Sunday 10 October 2021

Forty years ago today - October 1981.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon
***

Look out, Past! Ready or not, here I come!

Captain America #262, the Ameridroid

The good news for Cap is he doesn't have to worry about the fake Nomad anymore.

Because the giant Ameridroid has killed him.

The bad news is Cap's captured by that self-same Ameridroid and is now going to be forced to star in a movie about his own death, as produced by that most temperamental of Hollywood moguls the Red Skull.

Incredible Hulk #264, finger-pointing

This cover seems strangely familiar...

As mentioned the other day, a villain called the Corruptor gets a character called the Night Flyer to attack the Hulk, so the Hulk'll get angry.

This is because the Corruptor can seize mental control over those who are furious.

But what's this? The Hulk's not the only one there? Rick Jones, Betty Ross and the all-new, all-younger Teen Brigade are also present?

It all sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Iron Man #151, Ant-Man

And this is a very odd one.

Iron Man's barely to be seen in this tale, as brand new Ant-Man Scott Lang gets trapped in a building, with Tony Stark's automated, homicidal security system and has to use all his resources to survive.

I'm assuming Marvel's testing the waters for a potential Scott Lang solo series, with this one.

Amazing Spider-Man #221, Ramrod

It feels like a long time since we last had a Marvel story titled Crisis on Campus!

In it, Ramrod, the poor man's Hammerhead, decides to launch a poison attack on a bar at which Lonesome Pincus is performing and - by means I don't recall - Lonesome's terrible singing, somehow, saves everyone there.

Spectacular Spider-Man #59

And it's another familiar cover, for us all.

Now working in television, Martin Blank promises his bosses he can help them get footage of Spider-Man.

And, of course, it all leads to a clash between his alter-ego the Gibbon and Spidey.

But that's not all.

You see, the Beetle's got a new costume - and he can't wait to test it out on Spidey!

Thor #312, Tyr

This is a great issue to read if you want to know how not to conduct a love life.

The Norse god of war Tyr decides it's about time Sif had a new boyfriend - himself - and he doesn't care if she wants one or not.

However, there is one snag. She's already got a boyfriend; Thor.

Thus it is that Tyr travels to Earth, in order to slay his rival.

Daredevil #175, Elektra

The Kingpin's hired martial arts goons are still out to kill Daredevil who's lost his radar sense.

Fortunately, he has Elektra on his side.

Sort of.

You know what it's like. It's like, "You're the only man I shall ever love but I must randomly stab you in the face, from time to time because... ...whatever."

X-Men #150, Magneto

The X-Men have all managed to find themselves on Magneto's secret island - and his computer's robbed them of their powers.

The main thing that stands out about this one is the villain's had a baffling personality transplant and is suddenly an honourable man who wants nothing but to protect mutantkind, thanks to his memories of childhood oppression and genocide.

I'm pretty sure none of this has ever been mentioned before.

Fantastic Four #235, Ego

For reasons I can't remember, the Fantastic Four have landed on Ego the living planet and must overcome his defences, in order to sabotage the engine he's using to propel himself through space, so they can get him well away from the Earth.

Conan the Barbarian #127, a polar bear

Conan rescues a girl from a polar bear, then rescues her from her fellow townsfolk, only for her to melt at the end of the tale because it turns out she's made of ice.

Avengers #212

This is a very strange adventure in which a sorceress and her barbarian boyfriend decide to leave their home in the hills and visit the big city where his anger-management issues quickly get him killed.

At which point, she goes on a grief-fuelled rampage and the Avengers have to show up to stop her.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ramrod's face resembles Robert Loggia's (in Ramrod's earlier appearances).

Phillip

Dave S said...

Dave's Cover of the Month (is no-one sick of me doing these yet?) is Conan, with Captain America and PPTSS-M in the silver and bronze positions.

That Conan was one of the few Conan comics I ever owned. If I remember rightly, JM DeMatteis wrote it and it was nicely drawn by Gil Kane.

The composition of the FF cover doesn't work for me - I'd have liked Ego to be more prominent - and the Thor and Avengers covers feel fairly generic.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry Dave, you got it right with that Conan - nice to see a Gil cover, which aren't that common at this point.
I remember when this feature was almost nothing but Kane covers - you don't know what you've got til you lose it! Still, something to look forward to in Fifty Years Ago Today...

Steve, I think we can all relate to dealing with an old girlfriend who's become a ninja assassin or something in the intervening years.
I once ran into an ex of mine driving a no.73 bus... and she didn't even let me off the fare!

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Dave - May I join your Cover of the Month fest? My criteria would be something I would have been inclined to draw / copy around in my young teens.

Likely that would be the DD cover. Iron Man could of been a contender but his entire body is not shown.

Conan is nice too. But "50 years ago today" is going to be chock full of Kane covers so... That said the cover does not look obviously Kane-ish from my PC, lol.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Well, Charlie recalls:

- The Rhino from his first reprinting in Marvel Tales, bought off the spinner rack.

- The Ramrod from DD 103, bought off the spinner rack.

- The Juggernaut from an old XMen Annual reprint in the late 60s bought off the spinner rack.

Were there any other villains who made a living (part time or full time) ramming their heads into things or people ?

B.t.w. there is a great scene in FF 114 or 115 of the Overmind (who is the sum total of all the Eternals but not "those" Eternals), hands clasped together, smashing the Thing on the top of his head. Grimm actually passes out. Actually. Do any of you stalwart comics fan recall Ben ever ramming his head into something?

How about DC? I have zero recall of any DC characters doing that.

Sean - sorry about the bus fare. Women are very fickle. That said, it is way (!) more fun dating at 60 than 20. "Once you get used to ice cream sundaes, you kind of crave them for ever" as they said in Happy Days. ;)

Charlie Horse 47 said...

DANGER MASH (or whomever else is a Spidey expert!) -

Charlie was checking out the first appearances of Ramrod and Rhino.

He sees that Rhino is cover meat on ASM 41 and 43 but not 42. What's going on there amigo? Is that guy on 42 the Rhino sans Rhino outfit?

(OK - Charlie could look it up but he finds the dialogue here very therapeutic!)

Anonymous said...

Charlie - Bull-based villains - e.g. Man-Bull, El Toro-Rojo, Minotaurus (one of the Changelings), etc.

Goat-based villains (?)

One of the Circus of Crime - Cannonball (?)

Diamondhead - in Nova

There's probably lots of others, too.

Phillip

Dave S said...

Charlie- great to hear your opinions on the covers. When I was a lad, the shops here used to get all the American comics in in one batch and shove them on the shelf in one huge thick stack, meaning you had to go through them to find what title you wanted- a lot of my purchases were just made depending on whether I liked the cover, and that's the criteria I use to choose what I think is the best cover from the selections that Steve posts- sometimes it's really difficult to choose, and I feel like I'm standing in John Menzies (a long- gone UK newsagent) again trying to decide which of the big pile of comics to buy!

Anonymous said...

Buying 70s/80s comics based on the cover...? Thats a rookie error Dave!

You should always have had a quick flip through the inside first imo. Or at the very least checked the credits on the splash page.
Otherwise you risked getting caught out by the classic Invaders Jack Kirby/Fr*nk R*bb*ns bait & switch, or wasting your money on comics like Iron Jaw #1!

-sean

dangermash aka The Artistic Actuary said...

Charlie

The cover of ASM #42 is Spider-Man vs a super powered John Jameson but the Rhino makes a brief appearance in the story.. We get to see him trying to escape prison but getting put to sleep with a tranquilliser. Must have confused the hell out of readers who aren't used to seeing last month's villain in the following issue. It must have been years and years later that he took on Spider-Man again, although I'm sure he appeared in career retrospective issues like ASM #94 and as the odd Mysterio/Goblin/Faustus illusion.

ASM #41 and #43 feel more to me like the first and second Rhino appearances than parts 1 and 3 of a first appearance trilogy.

And everybody knows that ASM #42 is more famous for the Mary Jane reveal than anything else, don’t they?

Charlie Horse 47 said...

DM and Gents! Wait - John Jameson was the goon in ASM 42 but didn't he also become Man Wolf like 80 issues later?

PHILLIP - I only know Cannon Ball (because I read that Avengers issue when I was like 8 years old LOL) and Man Bull from Daredevil IIRC. Those other ones are news to me! Goat like villains??? LOL

SEAN - I agree with the bait and switch. I did learn to check the interiors in spite of a great cover! Usually it was DH who hurt ole Charlie on the insides, it seemed, lol.

Anonymous said...

Steve, on the contrary, good sir! I always thought Hammerhead was the poor man's Ramrod, not the other way around.
But gentlemen may differ on these matters, and yet remain civil.

But I will say I was pissed-off by the crappy treatment Ego received at the hands of that 4-star prick Byrnes. Hack! Charlatan! Deconstructionalist!
One lousy issue is all Ego gets here. That's bull$#!t! We're talking about the Living Planet here, people. He's fought Galactus. Even Kurt Russel couldn't do him justice. It takes more than a cool beard to be the scourge of the Black Galaxy.

Ego rates a three-issue arc at least.

M.P.

dangermash aka The Artistic Actuary said...

Charlie. Yep. When John Jameson is exposed to alien spores he develops superhuman strength but when he puts a moon stone around his neck he turns into ManWolf. Touch wood, I think he's done with all that now,

MP. Yes I agree. Ego is worth at least three issues.

Anonymous said...

Avengers, Captain America, Daredevil and X-men for me this month. I think I'm about three months away from dropping Cap and the Avengers. Impossible as it may seem, British comics were becoming more interesting than their US counterparts. Crazy talk!

Wasn't it also around this time that CB radio became massive, across Britain, for about ten minutes? I recall directing my meagre funds towards a Cobra 40 channel AM set. Which reminds me how much I detested that @#$%^ paper round...

DW

Anonymous said...

DW - I seem to remember the CB radio craze came after itv broadcast 'BJ & the Bear'. Although I may be wrong!

Phillip

McSCOTTY said...

DW, I think the CB craze started in the mid\ late 1970s as my brother had a pal that was into it big time and in 1978 I worked with a guy that was a big CB geek. CB was "legalised" in the mid 80s and tailed of around 1986 so it would have still been going at this time. I seem to recall a few singles in the charts like Convoy ( CW McColl) in the mid 1970s when CB was at its height. I had forgotten about BJ and the Bear I loved that show.

By 1981 I was hardly picking up any Marvel or DC comics at all preferring the Indies and black and white mags.

Anonymous said...

Paul - My final US Marvel (apart from back issues) was last month's ROM vs Power Man & Iron Fist. So, I'd stopped by now(then!), too!

Phillip

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I too recall the CB tin as a 1975 - 1978 kind of fad.

MP DM - I'm with you! I read the Byrn FFs, at the urging of our friend Redartz, about 4 years ago. I don't recall much of the particulars but I do recall a big w.t.f with Ego being dispatched in one issue! It seemed like Ego deserved a solid 3 issues.

Similarly, next month SDC reviews FF 116. 50 years ago I thought it was a real landmark issue. It still is (I just re-read it.) But I thought it deserved a good 3-issue run vs. the one 25 cent issue (granted it was larger than a 15 center). I mean the whole notion of Doom teaming up with Sue to fight Overmind is fertile ground to explore. And Doom just getting his ass kicked deserved an issue IMHO, not just a few pages.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

News Flash!

The Geordies have bought up every Sheik outfit in northwest england.

Charlie will be ROTF, LMAOing, if the next televised game of Newcastle has the entire audience dressed up as Saudi Sheiks.

I have to wonder if that will be seen in a good natured way or not?

Redartz said...

Must agree with you all on the cover competition; Conan wins this time around.

And yes, that Spectacular Spider-Man cover is pretty good too. It has a definite Ditko vibe, which many of PPTSM's covers did then. Ed Hannigan and Al Milgrom particularly tended that direction. Spectacular, at the time, was definitely the better Spider-Man book. This Ramrod issue was, if I recall, one of the lamest in the series' history. Spidey was always my favorite character, but I came very close to dropping the book during that run.

Speaking of dropping books, like DW I was dropping Avengers and Cap. Others would soon follow. But Fantastic Four was top notch under Byrne (although I concur with SDC assembled that Ego deserved better)...

Colin Jones said...

Phillip, why did you stop reading the US Marvels? Paul (McScotty) was in his early twenties by 1981 but you were only 12. By this time I'd stopped reading Marvel UK but I was a big fan of the US Marvels and I sought them out every month in WH Smith's until about late 1983.

And I too mostly went for the covers that appealed to me on a month-by-month basis with some exceptions where I was following a story such as the Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix saga in Uncanny X-Men or those "Wagnerian Ring Cycle" issues in The Mighty Thor. But I also loved the John Byrne Fantastic Four issues and I sought them out religiously every month and for some reason I also bought a lot of Dazzler (I certainly recognise plenty of Dazzler covers on Mike's Amazing World Of Comics cover galleries!!)

Charlie Horse 47 said...

DM - Ok the ASM 42 tease got me a googling...

"Face it Tiger... you just hit the jackpot!"

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Seems like John Jameson needs to see a dermatologist?

Alien spores turn him into a villain in ASM 42

Moon stone on his neck turns him into Man Wolk

You got to wonder if an immuno-compromised John Jameson had walked into a cave and found a pair of wrist bands to randomly slap on, vs. a strapping Rick Jones, what might have happened?

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Gents - bring Charlie up to speed?

Per the newspapers today, Superman's son Jon is also a superman and gay. DC is announcing Jon's coming out was the headlines.

Anyhow who did Supes copulate with? Who is the baby momma?

Charlie feels so useless, he didn't even know Supes was "doing it" much less had an aged son.

Anonymous said...

Colin - As to why I finished with US Marvels, I'm not altogether sure. I think it was partly due to going up to high school - which was like the Wild West. Not only did you get thuggish new schoolmates, but also masses of - often pointless - homework. Another possible reason is my favourite comic titles lost the creators I liked. However, this explanation isn't totally satisfactory, as I could have still found solace from my high school woes, in comics, if I'd tried. Also, I stuck with the X-Men for a while, after it went 'off the boil' ( the Avengers, less so) - and still liked Iron Fist. So - I don't know!

Had my hypertension check, today. 142 on the systolic - ho, hum!

Phillip

Anonymous said...

Charlie - Geordies = North East!

Phillip

Anonymous said...

There was a Superman Jnr - and Batman Jnr - back in the early 70s Charlie, in World's Finest stories like "Saga of the Super-Sons".
Don't you know nuthin? Honestly - next you'll be asking all about Superman's mullet like its a big surprise...

Seriously though, I believe the Super offspring in question is a fairly recent one, conceived with Lois Lane while Brainiac had her and Supes imprisoned in a power dampening dome (I guess they had to find some way around him ejaculating faster than a speeding bullet, which sounds quite dangerous) during the Convergence event.

I'm afraid I don't know why the sprog is obviously well over 5 or whatever - I assume thats something to with the storyline finally resolving the status of the DC multiverse, but life's too short to get to the bottom of Final Crisis, hypertime, the New 52, Rebirth, Doomsday Cock and all that.
Especially as they'll just reboot it all over again anyway (I think they're currently doing Infinite Something-or-other).

-sean

Anonymous said...

DW - and maybe McScotty - you might be interested to know Alan Moore contributed to the 1982 BJ & The Bear Annual 1982. Really.

https://glycon.livejournal.com/4569.html

No trace of Frank Miller's TJ Hooker one-shot online though...

-sean

Anonymous said...

*Duh - too many 1982s.

-sean

Colin Jones said...

Phil, I agree with you about masses of pointless homework but thankfully my secondary school was OK on the whole. It was an ex-grammar school with only 500 pupils and the headmaster was extremely strict. I wouldn't describe any of my schoolmates as "thuggish" and I knew numerous other kids who were Marvel fans.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Sean - I agree! Ejaculating super seed faster than a speeding bullet would presumably cause bodily injury to the human recipient!

Anonymous said...

Charlie, is Redartz one of the guys behind that blog? I've looked at it before but haven't for a while. (sorry, Red, deep down I am a lazy man) It was pretty good as I recall! I liked it when the Leader was master of ceremonies. Who knew he had a sense of humor?
I'm not sure you're doing Red any favors by putting his website back on my radar, Charles. He might be horrified right now, thinking "Charlie, you rat-bastard!"
But I will give it another look, pal. Thanks!

M.P.

Anonymous said...

Phillip, Paul

Wiki suggests CB radios were the number one Christmas present in Britain in 1981 and so the timeline roughly agrees with my recollection. I'm guessing the Convoy movie kicked off the CB craze in the US a few years earlier. CB radio burned brightly but swiftly before a Commodore Vic 20 became my next money pit.

We still did the 11 plus in Essex (and still do, I believe) and I thought my Grammar school would be full of gentle, literary types. I couldn't have been more wrong. Marvel comics were definitely not something to be seen reading in public, although 2000AD retained some credibility amongst certain colourful class mates. That said, I think I dropped Captain America and Avengers around issues 265 and 215, respectively, more due to their decreasing interest, rather than peer pressure from the psychos smoking behind the bike racks.

DW

Anonymous said...

Sean

I'm sure there's a few collectors regretting tracking down those annuals on eBay ;-)

DW

Charlie Horse 47 said...

MP - Red is the ONLY guy behind that blog now. Mike I think runs the instagram side of things but I've never been there because I don't need yet one more social-media distraction!!!

Join the fun pardner!!!

Anonymous said...

Colin - Schooldays...human nature's to imagine other people's experience as similar to one's own - until discovering otherwise!

My happy junior school childhood - based around the magic of Marvel comics - ended on going up to high school. In fact, I remember the transition to high school as a dividing line, whereby my fairly happy childhood was abruptly ended, followed by 5 bad/wasted years.

The headteacher was a fool. When pupils were bullied he blamed their victims, saying the bullies were all "likable rogues", and "You must have done something to incite them."

I could relate many incidents but - needless to say - there was no camaraderie at my high school. Luckily I left the dump, and went to a much better place - a Catholic school - for the Sixth Form (although I'm not Catholic). There was camaraderie there.

DW - Your school sounds much more like mine!

DW - My brother & myself had a ZX-81, followed by a BBC. Nevertheless, I always hankered after the VIC-20 & C64 - as they looked much cooler than the other 8-bit computers! This is a complete topic unto itself!

Phillip

McSCOTTY said...

DW, Sorry I was trying to say that the CB craze in the UK was high in the mid-1970s and continued until around 1982 when CN was legalised in the UK (I think previous to that it used a broad band frequency used by other systems) - I am surprised to hear that CB radio was a top gift in 1981, I would have thought that would have been things like Star Wars toys and the Rubik cube etc. But yes your right by 1981 I CB was certainly still operational and popular.

Sean: Wow that is a real surprise to read that Alan Moore contributed to the 1982 BJ & the Bear annual!!

Charlie: I see that the Super son story where Superman’s son comes out as bi-sexual is getting major press on BBC News -I had no idea Superman had a son other than in those 1970S World Finest strips which I think were treated as fantasy stories (well there all fantasy but you know what I mean)

Colin: I would like to point out I was in my VERY early 20’s in 1981 (ie 21) lol

dangermash aka The Artistic Actuary said...

DW/McScotty

I remember CB radio being at its peak in the UK around pdf my first year at 1982-83. Our resident EastEnd geezer was properly into it. We ended up in a conversation at some point with some guy in his car outside the bingo hall on t(e other side of the road waiting for it to finish, We managed to haul him up from the street into a first floor (second floor to you Charlie) window to enjoy a coffee while he was waiting.

I never saw the point of it all really.

He said, in the middle of a random conversation on the internet with people he'll probably never meet.

Colin Jones said...

Phil, I didn't mean to imply that my secondary school was a paradise but I'm glad I went to mine and not yours. What a pity you didn't attend that other school all along, and not just the sixth form. When I started at my school we heard stories that the sixth-formers were taken on picnics but when I reached the sixth form there weren't any picnics! But my headmaster definitely wouldn't have sided with bullies - as well as being very strict he was tall and imposing and he always wore a black gown like teachers in the old days. Even the hard kids were afraid of him!

Anonymous said...

Colin - For me, it's useful hearing about your school experience, too - because I tend to give my own experience too general an application!

Phillip