There's only one thing for it. I'm going to have to seek refuge in the summer of 1976.
What's that? That was hot and sunny too?
Is there no escape from this madness?
Speaking of madness, unless my senses betray me, I believe the Avengers have found themselves in a strange and alternate dimension as well.
But who on Earth is the man in the yellow, doing the talking? I assume he's the Squadron Supreme's version of Hawkman but I have no memory of him.
Conan having a tangle with the man whose name he goes on to appropriate.
Things look to be bad for our hero and his girlfriend.
I like that lettering at the bottom of the page. It reminds me of those multi-coloured Polo mint things I've mentioned before.
To be honest, it's not a very classy look but it does stir up nostalgic feelings and makes me want to suck on some sweets.
Hooray! It's the debut of Gorr, which means our next encounter with the High Evolutionary can't be far behind.
I always had a soft spot for Gorr. Did he appear in any stories after the Galactus/High Evolutionary one?
If I remember rightly, this is the one where a dramatically shrunk-down Hulk is implanted in Glenn Talbot's brain and then fights imaginary versions of his old enemies inside it, which can't be safe.
Wasn't it all the idea of Doc Samson?
If so, you do wonder how he escaped being struck off.,
Iron Man showing off his battle nous by flying away from his foe instead of flying straight at him and knocking his block off with one punch.
If I remember right, this is the one where Hammerhead returns as a ghost.
I bet Spider-Man still keeps trying to punch him in the head instead of the stomach.
Did he never learn?
Clearly, both he and Iron Man are in desperate need of punching lessons.
I don't have a clue what happens in this one but it has a bit of a Jack and the Beanstalk vibe to it.
I must confess I was always on the side of the giant in that one, even though he kept saying he wanted to eat Englishmen.
Sentinels? Outer space? Dave Cockrum? How could anyone not love the X-Men in this era?
The Squadron Supreme's Hawkman counterpart/homage/parody was Cap'n Hawk. He had previously been called American Eagle (in Avengers #85), and would later be named Blue Eagle (in a Squadron Supreme self-titled series).
ReplyDeleteI tend to get Cap'n Hawk mixed up with Captain Wings, a member of the Crusaders, who appeared in Invaders #15. As the Squadron Supreme were a parody of the Justice League, the Crusaders were a parody of DC's Freedom Fighters.
Comic book prices went up from 25 to 30 cents that month. The increase may have been staggered regionally, as some copies of comics cover dated June 1976 (including Avengers #148) have a 30 cent cover price, while others have that "still only 25 cents" blurb.
Yep, good 'ol Cap'n Hawk. He could fly like the wind, but couldn't come up with a very good superhero name for himself.
ReplyDeleteSteve, Gorr is also my favorite yellow gorilla, and after he shrunk down to a managable size and stopped glowing, he hung around for a few issues and even engaged in a medieval-type joust with a Skrull, which is something we've all wanted to do.
I don't recall him showing up after that, but I assume he disappeared with the rest of the population of Counter-Earth when the planet was stolen by some aliens named the Beyonders. I hope he's doin' okay.
M.P.
I was mad about the X-Men but this issue was the only Marvel that came to our local shop in June. I got Conan in East Kilbride one Saturday. I went to the other shop that only sold DC (yes!) and bought Superboy/Legion, JLA, Kamandi and All-Star Comics. The school summer holidays must have been looming.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was "Nighthawk" who would later become a member of the Defenders.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing was that Nighthawk was meant to be their version of Batman, so they needed a separate character to stand in for Hawkman, hence the similarity between Nighthawk and Cap'n Hawk.
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