70's Marvel Re-reading Project

[Luke Blanchard]

The Spidey magazine was presumably aimed at people who weren't already reading the comic. Possibly the thinking was "redhead" might be confusing to readers who weren't familiar with MJ.

[profh0011]

IRON MAN #55 (Feb'73) -- "Beware-- Beware-- Beware The... Blood Brothers!" From a secret underground base somewhere in the Southwest, a being called Drax The Destroyer sends out a telepathic message of warning to Iron Man-- but too late! He's already under attack by a pair of big, bulky, hairy red uglies, who overpower him, then take him by flying saucer to the base. Earlier, Drax had contacted Tony Stark, and told him an incredible story about the advanced civilization located beneath the surface of Saturns' moon Titan-- of Isaac, a gigantic computer, of Mentor, their ruler, and his 2 sons-- Eros, and Thanos-- of how Thanos rebelled against their life of peace by creating weapons, was exiled, and how he returned with an armada comprised of the worst scum of the galaxy-- and how Mentor contacted the being known as Kronos, who used his immense power to create Drax, who existed for the sole purpose of destroying Thanos! The two battled on an isolated planetoid until its utter destruction-- at which point Thanos brought the unconscious Drax to Earth, which Thanos plans to conquer once he's done with Titan. But from distant Titan, Mentor & Isaac watch & wait, until Isaac sends a beam of energy to release Drax. Together, he & Iron Man defeat the Blood Brothers, then discover the "Thanos" they've been talking with was only a robot-- who explodes, destroying the underground base with it, the 2 heroes barely escaping in time. Iron Man wishes Drax well on his mission to defeat the evil Titan, knowing it may be a long road ahead.

WHOA.  Freakin' WHOA.  After bouncing around Marvel for some months, creating dazzling art on a growing number of books and covers, Detroit's Jim Starlin literally EXPLODES with a burst of "fanzine" creativity the likes of which Marvel has not seen since some time before the departure of Jack Kirby! So many of Marvel's series from the 60's have been treading water or doing retreads for years now, or wading through supposedly "relevant" or depressing stories. Here, a book that's suffered for some time became the jumping-on point for one of the biggest epics to hit Marvel in years.

I probably got this comic sometime in the late 70's-- before it was ever reprinted-- and I had no way of knowing back then (or for most of the time since), but the design of Drax The Destroyer owes a lot to that of DR. WEIRD, which Starlin did 2 issues of in 1970 & 1971 (both of which were reprinted in the DR. WEIRD SPECIAL #1 by Caliber / Feb'94). That character, created by Howard Keltner, had been around in fanzine comics since STAR-STUDDED COMICS #1 (Sep'63) but really dated all the way back to unpublished stories Keltner did in the early 40's, inspired by the character of Mr. Justice (who himself was inspired by The Spectre!). None of this is necessary to enjoy the story here, but it adds a lot to my appreciation of what Starlin's doing, and how far his art & writing has already come in a few short years.

And what art! the cover is inked by Joe Sinnott, and is absolutely stunning; the interiors are inked by Mike Esposito, and what a great match he is with Starlin. I've often thought that Esposito tends to just "trace" whatever a penciller puts on paper, but if that's so, it's clear Starlin is not hacking it out but pouring his heart & soul onto the paper here. WOW! This almost makes me forget all the 3rd-rate work I've seen from Esposito over the years.

Drax is, incidentally, at least the 3rd Marvel character called "The Destroyer", including the 1940's hero Stan Lee said was his "favorite" back then, and the indestructible robotic shell created by Odin in the THOR series.

This issue marks the DEBUT of Drax, The Blood Brothers, Titan, Isaac, Mentor, Eros, and Thanos-- who over the years essentially became Starlin's "trademark" character. It became obvious to me over time that Starlin was more interested in telling stories about Thanos than he was of any of the heroes whose books he happened to be writing at any given time (IRON MAN, CAPTAIN MARVEL, WARLOCK, SILVER SURFER).  It ALL started here, and although Starlin wouild be back on pencils for next month's IM comic, the "big" story would continue in 2 months when he took over the perpetually-awful CAPTAIN MARVEL series and turned it into one of the highlights of all of 1970's Marvel! I love how the credits leave no question as to who did what when it read "Plot, pencils & character conceptions by: Jim Starlin / aided by Mike Friedrich, scripter". If only late-model Stan Lee comics' credits had been this honest.

No question-- this gets my vote for BEST Marvel of the month!!! (And to think-- I only paid a buck-fifty for it!)




CAPTAIN AMERICA #158 (Feb'73) -- "The Crime Wave Breaks!" Cap struggles for all he's worth to get the antidote, and just barely manages to save himself and The Falcon from The Viper's poison. He then stops to see Muldoon, who's very agitated about The Cowled Commander, and believes Steve Rogers is part of the corruption. Cap thinks on the recent revelation about his secret identity (in THE AVENGERS) and realizes how important it is to him. Falcon checks with Morgan, who tells him he knows who The Cowled Commander is-- but won't talk! And, he still wants Falcon on his team. Meanwhile, Cap stops a bank robbery, and is stunned to discover he's somehow developed super-strength! The Falcon follows a lead to a pharmacist, and locates The Viper. Steve's landlord tries to blackmail him because he thinks the cops are investigating Steve... and shortly after, he's clobbered by Muldoon & Courtney-- determined to find the truth, which Muldoon hopes will get him reinstated on the force. Meanwhile, The Viper tells The Falcon that The Cowled Commander's "crime wave" is in motion-- and among the participants are The Plantman, The Porcupine, The Eel and The Scarecrow!

I first read this 30 years back, but as with so many other comics, this is the first time I've re-read it in the context of everything else from the same period. The whole Space Phantom / Cap's secret identity confusion over in AVENGERS (relating back to Steranko's C.A. #113) was something I heard about but never read until about 2 years ago. So many little details are making more sense or flowing together more smoothly reading the comics this way.

I'm still a bit hazy about the whole Cap/super-power thing. I've read the first 10 issues by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby twice, but don't really recall him having super-strength back then. Much of the "1950's Cap" story centered on how the "fake" Cap was much stronger than the real one, but now the real one has developed super-strength as well, or had it revitalized, due to the Viper's poison reacting with the super-soldier serum still in Cap's body after all this time. It's been debated by fans over the years, but it seems somewhere along the way, it faded away (or faded again-- take yer pick) and eventually he was back to just being an incredible acrobat in the best-possible shape.

Sal Buscema continues to do terrific work here, aided by John Verpoorten on inks. Whenever I think of Sal's art, it's THIS series I always remember him the most fondly for.

Everything comes together next time... "lucky" for me, it's been so long since I read this before, it had me guessing al over again!




SUB-MARINER #58 (Feb'73) -- "Hands Across The Water, Hands Across The Skies" Namor discreetly observes Atlantis from a distance, but doesn't feel ready to return. He thinks back several weeks to the tragedy when Atlantean soldiers needlessly slaughtered the group of red-skinned aliens, not realizing that there was one survivor-- a woman, Tamara, who plans revenge against all his people. Tamara discovers that in Earth's oceans she's developed super-strength-- but shortly is captured by Atlantean guards.  They drag her before Lord Vashti, who is both angered at their behavior and deeply regretful for what happened to her people, "The Brethren", earlier. He offers aid in repairing her spaceship so she may return to her own people, and while impressed with the man, cannot bring herself to forget the hatred burning in her heart. Namor happens up The Haab, which looks on him as its dinner.  After subduing the creature, he meets Tamara, who is even more impressed with him-- but still, to no avail. When her ship is finally repaired, Tamara takes off-- but instead of departing, uses it to attack Atlantis! Namor all but begs her to stop what she's doing, but in the end, he grabs her out of the ship before it explodes, taking the last Haab with it. Taken once more before Vashti, the anger & rage in her busrts forth, until Tamara collapses. Shortly, Vashti says the council's decision is that she be place in Namor's trust, if he's willing to shoulder the burden, while she learns of their ways.

Well, the all-too-brief "Golden Era" of Bill Everett's return was over, and a 2nd period of his involvement began here, as he cut back to plotting the story and doing the inks.  Picking up the slack are old-time Marvel artist Sam Kweskin on layouts, and newcomer Steve Gerber writing dialogue. It's a big change, but with Everett overseeing things at both ends (story and inks), it's still an well-done and good-looking book. Kweskin had recently done the Dr. Strange episode in MARVEL PREMIERE #5 (Nov'72) under the name "Irv Wesley", but by here apparently had decided it didn't affect his commercial art work if his clients knew he was doing (GASP!) comics. I think he's a much better fit here than he was on Dr. Strange, and while I'd have preferred Everett to do full art, it's good he was still involved at all.  According to an interview with Kweskin I found online, it seems Bill Everett had a heart attack around this time-- perhaps shortly after the previous issue (on which he did full art & story), and it looked around here that he was considering "retiring" from the series. Apparently he decided to stick around and do what he could, but he also began doing work on other books, including pencilling part of IRON MAN #54 (Jan'73) and inking THE CAT #3 (Mar'73).

This issue is definitely a mix of styles, and not just on the art front. The "Brethren" story in SUB-MARINER #56, by Dan Adkins (inexplicably referred to on the letters pages, repeatedly, as Mike Friedrich's idea) was a major step "back" to the feel of a more typical early-70's Marvel story-- downbeat, violent, thought-provoking, depressing. At least it had fantastic art! I find myself wondering, with the "de facto editor" status of writers on som many books, if Everett was the one who got Adkins on that issue, and if he had any involvement with the direction of the plot at all. Here, he definitely decided to follow up on it, presenting a story even more compelling, as well as tragic. Kweskin & Everett present Tamara as a very beautiful woman, who is sadly overcome with an understandable wish to see "justice" done-- though taken to more extremes of "revenge" against Namor's entire race. The initial tragedy happened, apparently, because Namor wasn't there when he might have been. Now, he's the one who prevents further tragedy, and only his continued presence can hope to turn things around. Again, I wonder-- was this all Everett's idea-- or the result of several writers (or editors) putting their heads together?

Either way, I think I would have been happy if the creative team on this issue had remained in place for some time.  For whatever reason-- it DIDN'T.  Oy!

Gil Kane, who's done many SUB-MARINER covers around this time, is back for another, this one inked by Everett. It's terrific-- Everett remains true to Kane's pencils for the most part, EXCEPT, on the figure of Namor, which he clearly redraws to bring him more "on-model" (and who would know better how to draw Subby but his creator?). Another contribution of Everett's was a nice "upgrade"-- he REDREW the corner pic of Namor, keeping the essential pose but improving on it drastically. (It also has a NICE color job on it-- I wonder who did that?) The only thing I was still unsatisfied with was the logo-block area-- the white just destroys the mood of the picture, and the logo itself, that 3rd-rate variation of the already 2nd-rate 50's logo design. I did an alternate version, which you can compare with the original.

http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1874/400/1874_4_58.jpg
http://www.webspawner.com/users/zodiaccomics/imageGallery/SM%2058_c_G%20700.jpg




CONAN THE BARBARIAN #23 (Feb'73) -- "The Shadow Of The Vulture" Because he said he would, Conan delivers a message from the King of Makkalet to the King of Pah-Dishan, then, just as abrassively as he intruded, he leaves! Elsewhere, Yezdigerd, wanting vengeance for the murder of his right-hand man (and the scar across his own face), hires Mikhal Oglu-- "The Vulture"-- to bring him Conan's head. He says he will-- or give Conan his own head to give to the King. To the south, Conan is sleeping off a night of drinking and --other things-- when The Vulture and a squad of Turanian troops arrive, setting fire to the town, all in search for Conan. When the girl he's with gets killed, Conan makes a hasty departure back toward one spot he never wanted to see again-- Makkalet-- and to his surprise is greeted by Pah-Dishan troops, led by a firey red-headed woman in chain-mail-- Red Sonja! She brushes aside his thanks, dismissively saying she's just doing what King Ghaniff pays her to. Later, as he sees her out-drink and out-swear the men in her party, he tries to put her out of his mind... until some invading Turanians capture him for The Vulture. She winds up rescuing him again, and after, they track down The Vulture... Soon after, Yezdigerd receives a package from Makkalet, but is horrified when he opens it, as it contains the head of... The Vulture.

In THE CHRONICLES OF CONAN Vol.3 (2004), Roy Thomas says he can't remember why the story meant for CONAN #22 was so late they had to resort to reprinting CONAN #1. A shame, as Barry Smith did a magnificent cover for this story, and it was wasted on the previous issue instead of someone also re-using the cover of "The Coming Of Conan". (I hate when this sort of thing happens... and it would happen with increasing frequency thru the 1970's.) I never read this story until this month, but I did read a number of articles & interviews concerning CONAN over the years, and if memory serves, the art for this story was (GASP!) LOST IN THE MAIL!! I can scarecely picture anything more horrible to happen to 20 pages of art. No stats, not even any photocopies... Barry Smith had to draw all 20 pages OVER again!  The horror, the horror!! I wonder if this might have led to his decision to leave the book after the NEXT issue? Anyway, Gil Kane stepped in to do a NEW cover for this issue (to go with the redrawn artwork), but it was nothing to brag about.

Then again, the art inside wasn't much to brag about, either. I wonder how late this was running. I wonder if maybe Barry wasn't so disgusted he did a "rush job" to get it a the 2nd time. I wonder how they managed to get 3 inkers-- Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins, and-- where'd HE come from?-- CHIC STONE. Then of course you have page 5, which Roy Thomas had added after-the-fact, and was done entirely by Sal Buscema. Bizarre! Some of this looks okay, but some just looks 3rd-rate.  Oh well.

I guess the big thing about this issue-- and what makes this whole mess all the more regretable-- is it's the introduction of RED SONJA, who, for a brief time in the late 70's, actually eclipsed CONAN in popularity. This story was adapted from a non-Conan story by Robert E. Howard, and Roy Thomas was so intrigued by "Red Sonya of Rogatine" he decided to make her a recurring character in the series, so Conan would be able to interact with some woman sword-fighter in the years before the appearance of Belit (brunette) or Valeria (blonde). Because of the art, she's not as impressive in this issue as she should have been.  Oh well-- that would change NEXT time.

[Commander Benson]

. . . but now [Captain America] has developed super-strength as well, or had it revitalized, due to the Viper's poison reacting with the super-soldier serum still in Cap's body after all this time. It's been debated by fans over the years, but it seems somewhere along the way, it faded away (or faded again-- take yer pick) and eventually he was back to just being an incredible acrobat in the best-possible shape.

That actually did get addressed by Marvel, but it was some time after Cap had reverted to being just a perfectly developed human, so it slipped by a lot of readers' radars.

In one of the closing sequences of "One Day in Newfoundland", from Captain America # 218 (Feb., 1977), Cap is in a tunnel constructed beneath a seabed and is forced to duke it out with eight trained, uniformed thugs.  As the Star-Spangled Avenger shifts into high gear, he reflects:  "Every time I face odds like these, I wish I still had my super-strength!  But the effects of the Viper's injection eventually wore off . . . ."  And the reference to the story in which he gained his super-strength is dutifully cited in a footnote.

A couple of panels later shows Cap continuing his train of thought, even as he continues to mop up the place with the bad guys.  "But now that I think of it, I managed to get through World War II without being as strong as Iron Man or the Hulk!  Guess I can survive a few more years as is!"

This confirmation that Captain America was no longer super-strong was followed up a year later, in the opening pages of The Avengers # 170 (Apr., 1978). In the previous issue, the Scarlet Witch and Cap have a conversation in which Wanda charges that the Star-Spangled Avenger hasn't been pulling his weight with the group of late. So in the first scene, we see Cap indulging in a gruelingly intensive work-out in the mansion's gymnasium. The Beast, observing, marvels at how hard the shield-slinger is pushing himself.

"Why not?  I have to keep in shape!" Cap tells McCoy.  "Since I lost the super-strength I had for a while, I don't have any special powers like the rest of you!  If my few skills fail me, I'm nothing!"

Hope this helps.

[profh0011]

I thought so.  Thanks!

Leave it to Roy Thomas (or one of his cronies) to make a point of bringing this up.  I always remember when jack Kirby left Marvel the 3rd time, Roy decided to take over C.A., and out of the blue, started this storyline where Cap-- suddenly-- realized he couldn't remember his life from before he became C.A. And then he promptly got too busy to follow up on it.  First he got his friend Don Glut to fill in for a few issues, but when that was over, he realized, it wasn't gonna happen.  So then Steve Gerber got on the book --briefly-- and covered it, but what he did went so completely against the grain, he was quickly shuffled off the book, and his replacement, Roger McKenzie, spent his entire run avoiding the issue. (heh) Then, following about a half-dozen consecutive fill-ins, Roger Stern got on the book, and straightened the whole mess out in about the first 4 pages.  WOW. That's the way to handle "continuity" problems! (Especially made-up ones.)

[suedenim]

For what it's worth, Avengers Forever (which centered around a mixed-up team of past, present, and future Avengers) featured the "super-strength" Captain America from this period.

[profh0011]

HERO FOR HIRE #6 (Feb'73) -- "Knights And White Satin!" Cage's day starts with another fight in his office, as one thug goes out the top floor window and 3 more take a beating before beating a hasty retreat once they see he's bullet-proof. Just then, 2 ladies, Laura & Catherine Forsythe, arrive to hire him. Laura believes someone is trying to kill their aged father, whose doctor has given him only weeks to live. Cage finds himself in another world-- a huge mansion and lot of "old money". He meets a really snooty butler, and saves both ladies from a falling chandelier. Later that night, he can hardly believe his eyes when he winds up fighting off a half-dozen animated suits of armor. After someone shuts off the old man's life support and he's rushed to the hospital, Cage thumbs through a family journal and comes to the conclusion that the old man's son, long missing and presumed dead-- AIN'T. Sure enough, Cage finds out the butler is really Forsythe's son-- who gets the entire estate, but only if the old man dies before he reaches the age of twenty-five! Later, back at his office, both girls give Cage a "personal" thank you-- just as his girlfriend Claire arrives, with an angry look on her face. (Uh oh...  "Claire honey, don't look at me like that!")

Cage, who seems a few rungs down the P.I. ladder from Mike Hammer, winds up tackling the sort of case Philip Marlowe often finds himself involved in-- the filthy stinking rich-- but with a bit of a sci-fi twist. Nice change of pace, let down only by the art. This is Billy Graham's 2nd time at bat on pencils, but once again, someone else had to do the inks, and while Syd Shores (accidentally uncredited) did a wonderful job last time (HFH #4), this time, it's Paul Reinman.  OH GOD. I'm reminded of all those issues of JLA where I thought Frank McLaughlin was burying and murdering Dick Dillin's art. That's nothing compare to this. I have so few original comics with Reinman's inks (mostly reprints), but so far, EVERY one I have is awful beyond compare. Let's put it this way-- I REALLY wish Syd Shores had done this one.

Meanwhile, this issue must have coincided with Steve Englehart's vacation as apparently he wrote the plot, but Gerry Conway wrote the dialogue. At least I can say, it's not bad. I think Conway was definitely getting better at this point.

The cover, by Graham, is kinda funny, as it shows him clobbering a pair of suits of armor while a 3rd, behind him, holds up an axe. The dialogue reads: "ONE down-- TWO down-- THERE! That oughta finish 'em ALL!"




MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #8 (Feb'73) -- "...The Hordes Of Hell!" With Roxy strapped to a sacrificial altar, Satan orders her father, "Crash" Simpson to slay both her and Johnny, so that he might live again. (Well, you can tell this isn't your normal superhero comic.) But something holds him back-- so Satan transports him and Johnny down to HELL! There, held by a gigantic snake, Johnny tries to get thru, to remind "Crash" of who he & Roxy are and what they meant to him-- and it appearently works. "Crash" collapses, and Johnny swears that somehow he'll get the old man away from Satan's power. Suddenly, he runs across a figure in a green robe, "The Messenger"-- who promises to send "Crash" to his rightful reward. Though suspicious it might be another minion of Satan, Johnny hands "Crash" over, before blacking out, and waking up with Roxy-- having transformed back to his human form. She can't remember anything that happened, which he thinks is probably for the best.

The show crew packs and goes to Arizona, where Johnny's scheduled to jump over Copperhead Canyon. Going to view the site beforehand, Johnny's suddenly forced at gunpoint out of the truck by Sam Silvercloud, whose people are fighting a battle with the government for ownership of the land, and they feel once Johnny jumps the canyon it will become so famous the government will never agree to give it back. Johnny manages to get his bike off the back of the pick-up as Sam is driving off, and makes it back to town. Confronting Sam, their fight is interrupted by a costumed Indian, Snake-Dance, who also warns Johnny to stay away from the canyon-- before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Unnoticed, Sam tampers with Johnny's bike. Later, Johnny defies the warnings to return to the canyon on his bike, where he's confronted by a crew of "Serpent-Men", and a giant snake! (Hey, wait a minute, that's 2 in the same issue!) Johnny tries to escape by jumping the canyon with his bike-- which EXPLODES in mid-air!

If there's one problem I have with this issue, it's story structure-- or the lack of it. It's one thing to have plot threads from different stories overlap somewhat, as a lead-in to an upcoming story, or referencing back on a finished one. But finishing a story in the MIDDLE of an episode and starting an entirely new one, which is essentially what happens on page 10 here, is just WRONG. And let me tell you-- it was WRONG when Jack Kirby did it in FANTASTIC FOUR #48, too. Unfortunately, the popularity of that issue, and many like it, led other writers to follow suit. To me, it's just sloppy plotting.

I have a feeling that Ghost Rider was probably only supposed to run in SPOTLIGHT for 3 or 4 issues-- but by this point, Marvel had expanded and were stretched so thin, it became easier to leave series in place in the "try-out" books than keep coming up with new features for them every few issues as was originally intended.

It's been over 30 years since I read these, so I'm wondering about this whole "Messenger" business. Not only did the story end abruptly, it did so without really wrapping things up conclusively. Presumably, this is because Gary Friedrich was planning to explain things later on as he went. We'll see if that happens-- or not.  Meanwhile, the plight of the downtrodden Native Americans (or, as they were still called back then-- INDIANS!) is the latest variation on "social relevence", already seen from Friedrich in his infamous "Burn, Whitey, Burn!" issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA. Personally, with the recurring snake motif, I'm wondering if these guys are in any way tied in with Satan...

Mike Ploog continues on the pencils, this time inked by Jim Mooney.  As happened on The Beast series in AMAZING ADVENTURES, Mooney tends to be a bit more overpowering than some inkers-- but the result is probably the most "polished"-looking epside so far. As with Tom Sutton earlier, it's almost hard to make out Ploog's style under Mooney. I really like what Mooney does with Ghost Rider, and in fact, he's probably my favorite artist on the series-- even though he was the 3rd penciller, and his debut on pencils is still several episodes away.

Ploog rides solo on the cover, this one "cleaned up" quite a bit. Not only is the 3-sided border gone, but this is the only one of the 6 SPOTLIGHT covers with Ghost Rider not to feature the "Is he alive-- or DEAD?" blurb. No word balloons and a single blurb-- "The Witch-Man Cometh!" I wish more of them had been like this.




SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL #2 (Feb'73) -- "The Sahara Connection!" The Fulani tribe fall victims to slavers, who kidnap their young men and women and warn the rest not to contact the authorities or their lives will be forfeit. Shanna is recruited by SHIELD agent Jakuna Singh, who tells her of El Montano ("The Mountainous One"), whose huge compound is staffed with many slaves, deals in drugs and plans to hijack a French moon shot. Although the idea was for her to "inflitrate", instead she winds up battling his men, then becoming a prisoner of them. But she manages to escape, and with her big cats Ina & Biri, cuts a swath thru El Montano's men. Having bribed a French technician, it seems the moon rocket's intended payload has been replaced by a billion dollars' worth of heroin-- and El Montano plans to not only ransom back the rocket to the French, but sell the heroin inside to various distributors. Shanna & her cats, however, make short work of not only his men but the control complex as well, and as El Mnotano flees, arrogantly boasting he's still "won" and can "outrun and outthink any female", he winds up falling right into the slave pits where all those he abused are kept. After Shanna fights off several wolves, SHIELD arrives to take over, and she comments that the moon shot, filled with heroin, is "completely spaced".

Ross Andru takes over the art with this episode, and while it's not bad, it's a definite step down from George Tuska last time. I can't help but wonder, how do you start a series without a regular penciller? Was Tuska supposed to continue, or was he just "filling in" (and if so, how do you "fill in" on a FIRST issue?). Vince Colletta continues on inks, and in fact he would be the only artist to work on all 5 issues of SHANNA. I'm afraid the thinking behind this story is a bit shaky. With all the operatives at their disposal, why would SHIELD go the UNCLE route and recruit a civilian? And why wait until everything's already mopped up before moving in? At least when this ploy was used in the film ENTER THE DRAGON it was a bit better thought-out and explained.

If anything, I'd say this book-- the only one of the 3 "women" comics Marvel did around this time to last 5 issues-- should have succeeded by novelty alone. It's clear the Comics Code had loosened up somewhat, as for a very long time, it would have been unthinkable to feature a female main character wearing so little, or for the story to contain so much violence (natives getting gunned down, villains getting mauled to DEATH by Shanna's cats, the villain himself being killed by his slaves).

Jim Steranko provides another stunning cover, his last on this book. It was suggested on the Bullpen page somewhere that it was hoped he might be doing some interiors soon, but outside of FOOM magazine, which he only did the first few issues of, it never happened.

[profh0011]

MARVEL TEAM-UP #7 (Mar'73) -- "A Hitch In Time!" Peter Parker stops a woman from getting mugged, but after, she runs off, saying she "doesn't want to get involved". As it happens, Thor witnessed the whole thing, and tries to give the angry youth some council. Abruptly, the sky, then the entire world, seems to freeze in time-- and everything appears in a negative image. Without worrying whether Thor knows his secret identity or not, Pete changes to Spider-Man, and the pair find themselves fighting a small army led by Kryllk The Cruel, an Asgardian Troll who is using "The Dark Crystal" to "dam the stream of time". After Kryllk flees, they use the monitor at Avengers Mansion to trace him-- to Asgard-- where Thor says he cannot go, as he's been exiled. A 2-pronged battle begins as Thor magically sends Spidey to Asgard, while he himself goes to a moon of Jupiter, where they fight 2 different time-displaced versions of Kryllk. At one point, Spidey punches Kryllk-- but it's the one Thor is facing who feels the pain! Next thing, all is returned to normal, and The Watcher appears, saying Kryllk intended to destroy Asgard while its gods were outside of time-- Earth getting caught in the "echo" as he feared Earth's heroes might try to stop him. Spidey thinks it might be luck he & Thor were missed-- but Thor suspects otherwise. The Watcher, naturally, refuses to comment.

Well this was a confusing mess! The "musical artists" game continues here, with Ross Andru returning (he'd done MTU #1-3, Gil Kane #4-6). It's interesting that both Gerry Conway & Ross Andru would be the regular team on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN before long, although Jim Mooney only wound up inking one issue of theirs (ASM #126). Though I had no idea at the time, it appears John Romita was plotting ASM entirely on his own for quite a few years, and continued some ways into Gerry's run as writer. I'm guessing Gerry's work on MARVEL TEAM-UP allowed him to "warm-up" for when he took over the main book eventually. As usual, continuity with character's main books is minimal, but we do get a narative reference to Peter being a "staff photographer" at the Daily bugle these days, while the dialogue mentions Thor's long exile from Asgard during this period. I don't know if Kryllk ever appeared before or since this story in the pages of THOR-- and I'm wonderig if it ever came up later that Thor knows what Spider-Man looks like under the mask!

Gil Kane and-- somebody (Giacoia? Esposito? someone else?) did an "okay" cover, but something seems off-balance, design-wise. The villain is facing toward the left side of the cover, but he's slightly TO the left of center, which makes the large area behind him seem... empty. A bit of drastic cropping or something might have helped, but with ALL the text in these MTU's logo sections, it's surprising they got any decent-looking covers at all sometimes.




SUB-MARINER #59 (Mar'73) -- "Thunder Over The Seas!" Namor, feleing he has much to ponder in solitude, leaves his new charge, Tamara, to explore the city of Atlantis. She's not alone long, as Lorvex-- a "defense scout" (and former barbarian) takes a instant liking to her beauty (even though he thinks she's "the wrong color") and offers to take her on a tour. Things go fine until he tries to put the moves on her, and, on top of anything else, she still resents how his people murdered all of hers. Leaving him behind, she finds herself lost-- and is then captured by a Russian fishing boat. Lacking even more in civility, they only see possible profit in capturing the red-skinned water-breathing girl. The indignities continue when the crew of an American ship search the Russian vessel after it strays into US waters-- and the US crew wind up hauling Tamara to New York. Namor, discovering Tamara gone, is enraged, and winds up in a brief fight with Lorvex, who has resented Namor for years. In New York, the United Nations have become involved, trying to decide who "owns" the girl. Seeing this on the TV, Namorita is deeply angered, and contacts Namor via her "magic" earring. On arrival, Namor finds Thor has been recruited to watch over Tamara. A battle ends with Thor hurling Namor back into the ocean, where he realizes it will take the might of Atlantis to free Tamara. But this can only be done if he takes back the crown, which he doesn't feel ready to do...

For the 2nd issue in a row, Bill Everett supplied the plot while Sam Kweskin did the layouts and Steve Gerber the dialogue. But while SUB-MARINER #58 had "finishes" by Bill Everett, this time they're by John Tartaglione. OY. Seriously, outside of X-MEN, where Tartag was a surprisingly good match with penciller Werner Roth, I don't believe I've ever seen a really decent-looking comic that Tartag worked on. (I thought I had with NICK FURY #5, but it turns out Jim Steranko re-inked a substantial amount of that issue himself, which may explain why it was a month late.) This is still far from the worst SUB-MARINER art I've ever seen, but it's a severe come-down from last month, which was already a step down from Everett solo work to begin with. He even managed to make 'Nita look "bleh". With all the inkers working for Marvel at this point, couldn't they have found anyone better-suited? And WHY didn't Everett ink this issue himself? Because he was off inking Paty Geer on this month's THE CAT #3. It makes no sense. If Everett's health was preventing him from doing these books solo, WHY dilute his talent & energies more by having him working on OTHER, even more obscure books?  What a waste.

At least Everett managed to contribute another cover-- and it's a beaut! But why 3 word balloons and a long blurb? (I sense Roy Thomas at work here...)
http://www.comics.org/graphics/covers/1874/400/1874_4_59.jpg




THE AVENGERS #109 (Mar'73) -- "The Measure Of A Man!" Hawkeye, pissed that Wanda has declared her love for The Vision, dons his old costume & hits the road. He suddenly gets an offer of employment from a Mr. Champion-- an 8-foot-tall self-made millionnaire, who wishes to learn archery-- from the best. Things go well at Mr. C's futuristic cliffside house on the west coast, until he reveals WHY he wanted to learn the skill. It seems he wants to get his hands on some toxic nerve gas cannisters sunk off the California coast-- but as they're in US waters, he'd be unable to go after them before the Coast Gurad would be on him. So he intends to set off a bomb, trigger the San Adreas Fault, send all of California into the Pacific Ocean, and thus cause the cannister's location to be outside the revised territorial limit (not to mention the authorities would have far too much else to worry about). And, he intends to set off the bomb by firing an arrow at it. How convoluted can you get? Strapped to the bomb, Hawkeye (and all of California) are rescued when his team-mates arrive. But after a short battle, he reminds them forcefully that from now on, he intends to go it alone!

This issue oughta get top nominations in the "WTF?" category, as far as plots go. Champion somehow reminds me of Marvel's "answer" to DC's Vandal Savage (there's a certain similarity, both physically and in attitude). I read the story twice, but can find no clue as to WHY he wanted to get his hands on that nerve gas. Some far-reaching plan Steve Englehart had in mind that we never found out about? Some tie-in with another story I never read, or that never got written?  Who knows. Either way, the guy's methods were excessively complicated beyond belief-- and by getting Hawkeye involved, he needlessly tipped his hand to the good guys, setting up his own downfall.

Don Heck's storytelling remains solid as ever, as does his unique architectural style (Champion's house reminds me a lot of Walt Lawson's home & lab from several issues of CAPTAIN MARVEL). But his drawing had deteriorated badly around this time. With the right inkers (or "finishers") this might not have been a problem. Under Dave Cockrum and Joe Sinnott last time, his art looked almost as good as ever. This issue, however, we got Frank McLaughlin, and near as I can tell, he stayed true to Heck's pencils-- when Heck's art at this point needed a LOT more effort to bring it up to standard. It just looks BAD. Don pencilled 5 issues in a row here, and 4 of the 5 looked BAD. After that, he would do some inks on the book-- nothing outstanding-- then return filling in on pencils for a few more issues 2 years later, which looked even worse. (John Targtag inked the later issues.... need I say more?)

John Buscema-- apparently-- drew this issue's cover, though I'd say he probably did no more than layouts. The GCD lists Sal Buscema on inks, but frankly, it looks more like Frank McLaughlin to me. (The really heavy outlines on Hawkeye's legs in the foreground are a giveaway.) John was-- so I've heard-- "inspired" by his brother Sal to start doing just layouts. OY. This was NOT an improvement.

What amazes me is, Steve Englehart must be the only writer around this time whose writing was so good, almost nobody-- no matter HOW bad the art was-- could kill his work! (This issue being an exception, I admit...)

[profh0011]

FANTASTIC FOUR #132 (Mar'73) -- "Omega! The Ultimate Enemy!" Omega says that if Johnny or Pietro had said anything other than that they agreed to help him conquer the Inhumans, he would have "crushed" Crystal "into lifelessless". He then smashes the ground at their feet, demanding they bow down to him-- which is just going too far. The pair work together (what an idea!) and manage to free the girl they both love from the giant android. Aboveground, Reed, Ben & Medusa make a shaky arrival at the Great Refuge, when nobody answers their call to open the new dome covering the city, and, their aircraft's controls fail to respond. (Great timing, huh?) The royal family catches everybody up on the situation, moments before Omega and a seemingly-endless horde of Alpha-Primitives overrun the area, and a battle of epic proportions breaks out. Reed eavesdrops on Maximus and overhears his claim that the "crackpot machine" he built is at the root of their problem. He also notices that the more savage the battle, the larger Omega grows. Stretching to his limits, Reed separates the two sets of combatants, allowing Crystal to speak and reveal what she's learned-- that Maximus' machine absorbed the Inhuman's "guilt", and "manifested" itself in Omega. (HUH???) Both sides cease fighting, and Omega becomes dormant. As the Alpha Primitives return to their underground homes, The Inhumans know that if they ever return to their oppressive ways, Omega will walk again.

Medusa shows the FF an "electro-weave" device which can repair or alter clothing, and demonstrates it by changing her outfit to "a customized variant of an F.F. uniform" (NO it's NOT-- it's really something very sexy with a "4" emblem attached). She says Black Bolt wishes her to return to the outside world, to again see if they're ready for The Inhumans, and she offers to take Sue's place in the group until Sue returns. Johnny has his uniform changed to red-- like his hero the original Human Torch-- while Reed's remains the same. Crystal tells Johnny they'd been apart too long, and what they had is gone. After mentioning Dorrie Evans, he leaves her with Pietro.

Well THIS was a downer. I recall getting this as a coverless back-issue long before getting the first half of the story. Any "magic" the Inhumans had as a concept or as character mostly seemed gone for me by here. The whole "perpetual motion" machine of Maximus was never adequately explained (or made much sense at all), and the whole situation with The Inhumans and the Alpha-Primitives seems a precursor to the tv mini-series ROOTS when it comes to trying to pass "guilt" around to "oppressors". (Would that the REAL world could ever be "fixed" so easily, when in all levels of life & business there CONTINUE to be people who treat other people like disposable S*** they can use, abuse & discard.)

The Johnny-Crystal-Pietro thing is just annoying as hell. Many younger fans seem to take it for granted, many perhaps never having read Jack Kirby's run on the book. Let me put it this way-- "true love" would survive the relatively short separation Johnny & Crystal had. This just makes her seem like a fickle floozie. It's also sad to see such a vibrant, strong-willed character become such a weeping willow. From the moment Jack Kirby left the book, Stan Lee, John Romita, John Buscema, and now Roy Thomas, kept destroying her personality. There's really nothing of the "real" Crystal left at this point.

The one saving grace-- just barely-- is the art by John Buscema & Joe Sinnott. GORGEOUS. John CLEARLY works much, much better with Roy Thomas than he EVER did with Stan Lee. I suppose that's because Roy actually was doing his job when it came to being a "writer". Some artists working for Marvel were very capable storytellers-- Kirby, Ditko, Heck, Ayers, Wood, Romita, Colan, Everett, Marie Severin, Adkins-- Buscema never wanted to bother. But give him a genuine "plot" with enough detail, and watch him go to town! This surely explains why his work on AVENGERS, CONAN and even SPIDER-MAN were all better than the stuff he did with Stan-- on these books, he had Roy Thomas or John Romita giving him plots to work with. The same goes for these later FF issues.

You know, I almost would have sworn the cover on this one was by Gil Kane, but apparently it was the 3rd in a row by Jim Steranko.  Alterations were made by Marie Severin, who also drew the background figures, and the whole thing was inked by Frank Giacoia. This must be the single WORST cover Steranko EVER did for Marvel, although with all those changes it hardly seems his fault. This may explain why he stopped doing covers for Marvel after this. It seems obvious to me he decided to do covers instead of interiors, figuring there would be less interference. But SOME people just HAVE to mess up other people's work... DON'T they???

How about those word balloons?  "FIGHT me! RESIST me! You'll but make me stronger-- EVER STRONGER! --UNTIL AT LAST DESTROY YOU!" (Is it just me, or is there a word missing there?) do we blame Roy, or whoever lettered this? (Hey, Steranko usually did covers WITHOUT text!)

While I'm at it, let me mention that around this time, across the board, something that really annoyed me in the long run was Roy's use of the "credit banner". Instead of a nice block, it seemed every single comic had a banner across the top or bottom, with the writer, penciller, inker, letterer, colorist & editor's names all at the same or reduced size. One more way to make things "easier" for production (or in this case, the letter), but it also served, in my mind, as a way of preventing individuals' names from really standing out, as they started to in the mid-late 60's.

I started buying this book regular several months after this, and I have to say, despite the stupid situation with Sue having walked out on Reed, I LIKED having Medusa around, partly because I really liked that new outfit of hers (it probably lasted longer than any of her previous ones, apart from the original one). On the other hand, her supposedly having developed an "immunity" to the air pollution in the outside world, when Crystal, who spent MUCH MORE time out there, didn't, is just contrived B***S***. It's also very strange how, Crystal was FORCED against her will to return to the Great Refuge, when she so desperately wanted to stay with Johnny who she loved SOOOOOO much-- yet she sets eyes on this over-intense, stuck-up creep, and falls for him in a second. And, by comparison, Medusa is clearly deeply in love with Black Bolt, would probably die for him-- yet has no problem looking forward to spending an indefinite number of months away from him. You could hardly guess they're sisters! Is it a sign of the difference in maturity levels, or is Medusa not as "happy" with her man as she always claims?




AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #118 (Mar'73) -- "Countdown To Chaos!" The Smasher smashes into Joe's office; Joe manages to escape when Spidey fights the guy and leads him away. Pete joins Harry & the girls riding in a campaign vehicle, but The Smasher attacks again! Spidey follows The Smasher back to his creator, and The Disruptor. In the ensuing battle, The Disruptor is killed, followed by his lackey scientist, and finally the Smasher himself. Spidey unmasks The Disrruptor, and discovers he was really Raleigh, whose insane tactics were clearly designed to gain him an overwhelming election landslide. Thinking that people "need heroes"-- Spidey takes the guy's costume and hides it, so when Jameson & the police arrive, all they see is that Raleigh was a victim of The Smasher-- and-- that SPIDER-MAN was involved!  (Geez.)

The 3rd (and final) part of this redo of SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #1 (Jul'68) plays out. The splash is a complete redo of the original page 38, panel 4; pages 2-4 are basically original pages 40-42 with Joe Robertson replacing Captain Stacy, some minor dialogue changes and a LOT of re-inking. Also, Spidey plants a spider-tracer on The Smasher in the new version. Page 5 jumps from page 42 panel 1 to page 44 panel 1, cutting out the scene where the police arrive and start shooting, and Gwen hugging her father. The bottom of page 5 to the top of page 10 are entirely new, with Spidey swinging away (rather than following the monster), the having Pete join Gwen, Harry & MJ, who get attacked by The Smasher, at which point Spidey DOES follow The Smasher as before. This new scene contains something that seems completely out-of-place-- as Pete & Gwen get real close, MJ nags Harry for not paying HER attention. This just feels wrong, after the last year or more of MJ treating Harry like dirt and pushing away his attention while SHE paid too much attention to Pete! It's easy to tell the new art from the reworked art, as the reworked art is mostly Jim Mooney's work, while the new stuff (at least the figures) are entirely John Romita's.

Page 5, panel 4 was originally page 44, panel 3. The last 3 panels of page 10 finally catch up to original page 44, as Spidey arrives at the villain's HQ-- the big difference here, he faces The Disruptor, rather than Raleigh-- it's still Raleigh, but in the original, he wasn't wearing a disguise, and acted like a raving madman while as "himself". Page 11 redoes page 46; page 12 is new, as The Disruptor causes The Smasher intense pain to get him under control; pages 13-15 redo pages 46-48, except for the last panel, where we see Jameson at a rally instead of on the phone at his office. This scene continues into the 1st panel of the next page, after that, pages 16-17 redo pages 49-50. Throughout this entire sequence, election projections in the form of a running light-bulb sign runs across the pages, partly to help with the reformatting of the art. Page 18, where The Smasher finally collapses, contains 3 new panels at the top, the first panel from page 51, and a new panel with a reporter talking about the election results. Page 19 has 3 new panels where Spidey unmasks The Disruptor, and the first 4 panels from 52. Page 20 starts with the last 2 panels from page 52, the 2nd panel being greatly altered, and a 3-panel epilogue where Spidey disposes of The Disruptor's costume, then swings away as an image of The Hulk looms on the horizon.

What a mess.  The biggest problem I have with this-- apart from the virtual impossibility of the SAME villain running for 2 different elections, under nearly indentical circumstances, and getting KILLED-- TWICE!!-- is Spidey disposing of the guy's costume. In the original story, Raleigh was found among the wreckage with The Monster & Thaxton (the scientist), and with webbing strewn about, Spidey naturally caught some of the blame for what happened. In the redo, NOBODY (except Thaxton) ever suspected Raleigh was The Disruptor, until the very end. ALL Spidey had to do was let him be found that way in the wreckage, and the cops (and EVEN Jameson!!) would realize what happened. That is, that Raleigh was insane, and Spidey stopped a dangerous threat to the lives of everyone in the city. BUT NOOOOOOOOO!!! He has to go and pull some "honorable" stunt, saying "people need heroes".  WHAT ABOUT HIM? The guy who WAS the hero, who's been blamed for everything imaginable and then some, he saves the day, and winds up getting blamed for what the baddies did... AGAIN! Only, this time, it's his OWN FAULT! It's painfully clear at this point. Peter Parker doesn't DESERVE happiness. He doesn't WANT it. He pushes it away at every possible oppourtunity-- even when it gets handed to him on a silver platter.

What makes this seem even worse, somehow, is the fact that something ALMOST identical to it happened-- again-- just 4 ISSUES later. Except in that case, somebody ELSE removed & hid the villain's costume, deliberately, so Spider-Man would get blamed for the guy's death. What the HELL is wrong with the Marvel Universe at this point?

The letters page points out that Gerry Conway "has many new directions that he intends to explore". My question is, exactly when did John Romita stop plotting the book on his own, and Gerry took over? It's kinda hard to figure too much about this 3-parter, as the bulk of it was a redo of a 1968 story-- presumably plotted by Romita in the first place. Did Romita also work out the changes? It amazes me that even at this late point, the letters pages continue to credit the WRONG people with plotting the book. I didn't find out that most of this run of ASM was Romita's work until at least 30 YEARS later!!!

Of course, I'm still trying to figure out WHY these 3 issues were wasted retelling an old story. Was Romita overworked doing covers, designs, art corrections? If so, well, that's what he gets for deciding to work IN the office instead of at home, like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Wally Wood, etc. etc. etc.




IRON MAN #56 (Mar'73) -- "Rasputin's Revenge!" Iron Man wants to tell The Avengers about his adventure with Thanos, but apart from Jarvis, nobody's in. He goes for a walk in Central Park... An ex-schoolteacher named Rasputin, who was fired for trying to tell his students about "Tavi", an ancient god who shall someday return, is taunted when he tries to play the "prophet". When a local artist, Fival Fuvnik, unvels his newest statue-- "Fangor"-- a huge, hideous form which he claims is "that which is within us all"-- Rasputin uses a mystic "Tavistick" to bring the statue to life! Iron Man flies into action, and Rasputin is accidentally injured as a result of the fight, and his Tavistick broken. Iron Man uses an "unstable freon mini-bomb" (previously seen in TALES OF SUSPENSE #82) and freezes the creature, then manages to shatter it. Getting a drink from a park vendor, Rasputin laments that nobody believes in magic. Right then, Dr. Strange walks up and tells him, "By the omnipotent Oshtur-- I've never given it a second thought, I'm afraid! But cheer up, man-- there's ALWAYS tomorrow."

What a change this was from the previous issue! Last time, awesome, mind-expanding cosmic epic. This time, a "simple" story with some magic, one colossal battle, and a lot of humor. Because Jim Starlin was listed last time for plot and character creations, but not this time, I'm willing to believe this issue's story was entirely the work of newcomer Steve Gerber, who over the next few years would build a reputation for offbeat characters & humor. I think what amazes me is how well Jim Starlin & inker Mike Esposito work together. Mike wasn't exactly the sharpest artist around, he often dragged down some pencillers' work, yet with Starlin, I have no problems. Perhaps at this point Starlin was really set of building a reputation for himself-- his art is consistently good around here, and keeps getting better! I'm better that he put so much work into his end of things, that "all" Esposito had to do was ink EXACTLY what was there. At this point, Starlin may be been the single most creative "artist" working for Marvel!

It strikes me this was Gerber's 1st time using Dr. Strange; although he never wrote Doc's own series, he did a nice long run with Doc on THE DEFENDERS.

Funny thing-- the cover, which has the blurb, "The Fury Of Fangor! The monster that walks like a man!", is clearly Starlin's work. The George Olshevsky index says Frank Giacoia on inks, the GCD says Joe Sinnott(?). Looking at it very close, I'd say Giacoia seems more likebly, BUT, the figure of Iron Man appears to have been inked by Dave Cockrum!

[profh0011]

CAPTAIN AMERICA #159 (Mar'73) -- "Turning Point!" Wracked with hallucinations, Steve wakes up tied to a chair, as Muldoon accuses him of being The Cowled Commander. His secret identity means too much to give it up at this point, so Steve says nothing. But after they're gone, he struggles against the ropes... and is amazed when they shred from the effort! Realizing he's somehow gained super-strength, he changes into his Captain America costume, and quickly finds the city in panic, with police cars racing everywhere. In the midst of it, he finds a jewelry store heist being pulled off by The Scarecrow, The Porcupine, The Plantman and The Eel. But not for long! As he battles the baddies, The Falcon arrives with The Viper in tow-- and The Eel blurts out that they're brothers! Pursuit is abruptly cut off by The Commissioner's car, which makes Cap more suspicious (since the Commissioner disappeared moments before the building they were in was blown up earlier). As Cap & Falcon prepare to follow the baddies, Sharon, Muldoon, Bob, and even Leila want in on the action. Not wanting to have to look out for a whole crowd of followers, Cap & Falcon race off alone, but the others follow all the same. Locating the baddies' hideout, they attack, but are overcome by The Plantman's giant vines. Waking up in a solid steel vault, they see The Cowled Commander on a TV monitor, who tells them they and their friends are all about to die. As poison gas begins to fill the chamber, Cap pulls at the steel door- and to the amazement of both Falcon and himself, he tears it open! A 2nd battle commences, this time with Cap & Falcon coming out on top. But when Cap unmasks The Cowled Commander, he's stunned to find out it's...  Muldoon! He reveals that he was so frustrated by the "new breed" of cops who coddle criminals, he created a crime wave so the public would demand an overhaul of the police department. But it backfired on him, when rumors spread about him, and he was suspended. He didn't know what Rogers was up to, but he figured if he could somehow force him to admit to something-- anything-- it might draw suspicion away from himself. As he's hauled away, his good friend Bob admits that even he was fooled.

As it happens, this was the 2nd issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA I ever bought when it came out (after #131, "Bucky Reborn!"). Which means, it's very possible this was my FIRST exposure to Sal Buscema's pencils! (I'd already seen his inks in SILVER SURFER #7, "The Heir of Frankenstein".) Around 1977-78 I got all the issues I was missing in a single day at a NYC convention, and probably re-read this as part of the entire story. I'd probably re-read it shortly I first bought it-- when I had a LOT fewer comics, I used to re-read the ones I did more often. So there's a good chance I've read this issue at least 4 times now.  Even so, it's been at least 30 YEARS since the last time.  Suffice to say, I'd forgotten the identity of The Cowled Commander-- and was actually caught by surprise!  GOOD JOB, Steve! (I figured The Comissioner was too "obvious", and had to be a red herring-- and there was so much focus on Muldoon, I figured maybe his pal Bob was the guy.  With some mysteries like this, I can enjoy being wrong.)

As it happens, I got X-MEN ANNUAL #2 when it came out in 1971. That issue reprinted X-MEN #22 & 23, which featured Count Nefaria and a squad of 5 costumed villains-- all 2nd-rate losers, as it turns out, veterans of Iron Man, Human Torch and even Ant-Man stories (ANT-MAN, for cryin' out loud!). So it was kinda cool to see 4 of the 5 villains again in this new story. (It turns out the reason The Unicorn was missing was --probably-- because he was scheduled to turn up in NEXT month's issue of IRON MAN!) Back when I first read this, I didn't think of these guys as losers-- I just thought they had cool-looking costumes. My brother and I were both doing our own comics at the time, and slowly assembling our own super-villains, with the intention of eventually having a group of them team up-- as seen here. Hey, why not?

This story pretty much brought to a close the whole "Steve Rogers, Policeman" sub-plot. I think it went on longer than it should, but at least it had a nice ending.

Considering how she was when she was introduced, Leila is starting to seem a lot less "repellant" (as someone online called her-- heh). Still, nobody I'd wanna hang out with if I had a choice. (But that's just personal taste.)

I've seen a lot of really disappointing art from Sal Buscema over the years. Even when he debuted on this book, there were several issues that I thought were pretty bad. But re-reading these like this, I can see how he's gotten better. A lot of it depends on the inkers. This "musical inkers" thing can't be helping, as they keep bouncing between John Verpoorten, John Romita, Jim Mooney, Vince Colletta, Frank Giacoia, Frank McLaughlin. My favorites so far, surprisingly, have been Jim Mooney & Vince Colletta! Some of the issues by Verpoorten or Giacoia, it appears each guy helped the other out uncredited. (You get a LOT of that with Giacoia, it's just surprising to see it with Verpoorten.) Well, this issue I was floored. It looked TOO DAMN GOOD to be John Verpoorten! And then I realized what I was looking at-- JOE SINNOTT's inks! The first 10 pages are DEFINITELY Sinnott, then Verpoorten takes over with page 11. This could partly explain why I was SO impressed with Sal's pencils the first time I saw them-- with Sinnott making them look probably BETTER than they ever had up to that point. It's just surprising to see him on a book uncredited that way.

It would be a few more months before I started buying Cap's book regular... but man, what a place to come in!

One more thing I wanted to mention... It never hit me before, but during Steve Englehart's run on CAPTAIN AMERICA, he had Cap be shocked 3 different times when unmasking a mystery villain! (3!!!) The first time, in a story he didn't start himself, was when (in the "flashback" pages drawn by George Tuska), Cap unmasks the new Supreme Hydra, and finds out it's The Space Phantom (this was in the recent 3-parter in THE AVENGERS). The 2nd time was this guy in the purple hood, The Cowled Commander, who turned out to be Sgt. Muldoon (a dead ringer for Jack Kirby-- isn't that bizarre?). The 3rd time would come about a year-and-a-half later, when he unmasked another villain in a purple hood... "Number One" of The Secret Empire. We never found out who the "Number One" of the original Secret Empire was (back in TALES TO ASTONISH). All we knew was, he was an ambitious scientist who was sick of anonymity-- so it was ironic when he got blown up by his own bomb (by accident), and NOBODY figured out who he was. In the case of the 2nd "Number One"... well, we never found out-- "officially"-- who HE was, either, but it was sure HINTED at strongly! But at this rate, I won't get to that for awhile yet...




CONAN THE BARBARIAN #24 (Mar'73) -- "The Song Of Red Sonja" In a tavern, Red Sonja dances on a table-top, as her men cheer her on. But Big Jax, a lumbering thug who hasn't been quite right since he suffered a skull injury, tries to get physical, despite her protests. Conan slams a chair on top of the guy's head-- and he barely notices. The standard bar-room brawl comences... and Conan & Sonja depart before the local authorities arrive. They take a cool swim, before she finds herself rebuffing HIS advances. The police-types overhear Conan & Sonja stealing one of their horses! It seems she has urgent business for King Ghannif of Pah-Dishah. Sonja admits there may be a brain in Conan's skull, and that he's "not as bad as some" she's met. Meanwhile, the wizard Kharam-Akkad (who started the war in the first place), is haunted by something he sees in a large mirror he keeps covered. Elsewhere in the palace, the queen, expecting a visit from the wizard, is surprised when it's her husband the king instead. Both sensing their current situation has become unfortunate, they comfort each other.

Sonja takes Conan to a rather phallic-shaped tower and says there's enough riches within to get them both out of the mercenary business for the rest of their lives. "So what do I need YOU for?" he asks, smiling. Scaling the wall, they find a chamber filled with riches, but Sonja goes off on her own and finds a serpent-shaped crown. About to abandon her companion, she's stopped when the crown comes to life and a giant snake-form threatens her.  A fierce battle ends with the snake apparently "dying", then returning to its original state, as Sonja reads an incantation to bring it under control. As they're leaving, she gives him the boot, saying "No man's lips shall ever touch mine, Cimmerian-- save those of him who has DEFEATED me on the field of BATTLE-- and THAT, even YOU shall never do!!" Before she rides off, she smiles at him and says, "Oh-- but don't feel TOO badly about being USED, barbarian!  I really DID like you-- in my WAY." As she rides off to take her prize back to King Ghannif, Conan mutters, "No, NOT goodbye, wench. We'll meet AGAIN, some bright day. Or some dark night."

Red Sonja's 2nd-ever appearance is considered a classic by many, and in fact won the 1973 Comic Book Academy Award for best story! While the previous issue was loosely adapted from a non-Conan REH story, this was a Roy Thomas-Barry Smith original, though much of it seems a "variation on a theme" of Howard's "Tower Of The Elephant". In both cases, Conan and someone else scale a seemingly-unclimbable tower to loot its riches, but in this case, with less tragic results. Barry Smith, frustrated over the monthly deadlines and not willing to cut back on the quality of his work, decided to leave the book for the 2nd time, and his final issue was a real masterpiece-- which he INKED himself! It's easy to see why Smith's CONAN is considered so highly, especially when one looks at this particular episode. Digging out MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #15 (1977), where I first read this story (it came out shortly after RED SONJA #1) I see that the art alteration on page 6 (panel 1), which appeared in the original printing and in the CHRONICLES OF CONAN Vol.4, was restored to its intended form. In the normally printed version, Sonja is holding her chain-mail shirt in front of her with both hands. In the original art (seen in the TREASURY reprint), she's only holding it with her left hand, thus revealing MUCH more skin. I can't understand why Dark Horse didn't print it THAT way!! Their reprint volume isn't covered by the Comics Code, after all!!

I like Smith's version of Sonja-- at least, as inked BY Smith (the previous issue was so badly inked she hardly made any impression at all), even though Frank Thorne, who is probably more associated with her than any other artist, recently told me he felt Smith "made her look like a man!" She actually reminds me quite a bit of actress Nana Visitor in this epsode (many years before she ever came along). For whatever reason, Sonja's outfit in this issue-- chain-mail shirt & "hot pants"-- wouldn't last long. When she returned, she somehow wound up with a "silver-dollar bikini", which is how she became most known for (at least, in the comics).

It seems to me that the serpent-crown (from King Kull's Valusia) is-- apparently-- the SAME one Roy Thomas spent an entire year's worth of his SUB-MARINER comics writing about! That same crown would later turn up, again and again, in Steve Englehart's CAPTAIN AMERICA, Steve's AVENGERS, and many years later, as the focus on an entire company-wide crossover series of Annuals. (Some people just can't help but take any good idea and run it completely into the ground!!!)

The Makkalet war was now in its 5th episode-- it would go on for 2 more issues before the series finally moved on to something else. Barry Smith, meanwhile, would return to Conan for one more story-- about 6 months later, when SAVAGE TALES was revived.




AMAZING ADVENTURES #17 (Mar'73) -- "Birth Of The Beast!" Okay, this is a strange one. Sales on The Beast series were just not there, so the series was cancelled with AA #16. (Maybe they could have avoided that if its run in AA had been intended as a self-contained "tryout" run, and, if they hadn't kept changing inkers with EVERY episode!) A new series loosely inspired by H.G. Wells' "War Of The Worlds" had been scheduled to replace it, and in fact Roy Thomas & Neal Adams had had it in the planning stages for-- apparently-- almost 2 YEARS! But despite this extrememly long stretch, when the first episode was finally scheduled, Neal STILL managed to blow the deadline! And so, at the last minute, someone decided to fill out this issue of AA with a reprint of The Beast's origin. What makes this a bit confusing is that the story originally appeared in X-MEN #48-53 (Sep'68-Feb'69). The 30 pages of these 6 back-up episodes were whittled down to a mere 18, and 2 NEW pages plus a new cover were created to present it. The reprint pages were by Arnold Drake, Werner Roth, John Verpoorten & John Tartaglione; the 3 new pages were by Steve Englehart, Jim Starlin & Mike Esposito. Man, it seems Jim Starlin was everywhere this year!

If one already had the original comics, would it be worth buying this one just for 3 new pages? Maybe not... unless you were either a real Beast of Starlin "completeist". I would hope that if anyone ever does a reprint collection of these stories that they'd bother to include these pages. They are kinda nice... (I only paid 60 cents for my copy!)




MARVEL FEATURE #8 (Mar'73) -- "Prelude To Disaster!" Near as I can tell, here's what happened (UH oh...). Craig Russell did his 1st Dr. Strange episode this month in MARVEL PREMIERE #7-- his ONLY Dr. Strange episode around this time, come to think of it-- and as a result, totally BLEW the deadline on what was supposed to be his 2nd Ant-Man (& Wasp) episode. I wonder whose fault that was??? So, the first 2 pages are by Craig Russell, the next half-page, the last page of the issue, and the cover, are all by Jim Starlin. (Man, he DOES get around, don't he?) The cover was inked by Mike Esposito, the interiors by Jimmy Janes. He didn't do much work for Marvel, but he did some pencilling on DC's LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES years later, as well as some for Warren Publishing. He's also worked as an actor, including at least one episode of Nick Cuti's direct-to-video CAPTAIN COSMOS series!

So, this issue starts out with Ant-Man being menaced by The Wasp-- who has mutated into an actual wasp-woman-thing, bent on killing him. Then we get 16-1/2 pages worth of the original 18 pages of "The Creature From Cosmos!" from TALES TO ASTONISH #44 (Jun'63). Then, on the last page, we get a one-panel recap of Ant-Man's career, followed by a recap of the cliffhanger from the PREVIOUS episode! For a series that only comes out every 2 months, this one isn't going anywhere fast, is it?

Just to add to the confusion, the credits in the comic refer to the "flashback" story as being by "Stan Lee & Jack Kirby". But it's not that simple. To make it worse, someone at the GCD says (and I quote): "by Ernie Hart and Don Heck (mistakenly credited to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)".  That's wrong, too! What it should actually say is, the plot was by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby (probably more Kirby than Lee, as usual), the dialogue was by Ernie Hart (listed as "H.E. Huntley") and the INKS are by Don Heck!!! I mean, come on, clearly, somebody can't tell the difference between Kirby & Heck-- and I know what an overpowering inker Heck can be! By the way, I'm giving Stan the benefit of the doubt when it comes to plot contribution, because this was early enough in the 60's that I feel he probably WAS still contributing on that end. It wasn't until mid-'1965 that he got so busy and had so many competent "storytellers" working for him that he was able to cut back and let THEM do all the work for him-- though he NEVER seemed to STOP taking credit-- or PAY-- for it. I guess that's what you get when you're the boss.

It sure seems to me this series would have been a lot better if each episode had been self-contained. This "ongoing soap-opera" format can really cause problems, especially if it's not a monthly, you keep changing creative teams, and members of your creative team wind up doing more than one book and blowing deadlines.  Oh wait-- that's all of the above here!

[profh0011]

MARVEL PREMIERE #7 (Mar'73) -- "The Shadow Of The Starstone!" Dr. Strange realizes that to stop the "age-old abominations" that wait to strike in the service of Shuma-Gorath, he must go to Stonehenge at once. Wong says he & Clea will follow as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, in the English town of Penmallow, Henry Gordon arrives as his late uncle Jed's home, "Witch House". He's greeted by the housekeeper, Blondine, and finds the study filled with books on magic & necromancy. He reads about Shuma-Gorath-- then finds a huge watery footprint in the hallway, and on the beach, a huge gem with a "shadow" trapped inside it. He wonders if the people of the area once worshipped the beings described in the book, and the following day, he & Blondine go scuba-diving and discover the sunken ruins of Kalumesh-- and are set upon by a huge beast, Dagoth! At that moment, Dr. Strange is flying by overhead, and seeing the empty boat, senses danger, and soon is underwater battling Dagoth. He rescues the pair, and back at Witch House, learns about the cult that existed there. But the "starstone" takes control of them, as well as the nearby villagers, and Dagoth appears, intent on taking those who do not worship him down to Kalumesh as sacrifices! Clea & Wong arrive just then, and Clea uses a spell to awaken Stephen from the trance. Another fierce battle erupts, which succeeds in sending Dagoth back to the nether-world he was summoned from. But on returning to Witch House, they discover the entire house is alive-- and a trap!

The long, rambling Robert E. Howard-inspired Shuma-Gorath epic continues, this being part 5 of 8, and the 3rd of 4 episodes written by Gardner Fox. Nearly a third of the story focuses entirely on Henry Gordon & Blondine, making one almost forget this was a Dr. Strange story! On the letters page, the general feeling is that the art has been dragging down Fox's work, especially as DS is considered the "most difficult strip" ever to come from Marvel. For the 3rd episodes in a row (and 4th time out of 5) another new artist tries his hand at it-- Craig Russell. While Russell's Ant-Man work bore at least a trace of his later distinctive style, here his work is almost entirely buried under the inks of Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt! I could probably identify each of these guys' styles if I set my mind to it-- suffice to say, Hunt's is clearly the smoothest, Esposito's the roughest, and Giacoia is just plain the most overpowering, the work looking more like Giacoia than anything else. I also detected ONE page inked by Craig Russell himself (page 13, of course), making this book a real mish-mash.

2 interestring things stand out about Russell's work here-- on page 12, the last panel is the only time in recent memory where someone clearly paid tribute to a visual effect from Steve Ditko. (It would take me decades and looking at very clear original printings of Ditko at his very best before I realized that Ditko had apparently had a bigger influence on Russell's style than I ever imagined.) Also, the very first words of dialogue on the splash page are, "What is it that DISTURBS you, Stephen?" This was the title of Russell's DR. STRANGE graphic novel from 1997-- that CAN'T be a coincidence! Over the years, Russell would return periodically to contribute to the series, but never on any long-term substantial basis.

The cover-- inexplicably-- is by Mike Ploog, and if anything, it's a bigger misfit than Sam Kweskin's art was 2 issues earlier. In addition, it appears that by Russell doing this episode, he totally blew the deadline on this month's Ant-Man story in MARVEL FEATURE #8. Which brings up the question-- why did this happen??

I keep wanting to enjoy these episodes, but between Fox's overly-complex and stiff dialogue, the ever-changing and inappropriate art, and the use of REH mythology rather than Doc's own (something at least one reader complained about next time), they haven't been making it easy for me.




HERO FOR HIRE #7 (Mar'73) -- "Jingle Bombs!" While at Noah's clinic, Cage sees a man dressed in 19th Century clothes beating a newsboy for over-charging --and claims his name is "Marley". Noah warns Cage that reporter Phil Fox has been around again, wanting to do a story about the clinic, and doesn't seem to understand what "no" means. Luke & Claire take a romantic walk in the snow, and run into a crazy Viet Nam vet who's packing a machine-gun. Angered, Cage says, "Ain't NEVER gonna be NO peace on Earth if all the SMALL people keep tryin' to act like BIG people-- and the BIG people keep tryin' to act like GOD!" Unknown to him, both men he's fought are the same man-- who seems to be testing Cage for some unknown purpose. Later, Luke & Claire celebrate at a bar-- until closing time. "Lady's tryin' to TELL us somethin', Claire! FIGURIN' these things all part'a bein' a SUPER-HERO!" As she starts to ask about his background, they're suddenly assaulted by a man in futuristic clothes, packing a laser gun, and demanding to see their authorization to be on the streets. Cage realizes all 3 men are the same, and a fight turns into a chase which ends in another fight in a dark alley. As Cage drags his unconscious attacker out to hand him over to the cops, he assures them, "HONEST, now-- we weren't SPARKIN' back there!"

But only minutes later, Cage finds the cops assaulted, and the "schizo" escaped! He follows a trail thru the snow until he loses him, then asks a street-corner Santa for help... his mistake! Cage awakens chained up in an apartment, his attacker now dressed like a medieval executioner, who salutes him for being a "bright spot in a dismal world". A crazed WW2 vet and former member of the S.S., he stole components of a disassembled atomic bomb in preparation for the day when the world, which had not learned anything from the war, would eventually destroy itself. He wanted to prove how bad things were, as in "the old days", a paperboy being attacked would draw a crowd-- no one but Cage raised a hand. He felt it might be just a fluke, hence the later attacks, which Cage compares to "Christmas past, present & future." "I hadn't THOUGHT of it quite like that. You're SMARTER than people THINK you are, aren't you, Cage?" He figures by blowing up Manhattan, a nuclear war will be set off, which will destroy the whole planet. Cage tries to talk him out of it, but the madman says, "I only BROUGHT you here because we men who know the TRUTH should die TOGETHER!" A distraction by something in the chimney gives Cage just enough time to break free and clobber the maniac. After, a would-be thief falls out of the chimney, saying he'd cased the joint for weeks and nobody was ever home-- who think there'd be someone there on a holiday?

No doubt about it-- the 1973 issues of HERO FOR HIRE were, to me, the all-time high point in the book's history.  Steve Englehart, George Tuska & Billy Graham were THE team for this book. It's a shame it ever had to end! Even with something I normally dislike in the extreme-- a Christmas story-- they wind up doing one of my favorites. Billy Graham once again does the cover solo, and while the scene isn't QUITE in the book (it shows the villain actually managing to set the bomb off), I don't mind.

There's a slowly-building continuity, as Luke & Claire slowly get closer, she wanting to know more about him, he wanting to avoid that issue.  The unseen Phil Fox is a continuing problem; he seems to have been a likely inspiration for Jack McGee in the late-70's HULK tv series (Hollywood can't seem to resist the urge to "mix and match" with source materials). Englehart manages to fill the book with so warmth & character humor, it makes a perfect balance to the hard-hitting violence & brutality that George Tuska does so well-- and which Billy Graham gives so much mood and "feeling" to. There were so many comics that Tuska worked on over the years I realy didn't care for, but every issue of HERO FOR HIRE he did is a joy. It's so rare when a really special creative team comes together, one wishes it could remain in place for a long time. I think in some ways, The first 16 or so issues of HERO FOR HIRE are almost like the 1st short season of BATMAN in 1966-- a brief moment of magic, which later episodes never managed to recapture, and always suffered in comparison to.




CAPTAIN MARVEL #25 (Mar'73) -- "A Taste Of Madness!" Mar-Vell is attacked in an alley by a trio who appear alien in origin. Before he can learn anything, they teleport away. Elsewhere, watching the proceedings on a viewscreen, a mysterious figure, "Masterlord", orders "Operation Kree Crusher". A policeman shoots Professor Savannah dead-- then arrests Rick Jones for the murder, which his girlfriend Lou-Ann (Savannah's niece) says Rick did! Rick swaps places with Mar-Vell, who is suddenly attacked by Ronan The Accuser, then Megaton, then Colonel Yon-Rogg, The Hulk, Zarek, The Metazoid, an Aakon warrior, The Sub-Mariner-- each blinking out and replaced with the next-- until he sees Rick Jones, and collapses. It turns out his attackers were really a pair of shape-changing Skrulls-- Skragg, and The Super-Skrull, who put a "Psycho-Probe" helmet on Rick. They discover that the photon-ray machine Savannah has used caused a change in Mar-Vell's metabolism, which allows him to convert sunlight into energy, which is halved when the sun is down. But Rick takes off the helmet, saying his mind was never really wiped out-- and a quick change has Mar-Vell clobbering the Super-Skrull. The battle rages until the "police station" (really an abandoned warehouse) is destroyed, and the 2 Skrulls flee. Rick, angered at the murder of Savannah, is even more angry as Lou-Ann's betrayal, and is intent on finding out the answers.

The cover says, "NEW! The greatest BATTLE-ISSUE ever!" as all of Mar-Vell's old foes seem to attack at once. Sure it's misleading-- but it also does sum up the action in the story (more or less). Following 3 of the most disappointing issues in the history of Marvel Comics up to this point (and considering how BAD this series was before that, that's really saying something), the new team of Jim Starlin & Mike Freidrich make their debut here. It's really a question of how much did Friedrich do here, because while he's listed first and for "story", so much of what Jim Starlin is doing seems to be all his own ideas, I can't help but question the accuracy of that credit.

Anyway, while readers may not have known it (though some may surely have suspected), this initial CM episode was actually the 2nd chapter in Starlin's "big epic". The identity of Masterlord, revealed next time, would clue people in on this. From really bad writing and 3rd-rate artwork, the book suddenly had probably the BEST writing AND artwork it had ever had. Not only did Starlin & Friedrich touch on CM's entire history up to this point (I had no idea who most of those old foes were until I got ahold of all of the earlies issues over the last 10 years), they also did some fast "house-cleaning" by getting rid of the very recent Prof. Savannah, a character who both by personality and his very name was an embarrassment. Chic Stone inked this initial episode, though you'd be hard-pressed to recognize his style.  Stone once said in an interview, shortly before he passed away, that he felt it was an inker's job to capture the style of a penciller, not alter it. It appears he succeeded quite well here. On the other hand, Joe Sinnott inked the cover... and BOY does it make me wish he'd done the entire book!

The original storyline in Marvel's CAPTAIN MARVEL (18 issues worth) was poorly-conceived, and chaotically handled. After it was wrapped up, nobody seemed to have the slightest idea of what to do with the guy, outside of his involvement in the Skrull-Kree War, which was essentially a sequel to the original story, right down to having Ronan as one of the main villains. While it might not be evident from this one issue, Jim Starlin had a vast, far-reaching epic to tell, and unlike the first one, which sputtered and meandered almost from the word go, his would build slowly and relentlessly. MAN were these good comics!!!

[doc photo]

My first exposure to Craig Russell's art was a Batman story in Detective Comics from the late Seventies. Jim Starlin wrote the script and provided layouts with Russell handling the finished art. My first reaction was "Wow, this guy draws like Steve Ditko".

[profh0011]

I'm sure I saw that! My 1st Russell art was the issue of IRON MAN he filled in on, which due to the inks looked-- ahem-- "normal" (and in many ways better than what George Tuska was doing). I later saw the DS ANNUAL and thought it was 'ORRIBLE! It was ELRIC: THE DREAMING CITY that finally "sold" me on him-- I've always thought that was when his style "arrived", and he hasn't really changed since then.

It's possible I never noticed the Ditko resemblance before because most of the Ditko art I'd seen around then was either really fuzzy reprints, or, his newer stuff, where I just thought he'd "lost it".


Several years ago I got ahold of the entire run of KILLRAVEN and it was fascinating to see Russell's style evolve from "normal" to "experimental" to "WOW!"  Of course, that's when he blew a deadline and the editor decided he was gonna have someone else ink it from then on... (I'm still hoping McGregor & Russell get together again to do a sequel to the KILLRAVEN graphic novel. That story deserves to have a conclusion!)

[doc photo]

Russell's art on the Elric stories in Epic Illustrated made me a fan also. He has done great stuff since but that material remains my favorite work by him.

[profh0011]

Darn, I keep missing these!

THE DEFENDERS #4 (Feb'73) -- "The New Defender!" Having returned from the other dimension without enabling The Silver Surfer to escape Earth, the rescued Barbara has gone insane, and The Hulk is really pissed about it! He leaps off with her to a nearby castle, and, feeling he's let everyone down, Doc asks Namor for advice on what to do next. They follow the Hulk, but once inside the castle, are transported somewhere else, and become prisoners of The Executioner, who has gained magical powers in this other realm. In a dungeon they find Barbara, Bruce Banner, and with them, The Black Knight and The Enchantress! He tells the story of how she escaped from Zeus' imprisonment (following THE AVENGERS #100) and magically enlisted his help to get The Executioner away from her rival, Casiolena. But their mission failed. Needing someone of her own sex to escape, The Enchantress casts a spell on Barbara, transforming her into The Valkyrie, who smashes out of the dungeon with ease. Big fight commences, ending with The Enchantress taking out Casiolena. As she prepares to leave with her longtime companion, The Black Knight objects-- due to her spell, he loves her, and plans to remove HIS "rival". But instead, she turns him to STONE! The Valkyrie takes charge of his winged horse, Aragorn, and the group returns to Earth, where, to their surprise, The Valkyrie says she wants to become a Defender. Namor tells her, "This isn't The Avengers!"

Elsewhere, the Omegatron counts down the last 9/100ths of a second before it destroys all of Earth...

Steve Englehart continues to prove what a master of "continuity" he is, much of this issue following up on long-dangling plot-threads started much earlier by Roy Thomas. But unlike Gerry Conway, who often picked up on Thomas' plots and dragged them into depressing pits, Englehart actually takes the various characters in directions that often seem natural, sometimes unexpected, and usually entertaining, tending to do better than Thomas' "stiffness" seemed capable of.

The situation with Barbara goes back to SUB-MARINER #22 (Feb'70); the one between The Black Knight & The Enchantress started back in THE AVENGERS #84 (Jan'71); and the bit with The Omegatron has been hanging since MARVEL FEATURE #1 (Dec'71). The Enchantress first appeared in THE AVENGERS #83 (Dec'70), but that was a different person, merely The Enchantress in disguise. Though it was not readily apparent here, this was the "real" Enchantress, and the details behind her story would take a very long time coming. I suppose this is fitting, as she's virtually the female equivalent of Thor, and his "origin" story took over 6 years to be revealed. Her introduction here is also following a trend toward bringing in new longtime characters to a group in a book's 4th issue-- it happened with Green Arrow in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, and Captain America in THE AVENGERS! With The Silver Surfer essentially only "on loan" to this book, it seems Steve wanted someone else to regularly fill out the ranks, and if there was one thing they were missing at this point, it was having a female member. Unlike The Avengers, this team's resident woman would be every bit as physically strong as several of her team-mates!

It was very refreshing to see the often omnipotent-seeming Dr. Strange actually defer to Namor's judgement early in this episode. I can't imagine any member of, for example, The Fantastic Four doing that!

Englehart & Sal Buscema were busy doing 2 books at the same time here (the other one being CAPTAIN AMERICA), and while Cap's book was consistently the better of the two, this one remains interesting in its own way. Both books did tend to suffer from rotating inkers. In his first 4 issues, Sal was inked by Frank Giacoia, John Verpoorten, Jim Mooney, and, this time, Frank McLaughlin. At least McLaughlin somehow managed to stick around longer than most; he inked issues #4, 5, 6, 8 & 9. Sal's Hulk, never a fave of mine, seems "darker" in attitude under him.

[Baron Bizarre]

Wow, you're still a couple of years away from when I started reading comics...but I remember pieces of these plots being dealt with years later.