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No one's going to claim this month in 1983 was a great one for movies but it did give us such cinematic gems as Cujo, Curse of the Pink Panther, Smokey and the Bandit Part 3, Prisoners of the Lost Universe and Hercules.
Like I said, no one's going to claim it was a great month.
But was it a better month for a randomly selected bunch of Marvel comics?
Inside, I've no doubt that far more excitement unfolds - but I don't know what, other than that it involves a character called K'Rel.
From that name, I'm going to assume he/she or it is a space alien.
However, what does give us grounds for optimism is that not only does the tale have 39 pages, it's drawn by the returning Hulk legend that is Happy Herb Trimpe.
It seems Barron Mordo would have become master of the mystic arts.
And I suspect that can only be bad news for everyone except Dormammu.
However, it's not Rocking Ron who paints the cover. That's provided by Big Bill Sienkiewicz who gives us a thing that obfuscates more than it enlightens.
Inside, it would appear the Joes figure out that Springfield is a Cobra base!
Bad news indeed for Homer Simpson.
However, our heroes attack in force.
Only to be repelled by Destro.
Meanwhile, Snake-eyes and Venom escape a watery trap.
Only to be captured by agents of Cobra!
And it would seem the search for the Book of the Darkhold has begun.
My knowledge of this one is pitiful.
However, I do note the cover declares there's a new look for Marvel comics.
What will this new look be?
And will we like it?
On Marvel Universe, Nightcrawler's left hand seems to merge with his left foot, creating an appendage with many digits.
ReplyDeleteDaredevil's billy club, being strangely white, merges - to some extent - with Elektra's white right boot.
Is Sonja making the sign of the cross with her swords, being confronted by a vampire? Then again, Conan/Sonja was before recorded history (& thus Christianity?) Also, why is one of Sonja's hands brown? Is she wearing a glove on that hand, having slapped her opponent in the face with the other glove, before throwing down the gauntlet? Or is the brown hand that of an opponent, whose sword Sonja is blocking by pulling it closer to her face (unlikely)?
Finally, why is a light source both above, and to one side?
I imagine Drac will dominate one of the two women, enthralling her, whilst the other must break the fiend's evil hold over her friend. Yawn!
Phillip
If Sonja's brown right hand can be put down as a glove, Colin, I reckon what you're claiming to be the shadow from an overhead light could just be the suntan of a seasoned covid mask wearer.
ReplyDeletedangermash - it isn't Colin! Maybe Sonja deliberately dropped the other brown glove at Conan's house - pretending to have forgotten it - as a pretext for him to return it to her. Then again, that's like an Edwardian costume-drama, peopled with Robert E. Howard characters!
ReplyDeletePhillip
Phillip! Sorry mate. Put it down to old age. I mean I must be well over 100 if I still think that the best thing about Top Gear was the the theme music (before they modernised it, needless to say).
ReplyDeleteIn that era - when Red Sonja ditched the chain mail bikini for a blue dress - she only wore one glove, Phillip (as you'd be able to see in the corner box next to the logo if the covers here were a bit larger).
ReplyDeleteNot sure why... I guess it was some fashion thing from before the dawn of recorded history. Perhaps she was a regular at Hyborian Age Northern Soul all-niters?
Also, you are mistaken about Dr Strange #60 - Drac doesn't dominate or enthrall either of the women. Chris Claremont did not write that issue!
-sean
dangermash - No worries! Sean - Thanks for the info. Yes, that brown glove would make a fine black power salute, a la Northern Soul! Oh, those youthful influences - I'm even starting to think Chris Claremont-style!
ReplyDeletePhillip
Pedants Corner -
ReplyDeleteSteve, are you sure about the inclusion of Super Boxers here?
According to Mike's World of Comics' Newsstand feature, the Marvel Graphic Novel for August '83 was #7, Killraven by Don McGregor and Craig Russell. The cover date for #8 - the Super Boxers one - is listed as March '84, with an early Dec '83 on sale date.
Had a look at the GCD, and the Marvel GN timeline does seem to give Super Boxers an Aug '83 cover date... but with an October on sale one, so that doesn't make much sense (Killraven is just listed by the year).
Fwiw, until now the GNs in this feature have corresponded with Mikes.
Er, not that I'm checking up on you - I just looked up the Newsstand feature to see what else came out from other publishers, honest.
-sean
Gloveless!
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_soul#/media/File:Northernsoul.jpg
Phillip
Random question (prompted by me wondering why someone misread Frank Miller’s visual symbolism at the end of DD 190 and took it to mean Elektra is now out and about in a white costume)…
ReplyDeleteHas everyone here read Elektra Lives Again from 1990? That was my last Marvel book for quite a while, and as far as I was concerned it left Elektra and Bullseye out of the picture for good.
So I still haven’t managed to reconcile that book with the both of them turning up again in the 1990s… so what’s the deal continuity-wise? Is ELA regarded as a kind of What If story? Or is there a path from that to Pete Milligan writing the character?
Matthew, I doubt Miller or Marvel were that bothered about Elektra Lives Again being 'in continuity' (although I expect for different reasons).
ReplyDeleteI read a couple of those Milligan Elektra comics - nó, I don't know what I was thinking either - and there wasn't much of a story. She was a dancer, who ran a martial arts studio, and spent her time hanging around with Wolverine and getting into fights with Bullseye, while looking hot in a 90s comic kind of way (ie not very imo).
The only other post-Miller Elektra I tried was a boring Bendis DD, with her, the Black Widow, and Night Nurse in it. Long term continuity didn't seem to be much of a consideration, and all the characters were pretty two dimensional.
Fwiw I think not long after that Elektra turned out to be a Skrull.
-sean
PS I like that Red Sonja cover - Simonson, right? There's nothing wrong with the lighting.
ReplyDeleteA shame it wasn't a better comic inside, as I thought her make over was an improvement on that ridiculous metal bikini.
Although her best look was the original one, with the chain mail top. That made sense practically - somehow I doubt warrior women from an age undreamed of would have prioritised showing off their tits, or been keen to expose their midriffs - and was quite stylish as a form of androgynous power dressing (chain mail shirts presumably being coded male in ancient Hyboria).
And she was drawn by Barry Smith back then, which was quite a classy look.
-sean
I don’t know which I dislike more — Conan’s drab muscle T or Sonja’s mundane chainmail-free threads. Both are very boring.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a copy of SUPER-BOXERS, but I’m pretty sure I got rid of it in a down-sizing purge. IIRC, it’s a dystopian Future Sport thing, kinda like ROLLERBALL. Nothing particularly fresh or innovative but the art by Wilson and Gil was kinda fun. For sure, there were much better Marvel Graphic Novels, and quite a few that were a whole lot worse.
The only Post-Miller Elektra comics I read were a handful of issues drawn by the brilliant Argentine artist Carlos Meglia.
b.t.
Nowadays Red Sonja is published by Dynamite Entertainment and she's back to her metal bikini look.
ReplyDeletePhillip, Sean and Dangermash, I'm just assuming that Sonja's single glove is her tribute to Michael Jackson whom I've heard she's a big fan of.
ReplyDeleteSean, I'm not at all certain about the Super Boxers' inclusion. I place any confusion entirely at the GCD's door.
It seems that Red Sonja cover was by Larry Hama and Mary Wilshire with inks by Simonson.
Matthew, I'm afraid I've not read Elektra Lives Again.
Bt, thanks for the Super Boxers review.
Colin, I'm glad to hear it. :)
That was a great story arc on Doc Strange, I enjoyed it, but I wondered why kill off ALL the vampires?
ReplyDeleteI guess you'd expect a big, climactic ending, but then you can't have any more stories about vampires! (Some might say that's not a bad thing).
But ah, I was naive in them days. Nobody stays dead in comics. Despite the drama, it was all a goof. Obviously, vampires did return to the Marvel Universe eventually, just like Drac did.
Even Harold H. Harold came back!
M.P.
I read Elektra Lives Again (and a few times since) and only ever took it as a 'parallel' story. Elektra's story was finished and so I never bothered with any of the non-Miller stuff that followed. Seemingly a good choice.
ReplyDeleteDW
That should have been I read Elektra Lives Again at the time (and a few...
ReplyDeleteDW
"Nobody stays dead in comics"
ReplyDeleteEr, vampires do, M.P.
Because they were dead to start with. Otherwise, they wouldn't be vampires, right?
-sean
Sean - Except Morbius - he's a LIVING vampire!
ReplyDeletePhillip