Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Even as I type this deathly prose, it's May Day.
But just which of our favourite Marvel heroes will be demanding the assistance that is its namesake?
The Avengers will - because most of them are under the spell of Magneto's new-found mind-control powers!
But not to fret because Daredevil and the Black Widow are about to show up and save the day!
An event that leads to the Widow finally becoming an official member of the team.
Hooray! The Living Tarim turns out to be dead and Conan brings an end to the war he seems to have been fighting for centuries now.
I don't have a clue what happens in this one but Dr Faustus is present. Therefore, I can only conclude that devious mind games must be involved.
For those wondering how DD and the Widow come to be in this month's Avengers, here's where we get our answer, as Hawkeye shows up in this mag and fights our hero for the hand of the Widow, causing the book's two stars to be dragged into the super-team's latest crisis.
It's the return of everyone's favourite man-dragon!
I've no idea what happens in this one but it does remind me of my long-standing query about where Marvel's giant monsters get their underpants from.
Thunderbolt Ross and the Hulk are captured by the Gremlin who's out to test the Hulk, so he can incorporate any lessons learnt into his lackeys' Super-Trooper suits.
Thunderbolt Ross and the Hulk are captured by the Gremlin who's out to test the Hulk, so he can incorporate any lessons learnt into his lackeys' Super-Trooper suits.
Happily, the Hulk escapes but, being the absent-minded silly Billy that he is, leaves Ross behind!
In Lee and Buscema's How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way, there's a panel showing a monster stiffly smashing through a wall, with a warning that that's not how to draw someone smashing through a wall. I don't like to be critical but Iron Man on this cover is drawn remarkably like the figure in that panel.
Upon the story inside, I cannot comment, as I cannot remember it.
We're still in Canada, and the Hulk continues to smash his way through Montreal, and its geodesic dome that's become a near-legend on Steve Does Comics.
Ulik gets himself a cross between a tank and a bulldozer and decides it's time to invade the planet Earth!
Perhaps more significantly, it seems that Balder has gone completely mad.
But that's enough of Marvel. What will we find if we peruse a random sample of what its main rival was publishing that bore the same cover date?
This time, in our first yarn, someone called Mr Carter relates his unusual adventures in order to be inaugurated into the Adventurer's Club.
Next, when an actor's framed for a murder, the Vigilante gets involved.
And, finally, Captain Fear lands himself seven pages of action.
Could it be Snapper Carr, at last?
No.
As far as I can make out, it's the Elongated Man, although the Red Tornado appears to also be in this tale despite not making the cover.
Our main story, this month, is called Deathknell in which John Carter falls victim to an evil sorceress.
But that's not all. We also get a yarn adapted from At the Earth's Core in which David fights Jubal the Ugly One for his beloved Dian.
In my head, all I'm seeing, right now, is Doug McClure.
Posts
27 comments:
1.) Is the Avengers that silly Don Heck one, in which Magneto gains power over the team, by manipulating the iron in their blood? Why's he never used that trick on the X-Men, or anyone else? It's lucky for Magneto none of the Avengers were anaemic, or they'd have got the drop on him!
2.) Isn't that Black Widow pic on Daredevil the one used on the cover of the Superhero Women?
3.) That Hulk cover's classic Gremlin pic is used for the Gremlin playing card, in the 1977/78 Marvel Superheroes card game.
Phillip
That is indeed the one Phillip. One that I had in a U.K. Avengers Annual back in the day. Not only can Magneto control people with his magnetic powers but the Vision can control people by hiding inside them and hardening his brain. Although I guess this only works for people smaller than him, so how it works on the Piper I really don't know. From what I've seen in it(er blogs, Heck's art isn't great in these issues, although I don't remember it being especially bad when I owned the annual.
Oh the Cap cover, I don't think that's the Red Skull for once. Or even Nixon. Or Bucky. Is it Peggy from WWII?
And Steve, great observation about Iron Man smashing through the wall and How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way. I agree 100%.
Ah, just seen Phillip's comment about the Gremlin Top Trumps card. I was thinking the same thing but not confident enough to say.
DANGERMASH - I am very inclined to agree with you that the CAP cover alludes to CAP's WW2 love / girlfriend Peggy (?). I do recall buying this one of the spinner.
PHILLIP - Speaking of playing cards, Charlie just stumbled over a book at the nearby Oak Park library (Oak Park being the home of Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright) entitled MARVEL VALUE STAMPS by RASCALLY ROY! It's hot off the presses: only a 2-week checkout I think. Anyhow as a minimum it has a full-page repro of the cover and full-page repro of the page that had a Marvel Value Stamp (often letter's pages it seems). PLUS it has a lot of silver-age repros of coupons that had heroes on them.
The FF cover featuring Dragon Man was also the cover of Marvel UK's Complete FF #3 in October 1977 but without the word bubbles.
Speech bubbles.
The only issue I have handy of all the covers above is DD 99.
I must say the interior art by SAM KWESKIN is very, very impressive. KWESKIN grew up in Chicago and self-taught initially by drawing HAL FOSTER PRINCE VALIANT pages. His Wiki makes a point of KWESKIN getting to visit FOSTER, since FOSTER lived about 20 minutes north in the town of EVANSTON, while still in high school.
Yep... HAWKEYE does his best imitation of the HUMAN TORCH and acts stupid about a woman he "loves."
There are some funny moments. One is where DD refers to Hawkeye as William Tell. Another is where Hawkeye's bow, slung over his back, becomes stuck in the ground and he is basically stuck. DD picks up a rock and Hawkeye says, "Hey wait! You're not gonna brain me...?" DD hits the bow instead driving it completely into the ground.
Black Panther, Vision, and Thor do show up in the end, originally to ask DD to help them battle Magneto. Finding Hawkeye there, they ask him as well be Hawk says "Get lost. I've quite the Avengers."
Lastly, the letters page is shrunk to half size b/c of an ad promoting DRACULA LIVES. We don't see the cover, just a bunch of ad copy.
One final note, Conway is gone and replaced by Gerber as writer. yay. at least no one should die for a while? Conway did kill Danny French in issue 94 which was one hell of a DD issue.
Charlie in the First Person
That "Sword of Sorcery " cover features the unusual combination of Howard Chaykin pencils and Bernie Wrightson's inks. Two great talents but I'm not sure they mesh well. Oh, and the main thing I recall about the story is the presence of some woman in an odd pink bird outfit.
Speaking of cover art, that "Adventure" cover is pretty nice...
Charlie- that MVS book sounds fascinating! Particularly to those of us who were guilty of cutting out the stamps back in the day. At least I managed to fill the book. Which I traded at a convention a few years ago for a few nice back issues...
Phillip- nice image recognition powers you display. That card game, was it fun to play? If not at least you had the cards to admire...
Redartz - the pic rang a bell because, aged 8, the Superheroes card game was one of my most prized possessions, the art being profoundly meaningful to me (in some cases.) So I certainly admired the cards.
The regular Marvel art used seemed improved versions of the originals. What really made the art special though, were unique illustrations - only used on British covers - featured on many cards. Take the Thing, for example - from Marvel Superheroes Weekly # 5:
https://britishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/The_Super-Heroes_(Marvel_UK)_Vol_1?file=Sh45.jpg
The Human Top - from the previous issue:
https://britishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/The_Super-Heroes_(Marvel_UK)_Vol_1?file=Sh44.jpg
And, my personal favourite (looks much better on the cards), the Black Panther from Avengers Weekly #71:
https://britishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Avengers_(Marvel_UK)_Vol_1?file=Av71.jpg
As to game play...
Each character had 3 scores - for physical strength, special powers, and weapons.
Unfortunately, these scores weren't strictly accurate - and were totally off the mark, in some cases. For example, Ghost Rider got 6, for physical strength, whereas Daredevil got 7 (there are other far worse examples!) Also, characters like the Hulk & the Thing got scores for 'weapons', when they don't have any! Nevertheless, the most powerful characters, like Thor, the Silver Surfer, Galactus & the Hulk, did get 9 (the highest strength); middle ranking characters, like Goliath and Iron Man, got 8; and Spidey, Cap Britain, Daredevil, Cap America, all got 7 (although this isn't accurate, they are roughly the same types of character). The Black Panther only got 6, though - and Dr.Doom got 3!
Was the card game fun to play? I took the game very seriously, making 'counterpart cards', for each character. My 'counterpart cards' gave numbers for strength, powers, and weapons, denoting how many other characters each card could beat with their score. Aged 8, this showed an elementary understanding of probability (or 'gamesmanship'!) So, playing an opponent (my brother, by default), I would know which of my 3 ratings it would be best to 'call out', against his card!
Obsessive geekiness, to this degree, aged 8, was perhaps verging on the pathological!
Phillip
Charlie - Kweskin's Black Widow was extremely diminutive.
Phillip
Stroll into any toyshop today and look at the Top Trumps cards and all you'll see are characters from Marvel, DC, Star Wars and Harry Potter. No sports cars or warships.
Back in the day, though, it was the other way round. All cars, ships, planes, etc. Nothing that anybody was interested in to tell you the truth. And that's what made those Marvel cards special. The first set to break out of the tried and tested cliche Top Trumps subject matter areas and to go somewhere that kids might have an interest away from the cards.
There were three attributes on the cards. Physical strength, superpowers and weapons, all marked out of ten. But it was the attributes that let down anyone that had ever read a comic. So many unrealistic scores on there, Galactus' 7/10 for superpowers being the most annoying. And lots of >0 scores for weapons for characters that were just bruisers like Thing and Hulk. I suspect that there were some laptop boffins behind the scenes tinkering with some of the scores to maxmise playing enjoyment at the expense of realism.
Ah, took too long tinkering with that comment and Phillip got in there first.
Talking of Phillip, not many Phillips out there with a double l and I couldn't help noticing the other day on Facebook that there was a Phillip with a double l being welcomed to following another page that reviews 50–year old U.K. Marvel comics. And this Phillip is a university professor!
Is this the same guy?
dangermash - That's a coincidence, us both ragging on the Thing & the Hulk, over weapons! Unfortunately I'm not a university professor. I should have studied harder :( !
Phillip
BTW - MARVEL is putting FOOM front and center by revealing it's meaning and selling memberships for $2.50!
Full page ad!
Stan LEE is Head Foomer!
STERANKO is Minster of Infoomation!
Charlie is curious as to how STERANKO got into the mix? He didn't spend that much time at Marvel in the late 1960s did he? 6 months? (Idk...)
And though at this time in 1973 he was drawing some covers (interiors too?) they were not as compelling as a few years earlier suggesting a fading interest in the comics medium?
In 1973, how many youngsters remembered or experienced Steranko's run small, yet genius, 4 years prior? So it's not clear to Charlie Steranko would be an attraction to subscribe to FOOM?
Charlie is sure one of you has an answer!
Charlie in the 3rd Person
PILLIP - I agree that KWESKIN's BLACK WIDOW is not as lithe as COLAN's... But she is drawn quite nicely none the less!
Charlie - Steranko's FOOM pics provided the 77/78 Superhero card game's Cap America, Thor & Silver Surfer! No higher accolade!
Phillip
Oh my...
Will Steve's Thursday post feature the 2nd-banana comic covers such as:
FOOM #1? Is that Ringo on the cover of FOOM #1?
AMAZING ADVENTURES (WAR OF THE WORLDS) #18? That is the most "in your face cover"... clearly it was the motivation for the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW a scant 2 years later?
SUB MARINER 61? The last work of Everett? Sniff sniff...
Li'L PALS #5?
And we haven't even spoken of DC! Lovely Kamandi cover!
Steve - I do NOT envy you! So many choices! God Speed!
Phillip and Dangermash- thanks for all the details about the card game! My two sons played the more recent Marvel collectable card games, but I had no knowledge of your earlier game. And yes, one must wonder; 7 / 10 score for Galactus?!? Wonder how they would have scored the Impossible Man...
Oh, look, most of the cards are here: https://retromash.com/galleries/marvel-super-heroes-card-game/
I defy anyone to look at those cards and not want to make wholesale changes to those scores. Wasp beats Galactus on superpowers!
dangermash - Yes, I found that website, a few years ago, but I hadn't sourced the Thing & the Human Top's pictures, then!
https://retromash.com/2015/02/26/the-extremely-cool-marvel-super-heroes-card-game/
Oh - and that is me!
Phillip
The only cards I had were Planet Of The Apes cards which you got in packets of bubblegum. I think there were two cards per packet and they were very popular in my primary school in 1975 and lots of us collected and swapped them.
The POTA cards featured characters and scenes from the TV series not the films.
Colin
I had a complete set of those POTA cards (60 from memory), largely as a result of the playground swap economy. Because I only got to watch the show every other week, I found the cards featuring scenes from 'missed' episodes to be very alluring. Of course watching those episodes as repeats, a few years later, none were as exiting as in my mind. I also learned (years later) that was an earlier set of cards (presumably in the late 60s) which were based upon the original movie. I cant recall seeing any in the flesh.
Phillip
I also had those Marvel top trumps and highly treasured them at the time. Again, I only knew half the characters which added to the excitement and mystery.
DW
Colin - I'm too young for those POTA cards. For my generation, it was Star Wars bubble gum cards!
DW - Yes, that's a crucial point. Heroes & villains you hadn't seen before, whetted your appetite to track down stories about them! So, for Marvel, in that sense (for a relatively small outlay), the Superheroes card game was a real money-spinner, over the long term!
Phillip
Yeah, I agree W with Redartz, there's great Adventure Comics cover. By Luis Dominguez I believe. Cover of the month. Also, that's a nice take on a fairly standard fantasy image by Mike Kaluta on Weird World #5, and the kid in me likes the one for Justice League #107.
As usual with this feature at the moment - trigger warning for Marvel zuvembies! - the DC covers are very noticeably the better ones.
I actually got Conan #26 at the time, which was my introduction to the character. What a fantastic comic that was!
I read it to death at the time, and looking it now it still seems pretty good. John Buscema and the artist formerly known as Ernie Chua were an impressive team - especially back then, when they weren't just phoning it in - and manage to follow Barry Smith without disappointing (#25 was ok, but Filipino inks work much better on Conan imo).
That whole Hyrkanian war storyline was pretty good. A bit more ambitious than than the usual scantily clad wench and dodgy wizard with giant snake type stuff you usually got in Conan. All those elements are still there of course, but put together in a more interesting way than usual.
-sean
*thats a great Adventure Comics cover...
Duh. Apologies for any typos.
Btw Steve, I think thats the last Adventure issue without a headliner. Pretty sure the next one is the first with Black Orchid, and then she gets bumped for the Spectre.
Which is a shame, as I rather like this (brief) mixed anthology version of the comic, although of the three features in #427 only Captain Fear was memorable.
-sean
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