Category: Marvel Superheroes

Posted on

Godzilla: The Original Marvel Years


By Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe, Tom Sutton, Jim Mooney, Tony DeZuñiga, Klaus Janson, Fred Kida, Dan Green, Jack Abel, Frank Giacoia, George Tuska & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5875-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

What’s big and green and leaves your front room a complete mess? No, not any first world government’s policy on climate change, but (arguably) Earth’s most famous monster…

Back in 1976, although some television cartoons had introduced Japanese style and certain stars – like Astro Boy and Marine Boy – to western eyes, manga and anime were only starting to creep into global consciousness. However, the most well-known pop culture Japanese export was a colossal radioactive dinosaur who regularly rampaged through the East, crushing cities and fighting monsters even more bizarre and scary than he was.

At this time Marvel was well on the way to becoming the multimedia corporate colossus of today and was looking to increase its international profile. Comics companies have always sought licensed properties to bolster their market-share and in 1977 Marvel truly landed the big one, leading to a 2-year run of one of the world’s most recognisable characters. They also boldly broke with tradition by dropping him solidly into real-time, contemporary company continuity. The series ran for 24 guest-star-stuffed issues between August 1977 and July 1979.

Gojira first appeared in the eponymous 1954 anti-war, anti-nuke parable written and directed by Ishiro Honda for Toho Films: a symbol of ancient forces roused to violent reaction by mankind’s incessant meddling. The film was savagely re-cut and dubbed into English with young Raymond Burr inserted for US audience appeal and comprehension, with the Brobdingnagian beast inexplicably renamed Godzilla. The movie was released in the US on April 27th and – despite being a brutally bowdlerised hash of Ishiro Honda’s message and intent – became a monster hit anyway.

The King of Monsters smashed his way through 33 Japanese movies (and six & counting US iterations); and tons of records, books, games, associated merch and many, many comics. He is the originator of the manga sub-genre Daikaij? (giant strange beasts). After years away thanks to convoluted copyright issues, Marvel is regaining contact with many of its 1970/1980s licensing classics and this volume is a no-frills, simple sensation recovered from a time when the other Big Green Gargantuan rampaged across the Marvel firmament heavily (how else?) interacting with stalwarts of the shared universe as just one of the guys…

The saga is preceded by Introduction ‘“It Had to Happen” Godzilla in the Mighty Marvel Universe!’ by uberfan Karl Kesel before the compilation commences with ‘The Coming!’, courtesy of Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe & Jim Mooney, wherein the monstrous aquatic lizard with radioactive halitosis erupts out of the Pacific Ocean and rampages through Alaska.

Superspy security organisation S.H.I.E.L.D. is quickly dispatched to stop the onslaught, and Nick Fury (the original white one) summarily calls in Japanese looming-lizard experts Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi, his grandson Robert and their eye-candy assistant Tamara Hashioka. After an inconclusive battle of ancient strength against modern tech, Godzilla returns to the sea, but the seeds have been sown and everybody knows he will return…

In Japan, many people now believe that Godzilla is a benevolent force destined to oppose true evil. Young Robert is one of them and gets the chance to expound his devout views in #2’s ‘Thunder in the Darkness!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia & George Tuska) when the skyscraping saurian resurfaces in Seattle and nearly razes the place before being lured away by daring and ingenuity, S.H.I.E.L.D. style. Veteran agents Dum-Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones and Jimmy Woo are seconded to a permanent anti-lizard task force until the beast is finally vanquished, but sadly, there are also dozens of freelance do-gooders in the Marvel universe always ready to step up and when the Emerald antihero takes offence at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, he attracts the attention of the local superhero team. The Champions – a short-lived, California-based team consisting of Black Widow, Angel, Iceman, Ghost Rider and Hercules – rapidly respond in ‘A Tale of Two Saviours’ (with the lushly solid inks of Tony DeZuñiga adding welcome depth to the art). Typically, the humans spend more time fighting each other than the monster, before the beast bolts for quieter shores…

There’re only so many cities even the angriest dinosaur can trash before formula tedium sets in, so writer Moench begins his first continued story in #4 with ‘Godzilla Versus Batragon!’ (guest-pencilled by the superb Tom Sutton and again inked by DeZuñiga), wherein deranged scientist/monster mutator Dr. Demonicus enslaves Aleutian Islanders to help him grow his own world-wrecking giant horrors… until the real deal shows up. The epic encounter concludes catastrophically with plenty of collateral damage on ‘The Isle of Lost Monsters’ (inked by Klaus Janson) before ‘A Monster Enslaved!’ in #6 opens another extended epic as Trimpe returns and Godzilla – as well as the American general public – are introduced to another now commonplace Japanese innovation.

Giant, piloted battle-suits or Mecha first appeared in Go Nagai’s 1972 manga classic Mazinger Z, and Marvel did much to popularise the subgenre in their follow-up/spin-off licensed title Shogun Warriors, (based on an import toy rather than movie or comic characters, but by the same creative team as Godzilla). Here young Rob Takiguchi steals S.H.I.E.L.D.’s latest weapon – a colossal robot codenamed Red Ronin – to aid the Immense Intense Iguana when Godzilla is finally captured. Fred Kida stirringly inked the first of a long line of saurian sagas with #7’s ‘Birth of a Warrior!’ with more carnage culminating in the uneasy alliance ending in another huge fight in concluding chapter ‘Titan Time Two!’

Trimpe & Kida depicted ‘The Fate of Las Vegas!’ in Godzilla #9: a lighter-toned morality play with the monster destroying Boulder Dam and flooding the modern Sodom and Gomorrah, before returning to big beastie bashing in ‘Godzilla vs Yetrigar’: another multi-part mash-up that ends in ‘Arena for Three!’ as Red Ronin & Rob reappear to tackle both large looming lizard and stupendous, smashing Sasquatch, after which the first year ends with #12’s ‘The Beta-Beast!’ – first chapter in a classic alien invasion epic.

Shanghaied to the Moon, Godzilla is co-opted as a soldier in a war between alien races who breed giant monsters as weapons, and when the battle transfers to Earth in ‘The Mega-Monsters from Beyond!’, Red Ronin joins the fray for blockbusting conclusion ‘The Super-Beasts’ (this last inked by Dan Green). Afterwards, let loose in cowboy country, Godzilla stomps into a rustling mystery and modern showdown in ‘Roam on the Range’ and ‘The Great Godzilla Roundup!’ before the final story arc begins.

In #17 ‘Of Lizards, Great and Small’ starts with a logical but humane solution to the beast’s rampages after superhero Ant-Man’s shrinking gas is used to reduce Godzilla to a more manageable size. However, when the diminished devastator escapes from his lab cage and becomes a ‘Fugitive in Manhattan!’, it’s all hands on deck as the city waits for the shrinking vapour’s effects to wear off. ‘With Dugan on the Docks!’ then sees the aging secret agent battle the immortal saurian on more or less equal terms before the Fantastic Four step in for ‘A Night at the Museum.’

The FF have another non-lethal solution and dispatch Godzilla to a primeval age of dinosaurs in #21’s ‘The Doom Trip!’, allowing every big beast fan’s dream to come true as the King of the Monsters teams up with Jack Kirby’s uniquely splendid Devil Dinosaur – and Moon Boy – in the Jack Abel inked ‘The Devil and the Dinosaur!’, before returning to the 20th century and full size for a spectacular battle against the Mighty Avengers in ‘The King Once More’.

The story and series concluded in #24 (July 1979) with the remarkably satisfying ‘And Lo, a Child Shall Lead Them’, as all New York’s superheroes prove less effective than a single impassioned plea, and Godzilla wearily departs for new conquests and other licensed outlets.

By no means award-winners or critical masterpieces, these stories are nonetheless a perfect example of what comics should be: enticing, exciting, accessible and brimming with “bang for your buck”. Moench’s oft-times florid prose and dialogue meld perfectly here with Trimpe’s stylised interpretation, which often surpasses the artist’s excellent work on that other big, green galoot. Other than Kirby, Happy Herb was probably the most adept at capturing the astoundingly cathartic attraction of giant creatures running amok, and here he went hog wild at every opportunity…

With covers by Trimpe, Ernie Chan, Joe Rubinstein, Bobs Layton, Wiacek & McLeod and Dave Cockrum, plus bonus features including Archie Goodwin’s ‘Godzilla-Grams’ editorial page from the first issue, as well as covers to earlier compilations, letter page art by Sutton from and a text free version of this volume by painter Junggeun Yoon.

These are great tales to bring younger and/or disaffected readers back to comics and are well worth their space on any fan’s bookshelf. This is what monster comics are all about and demand your full attention.
© 2024 MARVEL.

Posted on

Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Daredevil volume 3: Unmasked


By Stan Lee & Gene Colan with Frank Giacoia, Dick Ayers, John Tartaglione & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5428-4 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Matt Murdock is a blind lawyer whose remaining senses hyper-compensate, making him an astonishing acrobat, formidable fighter and living lie-detector. Very much a second-string hero for most of his early years, Daredevil was nonetheless a striking and popular one, due in large part to the roster of brilliant artists who had illustrated the strip. He battled thugs, gangsters, a plethora of super-villains and even the occasional monster or alien invasion, quipping his way through life and life-threatening combat. His civilian life consisted of assorted legal conundra and manfully standing back and suppressing his own feelings as his portly best friend and law partner Franklin “Foggy” Nelson vainly romanced their secretary Karen Page.

DD only really came into his own once illustrator Gene Colan signed up for the long haul, which properly begins with the tales in this collection: part of a series of Mighty Marvel Masterworks available as kid-friendly digest paperbacks and eBooks. Gathering Daredevil #22-32 (November 1966 to September 1967) it traces a move from morose masked avenger to wisecracking Scarlet Swashbuckler, offering a marked improvement in overall quality as scripter Lee utilises extended soap operatic plot-threads to string together Colan’s unique fight scenes as he shook off the remnants of predecessor John Romita’s art style.

In a very short time Romita had made the Sightless Swashbuckler his own before graduating to Spider-Man, so when Colan took over on DD, he initially kept the clipped, solid, nigh-chunky lines for rendering the Man Without Fear, but increasingly drew everything else in his loose, fluid, tonal manner. With these tales, his warring styles coalesced and the result was literally poetry in non-stop motion…

Without preamble the action opens with ‘The Tri-Man Lives’ (inked by Frank Giacoia & Dick Ayers), containing Gangland themes and malignant machinations whilst sharing focus with super-menaces The Gladiator and Masked Marauder, whose eponymous killer android proves less of a threat than expected. The villains had sought control of international organised crime syndicate The Maggia but their master plan to prove their worthiness by murdering the Man Without Fear goes badly awry after the kidnapped hero refuses to simply lie down and die…

Concluding in #23 with ‘DD Goes Wild!’, the ending sees our hero trapped in Europe, but soon making his way to England and a violent reunion with Tarzan analogue Ka-Zar who has become prime suspect in #24’s chilling puzzle ‘The Mystery of the Midnight Stalker!’

This tale contains my vote for the Most Obnoxious Misrepresentation of Britain in Comic Books Award as a policeman – sorry, “bobby” – warns, “STAY BACK, PLEASE! THE MILITIA WILL BE ARRIVING IN JIG TIME!”…

After clearing the jungle hero’s name, Matt Murdock heads back to America in time to enjoy the less-than-stellar debut of a certified second-rate super-villain as ‘Enter: The Leap-Frog!’ introduces a thief dressed like Kermit on steroids with springs on his flippered feet. Yes, really…

However, the big event of the issue is meeting Matt’s hip and groovy twin brother Mike…

By the time ‘Stilt-Man Strikes Again’ (DD #26, March 1967) Colan is totally in command of his vision and a leaner, moodier hero is emerging. The major push of the next few issues was to turn the hopeless romantic triangle of Matt, Foggy and Karen Page into a whacky quadrangle by dint of fictitious twin Mike, who Matt would be “expose” as Daredevil to divert suspicion from the blind attorney who actually battled all those weird villains…

Confused, much?

Still skulking in the background, arch-villain Masked Marauder slowly closes in on DD’s alter ego. He gets a lot closer in ‘Mike Murdock Must Die!’ (Giacoia inks) after Stilt-Man teams with the Marauder and the ever-fractious Spider-Man once again clashes with old frenemy Daredevil before the villains meet their apparent ends.

The Sightless Swashbuckler has his first encounter with extraterrestrials in #28’s moody one-trick-pony ‘Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Planet!’ – an Ayers-inked thriller wherein invading aliens’ blindness-inducing rays prove inexplicably ineffective against the Crimson Crime-crusher. John Tartaglione inked the next tale, a solid, action-packed gangster-thriller entitled ‘Unmasked!’ whilst issue #30 opened a protracted and impressive clash with former Thor foes the Cobra and Mister Hyde. The bombastic first bout comes complete with an Asgardian cameo in ‘…If There Should Be a Thunder God!’

Attempting to catch the rampant super-criminals, DD masquerades as the Asgardian Avenger only to encounter the real McCoy. Sadly, the villains ambush the mortal hero once the Thunderer departs and, as a result of the resultant battle, DD loses his compensating hyper-senses. Thus, he must perpetrate a ‘Blind Man’s Bluff!’… which almost fools Cobra & Hyde…

Naturally, it all goes wrong before it all comes right and against all odds Murdock regains his abilities just in time ‘…To Fight the Impossible Fight!’…

Supplemented by a Colan cover gallery and original art pages, this tome reveals how The Man Without Fear blossomed into a truly magnificent example of Marvel’s compelling formula for success: smart stories, human characters and magnificent illustration. This is pure Fights ‘n’ Tights magic no fan of stunning super-heroics can afford to ignore.
© 2024 MARVEL.

Posted on

X-Men Epic Collection volume 5: Second Genesis (1975-1978)


By Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo, Bonnie Wilford, Dave Cockrum, Bob Brown, Tony DeZuñiga, John Byrne, Sal Buscema, Bob McLeod, Sam Grainger, Frank Chiaramonte, Bob Layton, Tom Sutton, Dan Green, Terry Austin, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Ricardo Villamonte & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-0390-9 TPB/Digital edition

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In the autumn of 1963 The X-Men #1 introduced Scott (Cyclops) Summers, Bobby (Iceman) Drake, Warren (Angel) Worthington, Hank (The Beast) McCoy and Jean (Marvel Girl) Grey: 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 almost 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 in the closing years of the 1940s, mystery men 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, with sales of the spooky stuff subsequently waning in 1975, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Roy Thomas green-lit a bold one-shot as part of the company’s line of Giant-Size specials and history was made on April 1st when something very special hits newsstands…

This fabulous mass-market collection is ideal for newcomers and neophytes, celebrating the revival and unstoppable march to market dominance through the exuberant and pivotal early stories: specifically, Giant Size X-Men #1, issues #94-110 of the “All-New, All-Different” X-Men, plus guest appearances in Iron Fist #14-15, Marvel Team Up #53, 69-70 and Marvel Team Up Annual #1, spanning cover-dates May 1975 to June 1978.

Tracing the reinvigorated merry mutants from young, fresh and delightfully under-exposed innovations to the beginnings of their unstoppable ascendancy to ultimate comic book icons, in their own title and via an increasingly broad clutch of guest shots, the epic voyage begins without pause or preamble, in a classic mystery monster mash from Giant Size X-Men #1. Here, Len Wein & Dave Cockrum – the latter a red-hot property following his stint reviving DC’s equally eclectic fan-fave superteam The Legion of Super-Heroes – detailed in ‘Second Genesis!’ how the original squad (all but new Avengers recruit The Beast) had been lost in action. With no other choice Xavier is forced to scour Earth and the entire Marvel Universe for replacements…

To old foes-turned-friends Banshee and Sunfire is added a one-shot Hulk adversary the Wolverine, but the bulk of time and attention is lavished upon original additions 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, cajoled and coerced into joining the makeshift squad as Thunderbird.

The second chapter ‘…And Then There Was One!’ reintroduces battered, depleted but unbowed team-leader Cyclops who swiftly drills the newcomers into a semblance of readiness before leading them into primordial danger against the monolithic threat of ‘Krakoa… The Island That Walks Like a Man!’ Overcoming the phenomenal terror of a rampaging rapacious mutant eco-system and rescuing the “real” team was intended to lead into a quarterly Giant-Size sequel for a new, expanded squad, but so great was fan response that the follow-up adventure was swiftly reworked into a 2-part tale for the rapidly reconfigured and revived comic book which became bimonthly home to the neophyte heroes

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 canny Armageddon-shocker with a pared-down unit deprived of Sunfire and still-recuperating Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman, Havok and Lorna Dane. It begins when the new kids are called in by The Beast to stop criminal terrorist Count Nefaria from starting an atomic war. Employing a gang of artificial superhumans, the insidious mastermind has seized control of America’s Norad citadel and accidentally escalated a nuclear blackmail scheme into an inescapable countdown to holocaust, leaving the untrained, unprepared mutants to storm in to save the world in epic conclusion ‘Warhunt!’ (inked by Sam Grainger). One of them doesn’t make it back…

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

A cosmically-widescreen storyline started in #97 with ‘My Brother, My Enemy!’, as Xavier – tormented by visions of interstellar war – takes a vacation, just as Havok & 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 clash segues into a spectacular 3-part yarn, as pitiless robotic killers return under the hate-filled auspices of mutantophobe Steven Lang and his enigmatic backers 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 heroes co-opt a space shuttle, storming 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 the 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. As #101 unfolded, Claremont & Cockrum were on the on the verge of utterly overturning the accepted status quo of women in comics forever…

Led by field-commander Cyclops, the team now comprised old acquaintance/former foe Sean – Banshee – Cassidy, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus with part-timer Jean Grey still labouring under the nom-de guerre Marvel Girl – but not for much longer…

‘Like a Phoenix from the Ashes’ (Chiaramonte inks) sees a space shuttle cataclysmically crash into Jamaica Bay. The X-Men had safely travelled in a specially-shielded chamber but Jean had manually piloted the vehicle, unprotected through a lethal radiation storm. As the mutants escape the sinking craft, a fantastic explosion propels the impossibly still alive Jean into the air, clad in a strange gold & green uniform, screaming that she is “Fire and Life Incarnate… Phoenix!”

Immediately collapsing, the critically injured girl is rushed to hospital and a grim wait begins. Unable to explain her survival and too preoccupied to spare time for teaching, Xavier packs Banshee, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Storm and Colossus off to the Irish mutant’s home in County Mayo for a vacation, blissfully unaware Cassidy Keep has been compromised and is now a deadly trap for his new students. Within the ancestral pile, Sean’s mutant cousin Black Tom has usurped control of the manor and its incredible secrets before – at Eric the Red’s behest – contriving an inescapable ambush, assisted by an old X-Men enemy.

‘Who Will Stop the Juggernaut?’ (Grainger inks) sees the inexperienced heroes in over their heads and fighting for their lives, but still finds room to reveal the origins of Storm and provide an explanation for her crippling claustrophobia, prior to ‘The Fall of the Tower’ explosively ending the tale with mutant heroes and the Keep’s Leprechaun colony (no, really!) uniting to expel the murderous usurpers.

Although still bi-monthly, the series kicked into confident top gear with ‘The Gentleman’s Name is Magneto’ with the weary warriors diverting to Scotland to check on Moira MacTaggert’s island lab: a secret facility containing myriad mutant menaces the X-Men have previously defeated. It’s a very bad move since ever-active Eric has restored the dormant master of magnetism to full power. The mutant terrorist had been turned into a baby – a strangely commonplace fate for villains in those faraway days – but he was all grown up again now and indulging in one last temper tantrum…

Freshly arrived from America, Moira and Cyclops are only just in time to lead a desperate, humiliating retreat from the triumphant Master of Magnetism. Scott doesn’t care: he realises the entire affair has been a feint to draw the team away from Xavier and Jean…

He needn’t have worried. Although in ‘Phoenix Unleashed’ (inks by Bob Layton) Eric orchestrates an attack by Firelord – a cosmic flamethrower and former herald of Galactus much like the Silver Surfer – Jean is now fully evolved into a being of unimaginable power who readily holds the fiery marauder at bay. In the interim a long-standing mystery is solved as visions which have tormented Xavier are revealed as a psychic connection to a runaway princess from a distant alien empire. Lilandra of the Shi’ar had rebelled against her imperial brother and, whilst fleeing, somehow telepathically locked onto her trans-galactic soulmate Charles Xavier. As she made her circuitous way to Earth, embedded Shi’ar spy Shakari had assumed the guise of Eric the Red, seeking to remove Lilandra’s potential champion before she arrived…

During the blistering battle which follows the X-Men’s dramatic arrival, Shakari snatches up Lilandra and drags her through a stargate to their home galaxy, and with the entire universe imperilled, Xavier urges his team to follow. All Jean has to do is re-open a wormhole to the other side of creation…

A minor digression follows as overstretched artist Cockrum took a breather via a fill-in “untold tale” of the new team featuring an attack by psychic clones of the original X-Men. ‘Dark Shroud of the Past’ is a competent pause by Mantlo, Bob Brown & Tom Sutton, set inside a framing sequence from Cockrum. The regular story resumes in a wry tribute to Star Trek as ‘Where No X-Man Has Gone Before!’ (Claremont, Cockrum & Dan Green) finds the heroes stranded in another galaxy where they meet and are beaten by the Shi’ar Imperial Guard (an in-joke version of DC’s Legion of Super Heroes in the inimitable Cockrum manner), until bold interstellar rebel freebooters The Starjammers bombastically arrive to turn the tables whilst uncovering a mad scheme to unmake the fabric of space-time.

Lilandra’s brother Emperor D’Ken is a deranged maniac who in his quest for ultimate power wants to activate a cosmic artefact known alternatively as the M’Kraan Crystal and “the End of All that Is”. He’s also spent time on Earth in the past and played a major role in the life of one of the X-Men…

This tale (from #107) was Cockrum’s last full X-ploit for years. He would eventually return to replace the man who replaced him. John Byrne not only illustrated but also began co-plotting the X-tales and, as the team roster expanded, the series rose to even greater heights. It would culminate in the landmark Dark Phoenix storyline and first-&-best death of arguably the book’s most beloved and imaginative character and departure of the team’s heart and soul. The epic cosmic saga also seemed to fracture the epochal working relationship of Claremont and Byrne. Within months of publication they went their separate ways: Claremont staying with the mutants whilst Byrne moved on to establish his own reputation as a writer on series such as Alpha Flight, Incredible Hulk and his revolutionised Fantastic Four and reboot of Superman for DC.

Here though, X-Men and Starjammers battle the Crystal’s astoundingly deadly automated guardians, as this final chapter depicts the newly puissant Phoenix literally saving Reality in a mind-blowing display of power and skill. Trapped inside a staggering other-realm, appalled and enthralled by the intoxicating, addictive nature of her own might, Phoenix reweaves the fabric of existence and for an encore brings the heroes home again. The conclusion of this ambitious epic was drawn by Byrne and inked by Terry Austin. Their visual virtuosity was to become an industry benchmark as the X-Men grew in popularity and complexity.

However, even though the bravura high-octane thrills of ‘Armageddon Now’ seem an unrepeatable highpoint, Claremont & Byrne had only started. The best was still to come, but it precluded ending their other ongoing collaboration: a mystic martial arts thriller…

Inked by Dan Green in Iron Fist #14, ‘Snowfire’ finds masked marvel Danny Rand and his combat colleague Colleen Wing running for their lives in arctic conditions after a vacation retreat to a palatial Canadian Rockies estate is ruined by a criminal raid. Leading the plunderers is deadly mercenary Sabretooth. Despite being rendered temporarily blind, the K’un Lun Kid ultimately defeats the mutant marauder, but his fiercely feral foe would return again and again to bedevil both Danny and the X-Men. With Claremont & Byrne increasingly absorbed by their stellar collaboration on the revived and resurgent adventures of Marvel’s mutant horde, Iron Fist #15 (September 1977) was their last martial arts mash-up for a while. The series ended in spectacular fashion as, through a comedy of errors, Danny stumbles into a morass of misunderstanding and ends up battling recently returned galaxy rovers Storm Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee, and Phoenix in ‘Enter, the X-Men’…

X-Men #109’s ‘Home Are the Heroes!’ (Claremont, Byrne & Austin) sees Wolverine finally developing a back-story and some depth of character whilst technological wonder Weapon Alpha attacks the recuperating team in an attempt to force the enigmatic Logan to rejoin the Canadian Secret Service. Renamed Vindicator, Alpha would later return leading Alpha Flight – a Canadian government sponsored superteam which would eventually graduate to their own eccentric high-profile series.

Eschewing chronological sequence, this is followed by an extra-length exploit from Marvel Team Up Annual #1 (1976 by Mantlo, Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito, from a plot by Mantlo, Claremont & Bonnie Wilford). ‘The Lords of Light and Darkness!’ sees Spider-Man and X-Men Storm, Banshee, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Phoenix & Cyclops assisting Xavier in combatting a pantheon of scientists mutated by atomic accident and elevated to the ranks of gods. Like most deities, these puissant ones believe they know what is best for humanity and don’t like being disabused of the notion…

Mantlo then teamed with Byrne & Frank Giacoia to bring closure to a tale begun – and left hanging – in Marvel Premiere #31. Set minutes after the Annual, Marvel Team Up #53 (January 1977) reveals a ‘Nightmare in New Mexico!’ as Spider-Man says goodbye to the X-folk and hello to The Hulk and troubled gene-splicing experiment Woodgod after the tragic bio-construct flees from corrupt Army Colonel Del Tremens. As Tremens sought to suppress the calamitous crisis and his own indiscretions by killing everybody, the final scene sees the webspinner trapped in a rocket and blasted into space. The tale has very little to do with the X-Men, other than a rather gratuitous overlap and ends here without resolution, but still looks pretty damn good after all these years…

Cover-dated April 1978 X-Men #110 (Claremont, Tony DeZuñiga & Cockrum) detail ‘The “X”-Sanction!’: a rather limp and hasty fill-in where cyborg mercenary Warhawk infiltrates Xavier’s mansion in search of “intel” for a mysterious, unspecified master… before getting his shiny silver head handed to him.

This compendium of uncanny X-episodes wraps up with the contents of Marvel Team Up #69 & 70 (May & June 1978) as in ‘Night of the Living God!’ (Claremont, Byrne & Ricardo Villamonte) Spider-Man clashes with Ancient Egyptian-themed thieves and is drawn into the perpetual duel between cosmic-powered X-Man Havoc and his personal nemesis The Living Monolith. When the battle turns against the heroes it requires the might of Thor to stop the ravening monumental menace in conclusion ‘Whom Gods Destroy!’ (DeZuñiga inks).

Following the cover of 1975’s all-reprint Giant-Size X-Men #2, this tome terminates with a glorious and revelatory selection of extras including John Romita’s original design sketches for Wolverine; Byrne’s first X-Man work (a puzzle from Marvel fanzine F.O.O.M. #7) and design material from Cockrum’s DC Comics proposal The Outsiders (a Legion of Super-Heroes spin-off he later retooled to create Nightcrawler, Storm, Phoenix and the other New X-Men). There are also unused Cockrum pencil pages, initial sketches for the Starjammers, costume upgrades for Angel, cover art for X-themed The Comic Reader #145, and model sheets for Nightcrawler, Storm, Phoenix and Colossus.

Further treasures include Gil Kane’s cover sketch and original art for Giant-Size X-Men #1; original Cockrum pages from GSXM #1 and F.O.O.M. #10 (an all-X issue); articles from the fanzine – Mutation of the Species, X-Men! X-Men!. Read All About ‘Em! – a pin-up by Don Maitz, X-Men X-posé and spoof strip ‘EggsMen’; unused pages by Bob Brown and previous collection covers by Kane and Cockrum, given painted makeovers by Dean White.

Entertaining, groundbreaking and incredibly intoxicating, these adventures are an invaluable and crucial grounding in contemporary fights ‘n’ tights fiction no fan or casual reader can be allowed to ignore.
© 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2017 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Marvel Team-Up Marvel Masterworks volume 7


By Chris Claremont, Bill Kunkel, Bill Mantlo, Gary Friedrich, Ralph Macchio, John Byrne, Dave Wenzel, Jim Mooney, Kerry Gammill, Bob Hall, Marie Severin, Howard Chaykin, Jeff Aclin, Dave Hunt, Bob Wiacek, Ricardo Villamonte, Tony DeZuñiga, Dan Green & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-3324-1 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times

The concept of team-ups – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with new or less well-selling company characters – has been with us since the earliest days of comics, but making the brief encounter/temporary alliance a key selling point really took hold with DC’s The Brave and the Bold before being taken up by their biggest competitor.

Marvel Team-Up was the second regular Spider-Man title, launched as 1971 ended. A big hit, it proved the time had finally come for expansion and offering a venue for uncomplicated action romps to supplement the company’s complex subplot fare in regular books. However, even in an infinite Marvel Multiverse, certain stars shine more brightly than others and some characters turn up in team-ups more often than others. In recent years, carefully curated themed collections from the back-catalogue have served to initiate new readers intrigued by Marvel’s Movie and TV endeavours, but there’s no real substitute for seeing Marvel’s continuity unfolding in chronological order. This compelling compilation gathers the contents of Marvel Team-Up #65-77, collectively covering January 1977 to January 1979 and – following Chris Claremont’s Introduction offering fond remembrances of the times and key writer Bill Mantlo – opens onto a period of superior sagas.

After a short and sweet flurry of original adventures in his own UK title, Captain Britain eventually succumbed to the English version of funnybook limbo: his title subsumed by a more successful one with CB reduced to reprints. Soon after, he pyrrhically debuted across the water in Marvel Team-Up #65 ‘Introducing Captain Britain’ by originating scripter Claremont and British-born, Canada-bred illustrator John Byrne. The story depicts exchange student Brian Braddock on transfer to Manhattan and the unsuspecting houseguest of Peter Parker. Before long the heroes formally meet, fight and unite to defeat flamboyant games-obsessed hit-man Arcade, with the transatlantic tussle concluding in #66 as the abducted antagonists systematically dismantled the mercenary maniac’s ‘Murderworld’.

The mystery of a long-vanished feline were-woman warrior is then resolved in ‘Tigra, Tigra, Burning Bright!’ as the webslinger is targeted by Kraven the Hunter, using the Feline Fury as his enslaved attack beast until Spider-Man breaks her conditioning, after which Claremont, Byrne & Bob Wiacek explore ‘The Measure of a Man!’ in #68. Here, the Amazing Arachnid philanthropically returns the captive Man-Thing to his Florida swamp habitat. Of course, no good deed ever goes unpunished and soon he encounters horrific demon D’Spayre torturing benevolent enchanters Dakimh and Jennifer Kale. It takes every ounce of courage both man and monster possess to defeat the sadistic feeder on torment…

A clash with Egyptian-themed thieves next draws Spidey into the years-long duel between cosmic powered X-Man Havoc and his nemesis the Living Monolith in ‘Night of the Living God!’ (inked by Ricardo Villamonte), but when the battle turns against them, it requires the thunderous might of Thor to stop the ravening mutant menace in ‘Whom Gods Destroy!’ (Claremont, Byrne & Tony DeZuñiga).

This epic clash signalled an end to the creative team’s good times as MTU downshifted to short filler tales. Courtesy of Bill Kunkel, Dave Wenzel & Dan Green, Spidey and The Falcon save Captain America from death by poison by a minor villain with big plans in #71’s ‘Deathgarden’ after which beloved Police officer Jean DeWolff features heavily in the psionic rogue The Wraith’s demented revenge plot ‘Crack of the Whip!’ (#72 by Bill Mantlo & Jim Mooney) which sees the wallcrawler linking up with Iron Man to mangle Maggia stooges and assassin-for-hire Whiplash.

MTU #73 paired the webslinger with old frenemy Daredevil in a workmanlike thriller by Gary Friedrich, Kerry Gammill & Don Perlin as vicious gang leader The Owl returned in ‘A Fluttering of Wings Most Foul!’ and a flurry of frenzied felonious forays, setting the scene for a minor mirth-quake. Long embargoed and seemingly lost due to intellectual rights issues, lost gem ‘Live From New York, Its Saturday Night!’ depicts a comedy of errors set on an ongoing TV sensation. Starring Spider-Man and the Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players (Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner & Lorne Michaels), the sinister Silver Samurai searches for his missing teleportation ring takes place live to a totally oblivious TV audience and temporary host Stan Lee. The manic episode is written by Claremont and a triumph of caricaturing brilliance for Bob Hall & majestic Marie Severin.

Assisted by Ralph Macchio, Claremont then reunited with Byrne and inker Al Gordon to team up in tribute to the New York Fire Department with #75’s ‘The Smoke of That Great Burning!’ wherein Spider-Man and Hero for Hire Luke Cage are caught up in a robbery and hostage crisis which soon turns into a major conflagration…

The collection closes with a continued tale co-starring mystic master Dr. Strange and Clea,  Ms. Marvel (AKA Carol Danvers the present-day Captain Marvel), in what I’m guessing was intended as an annual before being chopped in two. Limned by Howard Chaykin, Jeff Aclin & Jose Ortiz, ‘If Not For Love…’ and second chapter ‘Death Waits at Bayou Diable!’ sees the mundane mortal metahumans stumble into an attempt to murder the Sorcerer Supreme and his disciple, leading Spidey, Ms. M and a much reduced Stephen Strange south to Bourbon Street and a risky rendezvous with voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau, Witch Queen of New Orleans. Sadly, she is far more than she seems and the trio are trapped in a scheme perpetrated by magic-loathing sorcerer Silver Dagger leading to astounding arcane action in #77’s ‘If I’m to Live… My Love Must Die!’

This epic edition is packed with rarely-seen extras, beginning with ‘Aunt May’s Photo Album’: a selection of stills from the 1977-1979 Spider-Man television show as originally published in Marvel Treasury Edition #18 (1978). It’s followed by that album’s covers, illustrated by Bob Budiansky & Ernie Chan, and a large selection of original art pages and covers by Byrne, Hunt, Dave Cockrum, Tom Palmer & Mooney. A gallery of covers from Marvel Tales (#193-207, 235-236) by Ron Frenz, Josef Rubinstein, John Romita Sr., Mark Bright, Vince Colletta, Mark McKenna George Perrez, Joe Sinnott, Joe Albeo, Byrne, Frank Giacoia, Hall, Todd McFarlane & Sam Keith, spanning November 1986 to November 1991 follows a rare treat: a selection of Byrne’s un-inked pencil pages.

A series of short stories from Marvel Tales (#255, 262 & 263) based on earlier MTU stories ends this tome. ‘Shock Therapy’ by Scott Lobdell, Vince Evans & Phil Sheehy reveals a clash between the Trapster and Ghost Rider, whilst Barry Dutter & Vince Evans’ ‘A Case of Sunstroke’ shows what happened to the X-Men after MTU Annual #2, whilst Woodgod runs wild again in ‘The Scream’ by Lobdell, Robert Walker & Jim Sanders.

These tales are generally superb examples of Marvel’s Second Wave, Bronze Age yarns fans will find little to complain about. Although not perhaps a book for casual or more maturely-oriented readers there’s lots of fun on hand and young readers – or Marvel Cinematic supporters – will have a blast, so why not consider this tome for your “Must-Have” library?
© 2023 MARVEL.

Posted on

Dazzler Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Chris Claremont & John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, Tom DeFalco, Danny Fingeroth, John Romita Jr, Frank Springer, Keith Pollard, Alan Kupperberg, Terry Austin, Mike Esposito, Alfredo Alcala, Danny Bulanadi, Armando Gil, Ricardo Villamonte, Frank McLaughlin, Vince Colletta & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2212-2 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. Here’s one you should have no trouble finding physically or in digital formats…

Until relatively recently US comics and especially Marvel had very little in the way of positive female role models and almost no viable solo stars. Although a woman starred in the very first comic of the Marvel Age, The Invisible Girl took decades to become a potent and independent character in her own right – or even just be called “woman”. The company’s very first starring heroine was leather-clad, whip-wielding crimebuster Black Fury: imported from a newspaper strip created by Tarpe Mills in April 1941.

The seductive sentinel was resized and repackaged as a reprint for Timely’s funnybooks and renamed Miss Fury, enjoying a 4-year (1942-1946) run – although her tabloid incarnation carried on until 1952. Fury was actually predated by Silver Scorpion, who debuted in Daring Mystery Comics #7 (April 1941), but the homegrown hero was rapidly relegated to a minor position in the book’s line-up and she had a very short shelf-life.

Miss America premiered in anthological Marvel Mystery Comics (#49, November 1943), created by Otto Binder & artist Al Gabriele. After a few appearances, she won her own title in early 1944. Miss America Comics lasted, but the costumed crusader did not as – with the second issue (November1944) – the format changed, becoming an amalgam of teen comedy, fashion feature and domestic tips magazine. Feisty take-charge superheroics were steadily squeezed out and the title is most renowned now for introducing virginal evergreen teen ideal Patsy Walker. Other woman warriors appeared immediately after the War, the majority as spin-offs/sidekicks of established male stars such as distaff Sub-Mariner Namora (debuting in Marvel Mystery Comics #82, May 1947 before graduating to her own 3-issue series in 1948).

She was soon joined by the Human Torch’s secretary Mary Mitchell who, as Sun Girl, helmed her own 3-issue 1948 series before becoming a wandering sidekick and guest star in Sub-Mariner and Captain America Comics. Draped in a ballgown and wearing high heels, masked detective Blonde Phantom was created by Stan Lee & Syd Shores for All Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946) whilst cover-dated August 1948, kind-of, sort-of goddess Venus debuted in her own title, becoming the gender’s biggest Timely-Atlas-Marvel success… until the advent of the “Jungle Girl” fad in the mid-1950s.

Her triumph came mostly by dint of the superb stories and art by the great Bill Everett and by ruthlessly changing genres from crime to romance to horror as any popular trend inched forward in other media…

Don Rico & Jay Scott Pike’s Jann of the Jungle was just part of an anthology line-up in Jungle Tales #1 (September 1954), yet she took over the title with the 8th issue (November 1955). Jann of the Jungle ran until June 1957 (#17), spawning a host of in-company imitators like Leopard Girl, Lorna the Jungle Queen and so on…

During the costumed hero boom of the 1960s, Marvel experimented with a title shot for Inhuman émigré Madame Medusa in Marvel Super-Heroes (#15, July 1968) and a solo series for the Black Widow in Amazing Adventures #1-8 (August 1970 to September 1971). Both were sexy, reformed villainesses, not wholesome girl-next-door heroes – and neither lasted solo long on their own. With a costumed crazies craze subsiding as the 1970s, began, Stan Lee & Roy Thomas looked into creating a girl-friendly boutique of “heroines” written by and for women. Opening shots in this mini-liberation war were Linda Fite, Marie Severin & Wally Wood’s Claws of the Cat and Night Nurse by Jean Thomas & Win Mortimer (both #1’s cover-dated November 1972). Modern day jungle queen Shanna the She-Devil #1 – by Carole Seuling & George Tuska – came out in December 1972, but despite impressive creative teams none of these fascinating experiments lasted beyond a fifth issue.

Red Sonja, She-Devil with a Sword, caught every one’s attention in Conan the Barbarian #23 (February 1973) and eventually won her own series, whilst in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974), The Cat mutated into Tigra, the Were-Woman. However, the general editorial position was still “books starring chicks don’t sell”…

The company kept on plugging though, and eventually found the right mix at the right time when Ms. Marvel launched in her own title (cover-dated January 1977). She was followed by equally copyright-protecting Spider-Woman (Marvel Spotlight #32: February 1977), who secured her own title 15 months later) and Savage She-Hulk (#1 February 1980). The last was supplemented by the music-biz inspired Dazzler who sagely premiered in top-selling title Uncanny X-Men #130 the same month, before inevitably graduating to her own book.

Thus, please find gathered here that mutant-motivated launch tale from #130-131, a crafty crossover from Amazing Spider-Man #203 and then #1-13 of Dazzler, all cumulatively covering cover-dates February 1980 to March 1982. Before it all kicks off there’s even an informative Introduction ‘Dazzler and Me’ by sometime scribe Danny Fingeroth…

Previously and elsewhere: Having saved Edinburgh and perhaps the world from reality-warping Proteus, The X-Men return to Charles Xavier at their Westchester home where – thanks to sinister psionic predator Jason Wyngarde, Jean Grey/Phoenix is increasingly experiencing visions of a former life as a spoiled, cruel slave-owning child of privilege, contrasting sharply with her renewed love for Scott Summers/Cyclops, but the home atmosphere is troubled by another discordant factor. Xavier is insensitively intent on training the team, haughtily oblivious that this group are grizzled, seasoned veterans of combat, rather than the callow teenagers he first tutored.

Elsewhere, a cabal of mutants and millionaires plot murder and conquest. Black King Sebastian Shaw, White Queen Emma Frost and the rest of The Hellfire Club hierarchy know Wyngarde is an ambitious, presumptuous upstart, but the possibility of subverting the almighty Phoenix to their world-dominating agenda is irresistible…

Beginning here, the action opens as two new mutants manifest, and Xavier must split the team to initiate a “first contact” with both. He goes with Storm, Wolverine and Colossus to Chicago and meets the nervous parents of naive 13-year-old Kitty Pryde. She has just realised that, along with all the other problems of puberty, she now uncontrollably falls through floors and walks through walls…

However, no sooner does the Professor offer to admit enrol her in his select and prestigious private school than they are all attacked by war-suited mercenaries and shipped by Emma Frost to the Hellfire Club. Only Kitty escapes, but instead of running, she stows away on the transport; terrified but intent on saving the day…

The other Homo Superior neophyte to debut sees Cyclops, Phoenix and Nightcrawler head into Manhattan’s club district, tracking a disco singer dubbed ‘Dazzler’. They are unaware that they too have been targeted for capture. However, Kitty’s attempts to free the Hellfire base captives forces the villains to tip their hand early and with the assistance of “disco diva” Dazzler – AKA Alison Blaire and a wannabee musician who converts sound to devastating light effects – the second mercenary capture team is defeated…

The drama concludes in #131 as Kitty is forced to frantically ‘Run for Your Life!’ – happily, straight into the arms of the remaining X-Men. Soon the plucky lass, after an understandable period of terror, confusion and kvetching, leads a strike on the lair of the White Queen: freeing Wolverine, Colossus and Xavier as Frost faces off in a deadly psionic showdown with a Phoenix far less kind and caring than ever before…

Suitably introduced into the Marvel milieu, Dazzler promptly encored in Amazing Spider-Man #203 (April 1980) ‘Bewitched. Bothered and Be-Dazzled!’ wherein Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard & Mike Esposito (and inking friends) jammed a short tale of opportunism as old arachnid adversary Lightmaster tapped into Blaire’s inherent abilities to liberate himself from an all-enveloping “light dimension”. Having returned to Earth the malign menace kept Dazzler as living battery to amp up his powers until Spider-Man stepped in and put him down…

Dazzler the character had been born of another of those 1980-1990s doomed-from-the-start cross-media deals wherein comics companies attempted to break out of their “ghetto” into the real money world. In 1979 Disco specialists Casablanca Records began an development project with Marvel to create a TV based character who would release records like the Archies or The Monkees, but set in an animated Marvel Universe. A giant-sized comics special was set into motion but when the deal was cancelled, the company was left with a lot of talented people going “now what?” since Dazzler had already been launched and guested in the company’s top titles (her shot in Fantastic Four #217 the same month as the Spider-Man tale and nipped-in-the-bud flirtation with Johnny Storm is not included here). Failing to find other record companies willing to commit, big boss Jim Shooter decreed that the comics special would be expanded/recycled as #1 & 2 of her own title…

After the singer went dark until for a year she debuted again in ‘So Bright This Star’ (cover-march 1981) and credited conceptually to Alice Donenfeld, John Romita Jr., Shooter, Stan Lee, Al Milgrom, Roger Stern and Tom DeFalco with DeFalco, Romita Jr., Alfredo Alcala, and Walt Simonson actually delivering the pages of an epic premier.

Unknown to everyone but heroes and villains, Blaire is a sound-transducing mutant able to convert noise of any kind (rhythmic is best!) into light that she can manipulate and direct. She’s also a performer still trying to make it big in music. A promising law student, she dropped college studies and forever disappointed her austere father – Judge Carter Blair – to pursue a frivolous, worthless life on stage. At least Grandma Bella still supports her, confident that one day Dazzler will be a star…

Now down to the dregs of her savings and still stumbling into crimes and emergencies at every turn, Alison checks in regularly with her superhero pals but cannot drop the hope that fame, not fighting is her destiny. That seems less likely than ever as, in Asgard, evil sorceress Amora the Enchantress awaits a shift in the cosmic axis.

For the person standing in one location on Midgard at the correct moment, awesome unspeakable energies are ready for the taking. Sadly, that’s the stage of the Numero Uno club. When the advertised star performer falls ill with a mystery ailment. Amara successfully auditions for the spot but only until Dazzler gets a last-minute call to try-out. With the goddess out and the secret mutant in, Enchantress is most displeased and makes plans to take that stage no matter what…

Alison only got the gig thanks to hedonist pal/fan Hank The Beast McCoy, and he brings all the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and other super-doers to her big night in #2. Before long Enchantress strikes, using magic and an army of mythical beasts and monsters to disrupts Alison’s act and secure the coveted axis spot until an army of superheroes come to Dazzler’s aid in all-out battle bonanza ‘Where Demons Fear to Dwell!’ with the roller-skating woman warrior (no really!) personally dealing with the sorceress New York street-style…

After a promising start, however, the series quickly reverted to hoary company traditions regarding books read by girls. These again tapped into and blended older male-assumed tropes of females seeking independence and careers whilst also seeking love and a settled home life.

And lots of shots of women in underwear, dressing and undressing or getting into and out of baths and showers.

However, gradually the faithful standbys faded and Dazzler began facing and dealing with ever-tougher challenges. It would some while before later scribes like Archie Goodwin added some modern innovations and true confirmation that girls just didn’t want the same kind of stories as pubescent males – at that time still much of Marvel’s fan base and possibly a fair proportion of the writing staff and illustrators…

Alison’s life changes as she lucks into an (W.C. Fields-channelling) agent/promoter – Harry S. Osgood – who begins shaping her music career immediately after a full-page Bonus Pinup, as DeFalco, Romita Jr., Alan Kupperberg, Danny Bulanadi & Armondo Gil detail how a show for UNICEF leaves Alison at the UN just as Doctor Doom tries to reclaim part of his magical arsenal in ‘The Jewels of Doom!’ Despite her most valiant efforts, Dazzler is defeated and dragged to the Iron Despot’s lair, intended as a weapon in his battles with dream demon Nightmare. Despite battling her own darkest nature in ‘Here Nightmares Abide!’ (DeFalco, Frank Springer, Bulanadi & Gil), Blair blasts her way back to Earth and destroys the purloined jewels; earning a brutal punishment from Doom…

Ricardo Villamonte inks a change of pace yarn in #5 as ‘Tell Joey I love Him!’ sees Alison recuperate in hospital and overhear an old lady’s pleas. Mrs Anita Cartelli is married to the mob and worries about her son growing up in the life, and do-gooder Dazzler promises to look into it. It’s a bold but bad move, as Joey is also streel level vigilante the Blue Sheild, violently dismantling the Bo Barrigan gang from the inside… although he does need some laser assistance once the mobster unleashes his killer robots…

The ups-&-downs of building her career are constantly exacerbated by obnoxious Lancelot Steele; a sexist macho jerk/stage manager/field rep for Harry on road gigs, and Alison’s growing fondness for her doctor Paul Janson is giving her pause , but all that is put in proper perspective when DeFalco, Fingeroth, Springer, Quickdraw Studios & Gil advise ‘The Hulk May Be Hazardous to Your Health!’ after a last-minute cancellation drops Allie and her band at Gordon University just as desperate Bruce Banner seeks to burgle their science labs for a possible cure for his “condition”…

Sadly although Banner and Blaire hit it off, when his alter ego inevitably arrives student riots and National Guard assaults literally bring the house down in ‘Fort Apache, the Hulk!’

Fabled Good Girl artist/romance comics inker Vince Colletta joins Fingeroth, DeFalco & Springer, as intrigue overtakes action in ‘Hell… Hell is for Harry!’ The music magnate is being ruthlessly targeted and tormented for undescribed past transgressions and sinister mastermind Techmaster has begun including Alison in his sly assaults, but she has more than enough problems of her own. The situation with Paul is worsening and she feels constantly diminished and belittled. Worst of all, somebody is following her everywhere…

When the Enforcers (Ox, Montanna & Fancy Dan) wreck Harry’s office, it compels Osgood to reveal his shared pas with Techmaster, but even Dazzler is not ready when they come back for her, employing the tactics that once defeated Spider-Man. She is far better prepared for the rematch…

Her own enigmatic stalker strikes next. Mr. Meeker works for Federal energy thinktank Project Pegasus but greatly oversteps his remit, using shady contracts to rendition Blaire and ultimately hold her at the upstate facility. Despite the strident protests of in-house superhero Wendell Quasar Vaughn Dazzler is held and cruelly experimented upon like any other energy-based villain and monster, until pushed too far she tries to escape and triggers a mass breakout in #9’s ‘The Sound and the Fury!’

Some Pegasus internees deserve to be there, and when living sound monster Klaw goes on a murderous rampage, almost killing Quasar, Dazzler reluctantly absorbs him. However, the monumental energy increase brings her to the attention of planet devouring Galactus and ‘In the Darkness… A Light’ reveals why the space god needs the over-juiced mutant to extract his fugitive herald Terrax from a black hole. Sadly, the victim doesn’t want to be saved and ‘…Lest Ye Be Judged!’ displays just how annoyed she can get when pushed too far…

Returned to Earth and her normal power levels, Alison has a hard time explaining why she’s been off the grid for so long – even her draconian dad was starting to worry – before ‘Endless Hate!’ drops her right into the most unconventional conclusion of the Techmaster saga.

Closing this initial collection with gentle probing of Alison’s past and discussion of her long missing mother. Dazzler #13 had Fingeroth, Springer & Colletta depict ‘Trial …and Terror!’ as still furious Mr. Meeker abuses the federal power of Pegasus to regain control of Blaire by charging her with Klaw’s murder. Remanded to Riker’s Island and dumped amidst he savage superhumans in the women’s wing, Alison overcomes the mighty Titania and the Grapplers (Screaming Mimi, Letha & Poundcakes) before getting her day in court and proving that she was paying attention in law school…

To Be Continued..

The rather meagre bonus offerings here include the house ad from all May 1981 Marvel titles plus the original art for #1 page 1 by Romita Jr. & Alcala, prior to much modification and editorial adjustment, and a simply huge Biographies section on the many folk involved in getting Dazzler into the spotlight.

Although very much of its troubled times, this collection also sees the beginnings of the transformative shift in attitudes that resulted in women becoming less ornamental, no longer decorative and always the authors of their own fates. Even if not to everyone’s taste there is enough of significance here to make the Dazzler worthy of any modern readers attention.
© 2020 MARVEL.

Posted on

Marvel Two-In-One Epic Collection volume 2: Two Against Hydra (1976-1978)


By Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Bill Mantlo, Jim Shooter, Ron Wilson, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Ernie Chan, Marie Severin, Sam Grainger, Pablo Marcos, George Roussos, John Tartaglione & various (MARVEL)
ISBN 978-1-3029-3176-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. That concept of an established star pairing with, or battling – often both – new or less well-selling company characters was already long established when Marvel awarded their most popular hero the same deal DC had with Batman in The Brave and the Bold. Although confident in their new title, they wisely left options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch. In those long-ago days, editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since super-heroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.

Nevertheless, after the runaway success of Spider-Man’s guest vehicle Marvel Team-Up, the House of Ideas carried on the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm – the Fantastic Four’s most iconic and popular member – beginning with test runs in Marvel Feature #11-12, before awarding him his own team-up title…

This second eclectic compendium gathers the contents of Marvel Two-In-One #20 & 21-36, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 and Fantastic Four Annual #11, covering October 1976-February 1978. And opens without preamble on a crisis in time.

Devised and delivered by Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Sam Grainger, Fantastic Four Annual #11 featured portentous time-travel saga ‘And Now Then… the Invaders!’ wherein Marvel’s First Family dash back to 1942 to retrieve a cylinder of miracle-metal Vibranium. It had somehow fallen into Nazi hands and had begun to unwrite history as a consequence…

On arrival, the team are embroiled in conflict with WWII super-team The Invaders – comprising rawer, rougher, early incarnations of Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the original, android Human Torch. The time-busting task goes well once the heroes finally unite to assault a Nazi castle where the miracle mineral is secured, but after the quartet return to their own repaired era, only Ben realises the mission isn’t completed yet…

The action carries over and continues in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 as, with the present unravelling around him, Ben blasts back to 1942 again in ‘Their Name is Legion!’ (Thomas, Sal Buscema, Grainger, John Tartaglione & George Roussos), linking up with Home Front Heroes The Liberty Legion (collectively The Patriot, Thin Man, Red Raven, Jack Frost, Blue Diamond, Miss America and The Whizzer) to thwart Nazi raiders Skyshark and Master Man, Japanese agent Slicer and Atlantean traitor U-Man who have united to invade America.

The battle proves so big it spills over and concludes in Marvel Two-In-One #20 (October 1976) in a shattering ‘Showdown at Sea!’: pitting the heroes against diabolical Nazi scientist Brain Drain, courtesy this time of Thomas, Sal B & Grainger.

In many collections the tale would be followed by Marvel Two-In-One #21 (November 1976), which featured a pairing with legendary pulp superman Doc Savage. This isn’t one of them.

For years the tale has been embargoed: unavailable for fans due to Marvel having no access to the Man of Bronze’s proprietary rights. To see it, you’ll want to read Marvel Two-in-One Marvel Masterworks vol. 3.

Here we jump to MTIO #22 as Ben contacts physician Dr. Don Blake, just as the Egyptian death god attacks Thor’s alter ego in ‘Touch Not the Hand of Seth!’ (Bill Mantlo, Ron Wilson & Pablo Marcos): a fantastic cosmic action-extravaganza concluded with the assistance of Jim Shooter & Marie Severin in #23’s ‘Death on the Bridge to Heaven!’…

The Thing then enjoys a far more prosaic time battling beside neophyte hero Black Goliath as a devastated downtown Los Angeles – and creators Mantlo, Shooter, Sal Buscema & Marcos – ask ‘Does Anyone Remember… the Hijacker?’

A new era opens as a much delayed and postponed team-up with Iron Fist, the Living Weapon heralds the start of writer/editor Marv Wolfman’s lengthy run on the title. Illustrated by Wilson & Grainger ‘A Tale of Two Countries!’ sees Ben and the master martial artist shanghaied to the Far East as part of a Machiavellian plan to conquer the island kingdom of Kaiwann. Naturally, they both strenuously object to the abduction…

The innate problem with team-ups was always a lack of continuity – something else Marvel had always prided itself upon – and Wolfman sought to address it by the simple expedient of having stories connected through evolving, overarching plots taking Ben from place to place and guest to guest to guest. Here the tactic begins with bustling bombast in ‘The Fixer and Mentallo are Back and the World will Never be the Same!’ (illustrated by Wilson & Marcos) uniting Ben with Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. to battle a brace of conniving bad guys trying to steal killer-cyborg-from-an-alternate-future Deathlok.

The good guys spectacularly fail and the artificial assassin is co-featured in #27 as ‘Day of the Demolisher!’ sees the now-reprogrammed killer targeting the inauguration of new US President Jimmy Carter. This time Big Ben has an alien ace up his sleeve and the hit happily fails…

The tempestuous Sub-Mariner shares the watery limelight in #28 as Ben and his blind girlfriend Alicia Masters ferry the deactivated Deathlok to a London-based boffin for further tests. When they are shot down mid-Atlantic by a mutated fish-man, Ben must battle against and beside Namor whilst Alicia languishes ‘In the Power of the Piranha!’ (Tartaglione inks). Master of Kung Fu Shang-Chi then steps in as Ben and Alicia finally land in London. Inked by Grainger, ‘Two Against Hydra’ sees aforementioned expert Professor Kort snatched by the sinister secret society before the Thing can consult him: the savant’s knowledge being crucial to Hydra’s attempts to revive their own living weapon…

As part of Marvel’s compulsive ongoing urge to protect their trademarks, a number of their top male characters had been spun off into female iterations. Thus, at the end of 1976, Ms. Marvel debuted (with a January 1977 cover-date). She-Hulk arrived at the end of 1979 (Savage She-Hulk #1 February 1980) whilst Jessica Drew premiered in Marvel Spotlight #32 as The Spider-Woman a mere month after Ms. Marvel’s launch. Her cameo appearance in Marvel Two-In-One #29 (July 1977) heralded an extended 6-chapter saga designed as a promotional lead-in to her own series.

‘Battle Atop Big Ben!’ (#30 by Wolfman, John Buscema & Marcos) has her meet the Thing as she struggles to be free of her Hydra controllers, even as a petty thieves embroil Ben and Alicia in a complex and arcane robbery scheme involving a strange chest buried beneath Westminster Abbey. Unable to kill Ben, the Arachnid Dark Angel kidnaps Alicia, who becomes ‘My Sweetheart… My Killer!’ (#31, Wilson & Grainger) after Kort and Hydra transform the helpless sculptor into a spidery monster. In #32’s ‘And Only the Invisible Girl Can Save Us Now!’ (inked by Marcos) Sue Storm joins the repentant Spider-Woman and distraught Thing in combat to cure an out-of-control Alicia. In the wings, those two robbers continue their campaign of acquisition, accidentally awakening a quartet of ancient elemental horrors…

It requires the magics of the Arthurian sorcerer Modred the Mystic to help Spider-Woman and Ben triumph over the horrors in the concluding chapter ‘From Stonehenge… With Death!’ before a semblance of normality is restored. Back to business as usual in Marvel Two-In-One #34, Ben and sky-soaring Defender stalwart Nighthawk tackle a revived and cruelly misunderstood alien freed from an antediluvian cocoon in ‘A Monster Walks Among Us!’ (Wolfman, Wilson & Marcos) before Ernie Chan joins Wolfman to illustrate a 2-part wrap-up to one of Marvel’s recently folded series.

Marvel Two-In-One often acted as a clearing-house for unresolved series and plot-lines, and #35 found Ben dispatched by the US Air Force through a Bermuda Triangle time-portal to a fantastic world of dinosaurs, robots, dinosaurs, E.T.’s and more dinosaurs. ‘Enter: Skull the Slayer and Exit: The Thing’ details the short history and imminent deaths of a group of modern Americans trapped in a bizarre time-lost land. Now marooned in the past with them, it takes the intervention of Mister Fantastic to retrieve Ben and his new friends in #36’s ‘A Stretch in Time…’, bringing this compilation to a satisfactory halt.

That yarn ends the narrative thrills and chills for now, but there’s still room for a brief gallery of original art and roughs by Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia, Wilson, Marcos, Tartaglione, George Pérez, Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson & John Buscema to delight and astound.

These stories from Marvel’s Middle Period are unarguably of variable quality, but whereas some might feel rushed and ill-considered they are balanced by timeless classics, still as captivating today as they always were.

Even if artistically the work varies from only adequate to superb, most fans of Costumed Dramas will find little to complain about and there’s lots 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 ‘n’ all comics craziness? You’ll almost certainly grow to like it…
© 2024 MARVEL.

Posted on

Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Mighty Thor volume 4: When Meet the Immortals


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, with Vince Colletta, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5426-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

These stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before, but today I’m once again focussing on format. The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line launched with economy in mind: classic tales of Marvel’s key creators and characters re-presented in chronological publishing order. It’s been a staple since the 1990s, but always in lavish, hardback collectors editions. These editions are cheaper, on lower quality paper and – crucially – smaller, about the dimensions of a paperback book. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all…

Even more than The Fantastic Four, Sci Fi fantasy title The Mighty Thor was the arena in which Jack Kirby’s boundless fascination with all things Cosmic was honed and refined through his increasingly groundbreaking graphics and captivating concepts. The King’s plethora of power-packed signature pantheons began in a modest little monster mag called Journey into Mystery where – in the summer of 1962 – a tried-&-true comic book concept (feeble mortal transformed into god-like hero) was revived by the rapidly resurgent company who were not yet Marvel Comics: adding a Superman analogue to their growing roster of costumed adventurers.

This cheap & cheerful epochal pocket tome re-presents more pioneering Asgardian exploits from Journey into Mystery Annual #1, JiM #120-125, and The Mighty Thor #126-127: altogether spanning cover-dates September 1965 to April 1966 as the venerable anthology title changed name to further magnify its magnificent wide-screen feature hero, in a blazing blur of innovation and seat-of-the-pants myth-revising and universe-building. It is lettered throughout by unsung superstars Art Simek & Sam Rosen, and an unjustly anonymous band of colourists.

As you already know: Once upon a time, lonely, lamed American doctor Donald Blake took a vacation in Norway and encountered the vanguard of an alien invasion. Trapped in a cave, Blake found a gnarled old 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. As months swiftly passed, rapacious extraterrestrials, Commie tyrants, costumed crazies and cheap thugs gradually gave way to a vast panoply of fantastic worlds and incredible, mythic menaces. Moreover, from JiM #110, the wild warrior’s Realm of Asgard was a regular feature and mesmerising milieu for our hero’s earlier exploits, heralding an era of cosmic fantasy to run beside young Marvel’s signature superhero sagas.

Every issue carried spectacular back-up sagas Tales of Asgard – Home of the Mighty Norse Gods gifting Kirby space to indulge his fascination with legends. They also allowed both complete vignettes and longer epics – in every sense of the word. Initially adapted myths, these yarns evolved into serial sagas unique to the Marvel universe where Kirby constructed his own cosmos and mythology, underpinning the company’s entire continuity.

Here – with everything attributed to Lee, Kirby & Vince Colletta and after Thor has defeated his malign step-brother Loki and The Destroyer in Vietnam – the Thunder God returns to America, leaving room for a special event and flashback tale too big for the regular periodical.

The blockbusting lead story from Journey into Mystery Annual #1 reveals how in undisclosed ages past the God of Thunder fell across dimensions into the realm of the Greek Gods for a landmark heroic hullabaloo ‘When Titans Clash! Thor vs. Hercules!’ The spectacular clash of theologies was an incredible all-action episode, and is augmented by a stunning double-page pin-up of downtown Asgard – a true example of Kirby magic…

Back in the now, Thor stops at Pittsburgh’s steel mills to repair Mjolnir – cut into pieces by the Destroyer – and ‘With My Hammer in Hand..!’ prepares to denounce Loki’s villainy to Odin. In the process he mislays one of his brother’s magical Norn Stones: a mishap that will cost him dearly later. Meanwhile, beloved Jane Foster has been abducted by a hidden miscreant with mischief in mind but before the Thunderer can act on that he is ambushed by Loki’s contingency plan as the awesome Absorbing Man returns…

In the back, the Tales of Asgard serial ‘The Quest’ further unfolded as hand-picked warriors on Thor’s flying longship endure further hardship in their bold bid to forestall Ragnarok. This month’s Asgardian edda sees their bold but misguided attempt finally start, as they ‘Set Sail!’ against their legendary prophesied foes…

JiM #121 opens mid-melee as the Thunderer’s attack against colossal Crusher Creel intensifies in ‘The Power! The Passion! The Pride!’ before the god’s compassion for human spectators sparks his downfall and defeat. Seemingly doomed Thor’s cliffhanger fate is paused as B-feature ‘Maelstrom!’ sees Asgardian Argonauts epically encounter an uncanny living storm…

In #122’s ‘Where Mortals Fear to Tread!’ triumphant Crusher Creel is prevented from finishing Thor when he is abducted by Loki to attack Asgard and Odin himself: an astounding clash capped by cataclysmic conclusion ‘While a Universe Trembles!’ Meanwhile at the rear, ‘The Grim Specter of Mutiny!’ invoked by seditious young Loki is quashed in time for valiant Balder to save the Argonauts from ‘The Jaws of the Dragon!’ in the ever-escalating Ragnarok Quest.

In modern times, with the latest threat to Asgard ended and Creel and Loki banished, Thor returns to Earth to defeat The Demon: a “witchdoctor” empowered by the magical Norn Stone left behind after the Thunder God’s Vietnamese venture. However, whilst the Storm Lord is away, Hercules is dispatched to Earth on a reconnaissance mission for Zeus. ‘The Grandeur and the Glory!’ opens another extended story-arc/action extravaganza, bouncing the Thunderer from bruising battle to brutal defeat to ascendant triumph…

As seen in Journey into Mystery Annual #1, long ago the God of Thunder inadvertently invaded the realm of the Greek Gods. Now with the Greek godling clearly popular with readers, Hercules properly enters the growing Mavel Universe. After the impending imbroglio with Thor, the Prince of Power would battle the Hulk and eventually join the Avengers but right now he’s still just another enemy for the Thunderer to face…

Issue #125 –‘When Meet the Immortals!’ – was the last Journey into Mystery for decades. With next month’s ‘Whom the Gods Would Destroy!’, the comic became The Mighty Thor and the drama amped up, culminating with ‘The Hammer and the Holocaust!’ In short order Thor crushes the Norn-fuelled Demon, tells Jane his secret identity and is deprived of his powers by Odin. He is then brutally beaten by Hercules, and subsequently seemingly loses Jane to the Prince of Power, yet still manages to save Asgard from unscrupulous traitor Seidring the Merciless who had usurped Odin’s mystic might while the All-Father was distracted with family matters. And in the wings another epic encounter opened as a certain satanic terror set his infernal sights on an unwitting godly prince…

To Be Continued…

The accompanying Tales of Asgard instalments see the Questers home in on the cause of all their woes. ‘Closer Comes the Swarm’ pits them against the Flying Trolls of Thryheim, before ‘The Queen Commands’ sees Loki captured until Thor answers ‘The Summons!’, promptly returning all Argonauts to Asgard to be shown ‘The Meaning of Ragnarok!’

In truth, these mini-eddas were, although still magnificent in visual excitement, becoming rather rambling in plot, so the narrative reset was neither unexpected nor unwelcome…

The episodic exploits then close with the original pencil art to the cover of JiM #123.

These Thor tales show the development not only of one of Marvel’s fundamental continuity concepts but more importantly the creative evolution of the greatest imagination in comics. Set your common sense on pause and simply wallow in the glorious imagery and power of these classic adventures for the true secret of what makes graphic narrative a unique experience.
© 2024 MARVEL.

Posted on

Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents Spider-Man volume 5: To Become an Avenger


By Stan Lee & John Romita, with Don Heck, Mike Esposito, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5434-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

These stories are timeless and have been gathered many times before but here we’re enjoying another example of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

As well as finally introducing the romantic option who would drive much of hero’s later life, this compelling compilation categorically confirms the superstar status of the wallcrawler. Originally seen in The Amazing Spider-Man #39-46 and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3, spanning cover-dates August 1966 to December 1968, these stories herald the start of a brand new era for the Astonishing Arachnid, with Peter and an ever-expanding cast of cohorts well on their way to being household names… as well as the darlings of college campuses and the media intelligentsia.

Outcast, geeky high school kid Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and, after attempting to cash in on the astonishing abilities he’d developed, suffered an irreconcilable personal tragedy. Due to the teenager’s arrogant neglect, his beloved guardian Uncle Ben was murdered and the traumatised boy determined henceforward to always use his powers to help those in dire need. For years the brilliant young hero suffered privation and travail in his domestic situation, whilst his heroic alter ego endured public condemnation and mistrust as he valiantly battled all manner of threat and foe…

Although co-authors of the wonderment, by 1966 Stan Lee & Steve Ditko could no longer work together on their greatest creation. After increasingly fraught months the artist simply resigned, leaving Spider-Man without an illustrator. In the coincidental meantime John Romita had been lured away from DC’s romance line and given odd assignments before assuming the artistic reins of Daredevil, the Man Without Fear. Before long, Romita was co-piloting the company’s biggest property and expected to run with it.

After a period where traditional – albeit fantasy-tinged – crime and gangsterism predominated, science fiction themes and costumed crazies increasingly began to predominate. As the world went gaga for superheroes, the creators experimented with longer storylines and protracted subplots. When Ditko abruptly left, the company feared a drastic loss in quality – and sales – but it didn’t happen. For the first time since the Marvel miracle began, Lee was largely left to his own narrative devices on a major feature, without the experimental visual inspiration or plotting acumen of twin comics geniuses Kirby and Ditko. What occurred heralded a new kind of superhero storytelling…

John Romita (senior) considered himself a mere “safe pair of hands” keeping the momentum going until a better artist could be found, but instead blossomed into a major talent in his own right as the wallcrawler continued his unstoppable rise at an accelerated pace. With the scene set the new era dawns when Amazing Spider-Man #39 appeared, first of a 2-part adventure declaiming the ultimate victory of the hero’s greatest foe.

Ditko was gone and no reader knew what had happened – and no one told them. ‘How Green Was My Goblin!’ and concluding episode ‘Spidey Saves the Day! Featuring: the End of the Green Goblin!’ calamitously changed everything: describing how the archfoes learn each other’s true identities before the Goblin “perishes” in a climactic flame-fuelled showdown. It would have been memorable even if the saga didn’t feature the debut of a new artist and a whole new manner of storytelling. These issues were a turning point in many ways, and – inked by old DC colleague Mike Esposito (under the pseudonym Mickey DeMeo) – they still stand as one of the greatest Spider-Man yarns of all time.

They were also precursors to a run of classic tales from the Lee/Romita team that saw sales rise and rise. In ASM #41 and on ‘The Horns of the Rhino!’, Romita began inking his pencils. The debuting super-strong criminal spy proved a mere diversion, but his intended target J. Jonah Jameson’s astronaut son was a far harder proposition in the next issue. Amazing Spider-Man #42 heralded ‘The Birth of a Super-Hero!’, with John Jameson mutated by space-spores and going on a Manhattan rampage: a solid, entertaining yarn that is only really remembered for the last panel of the final page.

Mary Jane Watson had been a running gag in the series for years: a prospective blind-date arranged by Aunt May whom Peter had avoided – and Ditko teasingly not depicted – for the duration of time our hero had been romantically involved with Betty Brant, Liz Allen, and latterly, Gwen Stacy. Now, in that last frame the gobsmacked young man finally realises that for two years he’s been ducking the hottest date in New York!

Enthralling encore ‘Rhino on the Rampage!’ gave the leathery villain one more crack at Jameson and Spidey, but the emphasis was solidly on foreshadowing future foes and building Pete and MJ’s relationship, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 3 and ‘…To Become an Avenger!’ Here the World’s Mightiest Heroes offer the webspinner membership… but only if he can capture The Hulk. As usual, all is not as it seems, but the action-drenched epic, courtesy of Lee, Romita (layouts), pencilled by Don Heck and inked by Esposito is the kind of guest-heavy, power-punching package that made the summer specials a child’s delight.

The monthly Marvel merriment marched on with the return of a tragedy-drenched former foe when Lee & Romita reintroduced biologist Curt Conners in ASM #44’s ‘Where Crawls the Lizard!’ The deadly B-movie inspired reptilian marauder again threatens Humanity itself and requires all of the wallcrawler’s resourcefulness and resolve to stop the savage saurian in all-action conclusion ‘Spidey Smashes Out!’

Closing this outing, ASM #46 introduced an all-new, second tier menace in the blue collar form of ambitious, seismic super-thief ‘The Sinister Shocker!’ who just wants to rob some banks and crack a few safes, but comes closer than many macabre masterminds in ending the antics of the wary webspinner. Moreover, as sinister stalker Patch (no relation to the later Wolverine alter ego) trails Peter Parker in the opening moves of a major subplot beginning to unfold, the baffled college boy can only watch in bewilderment as his attention is pulled between classmate Gwen Watson and bizarrely attentive and attention-drawing Mary Jane.

It’s only the start of years of complex romantic interactions To Be Continued in succeeding collections…

Augmented by a brief gallery of Romita original art pages – including unused ones – this transitional tome is the just the beginning of an era when Spider-Man became a permanent and unmissable part of countless teenagers’ lives: doing so by living a life as close to theirs as social mores and the Comics Code would allow. Blending cultural authenticity with glorious narrative art, and making a dramatic virtue of awkwardness, confusion and a sense of powerlessness most of the readership experienced daily resulted in an irresistibly intoxicating read, delivered in addictive soap-opera slices, but none of that would be relevant if the stories weren’t so compellingly entertaining.

This book is Marvel and Spider-Man at their peak. Come and see why.
© 2024 MARVEL.

Posted on

Fantastic Four Epic Collection volume 10: Counter-Earth Must Die (1976-1978)


By Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Jim Shooter, Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Rich Buckler, Ron Wilson, Joe Sinnott, Sam Grainger, John Tartaglione, George Roussos, Dave Hunt, Tony DeZuñiga & various (MARVEL)
ISBN 978-1-3029-5544-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Monolithic modern Marvel truly began with the adventures of a small super-team who were as much squabbling family as coolly capable costumed champions. Everything the company is now stems from the quirky quartet and the groundbreaking, inspired efforts of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby…

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

All four permanently mutated: Richards’ body became elastic, 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. Thus was born The Fantastic Four.

Throughout the 1960s it was indisputably the key title and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters. Kirby was approaching his creative peak: unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot, 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 creative freedom which led to Kirby’s moving to National/DC in the 1970s.

Without Kirby’s soaring imagination the rollercoaster of mind-bending High Concepts gave way to more traditional tales of characters in conflict, with soap-opera leanings and super-villain-dominated Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas. This stripped-down, compelling compilation gathers Fantastic Four #168-191 and Annual #11, plus crossover components from Marvel Two in One #20 and that title’s first Annual. Collectively spanning cover-dates March 1976 to February 1978 they cemented a change of pace that would eventually move the title away from the glory days of Kirby even as he enjoyed a partial return as cover artist…

A new direction had kicked off with FF #164, courtesy of Thomas and then-neophyte illustrator George Pérez, backed up by veteran inker Joe Sinnott. Now, after another clash with The Hulk, the team seems forever shattered as Ben – returned to human form by extended exposure to the Jade Juggernaut’s gamma radiation – contemplates life as an ordinary mortal and former superhero…

Returned to the massed ranks of humanity the ex-Thing is less than delighted at achieving his greatest desire as Rich Buckler pencils #168’s ‘Where Have All the Powers Gone?’, wherein Reed is forced by contractual obligation to replace him with Hero for Hire Luke Cage.

However, although human again, happiness still eludes Grimm with events taking a worse turn in #169 as ‘Five Characters in Search of a Madman!’ finds Cage attacking his new teammates thanks to the machinations of a veteran FF foe. Pérez & Sinnott reunite for concluding chapter ‘A Sky-Full of Fear!’ as Ben returns to his team and spectacularly saves the day wearing a Thing exoskeleton suit constructed by Reed. Sadly. although the original and genuine is back at last (sort of), there’s no time to pause for applause as the yarn segues directly into Fantastic Four Annual #11.

Momentous time-travel saga ‘And Now Then… The Invaders!’ by Thomas, John Buscema & Sam Grainger, sees Marvel’s First Family flash back to 1942 to retrieve a cylinder of miracle-metal Vibranium. When it somehow then fell into Nazi hands it had started to unwrite history and on arrival, the FF are attacked by WWII super-team The Invaders – comprising early incarnations of Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the original, android Human Torch. The time-repair task goes far better once all the heroes finally unite to assault a Nazi castle where the Vibranium is held, but after the modern quartet return to their own restored era, Ben realises the mission isn’t over yet…

Thanks to Uatu the Watcher, the action continues in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 as – with the present unravelling around him – Ben blasts back to 1942 yet again. ‘Their Name is Legion!’ (Thomas, Sal Buscema, Grainger, John Tartaglione & George Roussos) finds him linking up with Home Front Heroes the Liberty Legion (collectively The Patriot, Thin Man, Red Raven, Jack Frost, Blue Diamond, Miss America and The Whizzer) to thwart Nazis Skyshark and Master Man, Japanese agent Slicer and Atlantean turncoat U-Man’s invasion of America. The battle proves so big, it spills over to concludes in Marvel Two-In-One #20 (October 1976) in a shattering ‘Showdown at Sea!’ pitting the massed heroes against diabolical Nazi boffin Brain Drain, courtesy this time of Thomas, Sal B & Grainger.

Cover-dated June Fantastic Four #171 reveals ‘Death is a Golden Gorilla!’ (Thomas, Pérez, Buckler & Sinnott) as a giant alien anthropoid rampages through Manhattan until corralled by the FF. Calmed down and physically reduced to standard gorilla proportions, the talking ape delivers a desperate plea for help from the High Evolutionary. Bill Mantlo scripts Thomas’ plot and Pérez & Sinnott excel themselves as ‘Cry, the Bedeviled Planet!’ sees the heroes head for the other side of the Sun to save Counter-Earth from certain annihilation only to meet their nemesis in the depths of space…

Thomas writes and John Buscema steps in as penciller with #173’s ‘Counter-Earth Must Die… At the Hands of Galactus!’ Inexplicably, the world-devourer debates minor deity High Evolutionary: offering hope to his intended repast before despatching the heroes across the universe in search of a planet that will voluntarily sacrifice itself for Counter-Earth…

‘Starquest!’ (Thomas, Buscema & Sinnott) follows each unsavoury search to its logical conclusion, but as the Evolutionary abandons rhetoric for cosmic combat in a desperate delaying tactic, Sue Richards accidentally locates a civilisation willing to make the ultimate gesture…

Returned and augmenting the Evolutionary, a reunited FF attack Galactus ‘When Giants Walk the Sky!’ (drawn & inked by JB), with the Devourer delivering a cruel delayed punishment to Ben before consuming the planetary substitute and realising he has been tricked in a bizarre and wry conclusion that only adds fresh complications to the First Family of the Marvel Universe. Then another new direction begins with #176 and Thomas, Pérez & Sinnott revealing that ‘Improbable as it May Seem… The Impossible Man is Back in Town!’ The mighty manic shapeshifter – having just saved everybody from Galactus – returns to Earth with our heroes and promptly turns the city upside down in his relentless search for amusement and entertainment. The high point of the day is his impromptu visit to the Marvel Bullpen where even more hilarity and hysteria ensue…

By the time the flustered four drag him back to the Baxter Building in #177, it’s straight into an ambush as ‘Look Out for the Frightful Four!’ finds their evil counterparts gaining the upper hand. There are only three – The Wizard, Sandman and Trapster – but with our heroes shackled there’s no better time for a casting call of evil. Soon a succession of potential fourths (like latterday B-Listers Texas Twister and Captain Ultra) are filing through in search of fame and glory…

Also in the queue are a few valiant allies such as Thundra and Tigra – who almost manage a last-minute rescue – until an unstoppable mystery candidate crushes all opposition and hurls the Thing into the antimatter Negative Zone. Inked by Dave Hunt, FF #178 ‘Call My Killer… The Brute!’ sees the devious, deadly monster revealed as the Reed Richards of Counter-Earth, carrying grudges and enacting his own masterplan until Impossible Man – oblivious to everything since discovering television – responds to the horrific home invasion in typical manner. The Fantastic Four, Thundra and Tigra soon rescue Ben and drive off the bad guys, but in the melee the Brute is fittingly lost in the Negative Zone.

At least, one of the Reeds is…

A joint effort by Thomas, Gerry Conway, Ron Wilson & Sinnott, FF #179 shows the good Dr. Richards ‘A Robinson Crusoe in the Negative Zone!’, and – deprived of his stretching powers (a long running plot-thread finally paying off) – struggling to survive in hostile conditions against appalling monsters… until ultimate predator Annihilus finds him…

Back on Earth, everything seems fine and the deadly doppelganger continues to insinuate himself into all aspects of FF life. The power loss works to his advantage and Reed’s oldest friend Ben is distracted by a giant robbing robot and increasingly flirtatious Tigra…

FF #180 was a new Jack Kirby cover on a deadline-busting reprint from issue #101, so only it stands between us and next episode ‘Side by Side with… Annihilus??’ (#181 by Thomas, Wilson & Sinnott) as the zone-marooned supergenius allies with the antimatter monster. Meanwhile, Ben, “Impy”, Tigra and Thundra form an impromptu quartet to sort out that robot and Susan Richards – just starting to suspect something’s wrong with her man – is distracted when former governess and still-current witch Agatha Harkness flamboyantly abducts her old charge Franklin from Sue’s arms.

Fantastic Four #182 reveals nigh-omnipotent Annihilus has a problem he can’t handle: an incredibly adaptable, constantly mutating android recently banished to the Zone after failing to destroy the quirky quartet. Now its creator has regained control and ‘Enter: The Mad Thinker!’ (Mantlo with Len Wein, Jim Shooter, Archie Goodwin, Sal Buscema & Sinnott) sees Reed and Annihilus working together to stop it, even as on Earth evil Reed tricks the Thing and Torch into the Negative Zone too. Sue, meanwhile, rushes to spooky Whisper Hill to confront Harkness, arriving just in time to see the eldritch elder and Franklin spirited away by ghostly beings…

Her return to the Baxter Building is even more traumatic as the now-exposed Brute attempts to murder her, culminating in a spectacular all action conclusion from Mantlo, Sal B & Sinnott as #183’s ‘Battleground: The Baxter Building!’ sees all opposing elements clash and an unexpected turn of events restore the status quo with one last-minute change of heart and tragic sacrifice…

A new era dawned as Wein took became writer/editor and his artist partners Pérez & Sinnott began as they meant to go on. In FF #184, ‘Aftermath: The Eliminator!’ sees romantic rivals Tigra and Thundra go their own ways as the restored First Family searches for Franklin, reaching the Whisper Hill mansion just as a mystic cyborg begins removing all traces of the edifice and its former occupier. Brutal, pointless battle proves useless but science scores again in #185 as Reed tracks the Eliminator to the Colorado Rockies. The team, with Richards using tech to pinch-hit for his lost powers, head incognito for isolated town New Salem and once there discover ‘Here There Be Witches!’… and they be hostile…

Sequel ‘Enter: Salem’s Seven!’ delivers an explanation for Harkness’ actions, Franklin’s abduction and tantalising hints of a hidden town of mystic refugees led by deranged demagogue Nicholas Scratch, whose dark secret doesn’t stop him unleashing a septet of sorcerous sentinels on the cosmic-powered but woefully human heroes. It does, sadly, ultimately lose him the support of his peers and the battle: resulting in #187 depicting the victorious heroes (and “the help”) heading home just in time for ‘Trouble Times Two!’

When “Master of Sound” Klaw and the almighty Molecule Man ambush the FF, the furious fight raises the ire of TV-addicted Impy with the resultant rumble resolved by Molecule Man’s disembodied intellect possessing Reed’s weary body. In #188 ‘The Rampage of Reed Richards!’ sees the city wrecked and events of cosmic import occur, with Uatu the Watcher closely observing as the heroes triumph in the end, but only at the cost of their leader’s confidence.

Weary, devoid of superpowers, Richard makes the only logical decision and calls it a day for the team…

At the time tensions were especially enhanced as the next issue was another reprint (from FF Annual #4 and again represented here only by Keith Pollard’s cover art from #189). Normal service resumed with #190 as incoming writer/editor Marv Wolfman collaborated with Sal Buscema & Tony DeZuñiga to reassess past glories in ‘The Way It Was’. Here, shellshocked Ben and girlfriend Alicia Masters review the glory days leading up to his current unemployment, before #191 closes this compilation’s story component with ‘Four No More’ wherein Wein, Pérez & Sinnott detail the decommissioning of the Baxter Building and track the fond farewells as the team go their separate ways. However, there’s time and space for one last hurrah as the scurrilous Plunderer tries to steal all the FF’s toys and rapidly learns to regret his impertinence…

To Be Continued

This power-packed package also includes house ads, original cover art, pertinent pages by Sinnott from The Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar 1976, and the Kirby/Sinnott Marvel Comics Memory album Calendar 1977 plus the new material from The Fabulous Fantastic Four Marvel Treasury Edition #11 (December 1976). This bombastic oversized tabloid edition featured a bevy of classic yarns and is represented here by front-&-back cover art by Kirby & John Verpoorten, plus a Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia frontispiece/contents page. Also on view is the letters page from FF #176, explaining how the Impossible Man’s visit to the Marvel Bullpen came about, and the Jim Steranko covers from Marvel Index #4: Fantastic Four from 1977 as well as Peter Iro’s monochrome frontispiece and a cover rough by Dave Cockrum.

Although the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” never quite returned to the stratospheric heights of the Kirby era, this collection offers a tantalising taste-echo of those heady heights and a promise of change. These extremely capable efforts are probably most welcome to dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but will still thrill and enthral the generous and forgiving casual browser looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement. Even if artistically the work varies from only adequate to superb, most fans of Costumed Dramas will find little to complain about and there’s lots 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 ‘n’ all comics craziness? You’ll almost certainly grow to like it…
© 2024 MARVEL.

Posted on

Mighty Marvel Masterworks presents the Black Panther volume 2: Look Homeward


By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Larry Lieber, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Len Wein, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, Frank Giacoia, George Tuska, Don Heck, Bob Brown, Tom Palmer, Syd Shores, Mike Esposito, Joe Sinnott, Dave Cockrum & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4905-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

These stories are timeless and have been published many times before but here we’re boosting another example of The Mighty Marvel Masterworks line: designed with economy in mind and newcomers as target audience. These books are far cheaper, on lower quality paper and smaller – like a paperback novel. Your eyesight might be failing and your hands too big and shaky, but at 152 x 227mm, they’re perfect for kids. If you opt for digital editions, that’s no issue at all.

This tome gathers in whole or in part more early Black Panther adventures prior to his winning his own solo series. Included are The Avengers #77-79, 87, 112, 126, Daredevil #69, Astonishing Tales #6-7, Fantastic Four #119 and Marvel Team-Up #20, spanning June 1970-August 1974 and almost all showing The Great Cat as a collaborator. peripatetic guest star and team player…

Acclaimed as the first black superhero in American comics and one of the first to carry his own series, the Black Panther’s popularity and fortunes have waxed and waned since he first appeared in the summer of 1966. As created by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and inker Joe Sinnott, T’Challa, son of T’Chaka, is an African monarch whose secretive, hidden kingdom is the only source of vibration-absorbing wonder mineral Vibranium. The miraculous alien metal – derived from a fallen meteor which struck the continent in lost antiquity – is the basis of Wakanda’s immense wealth, making it one of the wealthiest and most secretive nations on Earth. These riches allowed the young king to radically remake his country, creating a technological wonderland even after he left Africa to fight as one of America’s mighty Avengers, beginning with #52 (cover-dated May 1968). At that time, the team had been reduced to Hawkeye, The Wasp and a recently re-powered Goliath. This changed when they welcomed new recruit Black Panther on the recommendation of Captain America…

This impactful assemblage of tales opens as the tone of the times shifted and comics titles entered a period of human-scaled storytelling dubbed “Relevancy”. Here Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Tom Palmer pit the heroes against a far more mundane and insidious menace – billionaire financier Cornelius Van Lunt who manoeuvres Tony Stark to bankruptcy to gain the team’s services. The Avengers (currently Cap, Goliath, The Vision, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver) were compelled to become the mystery magnate’s ‘Heroes for Hire!’ to save their sponsor…

Sal Buscema then popped in to pencil ‘The Man-Ape Always Strikes Twice!’ as the embattled champions are targeted by a coterie of vengeful villains competing to join a new league of evil, spectacularly culminating in a grand clash with the aforementioned anthropoid, The Swordsman, Power Man, Living Laser and The Grim Reaper in ‘Lo! The Lethal Legion!’, which heralded the artistic return of big brother John and the apparent destruction of the malevolent miscreants.

It was the dawning era of crossover tales and gently simmering subplots in all-Thomas scripted titles, and the experimentation led T’Challa to Daredevil #69 (October 1970) where the author, Gene Colan & Syd Shores paired the heroes in a tale of kid gangs and the rise of the “Black Power” movement. The African king had been seeking to understand America by working undercover as high school teacher Luke Charles, where his need to save a good student from bad influences leads to tragedy, disaster and ‘A Life on the Line’…

Jumping to Avengers #87 (April 1971) T’Challa’s conflicted duties prompt the Black Panther to reviews his bombastic origin before opting to take leave of his comrades and reassume the throne of his hidden kingdom in ‘Look Homeward, Avenger’ (Giacoia & Sal B), segueing into Astonishing Tales #6 (June 1971, by Larry Lieber, George Tuska & Mike Esposito) as the Lord of Latveria invades Wakanda. ‘The Tentacles of the Tyrant!’ depicts Doctor Doom resolved to seize its Vibranium, only to be outwitted and fall to the furious tenacity of its king and prime defender in ‘…And If I Be Called Traitor!’ (by Gerry Conway, Colan & Giacoia).

Roy Thomas and his artistic collaborators were always at the forefront of Marvel’s second generation of creators: brilliantly building on and consolidating Lee, Kirby and Ditko’s initial burst of comics creativity whilst spearheading and constructing a logical, fully functioning wonder-machine of places and events that so many others could add to. He was also acutely aware of the youthful perspective of older readers which might explain a bizarre face-saving shuffle seen in Fantastic Four #119 (February 1972) as the African avenger cautiously adopts the designation “Black Leopard” – presumably for contemporary political reasons… In Illustrated by John B & Joe Sinnott, ‘Three Stood Together!’ offers Thomas’ damning, if shaded, indictment of South Africa’s apartheid regime as Wakanda’s king is interned in white-ruled state Rudyarda, leading to The Thing and Human Torch busting him out whilst clashing with mutual old enemy Klaw, who is attempting to steal a deadly new superweapon…

Escalating cosmic themes and colossal clashes recall the King to America in Avengers #112 (June 1973 by Steve Englehart, Don Heck & Frank Bolle) wherein a rival African deity manifests to destroy the Panther God’s human avatar in ‘The Lion God Lives!’ and T’Challa and his valiant comrades must tackle a threat that is not what it appears to be. It’s followed by the concluding chapter of a battle between Stegron the Dinosaur Man and the unlikely alliance of Spider-Man and Ka-Zar. When the clash expands from the Savage Land to Manhattan in Marvel Team-Up #20 (April 1974), the scaly rapscallion’s plans to flatten New York by releasing ‘Dinosaurs on Broadway!’ (Len Wein, Sal B, Giacoia & Esposito) is only foiled by the Black Panther’s help.

However it’s T’Challa’s deductive abilities that save the day and a group of hostages in Avengers #126 when ‘All the Sights and Sounds of Death!’ (Englehart, Bob Brown & Cockrum) finds villains Klaw and Solarr invading Avengers Mansion in a devious attempt to achieve vengeance for past indignities. The manner in which King T’Challa solves the case convinces The Black Panther that is once more time to take up the reins of rule in Wakanda…

But that’s a tale for the next volume..

With covers by John & Sal Buscema, Herb Trimpe, Don Heck, Gil Kane, John Romita and Ron Wilson, this tidy tome is a wonderful, star-studded precursor to the Black Panther’s solo exploits and a perfect accessory for film-fans looking for more context. It also offers art lovers a chance to enjoy the covers to reprint title Marvel’s Greatest Comics #39 & 40, by Jim Starlin & Sinnott and Sal Buscema respectively, as seen in November 1972 and January 1973 as well as unused Kirby/Sinnott cover art, and Jack’s origins designs for precursor the Coal Tiger.

These terrific tales are ideal examples of superheroes done exactly right and also act as pivotal points as the underdog company evolved into a corporate entertainment colossus. There are also some of the best superhero stories you’ll ever read…
© 2024 MARVEL.