People who've followed this site for many years and paid especially close attention will know that an occasional commenter on it has been a man in the habit of calling himself just, "Aggy." He hasn't been a regular contributor but has made his presence known, from time to time.
He has, though, been far more active on Twitter, as Andrew@ataccounting and has engaged on a regular basis with myself and other writers and bloggers there.
This morning, it suddenly dawned on me that I'd not heard from him in a while. Knowing of his long-term health issues, and with the coronavirus on the loose, I had a check to see if I could find any news of him.
It was then that I discovered he died last November, just a day or two after his final tweets. This is genuinely saddening, as he always came across as a decent man of impressive reasonableness, compassion and good humour, always ready to argue against unfairness, injustice, and corruption among the powerful and always happy to promote the work of writers and artists who might need a retweet or two.
He was, of course, also a comics fan and I didn't want his passing to go unmarked on here.
A Frank Frazetta cover heralds the arrival of a new era in Marvel Comics.
I believe Epic Illustrated was the first venture Marvel published which allowed creators to retain their rights to the stories and get royalties.
Rights? Royalties? Whatever would they think of next?
Any road, this thing would appear to have had a million pages and a million stories.
Among the ones which seem most notable are an eight-page Silver Surfer story, a similar length Elfquest one and a Jim Starlin tale called Za!
Apparently, it is the debut of Za.
I don't have a clue who Za is.
And I don't know if he's related to Zo.
If this doesn't get people excited about the Micronauts, nothing will, as the tiny titans come up against the deadly power of Psycho-Man.
How could anyone not love Psycho-Man?
Granted, the Micronauts probably don't love him but that's only because his box of tricks doesn't have a button for that particular emotion.
Excitement hits max overdrive, as the world's greatest comics company gives us its official adaptation of the second Star Wars film.
I wish I could comment on the quality of that adaptation but, even though I've read it, I genuinely don't remember anything about it, not even who drew it.
Was it another job for Howard Chaykin, as the first one had been?
Not content with flinging Star Wars at us, the company gives us that other great 1980 movie with, "Star," in the title.
It all means it's a chance for us to thrill, once more, to the world's slowest adventure movie.
Rick Jones is obviously the glue that holds the Marvel universe together but it looks like he's come a bit unstuck here as the Avengers have to win the Kree/Skrull War without him.
Not only that but, even worse, the world will have to survive without his subsequent singing career!
It's great news for all Star Wars fans because not only does Marvel give us an adaptation of the Empire Strikes Back, this month, it also gives us...
...two adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back, this month.
You have to hand it to Marvel, there aren't many companies would think to publish two adaptations of the same movie in the same month.
In fact, it would appear to be exactly the same adaptation published in two different comics.
I'm sure it made sense to Marvel.
Sad to hear about Brother Aggy. RIP
ReplyDeleteSame here, sad news.
ReplyDeleteHope everyone else is keeping well.
-sean
Considering Epic #1 was "a new experience in adult fantasy and science-fiction" it is a bit odd the cover was just a pic of Roman soldiers. You can see why they'd be into using Frank Frazetta to start the mag off, but even so...
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, Za was a character in Jim Starlin's Metamorphosis Odyssey series Steve, and three parts of it actually appeared in that issue.
The Empire Strikes Back adaptation was drawn by the mighty Al Williamson, an artist I really like, but by this stage his work was getting a bit formulaic and it did all seem too obviously drawn from film stills.
Mind you, that might be me not being into Star Wars - his work on Bladerunner for Marvel looked better...
-sean
Sorry to hear about Aggy. Rest well.
ReplyDeleteSteve, the Starlin story in Epic you mentioned is "Metamorphosis Odyssey ", nicely rendered in black and white. The middle chapter in this issue is indeed "Za", who is a somewhat brutish character in the tale. I think he unknowingly lent his name to a forgettable ad campaign for Pizza Hut some years ago...
The cartoonists of Marvel's Comix Book, an underground with Marvel imposed limits, retain their copyrights. Don;t know if they shared in the profits (doubt it).
ReplyDeleteRegarding "What if Rick Jones had died"...
ReplyDeleteI would right now, as I type, go to ebay (or my local library) and read "What if Rick Jones never found the bracelets in a cave and Captain Marvel stayed in the Negative Zone until his uniform changed back to its original green-white joy righteousness!"
DD, I'd totally forgotten about Comix Book. Thanks for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteSean and Red, thanks for the Za info.
Charlie, but what if Mar-Vell's costume would have got redder and bluer if not for Rick?
But it was the Supreme Intelligence who changed Captain Marvel's costume before he ever got to the Negative Zone, so why would Rick Jones not turning up change that at all either way?
ReplyDeleteErm... not that I'm trying to suggest it wouldn't be a good idea to get rid of Rick...
-seam
Well, thats embarassing when you can't even spell you're own name right, isn't it? Duh.
ReplyDeleteCall it lock down cabin fever.
-sean
It's always sad to lose a compatriot. RIP, Aggy.
ReplyDeleteWhen the first Star Trek movie came out I was dating a girl that was a borderline Trekkie.
Leaving the theatre we didn't say anything till after we ordered burgers at a diner.
Far as I know, Rick Jones is at least presented TWICE as the main focus of a story in the original What If? series. That's not counting pivotal moments in other issues.
As I've said previously, the What If? tale "What If The Avengers Had Never Been?" is a must-read. It features a armored Rick Jones, with pseudo-Vision powers, in battle with Namor.
As soon as the weather warms up around here I'm going spelunking. With my Chameleon-grade Rick Jones mask. Them dang bands gotta be somewhere.
Phew... Killdumpster is back! I was afraid the Corona Virus (not Corona 12 pack) had gotten to you and what with your recent work injury...
ReplyDeleteSean - I'll buy any "What If" hear and now (or get the TBP from my library) that changes Mar-vell back to righteous green and white! My heart would weep with joy! That uniform is to comics what Michael Angelo's Pieta is to sculpture!
SDC - if Marv's uniform had become bluer and redder, well it would have finally looked so ridiculous that all of Marveldom would have told whomever (Gil Kane?) to dump it tout suite!
RIP Aggy. I have seen comments by him on various blogs and always assumed he went to Texas A&M who are called Aggies. But now I know.
Cheers!
Charlie, would you have settled for a green and white Ms Marvel in the late 70s? Or would that be political correctness gone mad?
ReplyDelete-sean
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ReplyDeleteMy abiding memory of Epic was 6 months of hype from Marvel outlining its new magazine to be called Odyssey!! and then an abrupt about-turn with a name change to Epic.Loved it at the time but #1 seemed to have a major problem with the amount of pages, the glossy cover was always under strain and eventually parted company with the rest of the magazine.Perhaps it was a marketing ploy by Marvel to increase the amount of sales as people bought second and third copies to replace the previous issue and so on!.Problem solved from #2 but for someone obsessed with buying nm comics it was very frustrating.Having said that I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteSean - I love and embrace so-called political correctness. Truly.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do not know how well the original CM uniform would look on a lady, due to the hair? I don't recall any female characters being totally hooded? I was thinking of The Cat but she has hair coming out the back.
That's my only concern is that it would look goofy on a lady.
Sean, as a touchback to Steve's previous post concerning Dazzler:
ReplyDeleteI was able to contact my old pal who was a sales rep for Polygram/Mercury-Universal/MCA, which carried Casablanca.
While he remembered the Marvel/Kiss magazine (he brought up the blood-in-the-ink novelty), he only had vague memories of a potential project. He had no clue exactly what it was, who the singer might have been, or why the deal went defunct.
To quote him, "Man! That was, like, 40 years ago! I was a rep that had to sell physical product! Development usually didn't peak my interest, till I got a mandate to push material."
Well, that's the corporate rock philosophy for you.
Farewell Aggy, RIP.
ReplyDeleteThat 'Epic Illustrated' cover is 100% homoerotic.
A lot of Frank Frazetta's work is homoerotic imo Colin.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask me - which you didn't, but I'm not about to let that get in the way - the sword and sorcery genre in general can be fairly homoerotic. I think its the combination of idealised male bodies and camp.
Conan, the musical -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBGOQ7SsJrw
-sean