Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Did you know that, in December 1975, George and Kathleen Lutz moved into a new house in Amityville, New York?
I think you can guess what happened next.
I think you can guess what happened next.
But what happened in the Marvel comics which bore that month as their cover date?
George and Kathleen need to take a leaf out of Conan's book. He'd just hack the house to pieces.
But, right now, he has other matters on his mind, as he begins an adaptation of Robert E Howard's Queen of the Black Coast. The fateful drama in which he first encounters Bêlit!
Hooray! Death-Stalker's always been my favourite Daredevil foe!
Admittedly, that's not much of an achievement, as, until that villain showed up, Hornhead's arch-enemy had been the Stilt-Man.
I must confess to not knowing what's happening on the cover but I do know that, inside, the bounder tries to zap our hero, with a gun made from stolen mirrors!
As for, "The most startling character in the annals of Marveldom!" I'm going to assume he's the Sky-Walker. A man of whom I know nothing.
The Crusader's still causing trouble.
But what dainty little blasts he's firing from his hands there.
I seem to remember the Locust being a less than classic villain.
I also seem to remember not being able to remember much of what happens in this one; other than there being a traffic jam involved and that this is probably the issue in which Sal Buscema replaces Herb Trimpe as regular penciller on the book.
I'm assuming, from the setting, that that character who looks like the Sub-Mariner isn't really the Sub-Mariner?
The Crusader's still causing trouble.
But what dainty little blasts he's firing from his hands there.
I seem to remember the Locust being a less than classic villain.
I also seem to remember not being able to remember much of what happens in this one; other than there being a traffic jam involved and that this is probably the issue in which Sal Buscema replaces Herb Trimpe as regular penciller on the book.
I'm assuming, from the setting, that that character who looks like the Sub-Mariner isn't really the Sub-Mariner?
Whoever he is, I've not read this one and know nothing of it, beyond Firebrand being involved.
It's the cover you thought you'd never see! Spider-Man threatening a rat!
More importantly, this issue sees the return of the Shocker who plunges an entire New York city block into darkness for reasons I don't recall.
It's the cover you thought you'd never see! Spider-Man threatening a rat!
More importantly, this issue sees the return of the Shocker who plunges an entire New York city block into darkness for reasons I don't recall.
Regardless, it means Peter Parker must abandon a party thrown by J Jonah Jameson - and leave MJ fuming.
And it's not just the Shocker who's about to return to Marvelville - because the arrival of the Servitor can, surely, mean only one thing.
And it's not just the Shocker who's about to return to Marvelville - because the arrival of the Servitor can, surely, mean only one thing.
That Zarrko: The Tomorrow Man can't be far behind!
I first read this tale in the 1977 Titans Annual. A review of which you can read by clicking on this very link.
I first read this tale in the 1977 Titans Annual. A review of which you can read by clicking on this very link.
As we can probably guess from the cover, that psinister psychiatrist Dr Faustus is back - and has hijacked a passenger jet, with the aid of his men and a woman called Karla!
It was in this story that I first discovered the American emergency number is 911 and not the 999 we use in our very own land of mists and crumpets.
This looks suspiciously like the issue before the one in which the Avengers must fight Kang in the American Wild West, thanks to a quest to find Hawkeye.
The concluding part of that tale was, of course, reprinted in Marvel UK's 1977 Avengers Annual, with great chunks excised to make it fit the page count.
And I do believe It may have been the first time I ever encountered Moondragon.
This one didn't appear in any 1977 Marvel UK annuals, as far as I'm aware.
It was in this story that I first discovered the American emergency number is 911 and not the 999 we use in our very own land of mists and crumpets.
This looks suspiciously like the issue before the one in which the Avengers must fight Kang in the American Wild West, thanks to a quest to find Hawkeye.
The concluding part of that tale was, of course, reprinted in Marvel UK's 1977 Avengers Annual, with great chunks excised to make it fit the page count.
And I do believe It may have been the first time I ever encountered Moondragon.
This one didn't appear in any 1977 Marvel UK annuals, as far as I'm aware.
That's not to say it didn't deserve to.
It is, of course, a tale which manages the unique feat of owing a debt to both Night of the Demon and the Star Trek episode in which Captain Kirk emerges from an obelisk, starts calling himself Kirok and takes to living with Native Americans from outer space.
It is, of course, a tale which manages the unique feat of owing a debt to both Night of the Demon and the Star Trek episode in which Captain Kirk emerges from an obelisk, starts calling himself Kirok and takes to living with Native Americans from outer space.
Anyway, it all kicks off when Cyclops, upset over the death of Thunderbird, destroys an ancient monument and inadvertently unleashes a demonic - and unkillable - entity from another dimension!
But we must never forget the presence of another company. One that rivals Marvel itself in size.
And, therefore, I propose we take a look at what a random selection of titles from that company - and bearing the same cover date - resemble.
Comicdom's latest barbarian is back, and I've included him purely for the strangeness of Ernie Chan's cover.
I know little of the contents of its insides but am aware that, when Claw and someone called Ghilkyn save someone called Cybilyth from someone who's doing sacrificing, the local sorcerer opens a rift to another dimension. One which allows a bunch of hostile giants to show up!
I'm assuming that was his intention.
If not, that was quite careless of him.
The always idiosyncratic 1st Issue Special gives us what would appear to be Dr Fate fighting the Sphinx which has now learnt to fly!
Beyond that, I can say nothing of the events that unfold within the pages of this comic. Other than that they would appear to take place in Boston which is a city I was not aware existed in the DC universe.
What's this?
The Joker?
About to fling Diana Prince off a bridge?
To her doom?
Oh. Apparently, not. It would appear she's Dinah Lance, real-world identity of the Black Canary.
And it would also appear the fiend has kidnapped her!
And that only her boyfriend the Green Arrow can save her!
Jack Kirby's departing for Marvel - and it's the last issue of Justice Inc.
But do both creator and creation go out with style?
Sadly, I cannot say, having never read this issue.
However, I'm sure there'll be plenty of action for the Avenger to fight his way through.
Jack Kirby's departing for Marvel - and it's the last issue of Omac but do both creator and creation go out with style?
I don't have a clue.
But I can say that, according to the GCD, in his headquarters, Skuba's "children" show Buddy his Chamber of Monsters.
I've no idea what any of that means.
To be honest, my knowledge of Dick Tracy comes entirely from having once watched the Warren Beatty/Madonna movie.
And I don't remember anything about it.
Fortunately, DC hands us an entire Limited Collectors' Edition to bring us up to speed.
The core of the book is a 59-page epic, reprinted from the mid-1940s, in which our hero encounters characters with such names as Flattop, Tess Truehart and Vitamin Flintheart.
We're also treated to a two-page Rogue's Galley and many a one-page featurette about the great man himself.
But what's this? Is there no 3D diorama?
In a DC Limited Collectors' Edition?
Who are these publishers? And what have they done with DC?
Posts
26 comments:
Daredevil also seemed to have the Gladiator as an arch-nemisis in addition to Stilt Man. But for sure DD didnt have a deep rogues gallery which is odd.
Charlie read DD 128 a year ago for SDC not realizing that SDC was for 50 years ago, not 49.
Not to fear, he brought it with him again as he journied into the bowels of Mississippi, these past few days, reading it along the way.
STARRIN is an intersting character, but seemingly not in a hurry. Around 1400 AD he met his love on a planet light years away. He now decides to start walking on square stairs made of light. How long would it take a man (he was born on earth) to WALK several light years??? Hopefully he’ll be far enough away before our Sun turns into a black hole and the solar system implodes?!
Also, STARRON had really cool SUCTION CUPS on the bottom of his shoes, which he used to walk up the side of a mock rocket at the NYC former world’s fair site.
Obviously he licensed them to GREEN ARROW, looking at the JOKER cover.
DICK TRACY Treasury Size. Had it! Dick was a cool comic! Very cool! My neighboring village of NAPERVILLE ILLINOIS has like a 20 foot statue of him on the riverwalk. This is because creator Chester Gould and artist Locher were from there.
Also, Charlie has had the joy, a few times, of getting Dick Tracy artist JIM BROZMAN draw sketches of DICK for me including when our peerless fellow contributor REDARTZ visited to do the mega-giga Chicago Comicon a few years ago!!!
Jim works at my fav LCBS called GRAHAM CRACKERS in Downers Grove.
Amazingly, I actually bought all of these except THE JOKER and the DICK TRACY LCE hot off the spinner rack back in the Long Ago. I don’t think I even saw the Dick Tracy tabloid for sale anywhere, but I probably would have passed on it anyway — I didn’t get into Chester Gould until many years later. Don’t recall if I saw this specific issue of THE JOKER, but I had flipped through others and nothing about them ever said ‘BUY ME’.
I liked this issue of CONAN THE BARBARIAN quite a bit, with the mighty Mike Ploog filling in for Big John Buscema. The cover of CLONAN THE UNCONQUERED is definitely strange — I’d go so far as to say it’s agressively ugly. The off-putting color scheme isn’t doing it any favors either.
b.t.
Charlie, in the distant future our sun will become a "Red Giant" but it'll never become a black hole!
Steve, the most memorable thing about the Dick Tracy film was Madonna's song Hanky Panky.
I liked that brief, weird Justice Inc. series. I imagine they were based on the old pulp fiction stories.
One thing I remember is that the comics generally ended with the main villain falling from a great height, yelling AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH all the way down.
Which is probably what I would yell.
M.P.
Mariah Carey rises to #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 - Wham! are one place behind at #6, the only British festive tune so far in the entire Hot 100.
I was in Tesco this morning and they played 'Wonderful Christmastime' but NOT the original Macca one, just some crap remake.
Has anyone tasted Panettone? I thought about buying one but I wasn't sure if I'd like it. There was a mini version available for only £2 but it contained chocolate chips and I wanted the proper one with currants so I bought a mini Pandoro instead which I've also never tasted - I'll have it for my supper tonight with some homemade shandy :)
I occasionally buy Panettone Colin . Its very nice but can be a bit dry so I like to have it warmed up with a wee bit of whipped cream or ice cream etc. it's nice on its own with a strong coffee as well I've never had a Pandora .
My favourite of these comics was First Issue Special, Dr Fate with some lovely Walt Simonson art
Thanks, Paul - I also bought a 4-pack of McEwan's Export but I was amazed recently to discover that nowadays McEwan's beer is brewed and bottled/canned in Bedford not Scotland!
Your kidding, that's a Scottish national disgrace lol - actually I'm genuinely surprised to hear that .
I keep getting given panettone. I used to get it as a gift from various clients and companies, and now sometimes from friends. But I don’t really like it. Way too dry even with fillings. Like a sponge that’s gone off and dried out unpleasantly.
It will expand out to become a red giant, yes, but after everything has burnt out will shrink down to a white dwarf, with all the electrons in its atoms at their lowest energy levels. Gravity will try to make it shrink further but the Pauli exclusion principle will only let atoms have two electrons in the first shell, eight in the second, etc so you get to the point at which nothing can shrink down any further without breaking Pauli.
A bit heavier and there would be enough gravity to squash electrons and protons together into neutrons, leaving us with a neutron star, a big ball of neutrons.
And there's a point heavier than that beyond which a star will shrink enough for the radius of its mass to its radius to become so high that its gravitational field turns into a black hole.
I did a bit of astrophysics back in the day.
I can now report that a Pandoro is a kind of sponge cake and is very nice.
I may pick one up Colin thanks for the info.
That Amazing Spider-Man (with the rather wet cover) was a special treat: we got John Romita Sr. inks over Ross Andru's pencils. It was always a bonus when the Jazzy One dropped in...
b.t.- the Conan story featured here today was another treat; with the Ploog art you mentioned. Really enjoyable issue, actually. Plus a fairly striking Kane Kover.
Sitting here along the Ohio this evening, enjoying the remaining snow- we got about four inches; a rare (yes, here it comes again) treat in this area. Charlie up North gets much more due to the 'lake effect'; southern Indiana is southern enough to get notably less snow. Have you gents 'over there' gotten to see many flakes this season?
As for the music charts this holiday season, the Billboard US top 40 includes 18 holiday tunes this week. Fascinating...
Red, there was a brief flurry of light snow, the other day, where I live but it didn't last long enough to settle. Otherwise, it's been a very mild autumn and winter. So far.
Daredevil's had several arch-enemies. It was the Owl, at one time. Later Deathstalker - a real nasty piece of work! Then Miller made Bullseye DD's arch-enemy. Personally, to my mind, Mr.Fear's the best Daredevil antagonist, for a variety of reasons. For a start, the Man Without Fear's opposite number should be 'Mr.Fear'. Plus, being an unsuccessful lawyer, Larry Cranston resents 'golden boy' Matt - opposite numbers there, too...etc, etc.
If that Scottish beer's Bedford-made, its head'll probably be missing when it hits the glass! A bit of North-South humour, probably ill-judged ( where's that coat of mine? )
Red - Like Steve said, a bit of snow here, on the Tuesday (when I did Speak your Brain) before last - but it didn't settle!
I've just planted some Jerusalem artichoke tubers I bought from Ebay for a dirt-cheap price. It's a vegetable that supposedly never fails.
Phillip
Matthew, thanks for the information on Panettone - I've decided to buy the mini choc chips version (costing £2) out of curiosity.
Dangermash, I knew the sun would end up as either a white dwarf or a black dwarf (couldn't remember which).
Phillip, a few weeks ago David Attenborough was on Radio 4-Extra explaining how Jerusalem artichokes got their name but I've completely forgotten what he said!
Colin - I've just looked up David Attenborough + Jerusalem artichoke. It seems the Radio 4-Extra show is a David Attenborough's Life Stories, season 2 episode, enttled 'Foreign Fare'. Unfortunately, it is not currently available.
That being said, a tasty, sausage, mushroom & Jerusalem artichoke hot pot has come up, from the internet search!
https://www.silversurfers.com/food/meat-poultry/sausage-mushroom-jerusalem-artichoke-hotpot/
That'll have to wait until next year, however, when the Jerusalem artichokes have grown!
Phillip
Yes, Steve, there was a Boston in the DC Universe. Besides Dr Fate, Wonder Woman lived there for a while. And Aquaman I think.
Pretty much all the US cities of Earth Prime also existed in DC comics, even though there were analogues. So for instance Midway City - where Hawkman lived - seemed to be DC's Chicago, but there was also a 'Chicago' on Earth-1. Even more oddly, there was a New York - Wonder Woman lived there for a while too, when she worked at the UN - as well as Metropolis* AND Gotham City.
From this we can conclude Earth-1 was bigger than Earth Prime (and Earth-616). That's the official explanation for why there more big cities anyway.
Seriously. Some writer(s) actually came up with that.
-sean
Colin - My lengthy reply to your comment's disappeared ( I don't know what I pressed! ) Here's the Readers' Digest version: Unfortunately that Radio 4-Extra show's no longer available. I did, however, a tasty Jersalem artichoke recipe!
Phillip
find a tasty Jerusalem artichoke recipe!
Phillip
*Apparently Metropolis was originally a fictionalized Cleveland, Ohio - no, really (it's where Siegel and Shuster grew up) - but I think it's fair to say it's generally been considered a version of New York since at least the 60s.
-sean
Phillip, sometimes comments go missing but Steve is able to retrieve them - over to you, Steve...
Phillip, I have found and restored your comment.
Thanks, Steve - you're a gentleman!
Phillip
Post a Comment