But I'm not going this year.
Apart from the fact that the Old Gods didn't bother inviting me, there's only one set of old gods I'm interested in.
And those are the ones in the pages of Marvel UK's mags of exactly forty years ago.
Granted, they're not technically gods and they're not that old but I won't let that stand in my way.
The Prowler makes his not-necessarily senses-shattering return, as Spidey faces a battle to get to the airport on time.
Hawkeye goes through a tumultuous transmogrification, as Gene Colan takes over the strip and we get a brand new Goliath.
I'm wondering if that Dr Strange blurb heralds the reprinting of the Barry Smith drawn tale about the return of Nightmare?
Ka-Pow! It's that one where the Hulk gets to fight rats.
I first acquired this issue in a city centre stationers which had a subterranean tunnel linking it to the biggest toy shop in Europe.
I know this because it's impossible to forget having bought a comic in such a stationers.
That's why all stationers should have a tunnel linking them to the biggest toy shop in Europe.
As should all houses.
A tale with which I must confess to being totally unfamiliar.
We get to the start of Marvel's adaptation of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, which I seem to recall as having been drawn by the mighty Alfredo Alcala and having featured much more gruesome-looking mutants than the original movie did.
Conan and Elric are still having an encounter.
Is this the one where Jack Kirby took over for one issue and made the Surfer turn, "Bad," at the end of the tale?
That is indeed the Jack Kirby-illustrated story, reprinted from the very last issue of the Surfer's mag. The story was inked by Herb Trimpe and I remember reading in "Bullpen Bulletins" that Happy Herb was going to take over the strip with the next issue, but this obviously never happened as the comic was cancelled. A shame, really. Might have been interesting...
ReplyDeleteI always preferred the Kirby Surfer, the fallen angel, tabula rasa, completely alien. Stan Lee's Surfer, with all that Shalla Bal business, was too much like a weepy teenager who lost his girlfriend and was mad at the world. Hey, we've all been there, I just didn't wanna read about myself when I was sixteen. That's what Peter Parker was for. But the series was saved by Big John Buscema's gorgeous pencils, and worth reading just for that.
ReplyDeleteThat last frame of the last Surfer comic showed us what might have been, if the Surfer's creator, Kirby, would've been able to cut loose with the character. Less angst, more cosmic mayhem and weirdness, maybe let him off Earth for a while and go up against some real cosmic entities, like Ego, say. Eventually Marvel did get around to that. But it would have been cool to see Kirby do it.
M.P.
That was a fantastic cover on Planet Of The Apes No.35, one of the best of the entire run. I was hugely looking forward to the start of "Beneath" which Marvel UK had been trailing for weeks - Alfredo Alcala did indeed make the mutants look hideous, more like zombies than the mutants in the film. If I remember correctly, POTA No.35 also featured part 1 of 'The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad' drawn by George Tuska.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you all for all your commments.
ReplyDeleteColin, I have a copy of that George Tuska Sinbad adaptation. I shall give it a read for the first time in nearly fort years and see if it's worth me doing a review of it.
Steve, that would be great if you reviewed 'Golden Voyage' - I haven't read it since it was in POTA.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the Barry Smith Strange. I love those stories. I'm also very fond of that Goliath tale because it also served as my introduction to both the Vision and Yellowjacket.
ReplyDelete