like the Space Phantom and other chronally adrift threats before he can recover his mallet…

Ambushed and embattled, Thor then faces Time Lord Immortus and temporal tyrant Tempus before escaping in #282’s ‘Rites of Passage’, but only at the cost of one of the greatest weapons in his armoury…

Cover-dated May 1979 (and on sale from February 6th) The Mighty Thor #283 at last proclaims ‘Suddenly… the Celestials!’ as John Buscema & Chic Stone return to art duties for the opening shots of the long-anticipated clash. After a brief, crime-crushing stopover in Mexico City and another savage argument with All-Father Odin, Thor accepts that his sire is somehow complicit in the Celestials’ schemes and presses on to confront them on his own…

When the Andean dome proves utterly impenetrable fortune seems to desert the Asgardian when 2000ft tall Gammenon the Gatherer attacks him whilst seizing a circling passenger jet…

Apparently destroyed in #284, the deity has given way to Dr. Don Blake who sneaks aboard the captured pane and surreptitiously enters ‘The City of the Space Gods!’ Blake befriends Dr. Damien and constant companion Ajak who have observed the Space Gods’ mysterious works for three years now. None are aware the jet also carries an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and legendary Deviant warrior queen Ereshkigal, who has tormented humans for centuries as Hecate…

Back in Manhattan and unaware of a brutal three-way firefight under the Fourth Host Dome, Ikaris, Margo and Sersi fear the truce they had brokered between the three species is unravelling, even as Thor manages to rescue the jet and its passengers. The effort leaves them all locked outside the Dome as ‘Deviants and Doormen!’ (#285 by Buscema & Stone) opens with Thor back in New York and battling philosopher/poet/gladiator Karkas – a Deviant Mutate who switched allegiance to the Eternals. The misunderstanding is quickly settled, and the warriors unite to track down missing allies Ikaris, Margo, Thena, Ransak & Sersi: a trail taking them deep below the city to an ancient Deviant citadel.

After a ferocious clash with the forces of Warlord Kro and Brother Tode in #286’s ‘Mayhem under Manhattan!’ (Thomas, Stone and new regular penciler Keith Pollard) the citadel is destroyed. Deprived of Asgardian allies, Thor travels with his new friends to the mountain home of the Eternals in hopes of finding someone to help repel the space gods and end their threatened judgement…

With additional material by Gruenwald & Macchio, ‘Assault on Olympia!’ sees Thor very much a stranger in paradise, and challenged by deviously-manipulated Eternal outlaw The Forgotten One, even as many realms away, Sif and Warriors Three Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun undertake a perilous mission for Odin, one bringing them into the deadly grip of abominable dragon Fafnir…

In Olympia the duel escalates into vast brawl involving most of the Eternals, but at its height, Thor and the Forgotten One vanish to reappear miles above at the feet of prime Celestial The One Above All…

Unable and unwilling to stop fighting, the ‘Fury of the Forgotten Hero!’ is only stilled when Thor downs him, but such tactics have no effect on the space god who shows the Prince of Asgard a shocking image: Odin in eons past kneeling in submission before the Third Host…

And in the Nine Realms, Sif and her allies draw closer to the All-Father’s objective, working to complete a scheme none but Odin are aware of…

Shattered by revelations of betrayal Thor is swifty banished by The One Above All, rematerialising in Olympia with The Forgotten One as the tempers begin to cool all around. Meanwhile, Odin voyages to other pantheons to call in old markers in his grand plan and Sif takes control of Asgard’s ultimate Doomsday weapon to defeat and despatch her beloved Thor when the incensed hero tries to storm the Rainbow Bridge in #289’s ‘Look Homeward, Asgardian!’ before Arvel Jones pencils the final chapter of the ongoing epic as ‘Ring Around the Red Bull!’ sees the Thunderer fortuitously crash down in Hollywood in time to save Luchador (costumed Lucha Libre wrestler) Vampiro from ruthless sadistic opponent El Toro Rojo. It’s not as simple as it sounds: the former is an Eternal and Red Bull is a brutal Deviant methodically removing long-lived immortal second stringers from the world before the final battle against the Celestials begins…

Happily Thor is enough to rebalance the odds…

To Be Continued…

Although the unfolding epic pauses here, there’s one last legendary call to battle as The Mighty Thor Annual #8 (1979) depicts ‘Thunder Over Troy!’ as Thomas, Buscema & Tony DeZuñiga (with the help of consultants Don & Maggie Thompson) bring you a refresher course in the classics – specifically The Illiad/Trojan War with a touch of the Aeneid thrown in – as young Thor and Loki are again hurled through time to ancient Greece, with the Thunderer allying with the besieged Trojans whilst his wily stepbrother played it cool as an advisor to cunning strategist Odysseus…

Repeatedly unable to save any of his newfound comrades, the callow arrogant storm god futilely attacks Zeus himself, but it’s a war of Thunder he has no chance of winning.

Augmenting this volume is a full cover gallery by Simonson, Dave Cockrum, Joe Sinnott, Pollard, Palmer, Marcos, Buscema, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, Bob Layton & Stone; Thomas’ editorials from The Mighty Thor Annual #7 & 8 and seven fabulous pages of original art and covers from Simonson, Chan, Sinnott, Boring, Palmer, Cockrum & McLeod.

The tales gathered here may lack the sheer punch and verve of the early years but fans of ferocious Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy will find this tome still stuffed with intrigue and action, magnificently rendered by artists who, whilst not possessing Kirby’s vaulting visionary passion, were every inch his equal in craft and dedication, making this a definite and decidedly economical must-read for all fans of the character and the genre.
© 2019 MARVEL.

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The Incredible Hulk Marvel Masterworks volume 14


By Roger Stern, Peter B. Gillis, Elliot S! Maggin, David Michelinie, John Byrne, Roger McKenzie, Sal Buscema, Jim Mooney, Josef Rubinstein, Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson, Bob McLeod, Mike Esposito, Bob Layton, Bruce Patterson, Chic Stone, Don Perlin & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2230-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Bruce Banner was a military scientist accidentally caught in a gamma bomb blast of his own devising. As a result, stress and other factors cause him to transform into a giant green monster of unstoppable strength and fury. He was one of Marvel’s earliest innovations and first failure, but after an initially troubled few years finally found his size-700 feet and a format that worked, becoming one of the company’s premiere antiheroes and most popular features.

The Gamma Goliath was always graced with artists who understood the allure of shattering action, the sheer cathartic reader-release rush of mighty “Hulk Smash!” moments, and here – following in the debris-strewn wake of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Marie Severin and Herb Trimpe – Sal Buscema was increasingly showing the world what he could do when inspired and unleashed…

Jointly spanning May 1978 to March 1979, this chronologically complete monster monolith re-presents Incredible Hulk #223-233, plus Hulk Annual #7 and a key crossover from Captain America #230. As ever the comics wonderment is preceded by an Introduction, this time offering curated reminiscences from featured writer Roger Stern.

As important as savage action was dramatic character interplay and, now firmly established and gaining confidence, Stern began an ambitious storyline in #223 (illustrated by Sal & Josef Rubinstein) as ‘The Curing of Dr. Banner!’ sees the monster’s embattled and despondent human half spontaneously purged of the gamma radiation that triggers his changes. However, Banner’s troubles are far from over. Heading to premium anti-Hulk citadel Gamma Base to verify his findings, Bruce discovers the entire facility has been taken over: mind-controlled by his ultimate archenemy…

As the villain makes everyone ‘Follow the Leader!’, psychologist superhero Doc Samson and aged career soldier General Thaddeus Ross escape mind control and physical confinement and beg Banner to again sacrifice his humanity for the sake of mankind. Only the Hulk has ever defeated The Leader and their only hope is to recall and harness his unstoppable fury against the murderous genocidal thought tyrant. Tragically, their halfway measures fail at the final moment and the villain triumphs and has cause to ask ‘Is There Hulk After Death?’

With Bruce seemingly deceased, his compatriots jumpstart his ravaged system with another overwhelming dose of gamma rays and soon everybody involved has cause to regret the resurrection of the original Gamma Goliath, after another ordnance-obliterating clash with the military in #226’s ‘Big Monster on Campus!’ (Stern, Buscema & Joe Sinnott) leads to the man-monster invading his old college and suffering a psychological trauma that might end his rampages forever…

The emotional breakthrough renders the Jade Juggernaut pliable and reasonable and – under extraordinary conditions – Samson becomes ‘The Monster’s Analyst’ (#227, by Stern, Peter B. Gillis Sal B & Klaus Janson). Aided by the Hulk’s recently arrived former sidekick Jim Wilson, the medic probes the psyche of Banner and the beast within, gaining insight into the troubled physicist’s childhood, college days, nuclear accident and turbulent time with the original Avengers line-up. He also triggers a clash of personalities that seems to eliminate Banner utterly…

On that cliffhanger note attention switches to The Incredible Hulk Annual #7 wherein Stern, John Byrne & Bob Layton revisit two semi-retired X-Men as they are targeted by a madly-mutated, mutant-hunting Sentinel Master Mold. This horror then merges with another manic former X-foe in ‘The Evil That is Cast…’ which happily finds our peripatetic pistachio powerhouse on hand to balance the odds when the amalgamated monster attacks Angel and Iceman and drags them into space to die…

Returning to Samson at Gamma Base, the Hulk is targeted by a new menace in #228’s ‘Bad Moon on the Rise!’ (Stern, Gillis, Buscema & Bob McLeod) as psychologist Dr. Karla Sofen offers her therapeutic services, with the intention of subverting the Gamma Goliath to her current employers’ needs…

Within hours of her arrival, Sofen (and her evil alter ego Moonstone) have undone weeks of progress and triggered another deadly rampage. She goes further in #229’s ‘The Moonstone is a Harsh Mistress!’ (inked by Mike Esposito) whilst revealing how she gained her first taste of true power whilst treating an empowered patient: depriving its original inept owner of a power-bestowing lunar rock that made the first Moonstone a match for Captain America. Now she seeks to isolate the Hulk from all human help and contact… and succeeds…

On the run again, the Hulk encounters ‘The Harvester From Beyond!’ (#230 by Elliot S! Maggin, Jim Mooney, Layton & Bruce Patterson), and unwillingly surrenders biological samples to an extremely determined extraterrestrial before returning to Earth in #231, where Stern, Buscema & Esposito introduce a new human outcast to befriend the monster.

In ‘Prelude!’ hippie student Fred Sloan escapes a redneck beating thanks to the Hulk’s intervention, even as, at Gamma Base, Soen makes contact with her employers and learns that evil plutocrat organisation The Corporation counts US Senator Eugene Stivak amongst its ruling elite…

As leaders of a group that has been manipulating heroes including Machine Man, Torpedo, The Falcon, Marvel Man/Quasar, Captain America and S.H.I.E.L.D. for months, the group is now actively pursuing its endgame which means capturing Jim Wilson and subverting the Hulk…

Stivak AKA “Kligger”, makes his move when the Jade Juggernaut and Fred spark a riot in California, neatly dovetailing into a congruent storyline that had been unfolding in the Sentinel of Liberty’s own title. There, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Super-Agent program was infiltrated, Cap was ambushed by The Constrictor and other employees of The Corporation. When Sam Wilson/The Falcon was abducted by Kligger for reasons unknown, the hunt for his partner culminated in Cap exposing the rotten apples in Washington and across the USA, leading to an ‘Assault on Alcatraz!’ (Roger McKenzie, Stern, Sal B & Don Perlin).

With the Star-Spangled Avenger leading former Super Agents Marvel Man and The Vamp to rescue hostage friends and end the Corporation’s depredations, their arrival in the abandoned prison coincides with the capture of the Hulk and Fred, exposure of Corporation West Coast CEO Curtiss Jackson and a trans-continental power-grab by Kligger/Stivak and his merciless agent Moonstone in Captain America #230.

… And that’s when a traitor in the group is revealed and the Hulk completely loses his cool…

The clash continues and concludes in Incredible Hulk #232 as ‘The Battle Below’ (Stern, David Michelinie, Buscema & Esposito) sees the assorted villains thrashed and routed, with Curtiss making a desperate attempt to flee with an absolutely incensed gamma gladiator in hot pursuit. The frantic chase leads to another battle ‘At the Bottom of the Bay!’ (Stern, Buscema & Chic Stone) before the calms down enough to flee with Fred, leading to a reunion with an old and valued friend at a California commune.

To Be Hulk-inued…

With a gallery of covers by Rich Buckler, Ernie Chan, Byrne, Ron Wilson, Rubinstein, Trimpe, McLeod, Dave Cockrum, Layton, Dan Adkins and Al Milgrom, the majority of the bonus section is devoted to a full re-presentation of the 1979 Mighty Marvel Comics Calendar. An all-Hulk affair as the monster enjoyed TV stardom, the item offered tableaux by John Romita Sr., Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Dave Hunt, Walter Simonson, Sal Buscema & Dan Adkins, Cockrum & Layton, George Pérez, John Buscema & Rubinstein, Ron Wilson & Pablo Marcos Keith Pollard & Tom Palmer, Trimpe, Byrne & Terry Austin, Ed Hannigan, Janson and more.

Also on view are a contemporary house ad, Jeff Aclin & Tony DeZuñiga’s covers to Hulk reprint tabloid Marvel Treasury Edition #17 (1978) and feature pages on the calendar taken from company fan mag F.O.O.M. #22 (Autumn 1978). We close with a wealth of original art pages and sketches (by Chan, Sal Buscema, Sinnott, Byrne, Layton, Janson, Cockrum & Esposito) and creator biographies.

The Incredible Hulk is one of the most well-known comic characters on Earth, and these stories, as much as the cartoons, TV shows, games, toys, action figures and movies are the reason why. For an uncomplicated, earnestly vicarious experience of Might actually being Right, you can’t do better than these exciting episodes, so why not Go Green and embrace your inner not-so-mean?
© 2020 MARVEL.

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Thunderbolts Epic Collection volume 1: Justice, Like Lightning (1997-1998)


By Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, Peter David, John Ostrander, Mark Bagley, Mark Deodato Jr., Sal Buscema, Steve Epting, Jeff Johnson, Pasqual Ferry, Bob McLeod, Tom Grummett, Ron Randall, Gene Colan, Darick Robertson, George Pérez, Chris Marrinan, Ron Frenz & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5205-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

It’s going to be a busy year for comics-based movies, so let’s properly start the ball rolling with some context and a look at a Thunderbolts team definitely not coming anywhere close to a cinema near you soon…

At the end of 1996, Marvel’s Onslaught publishing event removed the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man and the Avengers from the Marvel Universe and its long-established shared continuity. The House of Ideas ceded creative control to Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee for a year and at first the iconoclastic Image style comics got all the attention. However, a new title created to fill the gap in the “old” universe proved to be the true star sensation of the period. Thunderbolts was initially promoted as a replacement team book: brand new, untried heroes pitching in because the beloved big guns were dead and gone. Chronologically, they debuted in Incredible Hulk # 449 (cover-dated January 1997), a standard exhibition of “heroes-stomp-monster”, but the seemingly mediocre tale is perhaps excusable in retrospect…

With judicious teaser guest-shots abounding, Thunderbolts #1 premiered with an April cover-date and was an instant mega-hit, with a second print and rapid-reprint collection of the first two issues also selling out in days. This classy compendium gathers all those early appearances of the neophyte team between from January 1997 to March 1998: introductory teaser tale in Incredible Hulk #449 and parts of 450; Thunderbolts #1-12, Thunderbolts: Distant Rumblings #-1 special, Annual ‘97, plus their portion of Tales of the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man Team-Up Featuring… #7 and Heroes for Hire #7. Sadly although the stories are still immensely enjoyable this book simply won’t be able to recapture the furore the series caused in its early periodical days, because Thunderbolts was a sneakily high-concept series with a big twist: one which – almost unprecedentedly for comics – didn’t get spilled before the carefully calculated “big reveal”.

Here the action starts with issue #1 (cover-dated April 1997) and ‘Justice… Like Lightning’ as Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley & Vince Russell introduce a new superhero team to a world which has lost its champions. The mysterious Thunderbolts begin to clear New York’s devastated, post-Onslaught streets of resurgent supervillains and thugs making the most of the hero-free environment. Amongst their triumphs is the resounding defeat of scavenger gang The Rat Pack, but although the looters are routed and rounded up, their leader escapes with his real prize: homeless children…

Golden Age Captain America tribute/knock off Citizen V leads these valiant newcomers – size-shifting Atlas, super-armoured Mach-1, beam-throwing amazon Meteorite, sonic siren Songbird and human toybox Techno – and the terrified, traumatised citizenry instantly take them to their hearts. But these heroes share a huge secret: they’re all supervillains from the sinister Masters of Evil in disguise, and Citizen V – or Baron Helmut Zemo as he truly prefers – has major Machiavellian long-term plans…

When unsuspecting readers got to the end of that first story the reaction was instantaneous shock and jubilation.

Anachronistically, the aforementioned Hulk teaser tale (cover-dated January 1997, but on sale at the end of 1996) appears next, as Peter David, Mike Deodato Jr. & Tom Wegrzyn pit a neophyte super-team against the Jade Juggernaut in ‘Introducing the Thunderbolts!’: the opening step of their campaign to win the hearts and minds of the World. That clash spilled over into the next issue and the pertinent section is also included here, promptly followed by Tales of the Marvel Universe tale ‘The Dawn of a New Age of Heroes!’ as the team continue doing good deeds for bad reasons, readily winning the approval of cynical New Yorkers.

Thunderbolts #2 (May 1997 by Busiek, Bagley & Russell) offers ‘Deceiving Appearances’ as they garner official recognition and their first tangible reward. After defeating The Mad Thinker at an FF/Avengers memorial service and rescuing “orphan” Franklin Richards, the Mayor hands over the FF’s Baxter Building HQ for the T-Bolts’ new base of operations…

Busiek, Sal Buscema & Dick Giordano’s Spider-Man Team-Up Featuring… #7 yarn ‘Old Scores’ sees them even fool the spider-senses of everybody’s favourite wallcrawler whilst clearing him of a fiendish frame-up and taking down the super-scientific Enclave. However the first cracks in the plan begin to appear as Mach-1 and Songbird (AKA The Beetle and Screaming Mimi) begin falling for each other and dare to dream of a better life, even as Atlas/ Goliath starts to enjoy the delights and rewards of actually doing good deeds.

… And whilst Techno (The Fixer) is content to follow orders for the moment, Meteorite – or Moonstone – is laying plans to further her own personal agenda…

Thunderbolts #3 finds the team facing ‘Too Many Masters’ (Bagley & Russell art) as dissension creeps into the ranks. The action comes from rounding up old allies and potential rivals Klaw, Flying Tiger, Cyclone, Man-Killer and Tiger-Shark, who were arrogant enough to trade on the un-earned reputation as new Masters of Evil.

One of the abducted kids in Thunderbolts #1 resurfaces in #4’s ‘A Shock to the System’. Hallie Takahama was taken by the Rat Pack, and her new owner has since subjected her to assorted procedures which resulted in her gaining superpowers. Her subsequent escape leads to her joining the Thunderbolts as they invade Dr. Doom’s apparently vacant castle to save the other captives from the monstrous creations and scientific depredations of rogue geneticist Arnim Zola. However, the highly publicised victory forces Citizen V to grudgingly accept the utterly oblivious and innocent Hallie onto the team as trainee recruit Jolt…

Thunderbolts Annual 1997 follows: a massive revelatory jam session written by Busiek with art from Bagley, Bob McLeod, Tom Grummett, Ron Randall, Gene Colan, Darick Robertson, George Pérez, Chris Marrinan, Al Milgrom, Will Blyberg, Scott Koblish, Jim Sanders, Tom Palmer, Bruce Patterson, Karl Kesel & Andrew Pepoy, which could only be called ‘The Origin of the Thunderbolts!’ In brief instalments Jolt asks ‘Awkward Questions’ of V and Zemo offers a tissue of lies regarding the member’s individual origins…

Beginning with V’s ostensible intentions in ‘The Search Begins’, gaining ‘Technical Support’ from Fixer, examining Songbird’s past in  ‘Screams of Anguish’, obscuring the Beetle’s ‘Shell-Shocked!’ transformation and revealing how ‘Onslaught’ brought them all together, the fabrications continue as ‘To Defy a Kosmos’ discloses to everyone but Jolt how ionic colossus Goliath was snatched from incarceration in another dimension before ‘Showdown at the Vault’ brought Moonstone into the mix with untrustworthy and dangerous men she had previously betrayed…

The revelatory events also includes the Annual’s Thunderbolts Fact File text feature.

Thunderbolts: Distant Rumblings #-1 (July 1997) was part of a company-wide event detailing the lives of heroes and villains before they started their costumed careers. Illustrated by Steve Epting & Bob Wiacek, ‘Distant Rumblings!’, examines key events in the lives of two Baron Zemos, mercenary Erik (Atlas) Josten, corrupt psychiatrist Karla (Moonstone) Sofen, trailer-trash kid and future Songbird Melissa Gold, frustrated engineer Abner Jenkins AKA Beetle and gadgeteering psychopath P. Norbert Ebersol, who parleyed a clash with an amnesiac Sub-Mariner into a thrilling life as Hydra’s prime technician and Fixer…

Back in the now, Thunderbolts #5 delivers more ‘Growing Pains’ as the team take a personal day as civvies in Manhattan, only to be targeted and attacked by Baron Strucker of Hydra, employing one of Kang the Conqueror’s Growing Man AI automatons…

By this stage the grand plan was truly unravelling and in #6 ‘Unstable Elements’ sees Citizen V/Zemo incensed that his team still don’t have the security clearances the Avengers and FF used to enjoy. Unable to further his plans without them, he tidies up details, seeking to quash a budding romance between Atlas and their Mayor’s Liaison/former cop Dallas Riordan whilst “suggesting” Meteorite might arrange an accident for increasing prying, questioning and just plain annoying Jolt…

Opportunity arises and tensions escalate when a sentient and malign periodic table of elemental beings attack New York. Requesting help, the Mayor’s office is refused and rebuffed by Citizen V before his own minions reject him and rush off to save lives beside the city’s remaining superheroes such as Daredevil, Power Man & Iron Fist, Darkhawk and the New Warriors. ‘The Revolt Within’ (Busiek & Roger Stern, limned by Jeff Johnson, Will Blyberg, Eric Cannon, Larry Mahlstadt, Greg Adams & Keith Williams) signals the beginning of the end as the rebel Thunderbolts are quickly captured by the “Elements of Doom” and Zemo refuses to save them, leaving ‘Songbird: Alone!’ to save the day in #8 (Busiek, Stern, Bagley & Russell). Although Zemo manages to finagle his way back into the ’Bolts’ good books, he has what he wants: access to all the world’s secrets after SHIELD chief G.W. Bridge grants him top security clearance…

A brief diversion follows in Heroes for Hire #7 (January 1998 by John Ostrander, Pasqual Ferry & Jaime Mendoza) as the troubled team stumble into an ongoing clash between Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Black Knight and Ant-Man, The Eternals and assorted monstrous Deviants, before ‘The Thunderbolts Take Over!’, uniting with the HFH squad to save the shrinking man’s daughter Cassie Lang from a Super-Adaptoid. In Thunderbolts #9 (Busiek, Bagley & Russell) the Black Widow comes calling with advice and ‘Life Lessons’ for Songbird and Mach-1, delivered as an untold tale of “Cap’s Kookie Quartet” – Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch – and related via a flashback crafted by Stern, Ron Frenz, Blyberg & Milgrom, before the main event commences…

After more than a year away, company publishing event Heroes Reborn/Heroes Return restored the martyrs believed killed by Onslaught to the Marvel Universe. That happy miracle sparked a new beginning for The FF and Avengers’ stars and titles and began in an extended epic covering Thunderbolts #10-12: scripted as ever by Busiek and illustrated by Bagley, Russell, Scott Hanna, Larry Mahlstadt & Greg Adams.

It opens with ‘Heroes Reward’ as whilst the Thunderbolts are being officially honoured, their greatest enemies – real superheroes – start reappearing. When G.W. Bridge raids the press briefing, having divined that Citizen V is wanted criminal Helmut Zemo, suddenly the aspiring (semi) reformed squad are fugitives all over again, hunted by every real hero in town…

Fleeing into space and occupying an abandoned AIM space station, the Thunderbolts finally learn what Zemo’s been after all along in ‘The High Ground’ and face a shattering decision to go along or pursue new redeemed lives. However, as the former allies deliberate, prevaricate, and inevitably clash, the choice becomes even harder as the base is invaded by an army of extremely angry Superheroes, including Avengers, Fantastic Four and every recent ally they so callously fooled…

It all concludes in ‘Endgame’, but not the way anyone anticipates, especially once Zemo mind controls and enslaves all the incoming champions before turning them on his outraged dupes. The conclusion is spectacular and rewarding but only promises more and better to come…

Bonus features here include a full gallery of covers and variants – including second printings and the many collected editions the series spawned in its first year – by Bagley & Russell, Deodato Jr., Carlos Pacheco & Scott Koblish, Steve Lightle, Sott Hanna, original art, a golden Age ad for the original Citizen V, promotional pieces, retailer solicitation art, text essays and introductions from earlier editions as well as 12 pages of Bagley’s character designs tracing the metamorphosis from second-string villains into first rung heroes, and even faux ads. Also included are articles from in-house promotional magazine Marvel Vision #13, 14, 18, 19 & 27 providing context and behind the scenes insights for fans who just couldn’t get enough.

This is a solid superhero romp that managed to briefly revitalise a lot of jaded old fan-boys, but more importantly this remains a strong set of tales that still pushes all the buttons it’s meant to nearly 3 decades after all the hoopla has faded. Well worth a moment of your time and a bit of your hard-earned cash. Be warned though, if you’re reading this because of the new movie, these ARE NOT Your Thunderbolts…
© 2023 MARVEL.