Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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OK, Nostalgia, let's see what you've got in store for us.
Mission accomplished, the man now once more known as Deathlok returns to his rightful home in the dystopian future.
But, in one of his fits of duty-bound impetuousness, Cap decides to go with him!
However, none of our characters have bargained with the Latverian monarch's power to swap bodies.
Tyros, meanwhile, is stopped by the Silver Surfer.
But new problems surface for Spidey when a bereaved mother kidnaps a mayoral candidate's baby.
Needless to say, the public-spirited arachno-hominid joins a city-wide manhunt for the absent sprog.
And what an impact he's going to have on the life of everyone's favourite thunder god.
It all begins when Nick Fury asks Thor to investigate an alien ship that's heading for Earth. However, on board that ship is Beta Ray Bill who defeats our hero, picks up his hammer and is promptly whisked off to Asgard, by Odin who thinks he's summoning Thor!
Well, no. It turns out she's an illusion, created by Mastermind, and that the person the X-Men are really fighting is Cyclops.
Still, it all ends happily, with everyone being friends again and Cyke marrying Jean Grey lookalike Maddie Pryor.
However, the Sisterhood of Ishtar is and Rhodey visits them, seeking an energy source to enable the development of his new business venture.
Meanwhile, an ever-more drunk Tony Stark's now living on the streets.
However, the woman who fooled him into using it has fallen in love with him and sacrifices herself to save him.
And it is, as he and the man without fear go toe to toe in a ring that Battling Murdock once fought in.
It's in this tale we first discover that that man once wrestled under the guise of the Red Devil, thus inspiring Matt Murdock's later choice of a secret identity.
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47 comments:
Hmmm. That was a big month. I don't remember all those things happening at once. And I was sure it was summer for Thor and X-Men...? No matter.
Thor 337 is obviously the VIP here - that issue made a big big impact on me at the time, and I quickly chased up the the reprint of Manhunter [Alan Moore recommended!] and the Star Slammers graphic novel in its wake.
Those early issues of Simonson's Thor felt so fresh, so vibrant. It's an excitement I can't quite recapture reading them now, though. And I am one of those who's incensed by the recolouring of the entire run that took place about a decade ago for the Omnibus and subsequent reprints. Photoshop gradients and blended tones are not what this art is about - it needs bold, flat comic-y colours.
DD 200 is a big event, but a terribly terribly dull story with bad art. A shame Miller couldn't have held on for another year or so to give the occasion some actual bang.
X-Men 175, the end of this soap opera plot - who cares- but sadly the last issue of Paul Smith art. I didn't realise it at the time, and dutifully picked up 176, and then when I saw the Romita Jr art inside I recoiled like a spoiled child being force-fed vegetables, and never bought an issue again.
I think I picked up that FF, but have no recollection of it beyond the cover.
Probably also bought Iron Man as a back issue because I had a brief fad for Luke McDonnell's layouts.
You're right about Thor #337 coming out in the summer, Matthew - I distinctly remember being really pissed off when direct market imports sold out very quickly in comic shops, and I missed it. Fortunately I picked up a newsstand copy a bit cheaper in November (Steve uses the cover date for this feature, not the on sale one).
Completely agree with you about Thor #337 (and the way American publishers reprint pre-digital stuff in colour). It was a game changer like American Flagg #1 the previous month, and Simonson's work instantly made the rest of the Marvel líne seem boring and dated in the same way Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 did for DC a few months later. What a brilliant year '83 was to be reading comics.
We even got Skateman #1 by Neal Adams that month too!
Er, well... maybe that doesn't quite make the case for the year.
-sean
Wow! That is one truly awful Avengers cover. Spider–Man looking the way he can only look when someone that doesn't draw him every month draws him (memories of Kirby). Starfox, Wasp and Moonstone all seemingly breaking the rules of composition by flying out of the picture rather than into it. And a horrible Rhino. Not just because he looks nowhere near as powerful as Romita made him in his first appearance but also because of his skin texture – I've never understood what all these circles are trying to do.
Going by the heavier line on the underside of those circles on the Rhino's costume I would assume they're supposed to add texture and make it seem weighty, dangermash.
Not saying it works!
(Simonson does it much better on Thor/Beta Ray Bill's shoulder pads)
-sean
I'm the dissenting voice. To me, Beta-Ray Bill resembles a giant, cartoon sheep. The story may be outstanding, but that cover - to long time Thor fans - is a bitter pill to swallow!
I agree with Dangermash - that Avengers cover's a mess. Blackout & Electro look like they'd cancel each other out, like the Black Cat & Shamrock! Blackout would have been more topical during 1970s powercuts (that being said, I had 2 - albeit brief - powercuts on Sunday!)
Iron Man's supine girl makes him look more Conan than Conan. Incidentally, Conan sounds like a blatant Stormbringer rip off.
Amazing Spidey (Jameson's punch)looks like a pastiche of some earlier Spidey cover pic, but I can't place what.
Hulk resembles a giant infant - not a good look.
Someone on peerless power said 1983 was their favourite comics year. Unfortunately, I was out by then!
Phillip
Interesting comment about the ASM cover, Philip. There is a certain familiarity about it but I can't find an obvious old cover that it's based on. The six that I found that looked closest were ASM #101 Morbius, ASM #123 Luke Cage, ASM #139 Grizzly, ASM #182 Rocket Racer, SSM #3 Lightnaster, SSM #23 Cyclone
Ah, just closed my eyes and tried to imagine that motif on t(e cover if other comics. I've found something more promising. FF #193 Darkoth.
Yeah Sean, they're probably supposed to look like the lumps on Indian rhinos – they always look like they're going round with marbles down the back of their pants (that's pants in the UK sense, Charlie).
Are you sure that wasn't me at Peerless Power raving about what a good year 1983 was for comics, Phillip?
I think I qualify as a long term Thor reader, and thats a great cover for #337, easily the best issue in a long time. Since the end of the Kirby era actually...
Also: don't bring Shamrock up again please.
-sean
Dangermash - As regards the pastiche, my hazy mind summoned a yellow figure punching (Jameson also being yellow!) At first, I thought of the Shocker - but maybe it was Luke Cage, from Amazing Spidey # 123 (which doesn't look that similar!)
No, Sean - it was a gent named David p, in the pp's final 31 comments.
Wouldn't you want Thor himself on his own cover? Or is it an act of iconoclasm, smashing Thor's logo, to signify a clean break with the past, and a new Thor era?
The Emerald isle's national plant/character? I know of no national plant/character!
Phillip
These covers came at the very end of my first Marvel-reading period from 1974-83 and I didn't get interested in Marvel again until 2007 so I didn't have a clue who Beta-Ray Bill was until I read about him on the internet many, many years later!
November 1983 was the month I bought my first ever music album, The Best Of Blondie, which had a very striking cover showing the band against a backdrop of New York skyscrapers with Debbie Harry holding something which gives off a huge flash - a camera's flashgun I assume as another one is also visible in the photo. I'd never bought an album before but on Sunday, November 13th 1983 (40 years ago today!) I was reading the Sunday Mirror which had a full-page ad for cut-price albums in Boots and one of the albums listed was The Best Of Blondie. My local Boots didn't sell albums but I gave my mother the money to buy The Best Of Blondie in WH Smith's on November 15th (I was in the Upper 6th at the time so I had to be in school). My cassette of TBOB is long gone but I remember it fondly.
I'd liked forward to both X-men #175 and Daredevil #200 and was sufficiently let down by both, that I stopped buying both within a few months. I dabbled with Daredevil on and off until the brilliant Bros Again run, but that was pretty much the end of the X-men, for me. I didn't buy Thor at the time but read it at a later date. Not really being my cup of tea, but I get why fan love this run.
Other November 1983 cover-dated comics I remember were:
The baxter paper Neal Admas' Green Lantern & Green Arrow reprint #2;
Eagle comics Judge Dredd #1 (US colour Bolland reprints - which I unsuccessfully tried to get Bolland to sketch a Dredd Head on the inside cover, at a Westminster Mart);
New Teen Titans #36 (out X'ing the X-men),
Ronin #3, which was starting to make sense to me;
Skate-man #1, yes I was one of the mugs;
Warrior #15, which would have been this month's best buy other than:
Daredevils (UK) #11.
DW
I'd looked forward to...
@#$%
DW
I think 1983 was pretty pivotal for comics, particularly in Britain, with Warrior and Daredevils both hitting the heights, and 2000AD also, on occasion. In the US, Miller went in an interesting direction with Ronin (even though most of us would have preferred he stay on DD), Cerebus moved towards its A-grade period, Love and Rockets was brilliant, American Flagg commenced and the mainstream Marvel and DC titles were pretty solid.
The good news is 1984 will, in many ways, be even better.
DW
Skateman #1 eh, DW? You'd think Neal Adams would have done at least a couple more issues of Ms Mystic before coming out with a new crap comic.
To their credit though, Pacific Comics also put out Vanguard Illustrated #1 this month. Did you read that at all? It featured 'Freakwave' by Peter Milligan - making him, somewhat surprisingly in retrospect, the first of the British writers to break into American comics (a couple of months before Swamp Thing #20!) - and Brendan McCarthy.
I loved that series, and it was a big deal because it was the first time I noticed McCarthy's work. Obviously I'd seen his stuff before in the progs, but hadn't found it particularly striking... to the extent that I didn't even make the connection at first.
Probably because he hadn't done much for Tharg in colour, which was one of the impressive things about the look of 'Freakwave'.
Personally, I was quite happy to see Miller moving on from Daredevil to Ronin. It was good to see him do something different, and I do wonder whether it would have been better if people like him, Moore, Simonson et al hadn't reinvigorated superhero comics in the 80s, and done more of their own stuff like that.
-sean
Phillip, I don't think a character needs to be on their own comic's cover.
Tbh, I'm not even that bothered if they're actually inside their own comic at all, so long as its a good read (eg FF #258 - in this very feature just a couple of months ago - in which the Fantastic Four themselves were nowhere to be seen, but it was the best issue that year).
As it happens though, its not obvious Thor isn't on the cover of #337. I mean, he isn't... but you don't actually know that until you've read the comic.
-sean
Sean
I didn't read Vanguard Illustrated but did get the first Strange Days, the following year, which continued Freakwave and introduced the proto-Zenith Paradax!
Brendan McCarthy really used full-colour printing to its best. I met him, briefly, in Sydney, around twenty years ago, when I think he was working with George Miller. Very talented.
DW
Brendan McCarthy is one of those talents I evilly, perversely wish had been shackled for a bit before going off and doing extremely random stuff.
I know it’s not a popular (or particularly moral) viewpoint, but you do often get some incredible work produced when artists are working on mainstream scripts.
McCarthy seemed to disappear off to do just elaborate cartooning all too quickly.
I didn’t get to read any of his early US stuff until the late 90s when I was hoovering up all the stuff I’d missed out on.
Phil -
??!
Thor 337 is literally the best possible cover imaginable!
It’s dynamic and eye-catching in its own right, and it also signals exactly what’s going on with the title from this point onwards - things are getting shaken up.
I picked up Thor in WH Smith! By chance!
80s distribution was extremely random.
WH Smith? So... you would have got Thor #337 in November rather than late summer after all then, Matthew.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to be the kind of person who's not convinced that drawing regular mainstream comics would have been a good use of Brendan McCarthy's talents.
That would be a bit like getting Moebius to draw a Marvel superhero comic...
-sean
"The proto-Zenith Paradax"
Thats one way of putting it, DW.
-sean
Sean & Matthew. Sorry, I just can't see it! To me, Beta Ray Bill's face looks "cartoony". Nevertheless, enthusiasm always trumps negativity, so more power to Sean and yourself! It's just one of those things whereby art looks different, from one person to another, I suppose.
Phillip
Steve, my suspicion is that the return of David Cameron today is also some sort illusion created by Mastermind.
-sean
PHILLIP - I'm with you. Though I'd stopped reading funny books by 1983 I did circle back around 2015 to read Beta Ray Bill given all the positive press.
When I saw it I though surely this is the wrong issue... this guy's head look like a sheep or a horse head... must be one of those "dream/imaginary" issues.
Once I confirmed o/wise I did try to read it and subsequent issues but I just could not get past the sheep head... ah well...
RHINO - looks like Fr@nk R@bbins did it...
By the way, reading the MARVEL BULLPEN remarks in STRANGE TALES 178, STAN is positively gushing about Fr@nk joining the Bullpen that month!
Thanks, Charlie - I was wondering how everyone else was seeing something in it, that I can't! Definitely sheeplike, to me, too!
In ST # 178, Warlock re-animating that dead girl, to question her, is partly inspired by Michael Moorcock's 'Stormbringer'. Near the beginning, Elric reanimates his dead opponents, to question them about his wife's abduction!
Phillip
Theres a lot more than that one scene in Judo Jim's Warlock run that seems drawn from Moorcock, Phillip.
-sean
Absolutely, Sean. I've listed many, in the past!
Phillip
ABBA! Beatles! David Cameron!
Actually Colin, its Lord Cameron now.
-sean
Colin - People voted for ABBA & the Beatles' 'new' hits charting (through purchasing their music); David Cameron, in contrast, is now an unelected cabinet minister (albeit not the first!)
Phillip
Chiming in pretty late this time...
I'd stopped reading Thor for a couple of years by the time Beta Ray Bill appeared. When I saw that cover, and liking Simonson's art, I grabbed a copy- ended up buying the book for most of Walt's run. As some of you noted, Bill's sheeplike appearance was ...unsettling. Nonetheless I liked it and found it really shook things up in a title I'd lost interest in.
X-Men was okay, but was another book that would soon drop off my list.
Amazing Spider-Man- yes, I'd agree it had a pretty clunky cover. Can't recall anything about the insides, although the Roger Stern era was generally quite good.
Definitely loved that Fantastic Four cover, and the whole book. Byrne's run remains a high point in the title, second only to Lee/Kirby.
Speaking of the Beatles, has anyone here picked up the new editions of the Red and Blue collections? I have all the original cds, but have been hearing much about the sound quality of these new releases. Thinking of adding them to my Christmas list. Wondered if anyone had any impressions?
Redartz -
I have the more recent mixes of Sgt Pepper etc from the box sets they put out over the last few years, and they sound astonishing.
Going back and re-digitising the multi-track tapes and making new mixes from the original elements [rather than murky mixdowns made in the 60s] gives the sound a punch and clarity you wouldn't believe. They don't sound like the mixes you grew up with, but they're not sacrilege either. I'd recommend them.
Colin - may i add Rolling Bones and Kate Bush to your list? Charlie
STEVE and fellow YORKSTERS! Whilst on the treadmill ole Charlie was doing some channel surfing. Lo! What was playing? UK basketball featuring the SHEDFIELD SHARKS!
It suddenly occured to me that were Steve, Phillip, et al. were to buy fromt row seats and let ole Charlie k ow, he could perhaps see you guys live in the flesh!
Now that’s what I call Awesome!!!
Wearing my politics-nerd hat it's noteworthy that David Cameron is the first ex-PM to return to the cabinet since Alec Douglas-Home became Foreign Secretary in Ted Heath's 1970-74 government and Cameron is the first non-MP to be Foreign Secretary since Lord Carrington resigned when Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982.
I'll get me coat.
On the subject of characters not appearing on the covers of their comics or even INSIDE their comics as Sean mentioned, there is a notorious UK example of this. In June 1976 Planet Of The Apes and Dracula Lives merged to form...you guessed it...Planet Of The Apes & Dracula Lives from #88 onwards but Dracula only appeared in the first five issues of the newly merged comic. POTA & Dracula Lives lasted until #123 but Dracula was AWOL for the final 31 issues which surely was an offence under the Trades Descriptions Act, wasn't it??
Red, the only Beatles CD I own is the 2021 50th anniversary re-issue of Let It Be (the re-issue was due in 2020 but got delayed due to the pandemic). I gave away all my CDs long ago but I still had a CD player so in 2021 I decided to buy the Let It Be re-issue and ABBA's new Voyage album at the same time so now I own a grand total of two CDs and my local Tesco supermarket has since stopped selling CDs (and DVDs) altogether so I'm unlikely to ever buy any more.
Charlie, I suspect that neither Steve nor Phillip have any interest in the Sheffield Sharks but even if they did buy front row seats how would you pick them out? Perhaps they could hold up placards with their names on for the entire game on the off-chance that you might tune in while on the treadmill ;)
Colin! How would one identify Steve and Phillip in the front row at a Sharks’ game? That could be an excellent question for us in the pews in the next few weeka?!
Well, Charlie, you could identify Steve from his Youtube videos. Assuming they're still up (its been a while since he made any).
Don't know about Phillip.
-sean
To be clear, when I say 'don't know about Phillip' I mean specifically about how identify him visually.
-sean
Red, I've been working my way through the new Red and Blue albums, via the medium of YouTube. It's a variable experience. Some of the tracks sound much better, thanks to the greater sound clarity and improved stereo mix, while some of them sound worse, thanks to Giles Martin's love of fiddling about with the percussion volume.
I agree with Matthew that the Super Deluxe Edition of Sgt Pepper is a dramatic improvement on the traditional stereo version.
Personally, my favourite modern Beatles remix album is Let it Be Naked which removes all of Phil Spector's production and gives us something closer to the Beatles' original intention.
Charlie, I must confess I've never felt any great desire to watch the Sheffield Sharks.
Sean, I'm pretty sure that no one involved with this government could ever be labelled a mastermind.
Fair point, Steve. Although without Lord Cameron there wouldn't have been a Brexit, so it'll be interesting to see what he's going to bring to the government this time.
Mind you, if they were going to bring back one of Sunak's predecessors personally I would have preferred to see the return of Liz Truss...
-sean
At least Sunak didn't bring back Boris Johnson but it's horrible to think there could be a way for BoJo to return to government without being an MP. Hopefully he is considered so toxic now (especially after all the evidence from the Covid inquiry) that he's politically dead and buried.
Steve-you don’t actually have to be interested in the Sheffield sharks, you just have to buy a ticket and sit in the front row! Could you do that for Charlie, please?
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