Tuesday 10 September 2024

The Marvel Lucky Bag - September 1984.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon
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It feels like you had to be a bit cultured to enter a cinema in September 1984.

It was, after all, a month which saw the release of both Amadeus and Carmen.

Fortunately, for those whose tastes weren't quite so high-brow, the month also saw the unleashing of The Brother from Another Planet and Irreconcilable Differences.

I must confess that I've never seen any of those four movies. My opinions on them are, therefore, completely without value.

Marvel Age #18, Iron Man Rhodey and the Hulk

The official Marvel news magazine is back to thrill us with all the latest goss on all the firm's latest happenings. 

Which means that, among other items, we're treated to an interview with Denny O'Neil, a look at Marvel's Coming Attractions and all the facts you need to know about brand-new book Questprobe.

Not only that but there's even info on how to submit your samples. 

I'm assuming that means your artwork and writing samples and not any other samples you may happen to have in your possession.

Marvel Fanfare #16

Marvel Fanfare heralds its return, with a cover that looks like it's doing all it can to channel as much Golden Age magic as is humanly possible.

What I do know is it gives us a World War Two yarn involving someone called Sky-Wolf, which the GCD tells me is in the style of Blackhawks.

That's followed by A Fable. Otherwise known as a ten-page Sub-Mariner tale from Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola.

Conan the King #24

A stylish cover by Mike Kaluta introduces us to an issue in which Conan searches for Taurus, with the help of Dexitheus and his Black Dragons.

Following that, Prince Conn's headed for the gallows after supposedly murdering a wealthy merchant. However, just as he's about to hang, the prince vanishes and reappears in a forest!

What can it all mean?

I haven't the foggiest.

The New Mutants #19

I admit it, I've included it for its Bill Sienkiewicz  cover.

But it turns out he also draws the insides, as well.

Thanks to Chris Claremont's script, Danielle Moonstar's fighting for her life in surgery while Warlock and Magus encounter the Starjammers in space.

Elsewhere, Magik starts to manifest armour.

And, as if we could ever forget, the Demon Bear attacks again. This time, transporting the New Mutants - and two others - to its own dimension!

All I can say is it's teleportier than the average bear.

Marvel Team-Up Annual #7, Spider-Man and Alpha Flight

It's the last-ever Marvel Team-Up Annual and the book bows out in the only way any good comic should - with heroes in turmoil, a giant snake and a man on a flying carpet!

Frankly, I don't have a clue what's going on but it seems Spidey and someone called Marrina have attracted the attentions of the Collector. The cosmic kleptomaniac wants to nab Spidey because of his alien costume, and Marrina because she's a Plodex.

I have no idea what a Plodex is.

Meanwhile, in the issue's second tale, Arthur Berman finds himself haunted by the violence super-heroes bring into people's lives.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom #1

It's the book that had to happen, as Marvel gives us Part One of its three-part adaptation of the movie the people in cinema queues are all talking about.

And David Michelinie and Butch Guice are the men bringing it to us.

The Transformers #1, Marvel Comics

The company which gave us comics devoted to the Micronauts and ROM bows to the inevitable and delivers unto our laps the Transformers who, as we all know, are robots in disguise.

I must confess that, despite having sat through many an advert dedicated to them, I'm no expert on the Transformers but my understanding is that, on the planet Cybertron, war has raged for far longer than is healthy, between the Autobots and the Decepticons.

But now, that war has arrived on Earth!

So, basically, the plot of Galactica 1980.

West Coast Avengers #1

It's the mystery that's haunted many of our childhoods. Why do all super-heroes live in New York?

And does that mean there are no super-villains outside that city either?

Now, at last, we're going to get an answer because the West Coast bags its very own branch of the Avengers.

Will there be anyone for them to fight?

Or will the team's presence magically attract a whole bunch of trouble-makers to the region?

But, first, a team as to be assembled - and that task is left in the hands of Hawkeye.

Given his character, this news would make me suspect the team will, therefore, be made up entirely of the man himself and whatever half-dozen nubile young women want the job.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve - your opinion that “BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET” is of no value, is spot on!

Watched it in 1985 with 5 other sober adults and we could not finish it.

If you like weird for the sake of weird, though, this is perfect.

Matthew McKinnon said...

I watched ‘Brother From Another Planet’ a long time ago - possibly 30 years or more. And it bored me stiff.

I might like it more now as a time capsule, but my life is too short. Indie God John Sayles’s movies are always better on paper than the experience of actually watching them. Though I need to give Matewan a go before committing to that.

This month is about New Mutants 19 for me. Great cover, great interior art, not a bad story!
Is that a BS cover for Micronauts as well?

The Indiana Jones cover is dreadful. Of all the images to conjure up for that movie, this is the most boring.

I don’t like the movie Amadeus. I like Jeffrey Jones in it but that’s about it. I miss Jeffrey Jones in movies. We went to see Beetlejuice 2 last weekend and the lengths they went to to avoid having Jeffrey Jones turn up and act onscreen were remarkable. Still. At least he got paid for his likeness.

Steve W. said...

Charlie (?), I have no opinion on Brother from Another Planet, as I haven't seen it.

Matthew, if you mean the Transformers cover then, yes, it's also by
Bill Sienkiewicz .

Matthew McKinnon said...

Sorry. Transformers. Micronauts. Rom. They all look the same to me.

Anonymous said...

I have questions!

Why is Rhodey’s key board so low to the ground? Did he buy it second-hand from the Power Pack?

Why is Roger Corman on that TRANSFORMERS cover? And are Optimus Prime’s arms really that short?

Is that the first Conan comic to not feature an image of the eponymous Cimmerian on the cover (not counting the corner box)?

If Sky Wolf removed his red windbreaker, do you think we’d see a Captain Action symbol on his chest?

b.t.

Colin Jones said...

Steve, I don't know what a Plodex is either but I believe Marrina was a member of Alpha Flight.

So there are Avengers on the East Coast and the West Coast but who will protect the "flyover states"?

Anonymous said...

Can’t remember if I actually saw BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET or just saw Siskel and Ebert reviewing it — or any of the other movies that Sayles wrote and directed for that matter -- but before he became an indie darling, he wrote a bunch of smart, witty low-budget sci-fi and horror movies including THE HOWLING, PIRHANA and BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS.

I did see AMADEUS and recall liking it at the time but honestly don’t really remember much about it now. I do remember Jeffrey Jones as the silly king — his “Too many notes” bit is a classic.

b.t.

Matthew McKinnon said...

It’s saying something about my memory that I can remember the details of a John Byrne plot from 1983, but IIRC Marina turned out to be the last survivor of an alien race (a “Plodex”, I guess).

There was a very early issue of Alpha Flight where she tracked down her race’s ancient spaceship buried in the ice at the North Pole or somewhere. So that would probably be why the collector wants to collect her.

Colin Jones said...

bt, that "silly king" was actually the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II who was also the brother of Marie Antoinette. Apparently he started his reign as a liberal reformer but turned conservative and reactionary when the French Revolution broke out . He didn't live to hear about his sister's fate at the hands of Madame La Guillotine.
I quite liked Amadeus too by the way and I thought F Murray Abraham was very good as Salieri (for which he won an Oscar). Another memorable line from the film comes when Mozart complains about operas which always have famous people from antiquity or classical mythology as their subject :

"People so lofty you'd think they shit marble".

(Apologies for lowering the tone of the blog).

Steve W. said...

Matthew and Colin, thanks for the Marrina/Plodex info.

As for the West Coast and East Coast Avengers, it does make me wonder just what percentage of Marvel's 1960s/70s super-doers operated predominantly away from the coasts. The only ones I can think of, off the top of my head, are the Hulk, Texas Twister and Ghost Rider. Did the Son of Satan live near the coast? I don't recall.

Anonymous said...

Steve, I think the Son of Satan was based in St. Louis for awhile?

b.t.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the Son of Satan lived in St Louis during most of the Spotlight run, b.t. Iirc though, for his own series he moved to Washington DC.

Steve, I have had the misfortune to read Marvel Fanfare #16. The comic had a reputation for raiding the inventory file, but Sky-Wolves was really scraping the bottom of the barrel. I mean, you could sort of make an argument for publishing, say, that Black Widow story that was in Fanfare last time it appeared in this feature - sure it was out of date compared to her previous solo outing drawn by Paul Gulacy in Marvel Preview, let alone Frank Miller's (then) new look version - but at least George Pérez was quite a popular artist...

Sky-Wolves by Marv Wolfman and Dave Cockrum in the 70s that was actually worse than that cover suggests. So bad even by the standard of super-hero comics set in World War Season 2 that Roy Thomas would have been embarrassed by it.

The Sub-Marine back-up was not good either. Anyone tracking the mag down to read Mike Mignola's first work for Marvel will be disappointed.

Oh dear, that was quite negative, wasn't? Oh well. New Mutants #19 was alright.

-sean

Anonymous said...

*Sy-Wolves was a one-off by Marv Wolfman and Dave Cockrum from the 70s...
Apologies for the comment getting a bit garbled there. With the new(ish) format its a bit awkward going back to change anything.

-sean

Anonymous said...

sean:
I first noticed Mignola’s art back when he was doing covers for The Comics Reader, and I really liked the two Namor stories that he did, that ended up in MARVEL FANFARE. I agree that the Sky-Wolves thing was kinda rubbish.

b.t.

Anonymous said...

I guess its inevitable if you look at an artists early work after they've made a name for themselves its disappointing, b.t. Although I did actually see that Sub-Mariner story at the time, and it didn't make much of an impression then either.

Mind you, that could have been because I'd just read one of the worst Marvel stories ever! I could not believe how dumb Sky-Wolves was. There was absolutely zero consideration of the historical period.
Ok, some sort of perspective is pretty rare in super-hero comics set in WW2 - outside of Howard Chaykin's revisionist Blackhawk mini-series and Alan Moore & Gene Ha's Forty-Niners I can't think of any that have approached the subject in an interesting way - but Sky-Wolves doesn't even work as nostalgia, retro, or whatever.
Al Milgrom practically apologised for it in his editorial that issue...

-sean