And what warmer set of comics could we find than the ones that were in the process of being removed from the newsagents' shelves exactly forty years ago, when every winter brought us twenty feet of snow that lasted from December through to April?
At least, that's how I remember the winters of the 1970s and, as we all know, my memories of the 1970s are infallible.
From that cover, I'm assuming that this is the issue that introduces us to Henry Peter Gyrich and his malevolent machinations.
The internet tells me that this issue also features Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. In what capacity they appear, I do not know.
I have literally run out of things to say about Conan. I suppose that at least this issue's menace is a type of creature I can't recall ever having seen him face before.
"At last! The secret of Cap's origin revealed!" I'm pretty sure I mentioned this a few weeks ago but did this book ever manage to go for more than three consecutive issues without retelling Captain America's origin? It has to be the most ridiculously over-revisited origin ever.
For whatever reason, the Fantastic Four have quit.
I do believe this leads to the Plunderer launching a raid on their abandoned headquarters, in order to steal Reed Richards' inventions.
I don't like to teach my granny how to suck eggs but you would've thought it would have occurred to Reed to dismantle his unbelievably dangerous devices, instead of just leaving them lying around where any super-villain can get at them. Let's face it, if even the Plunderer can break in, security can't be that tight.
For that matter, why does only the Plunderer think to do this? Why aren't all the super-villains trying to get into the building? From what I can recall, the Mad Thinker was always trying to come up with ways to get his hands on them. Now that he finally has a chance to do it, he's beaten to the punch by Ka-Zar's loser brother.
Sometimes, super-villains can be perverse creatures.
Speaking of perverse, Captain Barracuda is turning salty seamen into ape men. I can see no reason at all why a submarine commander would want to do this.
I think this tale was the only time I ever encountered Captain Barracuda. Given his ocean-dwelling nature, I assume he had a few run-ins with the Sub-Mariner in his time?
As with all Iron Man stories, I have no idea what happens in this tale but, doing this feature over the years has led to me being surprised by how many times Midas has turned up. I'd always assumed he was one of those villains who appeared once and was never seen again. In reality, it turns out he was a serious contender for the honour of being Iron Man's main arch-enemy.
Barton Hamilton's fake Green Goblin is still causing trouble and, by trying to gain control of New York's mobs, is acting like the original Steve Ditko vision of the character, rather than the John Romita take on him, which is interesting.
It's a curious cover, in which the mobsters are basically cast as the protagonists, with the Goblin and Spider-Man being the joint menaces they must overcome.
A cover that seems to be a less-watery homage to that of Amazing Spider-Man #33. I believe this is the issue in which Spidey and Razorback finally reveal to the world the Man-Beast's evil plans.
John Byrne may have taken over the art reins in the previous issue but, for me, this is where his run really starts, with the launch of a whole new era for the team, Wolverine starting to take centre stage and the introduction of a brand new Canadian super-doer.
I have a copy of this somewhere near here. If I recall correctly, Damocles is committing various crimes around the city, using his big sci-fi cannon, unaware that it's leaking deadly radiation all over the place. Now, Thor and Damocles' brother have to stop him, in another of those tales brought to us by a combination of Walt Simonson and Tony DeZuniga.
Apparently, the Stilt-Man is in this issue, in his Wilbur Day identity but I have no recollection of that appearance at all. I shall have to dig the comic out and take a look at it.
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13 comments:
Steve, this is awesome stuff. I never read any of these, nor do I recall the stories, but I dig looking at the covers. Indeed, I'm a sucker for Cap origin stories, ever since I read the one around issue 145 that revealed the 1950s Cap and Bucky were not the originals. I don't recall what happened to 1950s Cap and Bucky though I think there were put in some suspended state b/c they were hell bent on beating up anyone who was perceived to be a commie or threat to the USA.
Conan is deep in the Bêlit era at this point although the current storyline diverges from that for storyline reasons that escape me. Maybe Roy Thomas was just busy elsewhere. Or maybe it was a test for (Spoiler Alert) how the audience would react after she was killed off.
Roy Thomas was busy retelling the origin of Captain America; in typical overly literal Roy the boy fashion, he took it on himself to retcon Avengers #4, because obviously we readers had spent years wondering how Cap's frozen body had ended up near Newfoundland.
Charlie, didn't the fifties commie smasher-era Bucky become Nomad?
Personally, I find all the various Cap changes of identity and various associated retcons and whatnot really tedious. Is Steve Rogers completely retired/really dead this time? Zzzzzzzz.
They should just stick to having Captain America fight eyeless zombies possessed by disembodied time travellers from the future and stuff like that. Proper stories, like what Jack Kirby wrote.
-sean
Steve, on a completely un-related subject - I've just bought a magazine from Tesco all about Kate Bush's 40th anniversary. The magazine looks back at her career, reviews her albums, lists her best songs etc. I haven't read it yet but it looks fascinating. The only Kate Bush album I had was "The Whole Story".
By the way, have you ever heard "Writer In The Dark" by Lorde ? There's definitely a strong Kate Bush influence!
The only Kate Bush albums I've ever owned are The Kick Inside and Lionheart. I have to admit that I don't think I've ever played either of them more than three times. I discovered that I prefer her in small doses. Trying to sit through a full non-stop forty minutes of her gets a bit trying for me.
I haven't heard that Lorde track. I think the only one I know by her is that one that sounds a bit like State of Independence by Jon and Vangelis/Donna Summer.
Charlie, Sean and Aggy, thanks for the Conan and Cap info. Anyone know if Cap still a lifelong agent of Hydra or have they retconned that storlyine already?
IIUC, the latest retcon says that Kobik (whoever that is) hypnotically implanted Steve Rogers with false memories of having been a Hydra agent since his youth.
And (again, IIUC) the 1950s Captain America and Bucky got paranoid and started beating up innocent people whom they suspected of being Russian spies. (Maybe they were madly for Adlai, and assumed that it was Russian collusion that caused Stevenson to lose the election.) So the FBI or SHIELD or somebody captured them and froze them in suspended animation while looking for a cure. And they escaped in 1972, and fought the "real" Cap. And the 1950s Bucky, Jack Monroe, later regained his sanity and became the new Nomad.
Yowzer...I wiki'd the 1950s Cap and Bucky. I think there are more Captain Americas than Red Skull Sleepers! It got a little too deep trying to read and retain all that during a brief interlude at work, lol. Seems like Marvel went on a binge creating Caps...
TC - My favorite story about Adlai Stevenson is his aide comes running in and says" Mr. Stevenson I have great news! You have the "thinking man's vote!" Adlai said, "Yes, but I want to win the election." Don't know if it's true... But I could easily see 1950s Cap and Bucky thinking Ike was a candy ass and wanting Adlai to win, lol.
I'm now scratching my head trying to think of a Lorde song that sounds like State Of Independence :D
Steve
At the risk of appearing a bolshy upstart, I think you may have the wrong issue of the Avengers, which is why the number box doesn't refer to Feb. I think Avenger #168 is the Feb 1978 issue. #171 was the May issue at which time it looks like they dropped the date in the box.
DW
I got turned onto Kate Bush back in the late '80's when i was in the army by a young English woman who was working as a nanny for a rich surgeon in Philadelphia. She left me with a slightly broken heart but made me a Kate Bush fan forever.
On another note, in that issue of Thor, Stilt-Man does show up, but you don't know it's him. It's just a guy in a prison cell wishing he had his old "outfit", whatever that meant. The next thing that happens is the wall of his cell explodes, and a giant un-human arm grabs him and spirits him away.
We would soon discover that this was the beginning of a titanic team-up between Stilt-Man, Blastarr, and an insane computer called F.A.U.S.T.
Don't ask me to explain it, I don't understand it either.
What did happen is that F.A.U.S.T somehow manged to give Stilt-Man a new, ah, Stilt-Man suit with the telescopic legs, only this time encased in Adamantium, the unbreakable metal in Wolverine's skeleton.
This enabled Stilt-Man to last about two minutes against Thor, which is actually pretty impressive when you think about it.
I mean, this is a guy who used to get defeated by Daredevil.
M.P.
MP, thanks for the Stilt-Man info.
DW, you're right about the Avengers cover. I shall correct the post immediately.
Charlie and TC, thanks for your Cap comments.
Colin, the Lorde song I was thinking of is Royals.
Steve, I must say that State Of Independence doesn't immediately come to mind when listening to Royals :)
I've started reading the Kate Bush magazine I mentioned earlier and I discovered an astounding mistake - it says Kate Bush persuaded Alfred Hitchcock to make a cameo appearance in the video for the "Hounds Of Love" single. But Hitchcock died in 1980, five years before Hounds Of Love was recorded. As embarrassing mistakes go - that's a whopper!
That is a very strange thing indeed for them to claim.
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