Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
If I were to declaim, to you, the words, "Come alive! Come alive!" you'd know exactly what I was saying to you.
I'd be saying, "Come alive!"
But where would I be saying it?
Why, down at Devil Gate Drive, of course.
For, verily, it was that very song which was topping the UK singles chart, this week in 1974. And that was good news for Suzi Quatro who was the woman responsible for it.
Over on the British album chart, there was no change from the week before, with the Carpenters' The Singles 1969-1973 still ruling the roost.
This is what matters.
That here is the issue where I began regularly reading the Avengers' weekly comic, rather than just seeing the occasional edition of it.
And what a way to start that era, with that rascally rogue Attuma kidnapping the winsome Wasp, as she flies across the ocean, looking to warn the world of a potential attack by the Sub-Mariner.
Needless to say, such an affront forces the world's most powerful heroes to get involved.
And involved they get by quickly getting stomped all over by the villain.
I do believe that, in his strip, Dr Strange is still battling a Baron Mordo whose power is being boosted by that of the dread Dormammu.
But, unfortunately for the villain, Dormammu's becoming increasingly distracted by events in his own dimension.
And that's not the only shock for our hero because it turns out that robot's a mere lackey.
And it's under the control of none other than Maximus the Mad!
Elsewhere, it seems like good news for Matt Murdock because one his old friends is now supreme ruler of a European country and invites the blind lawyer over for an operation to restore his sight.
However, once there, it doesn't take Matt long to realise his friend is a ruthless dictator - and has an army of robot knights!
And even more elsewhere, Attuma's proving to be a busy lad, this week, because not only must he contend with the Avengers, he's also got to foil the Sub-Mariner who - whether he knows it or not - is being aided and abetted by the Fantastic Four.
Clearly, this is bad news for everyone's favourite web-spinner who's only just regained his memory after his near-death experience with Ka-Zar.
Iron Man, meanwhile, finds himself Trapped by the Mad Barbarian.
Based on Marvel UK's previous form, I'm going to assume the Mad Barbarian was called the Red Barbarian in the original US comic and has had his name changed to avoid offending whoever it is who'd be offended. I'm also going to suspect his home country's been renamed, "Bodavia."
It all involves a commie scheme to send malevolent master of disguise The Actor to steal the plans for Tony Stark's latest weapon. I think we can all assume Tony's not going to stand for that kind of malarkey.
And, almost finally, for this issue, Thor fights the Demon to recover a Norn Stone.
But is the thunder god ready for the wrath he's about to face from Odin for revealing his secret identity to Jane Foster?
And the issue closes with a two-page map of Asgard to make sure we won't get lost the next time we visit it.
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35 comments:
Steve - Attuma resembles an Andorian, from Star Trek, with his white face & twin antennae! Clea's uncle's got an extra 'm' - Avengers last para! Erase it quickly - then erase these 2 sentences - nobody will know!
Phillip
Phillip, I've now corrected the post but shall leave your comment unscathed, as it is only right that the world knows of my appalling error.
I’m always a bit surprised at the difference between the UK and US pop music charts. American Suzi Quatro only had one hit in the US Top 40 — I’ve never heard of ‘Devil Gate Drive’.
So Steve, was it the Don Heck-drawn Avengers story that made you want to buy the book every week, or the Ditko-drawn Dr. Strange? I dug Heck’s early Avengers stuff myself, especially when inked by Frank Giacoia, and bought MARVEL TRIPLE ACTION every month. Full disclosure, I sort of reluctantly dug Heck’s Avengers — he wasn’t one of my favorite artists, he wasn’t as dynamic as Buscema, Colan, Romita, etc - but I found the Heck/Giacoia art smoothly appealing, and kinda irresistible. Ditko’s Dr. Strange work didn’t have a regular venue for reprints but I snapped them up whenever I saw them, in places like GIANT-SIZE DEFENDERS 1 and DOCTOR STRANGE 3.
b.t.
Steve - The proof copy of my book (to check if it's printed correctly) arrived through the post, today - and I've looked at it. Very soon, the world's (well, a few people, if I'm lucky) going to know my appalling errors, too!
b.t. - No shame in liking a bit of Don Heck! Heck's inconsistent - often his Iron Man was poor - but on at least one occasion (first part of Titanium Man), it was outstanding! As regards the Avengers, Heck's portrayal of Thor's hammer's percussive impacts was quite dynamic and good!
Phillip
b.t. - In the UK, Suzi Quatro often had "bit parts" in late 70s/early 80s tv shows (e.g. 'Minder' & 'Shoestring'). This kind of savvy self-promotion may have kept her profile going, in the UK.
Phillip
Phillip — don’t misunderstand me. I’m not ashamed of liking Heck’s art, NOW. If anything, I’m somewhat ashamed of not liking his work more back in the day. Besides reading reprints of his vintage Avengers comics, I was also seeing his ‘present day’ (1973/ 74) art on Subby , Daredevil, Ka-Zar, etc. His ‘current’ stuff had a looser, rougher look which I disliked at the time (I’ve since learned to appreciate it much more) — hence, I was probably retroactively judging his older works too, as being drawn by That Guy I Didn’t Like So Much. If that makes any sense.
I even like his Iron Man stuff ;)
b.t.
b.t. - Gotcha! Thanks for the clarification.
Phillip
Suzi lived in East Anglia somewhere and would often pop up as a guest on local TV in the late 70s, early 80s to do a bit of cooking.
Usually on some magazine program called Weekend that we had on Anglia at 9 or 10pm on Friday nights, presented by local pig farmer Dick Joyce.
I visited Cornwall over the summer of 1974 and had a few days at Water Gate Bay, near Newquay. Young DW was convinced this was the location of Devil Gate Drive and was slightly surprised that the locals weren't at all tough. Quite rural, in fact.
DW
Wow, I recognised that Avengers cover instantly even though I didn't discover Marvel until late '74 so I can only assume I later acquired that issue of The Avengers via a swap - I knew several kids who were Marvel fans and we did a lot of swapping comics!
The top story on Radio 4's midnight news was America's return to the moon for the first time since 1972 which also makes history by being the first time a private company has landed a spacecraft on the moon. Now private enterprise can exploit the moon like they've exploited the Earth, hurrah!
Suzi Quatro's always been popular here in Australia - so much so that she's touring shortly...it will be the fifth tour since 2015 when she did her "final farewell tour" (made a point of seeing her then since we figured she wouldn't be back).
Colin-
I understand the sentiment, but frankly there's not a lot we can do to the Moon, except leave a bunch of junk laying around.
M.P.
I also enjoyed Don Hecks Avengers work, although he could provide some drab / awful art at times (Ka-Zar # 4, and 5 spring to mind) his Avengers work was always attractive to me .
Spot on Colin, the commercialisation of the moon and beyond was only a matter of time.
It seems Pamela Salem's died. Very prolific during the late 70s/early 80s - so many great roles!
Phillip
MP, there are minerals on the moon. It's now believed that the Earth and moon formed from the same material after two earlier planets collided so any minerals on Earth must be present on the moon too as far as I know.
McScotty, I’ve always kinda liked the two Heck KA-ZARs inked by Mike Royer (#3 and 4). Yeah, they’re kinda weird and rushed-looking but somehow Royer’s bold, almost impressionistic inks make the pencils pop.
Heck’s early Avengers work is really good. As I said before, the issues inked by Giacoia look really slick and pretty, that one issue inked by Romita is just beautiful, and the ones that Heck inked himself have a nervous, ballsy energy that I love. The ones inked by Dick Ayers — well, I think most comics inked by Ayers look muddy and unappealing.
I think GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS 4 has to rank as one of Heck’s all-time worst. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, make excuses for him — I’m sure he had to crank out all 30 pages of it on a super-tight deadline and John Tartaglione’s careless inks certainly did him no favors— but oh brother, it’s BAD.
b.t.
b.t. - Regarding 'G-S Avengers' # 4, in Marvel UK, I think some of the 'lines' may have been sharpened/tidied up, a bit. Nevertheless, despite Don Heck's terrible stuff, both at the beginning & the end - to me, Thor vs Kang was depicted well - and I remember it to this day. Also, the Avengers facing different Kangs, reminded me of individual Defenders each defeating different Lunatiks, in a similar manner. Also despite mostly crap art, for Marvelites, this story - read as a whole - is almost required reading, as it explains all about Marvel's different races/alien species! Things I never fully understood were explained, with an entire massive piece devoted to exposition! Early-mid 1970s Marvel - often with little or no exposition, followed by a massive data-dump, as opposed to later Claremont/Shooter stories, where exposition happened continuously.
Phillip
Bt, sadly, I can't credit Don Heck with me switching to getting the Avengers' comic every week. It was simply down to the fact that my local newsagent started stocking it.
In reference to the general discussion on here, I liked Don's work on Iron Man and the Avengers in the early to mid 1960s. After that, his style got progressively less appealing to me, becoming far too jagged, scratchy and cursed with large areas of dead blackness.
When it comes to Suzi Quatro; for the first time ever, I've looked at the words to Devil Gate Drive and am once again reminded that we never bought Chinn and Chapman songs for their lyrics.
Steve, having the comic show up regularly at the newsagent’s would definitely make it easier to buy every week.
Re: Heck’s later tendency towards ‘jagged, scratchy, large areas of dead blackness, etc’ — I totally hear you. I get the feeling he routinely worked at top speed. Especially when he inked his own work, I’d be surprised if his pencils were very tight. Even when he’s ‘good’ , it feels like he relies maybe a bit too much on ‘happy accidents’. Sometimes you get bouncy spontaneity (his Rose and Thorn and Batgirl stories are often fun to look at) — but sometimes his work just looks undercooked and flat. The figures in those two GIANT-SIZE DRACULA stories he did look almost like paper dolls, no depth or dimension at all.
b.t.
Don Heck started out in comics in the early 50s, on war, romance, and horror books. I think he was one of those artists who'd been around for a while, but who's work didn't really move with the times as Atlas became Marvel so became out of sync with the what the company were publishing (and the tastes of the younger readership). Plus maybe he became more cynical about it too.
His earlier work was better, as they say.
-sean
There was a documentary about Suzi Quattro on TV earlier - made in Australia funnily enough - which I didn't plan to watch, but turned out to be more interesting than expected.
Seems she started out in an American girl group - in the 60s and 70s women in rock music were always 'girls' - with her sisters, who were moving to a heavier sound (well they were from Detroit) when they were 'discovered' by British producer Mickie Most. Only he just wanted the singer for his label, so she made the Faustian pact and went ahead and left the band, did the living in a shitty bedsit in England thing tíl she made it with a few hits and then, once past a certain age (and dropping a sprog) appeared in musicals and bit parts on tv.
A shame that like most music docs it was basically a promo for the artist, as it seemed like there was a lot there that could have been covered in more depth - and from different angles - giving a real look into the times.
-sean
b.t. I don't think Hecks case was helped on his 3 issue run on Ka-Zar (3-5) when issue 6 was beautifully illustrated by Alfredo Alcala. I felt sorry for Heck when Harlan Ellison called him out in the Comics Journal as the worst comic artist at the time. Although allegedly he meant to name Sal Buscema which was strange as Sal drew a few of his stories and is imho a brilliant artist.
Or possibly Ellison was getting them both mixed up with Dick Ayers, Paul. I believe this is the interview you're referring to, the legendary (in its own lunchtime) Fleischer lawsuit one -
https://www.tcj.com/the-harlan-ellison-interview/
Ellison was definitely an opinionated fella. I kind of like his attitude, while not agreeing with everything he had to say. Not the detail anyway.
His view of Gene Colan definitely shows he wasn't to be taken seriously on the subject of comic artists. And Fleischer notwithstanding, you'd think he'd know a bit more about writing. I mean, Marv Wolfman was great? Seriously?
Some round these parts may appreciate his view of a certain Spider-Man scríbe though. "Who the hell would've known Gerry Conway would single-handedly ruin the entire comics industry?"
-sean
Charlie is from around these parts LOL! Conway and communism ruined America! No doubt about it!
Btw… Charlie does have a soft spot for Heck too (and Robbins). His Iron Man and Avengers are part of comic lore. Indeed i ger nostalgic for it, also in part because the early Marvel Superhero Cartoons ran those early Iron Mans.
I would have loved to see Colan or Steranko take a crack at those early, bulky, robotic Iron Mans! Which to Charlie, are a more realistic approach to a man of Iron e.g. like Titanium Man too.
Ahhh that makes a bit more sense Sean.
It's not really clear that Ellison even knew what he was actually talking about half the time in that interview, Paul. But that didn't stop him having a go at anyone and everyone - Don Heck, aka Dick Ayers, that guy who drew Nova - which is quite amusing.
Charlie, how do you know communism would ruin America til you've tried it? It doesn't seem like capitalism seems is working out to well for you lot at the moment.
Not if this CPAC thing I've been reading about is any indication...
-sean
*It doesn't seem like capitalism is working out too well...
Duh. One day I will learn to edit comments properly. After the revolution maybe.
-sean
UK Gents! Thoughts on Lyle’s Golden Syrup changing it’s logo after 140 years? I did find the dead, rotting lion carcass with bees swarming around it to be rather sophisticated!
SEAN - the Republicans represent the worst of America. Never mind CPAC this week! Last night at a black-peoples conservative gathering for him he said (the jist) that blacks can identify with him because he too is a convicted criminal. He also was thankful for the bright lights so he could see them. (Hopefully they were smiling when the lights had dimmed?)
More pathetic is the blacks in the audience thinking republicans distinguish between them and “the other “ blacks.
I'm not judging Americans on the basis of their crazy politicians, Charlie. Tbh, I thought the most entertaining nutcase there was Liz Truss, making a speech about how Britain would now be great again if only the woke left-wing deep state hadn't overthrown her.
The deep state and the quangoes! Although I don't think the American audience was familiar with the term 'quango'.
-sean
This American has never heard the term ‘quango’. Some kind of monstrous fowl / fruit hybrid, is it? Like a mutant quail / mango or something?
b.t.
It's a QUasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation, b.t.
I think originally a British term for bureaucratic organisations set up by the government, but the current idiots running the UK seem to have expanded it to include pretty much every and any institution they don't control from the EU to the UN.
-sean
Oh, here you go b.t. -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quango
Apparently the term is used in the 'core and middle Anglosphere'.
Is that a term you've heard of before, Anglosphere? I don't recall hearing it before the Brexit referendum. It sounds like the name of some weird dystopian dimension from an old Michael Moorcock novel or Pat Mills comic strip.
-sean
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