Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
It is time to smash, face first, into 1981 and the comics which bore the cover date of February for that year.
Possibly, for the first time, he finds himself up against a homicidal rug.
I do believe Yag-kosha, the pachydermal humanoid from Tower of the Elephant, puts in a guest appearance, if only in illusory form.
Fortunately, he has the new Union Jack to help him - plus a new-found willingness to chop people's heads off.
Fortunately, the Fantastic Four are there to deal with them.
Or are they? One can't help but notice Sue's acting very oddly, all of a sudden...
I can't help feeling I've said this all before. I can't imagine where...
This newcomer isn't actively malevolent but is, clearly, going to get a load of people killed if he doesn't sort himself out.
Needless to say, that doesn't stop him still dating Debbie while wishing, all the time, that he was with the other girl.
You can start to see why the other kids in high school didn't like him.
Meanwhile, the Wizard's out to get Spidey, for reasons I can't remember.
But who is his mysterious accomplice?
And why, at no point, are we allowed to see his face?
Yet again, I can't help feeling I've said this all before...
That's the plan, anyway.
What really happens is Thor shows up and flattens the lot of them.
Kitty Pryde's travelled to the past to prevent the future in which the Sentinels have taken over America and killed all its super-beings - even the ones whose comics sell well.
This leads to a clash with the New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led by Mystique.
But has Kitty done enough to prevent that future from happening?
And where does this all leave John Connor?
Posts
39 comments:
Once again, thank heaven for John Byrne, or this week’s haul would have been a total wash-out.
I think I was still stubbornly buying CONAN at this point in time — that cover looks very familiar — in the hope that maybe someone SOMEHOW would figure out a way to make it an entertaining comic once again. Sadly, I don’t think it ever happened.
I definitely had that AVENGERS, one of Don Newton’s rare Marvel outings. Don’t remember much else about it.
Pretty sure I never had this AMAZING SPIDEY. I’d given up on the book around the time of the first Madame Web story. I have a ton of love and respect for the recently departed Denny O’Neil, but I remember his run on Spidey as being remarkably excitement-free. The art was no great shakes, either. J.R. Jr. hadn’t yet figured out a dynamic path of his own, that didn’t make him look like a weak clone of Jazzy Johnny. And with Journeyman Jim Mooney inking on auto-pilot, it all just looks like Generic Marvel Art (c). And for gods sake, poor Debra Whitman...
b.t.
Thats Sabra on the cover of Hulk #256 Steve - did you know that she was named after an indigenous Israeli fruit that has a sweet interior and a prickly outer surface?
With that kind of approach to names it was lucky Marvel's first British superhero wasn't called The Yorkshire Pudding! Although somehow that sounds familiar, like I've heard the name before but I don't know where...
That Cap story is of course the first appearance of the world-beating third Union Jack, currently taking back control in Marvel's delayed - how appropriate! - The Union.
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/brexit-marvel-comics-the-union-2/
-sean
Sean... your remarks seem vaguely familiar?
Yep... it's a wonder Marvel didn't build on that "fruit" them and start naming heroines "Rhubarb" or "Champagne Currant" or "Sorrel." Maybe "Blood Sausage" would have been a good one too?
Sean - We had the great fortune of watching the Exeter Chiefs play the London Irish live on the sports network today (at leas I think it was live). So would you be cheering for the London Irish? I mean, you being Irish and living in London? Or is this a bad assumption?
Loved that Cap run. Baron Blood was a good story. Union Jack was cool enough... would have been cooler if Fr*nk R*bbins had drawn it, bridging the gap between the past and the future having been an Invaders artist.
Actually I am curious if FR was the first artist to draw Union Jack?
And was UJ's first appearance in the Invaders way back in the 1970s?
Charlie - In Britain, blood sausage is called, "black pudding" - c.f. the famous episode of the Goodies, in respect of the martial art, "Ecky thump" !
Phillip
Funnily enough Phillip, Ecky Thump would have worked as a name for the third Union Jack as he was - still is, I guess - a Manc.
Charlie, iirc Cap #254 had a dedication to Fr*nk R*bb*ns as the first UJ artist.
I had to look up what you were going on about before that, as I have zero interest in rugby.
-sean
Charlie, on the subject of sport, the World Black Pudding Throwing Championship sounds like it might be up your street. Seems after being cancelled last year its on again in September (pandemic restrictions permitting).
They throw them at Yorkshire Puddings! Apparently its a Lancashire thing going back to the War of the Roses...
https://en.wikpedia.org/wiki/World_Black_Pudding_Throwing_Championships
-sean
*Corrected link -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Black_Pudding_Throwing_Championships
I have a sentimental attachment to that Conan comic. '81? I must've been twelve or thirteen, and I had a paper route in this dinky little town in northwest Iowa.
Fostoria. Look it up. We were so small we didn't have a town drunk or a village idiot, so people took turns, working in shifts.
Anyway, that paper route was a pretty good gig. I didn't make dick in terms of money, and would soon have to get a job as a dishwasher in the local restaurant on the highway.
But I enjoyed it. It was after school, and I would pick up the papers at the local post office. And I would do my route, walking around with my head in the clouds daydreaming as I was wont to do back then.
My mom said, "As long as you're stopping by the post office, pick up our mail." Now at this time, I had got myself three subscriptions to Marvel, including Conan. What this meant was, two or three times a month (sometimes I'd get two on the same day) I would get a nice little surprise in the mail mailed flat in brown paper. I'd do my route anticipating getting home and reading and re-reading that sumbitch.
This issue of Conan was one such issue! And I thought it was great. I was into anything Buscema drew and I thought the story was moving. Conan encounters his grandfather, who is supposed to be long dead after wondering out into the snowy wastes of Cimmeria as a wizened old man to die, as according to tribal custom.
But here he is, younger, hale and fit, thanks to a Faustian bargain he has made.
While the demonic villain is somewhat underwhelming (yeah, Steve, he does look like a moving shag carpet with eyes) the pathos of Conan meeting his grandfather again and losing him again struck me as a kid.
I wish one of my three subscriptions had been to Captain America! The other two were Hulk and the Avengers. The Hulk was mediocre and the Avengers just flat-out sucked.
Captain America was pretty good at this point.
M.P.
Loved the Baron Blood two-parter. I wish that Stern/Byrne/Rubenstein had been able to work on Cap longer. I had basically pulled away from comics to the most part, especially Marvel, before Cap’s exploits drew me back in.
I was a big Don Newton fan and was excited to see him drawing the Avengers. Unfortunately he only drew the one part....can’t remember who drew the other part, but it was disappointing after seeing Newton draw the first.
I meant "wandering" not "wondering."
...dammit! Poor spelling skills.
M.P.
Is MP - the elusive cat - going to get CH-47 an address to get a free shipment of DC's Starman, Ray, and Black Condor or is Charlie going to drop them off at the Good Will?
That is the question... of the evening... in 0 degree Chicago land where the wind is randomly whipping the powdered snow and if one squints they see the Great White Buffalo!
Charlie - Now you wrote 'CH-47', I finally understand your handle! I suppose it's better than calling yourself Mr.Boeing Vertol! ;)
Phillip
Phillip - Yep, you got it! And to top if off I flew "Charlie" models, lol, the CH-47C out of Schwabisch Hall, Germany.
I adopted the moniker b/c a fist fight nearly broke out in 1985 between two very senior pilots (Vietnam vets.. lots of combat flying... the complete antithesis of each other) in my unit over saying this to air traffic control when flying about.
So "Charlie Horse 47" suits me and reminds me of my chaotic life in the Army and Germany, lol.
Can I get a "Suits you sir!!!" LOL!
M.P. Charlie's got you covered. Your late-night missives on this site provide much mirth to Charlie that is much needed these days.
You UK chaps provide mirth as well but the postage over the pond is not trivial any more, lol.
Even DC Thomson started charging postage to ship me my Dandy and Oor WUllie annuals a few years back from Dundee Scotland! Outrage! Villains!
It is an outrage Charlie. I looked into pre-ordering the collected Neonomicon/Providence hardcover recently, which will only be available from Avatar in the US, but the shipping - oooof!
And we now have to pay taxes - and whatever charges delivery companies think they can get away with - on arrival for anything from Europe.
-sean
Sean - I must say that your first post above was a touch of genius. I just hope that you are duly rewarded in the market place under Brexit for it!
No worries Charlie - Irish citizens are now the only people with the right of free movement in both the UK and the EU, so I'll do ok out of Brexit.
-sean
Well, as get pummeled with snow here in the USA Chicago is not cut off from Kalamazoo!
Mind you, this is not as severe as Sheffield being cutoff from Leeds. Were you guys able to get the Hendos shipments rolling again?
(Charlie is still stunned to learn that Worcestshire sauce has anchovies!)
Charlie - I think Worcestershire sauce was based on a fermented fish sauce from ancient Rome, called Garum, but with a few extras herbs & spices added, to make it taste better.
When I was a kid, we had Worcestershire sauce flavour crisps (potato chips).
I've just checked my local Morrisons and - yes - Hendos is in stock! - £1.60 for 284ml !
Phillip
extra herbs & spices - damn typos!
Phillip, I think the fish sauce from ancient Rome was made from ROTTING fish - yum!
Sean, you'll be OK but Dominic Raab says the UK won't see the benefits of Brexit for 10 years!
Is that where tarter sauce came from?
Y'know, the stuff you put on fish so it don't taste like fish?
M.P.
This month's titles were non-distributed in Britain, as were next month's, and so were only available from specialty retailers. This made them more expensive and X-men #142 (and #143) were particularly expensive in the back issue market (imagine such a thing). At least a year later I was in there departure lounges at Gatwick airport (the other side of passport control) and the bookstore had piles of these issues (literally), which presumably had been held up in customs for some reason. I think it may have been due to the license to import Marvel comics changing company, or something similar. I wondered if this was just a scam by dealers but a google search of X-men pence copies returns hits for #141 but not #142. A cautionary Brexit tale from 40 years ago? Ironic given that X-men story is time travel related.
DW
DW - i have been reading the current overstreet price guide and it seems there are some big $$$ in UK priced marvel comics!!!
Charlie
That's ironic because during the 80's the US cent copies were promoted by dealers as more desirable than UK pence copies. I recall a fanzine article, around that time, where someone at Marvel confirmed that the pence copies were printed on the same press and at the same time as the cent copies. Apparently they were the last to be printed because the cover plate was changed , to reflect the currency, once the US initial print run was complete. I remember some collectors only wanting US editions, within ht back issue market, because the printing plates could wear and so the end of the print run (the pence editions) may not be as sharp as copies from the start of the print run. I think Marvel stated that realistically this would barely be noticeable and neither edition should be considered inferior or a reprint of the other.
The pence issue, sold at regular newsagents, and delivered by sea freight, took a couple of months to hit the shelves. Dealers sold imported (air freight) copies within days of the US release and the collected mentality made these popular. Once I had access to a specialty shop I certainly bought a couple of titles, each month, as imports. I think a 25p comic cost around 40p as an import. Obviously that two month window was worth the premium. Obviously these were cent copies and I suspect the main reason a lot of collectors had this preference.
Technically, the pence copies are rarer (smaller print run) and so it makes sense they're now collectible in their own right.
DW
I recall reading a Jim Shooter Bullpen Bulletins editorial around this time, explaining how the cover variations - direct market/newstand, cents/pence - were all part of the same print run.
It was obviously pitched at collector-types to reassure them they weren't getting a second printing if they bought, say, a newstand comic like all the ones Steve's featured here this time round.
As if a collector would care about what ever happened at a printing plant, when they could actually see slightly different covers existing in smaller numbers...
-sean
Sean
I do remember that Shooter editorial. I've probably merged that with a fanzine follow in my mind.
DW
*follow up*
DW
DW, I expect Shooter was responding to speculation in fanzines and whatnot, and its easy for stuff like that blur together in the memory.
I'm now thinking I might also have read something about it in one of the Marvel UK monthlies, as they were starting to feature articles/reviews about (then) current imports.
Actually, synchronizing more with the US parent company might explain why we're seeing some of the same stories appearing twice in Steve's posts at the moment.
-sean
HELP!
I was watching a Man United game and this defender for Man U named Harry Maguire goes down and stays down from hard contact with another player.
The announcer says, "You know this has to be really serious when a Yorkshire man goes down and stays down! We all know how tough Yokshire men are."
Are Yorkshire men know for being tough?
Why are they especially tough?
Something in the water? THe food? The air?
Charlie is fascinated from a cultural perspective that an announcer would say something like that as it seems a rather out-of-bounds thing now to single out men, geographic origins, and such.
Sean – Thanks for the UK Extreme Sports update. Yorkshire Pudding tossing… I have a hunch Red Bull will be dominant soon! I have seen their 2021 Strategic Marketing Plan and they intend to conquer Conkers, Bog Diving, Pie (Meat) Eating, and beer-coaster flipping.
DW – the whole thing about UK price variants is interesting. ALSO – the article says that the UK runs were (always? often?) first off the printer’s press because the color and clarity is sharper. The rational being that it took longer to get the books to the UK so print those first. Well, the first rule of economics is “supply and demand” so if there are folks out there willing to part with their farthings for UK Price Variants, and the supply is clearly limited, then let the price rise.
Thank god comics are not like penny stocks and subject to “pump (the price) and dump!” I mean, I’d hate to think that someone who paid many $ thousands for Walking Dead # 1 slabbed in 9.9 condition in 2019 could see his investment now plummet! (Oh… wait… surely it can’t be true????!!! LOL!!!!)
Charlie, there's a long-standing stereotype of Yorkshire people being stoical, silent and unflappable.
I'm not convinced it's true.
For alleged stoics Yorkie's do seem quite excitable on the subject of Br*x*t, Steve.
-sean
PHillip!
The Cheyenne AH 56 was quite a beast! I've only seen the museum version at Ft. Rucker where I went to flight school. (Affectionately known as Muther Rucker to us.)
There is good U-tube footage on it.
Happy Birthday Colin J!
Charlie - If you'd flown a Cheyenne, your handle would be 'Alpha Horse 56' !
I suppose the Cheyenne's like the Betamax video - potentially better than the VHS but, ultimately, it lost out!
Although the Apache was sophisticated (so maybe it is like a Betamax?)
You must have so many great military stories, you ought to write your memoirs (some day!)
Phillip
Thanks, Charlie :)
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