Category: Marvel Masters & Masterworks

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Fantastic Four Marvel Masterworks volume


By Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz, John Byrne, Roger Stern, Joe Sinnott, Al Milgrom, George Pérez, Tom Sutton, Jerome Moore, Chic Stone, Jon D’Agostino, Mike Esposito, Pablo Marcos, Frank Giacoia, George Roussos, Jim Novak, Irving Watanabe & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1027-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

For Marvel everything started with The Fantastic Four.

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

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

All were permanently mutated: Richards’ body became elastic, diffident Sue became (even more) invisible, Johnny Storm burst into living flame and tragic Ben shockingly devolved into a shambling, rocky freak. After the initial revulsion and trauma passed, they solemnly agreed to use their abilities to benefit mankind. Throughout the 1960s The Fantastic Four was indisputably the key title and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters.

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

Without Kirby’s soaring imagination the rollercoaster of mindbending High Concepts lost out to traditional tales of characters in conflict, with soap opera leanings and supervillain-heavy Fights ‘n’ Tights forays abounding. With Lee & Kirby long gone but their mark very much still stamped onto every page of the still-prestigious title, this full-colour luxury compendium collects Fantastic Four #219-231 and Annual #15, spanning June 1980-June 1981, wherein editor Jim Salicrup sanctioned a bold new look and direction for the Hallowed team. The call for and upshot of all that is discussed by incoming writer Doug Moench who recalls fan-fright paralysis and jumping in full throttle in his Introduction ‘The Big-Kid Stuff Cold Turkey Fail’ prior to a distinctly spookily toned and frequently supernaturally themed change of pace commencing.

What You Should Know: After being rejuvenated and repowered in an extended space-spanning saga, the Family FF are getting used to being back on earth even with supervillains all over the place. Now Read On…

Penciller John Byrne, having served out his first term of duty on the series he was to soon make his alone was officially and ostensibly only temporarily replaced for FF #219. Ably augmented by Joe Sinnott, stalwart “Guest-Team” Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz were parachuted in for monster mash-up ‘Leviathans’, on the back of huge success and acclaim for their vigilante thriller Moon Knight, bringing with them a whole new look and sensibility, as well as far faster pace to the stories.

Here, modern day pirate Cap’n Barracuda steal the fabled Horn of Proteus from Atlantis and unleashes a wave of giant monsters on New York City. Thankfully, this is a subject the mighty Sub-Mariner and Mr. Fantastic can agree on and their combined forces are soon stomping beasties and taking names (like Giganto!) to restore order and stop a piratical plunder ploy without peer…

Byrne was back writing & pencilling in #220 as ‘…And the Lights Went Out All Over the World!’ sees the Avengers call in Reed and his team when all of Earth suffers a catastrophic power-outage. Science! soon sends the explorers to the arctic where they encounter an astounding and unbelievable obelisk being constructed by beings of utterly alien appearance…

The story includes an updated origin for the quartet and guest shot for Canada’s finest (that’s Vindicator of Alpha Flight in case you were wondering) and the issue halts with a pinup/possible rejected cover by inker Sinnott (the Torch battling a flaming Skrull) before #221’s concluding chapter ‘Tower of Glass… Dreams of Glass!’ – after the usual misconceptions and rash clashes reveal three aliens shipwrecked for half a million years who just need their myriad mobile mechanisms to reverse the planet’s magnetic poles so that they can return home at last. Thankfully, Reed has a less end of human civilisation-y solution that leaves everyone involved happy and safe…

Now officially the latest regular creative team, Moench & Sienkiewicz return to prep for Halloween in FF #222’s ‘The Possession of Franklin Richards!’ as the kid is targeted from beyond the unknown by the exiled soul of Nicholas Scratch, son of Agatha Harkness and the kind of warlock who gives witchcraft a bad name. Having made the boy his conduit back to reality, Scratch terrorises and tortures his hated enemies, who with Doctor Strange unavailable, must call on the dubious gifts of self-doubting failed horror hero Gabriel the Devil Hunter and his sexy morally ambiguous familiar Desadia (as mostly seen in the Marvel monochrome magazine line such as Haunt of Horror and Monsters Unleashed).

Apparently acquiescing, the team agree to liberate the dead diabolist’s minions of magical cult Salem’s Seven in ‘That a Child May Live…’ but their instant assaults on humanity are an acceptable risk and consequence in a long plan that sets the worlds to rights for all but the defeated devil…

Fantastic Four Annual #15 swiftly follows, wherein Moench & George Pérez, abetted by Chic Stone, Jon D’Agostino & Mike Esposito, renew hostilities between the FF and the Skrull empire when the shapeshifters target Reed’s latest energy-casting breakthrough in ‘Time for the Prime Ten!’ Infiltrating the Baxter Building, negating his teammates and almost banishing Mr. Fantastic to the tender mercies of Annihilus in the Negative Zone, the sneaky killers are actually seeking to end their millennial war against stellar rivals The Kree, but have underestimated Reed’s brilliance, his team’s tenacity and the sheer power and cosmic awareness of Earth-loving Kree Exile Captain Mar-Vell…

A back-up tale by Moench & Tom Sutton takes us to recently liberated Latveria for the opening of proposed series ‘The Return of Doctor Doom!’ with only episode ‘The Power of the People!’ showing how restored monarch King Zorba failing to live up to his democratic promise and discovering how excessive taxation really upsets subjects, at around the same moment crazed and catatonic Victor von Doom goes missing from the most secure dungeon in Doomstadt…

Sadly, the impending crisis never materialised and was only addressed by John Byrne in Fantastic Four #247…

Over in FF #224 & 225, fresh calamity unfolds in Moench, Sienkiewicz & Pablo Marcos’ ‘The Darkfield Illumination’ as an eerie radioactive red mist blankets Manhattan and plays hob with the team’s powers. Tracing the cloud’s origin point to an icy dome in the Arctic, the FF discover a lost colony of technologically advanced Vikings utterly dependent upon a mutated immortal giant. ‘The Blind God’s Tears’ supply heat, light, food materials from the outside world and immortality, but now Korgon is dying and demands the explorers save him and the people who worship him…

Always eager to help, the team strive hard and succeed in saving the God, only to see him betrayed by his most trusted ally. As Korgon rages madly in response, the situation escalates as Thor arrives to investigate Viking worshippers who have abandoned their true god for a false one…

Bruce Patterson joins Marcos inking Sienkiewicz as Moench takes the opportunity to bring closure to fans of his old Shogun Warriors series next. In their own title the former pilots of monster-fighting mega-mecha Dangard Ace, Raydeen and Combatra had been recruited by an ancient order to defend humanity, but had ultimately retired when their machines were destroyed. That epic sacrifice had come when evil enemy Maur-Kon had targeted the Fantastic Four and attempted to kill Reed.

Now a new giant mecha rampages and robs and the teams reunite with Ilongo Savage, Richard Carson and Genji Odashu aiding the battle against ‘The Samurai Destroyer’ and the unworthy soul exploiting its power for profit….

Movie-toned terror in the heartland follows as a meteor crashes in rural Pennsylvania resort Lost Lake just as the FF head out to the Boonies for a break. Their encounter with ‘The Brain Parasites’ infesting hosts and reverting them to earlier evolutionary forms is by-the-books horror fun from Moench, Sienkiewicz & Patterson, and readily fixed by little Franklin’s unreliable mental powers. This sets the scene for the next issue where further tests by professional head shrinkers and brain benders only unleash uncontrollable chaos, possessing bystanders and an adult super-powered version of the lad. Thankfully loving parents and uncles allow Franklin to exorcise his deadly ‘Ego-Spawn’ (Sinnott inks)…

The experiment in alternative tale-telling ends on a 3-part saga that opens with #229’s ‘The Thing From the Black Hole’. After it homes in on Reed’s latest invention, Earth soon totters on the edge of destruction as a living, sentient singularity made of antimatter disrupts physical laws. Desperate Richards makes contact with its cosmic equivalent and uncovers a tale of love lost in service to scientific exploration. The mobile extinction event was once a sentient being whose love for a fellow astronaut turned them both into creatures of uncanny forces. Thankfully ‘Firefrost and the Ebon Seeker’ reach an understanding that saves the world, but as a consequence a section of Manhattan – including the Baxter Building – is marooned inside the Negative Zone.

With panic amongst the hordes of abducted New Yorkers barely suppressed, the FF search for a solution ‘In All the Gathered Gloom!’ (by Moench & Roger Stern with art from Sienkienwisz, Jerome Moore, Sinnott, & Frank Giacoia) even as new antimatter menace Stygorr zeroes in on the intruding enclave. The last thing the FF need is bullying big business plutocrat Lew Shiner telling everyone his money puts him in charge. After his posturing triggers a riot, tragedy is guaranteed, and the heroes barely beat the alien invader in time to return everyone surviving back home…

With covers by Sienkienwicz, Byrne Sinnott & Bob McLeod, the extras here include a Sinnott Thing pinup from FF #219, Sienkievich’s rejected cover-turned-pinup as printed in #224 original art pages/covers inked by Marcos, Bruce Patterson, Sinnott, and original colour-guides painted by George Roussos.

Although never quite returning to the stratospheric heights of the Kirby era, this truly different collection represents a closing of the First Act for the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine”, and palate cleansing preparation for the second groundbreaking run by an inspired John Byrne. These extremely capable efforts are probably most welcome to dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but will still thrill and delight casual browsers looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement – especially if this time the movie continues to deliver on its promise…
© 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

To Be Continued…

Today in 1918 artist John Forte was born. He’s most fondly remembered for costumed charm, as best seen in Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age volume 1 . We don’t have nearly enough collected material for UK visionary comics stalwart Ron Embleton who was born today in 1930. If you think you’re old enough, you could look at Oh, Wicked Wanda!.

Indomitable weekly anthology Valiant began its stellar 712 issue run today in 1962. Inside was the magnificent Steel Claw whom we comprehensively covered in The Steel Claw: Invisible Man. Yes. Well done, the modern invisible man could be seen from the start…

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Marvel Two-In-One Masterworks volume 8


By Tom DeFalco, David Anthony Kraft, Jan Strnad, John Byrne, Doug Moench, Ron Wilson, Alan Kupperberg, Chic Stone, Jim Mooney, Jon D’Agostino, “A. Sorted” & various (MARVEL)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. The concept of an established star pairing, or battling (often both) with less well-selling company characters was not new when Marvel awarded their most popular hero the same deal DC had with Batman in The Brave and the Bold since the early 1960s. Although confident in their new title, they wisely left options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in The Human Torch. In those distant days, editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and as superheroes were actually in a sales decline, they might well have been right.

Nevertheless, after the runaway success of Spider-Man’s guest vehicle Marvel Team-Up, the House of Ideas ran with the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm – the Fantastic Four’s most popular character. They began with a brace of test runs in Marvel Feature #11-12 before awarding him his own team-up title, with this 8th rousing & rowdy round-up gathering the contents of Marvel Two-In-One #83-93 covering January 1980 through November 1982.

Preceded by another comprehensive, informative contextual reverie via editor Jim Salicrup’s Introduction ‘It’s Introducin’ Time or Two Marvel Introductions in One!’, a late-running annual event anachronistically opens the fun. Although released in summer 1980, steadfast stalwarts Tom DeFalco, Ron Wilson & Chic Stone counter the perennial problem of team-up tales – a lack of continuity (something Marvel always prided itself upon) – by returning to an extended subplot.

Previously Bill (Giant-Man) Foster had entered the final stages of his lingering death from radiation exposure, before a combination of heroes and villains had found a potential solution. Their success leads here to supergenius Reed Richards taking over Foster’s treatment, resulting in the Thing heading north in #83 to ‘Where Stalks the Sasquatch!’

The most monstrous member of Alpha Flight is actually radiation researcher Dr. Walter Langkowski, but his impromptu medical consultation obliquely leads to the release of malign Native American spirit Ranark the Ravager and a Battle Royale which quickly escalates to include the entire team in ‘Cry for Beloved Canada!’

‘The Final Fate of Giant-Man!’ came in Marvel Two-In-One #85 wherein Spider-Woman joined the Thing to tackle Foster’s arch-nemesis Atom-Smasher, after which ‘Time Runs Like Sand!’ offered an astoundingly low key landmark as Ben and the sinister Sandman had a few bevvies in a bar and turned the felon’s life around. Also included was a short, sharp comedy vignette wherein Ben and godson Franklin Richards deal with a bored Impossible Man and his equally obnoxious kids in ‘Farewell, My Lummox!’…

When Ben is kidnapped in #87, the FF call in Ant-Man Scott Lang who helps our rocky rogue defeat a duplicitous queen in the ‘Menace of the Microworld!’ after which David Anthony Kraft & Alan Kupperberg join inker Chic Stone in detailing a ‘Disaster at Diablo Reactor!’, with Ben and the Savage She-Hulk countering the nefarious Negator’s plans to turn Los Angeles into a cloud of radioactive vapour…

They then pit Ben and gadfly buddy the Human Torch against deranged demagogues seeking to stamp out extremes of beauty, ugliness, weakness and strength in ‘The Last Word!’ before Jan Strnad, Kupperberg & Jim Mooney pit Spider-Man and big Ben against time-bending chaos in ‘Eyes of the Sorcerer’. A new extended epic opened as DeFalco, Wilson & Jon D’Agostino reveal what lurks in ‘In the Shadow of the Sphinx!’ When mystic master Doctor Strange asks the thing to investigate a vision of Egypt, the bold battler falls into the clutches of immortal wizard The Sphinx who obsessively seeks to recover his power-providing Ka-stone. On the voyage back home after beating the bad guy, Ben encounters robotic Avenger Jocasta, but not in time to stop her helplessly reviving Ultron who has foresightedly pre-programmed the benighted mechanoid in DeFalco, Wilson & “A. Sorted” inkers’ ‘This Evil Returning…!’

When handmade hero Machine Man and his human assistants insert themselves into the crisis, they unexpectedly score a narrow win, but not before ‘And One Shall Die…!’

Closing with an original art gallery featuring pages and covers by Wilson, Stone, Al Milgrom, Kupperberg, Mooney, & “A. Sorted”, this penultimate character cohort compendium is packed with simple, straightforward Fights ‘n’ Tights meet, greet & defeat episodes: entertaining and exciting with no hint of pretension and no need to swot up on superfluous backstory.

Even if artistically the work varies from only adequate to truly top-notch, most fans of Costumed Dramas will find little to complain about and there’s plenty of fun to be found for young and old readers. So why not lower your critical guard and have an honest blast of pure warts-and-all comics craziness? You’ll almost certainly grow to like it…
© 2025 MARVEL.

Today in 1938 Jean-Claude Mézières was born. Have you seen his Valerian: The Complete Collection volume 1?

In 1956, the much-missed Peter David arrived. If you check out Star Trek Classics volume 5: Who Killed Captain Kirk? you’ll see that he left us far too soon.

Today in 1967 IPC (International Publishing Company) launched upscale UK girls comic Princess Tina.

Crucially, today is my 30-somethingth wedding anniversary. Hah! Can’t call me forgetful anymore! Rather surprised “Hi!” to anybody at the ceremony who is still alive after the last 36 years!

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Uncanny X-Men Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo, Dave Cockrum, Bob McLeod, Sam Grainger, Frank Chiaramonte & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3702-3 (TPB) 978-0-7851-1192-4 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Timeless Mutant Masterpieces for all Blockbuster Comics Addicts… 9/10

In the autumn of 1963 The X-Men #1 introduced Scott (Cyclops) Summers, Bobby (Iceman) Drake, Warren (Angel) Worthington, Jean (Marvel Girl) Grey and Hank (The Beast) McCoy: very special students of Professor Charles Xavier. The teacher was a wheelchair-bound telepath dedicated to brokering peace and integration between the masses of humanity and the emergent off-shoot race of mutants dubbed Homo Superior; considered by many who knew him as a living saint.

After nearly eight years of eccentrically spectacular adventures the mutant misfits virtually disappeared at the beginning of 1970, during another periodic downturn in superhero comics sales. Just like the closing years of the 1940s, mystery men again faded away as supernatural mysteries and traditional genre themes once more dominated the world’s entertainment fields.

Although their title returned at the end of the year as a cheap reprint vehicle, the missing mutants were reduced to guest-stars and bit-players throughout the ongoing Marvel universe, whilst the bludgeoning Beast was opportunistically transformed into a scary monster to cash in on the horror boom. Then, as sales of the spooky stuff subsequently waned in 1975, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas green-lighted a bold one-shot as part of the company’s line of Giant-Size specials and history was made…

This fabulous compendium collection (available in luxurious hardcover, trade paperback and eBook editions) is perfect for newbies, neophytes and even old lags nervous about reading such splendid yarns on fragile but extremely valuable pulp paper. It celebrates the revival and unstoppable march to market dominance through the exuberant and pivotal early stories: specifically, collectively and cumulatively spanning May 1975 to August 1976 via Giant Size X-Men #1, and issues #94-100 of the definitely “All-New, All-Different” X-Men.

Tracing the reinvigorated merry mutants from young, fresh and delightfully underexposed innovations to the beginnings of their unstoppable ascendancy to ultimate comic book icons, in their own title and through an increasingly broad clutch of guest shots, the epic voyage begins with a classic mystery monster mash from Giant Size X-Men #1.

Len Wein & Dave Cockrum (the much-missed latter then a very red-hot property following his stint reviving DC’s equally eclectic fan-fave super-team Legion of Super-Heroes) detail in ‘Second Genesis!’ how the original squad -all but then-new Avengers recruit The Beast – have been lost in action. With no other choice Xavier is forced to scour Earth and the Marvel Universe for replacements…

To occasional foes-turned-friends Banshee and Sunfire is added a one-shot Incredible Hulk adversary dubbed The Wolverine, but the bulk of time and attention is lavished upon original creations Kurt Wagner, a demonic-seeming German teleporter codenamed Nightcrawler; African weather “goddess” Ororo Monroe – AKA Storm; Russian farm boy Peter Rasputin who turns into a living steel Colossus and bitter, disillusioned Apache superman John Proudstar who is cajoled into joining the makeshift squad as Thunderbird. The second epic introductory chapter ‘….And Then There Was One!’ reintroduces battered, depleted but unbowed team-leader Cyclops who swiftly drills the newcomers to a semblance of readiness before leading them into primordial danger against monolithic threat ‘Krakoa… the Island That Walks Like a Man!’

Overcoming the phenomenal terror of a rampaging rapacious mutant eco-system and rescuing the “real” team should have led to a quarterly Giant-Size sequel, but so great was fan response that the follow-up adventure was swiftly reworked into a 2-issue tale for a rapidly reconfigured comic book which became a bimonthly home to the new team. X-Men #94 (August 1975) began ‘The Doomsmith Scenario!’ – plotted by editor Wein, scripted by Chris Claremont and with Bob McLeod inking man-on-fire Cockrum – in a smart Armageddon-thriller with a newly pared-down strike-squad deprived of Sunfire and still-recuperating Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman, Havok (Scott’s brother Alex) and magnetic Lorna Dane.

The neophytes are called in by Beast to stop criminal terrorist Count Nefaria starting an atomic war. The insidious mastermind has seized control of the US Norad citadel with a gang of artificial superhumans and accidentally escalated a nuclear blackmail scheme into an inescapable countdown to holocaust. Thus, the untrained, unprepared mutants are the only hope of saving the world in epic conclusion ‘Warhunt!’ (inked by Sam Grainger).

One of the new team doesn’t make it back…

X-Men #96 saw Claremont take full charge of the writing (albeit with plotting input from Bill Mantlo) for ‘Night of the Demon!’ Here, guilt-wracked Cyclops blames himself for the loss of his teammate, and in his explosive rage accidentally unleashes a demonic antediluvian horror from Earth’s primordial prehistory for the heroes-in-training to thrash. The infernal Nagarai would periodically return to bedevil mankind, but the biggest innovation in this issue was the introduction of gun-toting biologist/housekeeper Moira MacTaggert and the first inklings of the return of implacable old adversaries…

A long-running, cosmically-widescreen storyline began in #97 with ‘My Brother, My Enemy!’ as Xavier – tormented by visions of interstellar war – tries to take a vacation, just as Havok and Lorna (finally settling on superhero nom de guerre Polaris) attack: apparently willing servants of a mysterious madman using Cyclops’ old undercover alter ego Eric the Red. The devastating conflict segues into a spectacular 3-part yarn, as pitiless robotic killers return under the hate-filled auspices of mutant-phobic Steven Lang (and his mysterious backers in Project Armageddon). The action opens with #98’s ‘Merry Christmas, X-Men… the Sentinels Have Returned!’…

With coordinated attacks capturing semi-retired Marvel Girl plus Wolverine, Banshee and Xavier, Cyclops and the remaining mutant heroes co-opt a space shuttle and storm Lang’s orbital HQ to rescue them in ‘Deathstar Rising!’ (inked by Frank Chiaramonte): another phenomenal all-action episode. The saga concludes on an agonising cliffhanger with the 100th issue anniversary tale. ‘Greater Love Hath No X-Man…’ (with Cockrum inking his own pencils) sees new X-Men apparently battle the original team before overturning Lang’s monstrous schemes forever. However, their catastrophic clash destroys the only means of escape and, as a gigantic solar flare threatens to eradicate the satellite-station, their only chance of survival means certain death for another X-Man…

To Be Continued…

With even greater excitement and innovation to follow in succeeding issues, these superb comics classics revolutionised a moribund genre and led directly to today’s ubiquitous popular cultural landscape where superheroes are as common as cops, cowboys, monsters or rom-com Romeos. They even made it into movies without looking ridiculous…

Extras include an introduction by Claremont; issue covers by Gil Kane, Cockrum, Marie Severin, Sal Buscema & Rich Buckler; Kane’s cover for eventual all-reprint Giant-Size X-Men #2; Cockrum’s designs for The Outsiders (a Legion of Super-Heroes 5-page spin-off pitch rejected by DC); character designs for Phoenix, Colossus & Nightcrawler; the cover to F.O.O.M.  #10 and caricatures of the X-Men creative team by Marie Severin; House ads and original art pages, roughs and covers by Kane & Cockrum completing the perfect primer/introduction to the New X-Men phenomenon.

The immortal epics compiled here are available in numerous formats but for a selection that will survive the continual re-readings of the serious, incurable fan there’s nothing to beat the sturdy and substantial full-colour feel of these Marvellous Masterwork editions.
© 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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


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

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The tales gathered here may lack the sheer punch and verve of the early years but certainly prove that after too long calcified, the Thunder God was again moving to the forefront of Big Idea Comics Storytelling. Fans of ferocious Fights ‘n’ Tights fantasy will find this tome stuffed with intrigue and action, magnificently rendered by artists dedicated to making new legends. This a definite must-read for all fans of the character and the genre.
© 2023 MARVEL.

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Ka-Zar Marvel Masterworks volume 2


By Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber, Carol Seuling, Ross Andru, Don Heck, Dan Adkins, Jim Starlin, Marie Severin, Werner Roth, George Tuska, Paul Reinman, Mike Royer, Bob Brown, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0966-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

There are quite a few comics anniversaries this year. Some of the most significant will be rightly celebrated, but a few are going to be unjustly ignored. As a feverish fanboy wedged firmly in the past, I’m again abusing my privileges and advising an encounter with something old, nigh forgotten but definitely worth a soupçon of your time and energies…

IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE! …and apparently everywhere else, too…

Retconned from a pulp hero and latterly comics B-Lister from the early days of Timely comics, primal white jungle god Ka-Zar most accurately stems from 1965 where he stole the show in a dinosaurs & mutants yarn in X-Men #10.

Beginning as a cheeky Tarzan tribute act relocated to a lost world in a realm of swamp-men and dinosaurs, Ka-Zar eventually evolved into one of Marvel’s more complex – if variable – characters. Fabulously wealthy heir to one of Britain’s oldest noble families, his bestest friend is “sabretooth tiger” Zabu and his wife is feisty environmental-crusader Shanna the She-Devil. His dad was apparently a mad scientist, his brother a homicidal super-scientific modern day pirate. Kevin Reginald, Lord Plunder is perpetually torn between the clean life-or-death simplicity of the wilds and bewildering constant compromises of modern civilisation.

The primordial paragon is arguably Marvel’s oldest star, having begun life as a prose star, boasting three issues of his own pulp magazine between October 1936 and June 1937. They were authored by Bob Byrd – a pseudonym for publisher Martin Goodman or one of his retinue of staff writers. Goodman latterly shoehorned him into his speculative venture: new-fangled comic book Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), where he lurked alongside fellow pulp line graduate The Angel, Masked Raider, Human Torch and Sub-Mariner…

In the sixties, when Ka-Zar reappeared he was all rowdy, reimagined and renovated by Jack Kirby for X-Men #10 (cover-dated March but actually on sale from January 5th), and it was clear the uncrowned Sovereign of the Savage Land was destined for bigger and better things. However, for years all we got was guest shots as a misunderstood foe du jour for Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Spider-Man, and The Hulk.

In 1969 he got his shot as a lone wolf starring in Marvel Super-Heroes. Later that year – after Roy Thomas & Neal Adams used him so effectively in their X-Men run (issues #62-63) – Ka-Zar was awarded his own giant-sized title, reprinting most of his previous appearances. However, the reruns oddly bracketed all-new stories of Hercules and The Angel (the new one from X-Men not the costumed detective of the 1940s). That same month, his first solo series began in a split book entitled Astonishing Tales…

Gathering material from Astonishing Tales #17-20, Shanna the She-Devil #1-5, Ka-Zar (volume 2) #1-5 and Daredevil #110-112, spanning cover-dates December 1972 through August 1974, this sequel compilation volume begins with reminiscences from Mike Friedrich and Carole Petersen-Sueling in two separate (but equal) Introductions.

Previously, Ka-Zar & Zabu’s idyllically brutal lives hunting dinosaurs and battling aliens, gods, wizards and lost civilisations in the Savage Land had been turned on its head with the arrival of apparently irresistible S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Barbra “Bobbi” Morse (who becomes costumed spy/Avenger Mockingbird many years from now) and aging biologist Dr. Wilma Calvin. Their quest for a Super-soldier formula dragged the wild man across continents to Florida and into conflict with Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), the Man-Thing, super-mercenary Gemini and, on reaching New York City, drug lord dope peddler The Pusher…

Increasingly enamoured of Morse, Ka-Zar opts to give the modern world another go, but increasingly comes to despise the greed, the dirt, the greed, the callous brutality and the sheer greed of civilisation, especially after encountering the drug crisis first hand…

Culture clash conflict resumes with ‘Target: Ka-Zar!’ as crafted by Friedrich, Dan Adkins & Frank Chiaramonte for April 1973’s Astonishing Tales #17. Here, the Jungle Lord’s impatience and discontent are magnified when AIM again tries to snatch Calvin’s prototype serum, employing gunmen on the ground and ultimately super-mercenary Gemini to humiliatingly grab the formula from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s helicarrier and making Ka-Zar and Zabu look like idiots in the process…

Pride stung and mad as hell, the wild man follows Gemini to earth and falls into an ambush laid by his brother Parnival and backed up by his pet alien monster. Hired by AIM to secure the serum the Plunderer has the upper hand when ‘Gog Cometh!’ since the childlike colossus is lethally loyal and can teleport on command. He/it is also growing larger every minute…

The saga spirals out of control as Ka-Zar wins a rematch with Gemini but loses the serum sample to The Plunderer who heads for Manhattan whilst in Land’s End, England, another strand of the search for super-soldiers culminates with AIM scientist Professor Victor Conrad surviving a gun battle with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents by taking his own medicine…

Back in the USA, late-arriving Bobbi Morse and Zabu give the blonde barbarian a lift to Manhattan in time to channel the end of King Kong, as the ever-enlarging Gog runs amok with the local landmarks before confronting its destiny on top of the city’s tallest building, even as, far below, the strictly human clashes result in triumph for the forces of right and wonders of chemistry…

With the serum recovered and his honour upheld, the Noble Savage realises that – other than Bobbi – there is nothing about civilisation that please him, but as he ponders that and pines for the Savage Land, one last loose thread needs tying off as a new threat seizes control of AIM and seeks redress for past sins. Inked by Jack Abel, and with Jim Starlin stepping in to complete the episode begun by Adkins, AT #19 reveals ‘…And Men Shall Name Him… Victorius!’ as Conrad abducts agent Morse to obtain S.H.I.E.L.D.’s version of the formula that made him an unstoppable warrior. When Ka-Zar & Zabu track him down he rejects taking the serum himself and attacks the scientist, Gemini and brother Parnival in all his purely human might and main…

Marie Severin, Werner Roth & Frank Giacoia wrap up the run as Astonishing Tales # 20 (October 1973) depicts ‘The Final Battle!’ before Ka-Zar returns to his (un)natural environment and a new solo title, pausing only to crush his assembled foes turn down a job with Nick Fury and briefly regret losing Bobbi to the Big City….

Before that new beginning though, there’s a slight chronological sidestep to introduce a soon-to-be-crucial character who came and went with little fanfare a few months previously. As the costumed cohort craze subsided with the close of the Sixties, Stan Lee & Roy Thomas looked into creating a girl-friendly boutique of female stars written by women.

Opening shots in this act of liberation were Claws of the Cat by Linda Fite, Marie Severin & Wally Wood (who at least knew how to draw them) and Night Nurse by Jean Thomas & Win Mortimer. Both #1’s were cover-dated November 1972 and despite impressive creative teams none of these fascinating experiments lasted beyond a fifth issue, although a third shot was kept from limbo by some judicious teamwork. The caregiver vanished for decades and the feline fury mutated into Tigra, the Were-Woman in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), and even though their experimental comrade stuck around, the general editorial position was upheld… “books starring chicks don’t sell…”

Contemporary jungle queen – possibly the last hurrah of an extremely popular genre subset in Fifties comic books – Shanna the She-Devil #1 was created by Carole Seuling, Steve Gerber & George Tuska, and on sale from 29th August with a December 1972 cover date.

Inked by Vince Colletta, Shanna the She-Devil #1 debuted in a touching and troubled tale, detailing how the gun-hating daughter of Africa-based American game warden Gerald O’Hara became a vet in Manhattan. Wrapped in a contemporary framing sequence, ‘Shanna the She-Devil!’ recalls her origin whilst stalking ruthless poachers ravaging a game preserve in modern-day Africa.

The clash and her capture prompt memories of how, decades previously, she had fled that verdant world of casual slaughter to save lives… and how a moment of casual atrocity by “fun-loving” American gun nuts in the zoo where she worked led to the death of all its big cats bar two panther cubs she saved and fled to Africa with…

Recreating herself as guardian of nature, rearing the kittens Ina & Biri and training her body to the peak of physical readiness and unarmed combat prowess, Shanna O’Hara became a legend to the local peoples, a trusted and valuable ally to game warden Patrick McShane and a nemesis to all interlopers endangering the balance of nature or disrupting its uncompromising harmony…

Two months later Sueling, Ross Andru & Colletta exposed ‘The Sahara Connection!’ as Shanna acquiesces to the desperate requests of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jakuna Singh and uses her gifts and cats to crush drug-peddling human traffickers El Montano and Abdullah after which ‘The Moon of the Fear-Bulls!’ finds her fighting the murderous thralls of a lost Minoan colony sacrificing entire African villages to their lost gods and current chief Phobotauros: a maniac with an unsavoury secret…

Gerber scripted Seuling’s plot for #4 as ‘Cry… Mandrill!’ introduced one of Marvel’s wildest mutants. Searching for her vanished father, Shanna inadvertently unravels a conquest plot to subjugate three emerging African nations by the ape-visaged maniac with the power to control women – except apparently Shanna… usurped and captured, Mandrill scores one minor victory by admitting Gerald O’Hara is his hostage…

The series abruptly folded with #5 cover-dated August 1973, but as we’ll see here later, the She-Devil carried on via judicious team-ups and eventually scored a continuance of solo sagas in matured-themed monochrome magazine Savage Tales.

Here and now, Gerber, Andru & Colletta reveal ‘Where Nekra Walks – Death Must Follow!’ as Jakuna Singh, S.H.I.E.L.D. and FBI agent Amos Duncan request Shanna’s participation in dismantling the still-active organisation of Mandrill’s enthralled women: a task necessitating a quick consult with mutant advisor Professor Charles Xavier…

The trail then leads to barbarous ceremonies held by the villain’s top subordinate, a brutal superstrong mutant who stokes hatred to feed on the emotion and augment her powers. Directing all her loathing at Shanna makes Nekra physically unbeatable, but being angry all the time is no help if your opponent can stay calm and clear-headed…

Cover dated January 1974, Ka-Zar #1, (volume 2, and on sale from September 25th 1973) boasted the adventurer’s ‘Return to the Savage Land!’, courtesy of Friedrich, Paul Reinman & Mike Royer, and teasingly saw Shanna in a cameo as the victim du jour.

Being parachuted in by S.H.I.E.L.D. was the last modern convenience Kevin Plunder would stomach. Within minutes he was back battling behemoths in his furry underwear and announcing his return to all the primitive tribes, but Ka-Zar was blithely unaware that a new menace lurked. Evil necromancer Malgato, the Red Wizard sought power and control and used the Jungle Lord’s most despised enemy Maa-Gor the Man-Ape to carry out his schemes. These almost come together after a brief history of Ka-Zar’s kingdom, when a pteranosaur ambush leads to our stalwart hero being held for sacrifice beside a strikingly beautiful red-headed woman in a leopard-skin bikini…

Don Heck & Jack Abel limned the catastrophic conclusion and ‘The Fall of the Red Wizard!’ as faithful Zabu comes to the rescue, unleashing utter chaos, routing the wizard and latterly proving the mage and his mission were never what they seemed…

Issue #3 played out on the ‘Night of the Man-God!’ as Maa-Gor, humiliated again by the puny human, undertakes a trek to the mutagenic Region of Mists and gets boosted far up the evolutionary ladder. Transformed into a telepathic wonder, he still clings to his hatred of Ka-Zar and psychically connects to old X-Men villain El Tigre, drawing him to the Savage Land to trap his foe. The ambush succeeds, but only until Bobbi Morse shows up intent on settling unresolved issues. Battling the villains and stopping Man-God’s plans to despoil the wild sanctuary is a welcome break for both unhappy lovers but the battle carries over into #4, albeit broken here by a fabulous maps section entitled ‘Ka-Zar Presents The Savage Land’…

Plotted by “Bullpen West”, written by Friedrich and illustrated by Heck & Royer, ‘Into the Shadows of Chaos!’ sees Ka-Zar and all his allies crushed as the Man-God broadcasts global threats of extinction, before distracting himself by resurrecting his dead Man-Ape kin to destroy his most despised foe. The issue concludes with a Royer pin-up of ‘Ka-Zar’s Lair!’ before Mike Esposito inks the epic downfall of the monster in #5’s ‘A Man-God Unleashed!’ wherein a desperate Jungle monarch – and Bobbi – trash the anthropoidal zombies and Maa-Gor falls victim to his own doubts…

Ka-Zar would soon experience a complete change of outlook and genre, but the saga of Shanna and Mandrill carried on in series scripted by Gerber. Here, an excerpt from Daredevil #109 and longer extract from Marvel Two-in-One #3, bring DD, Black Widow, The Thing and, briefly, Captain America into the ongoing war with a sinister terrorist group…

In DD #109 (by Gerber, Bob Brown & Heck), Foggy Nelson’s radical student sister Candace tells Matt Murdock of a plot by criminal gang Black Spectre to steal government printing plates. En route to stop the raid the Scarlet Swashbuckler is intercepted by The Beetle and this brutal interference allows the sinister plotters to abscond with the prize. Even as the exoskeleton-clad thugs break away in Manhattan, in San Francisco Natasha Romanova is attacked by Nekra, Priestess of Darkness, who tries to forcibly recruit her into Black Spectre.

After defeating the Beetle, DD meets Africa-based champion Shanna O’Hara, unaware the fiery American ex-pat is seeking bloody vengeance against enemies who have attacked Foggy, Natasha and the US economy… and murdered her father…

Marvel Two-in-One #3 (Gerber, Sal Buscema & Joe Sinnott) peeped ‘Inside Black Spectre!’ as destabilising attacks on prosperity and culture foment riot in the streets of the beleaguered nation. Following separate clue trails, Ben Grimm joins the Man Without Fear to invade the cabal’s aerial HQ, before they are improbably overcome soon after discovering the Black Widow has defected to the rebels…

Reprinted in full, DD #110 (Gerber, Gene Colan & Frank Chiaramonte) sees perfidious plot ‘Birthright!’ expose Black Spectre as an exclusively female-staffed group, personally led by pheromone-emitting male mutant Jerome Beechman AKA Mandrill. One of the earliest “Children of the Atom”, he endured years of appalling abuse and rejection until he met equally ostracised Nekra. Once they realised their combined power, they swore to make America pay…

Brown & Jim Mooney drew ‘Sword of the Samurai!’ in #111, with DD & Shanna attacked by a formidable Japanese warrior, even as the She-Devil discloses her tragic reasons for hunting Nekra and Mandrill. When she too is taken by Black Spectre – who want to dissect her to discover how she can resist Mandrill’s influence – DD is attacked again by an outrageously powerful sword-wielding Silver Samurai…

Triumphing over impossible odds, the Man Without Fear infiltrates the cabal’s flying fortress in #112 to spectacularly conclude the insurrection in ‘Death of a Nation?’ (Colan & Frank Giacoia), which finds the mutant duo seemingly achieving their ultimate goal by desecrating the White House and temporarily taking (symbolic) control of America… But only until Shanna, freshly-liberated Natasha and the fighting mad Man Without Fear marshal their utmost resources…

With covers throughout by Adkins, John Romita, John Buscema, Gil Kane, Frank Brunner, Frank Giacoia, Jim Steranko, Joe Sinnott, Ron Wilson and Colan, this remarkably collegiate collection concludes with tantalising treats including house ads, cover sketches by Romita, original art by Brunner, Heck, Abel and Royer plus a truly copious creator biographies section…

Boldly bombastic if sometimes madly muddled, brilliantly escapist and crafted by some of the biggest and best in comics, these wild rides and riotous romps are timeless fun from the borderlands of Marvel’s endless universe: a fabulous excursion to forgotten worlds you’ll want to treasure forever…
© 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Ghost Rider Epic Comics volume 2: The Salvation Run (1975-1978)


By Tony Isabella, Jim Shooter, Steve Gerber, Bill Mantlo, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Don Glut, Chris Claremont, Roger McKenzie, Scott Lobdell, Frank Robbins, Don Heck, Sal Buscema, George Tuska, Bob Brown, John Byrne, Gil Kane, Don Perlin, Tom Sutton, Vince Evans, Vince Colletta, Mike Esposito, Jim Mooney, Sam Grainger, Keith Pollard, Don Newton, Dan Green, Pablo Marcos, Tony DeZuñiga, Owen McCarron, Steve Gan, Phil Sheehy & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5549-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Closely reflecting the state of their presumed readership, as the 1960s ended US comic books were in turmoil. Superheroes had dominated for much of the previous decade; peaking globally before explosively falling to ennui and overkill. Established genres like horror, westerns, science fiction and war were returning, fed by contemporary events and radical trends in moviemaking where another, new(ish) wrinkle had also emerged: disenchanted, rebellious, unchained Youth (on Motorbikes …and Drugs!) seeking different ways forward. Moreover, most of us thought that we might well all expire in a nuclear fireball at any moment. How glad I am that we’ve finally returned to those halcyon days…

Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Jack Kirby’s Jimmy Olsen, Captain America and many more took the Easy Rider option to boost flagging sales (and if you’re interested, the best of the crop was Mike Sekowsky’s tragically unfinished mini-masterpiece of cool Jason’s Quest in Showcase). Over at Marvel – a company still reeling from Kirby’s defection to DC in 1970 – canny Roy Thomas green-lit a new character combining that freewheeling, adolescent-friendly biker theme with the all-pervasive supernatural furore gripping entertainment fields.

Back in 1967, Marvel had published a western masked hero named Ghost Rider. He was a shameless, whole-hearted appropriation of the cowboy hero creation of Vince Sullivan, Ray Krank & Dick Ayers (for Magazine Enterprises from 1949 to 1955), initially utilising magician’s tricks to fight bandits by pretending to be an avenging phantom of justice.

Scant years later, with the Comics Code prohibition against horror hastily rewritten – amazing how plunging sales affect ethics – scary comics boomed back in a big way. A new crop of supernatural superheroes and monsters appeared on newsstands, supplementing the ghosts, ghoulies and goblins already infiltrating the once science-only scenarios of surviving mystery man titles.

In fact, diluting the Code ban resulted in such an avalanche of horror titles (new material plus reprints from the first boom in the 1950s), in response to the industry-wide downturn in superhero sales, that it probably caused a few more venerable costumed crusaders to – albeit temporarily – bite the dust.

Almost overnight, nasty monsters became acceptable fare for four-colour pages and, whilst a parade of pre-code reprints made sound business sense, the creative aspects of the fascination in supernatural themes was catered to by adapting popular cultural icons before risking whole new concepts on an untested public. As always in entertainment, the watchword was fashion: what was hitting big outside comics was incorporated into the mix as soon as possible. When proto-monster Morbius, the Living Vampire debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (cover-dated October 1971) and the sky failed to fall in, Marvel moved ahead with a line of shocking superstars – beginning with a werewolf and a vampire – before broadening the scope with a haunted biker tapping both Easy Rider’s freewheeling motorcycling chic and a prevailing supernatural zeitgeist.

Preceded by western hero Red Wolf in #1 and the aforementioned Werewolf by Night in #2-4, the all-new Ghost Rider debuted in Marvel Spotlight #5 (August 1972) and the course of comics was changed forever…

What Has Gone Before: Carnival trick cyclist Johnny Blaze sells his soul to the devil in an attempt to save his foster-father Crash Simpson from cancer. As is the way of such things, Satan follows the letter but not spirit of his contract and Simpson dies anyway – just not from cancer. When the Dark Lord later comes for his prize, Blaze’s beloved virginal girlfriend Roxanne Simpson intervenes. Her purity prevents the Devil from claiming his due so, temporarily thwarted, Satan spitefully afflicts Johnny with a body that burns with the fires of Hell every time the sun goes down…

After months of diabolical persecution with Blaze shaming the Devil daily by using his curse to do good and save souls, everything seemed to change after what looked like Jesus Christ himself intervened to get Satan off his back, but of course nothing is ever what it seems…

Spanning cover-dates March 1975 to February 1978, and re-presenting Ghost Rider (1973) #12-28; Marvel Two-in-One #18; Daredevil (vol. 1) #138; Marvel Team-Up #58; Marvel Premiere #28 and material from 1991’s Marvel Tales (vol. 1) #255, this conflagratory compendium sees Blaze and his infernal alter ego unwillingly dragged deeper into the world of superheroes… but not for long…

Marvel Two-in-One #8 opens proceedings and also explores redemptive themes as Blaze teams with Ben Grimm – AKA The Thing – in a quirkily compelling Yuletide yarn. Crafted by Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito, ‘Silent Night… Deadly Night!’ finds the audacious Miracle Man attempting to take control of a very special birth in a modern-day stable…

In Ghost Rider #12 Tony Isabella, Frank Robbins, Frank Giacoia & Mike Esposito reveal the fate of World War I fighter ace Phantom Eagle, as Blaze tries to rescue a stranger from a ghostly aerial assault, only to learn he has inadvertently thwarted justice and helped the noble air warrior’s murderer avoid the ‘Phantom of the Killer Skies’, after which GR #13 and Isabella, George Tuska & Vince Colletta declare ‘You’ve Got a Second Chance, Johnny Blaze!’  as the terms of the hero’s on-going curse are changed again, just as the dissolute biker heads to Hollywood and a previously promised job as TV star Stunt-Master’s body-double. No sooner has he signed up, however, than Blaze becomes involved with Daredevil’s former girlfriend, fresh-faced starlet Karen Page and a bizarre kidnap plot by supervillain The Trapster. As ‘A Specter Stalks the Soundstage!’ Blaze’s revenge-obsessed nemesis The Orb returns to destroy Ghost Rider, an action yarn that spectacularly concludes with ‘Vengeance on the Ventura Freeway!’, as illustrated by Bob Brown & Don Heck.

Whilst hanging out on the West Coast, Blaze joins new superteam The Champions, but they play no part in Bill Mantlo, Tuska & Colletta’s fill-in yarn ‘Blood in the Waters’, as Ghost Rider oh, so topically tangles with a Great White Shark in the gore-soaked California surf.

A much reprinted yarn comes next courtesy of Mantlo, Robbins & Steve Gan: an attempt to create a team of terrors long before its time. Marvel Premiere #28 (February 1976) launched the initial line-up of The Legion of Monsters in ‘There’s a Mountain on Sunset Boulevard!’. When an ancient alien manifests a rocky peak in LA, Werewolf by Night Jack Russell, the macabre Man-Thing, Hollywood stuntman Johnny Blaze and living vampire Michael Morbius are drawn into a bizarre confrontation which might have resulted in the answer to  all their wishes and hopes, but instead only leads to destruction, death and crushing disappointment…

Back on track in GR #17, ‘Prelude to a Private Armageddon!’ (Isabella, Robbins & Colletta) triggers a combative and fractious reunion with The Son of Satan when fellow stunt-actor Katy Milner is possessed by a demon and only Daimon Hellstrom can help. The struggle devolves into ‘The Salvation Run!’ as Blaze races through the bowels of Hell, reliving his own traumatic past and at last learning the truth about his own personal Jesus, before finally saving the day on his own terms and merits, rescuing both Katy’s and his own much-tarnished soul in ‘Resurrection’.

All this time the mysterious subplots of Karen’s attempted abduction had percolated through GR, but now explosively boil over into Daredevil #138 as ‘Where is Karen Page?’ (by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne & Jim Mooney) exposes the extensive machinations of deceased criminal maniac Death’s-Head as merely part of a greater scheme involving Blaze, Stunt-Master, the Man without Fear and the homicidal Death Stalker. The convoluted conundrum cataclysmically climaxes in Ghost-Rider #20 with Don Perlin inking Wolfman & Byrne’s ‘Two Against Death!’

After dancing with the Devil and assorted demons for months, and dabbling with team dynamics in the Champions, instinctual loner Blaze’s move to Hollywood had sparked a far more mundane narrative methodology. His glamorous hazardous working gig had brought romantic dalliances, increased interaction with superheroes and supervillains, and more and more clashes with street level crime…

As the action opens in GR #21’s ‘Deathplay!’, Gerry Conway, Gil Kane & Sam Grainger built on the “real world” TV friendly trend as manic super thug for hire The Gladiator attacks the Delazny Studio employing Blaze, seeking a deadly weapon left by a sinister hidden foe. After spectacularly repelling the armoured assassin, Blaze does a little digging into the studio and staff only to clash with another veteran villain – The Eel – abruptly reinforced by an incensed Gladiator seeking a rematch. Thrashing them both only gets Johnny in more trouble with the cops and – on the run again – he finally faces the criminal mastermind who has orchestrated many months of woe. Unfortunately, he learns ‘Nobody Beats the Enforcer!’ (Conway, Don Glut, Don Heck & Keith Pollard)…

The secretive crime lord has his fingers dug deep into the studio and seeks ultimate power in LA, but somehow Blaze is always in his way, such as here, foiling the costumed killer’s attempt to steal a deadly ray concealed in a ring. Attempts to further integrate Ghost Rider with mainstream Marvel continuity intensify with the arrival of new scripter – and actual motorbike afficionado – Jim Shooter. With Dons Heck & Newton illustrating, ‘Wrath of the Water Wizard!’ depicts the embattled biker battling a hydrokinetic hoodlum at the Enforcer’s behest, only to be betrayed and beaten in anticipation of a blockbusting deciding clash in Shooter, Heck & Dan Green’s calamitous concluding climax ‘I, The Enforcer…!’

The end and direction change is emphasised by another crosspollinating adventure as Marvel Team-Up #58 (June 1977 Chris Claremont, Sal Buscema & Pablo Marcos) describes ‘Panic on Pier One!’ as Spider-Man is abducted by The Trapster and how, in saving the hero, damned Johnny Blaze exposes the true nature of his “powers & gimmicks”…

Cover-dated August 1977, (“The New”) Ghost Rider #25 presaged a return to wandering ways as Shooter, Heck & Tony DeZuñiga’s ‘Menace is a Man Called Malice!’ finds our infernal antihero erroneously implicated in an arson attack on a wax museum before battling a high tech madman. Blaze’s diabolical overreaction in victory signalled darkening days ahead…

Don Perlin fully began his long association with the Spirit Cyclist in #26 pencilling ‘A Doom Named Dr. Druid!’ (words by Shooter & inks by Grainger) as recently-revived and revised proto Marvel superhero Anthony Druid (who as Dr. Droom actually predates Fantastic Four #1) hunts a satanic horror and mistakenly attacks Ghost Rider. Only after beating the burning biker does the parapsychologist learn the dreadful error he’s made, but by then Blaze’s secret is exposed, his Hollywood life is ruined and the end of his safe secure life looms…

Back on the road again, Johnny heads for the Mojave desert and encounters two fellow travellers/he-man soulmates, aimless and in trouble. Palling up with disgruntled former Avengers Hawkeye and time-displaced cowboy hero Matt Hawk – The Two-Gun Kid in an atypical moment of Marvel Madness crafted by Shooter, Perlin & Green. ‘At the Mercy of the Manticore!’ sees Blaze save the heroes from The Brand Corporation’s bestial cyborg monstrosity, only to drive them away when his demonic other half’s growing propensity for inflicting suffering gets out of control…

Still roaming the southern deserts, Blaze is then targeted again by his personal Captain Ahab in ‘Evil is the Orb!’ (by Roger McKenzie, Perlin, Tom Sutton, Owen McCarron & Pablo Marcos), when his vengeance-crazed rival abducts Roxie and mesmerises a biker gang into doing his vicious, petty dirty work. However, the villain hasn’t reckoned on an intervention by Blaze’s new biking buddy Brahma Bill…

Although the 1970s sensationalism stops here, there’s one last yarn by Scott Lobdell, Vince Evans & Phil Sheehy (from Marvel Tales #255: November 1991, which reprinted Marvel Team-Up #58) to enjoy. ‘Shock Therapy’ explores what a dose of Blaze’s satanic Hellfire did to the Trapster and what extreme measures were taken to cure him…

This spooky compendium compounds the chilling action with a full cover gallery by Kane, Tom Palmer, Ron Wilson, Sal Buscema, Ed Hannigan, Dave Cockrum, Rich Buckler, Frank Giacoia, Nick Cardy, John Romita Sr., Gene Colan, Klaus Janson, Jack Kirby, Al Milgrom, Steve Leialoha, George Pérez, Ernie Chan and Sam Kieth and includes pertinent images from ‘The Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar 1976’ by Sal B, plus covers from 1990s reprint series The Original Ghost Rider #19-20, by Sal and Mark Buckingham.

Also on view are original art covers and interior pages by Heck, DeZuñiga, Kirby, John Verpoorten, and Romita Sr. to truly complete your fear-filled fun fest.

One final note: backwriting and retcons notwithstanding, the Christian boycotts and moral crusades of the following decade (and ever since) were what compelled criticism-averse and commercially astute corporate Marvel to “translate” the biblical Satan of these tales into generic and presumably more palatable demonic creatures such as Mephisto, Satanish, Marduk Kurios and other equally naff quibbling downgrades. However, the original intent and adventures of Johnny Blaze – and spin-offs Daimon Hellstrom and his sister Satana – respectively Son and Daughter of Satan – tapped into the period’s global fascination with Satanism, Devil-worship and all things Spookily Supernatural which had begun with such epochal breakthroughs as Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski’s 1968 film more than Ira Levin’s novel). Please remember in funnybook terms these aren’t your feeble bowdlerised “Hell-lite” horrors…

These tales are about the real-deal Infernal Realm and a good man struggling to save his soul from the worst of all bargains – as much as the revised Comics Code would allow – so brace yourself, hold steady and accept no supernatural substitutes…
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Mighty Thor Marvel Masterworks volume 18


By Roy Thomas, Don Glut, Don Thompson, Maggie Thompson, Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, Walter Simonson, Alan Kupperberg, Wayne Boring, Arvell Jones, Pablo Marcos, Tom Palmer, Chic Stone, Ernie Chan, Tony DeZuñiga & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1821-7 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

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

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

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

Then the comics catastrophes and revelations resume with Thomas, Walt Simonson & Ernie Chan using the extra page count of Thor Annual #7 (cover-dated September 1978 and on sale from June 20th) to detail a forgotten “first contact” moment. After Balder is killed by Loki’s machinations in an attempt to trigger Ragnarok (Thor Marvel Masterworks #17), the Thunder God reluctantly consults hostile prophet Mimir. The flaming seer of the Well of Wisdom instead emphasises how untrustworthy Odin is by telling of an event Thor cannot remember even though it was one of his most significant exploits…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happily Thor is enough to rebalance the odds…

To Be Continued…

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

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

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

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

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Daredevil Marvel Masterworks volume 16


By Frank Miller & Klaus Janson, Mike W. Barr, Roger McKenzie, Terry Austin, Paul Smith, Denys Cowan, Fred Hembeck, Paul Gulacy & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3316-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content included for dramatic effect.

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

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

Spanning cover-dates August 1981- October 1982, this crucial compilation comprises relevant material from Daredevil #173-181, plus spin-off material generated for a readership that simply could not get enough of the newly darkened avenging devil as seen in Bizarre Adventures #28 and What If? #28, 34 & 35 and material from Marvel Fanfare #1. The visual tumult and tension are preceded by an Introduction from Klaus Janson, detailing his increasing contribution to the character’s arc, and foreshadowing the time when the title would, visually at least, be all his…

When Miller took on authorship in #168 he immediately began remodelling Matt’s past, testing his established relationships and the memory of his murdered father Battling Jack Murdock and created a deadly new former lover in Elektra Natchios, all while putting the damned hero through his paces against archnemesis Bullseye and severely denting the untouchable empire and reputation of evil untouchable Wilson Fisk.

The end result was The Kingpin once more implicitly ruling New York, but enthroned in misery after losing his greatest treasure when his beloved wife Vanessa was blown up and presumed killed during the gang war that followed…

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

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

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

As Elektra finally faces Kirigi, #177 sees Murdock in the brutal care of old hermit Stick; undergoing pitiless trials and torment to regain all that he has lost. The physical and mental abuse triggers hallucinations, flashbacks to his early life and ultimately delirious revelation ‘Where Angels Fear to Tread’…

Meanwhile elsewhere, future Mayor Winston Cherryh is being investigated by Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich, who uncovers his links to the Kingpin just as a reinvigorated, reunited Nelson & Murdock find a kid with physical proof of Hizzoner’s malfeasance. They recruit Heroes for Hire Luke Cage & Iron Fist as bodyguards whilst Fisk hires the best assassin in town to clean up the impending mess. However, Elektra is deeply conflicted and the resultant ‘Paper Chase’ leaves no winners…

Things get deep and dirty when Elektra sends Urich a warning he’ll never forget, but does put aside after getting a photo of a sewer-dwelling bag lady Wilson Fisk would do anything to know about. As the war of wills mounts she then has to kill the reporter and defeat Matt in ‘Spiked!’, leading the sightless sentinel of the modern hell beneath his city: a community of ‘The Damned’ governed by a barbaric degenerate thug who loses everything to the crimson invader, especially his queen, Vanessa…

Forced to scuttle Cherryh to regain his beloved, Wilson Fisk craves petty vengeance and orders the assassination of Foggy Nelson. Meanwhile, recovered from brain surgery undertaken after his last defeat by Daredevil, Bullseye escapes jail to reclaim his position and title as the world’s deadliest killer for hire. He desperately wants to kill Elektra, and finds himself able to profit from it when she baulks at ending Foggy. The assassins’ brutally balletic dance across New York City ends with her, and Daredevil seeks revenge with the words Bullseye said when he was last captured. “By saving me, everyone I kill from now on is on you”…

Daredevil #181 ‘Last Hand’ (April 1982) is a cinematically styled masterpiece of graphic design reflecting emotional tumult and is one of the best single stories of the era. It also ends the old Daredevil and heralds a new hero to come, but that’s all for another book.

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

Cover dated August 1982, What If? #34 was an all-comedy issue with Miller outrageously expressing the results of answered question ‘What if Daredevil Were Deaf Instead of Blind?’, before the rather self-explanatory ‘What if Bullseye Had Not Killed Elektra?’ (WI? #35, October 1982) by Miller & Terry Austin…

As a special treat, a short Christmas yarn from Marvel Fanfare #1 (March 1982) concludes the comics treats as DD joins a street Santa to save the season for a bunch of orphans in ‘Snow’ by Roger McKenzie, Paul Smith & Austin.

The Miller limned back cover of that issue begins this book’s bonus section, and is followed by Miller’s full Daredevil character bible, written in 1980 as he prepared to take over the writing. A house ad for the Power Man & Iron Fist team-up precedes Fred Hembeck & Miller’s collaboration from Fantastic Four Roast #1 (May 1982) prior to a gallery of fan publication art. The Miller/Janson cover for Amazing Heroes #4 (September 1981) segues into Comics Feature #14 (December 1981) and their wraparound for The Daredevil Chronicles (February 1982) which also reprints the lengthy ‘Frank Miller/Klaus Janson Interview’ conducted by Peter Sanderson, with illos by Hembeck, George Peréz, John Byrne, and Miller & Janson (including a double page pin-up of DD, Black Widow, Black Panther and Elektra).

Joe Rubinstein inked the covers of Marvel Index 9B (listing DD, Black Widow, Black Goliath, Black Panther, Shanna the She-Devil, Dazzler and the Human Fly) and Rick Hoberg rendered the Frontispiece, before Paul Gulacy’s sublime “Good Girl” art Black Widow Portfolio – 6 stunning monochrome plates plus cover – segues into a 20-strong covers and interior page gallery, topped off by Miller & Steve Buccellato’s 2001 cover for Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller vol. 2, as well as its Elektra frontispiece, and Diana Schutz’ reminiscing Introduction…

Short sharp, shocking, game-changing, revolutionary and still fantastically readable, these tales kicked open the doors for truly mature comics dramas, whilst promising the true potential of Daredevil was in reach. Their narrative energy and exuberant excitement are dashing delights no action fan will care to miss.

… And the next volume heads full on into darker shadows, the grimmest of territory and the breaking of even more boundaries…
© MARVEL 2022.

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The Inhumans Masterworks volume 1


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Arnold Drake, Gene Colan, Neal Adams, Mike Sekowsky, Tom Sutton, Joe Sinnott, Vince Colletta, Chic Stone, Tom Palmer, John Verpoorten, Bill Everett, Frank Giacoia & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-41419 (HC) 978-0-7851-4142-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Debuting in 1965 and conceived as one more incredible lost civilisation during Stan Lee & Jack Kirby’s most fertile and productive creative period, The Inhumans are a secretive race of phenomenally disparate beings genetically altered by aliens in Earth’s primordial pre-history. They subsequently evolved into a technologically-advanced civilisation far ahead of emergent Homo Sapiens and isolated themselves from the world and barbarous dawn-age humans, first on an island and latterly in a hidden valley in the Himalayas, residing in a fabulous city named Attilan.

The mark of citizenship is immersion in the mutative Terrigen Mists which further enhance and transform individuals into radically unique and generally super-powered beings. The Inhumans are obsessed with order, rank, genetic structure and heritage, worshipping the ruling Royal Family as the rationalist equivalent of mortal gods.

How the hereditary outsiders first impacted the Marvel Universe is gathered in this carefully curated tome which represents early solo-starring appearances from the Tales of the Uncanny Inhumans back-up series in Thor #146-153; a one-off yarn from Marvel Super-Heroes #15; their entire starring run from Amazing Adventures #1-10, plus a guest shot in Avengers #95 collectively spanning the period cover dates November 1967 to January 1972. Also included are a trio of spoof features taken from  Not Brand Echh #6 and 12 (February 1968 and February 1969).

Designed to delight all fanboy truth-seekers, former Kirby assistant and disciple Mark Evanier’s Introduction offers candid and informative behind-the-scenes revelations detailing the true publishing agenda and “Secret Origin of the Inhumans”, before reintroducing the Royal Family of Attilan. Black Bolt, Medusa, Triton, Karnak, Gorgon, Crystal and the rest who would soon become mainstays of the Marvel Universe.

After a plethora of guest shots in The Fantastic Four, the hidden ones began their first solo feature in Thor #146: a series of complete, 5-page vignettes detailing some of the tantalising backstory so effectively hinted at in previous appearances. ‘The Origin of… the Incomparable Inhumans’ (Lee, Kirby & Joe Sinnott) plunges back to the dawn of civilisation with cavemen fleeing in fear from technologically advanced humans who live on an island named Attilan.

In that ancient futuristic metropolis, wise King Randac finally makes a decision to test out his people’s latest discovery: genetically mutative Terrigen rays…

The saga expands a month later in ‘The Reason Why!’ as Earth’s duly-appointed Kree Sentry visits the island and reveals how in ages even further past his alien masters experimented on an isolated tribe of primitive humanoids. Now keen to determine their progress, the menacing mechanoid observes that the Kree’s lab rats have fully taken control of their genetic destiny and must now be considered Inhuman…

Skipping ahead 25,000 years, ‘…And Finally: Black Bolt!’ reveals how a baby’s first cries wreck Attilan and reveal the infant prince to be an Inhuman unlike any other: one cursed with an uncontrollable sonic vibration which builds to unstoppable catastrophic violence with every utterance. Raised in isolation, the prince’s 19th birthday marks his release into the city and close contact with the cousins he has only ever seen on video screens. Sadly, the occasion is co-opted by Bolt’s envious brother Maximus who coldly tortures the royal heir to prove he cannot be trusted. Sadly for the upstart the prince is strong enough for all that comes and prepares for a life determined by his ‘Silence or Death!’

Thor #150 (March 1968) opened a lengthier, continued tale as ‘Triton’ leaves the hidden city to explore the greater human world, only to be captured by a film crew making an underwater monster movie. Allowing himself to be brought to America, the wily manphibian escapes when the ship docks and becomes an ‘Inhuman at Large!’ The series concluded with Triton on the run and a fish out of water ‘While the City Shrieks!’ before returning to Attilan with a damning assessment of the Inhumans’ lesser cousins…

The first Inhuman introduced to the world was the menacing Madame Medusa in Fantastic Four #36: a female super-villain joining team’s antithesis The Frightful Four. This sinister squad comprised evil genius The Wizard, shapeshifting Sandman and gadget fiend The Trapster, and their repeated battles against Marvel’s first family led to the exposure of the hidden race and numerous clashes with humanity.

In 1967, a proposed Inhumans solo series was canned before completion, but the initial episode was retooled and published in the company’s try-out vehicle Marvel Super-Heroes. Scripted by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Gene Colan & Vince Colletta, ‘Let the Silence Shatter!’ appeared in #15 (July 1968), revealing how the villainous quartet temporarily reunite after the Wizard promises a method for controlling Black Bolt’s deadly sonic affliction in return for Medusa’s services. As usual, the double-dealing mastermind betrays his coerced accomplice, but again underestimates her abilities and intellect, resulting in yet another humiliating defeat…

A few years later, bi-monthly “split-book” Amazing Adventures launched with an August 1970 cover-date and the Inhumans sharing the pages with a new Black Widow series. The big news however was that Kirby was both writing and illustrating the ‘The Inhumans!’ Inked by Chic Stone, the first episode saw the Great Refuge targeted by atomic missiles apparently fired by the Inhumans’ greatest allies, prompting a retaliatory attack on the Baxter Building and pitting ‘Friend Against Friend!’ However, even as the battle raged, Black Bolt takes covert action against the true culprits…

AA #3 sees the uncanny outcasts as ‘Pawns of the Mandarin’ when the devilish tyrant tricks the Royal Family into uncovering a mega-powerful ancient artefact, but he is ultimately unable to cope with their power and teamwork in concluding chapter ‘With These Rings I Thee Kill!’ before issue #5 (March 1971) ushered in a radical change of tone and mood as the currently on-fire creative team of Roy Thomas & Neal Adams took over the strip when Kirby shockingly left Marvel for DC. Inked by Tom Palmer, ‘His Brother’s Keeper’ sees Maximus finally employ a long-dormant power – mind-control – to erase Black Bolt’s memory and seize control of the Great Refuge. The real problem however, is that at the exact moment the Mad One strikes, Black Bolt is in San Francisco on a secret mission. When the mind-wave hits, the stranger forgets everything and as a little boy offers assistance, ‘Hell on Earth!’ (John Verpoorten inks) begins as a simple whisper shatters the docks and the vessels moored there…

As Triton, Gorgon, Karnak & Medusa flee the now utterly entranced Refuge in search of Black Bolt, ‘An Evening’s Wait for Death!’ finds little Joey and the still-bewildered Bolt captured by a radical black activist determined to use the Inhuman’s shattering power to raze the city’s foul ghettoes. A tense confrontation in the streets with the police draws storm god Thor into the conflict during ‘An Hour for Thunder!’, but when the dust settles it seems Black Bolt is dead…

Gerry Conway, Mike Sekowsky & Bill Everett assumed storytelling duties with # 9 as the Inhumans took over the entire book. Reaching America, the Royal Cousins’ search for their king is interrupted when they are targeted by a cult of mutants. ‘…And the Madness of Magneto!’ reveals Black Bolt in the clutches of the Master of Magnetism, who needs the usurped king’s abilities to help him steal a new artificial element. However ‘In His Hands… the World!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) soon proves that with his memory restored nothing and no one can long make the mightiest Inhuman a slave…

The series abruptly ended there. Amazing Adventures #11 featured a new treatment of graduate X-Man Hank McCoy who rode the trend for monster heroes by accidentally transforming himself into a furry Beast. The Inhumans simply dropped out of sight until Thomas & Adams wove their dangling plot threads into the monumental epic unfolding in The Avengers #89-97 from June 1971 to March 1972.

At that time Thomas’ bold experiment was rightly considered the most ambitious saga in Marvel’s brief history: an astounding saga of tremendous scope which dumped Earth into a cosmic war the likes of which comics fans had never before seen. The Kree/Skrull War set the template for all multi-part crossovers and publishing events ever since…

It began when, in the distant Kree Empire, the ruling Supreme Intelligence was overthrown by his chief enforcer Ronan the Accuser. The rebellion resulted in humanity learning aliens hide among us, and public opinion turned against superheroes for concealing the threat of repeated alien incursions…

A powerful allegory of the Anti-Communist Witch-hunts of the 1950s (and more relevant than ever now that TacoPotUS misrules that benighted land), the epic saw riots in American streets and a political demagogue capitalising on the crisis. Subpoenaed by the authorities, castigated by friends and public, the Avengers were ordered to disband. Sadly omitted here, issue #94 entangled the Inhumans in the mix, disclosing that their advanced science and powers result from Kree genetic meddling in the depths of prehistory. With intergalactic war beginning, Black Bolt missing and his madly malign brother Maximus in charge, the Kree now come calling in their ancient markers…

Wrapping up the dramatic graphic wonderment, ‘Something Inhuman This Way Comes…!’ (Avengers #95, January 1972) coalesces many disparate story strands as aquatic adventurer Triton aids the Avengers against government-piloted Mandroids before beseeching the beleaguered heroes to help find his missing monarch and rescue his Inhuman brethren from the press-ganging Kree…

After so doing, Earth’s Mightiest head into space to liberate their kidnapped comrades and save the planet from becoming collateral damage in the impending cosmos-shaking clash between Kree and Skrulls (a much-collected tale you’d be crazy to miss…).

Appended with creator biographies and House Ads for the Inhumans’ debut, the thrills and chills are topped off with three comedy vignettes. The first, from Not Brand Echh #6 (the “Big, Batty Love and Hisses issue!” of February 1968) reveals how ‘The Human Scorch Has to… Meet the Family!’: a snappy satire on romantic liaisons from Lee, Kirby & Tom Sutton, complimented by ‘Unhumans to Get Own Comic Book’ (Arnold Drake, Thomas & Sutton) and ‘My Search for True Love’ by Drake & Sutton: both from Not Brand Echh #12 (February 1969).

The first of these depicts how other artists might render the series – with contenders including faux icons BOob (Gnatman & Rotten) Krane, Chester (Dig Tracing) Ghoul and Charles (Good Ol’ Charlie…) Schlitz, whilst the second follows lovelorn Medoozy as she dumps her taciturn man and searches for fulfilment amongst popular musical and movie stars of the era…

These stories cemented the outsiders place in the ever-expanding Marvel universe and helped the company to overtake all its competitors. Although making little impact at the time they remain potent and innovative: as exciting and captivating now as they ever were. This is a must-have book for all fans of graphic narrative.
© 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The Incredible Hulk Marvel Masterworks volume 14


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

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Be Hulk-inued…

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

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

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