Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Let's see what some of Marvel's lower-profile stars were up to in comics that bore the cover date of July 1973.
Along the way, he encounters the Sirens of 7th Avenue.
It's clearly a landmark story because, as far as I'm aware, it contains the first appearances of M'Shulla, Hawk and Arrow.
And that's about all I know of this one, other than that it's set on Titan and, if the cover's to be trusted, various loser villains from old Hulk stories are involved.
Also, they seem a bit underdressed for the Arctic.
Except he doesn't. The tale in this issue is a reprint of Avengers #62 in which T'Challa must battle Baku the Man-Ape to regain control of his kingdom. We'll have to wait for next month to finally get some actual Panther solo action.
Also, has he ever considered consulting Dr Bromwell? Dr Bromwell's visits always work wonders for Aunt May.
From what I can make out, Strange follows the essence of Shuma-Gorath to the Crypts of Kaa-U where the Shadowmen turn up - and Shuma-Gorath emerges from the Ancient One's mind!
I'd have been more impressed if Shuma-Gorath had emerged from Aunt May's mind.
There's also a backup strip that tells a tale from deep in the history of Atlantis.
There's also a tale called Doorstep. I must have read it because it was reprinted in Marvel UK's Planet of the Apes #29 but, based purely on its title, I've no recollection of it.
I don't know if it's the same cruise ship on which Spider-Man will later fail to confront the same villain but I like to think it is.
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12 comments:
PS. Happy birthday, Charlie.
Thanks Steve!
Charlie does appreciate the birthday wishes.
Charlie also appreciates everyone's remarks yesterday regarding the final page of ASM 122.
It is truly a very poignant setting between Peter and MJ. And in one page the last 97 issues that featured MJ were undone.
Romita, Conway, Kane could write well.
Which means they could have given Gwen a face lift, or just put her out to pasture like some of Johnny Storms girls.
But yes, the final page did strike me. Especially after the intensity of the preceding pages.
Hey -
Do you UK gents watch Tour De France or Wimbledon? It's been a great day for a birthday!
The Tour was on at 6 AM! A brit is leading the tour thus far with the yellow jersey!
Then went for a walk with the missus and rolled right into Wimbledon! Congrats to Andy Murray. (How far will he go?)
Charlie
Charlie, I'd rather watch paint drying than watch Wimbledon.
Steve, that Killraven cover was re-drawn for one of the Apeslayer covers.
The Ray Bradbury story is 'A Sound Of Thunder' in which a group of men go back in time to shoot a dinosaur but one of them accidentally treads on a butterfly and changes the future (thus giving rise to the phrase "butterfly effect").
It is very strangely quite around me, despite it being the 4th of July! Maybe all the fire cracker warriors spent their wad last night? Tomorrow being a work day…
Charlie
Another great post, Steve, although at the risk of sounding like a pedantic smartarse I'm afraid I have to point out Jungle Action was bimonthly, so we'd actually have to wait til September to finally get some Panther solo action. Sorry, I just can't help myself sometimes.
Also, I'm not sure about those first appearances in Amazing Adventures #19. Ok, there's M'Shlla... but is that really the same Hawk? He wasn't ginger with side-burns later on. More to the point though, who the #@&√ was Arrow?
Marvel Premiere #9 is easily the best comic this month, that I've read anyway. Steve Englehart's Dr Strange is my favourite Marvel run of the 70s - of all the comics I was into back then, its the one that holds up best on a modern re-read - and it was great right from the outset.
Unlike Starlin's Captain Marvel - another far out fave of my youth - which still has at least an issue to go before Judo Jim's skills really start to match his creative ambition. Although his Gil Kane impression on that cover for #27 isn't bad.
-sean
Sean, when it comes to characters' first appearances in Killraven, I felt duty-bound to pass on the information the Grand Comics Database gave to me.
Charlie, I don't tend to watch either the Tour de France or Wimbledon.
Colin, thanks for the Ray Bradbury info. Suddenly, it all makes sense to me.
SUBBY 63 is from that odd, sad period immediately following the death of Bill Everett. He apparently had started plotting issue #63 in his final days (he gets a Co-Writing credit) and even inked the cover of #64 over pencils by Rich Buckler.
I like the Romita/ Sinnott cover of #64 quite a bit. The interiors by Kweskin and Shores are fairly bland. The “Tales of Atlantis” back-up story features Howard Chaykin art, from that early period when his characters tended to look weirdly elongated, slim and elegant. Crisp inks by Joe Sinnott enhance without over-powering. The overall visual effect is really nice, actually. They had another 6-pager in the next issue as well.
One last thing about that back-up from #63 — since we’re citing factoids from the GCD, I feel compelled to quote a tidbit from that (fabulous and invaluable) reference source:
“Atlantis sinks in this story.”
b.t.
Also, that’s a pretty nifty set of covers altogether, come to think of it. I think the Trimpe/Esposito Killraven cover is by far the weakest, and I think even that one would have been “Not Half Bad” if it had a more dynamic color scheme.
b.t.
No thoughts on the interior of Amazing Adventures #19, b.t., drawn in early Happy Howie elongated style? To me his work never seemed suited to the standard penciller/inker division of labour in American comics.
(Btw, I read Dracula Lives #2 online last night, so thanks for the recent pointer)
Steve, that is a weird bit of GCD info. Noting Hawk is one thing - the first few Killraven stories were obviously thrown together quite quickly, and he appears so briefly in AA #19 that you can see why Dauntless Don McGregor thought no-one would really notice too much if the character suddenly became native American a couple of issues later.
But it is odd to flag up the blink and you'll miss him first appearance of Arrow, as he never turned up again.
-sean
Sean:
I completely forgot Chaykin drew that Killraven story. I guess I saw the Trimpe cover and lazily equated that with him drawing the inside story as well.
My memory is that Frank McLaughlin’s inks did Humble Howie no favors and also that the pencils weren’t really all that great to begin with. He did much better work elsewhere around this general time period — the two “Tales of Atlantis”, a single “Beyond the Farthest Star” story in TARZAN, Iron Wolf in WEIRD WORLDS, the first few issues of SWORD OF SORCERY, etc.
b.t.
I checked out that 'Tales From Atlantis' back up and was surprised that it looked ok, as Chaykin and Joe Sinnott seemed like an odd combination that shouldn't work (although I wouldn't have guessed it was Chaykin just from looking at it).
-sean
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