Why, 'tis the gentle sound of fireworks exploding with the force of atom bombs.
It can only mean one thing. It's that time of year again. The one where we fling effigies of unpopular people on the bonfire and laugh as their faces melt.
Well that's all very well and good but what fireworks were our favourite Marvel heroes inflicting on us forty years ago?
I remember this one dearly, as I spent quite some time, as an eleven year old, copying panels from it with my trusty pencil.
And, though I say it myself, I like to think I did a rather nifty Barry Smith impression.
Hammerhead makes his debut. A foe who always gave Spider-Man far more trouble than he should.
All Spidey had to do to beat him was remember to punch him in the stomach instead of the top of the head.
Did he ever learn that lesson?
No he didn't.
The Avengers come up against the Beast Brood.
A tale with which I think I'm totally unfamiliar.
But does that blurb mean the world didn't gain its favourite super-soldier in the way we all thought it did?
DD's radar sense obviously on the blink there.
I did always wonder if the Black Widow's costume was made of leather or rubber.
I did finally come down on the side of rubber, even though leather was clearly more practical.
I have no recall of this one at all, even though I'm sure I must have read it in the pages of Captain Britain.
Another of my favourites, as the Leader takes possession of the Rhino's body and still manages to mess up.
Poor old Iron Man. He really does seem to come up against a remarkable number of people who can melt things.
I've commented before on Thor's strange air of defeatism on most of his covers.
Here, it's got so bad he can't even be bothered to voice that defeatism. He'd rather just kneel there looking pitiful.
What a sorry sad-sack of a thunder god he really is.
But, blow me down, Sif's actually promising to be some use in a punch-up for once.
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12 comments:
Re: Black Widow. Your clearly projecting something here... Although given how easy it always ripped I assumed it was that curious spandex that female superheroes use; the one that rips much easier than the version guys use.
As for Iron man and his villian problem. Seeing as all Marvels heros were New York based you would of thought they would have organised something:
Iron man: Hey Torch I've got problems with a guy you has super hot hands. Little help?
Human Torch: No problem. I'll trade you my guy with the bucket of water.
Re: Black Widow. Your clearly projecting something here... Although given how easy it always ripped I assumed it was that curious spandex that female superheroes use; the one that rips much easier than the version guys use.
As for Iron man and his villian problem. Seeing as all Marvels heros were New York based you would of thought they would have organised something:
Iron man: Hey Torch I've got problems with a guy you has super hot hands. Little help?
Human Torch: No problem. I'll trade you my guy with the bucket of water.
Note to self. When posting from a mobile phone don't go back and then forwards. It reposts your message....
Hammerhead rated his own villain profile, and you're right--Spidey's as dense as they come sometimes. No thanks to his spider-sense, which doesn't seem to react to metal heads and thus never helped him avoid the hard-headed attacks of an old-school brawler like HH.
And wow, could Barry Smith's artist credit have been any larger on that cover? :)
FF #128 was the final part of the story begun in #126, wherein Ben Grimm goes in search of Moley thinking he can cure Alicia's blindness. Guess what? He was wrong.
I always knew that Hammerhead's power (if you could call it a power) was silly; but who cares? He was a terrific looking villain and a clear tribute to Flattop from Dick Tracey. I understand they powered him up to include superhuman strength and an adamantium skeleton - understandable.
Does this site have a page on Facebook?
That issue of Conan is a big memory for me. It marked a real watershed in my experience as a comic book reader and collector. Growing up in a very small rural town (actually in the countryside far away from the town) I didn't get much feedback on my adoration of comics. But one day I was in the local hangout reading my new issue of Conan with the gorgeous Barry Smith cover and a total stranger, a young man in his twenties I'd guess asks me about it. I was thrilled on two levels, one to be engaged as a quasi-adult by someone and two that someone showed some knowledge and interest in what interested me. After a mere moment of scanning the cover and say how nice it was the stranger left to go on his way. It remains a strong memory.
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Anon, I used to be on Facebook but I could never work out how it was supposed to work.
Plus, I read so many disturbing things about the way Facebook operates that I decided to cancel my account.
Oh-Oh. Where's The Cat #1, by Linda Fite, Marie Severin, Wally Wood, et al? That was cover-dated Nov 1972, right?
Others I don't care that much about: Chamber of Chills #1, Kid Colt Outlaw #164, Marvel Premiere #5, My Love #20, Night Nurse #1, Rawhide Kid #105, Sgt Fury #104, Tomb of Dracula #5, Two Gun Kid #107, Werewolf by Night #2, Where Monsters Dwell #18, Amazing Adventures #15, Captain Marvel #23, Creatures on the Loose #20, Kull the Conqueror #5, Marvel Feature #6, Marvel Team-Up #5, Red Wolf #4, Ringo Kid #17, Sub-Mariner #55, and Western Gunfighters #12.
Thanks!
Darci, when I started doing this feature, I decided to only do the major characters, mostly because it'd take me forever to do the posts if I covered all of Marvel's early 70s output.
Also, thanks to Marvel's 1970s UK reprints, I've read all the stories featuring those characters and so have more idea what happens in those comics than those of the less high profile characters.
Steve,
Thanks! Of course, I consider The Cat a major character...
BTW, her stories were reprinted in The Super-Heroes #s 31-40 (Oct 4 - Dec 6, 1975), although the covers of 31 & 32 have the wrong colors for her suit. Perhaps we'll see your reviews on those anniversaries!
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