Category: Iron Man

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Thor/Iron Man: God Complex (AKA Iron Man/Thor: God Complex



By Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Scot Eaton, Jaime Mendoza, Jeff Huet, Lorenzo Ruggiero & Veronica Gandini (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5161-6 (HB), 978-0-7851-5162-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Two of Marvel’s oldest stars and perennial fan favourites – the Norse God of Thunder and Armoured Avenger – have in their long and chequered careers been the staunchest of allies, fiercely squabbling brothers-in-arms and latterly sworn foes.

In this short, sweet and fabulously straight-shooting traditional team-up, however, past grudges are largely forgotten when old foes return with a formidable new master on a fantastic crusade to forever change the world.

Gathering a bombastic 4-issue miniseries from 2010 entitled Iron Man/Thor: God Complex (but presumably switching ranking name positions due to a movie popularity moment), this modern fable opens with a horrific assault by a brooding brute on mystic miscreant Baron Mordo, resulting in the theft of the evil magician’s mightiest talisman. Simultaneously, the latest ultra-high tech orbital weapons platform of avaricious armaments magnate Moses Magnum is destroyed and its key systems stolen by a mysterious armoured figure…

In Oklahoma the rubble that was once eternal Asgard (for full details see Siege and Siege: Dark Avengers) is being slowly checked and cleared by American emergency teams and latter-day Norse Gods… until the weary responders free a very excitable and ticked-off dragon. Happily, recently reunited Avengers Thor and Iron Man are there to restrain the irked fire-drake until the beast’s owner Volstagg can calm his poor pet down…

With the infernal rampage suppressed, the work is then interrupted by Steve Rogers – former Captain America and current Chief of National Security – who dispatches the Armoured Avenger to Russia to investigate a runaway Particle Accelerator…

It’s a trap and Iron Man is attacked by the latest upgrade of the Crimson Dynamo just as back in Oklahoma, Thor is ambushed by ultimate troll Ulik, tasked with retrieving the formidable, unstoppable Asgardian war-armour dubbed the Destroyer.

Although more than a match for their old enemies, the heroes are surprised and subsequently defeated by hidden adversary Diablo and a former ally: the High Evolutionary.

The latter – an obsessive human geneticist who evolved animals into New Men before turning himself into a cosmic deity – has long dreamed of creating his own gods and now, allied with the malign immortal alchemist, has embarked on his latest experiment: to marry science to sorcery and produce a new supreme being: the one true God of the 21st Century…

For raw material, his willing subordinates have been gathering magical artefacts and the most cutting-edge technological components. The last thing needed was a suitable human Petri-dish and vessel. Brilliant, bold Tony Stark ideally qualifies on all counts…

However, even as the Evolutionary begins Iron Man’s enforced apotheosis, the hero counterattacks, whilst bruised but unbowed Thor and an unlikely ally hunt for the villains who stole the Destroyer, tracking the sinister god-makers to their unlikely lair. The consequent catastrophic clash looks set to end in victory for the heroes when the demonic Diablo turns the Avengers against each other with his mystic potions…

Even as the triumphant High Evolutionary begins the longed-for final transformation, Diablo finally shows his true colours: hijacking the metamorphosis, just as he’d always intended, transcending his merely human villainy to become an omnipotent modern God of Evil…

Unsurprisingly, even with the ambitions of centuries at last fulfilled, Diablo has not reckoned on the unfailing courage and determination of heroes or the anger of a master of science frustrated and betrayed…

Splendidly spectacular and visually stunning, this blistering action-epic concludes with one of the best and certainly most literal Deus ex Machina moments ever seen in comics: one to leave lovers of the genre breathless in wonder and appreciation.

This tumultuous tome also includes text features from movie tie-in Thor Spotlight, including ‘Abnett/Lanning on Iron Man/Thor: a DnA Q&A’ conducted by Jess Harold; the comedic ‘Iron Man/Thor: Behind the Scenes’; a look at ‘Classic Thor/Iron Man Team-Ups’ from Dana Perkins and a fabulous sneak-peak at Scot Eaton’s many Design Sketches for Crimson Dynamo, Mordo’s Amulet, Ulik and his upgrades and the all-important Cloaking Circuit…

Impossibly recapturing and even improving upon those hallowed, traditionally clear-cut, uncomplicated cataclysmic cosmic conflicts of yore, scripters Abnett & Lanning, penciller Eaton, inkers Jaime Mendoza, Jeff Huet & Lorenzo Ruggiero and colourist Veronica Gandini all splendidly collaborate here: making God Complex a pure joy that will delight fans and readers old and new.
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Invincible Iron Man Epic Collection volume 1: The Golden Avenger 1963-1965


By Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Robert Bernstein, Don Rico, Al Hartley, Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-8863-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

There are a number of ways to interpret the creation and early years of Tony Stark, glamorous millionaire industrialist and inventor – when not operating in his armoured alter-ego of Iron Man.

Created in the immediate aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis and at a time when “Red-baiting” and “Commie-bashing” were American national obsessions, the emergence of a brilliant new Thomas Edison using Yankee ingenuity and invention to safeguard and better the World seemed inevitable. Combine the then-all-pervasive belief that technology could solve any problem with the universal imagery of noble knights battling tangible and easily recognisable Evil and the proposition almost becomes a certainty.

Of course, it might simply be that we kids thought it both great fun and very, very cool…

This fabulous full-colour compendium of the Steel Shod Sentinel’s early days reprints all his adventures, feature pages and pin-ups from Tales of Suspense #39 (cover-dated March 1963) through #72 (December 1965), revisiting the dawn of Marvel’s rise to ascendancy.

This period would see the much-diminished and almost bankrupt comics colossus begin challenging DC Comics’ position of dominance, but not quite become the darlings of the student counter-culture. In these tales, Stark is still very much a gung-ho patriotic armaments manufacturer, and not the enlightened capitalist liberal dissenter he would become…

Scripted by Larry Lieber (over brother Stan Lee’s plot) and illustrated by the criminally unappreciated Don Heck, ToS #39 reveals how and why ‘Iron Man is Born!’, with engineering and electronics genius Stark field-testing his latest inventions in Viet Nam before being wounded by a landmine.

Captured by Viet Cong commander Wong-Chu, Stark is told that if he creates weapons for the Reds he will be operated on to remove the metal shrapnel in his chest that will kill him within seven days.

Knowing that Commies can’t be trusted, Stark and aged Professor Yinsen – another captive scientist – build a mobile iron lung to keep his heart beating. They also equip this suit of armour with all the weapons their ingenuity can covertly construct whilst being observed by their captors. Naturally, they succeed and defeat the local tyrant, but not without a tragic sacrifice.

From the next issue, Iron Man’s superhero career is taken as a given, and he has already achieved fame for largely off-camera exploits. Lee continues to plot but Robert Bernstein replaces Lieber as scripter for issues #40-46 and Jack Kirby pencils for Heck. ‘Iron Man versus Gargantus!’ follows the young Marvel pattern by pitting the hero against aliens – albeit via their robotic giant caveman intermediary – in a delightfully rollicking romp.

‘The Stronghold of Doctor Strange!’ (Lee, Bernstein, Kirby & Dick Ayers) features a gloriously spectacular confrontation with a wizard of Science (not Lee & Steve Ditko’s later Mystic Master), after which Heck returns to full art for the espionage and impostors thriller ‘Trapped by the Red Barbarian’.

Kirby & Heck team again for science-fantasy invasion romp ‘Kala, Queen of the Netherworld!’, but Heck goes it alone when Iron Man time-travels to ancient Egypt to rescue the fabled and fabulous Cleopatra from ‘The Mad Pharaoh!’.

New regular cast members proper – bodyguard “Happy” Hogan and secretary Virginia “Pepper” Potts – and the first true supervillain then arrive as the Steel Sentinel must withstand ‘The Icy Fingers of Jack Frost!’ before facing (and converting to Democracy) his Soviet counterpart ‘The Crimson Dynamo!’

Tales of Suspense #47 presaged big changes. Lee wrote ‘Iron Man Battles the Melter!’, and Heck inked the unique pencils of Steve Ditko in a grudge match between Stark and a disgraced corporate rival, but the big event came with the next issue’s ‘The Mysterious Mr. Doll!’

Here Lee, Ditko & Ayers scrapped the old, cool-but-clunky golden boiler-plate suit for a sleek, gleaming, form-fitting red-and-gold upgrade to aid the defeat of a sadistic mystic blackmailer using witchcraft to get ahead. The new suit would – with minor variations – become the symbol and trademark of the character for decades to come.

Paul Reinman inked Ditko on Lee’s crossover/sales pitch for the new X-Men comic book when ‘Iron Man Meets the Angel!’, before the series finally found its feet with Tales of Suspense #50.

Heck became regular penciller and occasional inker as Lee delivered the Armoured Avenger’s first major menace and perpetual nemesis in ‘The Hands of the Mandarin!’: a modern-day Fu Manchu derivative who terrifies the Red Chinese so much that they manipulate him into attacking America, with the hope that one threat will fatally wound the other. The Mandarin would become Iron Man’s greatest foe.

Our ferrous hero made short work of criminal contortionist ‘The Sinister Scarecrow’, and also the Red spy who appropriated a leftover Russian armour-suit and declared ‘The Crimson Dynamo Strikes Again!’ – scripted, as was the next issue – by the enigmatic “N. Kurok” who was in truth Golden Age veteran Don Rico). The issue also premiered a far more dangerous threat in the slinky shape of Soviet Femme Fatale The Black Widow.

With ToS #53 she became a headliner as ‘The Black Widow Strikes Again!’: stealing Stark’s new anti-gravity ray but ultimately thwarted in her sabotage mission, after which ‘The Mandarin’s Revenge!’ began a 2-part tale of kidnap and coercion that concluded by disproving in #55 that ‘No One Escapes the Mandarin!’…

It’s followed by a “Special Bonus Featurette” by Lee & Heck, revealing ‘All About Iron Man’ detailing how the suit works and even ‘More Info about Iron Man!’ including a ‘Pepper Potts Pin-Up Page’…

‘The Uncanny Unicorn!’ promptly attacked, only to fare no better in the end, his power-horn proving pointless in the end, but segueing neatly into another Soviet sortie as Black Widow resurfaced to beguile a budding superhero. ‘Hawkeye, The Marksman!’ was gulled into attacking the Golden Avenger in #57 during his debut moment: briefly making him the company’s latest and most dashing misunderstood malefactor.

Another landmark occurred with the next issue. Formerly, Iron Man had monopolised Tales of Suspense but ‘In Mortal Combat with Captain America!’ (inked by Ayers) depicted an all-out battle between the Avengers teammates resulting from a clever substitution by evil impersonator The Chameleon. It was a tasty primer for the next issue when Cap would begin his own solo adventures, splitting the monthly comic into an anthology featuring Marvel’s top two patriotic paladins.

Iron Man’s initial half-length outing in #59 was against technological terror ‘The Black Knight!’, and as a result of the blistering clash, Stark was rendered unable to remove his own armour without triggering a heart attack: a situation that hadn’t occurred since the initial injury. Up until this time he had led a relatively normal life by simply wearing the heartbeat regulating breast-plate under his clothes. The introduction of such soap-opera sub-plots were a necessity of the shorter page counts, as were continued stories, but this seeming disadvantage worked to improve both the writing and the sales.

With Stark’s “disappearance”, Iron Man was ‘Suspected of Murder!’, a tale that saw the return of Hawkeye and Black Widow, leading directly into an attack from China and ‘The Death of Tony Stark!’ (complete with a bonus pin-up of ‘The Golden Avenger Iron Man’). The sinister ambusher then provided ‘The Origin of the Mandarin!’ before being beaten by Stark’s ingenuity once again.

After that extended epic, a change of pace occurred as short complete exploits returned. The first was #63’s industrial sabotage thriller ‘Somewhere Lurks the Phantom!’ (by Lee Heck & Ayers), followed by the somewhat self-explanatory ‘Hawkeye and the New Black Widow Strike Again!’ (inked by Chic Stone and with the Soviet agent abruptly transformed from fur-clad seductress into a gadget-laden costumed villain), after which ‘When Titans Clash!’ sees a burglar steal the new armour, forcing Stark to defeat his greatest invention with his old suit (inked by new regular Mike Esposito as “Mickey DeMeo”).

Mike stuck around to see subsea tyrant Attuma as the threat du jour in ‘If I Fail, a World is Lost!’ and crime-lord Count Nefaria uses dreams as a weapon in ‘Where Walk the Villains!’, returning in the next issue to attack Stark with hallucinations in ‘If a Man be Mad!’: a rather weak tale introducing Stark’s ne’er-do-well cousin Morgan. It was written by Al Hartley with Heck & Esposito in top form as always.

Issues #69-71 form another continued saga: a one of the best of this early period. Inked by Vince Colletta, ‘If I Must Die, Let It Be with Honor!’ sees Iron Man forced to duel a new Russian opponent called Titanium Man in a globally-televised contest both national super-powers see as a vital propaganda coup. The governments are naturally quite oblivious of the cost to the participants and their friends…

DeMeo inks ‘Fight On! For a World is Watching!’ which amplifies the intrigue and tension as the Soviets, caught cheating, pile on the pressure to at least kill America’s champion if they can’t score a publicity win, before final chapter ‘What Price Victory?’ affords a rousing, emotional conclusion of triumph and tragedy made magnificent by the super-glossy inking of troubled artistic genius Wally Wood.

That would have been the ideal place to end the volume but there’s one more episode included here: ToS #72 – by Lee, Heck & Demeo – deals with the aftermath of victory as, whilst the fickle public fête Iron Man, his best friend lies dying, and a spiteful ex-lover hires diabolical super-genius the Mad Thinker to destroy Stark and his company forever.

‘Hoorah for the Conquering Hero!’ closes the book on a pensive down-note, somewhat leavened by bonus features including a house ad promoting two new titles out the same month – Tales of Suspense #39 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 – and another plugging all the heroes extant as of May 1963. That one also announced the company rebrand as “Marvel Comics Group”.

We close with a selection of pre-correction original art covers and pages: 8 wondrous treats by Kirby, Heck Wood, Colletta & Ayers.

The sheer quality of this compendium is undeniable. From broad comedy and simple action to dark cynicism and relentless battle, Marvel Comics grew up with this deeply contemporary series.

Iron Man developed amidst the growing political awareness of the Viet Nam Generation who were the comic’s maturing readership. Wedded as it was to the American Industrial-Military Complex, with a hero – originally the government’s wide-eyed golden boy – gradually becoming attuned to his country/s growing divisions, it was, as much as Spider-Man, a bellwether of the times. That it remains such a thrilling romp of classic superhero fun is a lasting tribute to the talents of all those superb creators that worked it.
© 2020 MARVEL.

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


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

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

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

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

Here’s a quote from the last panel…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Avengers Epic Collection volume 8: Kang War 1974-1976


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Iron Man Epic Collection volume 5: Battle Royal 1972-1974


By Roy Thomas, Jim Starlin, Steve Gerber, Bill Everett, George Tuska, Barry Windsor-Smith, P. Craig Russell, John Romita & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3361-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Glittering Marvel Madness… 8/10

First conceived in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis at a time when the economy was booming and “Commie-bashing” was an American national obsession, the emergence of a new and shining young Thomas Edison, using Yankee ingenuity, wealth and invention to safeguard the Land of the Free and better the World, seemed an obvious development. Combining the then-sacrosanct faith that technology and business in unison could solve any problem, with the universal imagery of noble knights battling evil, Tony Stark – the Invincible Iron Man – seemed an infallibly successful proposition.

Of course, whilst Tony Stark was the acceptable face of 1960s Capitalism – a glamorous millionaire industrialist/scientist and a benevolent all-conquering hero when clad in the super-scientific armour of his alter-ego – the turbulent tone of the 1970s soon relegated his suave, “can-do” image to the recycling bin of history.

With ecological disaster and social catastrophe from the myriad abuses of big business the new zeitgeists of the young, the Golden Avenger and Stark International were soon confronting a few tricky questions from the 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 the bastion of militarised America…

This grand and gleaming chronological compendium navigates that transitional period, re-presenting Iron Man #47-67 and the period cover-dated June 1972 through April 1974, as the title experienced an unprecedented and often uncomfortable number of creative personnel changes whilst the country endured a radical and often divisive split in ideology.

It begins in the aftermath of best friend Kevin O’Brian’s pointless death and the gradual disintegration of his girlfriend Marianne Rodgers who is slowly being driven insane by her own psychic abilities.

After the funeral, Stark traumatically reviews his origins, twin careers and now-obscured objectives in ‘Why Must There be an Iron Man?’ (by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith & Jim Mooney) after which, emotionally reinvigorated and rededicated to his life of service, the Armoured Avenger welcomes new scripter Mike Friedrich and established artists George Tuska & Vince Colletta to again face the ferocious threat of radical incendiary terrorist Firebrand in ‘The Fury and the Inferno!’

Meanwhile, whilst attempting a new start in life, Marianne’s final breakdown begins…

‘…There Lurks the Adaptoid!’ finds her experiencing horrifying precognitive visions of a power-mimicking robot attacking Iron Man, and leads to her accidental betrayal of the man she loves when the automaton actually arrives and evolves into an unbeatable new form in #50’s ‘Deathplay!’

This coincides with equally-troubled Z-list villain Princess Python attempting to kidnap Stark, just as our hero is being targeted by power-leeching sub-atomic tyrants, before the bizarre saga concludes with bombastic battle in ‘Now Stalks the Cyborg-Sinister!’

New Age mysticism and West Coast celebrity-cults informed Iron Man #52 as Stark faces ‘Raga: Son of Fire!: an emotion-fuelled, flaming maniac trained by an evil guru who subsequently takes over from his failed disciple when things get too hot…

With additional pencils from star-in-waiting Jim Starlin, concluding chapter ‘The Black Lama!’ shows that the master mage is also unable to destroy the Golden Avenger, but would subsequently return to become one of the hero’s greatest and most insidious foes of the period.

Issue #54 found Stark in California and drawn into what became one of Marvel’s earliest and most successful crossover epics. ‘Sub-Mariner: Target for Death!’ debuted pitiless alien researcher Madame MacEvil – later re-branded as Moondragon during the Thanos Saga…

She was a bald, sexy science siren who manipulated Iron Man into attacking the Prince of Atlantis in a spectacular blockbusting bout further enhanced by additional art from the legendary Bill Everett supplementing the efforts of Friedrich, Tuska & Colletta…

The Thanos story moved into full gear in Iron Man #55, as Friedrich scripted illustrator Jim Starlin’s opening gambit ‘Beware The… Blood Brothers!’: introducing haunted humanoid powerhouse Drax the Destroyer, who had been trapped by extraterrestrial invader Thanos under the Nevada desert and was in dire need of rescue…

(This was all merely a prelude to the full saga which appeared in Captain Marvel #25-33, Marvel Feature #12, Daredevil #106-107 and Avengers #125, and has been collected in many compilations…

Iron Man #56 was a literally magical palate-cleanser, as Steve Gerber joined Starlin & Mike Esposito to tell the satirically hilarious tragedy of ‘Rasputin’s Revenge!’, wherein a street corner doom-prophet accidentally gains the power to fulfil his prognostications but still falls sadly short of engineering an apocalypse…

It was back to business as usual with Gerber, Tuska, Esposito & Frank Giacoia in #57 as a devastating ‘Strike!’ hits troubled Stark Industries. The dissent has been engineered by an insidious old enemy who inevitably overplays his be-ringed hand in concluding episode ‘Mandarin and the Unicorn: Double-Death!’ (with Friedrich returning to script Gerber’s plot) after which ‘A Madness in Motown!’ sees Stark battling revenge-crazed anti-capitalist Firebrand whilst unknowingly falling for the torrid terrorist’s sister Roxie Gilbert.

Another 2-part clash follows – this time against a deadly technology-thief – opening with ‘Cry Marauder!’ after a masked malcontent steals Stark’s experimental space shuttle. Culmination comes with ‘Death Knells over Detroit!’ as the purloined prototype is aimed like a monstrous missile at the heart of Motor City, leaving a crippled Iron Man only seconds to save the day…

With Friedrich scripting, the action stays in Detroit as Stark inspects one of his factories until former Maggia assassin ‘Whiplash Returns!’ (illustrated by P. Craig Russell, Esposito, Frank Giacoia & John Romita Sr.). The crazed killer-for-hire is raging for revenge and especially ticked off that his girlfriend has been made his boss…

Illustrated by Tuska & Esposito, an extended epic began in #63 with ‘Enter: Dr. Spectrum’, seeing Stark relentlessly – and fruitlessly – romantically pursues pacifist dissident Roxie Gilbert in Detroit, whilst obnoxious Ugandan financier and diplomat Dr. Kinji Obatu visits the Long Island plant and is attacked by a gang of masked thugs…

The assault is repelled thanks to the timely assistance of stand-in Iron Man Eddie March, who is promptly offered a bodyguard job by the creepy ambassador and invited to accompany him to a meeting with Stark in Detroit.

On Stark’s arrival, photonic fiend Dr. Spectrum ambushes the inventor, before being driven off by the Armoured Avenger after a titanic and costly struggle. A far more serious problem emerges later when old friend Happy Hogan accuses Tony of having an affair with his wife Pepper…

Spectrum strikes again in the next issue, with a similar lack of success, before Happy blows his top and takes a swing at Stark, but that confrontation is curtailed when a gigantic monster kidnaps just-arrived Obatu in ‘Rokk Cometh!’

When the beast then targets Roxie, exhausted Iron Man intervenes but is too drained to resist the relentless Spectrum…

Issue #65 exposes ‘The Cutting Edge of Death!’ when the Golden Avenger learns the true parasitical nature of Spectrum’s Power Prism as it transfers itself from wilfully disobedient villain Obatu to our worn-out hero.

Its glee is short lived though, as the possessed Iron Man is challenged by recently arrived comrade Thor, resulting in a blockbusting ‘Battle Royal!’ which only ends when the Thunderer crushes the crystal conqueror and discovers the dying man inside the armour is neither Stark nor Obatu…

As a consequence of that climactic clash of myth and mechanism, IM #67 sees the impostor Iron Man temporarily mutated by Stark’s medical miracle machine the Cobalt Enervator into a rampaging monster in ‘Return of the Freak’ but no sooner do the genuine Armoured Avenger and surgeon Don Blake (who we all know was Thor back then) stop and save the berserk victim than Stark is drawn into another conflict in South East Asia…

Sadly. That falls into the category of “To Be Continued”…

With covers by Kane, Colletta, Giacoia, Tuska, Starlin, Joe Sinnott, Rich Buckler, John Romita & Mike Esposito, the galvanised wonderment also includes many beautiful original art pages and covers by Windsor-Smith, Mooney, Tuska, Everett, Colletta, Starlin, Esposito, John Romita & Kane: wrapping up this collection with the Golden Gladiator being carefully politically repositioned at a time when Marvel solidly set itself up at the vanguard of a rapidly changing America increasingly at war with itself.

With this volume Marvel further entrenched itself in the camp of the young and the restless, experiencing first hand, and every day, the social upheaval America was undergoing. This rebellious teen sensibility and increased political conscience permeated Marvel’s publications as their core audience evolved from Flower Power innocents into a generation of acutely aware activists. Future tales would increasingly bring reformed capitalist Stark into many unexpected and outrageous situations…

That’s the meat of another review, as this engrossing ride is done. From our distant vantage point the polemical energy and impact might be dissipated, but the sheer quality of the comics and the cool thrill of the eternal aspiration of man in perfect partnership with magic metal remains. These superhero sagas are amongst the most underrated but impressive tales of the period and are well worth your time, consideration and cold hard cash.

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Essential Rampaging Hulk volume 1


By Doug Moench, John Warner, Walter Simonson, Alfred Alcala, Alex Niño, Jim Starlin, Keith Pollard, Tony DeZuñiga, Herb Trimpe, Sal Buscema, Ron Wilson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Rudy Nebres, Bob McLeod & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2699-7 (TPB)

The Incredible Hulk was Marvel’s second “superhero” title, although technically Henry Pym debuted earlier in a one-off yarn in Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962). However, he didn’t become a costumed hero until the autumn, by which time Ol’ Greenskin was not-so-firmly established.

The Hulk crashed right into his own comic book and – after some classic romps by Young Marvel’s finest creators – crashed right out again. After six bi-monthly issues the series was cancelled and Lee retrenched, making the man-monster a perennial guest-star in Marvel’s other titles (Fantastic Four #12, Amazing Spider-Man #14, The Avengers from #1 and so forth) until such time as they restarted his own exploits in the new “Split-Book” format. The Jade Giant landed in Tales To Astonish where Ant/Giant-Man was rapidly proving to be a character who had outlived his time.

It all began in The Incredible Hulk #1 (cover-dated May 1962) which saw puny atomic scientist Bruce Banner sequestered on a secret military base in the desert, and perpetually bullied by bombastic commander General “Thunderbolt” Ross as the clock counted down to the world’s first Gamma Bomb test. Besotted by Ross’s daughter Betty, Banner endured the General’s constant jibes as the clock ticked on and tension increased. During the final countdown, Banner spotted a teenager lollygagging at Ground Zero and frantically rushed to the site to drag the boy away…

Rick Jones was a wayward but good-hearted kid. After initial resistance he let himself be pushed into a safety trench, but just as Banner was about to join him The Bomb detonated…

Miraculously surviving the blast, Banner and the boy were secured by soldiers, but that evening as the sun set the scientist underwent a monstrous transformation. He grew larger and his skin turned a stony grey…

In six simple pages that’s how it all started, and no matter what any number of TV, movie or comic book retcons and psycho-babble re-evaluations would have you believe, it’s still the best and most primal take on the origin. A good man, an unobtainable girl, a foolish kid, an unknown enemy and the horrible power of destructive science unchecked. It was clearly also the idea for a later iteration where continuity was rolled right back to the era of the first run: set in the Sixties and revealing previously “untold tales”…

In December 1976 that’s how the retrospective spin-off series began. Now a literal and figurative Marvel powerhouse, the Jade Juggernaut was awarded a monochrome magazine free of Comics Code supervision to augment his many in-continuity appearances. The Rampaging Hulk took the controversial tack of telling stories of what Banner, Jones and the Big Guy did next during the further formation of the nascent Marvel Universe…

Keeping up the theme, early issues featured tales of monster-hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, but you’ll need to look elsewhere for them…

The Hulk stories were set in 1963, after his own first series foundered, and – following a terse retelling of the classic origin cited above – scripter Doug Moench and illustrators Walt Simonson & Alfredo Alcala channelled primal Jack Kirby via a rather heavy grey-tone wash in a wild yarn of flying saucer sightings over Rome. The portentous sightings heralded invasion and, by also referencing the company’s early Sixties monster mag triumphs, the second-generation creators tacitly acknowledged their target audience: a supposedly older magazine readership who were presumably many of the same kids who had bought the original fantasy masterpieces…

Moench’s scripts and tone were wryly tongue-in-cheek, offering constant visual and verbal comedic touches whilst channelling early Marvel continuity and the tropes of the Sixties, if only as seen from the distant perspective of ten years after…

The magazine phenomenon had only a minor impact and effect on the Hulk’s four-colour adventures at that time, but, as always, the fury-fuelled fugitive was alternately aided or hunted by General Ross and met a variety of guest-star heroes and villains…

Opening gambit ‘The Krylorian Conspiracy’ saw Banner and Jones teaming up with alien rebel Bereet: a pacifist techno-artist hiding on Earth and seeking to prevent her bellicose shape-shifting people conquering humanity. The militaristic, monster-obsessed Krylorians – having failed to recruit the Gamma Goliath – attack Rome whilst enlisting the aid of The Hulk’s first super-foe: renegade Russian mutant The Gargoyle. Of course, they intend to betray him at the first opportunity…

It all ends up in a colossal clash with lots of spectacular smashing, with Bereet, Jones, Banner and The Hulk all resolved to stop the invasion at any cost…

Embellisher Alcala switched to a drybrush technique for the second issue as ‘And Then… The X-Men’ finds the wanderers in Paris, contesting more Krylorian shapeshifters, robots and crazy creatures, and subsequently attracting the attention of a certain band of mutant hunting teenagers. After the customary violent misunderstandings, the clandestine outsiders join forces with the Hulk to stop the razing of the City of Lights…

Another early foe returned as #3 shifted the action to the South of France where ‘The Monster and the Metal Master’ sees the treacherous Krylorians dupe and exploit another alien – a manic metal-moulding malcontent who appeared in the last issue of the original Hulk comic – into piloting their new weapon (“The Ferronaut”), whilst Rick, Bruce and Bereet seek to save little boy Spirou from being abused by his guardian and hotel-running employer. When they also find the invaders, all hell breaks loose and another Krylor base gets rocked to rubble…

The Rampaging Hulk #4 diverts from the overarching plot arc as Jim Starlin & Alex Niño take the tormented Green Giant to another time and place situated on ‘The Other Side of Night!’ Scripted by John Warner from Starlin’s plot, the tale reveals how extraterrestrial wizard Chen K’an abducts Banner and places his intellect into the Hulk’s body to make him the ideal comrade in a quest to defeat evil and save his dying, demon-infested world. The plan succeeds, but as is always the case with mages, Chen K’an has been less than honest about his ultimate intentions…

Back on Earth and his own era, the Hulk next meets his undersea antithesis in an epic 2-part continued tale from Moench, Keith Pollard, Alcala & Tony DeZuñiga. Beginning with ‘Lo, the Sub-Mariner Strikes!’ wherein Krylorians use manufactured sea monsters to assault Atlantis and provoke Prince Namor’s retaliation on Rome. The scheme explosively escalates as Sub-Mariner rescues and is captivated by Bereet, provoking a far from chivalrous response from the Hulk…

During the monumental battle that follows, Bereet is wounded and taken by Namor to Atlantis. The ever-enraged Hulk and Rick follow for cataclysmic climax ‘…And All the Sea With Monsters!’ arriving just in time to duel Namor in his own element until another Krylorian undersea attack puts them on the same side… for a moment…

Throughout the series, Bereet’s semi-sentient techno-creations had played a major role in aiding their efforts but in #7 a typical Hulk tantrum unleashes an inimical spirit inhabiting her bag of tricks and spawning a terrifying ‘Night of the Wraith!’ (Moench, Pollard & Jim Mooney) before the end of the reprised era begins with #8’s ‘A Gathering of Doom!’ – illustrated by Hulk veteran Herb Trimpe & Alcala.

The Hulk’s biggest boost after his debut title was cancelled came as he fought, joined, co-founded and left The Avengers: a saga that took up the first five issues of the new team title. Here that debt is acknowledged in another 2-parter as the Krylorians at last attack America and the valiant trio go after them.

With the shapeshifters impersonating recently emergent hero Iron Man, and the Hulk battling the doppelganger, other new champions are drawn to the conflict. However, when Thor, Ant-Man, The Wasp and the real Iron Man converge, another wrong conclusion is leapt to and the “Pre-Vengers” turn on the big green angry monster…

The shattering finale is by Moench, Sal Buscema & Rudy Mesina as all-out chaos explodes when the assembled titans clash. It’s exactly to wrong moment for the Krylorian fleet to distract everybody with a screaming attack, but that’s what they do, accidentally uniting the suspicious heroic strangers who join forces to ‘To Avenge the Earth’ and repel the invasion…

Originally released as newsprint magazine, The Rampaging Hulk abruptly transformed (and became the testing ground of the company’s “Marvelcolor” process) when a hugely successful TV show starring the Green Goliath took off. It saw the periodical upgraded to slicker paper stock. Sadly, that’s not apparent in this monochrome collection, but I’m sure that one day we’ll see the tales as they were meant to be…

The obliquely continuity-adjacent storylines were instantly shelved and the narrative tone adjusted to address the needs of casual curious readers and television converts. Although guest stars were dropped the scenario shifted back to present day as a solitary emerald outcast wandered the world looking for a cure or at least a little peace…

Supposedly a more sophisticated product, the book also offered a home to Moon Knight, who moved in for a series of darkly modern tales also outside standard superhero parameters.

Only a taste of those is included here, but before those begin, #10 of retitled The Hulk! magazine offers ‘Thunder of Dawn’ with Moench, Ron Wilson & Ricardo Villamonte depositing Hulk/Banner in the Pacific west and working in a local mine.

A born trouble-magnet, Banner takes up with Dawn – a whistle-blower investigating kickbacks and environmental abuses but his assistance only triggers tragedy, murder and a blockbusting battle against colossal digging machines…

The tale is divided by a brief prose vignette by David Anthony Kraft & Dwight Jon Zimmerman with spot illustrations by Ernie Chan. ‘The Runaway and the Rescuer!’ channels a key moment of a classic Universal Pictures Frankenstein film as the lonely misunderstood monster befriends a little girl with tragic and unexpected consequences…

Issue #11 (October 1978) continues the scary star’s picaresque perambulations with restless vagrant Banner joining a travelling circus, only to find his cherished anonymity threatened by ‘The Boy Who Cried Hulk!’ (inked by Fran Matera). When the abused kid’s plight coincides with a string of suspicious fires, Banner’s new friends (such as strongman Bruno) turn against him, and the Hulk is again unleashed…

Moench, Wilson & Chan return to Bruno in #12 as ‘The Color of Hate!’ sees the humiliated performer – now obsessed by the mysterious green brute – sign up for a science experiment and steal an exoskeleton to destroy his personal bête noire (or is that vert?)

The Hulk! #13 finds Banner flying to Zurich after a newspaper headline hints at a possible cure for The Hulk. Inked by Bob McLeod, ‘Season of Terror’ starts with the Green Goliath bringing down the airliner an increasingly stressed Banner was a passenger on – and that was before hijackers took control of the cockpit…

The enraged colossus redeems himself by (mostly) saving it from crashing into an alp with a minimum of fatalities, but that only means the terrorists are able to make hostages of the survivors. As a wary, weary Banner tries to keep everyone safe until rescue parties arrive, he is reminded again what true monsters look and act like…

With Rudy Nebres inking Wilson, the Swiss tragedy resolves into a spark of hope as the fugitive scientist finds ‘A Cure for Chaos!’ in the chateau/schloss of Dr. Hans Feldstadt. Sadly, not all researchers are as altruistic as Banner and the hope is extinguished amidst a wash of unleashed gamma rays and a flurry of huge flying fists…

This initial compilation concludes with Alcala back for #15 (June 1980) to ink Wilson on ‘The Top Secret’. Banner is again in his southwestern desert stomping grounds, and headed for his old subterranean secret lab, resolved to cure himself but the region is now home to bunch of crazed militarists seeking to gain a technological head start on the Soviet Union, telemetrically planting good American patriots in fearsome Cybortron warbots…

When they stumble across and even capture The Hulk, the researchers think they’ve found a way to upgrade the tech even further, but it’s never a good idea to let Banner or The Hulk near your machines or plans…

Just for once, the full contents of this issue are included in the form of a notional crossover between headliner and back-up star. As stated above, Moon Knight was building his reputation in the rear of this title and here is part of a single encounter told from two perspectives. Moench, Sienkiewicz & McLeod explored ‘An Eclipse, Waning’ with millionaire playboy Steven Grant indulging a neglected passion for astronomy by visiting an old pal in the countryside on the night of a total lunar occultation. The event brings brutal burglars out of the woodwork and Moon Knight is required to stop them, but, bizarrely, at the height of the eclipse, during the moment of utter darkness, the Lunar Avenger encounters something huge, monstrous and unbeatable, barely escaping with his life.

Answers come in ‘An Eclipse Waxing’ as on that same night, fugitive Bruce Banner stumbles into burglars breaking into an isolated house. Helplessly transforms into the Hulk just as total night falls, the monster briefly encounters an unseen foe of uncanny capabilities…

With painted covers by Ken Barr, Earl Norem, Starlin, Val Mayerik and Bob Larkin, plus pin-ups and frontispiece from occasional series ‘Great moments in Hulk History’ revisited and reprised by Moench and artists Ed Hannigan, John Romita, Jr. & Nebres, Al Milgrom, Chan, Terry Austin, Rich Buckler, Simonson, Mike Zeck and Gene Colan, this tome concludes with a house ad and a bargain bonus.

In regular monthly comic book The Incredible Hulk #269 (cover-dated March 1982 and by Bill Mantlo &Sal Buscema) it was revealed that the entire tranche of lost 1960s stories and Krylorian Saga was actual an art installation by alien artis Bereet. That 5-page sequence is included here to denote the character finally joining the official Marvel continuity…

The Hulk is one of the most well-known comics characters in the business, thanks in great part to his numerous assaults on the wider world of both large and small screens. The satisfyingly effective formula of radioactively-afflicted Bruce Banner wandering the Earth seeking a cure for his gamma-transformative curse whilst constantly pursued by authoritarian forces struck a particular chord in the late 1970s as the first live action TV show captured the hearts and minds of the viewing public. You can relive or at last sample that simplistic but satisfying situation just by stopping here for little while before inevitably moving on…
© 1976, 1977, 1978, 2010 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Sub-Mariner Marvel Masterworks volume 5


By Roy Thomas, Allyn Brodsky, Sal Buscema, Ross Andru, Frank Springer & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-6619-1 (HB/Digital edition)

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the offspring of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer; a hybrid being of immense strength, highly resistant to physical harm, able to fly, and thrive above and below the waves. Created by young, talented Bill Everett, Namor technically predates Marvel/Atlas/Timely Comics.

He first caught the public’s avid attention as part of an elementally appealing fire vs. water headlining team-up in the October 1939 Marvel Comics #1 (which renamed itself Marvel Mystery Comics from #2 onwards). The amphibian antihero shared honours and top billing with The Human Torch, but had originally been seen (albeit in a truncated, monochrome version) in Motion Picture Funnies: a promotional booklet handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year. Rapidly emerging as one of the industry’s biggest draws, Namor won his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated Spring 1941) and was one of the last super-characters to vanish at the end of the first heroic age.

In 1954, when Atlas (as the company then was) briefly revived its “Big Three” line-up – the Torch and Captain America being the other two – Everett returned for an extended run of superbly dark, mordantly timely fantasy fables. However, even his input wasn’t sufficient to keep the title afloat and eventually Sub-Mariner sank again.

In 1961, as Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were reinventing superheroes with the landmark title Fantastic Four, they revived the awesome, all-but-forgotten aquanaut as a troubled, semi-amnesiac antihero. Decidedly more bombastic, regal and grandiose, this returnee despised humanity: embittered and broken by the loss of his sub-sea kingdom which had been (seemingly) destroyed by American atomic testing. His rightful revenge became infinitely complicated after he became utterly besotted with the FF’s Susan Storm.

Namor knocked around the budding Marvel universe for a few years, squabbling with other star turns such as The Hulk, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil before securing his own series as one half of Tales to Astonish, and from there graduating in 1968 to his own solo title.

This fifth subsea selection trawls Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner #26-38 and portions of Ka-Zar #1, spanning June 1970 to June 1971, and opens with another heartfelt appreciation and more creative secret-sharing in an Introduction from life-long devotee – and primary scribe of this book – Roy Thomas. The drama recommences as recently self-appointed relentless guardian of the safety and ecology of all Earth’s oceans, the Prince of Atlantis furtively returns to the surface world.

In ‘“Kill!” Cried the Raven!’ by Thomas, Sal Buscema & Joe Gaudioso (AKA Mike Esposito) the Sub-Mariner has come to investigate reports of comatose superhuman Red Raven. He was the human emissary of a legendary race of sky-dwelling Birdmen recently encountered by The Angel of the X-Men in their last clash with Magneto. With the covert assistance of old friend Diane Arliss, Namor seeks to forge an alliance with the Avian race, but shocks, surprises and the Raven’s trauma-induced madness all conspire to sink the plan…

Back brooding in Atlantis in the wake of another failure, Namor’s mood is further plagued when a human pirate uses his giant monster-vessel to attack shipping with Atlantis bearing the brunt of blame ‘When Wakes the Kraken!’ His hunt for bizarre bandit Commander Kraken again involves Diane and ends only when the Sub-Mariner demonstrates what a real sea monster looks like…

Recuperating with her in New York City, Namor is incensed by the actions of an unrepentant industrial polluter and joins teen protestors fighting developer Sam Westman’s thugs and mega machines in ‘Youthquake!’ before we pause for a little diversion…

Beginning as a Tarzan tribute act relocated to a lost world in a sub-polar realm of swamp-men and dinosaurs, Ka-Zar eventually evolved into one of Marvel’s more complex and mercurial characters. Wealthy heir to one of Britain’s oldest noble families, his best friend is Zabu the sabretooth tiger, his wife is feisty environmental-crusader Shanna the She-Devil and his brother is a homicidal super-scientific bandit. Kevin Reginald, Lord Plunder is perpetually torn between the clean life-or-death simplicity of the jungle and the bewildering constant compromises of modern civilisation.

The primordial paragon even outranks Namor in terms of longevity, having begun as a prose pulp star, boasting three issues of his own magazine between October 1936 and June 1937. They were authored by Bob Byrd – a pseudonym for publisher Martin Goodman or one of a fleet of writers on his staff – and he was latterly shoehorned into a speculative new-fangled comic book venture Marvel Comics #1. There he roamed alongside another pulp mag graduate: The Angel, plus Masked Raider, the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner…

When Ka-Zar reappeared all rowdy and renovated in 1965’s X-Men #10, it was clear the Sovereign of the Savage Land was destined for bigger things. However, for years all he got was guest shots as misunderstood foe du jour for Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Spider-Man, and the Hulk.

In 1969, he took his shot with a solo saga in Marvel Super-Heroes and later that year – after Roy Thomas & Neal Adams used him so effectively in their X-Men run (issues #62-63) – was awarded a giant-sized solo title reprinting many previous appearances. The title also incongruously offered all-new stories of Hercules and the second, mutant X-Man Angel. That same month, Ka-Zar’s first regular series began in Astonishing Tales…

That Hercules back up from Ka-Zar #1 (August 1970 by Allyn Brodsky, Frank Springer & Dick Ayers) is reprinted here as it impacts Namor’s exploits…

‘In his Footsteps… The Huntsman of Zeus!’ sees the potent Prince of Power on the run from an Olympian agent despatched by the King of the Gods. Following another bitter dispute with his sire Hercules returns to Earth, leaving Ares to foment trouble and prompt Zeus to set his terror-inducing Huntsman on the godling’s trail…

After seeking sanctuary with the Avengers, Hercules sees his mortal friends brutally beaten and flees once again…

The panicked rush takes him to Sub-Mariner #29 and the distant Mediterranean where the Huntsman ensorcells Namor and pits him against the fugitive. Although Hercules soon breaks the hypnotic spell, ‘Fear is the Hunter!’ reveals why the pursuer is so dreaded as he sends mythical terrors Scylla, Charybdis and Polyphemus against the heroes and the pitiful mortals of the region, until a valiant breakthrough ends the threat and forces a paternal reconciliation…

Another guest star treat materialises in #30 as ‘Calling Captain Marvel!’ sees Namor again reduced to a mesmerised puppet and attacking the Kree warrior and his human host Rick Jones. This time the condition is due to the amphibian’s falling in battle against toxic terrorist Mr. Markham who attempts to blackmail Earth by threatening to poison the seas with his molecular polluter. Once Captain Marvel batters Namor back to his right mind, they make quick work of the maniac in a concerted twin assault…

The fallout from his recent actions have unsettled Namor’s old friend Triton, and the Inhuman goes looking for the prince in #31 just as apparent Atlantean attacks on surface shipping mounts. Meeting equally concerned human Walt Newell (who operates as undersea Avenger Stingray) they finally find – and fight – the Sub-Mariner, only to learn the crisis has been manufactured by his old enemy who is now ‘Attuma Triumphant!’

The barbarian’s plans include destroying human civilisation, but he still has time to pit his captives against each other in a gladiatorial battle to the death; which of course is Attuma’s undoing…

Jim Mooney comes aboard as inker with #32 as a new and deadly enemy debuts in ‘Call Her Llyra… Call Her Legend!’ when fresh human atomic tests prompt Namor to voyage to the Pacific and renew political alliance with the undersea state of Lemuria. However, on arrival he finds noble Karthon replaced by a sinister seductress who lusts for war and harbours a tragic Jekyll & Hyde secret…

By the time he reaches Atlantis again the Sunken City is being ravaged by seaquakes and old political enemy Prince Byrrah is seizing control from Namor’s deputies and devoted paramour Lady Dorma. ‘Come the Cataclysm’ sees him first accuse surface-worlders before locating and defeating the true culprits – an alliance of Byrrah with failed usurper Warlord Krang and human mad genius Dr. Dorcas. In the throes of triumph, Prince Namor announces his imminent marriage to Dorma…

Antihero superteam The Defenders officially begin with Sub-Mariner #34-35 (cover-dated February & March 1971). As previously stated, the Prince of Atlantis had become an early and ardent activist and advocate of the ecology movement, and here he takes radical steps to save the planet by fractiously recruiting The Hulk and Silver Surfer to help him destroy an American Nuclear Weather-Control station.

In ‘Titans Three!’ and concluding chapter ‘Confrontation!’ (by Thomas, Sal Buscema & Jim Mooney) the always-misunderstood outcasts unite to battle a despotic dictator’s legions, the US Army, UN defence forces and the mighty Avengers to prevent the malfunctioning station from vaporising half the planet…

Inked by Berni Wrightson, Sub-Mariner #36 augurs a huge sea change in Namor’s fortunes that begins with time-honoured holy preparations for a happy event as ‘What Gods Have Joined Together!’ Elsewhere, arcane enemy Llyra is resuurected and seeks to steal the throne by abducting and replacing the bride-to-be whilst Namor is distracted by an invasion of Attuma’s hordes.

Ross Andru & Esposito take over illustration duties with #37 as an era ends and tragedy triumphs, leading to a catastrophic battle on ‘The Way to Dusty Death!’

Betrayed by one of his closest friends and ultimately unable to save his beloved, the heartbroken prince thinks long and hard before abdicating in #38 ‘Namor Agonistes!’: reprising his origins and life choices before choosing to henceforth pursue the human half of his hybrid heritage as a surface dweller…

To Be Continued…

More sunken treasures salvaged here include the cover to all-reprint Sub-Mariner Annual #1 (January 1971, and reprising the underwater portions of Tales to Astonish #70-73) plus Bill Everett’s pin-up of young Namor, contemporary House Ads and Marie Severin’s glorious cover sketch for #33, plus a huge Biographies section.

Many early Marvel Comics are more exuberant than qualitative, but this volume, especially from an art-lover’s point of view, is a wonderful exception: a historical treasure with narrative bite that fans will delight in forever. Moreover, with the Prince of Atlantis now a bona fide big screen sensation that no one’s ever heard of, now might be the time to get wise and impress your friends with a little insider knowledge…
© 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ultimate Comics Avengers: Blade versus The Avengers


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, there are still treats to share

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

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

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

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

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

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The Mighty Thor Epic Collection volume 7: Ulik Unchained 1973-1975


By Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo, Roy Thomas, John Buscema, Rich Buckler, Sal Buscema, Arvell Jones & Keith Pollard, George Tuska & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2949-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Disabled doctor 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 this bombastic compendium (reprinting Mighty Thor #217-241 and Marvel Premier #26 – spanning November 1973 through November 1975) opens, our cosmic cast returns to long-abandoned Asgard after interstellar escapades and bravely endured exile.

Thor #217 sees the triumphant return of Thor with recently rescued from alien enslavement All-Father Odin. He and his fellow heroes Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, Hildegarde (plus Rigellian Tana Nile and planetary exile Silas Grant) discover a mysteriously rebuilt Eternal Realm filled with their fellow Asgardians who brandish ‘All Swords Against Them!’

Scripted by Gerry Conway with art by John & Sal Buscema, the saga sees them confronting impossible doppelgangers of Odin, Thor and the rest, all offering murderous hostility…

Whilst the Thunderer furiously struggles to unravel this latest mystery and defeat the invading fakes, in another sector of the universe the all-conquering Colonizers of Rigel are put to flight; abandoning their worlds to an all-consuming force of sheer destruction…

Issue #218 proves there’s no rest for the weary as the again-victorious true Asgardians once more take ship to the stars to prevent the Rigellians’ doom affecting Earth. ‘Where Pass the Black Stars There Also Passes… Death!’ (illustrated by J. Buscema & Jim Mooney) finds the hard-travelling heroes facing a nomadic race of colossal, decadent starfarers who fuel their unending flight by converting thriving civilisations into food and power.

In distant Asgard, war woman Hildegarde’s young sister Krista is slowly falling under the sway of sinister seductive evil, even as her hereditary protectors are a cosmos away, daringly infiltrating one of the Black Stars’ cosmic scoops and encountering a race of mechanical slaves in ‘A Galaxy Consumed!’ (Mike Esposito inks) before they and their charismatic messiah Avalon are at last freed – and untold galaxies subsequently saved – from callous consumption in ‘Behold! The Land of Doom!’

With scripter Conway firmly in the driving seat and legendary illustrator John Buscema (aided by inker Esposito) delivering the art, the mythic mayhem intensifies with ‘Hercules Enraged!’ as Thor savagely attacks Olympus, in search of the Grecian Prince of Power.

After Asgardian maiden’s Krista abduction, the All-Father had a vision of her chained in Hades with the Thunder God’s trusted ally gloating over her beside vile Grecian netherlord Pluto…

By the time lordly Zeus stops the shattering clash that follows, half of the celestial city is in ruins, but in that breathing space he proves Hercules innocent of the atrocious act and the abashed comrades duly turn their attentions to the true culprit…

Inked by Joe Sinnott, Thor #222 finds the earnest comrades in search of Hercules’ insidious impersonator and taking advice from a scary sorceress even as war-god Ares receives an eldritch summons to meet his co-conspirator ‘Before the Gates of Hell!’

Sadly for him, the war god is intercepted by our heroes before he gets there and receives the sound thrashing he deserves prior to the enraged companions storming the netherworld itself. At the moment of their triumph, however, Pluto snatches up his hostage and vanishes. The infernal trail leads straight to Earth where one final confrontation results in ‘Hellfire Across the World!’ (Esposito inks) leaving kidnapped Krista wounded unto death…

After a lengthy hiatus, #224 finds Thor resuming his mortal alter ego as surgeon Don Blake is needed to operate on the dying Asgardian, even as elsewhere in Manhattan, a rash scientist accidentally reactivates Odin’s unstoppable battle construct and discovers ‘No One Can Stop… the Destroyer!’

With Krista saved, Thor joins sorely-pressed Hercules and – although outmatched by the Asgardian killing machine – devises a way to stop its human power source, only to then face ‘The Coming of Firelord!’ (inked by Sinnott). The tempestuous, short-tempered herald of planet-consuming Galactus has been sent to fetch Thor and will brook no refusals…

Issue #226 sees the voracious space god on Earth again, personally beseeching the Thunder God’s aid in ‘The Battle Beyond!’ (Esposito) against living planet Ego, who has seemingly gone mad and now poses a threat to the entire universe…

Deftly channelling Jack Kirby, penciller Rich Buckler (aided by his pals Arvell Jones & Keith Pollard) joined Conway & Sinnott in #227 as the Storm Lord, Hercules and Firelord go ‘In Search of… Ego!’

Penetrating deep within the sentient-but-raving planet and defeating incredible biological horrors acting as planetary antibodies, the trio reach his malfunctioning brain and experience the incredible origin of the “bioverse” in ‘Ego: Beginning and End!’, before contriving an earth-shaking solution to the wild world’s rampages. In a final act of unlikely diplomacy, the Thunderer then finds a replacement herald and secures Firelord’s freedom from Galactus…

Joined by veteran inker Chic Stone, Buckler depicts the godly prince safely back on Earth and facing a new kind of terror in Thor #229 as ‘Where Darkness Dwells, Dwell I!’ finds fellow Avenger Hercules investigating an uncanny string of suicides amongst the mortals of Manhattan. After consulting the Storm Lord and recently returned Sif, the Prince of Power is ambushed by a shadowy figure and himself succumbs to dark despondency…

Plucked from psychological catatonia by Iron Man and recuperating Krista, the severely shaken Hercules recovers enough to lead Thor deep beneath the city where they jointly confront and conquer a horrific lord of fear in #230’s climactic ‘The Sky Above… the Pits Below!’ (inked by Sinnott).

Of greater moment is the revelation in hallowed Asgard that almighty Odin is mysteriously missing again…

John Buscema returned in #231, inked by Dick Giordano to limn ‘A Spectre from the Past!’, wherein Thor learns that former true love Jane Foster is dying: another victim of the recently defeated fear lord. Whilst doting current paramour Sif fruitlessly returns to Asgard seeking a cure, the grieving Thunderer is momentarily distracted when Hercules is attacked by an unbelievably powerful anthropoidal throwback. Disembodied spirit Armak the First Man has somehow possessed the body of an unwary séance attendee and now runs savagely amok in the streets…

Since gaining his liberty, former herald Firelord had been aimlessly travelling the globe. Lured by Asgardian magic he now becomes wicked Loki’s vassal in ‘Lo, the Raging Battle!’…

Heartsick Thor will not leave Jane’s hospital bedside, prompting Sif and Hercules to travel alone to the ends of the universe to retrieve the mystic and fabled Runestaff of Kamo Tharnn. No sooner do they depart than ensorcelled Firelord attacks and whilst incensed, impatient Thor is knocking sense back into him, his evil half-brother leads an Asgardian army in a sneak attack on America…

With ‘Midgard Aflame’ (J. Buscema & Stone) Thor furiously leads the human resistance and learns for the first time that his father is missing. Odin’s faithful vizier reveals the All-Father has deliberately divested himself of his memory and chosen to reside somewhere on Earth as a hapless mortal, the better to learn humility…

With humanity preparing to unleash their atomic arsenal against the occupying Asgardians, the invasion abruptly ends after a savage duel between Thor and Loki in ‘O, Bitter Victory!’ (inked by Sinnott) after which the Thunderer returns to Jane’s side, unaware that he is being stalked by a merciless old enemy. Simultaneously but far, far away Sif and Hercules have clashed with the one ‘Who Lurks Beyond the Labyrinth!’ and secured a remedy for Thor’s mortal beloved…

Thor #236 opens as the Thunder God revels in furious combat with The Absorbing Man. Unknown to the blockbusting battlers, at that very moment Sif is expressing her own love for her wayward prince by using the Runestaff to fix Jane in ‘One Life to Give!’

…And somewhere in California, an imposing old man called Orrin ponders his strangely selective amnesia and wonders how he can possibly possess such incredible strength and vitality…

With combat concluded, Thor hastens back to Jane and finds her completely cured. His joy is short-lived, however, as he realises that Sif is gone, seemingly forever…

Issue #237 finds reunited lovers Don Blake and Jane Foster cautiously getting reacquainted and pondering Sif’s incredible sacrifice when an army of Asgardian Trolls led by ‘Ulik Unchained’ attack New York. Before long, they have made off with Jane under cover of the blockbusting melee that inevitably ensues…

Conway concluded his tenure with Thor #238 as the Thunderer capitulates to his hostage-taking foe and is taken below the worlds of Earth and Asgard on the ‘Night of the Troll!’ Ulik wants to overthrow his king Geirrodur and is confident his hold over his mighty archenemy will accomplish the act for him. He is utterly unprepared for the new martial spirit which now infuses his formerly frail mortal hostage…

…And in California old man Orrin decides to use his power to help the poor, arousing the ire of big business, brutal strike-breakers and the local authorities…

Writer/Editor Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema join Sinnott in Thor #239 as the Thunder God brutally ends his association with the trolls even as Orrin’s rabble-rousing civil unrest is cut short when a colossal pyramid containing Egyptian gods erupts from the Californian ground in ‘Time-Quake!’

Thor knows nothing of the latest upheaval. He has returned to Asgard, uncovering a mysterious force draining his people of power and vitality. Warned by duplicitous seer Mimir, the anguished godling rushes back to Earth to clash with puissant Horus ‘When the Gods Make War!’ (Thomas, Bill Mantlo, Sal B & Klaus Janson).

The depleted Egyptian pantheon have desperate need of an All-Father and have conditioned Odin/Orrin to believe that he is their long-lost patron Atum-Re…

Go-getting, proactively take-charge Jane is already waiting in California when Thor arrives and is present when the elder deity devastatingly assaults his astounded son. Happily, her cool head prevails and soon the warring deities are talking. An uneasy alliance forms and the truth comes out. Horus, Isis and Osiris are at war with vile Death God Seth and need the power of a supreme over-god to assure victory for the forces of Life. Sadly, that energy is being siphoned from Asgard…

The cosmic conflict concludes in #241 as ‘The Death-Ship Sails the Stars!’ (Mantlo, John B & Sinnott) with ghastly Seth and his demonic servants ultimately repulsed and Jane again playing a major role: even triumphally shaking Odin out of his compliant, mind-wiped state…

To Be Continued…

Adding lustre next is the cover to all-reprint Giant-Size Thor #1, followed by a compelling contemporaneous solo tale of Hercules (November 1975), taken from Marvel Premiere #26. Used to set up his major role in forthcoming team title The Champions, it was crafted by Mantlo, George Tuska & Vince Colletta. Sporting a new Kirby cover, ‘The Game of Raging Gods’ has the legendary hero relocate to California on the college lecture circuit and targeted by old enemies Typhon the Titan and spurned priestess Cylla the Witch of Delphos…

With covers by John Romita, Buckler, Sinnott, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Marie Severin, Tom Palmer, Giordano, Dan Adkins, Klaus Janson and Jack Kirby & Vince Colletta, this collection also includes assorted House ads; covers created by Romita, a John Buscema double page pin-up of the Asgardian cast and a frontispiece by Marie Severin from the Thor-starring reprint edition Marvel Treasury Edition #3.

Thor is one of modern comics’ greatest attractions and a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. Always a high-point in graphic fantasy, his longevity is all the more impressive for the sheer imagination and timeless readability of the tales crafted by an army of creators. This chronicle is an absolute must for all fans of the medium and far-flung fantasy thrills.
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