Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Let us brace ourselves, dear Reader, and yet again unveil what the fabulous world of fifty years ago had to offer us when it came to Marvel and its majestic output.
I remember this one fondly, as I spent quite some time, as an eleven-year-old, copying panels from it, with my trusty pencil.
I do believe it's the tale in which Conan's friend Fafnir loses an arm in battle and is thrown into the sea and drowned by his commander, as he's no longer of any use as a soldier.
Hammerhead makes his debut and quickly becomes a foe who gives Spider-Man far more trouble than he should.
When all's said and done, all our hero has to do is punch him in the stomach instead of the head.
And does he ever learn that lesson?
No.
Regardless, Hammy and Doc Ock are at war with each other - and Spidey's stuck right in the middle of it!
The Avengers come up against the Beast Brood. This leads me to suspect we're in the Savage Land and that Magneto may be involved in it all.
After defeating Cap and the Falcon, the fake Captain America finally reveals the shocking truth of his and Fake Bucky's origin.
I've no doubt at all that we'll all gasp when it's revealed.
DD's radar sense is obviously a little on the blink, there.
Meanwhile, within these pages, a mind-controlled Black Widow attacks Daredevil while Dran uses the power of Project Four to become the Indestructible Man!
I suspect that by the tale's end, he'll have turned out to be highly destructible.
I do believe that one of Tyrannus, Kala and the Mole Man has tricked the Human Torch into thinking his best friend is a hideous monster.
Can the others make him see sense before Johnny Storm becomes a murderer?
It's another of my Hulk favourites, as the Leader takes possession of the Rhino's body and still manages to mess up. Is he sure he's a genius?
Poor old Iron Man. He really does come up against a remarkable number of people who can melt things.
Sadly, I know nothing of this tale, other than that the villain's called Raga.
I do believe Thor must travel to Mephisto's realm to rescue his friends but finds himself up against Hitler and his Nazi hordes, thus sinking, forever, the theory that Adolf survived World War Two.
To find out, let's peruse a random sample of its output that shares a cover date with those previously mentioned Marvel mags.
The Flash clearly has problems. However, I've no idea what problems, other than that they seem to involve the Pied Piper.
Meanwhile, in the backup strip, the Green Arrow deserts his super-heroing and enters a monastery while the Black Canary stumbles across the remnants of the racist cult she once belonged to.
Hold on. The Black Canary was once a member of a racist cult?
What?
And that's the world of Kamandi.
And this is where it first hits us.
I've never read this issue and, therefore, don't know what happens in it but, judging by that cover, it looks to me like the damned fools finally really did it and blew it up, God damn them all to Hell.
In it, Linda Danvers quits her job in television and goes back to college, in order to study drama.
But, of course, there's a killer on the loose!
I do believe this is the one in which Linda's new flatmate Wanda 5 makes her senses-shattering debut. As does the mystery that surrounds her.
Of course, the greater mystery is what happens to her, afterward? I could be wrong but, once her mystery's introduced, I don't think she's ever seen or mentioned again.
As far as I can make out, in this one, someone called Ferrett and Bruno blow up Alec Holland's lab but accidentally create the Swamp Thing. They then try to dispose of Alec's wife but no way is the swampster going to let them do that!
In this one, Jonah's bushwacked by two brothers out to avenge the death of their other brother. This all leads to our hero being inconveniently staked-out in the desert.
DD # 93
ReplyDeleteThis story opening's familiar, from recent issues...
A splash page kicks things off, starting with action & drama!
Daredevil's swinging through San Francisco's concrete canyons, where - just above him - the Black Widow's releasing her 'Widow's line'.
( That's strange! The Black Widow was comatose last issue, in Damon Dran's lab, with Matt & Ivan searching for her! Yet she's up and about, now? )
Next, the Black Widow's dropping! Is she - like in Mr. Fear – falling to her doom, perhaps?
No – she's attacking Daredevil (her partner), with lethal intent!
Say what ?
Well, at least Matt & Ivan needn't San Francisco-search, anymore – Natasha's found them!
So, let's skim-read the caption boxes...“warm August evening” - now we're on familiar territory. Outdoors, Daredevil has evening scenes – so Tom Palmer can make use of shadows!
What else? “two arcing figures, one stalking - - the other, stalked” - more familiar territory. Clearly similar to “the hunter becomes the hunted” - a time-honoured Gerry Conway Daredevil phrase. I suppose, in 1972, “stalking” didn't have today's connotations!
According to Daredevil's think-bubble, his Black Widow search took him from “hill to bay”, when, suddenly, Natasha – rather like the Cobra – attacks DD from behind, rear-naked-choking poor old Matt!
ReplyDeleteDamon Dran's “Mind Probe” - that devilish contraption – has transformed the Black Widow into a mind-controlled assassin, it seems!
I like mind-control villains as much as the next reader, but, only a few issues ago, Killgrave featured, centre-stage. Nevertheless...
Matt thinks: “Somebody hooked on behind me - - choking me - - trying to snap my neck! - - The grip's like a vice - - tightening - - ! Feel myself blacking out!”
Wasn't Matt “blacking out” only two issues ago, unable to break Mr. Fear's strangle hold ? I'm getting deja vu!
But, wait a minute! This scene's implausible, for a reason noted in previous issues, too...
Namely. ambushing Daredevil, should be impossible ( unless Matt's distracted, as he was when Damon Dran performed “hostile reconaissance”, last month ), as Daredevil's radar-sense emanates from his head, in ever increasing concentric circles! So, how can Natasha ambush him?
Anyway, Daredevil somersaults, dislodging the Black Widow, then they drop to ground level, facing off against each other.
There's some realism here, with Daredevil hoping he lands (after a mid-air somersault) without “breaking my bones”. Compared with Spidey, Daredevil's greater physical vulnerability adds to his bravery, as a hero.
Like the recent scene in DD # 90, in which Daredevil arrested his momentum by crashing through a skyscraper window (rather than stick to a building's wall ), Conway again underscores Daredevil's limitations, compared with Spidey.
Daredevil's almost sure his attacker's the Black Widow, after radar-sense scanning her. Yet, in previous issues, just by hearing Natasha's footfall, behind him, Matt could identify her. So, how
acute is Matt's radar-sense, exactly? Answer: as acute or deficient as a story needs it to be!
ReplyDeleteThe Black Widow's eyes look strange, as two bystanders point out (for the reader's benefit) - i.e. she's under a hypnotic trance. Colan draws Natasha's eyes as “blank” circles, to indicate hypnosis.
Twice, the Black Widow karate chops Daredevil, who ducks the strikes, then immobilizes her. Next, Matt uses his hands (like Alicia Masters in the FF! ) to confirm Natasha's facial features. Gene Colan's skill at conveying emotion/expression, on both faces, is evident in this panel.
Satisfied his attacker is, indeed, Natasha, Daredevil applies a “sleephold”, rendering her unconscious. Bystanders take Daredevil to task about this, saying: “Man, you're real tough, aren't you? Beatin' on a helpless femme - - !”
With one hand, Daredevil holds up the Black Widow's unconscious frame, whilst with the other, he motions the crowd to stay back.
The Black Widow – unconscious – is elegantly posed, like a ballet dancer. In reality, an unconscious body would slump in a heap that's anything but elegant. But – of course – for comic art, a graceful pose looks better.
( Compare this to Dejah Thoris drawn unconscious, in 'John Carter, Warlord of Mars' # 16, or Swamp Thing # 23 - Steve's review:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K8OmT3wP_u0/YSEzfPxoxcI/AAAAAAAAQgA/oEDA4U4XDiUNfE7z1ZC3ZC8bfVj1opEOwCLcBGAsYHQ/s356/faint.jpg
In DD # 90, the Black Widow's mid-air panic attack was a similar thing. Colan depicted a screaming Black Widow, elegantly posed, like a movie still from'Trapeze', when - in reality - during a panic attack, even an aerialist's body dynamics would be “all over the place”. )
The inking in the above scenes is excellent.
Recently, I've been referring to this run as “Gerry Conway & Gene Colan's Daredevil” - maybe, “Tom Palmer's Daredevil” is a better shorthand !
Back to DD # 93, and Daredevil suddenly hears one of Natasha's belt ornaments ticking, like a time-bomb, and throws it high into the “dusk darkened sky” (classic phrase!), whereupon it explodes! I think, from Gerry Conway, making the ticking inaudible to ordinary ears, but not Daredevil's, could have been apt, here. Exposition please, Sir!
So, Damon Dran employed a “belt & braces” approach to killing Daredevil. If Natasha's own skills weren't sufficient, he'd kill Daredevil by using her as a human bomb!
ReplyDeleteColan's been criticised (in the past) for drawing massive, page-wide explosions, to reduce his page count. This isn't the case in this comic. Here, a small, narrow, vertical panel conveys an explosion quite effectively. A small illustration, for a small belt ornament bomb?
“In the ensuing confusion, two shadows vanish - -and become one with the twilight darkness.” It's almost as if scripter Gerry Conway's saying: “Go on, Tom Palmer – do your stuff !” Make the scene shadowy & atmospheric!
Daredevil fireman's lift-carries the Black Widow to her north shore mansion. Entering through an open window, Matt wonders if Natasha's attack's connected with the Blue Talon's previous assault, when Ivan suddenly appears.
Ivan's ransacked(?) Danny French's office, and found it “clean”. Matt's sceptical, but lets Ivan in on the ' Project 4 ' secret (off-screen.) Suspense can only be evoked so many times, by withholding information – and ' Project 4' has used up its 9 lives, in that respect!
Meanwhile, in southern San Joaquin, two of Damon Dran's goons (Bert & Jack), detonate an explosive charge. But why? More suspense! The goons wear goggles/visors not unlike Killgrave's goons. Maybe a central store, for villains, provides such eye-gear!
Another small explosion follows. Again, not an infamous Colan full-page job!
This comic's the final great art/inking issue, in Colan & Palmer's run (next month, things go off a cliff !)
However - despite the art – the story still seems “off ” somehow. For a start, plot and exposition, seem “out of step” with each other.
Danny French's next comment being a case in point...
ReplyDeleteIn Dran's lab, Danny French retorts: “You're not turning me...into a fawning robot - - like you did with the Black Widow!” (MWOM # 279, p.14.)
Opening scene exposition, is better before, not long after the scene! That way, the reader doesn't wonder how a comatose (last issue) Black Widow is attacking Daredevil. Long after the exciting opener, having Danny French imply Dran further modified Natasha, since she was comatose, is shutting the stable door after the horse (the opening scene) has bolted.
Altering the story's structure just to surprise the reader, with a comatose Black Widow now attacking Daredevil ? Like using a 'red-herring', to make readers think Mr. Fear was Jason Sloan, so they'd be surprised when he was Larry Cranston? Fair enough. But if you want a previously comatose Black Widow attacking Daredevil to surprise the reader, is a splash page right for this? You've shown your hand, right at the start of the issue!
Returning to Damon Dran's lab, the two San Joaquin goons (Bert & Jack) anticipate a lavish reward, whereupon Dran shows his gratitude by telling Charles, his manservant/bodyguard, to eliminate them booth, saying he hates “loose ends”. Straight from a James Bond villain's playbook!
Dran reminds both Danny French - and the reader – that French killed the original 'Project 4' scientists, with poisoned gas (something Danny's guilt-ridden about, we now learn.) Dran & French's faces aren't drawn consistently (being minor characters?), between issues. One issue, Danny French resembled Robert Redford; the next, he had a Gary Cole smirk – and this issue, I don't know who French features. Likewise, initially Damon Dran resembled Ray Milland, perhaps – but now looks completely different!
Back at the Black Widow's mansion, across Natasha's unconscious body, slumped on a four-poster bed, Ivan & Matt are bickering.
Matt's told Ivan Danny French's been blackmailing Natasha, about stealing the ' Project 4 ' energy globe. To me, this makes little sense. After all, Danny French killed all the ' Project 4 ' scientists, with poisoned gas – something Natasha knows all about. So, considering the dirt she's got on Danny, I hardly think he'd try blackmailing her!
In fact, Danny's blackmail's as plausible as Damon Dran's threat, last issue, to kill Daredevil, Danny's rival, to persuade French to reveal the energy globe's location. Why didn't Dran just grab Danny by the scruff of the neck, instead ? ( In Daredevil, that always elicits confessions!)
If Gerry Conway was writing about 6 titles per month, remembering all 6 titles' plot points was probably challenging, to say the least. But, I digress...
Anyway, recent allies, Ivan & Matt, have now reverted to bickering, like infants. In the end, Matt tells Ivan he's “sick up to here of your paternal nonsense - - ! If you've anything more to say - - stuff it!” Whereupon, Ivan slams the door, and storms off !
According to Matt, the Black Widow's belt ornament bomb means DD's a threat to someone's plans. So, Matt decides to wake Natasha, to uncover who that someone is, even knowing the risks - (she's a “hypnotized wildcat” !)
Nevermind about cats – wild or otherwise – but you should always “Let sleeping dogs lie” !
ReplyDeleteA woken Black Widow attacks Matt, once again, with lethal intent! As the pair's fight hits the floor, the killer, hypnotized Black Widow reverts - momentarily - to “nice Natasha”, before passing out ( reminiscent of Dark Phoenix momentarily reverting to Jean Grey, so Wolvy couldn't finish her ? More potential Claremont tropes, in Conway's Daredevil? )
Prior to this, Matt seemed prepared to harm Natasha, saying: “- - I could almost fool myself you weren't the woman I loved - - but not now - - which makes what I've got to do very difficult - -”
Does Matt's ruthlessness exceed Wolverine's with Jean Grey? Nevertheless, Matt's not as ruthless as Morbius. When Tara went all “Dark Phoenix” (or, rather, Jean Grey) on Morbius, begging him to kill her, Morbius granted her wish! But, I digress...
Colan, to show the Black Widow is hypnotized, draws her eyes as “blank” circles ( likewise her first attack.) When “nice Natasha” resurfaces, her eyes are drawn properly.
Next, Matt goes into “World's Greatest Detective” mode, noticing Natasha's muddy soles, despite dry weather on the bay's north side, for weeks ( if Danny French is a “private eye”, why didn't he spot this?) From this clue, Matt deduces Natasha was held captive in Oakland. The only place to experience rain, lately? Seems unlikely. Anyway, Matt telephones Jason Sloan ( Larry Cranston's senior partner, whom both Matt & Natasha thought was an evil manipulator! ), asking about rich & dangerous Oakland men he might know. Sloan recommends Damon Dran!
Segueway to a lab-scene splash page, showing Damon Dran, harnessing the energy globe's power, via a special suit (Dran's 'Mind Probe' got Danny to confess the globe's location.) As the process veers out of control, Pauls - Dran's lab-goon – gets cold feet, so Dran disintegrates Pauls with a finger blast! I know many villains (e.g. Dr.Doom & the Green Goblin) have finger-blasters, but still...!
At this point, Dran declares, “For I - - and I alone - - know the secret of Project 4 !” As with Daredevil to Ivan, characters claiming “inside knowledge” of the secret of ' Project 4 ' , has gone on far too long, now! Twice, perhaps, is acceptable – but not over & over again!
Anyway, Daredevil - acting on Sloan's tip - arrives at Damon Dran's mansion, and defeats Dran's bodyguard, Charles, quite easily. It's personal, you see.
In Dran's lab, Danny French struggles with his restraints. Danny wants redemption, for the 16 scientists' deaths, all those years ago. Unfortunately, French's escape attempts are interrupted by Damon Dran's dramatic entrance. Dran, in turn, is interrupted by Daredevil, throwing off the lab's ceiling's A/C tubes hatch lid! Dran gives Daredevil a dose of his finger-blasts, and battle is joined!
Whilst dodging, Daredevil (in 'World's Greatest Detective' mode again) draws the reader's attention to a very pertinent, and specific, point he's uncovered. Namely, uniforms the ' Project 4 ' guards, in Natasha's endless flashback wore, weren't government issue. Hence, Dran was the “secret benefactor” behind ' Project 4 ' !
Eh?
ReplyDeleteThis, like Daredevil's boot mud/Oakland deduction, makes little sense, but if Daredevil asserts the point emphatically enough, any 8-10 year old reader will assume DD's smarter than they are!
Anyway, a double page splash, with split-scenes of Daredevil avoiding Dran's blasts, distracts the reader (like a magician's assistant) from any plot nonsense.
Military-industrial complex social commentary gets shoe-horned in, too – what with Damon Dran being a munitions magnate.
Also, Daredevil reminds Damon Dran it's personal (as DD did with bodyguard, Charles). Dran's come a cropper, through messing with a lady named Natasha! Is DD's chivalric/over protective attitude a little dated, nowadays? Besides, if Ivan's over-protective attitude is wrong (in Matt's eyes), is Daredevil that different?
Moments later, Daredevil drop-kicks (another favourite Daredevil move) Dran, sending the villain crashing into his machinery, and starting a lab fire.
Daredevil's villains' machinery is often delicate. Killgrave's saucer/hovercaft's internal workings were fatally damaged, just by Daredevil's billy-club striking a glancing blow. And Dran's machinery isn't robust either !
Dran's lab engulfed in flames, Daredevil helps Danny French up into the A/C tubes first (the tubes can't hold two at a time) - despite Danny being Daredevil's rival for Natasha. In fact, the two rivals are now as thick as thieves (this gets worse still, next issue!) Is Natasha the spare tyre? Safely outside, as Danny and Daredevil look back, Dran's stately mansion explodes, whereupon Danny declares that not even Damon Dran could survive that !
A typical Daredevil pacing problem, with the story ending too soon? Yes and no.
In a final panel, Dran's still alive under the rubble! Next – the “Indestructible Man”. Is Captain Scarlet in it, then?
In the next two issues – despite it still being Colan & Palmer – the art quality nose-dives (with the odd exception.) Those issues may not merit full length reviews/summaries. Anyway - spoiler alert - Damon Dran grows giant-size, and rampages across the Oakland Bay bridge, like King Kong! Danny French finds a spear-shaped piece of rubble (like Iron Fist found, when battling Radion), and throws it at Dran's energy globe!
So, Danny dies valiantly (thus, achieving redemption), but tells the Black Widow, in his last words, she's too much woman for him (or something to that effect!)
ReplyDeleteDoes this affirm Marvel's unwritten rule that reformed bad guys - e.g. Nighthawk, Hawkeye, Swordsman, Yellowjacket, etc - either a.) Eventually come to a sticky end – or b.) Lose the girl in the end? You decide!
Phillip
* reformed bad boys *
ReplyDeletePhillip
You got there in the end Phillip!
ReplyDeleteA hat trick of pure awesome from DC - Kamandi #1! Swamp Thing #1! Supergirl #1! Surely no-one can claim the Marvels are better this month?
Steve, you obviously haven't read that first Kamandi, or you'd be going on about the tigers that worship the bomb (they don't pull off their faces to reveal they're mutants though).
Its no secret that Jack Kirby was tasked with coming up with a series not unlike Planet of the Apes. I think the notable thing is he came up with something much better, which is hardly surprising - after all, he was Jack Kirby.
Also this month - New Gods #11, Forever People #11, and the Demon #3. Did he ever sleep?
Tony deZuniga's artwork in that issue of Weird Western #14 is ok, but the usp is the Alex Toth back up, 'Anachronism'.
-sean
As I recall Steve, its not just Wanda 5 who vanished. Terri and Sabra - Linda Danvers flatmates in Supergirl #3 - disappeared after a couple of issues. Its a mystery.
ReplyDeleteRe: the Black Canary - she was hypnotized into a group led by a dodgy white supremacist called Joshua in Green Lantern #78. Although as part of Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams 'new direction' naturally there was some ambiguity about personal responsibility for one's actions involved.
In the back up from Flash #218 the villain is Joshua's sister, but theres not much to the story - by this point O'Neil and Adams were really just going through the motions.
Its not clear at all what kind of monastery Green Arrow was in, other than the monks practiced some sort of zen archery (!) and there were mountains in the area. Maybe it was in comic book Tibet, or it could California. Its all a bit vague and stupid.
-sean
*or it could have been California
ReplyDeleteApologies for the poor edit there. Duh.
-sean
Calling all you comic historians!!!
ReplyDeleteCan we reasonably draw a dotted line from CAP 155 to the WINTER SOLDIER?
Talk about planting the seed to eventually harvest big bucks 30 years later.
Whose idea was it? I assume Boy Roy? Is he / did he collect any royalties? Or was it all just "work for hire?"
I've reread CAP 155 many times. Still enthralls me like it did when I was 11 years old. Plus seeing that 50s art... so uncommon since most reprints were from the 40s.
Great review Phillip!!!
ReplyDeleteCharlie made a special trip to the storage locker to dig DD93 out of the long boxes just to be in synch with it!
The story is solid.
The art is top notch. No doubt about it. I truly can't declare that Palmer's inks were better than Everett's when comparing his work on the Black Widow series in Amazing Adventure a year or so earlier.
I also dug the numerous (4?) full-page splash panels.
That said, much of the art is disrupted by thought / word / editorial balloons.
Perhaps Conway was equally enthralled by the art and just felt like contributing... a lot! of wordage?
Much as I dig Darkseid, Big Barda, Mark Moonrider and all the rest of the Fourth World Gang, I have to admit Kamandi is by far my favorite of Kirby’s 70s era DC comics creations. Issue #1 is a strong start and #2 is even better. I’ve read the entire run multiple times, and certain story arcs (like Klik-klak and Seaway) are among the best things he ever wrote.
ReplyDeleteAnother PLANET OF THE APES connection: does anyone else think Jason from Marvel’s TERROR ON THE PLANET OF THE APES is somewhat reminiscent of Kamandi? Half-naked teenage boy with a chip on his shoulder finding his way in a world where humans are second-class citizens (or worse)? The big difference is that Kamandi is a thousand times more like-able.
Swamp Thing is also off to a good start, with issue #1 being an expanded ‘remake’ of the first Swampy short story from HOUSE OF SECRETS.
Phillip: you may be on to something with your theory about Bad Guys Turned Good Guys…
b.t.
Funny how the Statue Of Liberty always survives intact. The obvious thing to do in a nuclear holocaust is stand next to the Statue Of Liberty and you'll be fine!
ReplyDeleteOn November 7th 1972 Richard Nixon was re-elected in a landslide, winning 49 states.
Thanks, Charlie! It's great knowing those Daredevil stories meant something to you, too! Few comics motivate me to write, but Daredevil - up to this point - definitely qualifies! I feel honoured you made a trip to your longbox graveyard, ready for this week!
ReplyDeleteb.t. - As regards my theory...I've just thought of Wonder-man. Did he eventually lose the girl, or meet a sticky end? I stopped following the Avengers after it lost its way, during the Michelinie era. Eventually Wonder-man became "pure energy" - or something equally silly, I seem to remember - spoiled a top notch character.
Sean - I've never read Kamandi - but (just out of curiosity) was Dr. Canus (also in Karate Kid) a character, right from the start?
Colin - the Statue of Liberty also appeared in an Avengers story(early Bob Brown era?), with the team repairing/repositioning it, at the start of an issue.
Phillip
SPIDER MAN 114 - What is strange (you notice this PHILLIP?) is that in the MIGHTY MARVEL CHECKLIST, severely reduced these past few years, ASM 114 gets a write-up like twice as large as the 5 books mentioned (yes, only 6 books total nowadays.)
ReplyDeleteNot sure if Marvel had some other interests in the success of 114 besides comic book sales? They were certainly making a lot of hay about Doc Ock v. Hammerhead.
And why in the heck is DOC OCK in a gang war? Would it not have made more sense for... say... KINGPIN?
Fat head vs. Flat head???
SUBBY 55 has the world's greatest letter I've ever read in a comic!
ReplyDeleteEric Kimball of Brookline, MA, muses about the obvious influence of CAMUS on the Subby stories. (Get a load of this!!!)
NAMOR the "STRANGER" consigned to a meaningless existence, a pawn of outside forces, finds himself constantly caught up in circumstances not of his making.
NAMOR the "REBEL" strikes out at he not knows what but attributes "Meaning" to these acts of rebellion!
He then concludes, "Thankfully Bill Everett and Mike Friedrich snatch him away from his EXISTENTIAL ANGST."
O.M.G.!!!
This literally sums up NAMOR and this run of the past dozen or so stories. And Bill and Mike FINALLY provide some joy to this comic! Highly recommended!
Charlie - I hadn't noticed the checklist reducing, as I'm working from UK MWOMs! Strangely, didn't Camus (and Sartre) declare they weren't existentialists?! (Maybe just to be awkward!)
ReplyDeletePhillip
Phil, Charlie - I studied Albert Camus' L'Etranger (The Outsider or The Stranger, take your pick) for A-Level French (for our American friends, A-Levels are exams you sit aged 18). The novel has had a profound effect on me ever since and I even identify a bit with the protagonist Mersault except that he kills an Arab which I haven't done, nor do I wish to! Mersault is sentenced to death for the killing but the novel is set in Algeria in the 1930s and my French teacher, Miss Davies, said a white Frenchman wouldn't have been executed for killing an Arab at that time.
ReplyDeleteColin - I've read 'L'Etranger', but didn't warm to it (not that you're supposed to!)
ReplyDeletePhillip
Phil, perhaps I'm just strange ;)
ReplyDeleteYes Phillip, Dr Canus was in Kamandi from the first issue.
ReplyDeleteb.t., I read Kamandi regularly as a kid, and agree its under-rated compared to the Fourth World, although whether its better is hard to say as I didn't really come to the latter til the mid-80s reprints.
The Kamandi Omnibus I bought is definitely worth every penny.
My fave DC Kirby though is the even more awesome OMAC.
It alternated bi-monthly with The Losers (Our Fighting Forces) so you'd get Kirby's prescient view of world that was coming one month, with his take on the (then) recent past the next. Amazing.
-sean
Hmm. Thank you for reminding me to read OMAC. I got the Bronze Age DC Omnibus last year (what a treasure trove) but haven’t got round to that one yet.
Delete*the world that was coming
ReplyDeleteApologies for the typo.
-sean
Btw Steve, I like the way you carefully avoided saying that Alec Holland became the Swamp Thing in ST #1. Well done.
ReplyDelete-sean
OMAC is brilliant, Matthew. Its the closest you get to classic 2000AD in American comics - conceptually, Kirby's world that was coming has quite a bit in common with John Wagner's Dredd imo.
ReplyDelete-sean
To be clear, I meant its the closest you get in 70s American comics.
ReplyDelete(Obviously when you get droids like Gibbons, Bolland, Moore and Pat Mills crossing the Atlantic theres more thrill power in the US)
-sean
Spider-Man manages to get only three punches on Hammerhead in the three Bronze Age Hammerhead vs Doc Ock gang war storylines in ASM in the Bronze Age. Two of them are punches the top of his head but one, in ASM #159 is a punch to the chest which knocks Hammerhead out in a silly moment where the three of them all knock each other out at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to discover this. It seems that Hammerhead prefers to either fight Doc Ock, wave a machine gun around or sit in the background pulling the strings. He doesn’t like fuk8ng it out with Spider-Man.
Steve, I finally got around to watching the Dr Who finale on iplayer but I already knew the twist ending because Radio 4's Today programme revealed it on the morning after the episode was broadcast - spoilsports!
ReplyDeleteDid you enjoy the episode, Colin?
ReplyDeleteDangermash, come to think of it, that triple knockout scene does ring a bell.
Sean and Matthew, I don't think I've ever read an issue of OMAC.
Sean, the great feat was me avoiding saying that Alec Holland became the Man-Thing.
I can only conclude that Linda Danvers is a serial killer and was burying her flatmates under the patio.
Charlie, that is certainly an ambitious letter for someone to have sent to the editors of a Sub-Mariner comic.
Bt, Kamandi is my favourite 1970s Kirby comic, of the ones I've read.
Phillip, thanks for that truly mountainous summary. It must have taken forever to write.
Steve, I'd give it 8 out of 10. It was interesting to see Tegan and Ace again.
ReplyDeleteWell Steve, you did manage to avoid saying that Alec Holland became the Man-Thing, so well done for that too.
ReplyDelete-sean
CAMUS's THE STRANGER...
ReplyDeleteColin - Well King and Queen Charlie both read it, Charlie in English and She in French. We both never finished it and did not know Mersault killed an Arab on the beach (to experience emotion?) though we both read through the trial where he is accused of killing his mother.
I too have to doubt Mersault would have received death for that in the 1930s. Coincidentally I just read a short story written in occupied Paris around 1941 (in French). The hero is sentenced to a few years for murdering a woman b/c, though he said nothing in his defence, the jury simply assumes she must have been unfaithful to him. (L'Ami et la Femme by Irene Nemirovsky who went to Auschwitz unfortunately.) So...
OMAC - never read it. Add, Charlie is stumped b/c his library system, which is huuuuge, does not carry this book. Sean - is it really worth the dough?
ReplyDeleteYou are referring to "DC Universe Bronze Age Omnibus by Jack Kirby" which prints all of Kirby's work at DC in the 70s? (Even the Dingbats?)
Is the Jack Kirby DC Universe Bronze Age Omnibus worth the money? Come on, Charlie - that question answers itself!
ReplyDelete-sean
Charlie, Mersault isn't accused of killing his mother - he's accused of killing the Arab but his apparent indifference to his mother's death doesn't help his case in court as it makes him seem cold and uncaring.
ReplyDeleteCOLIN - Thanks! It's been so long since we've read it... 45 year ago?
ReplyDeleteNow me and the missus are starting to vaguely recall. Did you also read "The Plague" by Camus? I have not but it got a tone of press during Covid.
SEAN - I agree wholeheartedly that KAMANDI and The LOSERS are worth it alone! But I just want to know if the DINGBATS are in it? Btw, forgive me, but I tried and tried to get into Forever People and have a good handful in the long boxes. But in the end I was more satisfied with the Sandman reprints by Kirby from the 1940s that they were filling out the 52-page books with.
Yeah, its got Dingbats in it Charlie, and The Losers, OMAC, and The Demon. And the amazing Spirit World/Weird Mystery Tales stuff ('Toxl the World Killer' is a fave of mine).
ReplyDeleteKamandi isn't in it though... you'll need the Kamandi Omnibus for that. And the Fourth World one is essential too, obviously.
-sean