Sunday 8 September 2019

Forty years ago today - September 1979.

Earlier this week, a bunch of scientists claimed to have evidence the Loch Ness Monster's really a giant eel.

That's one mystery tackled but what horrors and wonders dwell within the depths of an even deeper lake - the murky pool they know as merely, "The Past?"

Conan the Barbarian #102

Conan's inherited the leadership of a tribe, by killing its incumbent chief.

Then he manages to convince them the vampires that have been attacking their livestock aren't real vampires and are just ordinary men pretending to be.

He then leads them into an attack on the fake vampires' village.

Only for it to turn out they are real vampires.

Or, at least, their leader is.

And he promptly captures the whole lot of them, including Conan.

I'm not sure I'd want Conan as my leader.

Fantastic Four #210, Galactus

The FF try to get Galactus to save the Earth from the Sphinx. He agrees, in return for being allowed to destroy the Earth.

Is Reed Richards sure this is a good plan?
Amazing Spider-Man #196, the death of Aunt May

Aunt May's dead.

Or is she?

After an awful lot of soul-searching, our hero finally works out where he's seen the manager of her nursing home before.

You know, the one who's one of his most long-standing enemies and who isn't even wearing a disguise?

Spectacular Spider-Man #34, Lizards

Spidey and the Lizard team up against the Iguana.

And then the Lizard and Iguana team up against Spidey.

Needless to say, it's all resolved with a good old dose of science.

I'm pretty sure that, in one of this month's two main Spider-Man comics, the web-spinner has a broken arm and, in the other, he doesn't.

X-Men #125, mystery of Muir Island

There's something stirring on Muir Island and there's someone stalking Jean Grey.

Meanwhile, the other X-Men finally discover they're all still alive, after months of thinking half of them are dead.

Incredible Hulk #239, Mount Rushmore

The Hulk's captured by the Goldbug and taken to the Andes where he's about to encounter a bunch of people not seen since the early days of the Avengers' comic.

Captain America #237

Cap decides to get a new apartment and become an artist.

Other than that, I can say little of this tale. Judging by the cover, I suspect it contains the usual flashbacks to World War Two.

Thor #287

Thor's in Olympia and he and its inhabitants are up against a rogue Eternal who's been given boosted powers by the Celestials.

Iron Man #126

Tony Stark finds himself on Peter Cushing's giant, floating island and having to take on the veritable army of super-villains who are on Cushing's payroll.

Avengers #187, the evil Scarlet Witch

High on the slopes of Wundagore, the Scarlet Witch has been possessed by some evil spirit or other and everything depends on the Avengers' ability to will that spirit out of her and into a doll.

Daredevil #160, Bullseye and the Black Widow

Bullseye's kidnapped the Black Widow, and DD has to rescue her.

I'm assuming he succeeds, although I'm struggling to recall how this tale actually resolves.

26 comments:

Timothy Field said...

'Peter Cushing' I see what you did there.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, releasing Galactus from his vow does suggest Reed Richards isn't as brainy as he's made out to be Steve.
On top of that, the FF also had to bring him Tyros to be the new herald, which seems a bit ethically dubious considering he didn't get a say in the matter. Sure, he wasn't very nice, but evil alien warlords are people too, right?

Marv Wolfman's FF was terrible, which was particularly unfortunate as John Byrne was probably the best artist for the comic at the time (with Kirby no longer around).

-sean

Redartz said...

A few rather forgettable books that month, but quite a few great ones! Iron Man, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil were pretty top notch comics at the time. Marv Wolfman was doing both Amazing Spider-man and FF; personally I found his efforts on the webslinger more successful than those with the Four. That said, it did seem odd that Peter didn't recognize his 'old friend' Quentin Beck; aka Mysterio. You'd think the hairstyle would have betrayed him, if nothing else..

Oh, and it was cool to me that Captain America decided to become a commercial artist; I could sympathize as I was in Art School at the time. He had a better drawing table, though.

Redartz said...

By the way, I don't think your Captcha likes me. Tends to keep me hanging on through array following array...

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I actually recall buying that DD off the spinner when I was 18.

And I recall thinking that the Comics Code would never have allowed the image of a gloating villain having hung someone to death by a chord, for the cover.

I mean, Bullseye still has the chord in his hand.

I still am shocked by the cover and find it wholly inappropriate for kids. That's why I did not let my kids read comics, but for Archie (and Scotland's Beano / Dandy) growing up.

Well, that's Charlie's observation... don't mean to throw a cold blanket on things. Any of you guys with kids feel the same?

Anonymous said...

"The Iguana"?
Really?
What, Stegron wasn't available? He was all booked up? His calendar was full that month? So many social engagements, so little time?

M.P.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

M.P. - I have read these arguments that Kirby was the idea factory for Marvel / All of comics, and that when he bowed out around 1973, that was the end of the line for comics and new ideas.

But when I read about villains like "Iguana" I mean, there are only so many animals, insects that could make good characters? They good ones (like Ants and Lizards and Chameleons and Beatles) kind of got used up early on in the 60s?

Was there a character called "cricket" or "grasshopper" or "kimono dragon?" I guess we got a Mantis post-Kirby.

I'm just meandering out loud... Not sure I have a solid hypothesis yet.

Redartz said...

Charlie- first, regarding age-appropriate comics: I have 2 sons, both of whom got into comics. They were exposed at an early age to my collection, but I tried to keep it reasonable. By their teens they were introducing me to things. Short answer- common sense. One knows one's kids, and what would be right for them. That said, I wouldn't give a 6 year old a copy of Savage Tales...

Second- love your thinking about biological superhero nomenclature (how's that for a mouthful). I have thought that extinct creatures are fertile ground for characters. Say, the Trilobite! Or maybe the bombastic Blastoid! Or, maybe the Arctocyonid! All of which, by the way, were living critters (as any fellow patronizers of paleontology will know)...

Anonymous said...

Fellas, I just looked it up, so I guess it's true: there was an animal called the Blastoid. It was some kinda echinoderm. (Starfish and such)
I thought Redartz was having a psychotic episode there for a minute, thinking the Negative Zone is a real place, but I guess he's okay.
For now. I suggest we keep an eye on him.

M.P.

Steve W. said...

Redartz, I have the same Captcha problem when I try to post on other people's blogs. I shall remove the Captcha from this site and, if it don't get flooded with spam, I shall keep it removed. I'll see how it goes.

Charlie, I'm fairly sure the Hulk once came up against a villain called the Locust.

Tim, if I see an open goal, I have to go for it.

Sean, Reed did like to make decisions on behalf of the planet Earth. The strange thing is I don't remember anyone ever giving him the authority to do it.

MP, I think I marginally prefer the Iguana to Stegron. I can never past Steggie being able to bring dinosaur skeletons to life.

dangermash said...

It's as if the standard required to get through Captcha has been raised. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, there were loads of acceptable answers to which of these squares contains a traffic light. But now there's only one acceptable answer. And you have to be on the question setter's wavelength to get it right. Do the posts count as part of the traffic lights? Do the strings they hang on count? How many pixels of traffic light does it need to be to count? Is there another traffic light half a mile down the street that I can't see? If it wasn't for which of these nine mini pictures contains a crosswalk, nobody would have been able to comment.

Anonymous said...

Personally, its been ages since I've been quizzed by the Captcha here at SteveDoesComics - and thats commenting anonymously - so its surprising to find other regulars have a problems.
Maybe they should consider the possibility they might actually be robots? dangermash definitely sounds like he's in denial...

It hadn't occurred to me there was anything particularly notable about that Daredevil cover - other than the depiction of a hair dryer as a weapon, which seems quite (darkly) humorous for a 70s Marvel comic - but Charlie's right to observe that it probably wouldn't have passed the comics code much earlier.

Aren't we pretty much coming to the end of the code at this point? Obviously it was still around for a while - I believe it didn't finally became defunct til 2011 - but as a meaningful factor in the comic biz it seemed irrelevant by the 80s.

-sean

Anonymous said...

Sorry, that should have been "a problem" above.
Its the kind of error that proves I'm human...

-sean

dangermash said...

Whereas when I can't tell which box doesn't contain a traffic light, that's the kind of mistake that proves I'm a robot.

Being a robot does have its advantages though. Abbey Clancy and the Scarlet Witch both like my moves.

Killdumpster said...

What? The Negative Zone isn't a real place?! Guess I'll drop off these damn bracelets back to the cave, or at a pawn shop.

I wondered where I've been spending half my time, then realized it was at scrappy bars/pubs.

Yes, Steve, Hulk fought The Locust, and it took him 2 issues to wrap him up. The Locust was originally an X-Men villain.

Since grasshoppers,crickets, and locusts are part of the same insect family, I guess the Locust covers that area. Plus locusts fill some people, mostly agricultural types, with dread.

The Introduction of the Iguana left me unimpressed, till the arrival of the Lizard. I dont remember him being mind-controlled by the Lizard.

My mom HATED comics. She freaked at Son Of Satan, Red Sonja & Vampirella. My father on the other had would read'em if I left one laying around.

Not having kids, I think most should be alright for most, as long they're not at Faust or Bondage Fairies level. Lol!

Killdumpster said...

Now that I think about it, when I was 16-18 and reading Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, ZAP Comics, etc she would've went nuclear if she got a hold of an issue.

Killdumpster said...

Hey, Charlie, oh my brother, to maybe solve the quantury you had in regards to Peter Frampton during Steve's last post:

My personal option is a rep for A&M records, whom Humble Pie was signed to, saw Frampton as the next "pretty boy" that could sell to little girls. It was a bonus that he could play good guitar.

As far as being in the Sgt Pepper Movie, they needed a quartet to augment the Bee Gees & had name recognition plus looks.

As much as I've been involved in music, I have never seen that movie! Sometime when I want to torture myself, I'll give it a look.

Anonymous said...

How good is your French Kd? The Marvel comic adaptation of the Sgt Pepper film has been posted at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdcoreblog/sets/72157619060995381/
It was supposed to be an issue of Marvel Super Special, but even they had the sense not to actually go ahead and publish it.
The French on the other hand...

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I am inclined to think along what KD suggests regarding Frampton's 6,000,000 sales double album: solid guitarist, apparently exceptionally good looking, some (UK only?) fame already with Humble Pie, and a couple good songs that were already battle-tested b/c he constantly toured... He was prepared to be in the right place at the right time.

I did find a decent article but no "secrets" to his sudden success.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-09-ol-461-story.html

Then again, I never heard of Springsteen till he was " wrapped up like a douche in the middle of the night," either. LOL.

Anonymous said...

KD, my mom bought me an issue of Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by mistake when I was a little kid. She apparently thought it was a comic for kids, like Donald Duck.
It was the issue where they were growing marijuana plants in cow-pies with great success.
Whoever the clerk was who sold her that must've thought she was pretty far out for a house-wife.

M.P.

Killdumpster said...

That is completely incredible!!

Hey, MP, not to cast any assertions, but did you ever wonder what kind of store your mom picked up that Freak Brothers at?

The only place to get underground comics my area was in head-shops.

Killdumpster said...

Charlie, I actually set up equipment twice for Humble Pie, but pretty much in name only.

The drummer was the only member of the original band. They basically had the same line-up from their "On To Victory" album (which isn't bad), minus Steve Marriott. I guess he was semi-retired, and wanted to stay home to raise sheep.

Killdumpster said...

Sean-
Not having much interest in the movie, but I might check out that post to view the art. My French is horrid. While building a house my family moved to an area where they had a progressive public school. They started teaching the kids French in 2nd grade, and I was there in 3rd. I had no idea what was going on in that class. We had a very pretty young blond teacher, though.

To be honest, they should have been teaching Spanish. It would've been more functional here in the States.

I almost think I remember seeing a house ad for the Sgt Pepper book. Marvel was keen on pop music related comics in that era, with the Beatles, Kiss, and Alice Cooper books. Let's not forget Dazzler started out as a disco/roller-boogie hero, lol.

Killdumpster said...

Am I the only one who noticed that Charlie H47 didn't relate to himself in the third person in his last post?

Apparently "Frampton Comes Alive" not only being a hit album, it also has therapeutic effects, oh my brothers.

Maybe they should play that thing in hospitals.

dangermash said...

With KD talking about Charlie in the third person, it looks to me as if Charlie and KD have done a Cap/Red Skull style mind switch.

If this was done without your approval, KD, and you want to head into town looking for Charlie's mind occupying your body, learn from Cap's mistakes. Take off the Peter Frampton mask before you step outside.

Killdumpster said...

Ha Hah! Hope I run into the Falcon somewhere! Lol!