And, speaking of models, this is the tale in which Gwen Stacy beats Mary Jane to it and becomes a model herself as Spidey goes up against Gog.
I always did like the way Gil Kane drew reptilian lifeforms. They have a certain elegance in their execution.
Interesting to see that the Metazoid's back, after an absence of just three issues. Clearly, someone realised he was destined to become a major villain in Marvel's canon.
Come to think of it, that thing on the cover looks nothing like the Metazoid, which poses the question of just what it is.
Hooray! It's an issue of The Avengers that I actually owned from this period.
I believe it was the first time I ever saw the combination of John Buscema and Tom Palmer on an art job. Needless to say, I was most impressed.
I also have strong memories of the Conan story, which featured him fighting yet another of those man-apes that were always described as being rare but which seemed to lurk around every corner.
I completely missed the Gremlin storyline at the time.
Fortunately, the Marvel Essentials later corrected that oversight.
Those Marvel monsters just can't avoid fighting each other.
It is helpful of them to put pictures of Zira and Cornelius on that Wanted poster, so we won't mistake them for any other talking apes we might encounter.
The Super-Heroes, using the style of split cover The Mighty World of Marvel would later adopt in its merger-happy years.
You have to hand it to The Super-Heroes, it didn't even have to merge with anything for it to act like a merged comic. That's how ahead of its time it was.
Marvel's Hyboria was indeed infested with man-apes; it seemed like you couldn't throw a rock (or a broadsword) without hitting one of 'em in the head, although I wouldn't advise it. They were notoriously ill-tempered.
ReplyDeleteI see readers in the U.K. were subjected to the maddening menace of the Man-bull AND the punishing peril of the Porcupine in one issue. Gads!
Somehow, I imagine those two guys now sitting in a neighborhood bar somewhere sharing a beer and complaining about hernias, hemmorrhoids and bad knees.
Not a lotta heavyweights on the villain side in this post, Steve.
m.p.
Yes, what was the power of the Porcupine that proved such a threat to Giant Man? As far as I remember, he waddled around in a suit of quills that sprayed some sort of gas - Al
ReplyDeleteThe only comic I bought that week was Planet of the Apes, which has by far the least interesting cover. I did later get a copy of the Titans. Wasn't that the first issue with Neal Adams' Inhumans art? I remember being a bit disappointed after the previous Kirby issues.
ReplyDeleteDW
That unknown Captain Marvel foe standing in for the Metazoid is called Cyberex and he's a killer robot built by the Doctor Lawson Mar-Vell pretended to be when he arrived on Earth. Here's more:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/cyberex.htm
Rip Off
MP and Al, poor old Porcupine. When he was a child, he probably dreamed of the day when he would have the power of a giant hedgehog. Then, when he got it, everyone just laughed at him.
ReplyDeleteDW, sadly, I didn't have that issue of The Titans and so can profess no knowledge as to whether it was the issue where Neal Adams took over.
Thanks for the info, Rip. For some reason, I had it in my head that the robot was called Myrmidon, who, it turns out, was an Iron Man foe.