The Past!
When do we want it?
Now!
And that can only mean it's time for me to once more investigate what Marvel's less glamorous titles of the 1970s were up to, as I take a look at some of the company's more offbeat offerings which bore the cover date of January 1979.
Unbelievably, the Human Fly's comic is still going.
Not for long, however. As far as I can make out, his comic now has just two issues left to live. All of which proves that you can survive standing around on top of a jumbo jet but you can't survive reader apathy.
When it comes to this issue, it would appear that our hero's latest job, as a human cannonball, leads to nothing but trouble for him.
It would be nice to imagine that it transpires that the carnival he's signed up with is actually the Circus of Crime and that, now, having discovered its true intent, he has to thwart its latest attempt at criminality but, sadly, I've encountered no evidence at all to suggest that any such thing happens.
Hooray! The Micronauts make their microscope challenging debuts, with the tale of what happens when Commander Rann wakes from suspended animation, only to discover that Baron Karza's taken over the whole Microverse.
As I've said before, I never knew what to make of The Micronauts when the strip turned up in Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly. On the one hand, it was clearly much better than it should have been. On the other, it was about toys.
Did this mean I should like it?
Did this mean I shouldn't like it?
I could never decide.
And yes, I did always misread the villain's name as, "Baron Khazi." I can only blame Carry On films for being a bad influence on me.
But it's interesting to see that Karza is the figure depicted in the corner box, rather than any of the strip's heroes, which is the equivalent of putting Doc Doom in the FF's corner box, or Kang in the Avengers'.
I do believe this Treasury Edition reprints Buscema and Alcala's magnificent Iron Shadows in the Moon - but in colour.
How could anyone not want to own such a thing?
This book also reprints Alex Niño's highly memorable People of the Dark from Savage Sword of Conan #6.
I'm including this purely because it's a blatant homage to Frank Frazetta's painting The Mammoth, a fact which gives me remarkable pleasure.
Not that it does Sonja any good. Like the Human Fly, she has just two issues to go before she meets her doom.
I really don't know what Tarzan's doing to Zabu there but it's probably best not to consider it too deeply.
Hooray! Not content with giving us one Star Wars rip-off - with the Micronauts - this month, Marvel gives us a second, as we get an adaptation of the pilot of the TV show that wanted to be Star Wars so badly that it hurt.
My main memory of both this adaptation and the original pilot episode is that whenever those women with four eyes and two mouths appeared, it made my brain hurt as it instinctively battled to turn them into women with two eyes and one mouth.
Strangely, there were two versions of this book published at the same time. One was the version, depicted here which, if I remember rightly, had a magazine-type format, while the other was in the form of a Treasury Edition.
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16 comments:
I still have the Battlestar Galactica special somewhere. It wasn't until many years later I found out that it was a pilot for a series, as I think the first couple of episodes got mashed together for a cinema release in the UK, I had thought the TV show span out of that. Much the same as the 70s Spider-Man show that got a couple of cinema releases. I was so excited about watching Spidey on the big screen, I didn't notice that the budget was about the same as an episode of Crossroads.
If I was in charge at Marvel Comics in the 70s Steve, Dr Doom would definitely have been in the corner box of the FF.
And I'd have made sure the fantastic artwork of the Buscema/Alcala team and the mighty Alex Nino was reprinted in that Conan treasury in black and white, which looked much better (hardly surprising, because thats what it was designed for).
Gawd, that Tarzan at the Earth's core story - with Abdul Alhazred the mad arab - seemed to go on forever without much of a point, a bit like Theresa May's brexit deal.
-sean
Tim, I too remember seeing the Spider-Man "movie" at the cinema. Everyone in the cinema burst out laughing every time Spidey used his powers. I did feel that wasn't a good sign.
Sean, I've now perused some panels from that Treasury Edition. While it's quite well-coloured, Alcala's heavy, detailed inks certainly do suffer from having colours laid on top of them.
Below is a real non-sequitor from today blog. If you want Charlie will remove it.
From the bottom of Charlie's heart, he wants to thank you for the Brexit thingy going on today, tomorrow, and...?
You took our President Bonespur, aka "Un-indicted Co-conspirator #1" (per Fox News) off the front page for at least a few hours. We now have fetching headlines like "May Day! May Day!"
Charlie thinks we should all retreat to Killdumpster's neck of the woods and wait it all out. I'll bring a stack of bronze age stuff!
What could the rest of you bring???
Steve - you could bring the coffee cups?
Anyone got the Vinyl / CDs of new wave stuff like ABC or Heaven 17?
70s comic book colour definitely tended to obscure Alcala's inking, although his work still looked pretty good, especially when blown up to treasury size.
Colour detracted more from Nino I thought. He had such a singular approach, and People of the Dark was full of textures and atmosphere but the colour really detracted from that. If you want to judge for yourself Steve -
www.diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2017/03/addicted-to-alex-nino-people-of-dark-by.html
-sean
Charlie, have you not warmed to your current president yet? Is the government shutdown not doing it for you? (I seem to recall you raving about Ted Cruz over the last one:).
-sean
Hi Sean... I truly try to stay out of politics, lol, though I admit to piping up today. But I've only been on this blog (or any comic blog) about two years b/c I didn't know they existed. So I am thinking that since the infamous Ted Cruz shutdown was 2013 it probably wasn't me.
And truly, whatever comes of this Brexit thingy, Charlie hopes it works out to the best for you guys.
I have a lot of great UK memories... one of the best when I flew my CH47 Chinook from Germany to RAF Alconbury (near Cambridge) to participate in Air Tattoo 1987. Flying over the English Channel and seeing the famous cliffs (of Dover?) gave all of us goose bumps. We all grew up on stories of Britain's "Finest Hour" and "the cliffs" were always part of that story.
So I truly wish you guys the best out of this, whatever that may be.
The Conan Treasury Edition actually came out in November 1978 but let's not quibble over a couple of months. I don't agree that "Iron Shadows In The Moon" looks better in black & white but this Treasury Edition was my introduction to the story so the colour version is the one I saw first. "Iron Shadows" is my favourite of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories and I re-read it at least once a year but the original 1934 title was "Shadows In The Moonlight" and that's the title in my Conan collection (The Complete Chronicles Of Conan - Centenary Edition).
I'm another one who saw 'Spider-Man The Movie' in 1978 and, like Tim, I was so enthralled by Spidey on the movie screen that I didn't notice how crap it was. And the same applies to the Hulk TV show - Lou Ferrigno painted green and wearing one of Tina Turner's old wigs.
Sean mentioned Abdul Alhazred, the Mad Arab - he was invented by H.P. Lovecraft. I assume it's the same one? Surely there can't be two mad arabs called Abdul Alhazred :D
It came up in a recent exchange Charlie, during the recent mid-terms - you fondly recalled getting a lot of time off work in the last shut down, so was just I wondered if you appreciated getting more free time again.
Anyway, not that it matters that much.
-sean
Colin, I just checked online and, unlikely as it seems, there are actually two mad arabs called Abdul Alhazred. What are the odds?
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Alhazred_(comics)
-sean
(Sean, I'll comment on Sunday's blog... CH47)
If anyone wants to hide-out in Pennsylvania, all you need is beer or beer money.
Charlie- I think I have some cassette tapes by the Smiths & the Alarm in storage you can have.
Charlie is pondering the world...
Have we mentioned the Circus of Crime (see Human Fly above) in this blog out of proportion to their role in Merry Marvel Land?
Granted they had the snake in the cake at YJ's and the Wasp's wedding in Avengers a few weeks ago, so they would come up...
But still they seem to bubble up often enough?
Are we perhaps oddly fond of clowns or circuses or human cannonballs or stuff popping out of cakes or ...?
A brexit special for Charlie! (Morrissey is keen on taking back control from the tyrants of Brussels)
Seems like fair exchange for some Atlas comics.
-sean
Sean - All my Atlas Comics were sent to KD in the hills of Pennsylvania a few months ago!
I have it on good authority he has hid them away in a cave next to a pair of bracelets he found, which are clearly of extra-terrestrial origin!
His only reservation about trying on the bracelets is the presence of said comics... might he become The Destructor, The Brute, The Scorpion, Lomaxx, or... Rick Jones???!!!
I already am Rick Jones, deep down in my heart.
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