Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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December 1970 saw humanity reach for the sky when the World Trade Center's North Tower topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world. However, it would be another two and a half years before the complex would be ready to open.
The Valkyrie makes her debut and the Not-So-New Masters of Evil make their return, as the Avengers head for Rutland and its Halloween celebrations, only to discover foul deeds are afoot.
But what can be the shocking secret of the tonsorially terrific warrior woman?
And how does it tie in with a remarkable new invention?
I seem to recall the Red Skull also, at one point, getting his hands on a Bucky Barnes robot and using it against Cap.
All of which raises the question, "Is there a factory, somewhere, that churns out Bucky Barnes robots?"
My main memories of this tale are that Sue Storm gets some solo action, instead of just standing around while Reed tells her to shut up, and Crystal discovers the atmosphere of our non-Inhuman world is going to kill her, unless she returns home.
Truly, drama cannot get any more dramatic.
That does seem unlikely. How, exactly, does one inadvertently turn into a robot?
Oh. Hold on. Does a robot come to the Earth, befriend an Earthwoman and then set out to save her from some criminals?
I must confess, the second idea seems far more plausible.
Except, anyone with a functioning brain can see Bullitt's as big a crook as the criminals he's pledging to destroy.
Needless to say, that means J Jonah Jameson thinks he's as honest as the day is long.
And that means it's Don Blake who has to work out a way to tackle the country's armour-clad despot.
The Juggernaut makes his wall-demolishing debut and Professor X reveals all about the origin of the human bulldozer who happens to be his semi-sibling.
We're obviously into that era of speech bubbles on covers. Not something I'd want to last for ever but definitely something that has a good nostalgic feel to it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, in about a year's time we get to those covers where it's just a plain colour behind the masthead with a square shaped picture underneath it, with lots of covers drawn by Gil Kane even when he wasn't drawing what's inside the comic. That was another short lived cover phase but not one that I can look back on fondly.
In other news
- I do like Avengers #83, even if it turned the Masters Of Evil into a joke for a long time. Probably up to Hercules being nearly killed, way after my time.
- and that Spider-Man comic features not one but two of those Gil Kane 2/3rds page "where where where" type panels. I'm sure you know what I mean.
At the risk of sounding picky about another of your great posts so soon after the last time Steve, is Avengers #83 really the debut of the fabulous Valkyrie?
ReplyDeleteIts a good looking issue of course, but unlike my colleague dangermash I have a fairly low opinion of the story. But then I am the sort of metropolitan elitist shill who thinks the ladies had a point.
And that superhero-themed Halloween parade - the one thats also in an issue of Batman, and whatever else it was a bit later - is too overdone an in joke for my taste.
Don't know about factories anywhere churning out Bucky-bots, but I believe that particular one in Cap #132 came from Latveria, as it was built by Dr Doom. Who you'd think would have better things to do with his time.
And how come Modok needs to outsource robot sidekick construction anyway? AIM made the Cosmic Cube ffs!
-sean
That Avengers cover has always bugged me. Goliath's head must be at least two foot wide if not three yet Valkyrie's left foot looks about 6 inches high. Either she should be posing like a ballerina or half of Clint's head should be underground. Although if I'm being honest I did enjoy the story.
ReplyDeleteUnknown, I agree. His head seems to be unnaturally devoid of width.
ReplyDeleteSean, I agree that, by the time the Rutland parade - and its assorted comic creators - showed up in the pages of Thor, it had become annoying and self-indulgent but, in this story, I feel it's novel enough to not be a problem.
Dangermash, I always loved speech balloons on covers. They added a certain charm to proceedings.
Ole Charlie pulled FF 105 out of the long box to have a trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteSteve... your truly venerable, near-mythical memory is no match for all the subplots here!
Ben, Johnny and Crystal are hanging out on the street. Crystal collapses, Johnny flies her to Reed. While this happens the "mysterious glowing thing" starts destroying the city and Ben starts rescuing folks.
Sue is shopping while Glower is destroying things and starts rescuing folks. (Sue loves bling bling!)
While Reed examines Crystal, he learns the earth's pollution is toxic for her. He also learns her blood may have a chemical to revert Thing to Ben.
Ben shows up, all beat to crap, to tell Reed something is destroying the city. Johnny literally says, "Reed we can tell you about that later, what about Crystal?!"
Lockjaw takes Crystal to Inhuman City. Johnny flies off in a temper tantrum and eventually starts helping Sue. But the big SNAFU is Reed starts converting the Thing to Ben and can't stop the process while at the same time he learns Sue is in deep, really deep, do-do.
Long story short, the pacing of 105 should have been spread over a few issues or subplots reduced. The story is just too contrived and actually annoying with the Sue vs. Ben dilemma Reed faces because Johnny (aka The Enfante Terrible) and Ben forget the Glower is wrecking the city.
And this is way too long of a comment further suggesting the story had way too many moving parts, lol!
Romita's art is fine of course, but the delta between his and Kirby's is hurtful. C'est la vie.
B.t.w. in FF 105 their origin is recounted again. While clearly Cap holds the record for cover references to retelling his origin, I am not sure he holds the records for the innards mentioning it?
ReplyDeleteEveryone does realize we are only 23 issues away from the MOTHER of all the retellings of Cap's origin which will ultimately change the Marvel world we live in the MOTHER of all ways!
ReplyDeleteWe won't need no more stinking Bucky robots...
This is indeed an impressive array of of classic Marvel mags you've assembled for us, Steve.
ReplyDeleteAny one of these issues could spark a lively and probably unhinged discussion.
I've got that issue of the Avengers and I really dug it. Thanks to Gerber and Kraft's handling of the character in the Defenders, I've always been a huge fan of the Valkyrie.
Even an ersatz Valkyrie like the one here is something to behold.
The Conan issue is great too.
Is it just me or does Hyboria seem to abound with savage man-apes? It seems like back then you couldn't throw a rock without hitting one of 'em in the head with it, although I would not recommend doing so.
I can think of two bestial yet cunning missing links in Howard's stories. Remember Thak? That hairy bugger was shrewd. Diabolical, really.
If we are to believe the Nemedian Chronicles, races of people were always getting either hurled back into ape-dom or slowly and painfully climbing out of it.
After these last few years, I'm beginning to believe Howard was onto something.
M.P.
Happy memories indeed. Loved the Avengers but the stand out issue for me was Thor #183. Loved the story and art and due to comic distribution at the time I did not read the first part until years later.... but that's a common story for all of us of a certain age who lived in the era of LBCS.. Life Before Comic Shops! Great Post. Please keep up the good work, it is appreciated.
ReplyDeleteCharlie said, "Bust out the Cap long box!" So, I did, unwrapped the mylar holding #132...
ReplyDeleteThe cover caught me by surprise... why is the Bucky waiting 20 years? That would take him back to 1950, not 1944? I asked Charlie but he don't know.
Falcon is butt hurt being replaced by the Bucky.
This Bucky-bot was created by Dr. Doom for Modok and had been implanted with a bunch of Buck-memories. The memories suddenly flood Bucky-bot and cause him to self destruct before he crushes Cap (his foot is caught in a crevice) with a boulder (see cover.)
As Cap examines the Bucky Cap calls him an android. Was the Bucky a bot or a droid...? IT's a bit humerous in a way... looks like the Bucky popped the cassette tape out of his noggin?
Poor old Johhny Storm (sounds like a line from a Dexys Midnight Runners' song) couldn't get a break with Crystal. This throwback to the classic era separation seemed a bit post-Kirby knee jerk. I read this, and subsequent stories, in The Titans and Captain Britain and so they remain warmly nostalgic. Wasn't this the issue that Sue wore a flared trouser suit? Ironically, still in fashion when this was reprinted in Britain around 1976.
ReplyDeleteDW
Okay this is news worthily odd...
ReplyDeleteIn the Soap Box, Stan is thanking Sgt. Landsberger in Viet Nam for a photo of their V-100 Armored Vehicle (google the V100) named Captain America. Other vehicles are named Thor, Iron Man, Daredevil...
The actual name of the base was Phu Loi. (Google it.) Not sure why the "typo" unless it was to fool the commies? Or the censors? Of Stan the Man?
I'm sure the natives of Phu Loi are faithful readers of those mags 50 years later?
It would be nice to think there are now kids and adults in Viet Nam enjoying Marvel Comics, Charlie.
ReplyDeleteEven places where the most awful things have happened, humanity can bounce back. Like with Germany.
M.P.
If you can't get 'em with your armies, do it with your culture instead M.P.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why you lot didn't try it the other way round in Vietnam - sending a people loads of Jack Kirby comics and Miles Davis records strikes me as a much more humane and effective way to influence them than dropping bombs. Cheaper for the US too.
-sean
One might have thought that after seeing Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man go down in flames, and watching Natasha / Black Widow idle away her time shopping, generally admiring bling bling, and (literally in one earlier appearance) eating Bonbons that Ho Chi Mihn would have seen the light...
ReplyDeleteI mean, he was educated in Paris and surely would have known that even Batroc was no match for the Americans.
(Did Batroc and Swordsman ever team up to do some dastardly work? As a child I always had those two being "close" perhaps due to the moustache?)
The Conan story ("Lair Of The Beast-Men" is the actual title) was the first Conan story I ever read when it was printed (in full) in Marvel UK's Savage Sword Of Conan #2 in March 1975. The plot is basically Spartacus meets Planet Of The Apes in the Hyborian Age.
ReplyDeleteMP, you didn't reveal the identity of the second of the "bestial yet cunning missing links in Howard's stories". Conan fights a man-ape in "Iron Shadows In The Moon" (or "Shadows In The Moonlight" as the story was originally titled in 1934) but that particular man-ape isn't at all cunning - he hides in the trees for most of the story until he's overwhelmed by lust for Olivia (the obligatory scantily-clad wench) and tries to grab her. Not a clever move when Conan's around!
Dangermash-
ReplyDeleteLike Steve, I liked word-bubbles, banners, and text on the covers. Throw in some action, an interesting villain and the book is sold. I usually didn't have the time to leaf through a book, so I had to "judge a book by it's cover".
Only had the Avengers & FF issues featured. FF #105 was quite a captivating book for a little 8 year old boy. The action and story was all over the place. I re-read that book till it was thread-bare. Think that was the book that I sent away for my Marvel statues from.
Steve, didn't Valkerie debut in Incredible Hulk? And wasn't the Valkerie in Avengers #83 really the Enchantress? Man, I hate being partially brain-damaged.
Ooh! I actually had one of these hot off the spinner rack back in the day!
ReplyDeleteI was just 9, still a few years away from lunch money and a decent weekly allowance (meaning I wasn’t yet buying and collecting comics regularly). I acquired THOR 183 by staying home from school with a bad cold or flu — Mom picked it up for me after dropping my (non-sick) brothers off at school.
I have semi-coherent memories of the Mjolnir bit. Thor loses his Uru hammer while battling Doom in Latveria, doesn’t retrieve it in time and reverts to being plain old Don Blake. Doom tries to lift Mjolnir himself, fails, and then covers it with an impenetrable force bubble and storms off in a huff. I vividly recall a few panels of Blake digging through a smoldering section of earth beneath the force dome to retrieve the hammer but couldn’t for the life of me remember WHY the ground is all blasted and red-hot. Just now re-read the story and I have to say Blake’s Hammer Rescue plan is both ingenious and ludicrous. I get the feeling Stan may have left that part of the plot up to Big John to figure out for himself, but who knows.
Anyhow, it was fun to re-visit that little fragment of Early Nerd-dom.
b.t.
Remember how dismayed I was when Val joined the Defenders. Originally was angry that she was Namor's replacement.
ReplyDeleteGuess I liked the early issues, when the book was a battling "boy's club", without so much soap-opera. I just started to take a shine to her, then that annoying Jack Norris started showing up. Wish Dr. Strange would've just erased his memory, and sent him on his way. His constant whining out-classed the Silver Surfer.
b.t.-
ReplyDeleteBeing sick or injured always guaranteed a couple comics were on the way. Lol.
Like you, I didn't get an allowance, and resorted to fishing couch/chairs/car seats for lost change. That, and picking up returnable bottles along roadways. I used my lunch money for comics till I was 13, that's when I got a job at a chicken farm and was able to get subscriptions.
Hey, UK brothers, just heard you folks are going to have the vaccine available tomorrow. Is there stipulations/requirements on who takes it, and ARE you going to take it?
ReplyDeleteOne has to wonder about how fast-tracked it's development was. I can't believe there wasn't a bit of fudging and cut-corners involved. Hope it doesn't cause tentacles to shoot out of our noses.
Also heard that there are holiday restrictions,called "Christmas bubbles", in your country. Are any of you going to follow those guidelines?
Since COVID supposively had something to do with bats, maybe there's some bat DNA in the vaccine.
ReplyDeleteHa! We're all going to change into Man-Bat!! Lmao! Hmm... That might be kinda cool...
KD - I don't know how it is in the boondocks of Pennsylvania but in Chicago Land it is "whatever."
ReplyDeleteThe rule is "no indoor seating. tents are OK with two open sides."
In my town...
The most popular restaurant has no indoor seating but a tent, with 4 sides, packed.
Another resto has only indoor seating and no tent.
Another wine bar has indoor and 2-sided tent.
Long story short, the owner of one told me the police came by and said if someone complains they will probably shut me down and I may lose my food and my liquor license. She said, "w.t.f is the difference? If I stay closed any longer I will lose all of it anyhow."
Yeah, that was the Enchantress in Avengers #83 Kd, and I think it might have been a different Val - not Barbara Norris anyway - in whatever issue of the Hulk she turned up in beforehand. So I don't know what would be considered her debut.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, there is a festive bubble planned for the UK, as Boris Johnson does not want to go down in history as the first British ruler to ban Christmas since the war criminal Oliver Cromwell.
But as the current government debate over Scotch eggs shows, its hard to know how their guidelines will work in practice.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/01/scotch-egg-is-definitely-a-substanial-meal-says-michael-gove
-sean
*Corrected link -
ReplyDeletewww.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/01/scotch-egg-is-definitely-a-substantial-meal-says-michael-gove
-sean
Sean, I admit to not knowing shit from shinola about most of UK history but they named a WW 2 tank after Cromwell. He must have been OK?
ReplyDeleteSean, if I understand correctly, whether a meal is "substantial" or not dictates if a restaurant can serve booze to a 16 year old or food during COVID?
ReplyDeleteSo, the Cabinet dude is morphed his opinion that the egg was not, then was, so that restaurants can serve scotch eggs and technically call it a "substantial" meal?
I love y'alls press. Later on in the article the pizza man says his slices "were f$cking massive!" and should be considered a meal, lol!
But the article talks about "pies" and as you know Charlie is fascinated by you Brits really loving to eat pie.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys think a pork pie is a meal or a snack?
Charlie, I'm pretty sure most people would view both pork pies and Scotch eggs as being snacks.
ReplyDeleteOliver Cromwell was definitely not OK.
KD, as far as I can make out, the vaccine will be given to the most vulnerable first. There seems to be major doubt as to how long it'll be before it can be administered to the general population, as further supplies of it may be difficult to attain.
When it comes to the Christmas bubbles, I think most people are now totally clueless about what they are and aren't allowed to do. The government seems to issue fresh edicts virtually every day. I shall definitely not be mixing with people over Christmas but that's because I'm terminally anti-social.
The Valkyrie who showed up in the Hulk's book was sort-of the Valkyrie we know and love but, thanks to the Enchantress, her spirit had taken over the body of a women's lib campaigner called Samantha Parrington, so wasn't quite the same as the Barbara Norriss version.
Bt, MP, FFf, and KD, I didn't have any of these issues at the time but, thanks to reprints, I would say the Thor, FF, Hulk and Avengers stories are my favourites.
Colin, thanks for the issue #2 info.
Sean, thanks for the links.
DW, Sue did indeed wear a trouser suit and, needless to say, Jazzy John made her look great in it.
The status of pies is a bit of a hot potato Charlie.
ReplyDeleteYes, thats right about drinks only being served with a substantial meal... but thats just in areas covered by tier 2 restrictions. Up north they're mostly under tier 3 rules where you can't serve drinks or meals, although I think takeaways are allowed.
(Further north, in Scotland I believe they have 4 tiers)
The government are continually morphing, but don't ask me to explain Michael Gove. You wouldn't believe it anyway. (It did make me laugh to read this afternoon they actually sent him to Brussels today to try and sort out the Brexit negotiations).
Don't get me started on Cromwell; lets just say the Irish generally see him very differently to how the Brits do.
-sean
Regarding attire in FF 105:
ReplyDeleteSue is wearing a blue pants suit (matching coat and pants).
Crystal is wearing a red-pink dress barely thigh high. She looks quite fetching with orange hair. Surely, were she to sit down she would be obliged to cross her legs. (Sean! Did I just use something called the "subjunctive" in English, the bane of students of french LOL???)
Ben has rust pants, white t, and sandals.
Johnny has a brown pants and blue t.
Reed still has the classic FF uniform.
Oliver Cromwell is a complicated figure for sure. Yes, he was horrible to the Irish but he is also remembered as the champion of the rights of Parliament and he ended centuries of absolute monarchy by chopping off Charles I's head. He was also a Protestant fundamentalist who supposedly banned Christmas but he also invited the Jews back to Britain after they'd been expelled in 1290. When Cromwell died in 1658 his body was embalmed and buried in Westminster Abbey but when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660 he encouraged a mob to break into the Abbey, remove Cromwell's body and chop its' head off. That should please Sean.
ReplyDeleteThe vaccine will be given to old people and healthcare workers first but considering we are on the brink of crashing out of the EU with no trade deal I wonder if it matters whether we get the vaccine or not. We're all doomed!
But look on the bright side Colin - at least you won't have to worry about le subjonctif Francais after the end of the month.
ReplyDelete-sean
Colin, I seem to remember a third "bestial yet cunning" ape guy from Conan, this one from "The Flame Knife", a story where Conan is trapped in some kind of labyrinth. Sorta like the myth of the Minotaur. The man-ape in question here was white-haired and ate people like I eat fried chicken. Occasionally.
ReplyDeleteGeez, there are a lotta these. like I said, they abounded. One was around every corner.
K.D., I think Jack Norris was kinda like the Snapper Car of the Defenders. Like Snapper he was annoying and trouble-prone, but because the Defenders turned the idea of a super-team on it's head and it being the '70's, Jack was also neurotic, confused, resentful and obsessed with his ex-wife who wasn't really Barbara Norriss anymore. I don't think I understand WHAT happened to her.
Still, I liked Jack. He handled himself pretty well as Scorpio's hostage and even tried to talk sense into him. He identified with Scorpio, and was sympathetic. They both felt like they got screwed over by life, but Jack didn't let that utterly consume him like Jake Fury did.
M.P.
ReplyDeleteIn the dead of night, he hops the gate, shimmies the drainpipe, walks like a cat along the ledge, to hop in through the window, and find himself amongst us in this blog while we sleep.
Who is he? Is it the man himself Michael Fagan? No! It is that sly, cool cat MP!
MP - you da man! But I think you are Fagan in disguise!!!
While M.P. does have a certain feline grace, he's 52 years old and not about to "shimmy" up any drainpipes.
ReplyDelete...I did climb up the side of a Bed and Breakfast once after losing my key and entering through the back yard. I had to; I awakened the guard dog. I had to enter through the second-story window. I was maybe 21 years old.
I went up the side of that house like Spider-Man, and I was drunker than a monkey when I did it. It was either that or be killed.
M.P.
MP, I own a complete collection of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories so I must inform you there is no story called "The Flame Knife" but Conan fighting a man-ape in some kind of labyrinth underground sounds like a scene from "Hour of The Dragon" and in "The Jewels Of Gwahlur" there's a whole lost city of man-apes which are white-haired I think (I really must get around to re-reading some Conan stories).
ReplyDeleteA pedant writes -
ReplyDelete"The Flame Knife" was a Howard co-write, a previously unpublished story about El Borak - a Texan gunfighter who lived with the freedom-loving people of Afghanistan (a Rambo 3 reference there, which seems somehow appropriate ;) - which the impressively named L. Sprague de Camp recast as a Conan story set in the Hyborian land of Iranistan.
Yep, Iranistan. I wonder how long it took him to come up with that one.
-sean
People have been busting REH’s balls for his lazy Hyborian Age nomenclature for decades — I think Lovecraft even called him on it when they were pen-pals. Yeah, “Iranistan” is pretty hilarious, as is “Vendhya”. Some are pretty good tho — “Stygia” for serpent-haunted prehistoric Egypt is clever and evocative.
ReplyDeleteb.t.