Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Let's see what the past is out to fling at us.
Also, having flattened the Avengers, the Molecule Man has a change of heart and agrees to turn over a new leaf.
It all ends in an encounter with Rhax himself who confidently declares he can't be killed.
Obviously, he turns out to be wrong.
The good news is, the plucky trio survive to save the United States from The Sultan, the robotic fiend who caused all this trouble in the first place.
But, of course, the real news is that, after all these years of references, none other than Ben's Aunt Petunia finally puts in an appearance.
And she's not what anyone expected.
Needless to say, the Hulk has several things to say about that.
Those things are mostly, "Hulk," and, "Smash."
Is there some sort of sub-plot involving Tony Stark's PR man and his strained relationship with his son?
That truth is that he's none other than the Foolkiller - and that he's up to his usual murderous tricks!
And that means we get a return appearance from his half-sister Liz Allen and her boyfriend/husband/whatever Harry Osborn.
Not only that but I think Flash Thompson also shows up.
And wouldn't you know it, it's time for even more talk of swamps, as Thor and Iron Man find themselves in the Everglades where they have to face the combined might of the Bi-Beast and the Man-Beast.
Definitely more beasts in this story than are strictly needed.
Cyke's not exactly happy about this revelation but he doesn't have as much time to dwell on it as he'd like, because a bunch of creatures called the Sidrian Hunters have appeared and are causing nothing but chaos wherever they go.
Either way, it's bad news for DD who comes off worse in his tangle with his ex.
Some really good covers this month, but the Cover of the Month really has to be the Daredevil one, with the FF and Hulk taking the silver and bronze medals.
ReplyDeleteThat "I've got your back!" pose on Thor # 316 is also used on Daredevil # 123:
ReplyDeletehttps://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Daredevil_Vol_1_123?file=Daredevil_Vol_1_123.jpg
Phillip
I too have to go with DD as cover of the month.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, that "bicycle banner" at the top really cruds up the covers to the point that the Avengers, Thor, and XMen are so busy and hard to discern that it reminds me of watching a Star Wars battle seen on a smart phone.
Anyone else get an instant "Grim Repaer" look-alike vibe after seeing Fool Killer on ASM? Or is Charlie dating himself?
ReplyDeleteSTEVE - Thanks again for posting the comic covers in alphabetical, though not strictly, order!
ReplyDeleteBack to the Molten Man again. Is he hot or is he cold?
ReplyDeleteInASM #28 and ASM #35, there's nothing to suggest that he gives off any heat. But then when Gerry Conway brings him back, he's red hot, burning footprints in the ground behind him. Which is it to be?
The cover to PPSSM #63 is no help. He looks really hot but if he is as hot as he looks, Spider-Man should be dead, just like Iron Man was when the Original Human Torch in the Legion Of The Unliving got him in a grip like that.
I'm afraid I can't go along with our colleagues Dave and Charlie on that Daredevil cover. Its a striking idea, but Miller fluffed it with some pisspoor drawing - sorry, but Elektra's face just looks weird.
ReplyDeleteThe Cap and FF covers are reasonably well done if a bit unimaginatively generic, so I'm going to go for that Conan as the best this time round. Those clawed hands are very Gil.
Not that I've read them all, but Daredevil #179 is probably the best comic here. That storyline was unusual in that J Jonah Jameson was actually portrayed as a plausible newspaper editor, deciding whether to go with Urich's story about Cherryh (he was the mayoral candidate in the Kingpin's pocket, Steve).
It did make you wonder what kind of paper the Bugle was supposed to be though. Was it the serious paper of record that Miller made it seem, or was it the dodgy style tabloid you'd expect from JJJ's fondness for Spidey exposes?
New York Times or Post?
-sean
*dodgy tabloid
ReplyDeleteOops - apologies for the pisspoor edit there.
-sean
With hindsight I reckon the Iron Man cover is the most striking. Back in the day I only had Daredevil and X-men. Daredevil was still at its best but X-men is going through a flat period until, in my option, the arrival of the Brood and Paul Smith. Obviously my taste has changed because, at the time, I really liked Cockrum's second run on the X-men.
ReplyDeleteI think the Bugle wis supposed to be a serious newspaper, which accentuates JJ's obsession/lapse of judgement with regard to Spidey. Certainly Robbie and Ben Urich came across a serious journalists. Ned Leeds not so much.
DW
Once again, I agree with Sean on a Gil Kane Conan cover being the best of its bunch. The Daredevil cover has its share of problems — besides Elektra’s ‘just looks weird’ face, I’m wondering if DD starches the top half of his mask, or puts a rigid plastic skull cap in there or something, so that it retains such a nice, solid, spherical shape even when his head isn’t inside it?
ReplyDeleteI actually think Cockrum’s X-MEN cover is pretty nice too, and I’m usually not wild about his second run on the book. But this particular cover works for me, purely from a design standpoint. Those stylized, super-graphic alien bug thingies look great rendered as a violet color-hold, and in fact, the entire color scheme is vivid and unusual, without being garish. The one drawback: I’ve always thought that Scott Summers’ dad being a swashbuckling Space Pirate was one of the silliest ideas Claremont and Co. ever came up with.
b.t.
Well, its only fair to agree with you in return, b.t.
ReplyDeleteHeres my top three ridiculous Claremont X-ideas, in reverse order:
3. Corsair being Cyclops dad.
2. Betsy Braddock becoming an east Asian ninja assassin in a stripper outfit.
1. Leprechauns.
-sean
Dave and Bt, I think I'll go for the Captain America as my cover of the month. I like its clear, clean lines and its tiltiness. The Avengers cover is my least favourite. It's way too hard to make out what's going on and it's just plain ugly.
ReplyDeletePhillip, I do like a good back-to-back cover. I think my favourite is that Manhunter + Batman one from whichever 100-page issue of Detective Comics it is where they team up.
Charlie, the bicycles at the top of every cover are indeed an affront to both aesthetics and marketing.
Dangermash, I always assume the Molten Man's hot, with him having the word "molten" in his name. However, you're right. His heat never seems to have much effect on Spidey, even when he gets him in a bear hug.
Sean and DW, I did like the fact that JJJ would, sometimes, be depicted as a man of principle, such as when he stood up for Hobie Brown against his boss or set out to expose Sam Bullitt for the crook he was.
Sean's top 3, in reverse order, should be read out to the tune, 'Pop Pickers'! Here's one from me:
ReplyDelete1. In the Summers family origin story during the Suez Crisis, Scott, Alex, and their mother are sitting in a spacious seated area, inside a Mosquito's fuselage, before mother Summers parachutes the two boys out, prior to the aircraft being destroyed. A Mosquito fuselage is too narrow for a seated area, and the fuselage doesn't have a door, for people to jump out of !
Phillip
Right, Steve - I've found it!
ReplyDeletehttps://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Detective_Comics_Vol_1_443?file=Detective_Comics_443.jpg
It's a strange coincidence that Daredevil # 123's 'back to back' features 'Man-killer', which has a similar ring to 'Man-hunter' !
All this reminds me of that Manhunter review you did a while back - I think that was your masterpiece! If you were ever desperate for material, and decided to do a 'Throwback Thursday' - or something, you might consider re-blogging your Manhunter review!
Phillip
Sean, I too agree with you on the Conan cover. Best of the lot, in my opinion. Runner up being Amazing Spider-Man- definitely has a bit of a Ditko vibe going. Probably would like it more if the background wasn't yellow. Never cared for yellow covers. It's kind of a thing with me.
ReplyDeleteRegarding JJJ and journalistic integrity: you mentioned a couple examples, Steve, of Jonah showing some mettle. He also stood up to the Kingpin in Fisk's debut. Of course he also had a habit of finding and promoting dicey characters to go up against the Webslinger, so his record is a mixed bag...
Oh, and Steve- you're quite right about that Avengers issue. One of the last I bought before finally dropping the title. Couldn't understand how the book had declined so much in so short a time...
You know... given these issues dated February were on the stands in November (October?) I am wondering if the orange on the Avengers cover is targeting a Halloween vibe cause o/wise it is one ugly cover.
ReplyDeleteCertainly Robby Robinson and Peter Parker seemed like ethical characters at the Bugle. I always felt JJJ to the Bugle was a bit like Stan Lee was to Marvel... the face, an influence, but not in total control?
PHILLIP - you are serious about the Suez crisis and Scott and Summers? What am amazingly obscure piece of history for an American comic book writer to incorporate??? I was gobsmacked when I heard that France asked the UK to merge into one nation after the Suez Crisis. It really must have rattled the old order of things.
Yes, Charlie - Totally serious. The Mosquito's rear fuselage passenger compartment (which Mosquitoes don't have) is depicted in X-Men # 144 (the Cyclops & Man Thing story, where Scott meets a lady, who's in charge of a fishing trawler - and Brett Anderson & Joe Rubinstein do sterling service on art, after Byrne's left). The Mosquito incident is then recapped more briefly in flashbacks in # 154 & # 156. Full disclosure - I couldn't remember the issues, and have just flicked through 'Essential X-Men' ! ) I think another earlier Cockrum issue might have had it, too (?) - but I'm a bit hazy.
ReplyDeletePhillip
Charlie - I've just got a sneaking suspicion that I've conflated the Mosquito episode, involving the Summers family, with Storm's origin story - which does involves Cairo. The Suez Crisis relates to Storm's origin story, not that of Corsair/Cyclops. Time to check!
ReplyDeletePhillip
Yes - X-Men # 102, p.7 - 1956, the Suez Crisis - Ororo's father evacuates her & her mother, during a French bombing raid. Unfortunately, a French Vautour crashes & explodes, killing both Ororo's parents. Yes - it's definitely Suez but with Storm, not the Summers family.
ReplyDeletePhillip
PHILLIP
ReplyDeleteWell, assuming the creators of Storm figured war was a good backdrop for creating a superhero (e.g., Cap America, Iron Man) then they probably would have needed to use the Korean War to create an early to mid-20s superhero in the mid 70s.
But since Storm was African they couldn't really place her in the context of the Korean War.
I guess they could have used the French-Algerian war (1,000,000 killed) but that would have made her an Arab hero which might not have been a good look for a US-based superhero in the mid 70s?
Your thoughts?
Charlie - the arm-chair historian, lol.
Charlie - Every year is precious, when trying to fit a war/conflict to Storm's age. Suez, being 1956, is bad enough. If Storm was aged about 28 in 1980, in 1956 she'd have been 4 - which is just about right. Korea was about 1950 (or was it 51?), so Storm would have been aged about 34, in 1980 - so, too old!
ReplyDeleteThe point is, you could only pick a war either in 1956, or slightly before or after 1956, or Storm's age would be wrong! There are some conflicts that fit the bill - the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 56, for example - and a few others - but then you'd have to fit it in in terms of why her parents are in Hungary, not an African nation, etc.
Phillip
Storm was Kenyan, no? Surely the obvious conflict to use for a backdrop would have been the Mau-Mau Uprising?
ReplyDeleteBut I guess that would have meant making the Brits responsible for her family's death, which Claremont - who I believe was born in England, and at least to some extent identifies as British - probably didn't even consider.
Charlie, I don't think the British took the Frangleterre proposal seriously - not like in 1940 - but supposedly Eden did give some thought to France joining the Commonwealth.
I guess that shows how difficult the French government found the last years of the Fourth Republic, because its hard to see the people accepting even that.
Having a queen as head of state? The French aren't that backward...
-sean
Sean - After I finished replying to Charlie, and started doing the washing up, I also thought of the Mau-Mau Uprising, although I couldn't remember exactly when, in the 50s, it took place. Looking at wikipedia, all your comments seem spot on - Storm's background, the dates, and it probably being discarded, because people weren't ready to face up to what happened. Although this may have been an editorial decision, not necessarily Chris Claremont's. With the French political system, don't they have a President & a Prime Minister, so the role of head of state is already covered? Charlie's our specialist/expert on France, so he'll know more...
ReplyDeletePhillip
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYes -- Anon is right...Korean War was 1950-53, one of my Dad's buddies was in US Marine Corps then & practically met his maker in the Chosin Reservoir. He & my Dad passed several years ago, but I'll never forget what his buddy told me & did make it out alive, came back & finished his commitment to the Marines, ended up getting married & having a family. My Mom & his widow ended up working together, which is kind of ironic
ReplyDeleteThe first time I read a Molten Man story was a reprint in Marvel Tales, think in the 60's. I know it was a Ditko story. He wasn't flaming then. I thought he was a pretty cool villain.
ReplyDeleteSeem to remember back in the 70's he was flaming, and was actually slowly burning to death. Am I wrong?
Here's a true sign of the apocalypse coming:
I agree with sean's opinion on Claremont's goofier ideas.
Charlie doesn't know so much about France politics. But he does know the President who is elected picks the Prime Minster. But they get into this weird (?) scenario of the President's party loses the mid-term elections and have "co-habitation." But Americans really have no feel for what a PM does.
ReplyDeleteKD- Like you I have a vague recall of Molten Man leaving burning steps as he walked along, from some long-long-ago Spidey story.
MP- Thanks for the well wished and hope you are also doing well. It's a slog though.
MATTVA - I always thought there should have been a movie about the "Frozen Chosin." IIRC I think the Brits and Turks got caught in that bit of hell as well? It's the war we've all forgotten but for MASH.
Philip, I was assuming if France became part of the Commonwealth the queen would become their head of state.
ReplyDelete-sean
Exactly, KD.
ReplyDeleteTwo Ditko stories like that, then when he comes back under Andru and Conway, he's leaving burning footprints everywhere and Spider-Man's saying "oh, I bet I know who this is". One of my peeves.
Yep, d-mash.
DeleteFrom my original exposure to Molten Man I believed him to be a super-strong person with metallic skin. Like a golden version of Luke Cage. I don't believe it was even mentioned that he emitted above normal body temperature in the Ditko stories.
The Andru era was still a great run, though. He had a Gil Kane fluid flair to Spidey. While his stint on the title contained many great & important stories for Spider-Man mythos, I always felt that John Romita Sr. drew a little stocky & stiff.
Hope I didn't open up a can o' worms, but I probably did. Heh.
I had no idea France considered joining the Commonwealth seems an almost surreal proposition. I can't imagine France accepting old Lizzy as their Head of State they're not that politically pally with the UK ( well England). Amazing what interesting stuff you learn on SDC
ReplyDeleteYeah, Paul, I can't see the French people would have been up for it at all - the government at the time were probably desperate, in the middle of decolonisation and a war in Algeria, and worried about a military coup.
ReplyDeleteIts very telling that the only record of the proposal was British.
www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jan/15/france.eu
Mind you, I'm surprised the Brits didn't at least try to get back Calais in the Brexit negotiations...
-sean
The X-Men's Banshee was male but banshees in Irish legend are only female.
ReplyDeleteApparently China supports Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands. That might get interesting.
ReplyDeleteMOLTEN MAN - Cover of ASM 133 his foot is clearly melting the roof of the subway car as he has his hand around Spidey's throat. Clearly there is some type of no-prize to be had, here!
ReplyDeleteWarning - World History Follows, not Comics.
FRANCE and UK were "badly shaken" by the the Suez Crisis. I've tried to understand the depth / origins of the CRISIS but I think it was more political in that the two would always have to consider US policy henceforth and perhaps as one they would have more leverage.
I can highly recommend "A SAVAGE WAR OF PEACE" regarding the Algerian War. Oddly, Bush Jr. was photographed with a copy after having invaded Iraq in 2002. It appears he took France's lessons to heart and did not implement many policies his advisors wanted, which had failed the French so badly in Algeria.
A coup was attempted in France in April 1961 by the French generals who did not agree with De Gaulle's decision to leave Algeria.
Interestingly, one of the reason there were far fewer French immigrants to the USA than other Euro countries is that many had immigrated to Algeria instead.
Below is a very quick primer on it all and its lingering impact.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/how-french-debacle-algeria-shaped-rise-marine-le-pen-and-what-america-can-learn-it
If Argentina want the Falklands, England ( not UK) want Calais then Scotland wants Berwick-upon - Tweed back from England ( sounds of "what?" from non UK readers 😀
ReplyDeletePaul,
ReplyDeleteDidn't Edward I slaughter 17,000 people, in Berwick - or am I misremembering my Nigel Tranter novels?
Charlie - As I'm sure you probably already know, Charles DG famously said something that's misquoted as, "A patriot loves their own country - a nationalist hates everyone else's."
Then again, Dr Johnson (or somebody?) said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."
Phillip
If you Brits want, you can have a bunch of our original colonies back: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, (West) Vigrinia... LOL.
ReplyDeleteHell, to sweeten the pot, I'll throw in Arkansas, Missississississippi, and Louisiana!
You can do what you want with New Orleans after suffering that disasterous defeat there in 1814/15 by Colonel Jackson, immortalized in the following song by Johnny Horton's "The Battle of New Orleans"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL7XS_8qgXM
Charlie - Andrew Jackson had some young private - aged 16, I think - shot dead, for refusing to leave his lunch (or some other trivial reason, I forget). Several officers pleaded with Jackson not to kill the kid, but he refused to listen to them. My opinion of him changed, after this. Oh - and, of course, there's the Trail of Tears, too. I read a historical novel about the Battle of New Orleans, once, but I can't remember the title or author - I'd have to chase it up.
ReplyDeletePhillip
PHILLIP
ReplyDelete"Old Hickory Nuts" Andrew Jackson isn't on anyone's list of favorite generals or presidents, LOL. Though, I think once in a while the Republicans trot him out for some reason.
But, the song by Johnny Horton is pretty amusing.
You're not kidding, CHARLIE HORSE, I've seen documentaries that emphasized the Frozen Chosin -- but not a motion picture...the memory of Korea is fading fast & I know many Allied troops were involved & lots paid the ultimate price & should always be recognized!
ReplyDelete