Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Can it be the time, yet again, to find out what Marvel's big hitters were up to in comics which bore a cover date of exactly forty years ago?
Too right it can!
But, to do that, they're going to have to get past Neal's deadly army of androids!
But just how easy can that be when the Black Cat's attempts to assist our hero only succeed in hampering him?
However, the good news is he might not be around for long because his aristocratic family in England wants rid of its black sheep - and have even gone so far as to hire a daft hitman called Crossbow to eradicate him from their bloodline.
Most people would probably leave him to it. But not Daredevil. He has principles of the kind that people like me lack.
Sadly, its owner's as unreliable as everyone else the barbarian ever meets and tries to feed Conan to his monstrous, flesh-eating brother.
I would accuse this tale of being influenced by the Jim Starlin Hulk story that featured a people-eating brother but this one's written by Michael Fleisher whose work for Atlas Comics adequately revealed his love for all things cannibalistic.
Not that he manages to maintain a pretence of normalcy for long because, no sooner has he applied for a job on a construction site, than stroppy dragon Fafnir shows up, looking to plant one on him.
And he doesn't.
Because he's dead.
His brother, however, is after the insurance money and, once he adopts the Tumbler's mantle and teams up with Cap, the pair unearth a life insurance scam that's been ripping-off the nation's super-villains for years.
Blow me down with a feather if it's not the Mandarin and, as so often in the past, he's out to avenge himself for his many defeats at the hands of Iron Man.
However, he's totally unaware that he's up against a brand new Shellhead who still hasn't fully got the hang of his armour yet.
Needless to say, the Avengers aren't going to let that happen.
And neither are Dr Strange and the Shroud.
With all that lot against her, you might think it's a hopeless cause for the sinister sorceress but she didn't get where she is today by not being an optimist.
Admittedly, where she is today is trapped in a barren dimension in the middle of nowhere. So, it just shows where positive thinking gets you.
And that's the Steve Does Comics Tip of the Week. Never be positive.
At least, not if the wedding's going to be held in a sewer.
It's all getting unsavoury beneath the streets of New York when Callisto and the Morlocks try to hold Kitty to her promise to marry Caliban.
As you'd expect, the mighty X-Men set out to put a stop to that kind of thing but, to their astonishment, Kitty insists on honouring her commitment.
It's a storyline you can't help feeling one should draw a veil over.
In more ways than one
With his spider-sense out of commission, and the victims of Hobgoblin's blackmail in no mood to help him, the web-slinger decides to use technological means to track down the villain.
But has Hobby discovered the truth about our hero's true identity, among Norman Osborn's documents?
Upon returning to the United States, following his trip to Mexico, Bruce Banner's rudely interrupted by someone trying to murder him.
After all these years of being the Hulk, you'd have thought he'd be used to it, by now. But, this time, it's different. The would-be killer's a man whose entire home town was destroyed by the Hulk.
Not only does Bruce try to get all charges against the man dropped, he also single-handedly rebuilds the town for him.
Isn't that lovely? How nice to finish the post with a happy ending.
You see, Michael Fleisher? It doesn't all have to be nastiness. 😀
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21 comments:
Cap is Charlie’s favorite cover by far. If this was 50 years ago, i would have tried to sketch it on my own!
Steve you mentioned Spidey lost his Spidey sense. Somehow I had the idea that Spidey sense had sort of been set aside starting around issue 150 by the writers? Apparently it was still in use?
Gosh, I don’t love ANY of these covers, honestly. The THOR isn’t bad, and even though this is during the dark days when Buscema didn’t give a flying fart about the CONAN interiors but still managed to do some nice covers, this one is pretty weak. Ishtar’s teats, how I hate that blue vest!
Did I actually buy any of these back in the day? I seem to remember that Kitty/Caliban story so I’m guessing I probably did buy that one, read it once and sold it off later. JR JR really needed a lot of extra help from his inkers to bring his pencils to life in those days, and Dan Green could only do so much. Also, the issue is a good example of how squicky and uncomfortable Claremont’s story situations could get.
b.t.
Regarding Steve's Avengers commentary/synopsis, for the benefit of Team USA, "I didn't get where I am today" is a very famous UK catchphrase!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-iXXtOUdls
Phillip
Steve, are you suggesting that Thor’s new SHIELD-created nom de plume wouldn’t be adequate to disguise his maize-maned manliness?
b.t.
Great, Phillip. Super...
-sean
Sean - Catchphrase City, Arizona!
Phillip
Marvellous. Terrific.
I think this is the best bit of that programme though -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ-9R6NCZ0A
The forces of anarchy! Very mid-70s.
And a bit mid-2020s, going by Rishi Sunak's recent speech to the country...
-sean
Anyway, moving on to the comics...
b.t., I agree, none of these comics other than the Simonson Thor look that interesting. And not to jump the gun on Steve's next 40 year ago Lucky Bag post, but the rest of Marvel's output this month doesn't seem too interesting either (not counting reprints).
Apart from strangely enough Savage Sword of Conan. I don't know about the colour monthly, but after reading one of Steve's recent 40 Year posts - thanks, Steve - I checked out some late 83/early 84 SSOC online and it was actually going through quite an enjoyable run in the dozen or so issues up to #100. Who knew, eh? (You certainly wouldn't guess from most of the covers...)
Obviously Michael Fleisher's stories we're predictably generic and dumb, but unless you're a 'Howard purist' who cares? I mean, its sword & sorcery not War and Peace, right?
The important thing is that they were drawn by John Buscema, who might have been phoning it in a bit, but with various Filipínos inking - Rudy Nebres in most issues, but also Alfredo Alcala and, best of all, the awesome Nestor Redondo - the results were still pretty good.
Its surely impossible for even the most hopeless Marvel zuvembie to deny DC were doing loads better this month though, with Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, a big helping of Gil Kane's Superman - a giant size special, as well as Action Comics #553 - and Don McGregor and Gene Colan's Nathaniel Dusk.
-sean
Sean, I was pleasantly surprised by a run of about 20 issues of SAVAGE SWORD in the early 90s which reunited Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Ernie Chan. It was a series of extended stories, each story arc spread out over 5 or 6 issues each, which allowed for a grander scale and more room for characterization. Best of all, Buscema seemed to be enjoying himself, the pages had an energy and raw vitality that had been missing throughout most of the 80s.
b.t.
b.t., I've just been reading that issue of Conan the Barbarian, and a couple of the ones after, and it seems the comic has taken a similar direction to the contemporary SSOC in that it's Big John with Filipíno inks. I agree with you about the cover, but inside Buscema's work looks pretty good inked by Ernie Chan.
The story - what there is of it - is quite boring though (and doesn't really make sense - aristocrats put up any old wandering barbarian in their castles, no questions asked?)
However. The plot, as with subsequent issues, is credited to John Buscema.
So, Steve - with the late Michael Fleisher merely providing the script, I feel like you have done the man something of a disservice with your post.
Apparently he was a scholar, and a humanitarian -
https://www.tcj.com/michael-fleisher-comic-book-writer-1942-2018/
(Although that 'Night of the Chicken' story sounds a bit dodgy to me)
-sean
I think I had that FF, as I was dipping into that title briefly.
Definitely the THOR which was excellent, although not as white-hot as the Beta Ray Bill story that concluded last month.
I remember that Iron Man, though I think I picked that up second hand a few months later from a market stall.
That X-Men looks scarily familiar. Could my mind be playing tricks on me? Could I have kept up buying the title even though I hated the change of artist...? I can't think of any other explanation. It's a dreadful cover. Those force lines in lieu of an actual background. Lazy stuff.
And a Bill Sienkiewicz on DD. Far superior to the interior contents, but still far from good. Might have helped if the f/g faces bore any resemblance to the characters they were supposed to be.
Duff month.
Suzi Quatro once said she didn't fancy men with long hair so Conan wouldn't stand a chance.
Charlie, the Spider-Sense was indeed still in use, up until the issue before this one when one of the Hobgoblin's devices disabled it.
Bt, I couldn't have encapsulated Thor's alias inadequacies better myself.
Sean, there was a very similar character in Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. I've always wondered if Jimmy was based on him.
Steve: yes, you could have :D
Sean: Sounds like Michael Fleisher absolutely did some wonderful and selfless things for his fellow humans in the latter part of his life, in Asia and Africa and elsewhere. Makes me feel a little bit ashamed for ragging on him as That Weirdo Who Wrote All Those Cannibal Stories For Atlas at various online comics blogs. It’s not like cannibal stories were ALL he wrote! There was also that famous Jonah Hex story where the bounty hunter got old, was shotgunned to death, his corpse stuffed and mounted, and ended up moldering outside of some cigar store in Arizona. And those SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN stories where every woman was portrayed as evil or horny 24/7 (or both)….
Okay, I’m being snarky. But seriously, a person CAN write dark, gleefully twisted fiction and also be practically a paragon of virtue. Both things can be true at the same time.
But it’s also worthy of comment that pretty much ALL of Fleisher’s work at Atlas was seriously messed up, in one way or another!
b.t.
Oh, I take it back! Not ALL of Fleisher’s stuff at Atlas was messed-up — IIRC, The Grim Ghost didn’t want to have sex with his sister and never ate anyone.
b.t.
Steve - 'Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home' is a cartoon I'll always remember. Aged about 4 (?), I imitated the opening sequence, by sliding down the banister - but fell off halfway down, and landed on my head! (Explains a lot!) I also remember the Jimmy character being a relentless commie-hunter, suspecting anyone whose name ended 'ski', etc.
To me, Michael Fleischer means Ghost Rider. Good stories (despite purple prose) for a winter's night!
Phillip
Steve-
I kinda wanna read that Conan comic, after your description.
On another note, I feel Fafnir got a bad rap.
Dragons are supposed to be wily, cunning, and above all, witty and cultured in a very arch, sarcastic sort of way.
Sorta like Tolkien's Smaug. When he talked to Bilbo he sounded (or so I've read) very much like an upper-class Englishman dressing down a working-class reprobate. Fafnir is depicted as a real dope, a waterhead!
Of course, Simonson did make up for it with Jormungand, who was pretty chatty!
...On yet another note, I've read that Christopher Walken is playing Emperor Shaddam IV in the Dune sequel.
This has made my imagination run wild.
You'll find no bigger fan of the great actor than I, but I can't help but try to imagine the dialogue.
"Okey dokey. Now...I'm told... there is trouble on Arrakis. Big trouble....Hey! I'm the emperor....of the known universe....And, I gotta tell ya...at the end of the day...the spice has gotta flow.
Or what?! ...I got navigators on the phone day and night.
Also...I was told when I got here there was gonna be cowbell.
M.P.
Clearly Dune 2 needs a Blue Oyster Cult soundtrack, M.P.
Btw, if you want to read a Conan comic, there are plenty of better ones than #156.
b.t., I agree, people are complicated. It was just fascinating how different Fleisher seemed from that obit, compared to the notion I had of him in my head based on his comics.
I think its also worth considering the mindset of the era in which he started writing. In the 60s there were quite a few landmark legal cases around censorship - mainly of avant garde and underground work - that made all kinds of 'extreme' (for want of a better word) content more permissable, which then percolated through society and mainstream culture during the 70s. If you wanted to be taken seriously as a writer, stories with a happy ending were not the way to do it.
There was still a limit to how far you could push things in mainstream comics, but even so I think twisted violence and nihilism were seen as automatically challenging and authentic in and of themselves. How else do you explain Dauntless Don McGregor's Morbius stories?
These days we expect some worthwhile subtext to justify that kind of thing.
-sean
I would agree, Sean, that if something godawful and horrific happens in fiction, there ought to be a point to it.
Some sort of meaning. Maybe even uplifting.
...As opposed to real life.
M.P.
Or if not 'meaning' then at least irony, M.P.
I watched Planet Terror on TV the other evening, the Robert Rodriguez part of the Grindhouse double bill, which is a case in point. It didn't seem to mean anything, the grossness of it only making sense as a revisit of 70s nihilism. Or maybe early 80s John Carpenter. Frankly, the director seemed a bit confused about exactly what it was he was revisiting, but either way it was all very post-modern and meta.
-sean
Steve, I always just assumed Jimmy, like the other characters in Fall and Rise, was based on what was going on in suburban English society at the time. It was an era of weird right-wing nuts.
Even more than usual.
-sean
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