Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
What's this madness? It's the middle of October and the sun is out? I must bury my face in the pages of the comics of forty years ago, if I'm to retain the deathly pallor the world admires me for.
Not if the Avengers have their way.
Then again, they may not have their way, as the webbed wonder stows away on their quinjet when they go to deal with the Lava Men who've taken over a top-secret base.
The Lava Men are quickly placated but what's this? Moonstone's there? And Electro? and Blackout? And the Rhino? They've been held prisoner in the complex but now they've escaped? And they're looking for some heads to smash?
It's starting to look like the gang are going to need all the spidery help they can get.
With Thunderbolt Ross's help, MODOK revives the comatose Abomination, in order to set him on the Hulk.
There's only one problem. The Abomination has so much PTSD from previous encounters with the jade juggernaut that he's too scared to face him.
Fortunately, the huge-headed heel thinks he has a solution to that problem.
Unfortunately, now both Warlord Krang and Nick Fury want to get their hands on them.
And that means the iron-clad stand-in is going to have to get in there and get his feet wet.
Needless to say, this prompts some soul-searching on the part of our hero who starts to wonder if he's as different from the accused as he likes to think he is.
But that's the least of the thunder god's problems because Sif's getting homesick and threatening to forever leave our hero behind.
Or does he?
Because it turns out the man he's been fighting was just a hired lackey used to throw the wall-crawler off the scent.
And that's not the only problem he's got because, now, he's killed by his own daughter Yuriko.
All in all, it's not been a good day for the would-be criminal genius.
Two tribes of people have lived in peace for centuries but, now, the younger among them have decided to worship a god who's nothing but trouble. And that leads to all kinds of unpleasantness before Conan steps in and murders them, with their own idol.
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45 comments:
Had the DD and X-Men.
Can’t remember a single thing about the DD because this was the pits for the title; but I do remember the X-Men because all sorts of dramatic things were happening, which meant nothing to me as I was only there for the art.
So this is the last pre-Simonson Thor! Does anyone know if this wraps up story threads and themes tidily before everything changes for good?
No idea, Matthew - I hadn't even looked at an issue of Thor since all that Eternals/Wagner nonsense in the run up to #300.
Steve, I can't think of any Marvel team-up I'd never expect to see, and Cap meeting Deathlok doesn't strike me as a particularly bizarre one anyway.
If anything, it makes a lot of sense. I mean, if you think about it, Deathlok is a dystopian Captain America of the future - he even has a flag on his chest too! (Full disclosure: I actually nicked that observation from a comment at the Peerless Power of Comics by everyone's favourite South Dakotan our very own M.P. Take a bow, Matt).
Although that Cap cover is somewhat misleading, as Deathlok doesn't turn up til the last page, and the main antagonist in that issue is actually Luther Manning.
Or, to be more precise, the clone of Luther Manning. You will recall that to 'cure' Deathlok, his mind - including the computer - was transferred into a clone of his original body, but a consciousness also survived in the cyborg demolisher because er... well, I'm not sure why really, but thats what happened. Just before Godwulf - a sort of underground techno-Tarzan (don't ask) - then sent Deathlok back in time from the apocalyptic far-flung future of 1991 to the mid-70s, where he got mixed up with Devil-Slayer - who thought he was in the Blue Oyster Cult or something - and then the Thing and the Roxxon Corporation.
Iirc, the Manning clone was sent back from the future to retrieve him. Don't ask me why he was sent to 1983 rather than the mid-70s.
-sean
Comic of the month: American Flagg #1, by the awesome Howard Victor Chaykin.
-sean
Unlike Sean I loved all that Wagnerian Ring Cycle stuff in The Mighty Thor and I was very disappointed that I couldn't find #300 which concluded the epic run.
I didn't know that MP's name is Matt!
Steve, you didn't mention that this month's covers have been given a makeover with the Marvel Comics Group banner getting ditched after many years and the arrival of new-look corner-boxes incorporating both the new "Marvel" logo and the Comics Code Authority symbol. The Avengers gets a new masthead too.
I second Colin. The Thor Nibelung was outstanding, a glorious swan-song for Roy Thomas! Pollard's art was at its best, too - reminiscent of his great stuff in the Superheroes card game, taken from Marvel UK cover art!
Colin, I seem to remember M.P. clued us in, before & during the Sony Walkman knock-off (the Prinz cruiser) discussion, a while back.
Sean - Yes, post-Nixon super-soldier Deathlok was Cap's flip-side - the American nightmare, rather than the American dream. Deathlok rips the Stars & Stripes off his shoulder, and grinds it under his boot!
Incidentally, do you remember Deathlok tracking his quarry's footprints, by enabling his bionic eye's infra-red search capabilities? Well, I now know where that's nicked from!
Legend's been repeating the Six Million Dollar Man, and one episode, entitled "Straight on 'Til Morning" has an alien making his tracks invisible, whereupon Steve utilizes his bionic eye's infra-red capability to see the alien's footprints, regardless! Well, it seems no idea's original - particularly in comics!
On Spectacular, Spidey looks like he'll need a chiropractor! Also, Spidey's left-handed (unlike on the Avengers), just like Deathlok & Conan!
At least Spidey's Avengers mission's not as bad as his first go at joining the Avengers. First time round, the Avengers expected Spidey to capture the Hulk (is that all?)
Phillip
Comma need after Nixon (meaning the comic was post-Nixon, not the Deathlok story itself, which much further in the future!)
Phillip
needed not need! Damn typos!
Phillip
"was much further in the future!" I give up!
Phillip
I saw the Six Million Dollar Man on tv the other day, Phillip. Lee Majors was as annoying as ever, but it was the one - or, rather, the two - with the origin of the Bionic Woman, and Lindsay Wagner was quite watchable (if somewhat implausible).
She died at the end, which I did not expect. You know, given that that there was a spin off series.
As for the footprint thing, maybe it came from the tv series, but who knows? The original Deathlok run in Astonishing Tales started around the same time, so you can't really be sure which was first with the idea.
Like, you could say Captain America #286 is obviously a riff on The Terminator... except the film didn't come out for another year! If anything theres a bit of a T2 vibe to that issue, suggesting James Cameron might possibly not be the highly original conceptualist he appears.
-sean
Sean - interesting you're dipping into the Six Million Dollar Man, too! I also watched the Bionic Woman episode - Jaime's death is fake, engineered by Oscar Goldman. That's why she gets a spin-off series!
I absolutely loved the Six Million Dollar Man, as a kid (so it's nostalgia/comparing your memories to your adult reaction), but no - it hasn't aged well. Like you said, Lindsay Wagner really improved the show, with her episodes (also, no wrestling with rubber alligators, like in Steve's earlier adventures!) I think the series is getting slightly better now, with the monumentally slow pacing problems improving, somewhat. It still hasn't got to Bigfoot or the Death Probe - the episodes I remember best, from childhood. The Bigfoot scene, with Steve ripping Bigfoot's arm off, references Beowulf!
It seems unlikely the Six Million Dollar Man's writers read Deathlok comics (unless their kids were reading them!)
I think I've got the Cap Deathlok story, somewhere. I seem to remember Deathlok met a sticky end (not for the first time!) Maybe a government g-man faked that, too!
Another interesting possible Six Million Dollar Man inspiration relates to Captain Britain. Do you remember that story in which CB pulled a crisis stricken bathysphere/diving bell out of the water? At first, I thought of Warlords of Atlantis, as an inspiration, but that film's 1978 (so, JUST too late!) However, the earlier Six Million Dollar Man had a diving bell crisis episode - and that could have provided inspiration!
Really $6M Man & Airwolf are similar. Oscar Goldman & Archangel. A quid pro quo between the govt & the hero - etc!
Phillip
Apologies if its disappointing, Phillip, but I wasn't that into the Six Million Dollar Man as a kid and hadn't planned to dip into any repeats - I just switched to the wrong channel late one afternoon and there was Lindsay Wagner on screen...
-sean
Well, Sean - I watched it between ages 6 & 8 (?) Thinking about it - to yourself (being 5 years older?) I imagine - at that time, lots of Six Million Dollar Man stuff, by and large, wouldn't have been credible. Had I watched it at the upper end of that estimate (aged 13), I probably would have been less sympathetic to it, too!
Phillip
Steve Austin was shown running in slow motion to indicate that he was running super fast - and we all fell for it!
Colin - In the 70s, slow was the in thing! 'Kung Fu' had Caine's fight scenes in slow motion, too!
Phillip
Some pretty good books out from Marvel that week. A solid tale in Amazing Spider-Man, and a nice cover.
As Matthew noted, X-men was a winner (also with a sharp cover).
And then there's Fantastic Four- a great Byrne story and a dynamite cover!
Plus, in agreement with Sean, there was American Flagg, off to a wild start!
Oh, and DC offered a "Blue Ribbon Digest" featuring new stories of Sugar and Spike! Yes, I spent a bit of money at the comic shop that month...
Regarding "Six Million Dollar Man"- it was certainly a highlight on TV at the time, when superheroics weren't exactly common (excepting, of course, Saturday mornings). That said, it hasn't really aged so well.
Incidentally, here's a question for you all: was Saturday morning cartoon watching a thing in the UK? Did you have a block of time set aside for all that animated adventure? Or was that just a phenomenon over here in the states?
Redartz - Filmation cartoons (Tarzan Lord of the Jungle, & the Space Sentinels) were shown during the week, in the UK (as was Battle of the Planets). Spidey might have been a Saturday cartoon, though (when it was on!) Marine Boy, with his electric boomerang - I'm not sure!
Phillip
Red, as Phillip says, cartoons tended to be scattered randomly throughout the week's schedules.
Saturday morning kids' TV in Britain tended to be in the form of a three-hour-long studio-based show with a presiding host and co-presenters. That show would feature guest stars, phone-ins, interviews, outside broadcasts, the odd cartoon, music videos and competitions. The BBC had several of those shows, over the years, bearing titles like Swap Shop, Going Live and Saturday Superstore. The main show of that type on the ITV commercial network was called Tiswas.
Colin, they also showed Lee Majors jumping two feet in slow motion to try and convince us he was jumping incredible distances.
I must admit I didn't mention the new banner removal because I didn't notice it.
Matthew, all I can remember of the Thor issue is that Sif packs her bags and leaves. I can't remember to what degree any loose ends are tied up.
Oh - just to clarify - during the week, the Filmation cartoons were on at either 4.20pm or 4.40pm - something around that time - on BBC1. ITV sometimes had Rocket Robin Hood - on Thursdays - during the week, at similar times.
Phillip
Steve & myself have crossed in the post! On those Saturday morning overarching studio shows, a portmanteau within a portmanteau would be the Banana Splits. That was on Saturday am shows, and itself included cartoons, such as the Arabian Knights, 3 Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo (?), etc.
Phillip
Oh - and, that's not even mentioning the Hanna Barbera cartoons - there were shed loads of those, weren't there?
Phillip
Wait a minute... you UK guys actually had the Banana Splits Club show (of which I was a card-carrying member) in the UK?
I ask b/c I had the idea Phillip might have lived in the USA a bit but also b/c is was short lived, 2 seasons IIRC?
Red - not sure if you had:
- Ray Rayner which was a M-Fri 7 - 8 AM Chicago show? (WGN - CH 9)
- Frazier Thomas / Garfield Goose show which was both AM and PM (WGN - CH 9)
- Cartoon Town aka BJ and the Dirty Dragon aka BJ and the Gigglesnort Hotel hour M - Fri around 3 PM? (WLFD - CH 32)
They each had the human host, supporting non-human characters, and had cartoons mixed in.
Charlie - In the UK, Banana Splits got repeated, regularly, over the years. I've never lived in the US, but I went on holiday there (distant US relatives) as a kid. I remember a show called KT TV POW, in which kids phoned in, to play a game (?) in which they had to say "Pow!" to hit a target (?) at certain points. I forget...I think that show may have included cartoons, but I'm very hazy. This was Los Angeles.
Phillip
Yeah, the Banana Splits were on Saturday morning tv here in the mid-70s, Charlie, complete with cartoons. "Size of an elephant!"
-sean
Phillip and Steve- thanks for the info! Your Saturday morning programming sounds similar to shows we had over here after school each afternoon. Usually a host/hostess with guests, kids visiting and numerous cartoons (generally Popeye and Hanna Barbera offerings). In Indiana we had "Popeye and Janie" and "Chuckwagon Theatre" with Cowboy Bob.
Charlie- yes, I recall those shows you mentioned; never saw them until we got Chicago channels on cable after about 1975. The shows I mentioned above were local Indianapolis productions. Did Ray and Frazier start out as local talent too?
Redartz, American Flagg was the first really great, game changing American colour comic of the 80s imo. It really should get a regular mention with the Alan Moore-era Swamp Thing, Dark Knight Returns, etc, but for some reason it doesn't seem to get talked about much.
Maybe because there was a certain inconsistency to it after a while, even before Chaykin cut his work load...?
Anyway, the first year or so of Flagg was fantastic.
-sean
Sean -
I agree about Flagg, but I think it's a question of initial exposure + availability.
Flagg was a big hit with comics fans when it arrived, but never made that leap to the mainstream like Dark Knight and Watchmen etc.
And more damagingly, it was an indie and thus hasn't been available constantly over the decades like DC's product has.
Hi Red -
RAY RAYNER was OLIVER in BOZO. Concurrently he had his own kid's show called "The Ray Rayner Show." He was not from Chicago but started his TV career there in the 1950s.
What may interest the UK gents is that RAY RAYNER was a B17 navigator shot down over France in 1943. He assisted in the actual planning or work on "THE GREAT ESCAPE" but had been transferred prior to the actual escape!
FRAZIER THOMAS was star of several shows in Chicago where he was the host and moderator. He too ended up on BOZO as the RINGMASTER!
BOZO originated in Chicago in 1960. How it became known nationally / internationally is beyond me since it was only aired locally in Chicago and all the publicity shots I see are of the Chicago crew unlike, say, ROMPER ROOM which was franchised all over the US with different hosts.
SEAN - Charlie agrees with ANONYMOUS above, lol.
I only accidentally stumbled over FLAGG at a small comic convention in Lemont, Illinois around 1992.
At the convention, armed with a fist full of singles and a desire to spend them, I got the first and second (?) run at $1 / issue. I never heard of it but it looked compelling and, hell, to get a complete run...? It was great stuff! Though, Chaykin's art eventually seemed to become a parody of itself, a la Kirby, and was hard to understand.
Also that day this dude was selling off ADVENTURE comics featuring the LEGION OF SUPER HEROES from the mid-60s at $1 each. (Including #353 here they fight VALIDUS!)
Charlie was one happy camper!
I seem to remember the first three issues of Flagg being released as a collected edition - 'Hard Times' (with an intro by Michael Moorcock iirc) - quite early on...
Having said that, I agree with Anonymous too. But I also wonder if maybe Flagg wouldn't have been seen by the general public as 'comic book' enough, even if had been more available.
What I mean is: the first series that really crossed over into the mainstream in a big way in the 80s was Dark Knight Returns. And I suspect it being about Batman was an important part of that, because everyone could recognize it as a comic book. That re-invention was a key part of the success (together with Miller's work of course - not trying to suggest it didn't need that too).
There's an element of that - fitting into a broad perception of what comic genres are - in all the big hits of the era eg Watchman being a super-hero book, and even Maus had the funny animal, cat-and-mouse thing going on.
Its a theory anyway.
-sean
Sean - Anonymous is Charlie, having forgotten to sign off !
Phillip
Eh? The previous two comments were from your account, Charlie - you didn't have to sign off! I was agreeing with the Anonymous you agreed with first (;
-sean
*Correction: the previous two comments were from Charlie's account, Phillip, he didn't have to sign off etc etc.
Oops, missed the byline and thought you were Charlie there. Not sure which of you I should be apologising to for that, but either way - sorry.
-sean
Just FWIW, Charlie (me) was not Anonymous at 20:38, lol.
I figured it was Danger Mash.
But in general, I think FLAGG was:
1) A little too racy yet for "grocery store" distribution
2) Being an independent it would have not been first choice in the LCBSs either.
3) The art was not mainstream.
I mean, I liked it a lot, but I enjoy different. Others may just enjoy the usual and the things above are just suggestions of what made FLAGG a bit unusual for the time?
As far as that goes, I wonder how many of us here have read it? Or, what were you reading 40 years ago, lol?
Charlie- I read Flagg for most of Chaykin's run, enjoying most of the way. Pretty cool especially the first year. Still get a kick out of his weapon sound effects: "PapapapapaooooooooooooomMow Mow!. Hilarious.
My other reading at the time (other than the usual Big Two):
Mars, Journey (absolutely love that book), Neil the Horse, E-Man, Somerset Holmes, Love and Rockets, and Katy Keene.
I thought anonymous might have been Matthew, Charlie.
To answer your question, I read American Flagg (obviously). And regularly got Cerebus, Love & Rockets, and the Spirit mag. And I think the Michael Gilbert/Craig Russell Elric mini-series was coming out at this point. My brother was buying Ronin, so I got to read that without paying.
The only A-list Marvel I was getting (occasionally by late '83) was the FF - including #259 here - but I started picking up Thor with #337. Pretty sure paying for that was why I didn't read much more of Byrne's FF after this month.
-sean
I have to say, there was indeed one damn fine dance song on the pop charts 40 years ago: SAFETY DANCE by MEN WITHOUT HATS!
Really loved doing the SAFETY DANCE.
Actually as I look at the charts, they are screaming "good times!"
More tomorrow...
Tra la la
La la la la
One banana, two banana, three banana, four...
Red, nowadays the BBC has a separate channel exclusively for kids' TV shows.
Oh, I forgot Warrior. Marvelman book 2 was starting this month. You know, having mentioned game changing comics...
Redartz, generally I'd try to check out new indies if I had the money. Journey was a good one, which I wish I'd been able to afford to read more of.
Somerset Holmes though... I liked the idea of it, but the first issue just didn't inspire me to read more. Bruce Jones' stuff generally seemed like that for me.
-sean
No thanks for reminding me what an annoying earworm 'Safety Dance' was, Charlie.
Not only that, but double checking what you were going on about and who Men Without Hats actually were, made me think of Men At Work. So thats now two annoying tunes in my head this evening that I'd managed to forget. Grrrrr.
-sean
Let’s not forget Spandau Ballet “True” crushes it this week 40 years ago, my friends!
Sorry, this was me.
Yes, completely agree.
I first picked up Flagg in the late 90s in those glossy reprint editions. They had been out of print for years but I got them at a 2nd hand bookshop for a decent price.
It’s telling that those are still the best quality reprints we’ve had. And that even the hardcover edition from a decade or so ago wasn’t particularly deluxe, and also seems to be OOP.
There was a deluxe edition of Times2 promised recently but that seems to have disappeared off the schedules.
Goddammit.
This was me too.
Hard to see there being much demand for a deluxe Times2, Matthew. Don't get me wrong, I liked Times2, but it seemed to get hardly any attention even when it came out, when Chaykin's stock was probably at its highest, after Flagg and The Shadow.
Was it going to include the third one, do you know? Has it been completed?
-sean
It would seem so. Though tbh that doesn’t fill me with joy. Chaykin’s contemporary drawing style makes everyone look like rubber inflatables.
https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headlines/howard-chaykin-talks-time-squared-exclusive/
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