Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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This week in 1982 was a great one for you if you were from Munich and liked to spread jam on your music storage medium before shoving it into the microwave and then flinging it violently at the floor, because it was the week in which the first compact discs were produced in Germany. Never again could we be forced to settle for hearing our favourite artists on the all-too fragile medium of vinyl.
No doubt, taking a keen interest in this development must have been Dexys Midnight Runners and the Kids From Fame who were still at Number One on the UK singles and album charts, respectively.
For some reason, this issue reprints the front of She-Hulk #1 on its back cover and Incredible Hulk #159 on its inside front cover, even though it might have made more sense to do that in the Hulk's book.
Regardless, I can announce that this week delivers the final part of the Fantastic Four poster we've been diligently assembling.
This all feels a bit special. We're treated to a painted cover by Earl Norem, as originally published on the front of the American Hulk magazine #16.
However, the blurb lets us know the story contained within is not from that issue, as it features our hero vs the Absorbing Man.
Because this title mostly uses Herb Trimpe drawn tales, I shall, therefore, assume we're getting a reprint of Incredible Hulk #125 in which Bruce Banner boards a rocket, in order to blow up a comet, only for Crusher Creel to hitch a ride back to Earth on it.
But there's more. We also get the final part of the X-Men poster we've been diligently assembling over the past few weeks.
Personally, I blame Old Man Simkins the janitor.
I blame those meddling kids Steve.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you spread jam on a vinyl record, shove it into a microwave, and fling it violently on the floor? It doesn't seem to me like there was a problem that needed a technological solution there.
I suppose that explains why vinyl is still with us, as cds become obsolete.
-sean
In my local Tesco both CDs AND vinyl are obsolete as neither gets sold anymore.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago I heard that 50% of British houses have smart meters now. I've had an electricity smart meter for three years and I recently had a gas smart meter installed (ooh, get me - I'm so modern) so does anybody else have smart meters for electricity and/or gas?
ReplyDeleteI've got smart meters, Colin.
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting for 8-track cartridges to make a comeback, Sean.
If they do Steve, its probably best if you don't spread jam on them, shove them in a microwave and fling 'em violently on the floor.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think 8-tracks making a comeback is about as likely as cheap public transport returning to the peoples republic of South Yorkshire in the near future.
Whats going on? I hear you hardly have any buses at all these days - its an outrage!
-sean
I think I had switched to cassette tapes as my preferred Music format by 1982. I could listen to music at work and lugging a turntable into the office wasn’t practical. But a boom-box, cassettes and headphones did me nicely. I still have several crates of cassettes out in the garage.
ReplyDeleteI was slow in switching over to CD’s, mostly out of a sense of outrage at the pricing. They were significantly more expensive than cassettes even though were far cheaper to make. But once I actually sampled a CD and realized what a huge upgrade in sound quality the format had to offer, I was a goner. I do most of my music listening in the car these days and I still prefer CDs to MP3’s.
As for this week’s Marvel UK offerings, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Earl Norem’s art but that HULK cover is way more attention-grabbing and effective than the covers we usually see on these titles.
b.t.
I remember back in the late '80s, in the army, some guy playing a CD. First time I ever heard one.
ReplyDeleteIt was Whitesnake. He said, "This is the future!" Good God.
Welp, it was better than 8-tracks or cassettes, I guess.
M.P.
I've never spread jam on any medium before microwaving it. Might have considered it though, when those pesky cassette tapes broke and you had to wind it all back with a pencil. That is, assuming you had a tape splicer. If not you just pitched it.
ReplyDeleteNow on the subject of cds, though, I'm buying them now at a rate I've not seen in many years! As b.t. noted, their sound quality is top notch. And at this point you can often find them quite cheap. Of course, that's changing a bit. The voices among audiophiles speak of a cd revival! Not to the level of vinyl, but still a turnaround from years of decline. And I can attest to that- good, collectible cds are getting harder to find and pricier. But if you're looking for them, you're still ahead of the curve.
Compare this to comics- at our local flea markets, you practically can't find comics anymore. Too much a red hot item, apparently.
My obsession this year has been trawling charity shops for CDs. Not just in passing, but actually planning trips to different parts of London and hitting all the charity shops there. I’ve picked up an amazing amount of great stuff (though you have to trawl through all the landfill of Robbie Williams and Coldplay). A lot of it gets ripped at full resolution then given back to charity, so it’s a win-win. Occasionally something will be worth a fair bit so I can sell that and cover my costs. People just seem to be throwing all their CDs out.
DeleteI’ve discovered a lot of fantastic music through this hobby.
Steve-
ReplyDeleteThere's a vary large chance that 8-track tapes will ever make a comeback. I do see some at flea markets occasionally, but blank recordable tapes are hard to find. I had tons of compilations I made from my record collection.
When CD's first came out folks were told they were indestructible. I saw people sliding them down bars, skating them across the dashboards of their cars, leaving fingerprints, etc.
"Gee, why won't this disc play?"
My father wondered about that. I told him I was because all the fingerprints that are on them. Told him to told them by the edges, and clean them with a dry, soft cloth.
He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped one in a circular motion like a record. Told him there's no grooves to clean out, and make straight motions from the center to the edge.
He looked at me perplexed.
"
-Killdumpster
ReplyDeleteDamn, I can't edit my comments anymore. Sure you guys can figure it out.
ReplyDelete-Killdumpster
Its a bit like when you started to find loads of great records second hand at very reasonable prices at the end of the 80s/ early 90s Matthew. Although not as good because they're cds and not records, obviously.
ReplyDeleteYeah, personally, I like vinyl. But not in an arsey more-analogue-than-thou kind of way, so I don't object to cds or anything.
Cds are actually unlikely to vanish soon imo - its more buying music in a physical format thats becoming obsolescent, but until that happens completely they'll still be around.
Irrespective of our preferred formats, I think we can all agree its good the future didn't turn out to be Whitesnake.
-sean
Killskip, thats a good point (even if it got in the way of my last comment following on smoothly from Matthew's) - the 'indestructibility' of cds was greatly exaggerated.
ReplyDeleteThe music biz hyped them up, overcharged for them... and then the greedheads got wiped out once you could burn your own. Theres a moral in there somewhere.
-sean
The Rampage version is better:
ReplyDeletehttps://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comic/9569511/rampage-monthly-22
Phillip
Charlie is total retro ar the moment because his record player, CD player , Klipsch speakers are in a storage unit due to the geeat divorce.
ReplyDeleteSo… he choses to listsn to 87.7 FM which plays 50s, 60s, 70s with commercials even!
Driving to work yesterday I was treated to Spanky’ “Like to Get to Know You”. (2nd time i heard it in like 4 years on the radio!!!) Commercial came on so I pushed the button to switch to the venerable 93.1 WXRT and they had just started Kate Bush’s “Running Up that Hill”. Hows that for nostalgia? I “pushed the button” but it was on my steering wheel LOL! (Will the nostalgia channel be playing Running ip that Hill 50 years from now because it was a hit in 2022?)
Steve, it seems that only you and I have smart meters. Luddites!
ReplyDeleteThis luddite heard Carly Simon, Aretha Franklin, Spanky and Our Gang, and The Rolling Stones on the radio today is very satisfied!!!
ReplyDeleteJust found out that Tom Palmer, inker extraordinaire, died yesterday. He was 81.
ReplyDeleteb.t.
That's sad news, Bt. He was one of the few people whose inking alone could make a comic worth reading.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best inkers ever. His work with Gene Colan on Dr Strange, Tomb of Dracula and Daredevil was exceptional . Strange, I never thought he was 81 in my mind he was much younger, I forget we are all getting older
ReplyDeleteTom Palmer was Daredevil's best inker, without a doubt (Janson second). When Tom Palmer left (e.g. Rolling Stone issue), Colan wasn't the same (an explanation Sean highlighted to me, recently). We've been enjoying Daredevil's Tom Palmer run, in '50 Years Ago' - and this sad news makes that terrific run all the more poignant.
ReplyDeletePhillip
Steve, I was thinking along similar lines about Tom Palmer’s inks. Not only could his inks inside a comic make me want to buy it, but sometimes just his inks on a COVER would prompt me to part with my cash.
ReplyDeleteIn my early collecting days, it seemed like Gil Kane was drawing the majority of Marvel’s covers and while I generally appreciated them, I realized that he was somewhat at the mercy of his inkers. Kane was a master of dynamic staging and his compositions always grabbed my attention, but if one of his covers was inked by, say, Colletta or Esposito, they had a somewhat ‘unfinished’ quality. Giacoia gave him a bit more of a ‘complete’, somewhat more polished look, Adkins a bit more and Sinnott even more still.
But Tom Palmer elevated Kane’s pencilled covers like no one else. He didn’t simply ink the pencils as they were, he added shadows and dynamic lighting tricks that created a sense of depth and dimension. Without in any way looking ‘photo-real’, a Kane / Palmer cover always felt more solid, more believable, than when he was inked by any of the Usual Suspects.
The cover of CHAMBER OF CHILLS 2 was, I think, the first one by the Kane/Palmer combo that really caught my eye, that had that extra layer of depth that was missing in Kane’s other covers. It’s a somewhat basic cover concept : a clueless guy in the foreground about to be attacked by a Mummy/Vampire coming in through the window behind him. But Palmer lights the entire scene by a lantern on the guy’s table, creating planes of depth that makes the situation seem more immediate and terrifying. I stared at the cover way longer than I normally did (I still think it’s pretty amazing).
Over the years, I actually did buy some comics strictly for the Kane / Palmer covers. I wasn’t a huge fan of Bob Brown’s art on DAREDEVIL, and when Vince Colletta became the regular inker on the book, I stopped buying it. But the Kane/Palmer cover on DD 120 was irresistible. Other comics with mediocre (or downright poor) art on the interiors that I bought just for the Kane/Palmer covers: MARVEL PREMIERE 21, CRYPT OF SHADOWS 2, GIANT-SIZE WEREWOLF 2. And FEAR 23 is probably the single best cover image of Morbius ever.
b.t.
Is the following Morbius inked by Tom Palmer? It's my fave Morbius pic (or, at least, how Morbius is imprinted on my memory!):
ReplyDeletehttps://tainthemeat.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/marvel-superheroes-top-trumps-3.jpg
Looking through b.t.'s excellent recommendations, Crypt of Shadows 2 seems to be Starlin & Everett.
Phillip
D’oh! CRYPT OF SHADOWS number ONE, for corn’s sake! With the sexy Witchy Woman doing her Midnight Conjuring Dance. I KNEW that, and still got it wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe first three issues of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY sport nice Kane /Palmer covers too.
b.t.
Sorry, Phillip, I can’t check out your Morbius image cuz I lack the skills to copy and paste that link into my browser.
ReplyDeleteb.t.
Some more Kane/ Palmer gems: GHOST RIDER 9 and 11, SUPERNATURAL THRILLERS 14 and 15, MASTER OF KUNG FU 19 and 26, MARVEL SPOTLIGHT 21 and 24 and of course dozens of TOMB OF DRACULA covers...TOD 17, 25 and 26 are a few of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteb.t.
Gene Colan and Neal Adams both had a high opinion of Palmer's work, and liked what he did with their stuff. Which says it all really.
ReplyDelete-sean
The interesting thing about the Colan/Palmer team is that they hadn't met and didn't know anything about each other before their first collaboration, on Dr Strange #172. Not only that, but Palmer had never even worked as an inker before! He actually pencilled Doc #171 - his first job for Marvel - which wasn't great, but they asked him if he could stay on to ink the next guy anyway...
ReplyDeleteIts kind of amazing how a method for producing comic book artwork that was developed for convenience can randomly produce such a well matched team.
-sean