Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Things were getting dramatic in July 1970, when two tear gas canisters were thrown into the chamber of the House of Commons.
By whom, I've no idea.
For what purpose, I've no idea.
Sadly, the Wikipedia article which furnished me with this information totally failed to furnish me with any explanation for it.
Doubtless, the only tears being shed in Egypt, right then, were ones of joy, as it was the month in which the Aswan High Dam was completed.
That might have seemed like a major achievement for the Eqyptians but it was nothing compared to the one Thor Heyerdahl was trying to prove, that month.
His papyrus boat Ra II arrived in Barbados, as he attempted to justify his belief that, in such boats, the Ancient Egyptians may have been able to cross the Atlantic and contact the peoples of the New World. And blow me down if he wasn't succeeding in his attempt.
No doubt, lots of people were also succeeding in Edinburgh, as it was holding the Commonwealth Games. Granted, far more people were likely to be losing than winning but I'm trying to put a positive spin on things.
But easily the most surprising news from July 1970 is it was the last ever month in which the Royal Navy issued grog to its crews.
Frankly, discovering the crews of our nuclear submarines would no longer be supplied with copious amounts of booze horrifies me. Now how could they be expected to handle Polaris Missiles responsibly?
The Man-Ape is back - and out for revenge against the Avengers.
To be honest, you wouldn't expect a man whose only talent is wearing a dead gorilla would give the combined members of the world's mightiest super-team any great challenge.
Somehow, though, I suspect he will.
The plot of this one evades my recall but it would appear that, for some reason, SHIELD suspects Cap of being a traitor and he has to prove his loyalty; presumably, by smashing that leaping gentleman in the face.
But I suspect it's all a subterfuge and Nick Fury's just pretending to distrust Cap, in order to flush the true villain out into the open.
I'm assuming this means Brimstone's going to meet a tarry doom.
This has all been brought about by the horny hero investigating murder on the set of Karen Page's current soap opera.
Well, not really, as they're just up against robot replicas, thanks to the Puppet Master and Mad Thinker.
Sadly, it all goes wrong for the villainous pair when their Hulkbot acts a little too much like the real Hulk for their welfare.
Thinking about it, he doesn't even have that, because he doesn't have a mind.
But the Leader does and he uses it to resurrect and then control the muddy menace.
Is this the issue in which the Leader reverts to his original identity as a lowly truck driver, in order to trick Bruce Banner?
Whatever those reasons, I'm sure the security of Stark Industries'll be jeopardised, requiring Iron Man to get involved.
Unknown to her, Spidey's got the flu, making him well below-par.
And she still flees, in a panic, the moment he threatens to fight back.
If this issue was done to sell the new Black Widow to readers, in preparation for her gaining her own series, this story doesn't do a great job of it. Stan could, at least, have had her give Spidey a decent fight.
The Stranger's holding the Abomination, along with a host of other beings from around the universe, in his prison when Thor comes blundering into it all to try and help them out.
Thanks to this, Don Blake finds himself having to take them all on, armed only with a walking stick.
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16 comments:
Holy Moley!
This is the time I started buying comics on my own!!! I bought Spidey 86 of a display in the nearby drugstore. To be honest the story let me down because of the "to be continued" ending in the context of "was spidey losing his spidey powers."
I was not apparently old enough to be jazzed by the black widow, having just turned 9.
As I look at Cap and the Panther on the Avengers cover, and the incredible amount of slack that the Ma-Ape has in their uniform as he grips them, I can only assume they have the world's biggest wedgies.
Mercifully Cap and Panther are facing us and not the other way.
The CS gas in the Commons was a protest against the British army's then fairly new habit of regularly gassing the public in Derry, Steve.
Your assumptions about Captain America #127 are slightly off - that leaping gentleman is actually an android, and Fury really did suspect Cap, as Sharon Carter had said he might be an imposter because he'd dumped her (what other explanation could there possibly be?) - but you're right about events flushing out the true villain.
Its a bit of a rubbish story, but worth tracking down for the rather excellent artwork by the unusual team of Gene Colan and Wally Wood.
-sean
Ah, you're getting mighty close to the end (temporary end, for almost 4 years) end of my childhood Marvel-buying period. The only book I had was Spidey, albeit I picked up several others years after. Jazzy Johnny Romita aced the new Widow costume! Yes, not much of a fight, but then Pete's illness provided more drama next issue...
Sean- that Cap issue honestly looks rather 'meh', but it warrants investigation if only for the Wood inks you mentioned.
Verily, it doth be a strong crop of comics from this month, Steve.
I'm rather amazed at the Daredevil comic. Daredevil is sinking in the La Brea Tar Pits?!? (or some facsimile thereof)
Was this when he was hanging out in California with Black Widow and Moondragon?
And why are there living mammoths?
I confess I'm intrigued. The cover did it's job. I'm gonna hafta google this, or else I won't get a wink of sleep tonight.
M.P.
Pretty sure Black Widow is still at least an Amazing Adventures run away from being Daredevil's co-star M.P.
Not to mention its a few years til Moondragon turns up. And, as I recall, Shanna the She-devil (that DD seemed to do quite well with the ladies...)
-sean
He certainly seemed to, Sean. There was a succession of comely heroines in his comic.
On another note, the Glob.
If comics have taught us anything, it's never go into a swamp under any circumstances.
Particularly if you are a scientist, wealthy scoundrel, cult leader or escaped convict.
You WILL be transformed into a shambling, hideous monster.
M.P.
MP, I'm pretty sure the mammoths weren't alive. They were just museum exhibits. Sadly, there wasn't a prehistoric mammal equivalent of Stegron around to revive them.
Red, I would say that Spidey story is my favourite of this month's crop.
Sean, thanks for the tear gas and Captain America info.
Charlie, the thing that strikes me about that Avengers cover is Man-Ape has decided to stand with his back to the most-powerful Avengers, with his hands occupied. I fear he's only moments away from unconsciousness.
Yeah, I can't see the Man-Ape taking on the Vision. That fight would end pretty quick. There's a lotta hyperbole in all these covers, but that's what covers do.
But I still think, doggone it, if you're gonna show wooly mammoths on the cover than they oughtta show up somewhere in the story.
There's a principle involved here.
M.P.
Another belter of a month for Marvel.As always I am biased as anything Marvel put out at the time I read but there is a wide variety of quality with the benefit of hindsight!FF was an all time favourite with me and the magic still remains.I thought it was an amazing cover and the artwork was great.(Interesting sidenote that I found out 30 years later being the issue was originally double sized to celebrate the 100th issue which might explain the incredibl pace of the reduced story with every villain defeated in 2 or 3 panels which I thought at the time was genius!!!)Always thought that Hulk cover was also incredible and I love the Hulk stories more now than then!Spiderman was always at the top of my must read list though this issue was not as good as the 3 part Schemer/Kingpin that had just ended.The Avengers were never better and curiously I thought the loose costumes added to the reality of the image and I had never seen this before!Thor proved that Buscema was the obvious replacement for Kirby though we did not know this at the time!Daredevil had strange stories at the time but with amazing artwork and similarly Cap was rudderless storywise but the artwork was at a peak.If you have never seen Cap #127 please look it up for an unforgetable art team of Colan and Wally Wood.One of the artistic highpoints in Marvel!(I know that is a wild statement to make but even as a kid of 8 who thought the story was everything and the art was unimportant, I loved the artwork and never forgot how it blew me away).Ironman was readable but contained no real excitement for me but it would improve greatly from #40 onwards. Great post and always enjoy your take on Marvel in its heyday!
Thanks, FFF and thanks for such an in-depth analysis of this month's comics.
Yeah, I concur with F.F.F, I recently saw the results of a collaboration between Colan and Wood, both favorites of mine in their own right, over at Peerless Power of Comics. They made for a surprisingly good combo, despite (or because of) their very different styles.
M.P.
FFF
When you say FF #100 was originally double sized, are you aware if additional artwork was produced? As published, it does feel rushed and quite poorly edited (particularly given that Kirby could plot 20 odd pages in his sleep, at the time). If it was held at standard size for economic reasons (presumably concern over a 25 cent 'regular' issue) it's ironic that #116 was a double-sized issue only 16 months later. Annuals aside, had there been any 25 cent regular issues from Marvel?
DW
The double-sized Silver Surfer issues occurred to me after I'd posted. It appears that FF #100 came out around the time Silver Surfer was cancelled and so perhaps this added doubt to a 25 cent price point.
DW
The info on FF 100 came from The Jack Kirby Collector some years ago and they published at least one page of unpublished artwork which featured Hulk and the Puppet Master. However the owner of the artwork had inked it himself(badly). Would love further info if anyone has it. It should have been a special issue to celebrate perhaps the finest run of comics ever with particular emphasis on the first 20 issues and especially #36-77....sensational run of art and story that is the gold standard, never bettered! Just my opinion of course.
Hard to believe a whole double-sized FF #100 was actually produced, even just as pencils - or that enough artwork survived heavy editing - as Marvel would surely have published a completed version by now, as an anniversary special or something.
DW, the Surfer was a regular 15c comic on cancellation, so I don't know how far the higher price point of the earlier issues would have come into question.
But of course Kirby was shifted over to work on #18, which - along with starting on his Inhumans series for Amazing Adventures #1 (cover dated Aug '70) - might well have been a factor in deciding against an increase in his FF workload.
-sean
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