All Comments #8 LevesApril 17, 2015 8:37 PM Tales To Astonish #58 I don't think Stan's portrayal of some natives to be racist. TCPApril 17, 2015 6:35 PM New Mutants #87 The artwork of Liefeld, and even that of Jim Lee later on, was probably the biggest deterrent for me when trying to get into the X-books as a kid. I adored the animated series (which, funny enough, featured a lot of the costumes designed by Lee), but every time I picked up the books the art just made me sick to my stomach. RobertApril 17, 2015 6:11 PM New Mutants #87 Jon I doubt any of us would want to be judged based on what we liked when we were kids. And yes, as a kid I also loved Liefeld's work. I was never really a New Mutants fan but Liefeld's art and obsession with everything being "cool" took a book that I was barely aware was still being sold and suddenly made it one I was buying every month (continuing into X-Force). It didn't last more than a few years before all I could see were the flaws (and there are so many). That plus as I grew older I started to learn more about the creators than I had cared about as a kid. As soon as I got to know more about Liefeld, my dislike of him on a personal level began to color my enjoyment of his work. Jon DubyaApril 17, 2015 5:14 PM New Mutants #87 Seriously, Ataru. Most of the characters he creates won't become interesting until they're taken out of his hands. That being said, let me make a confession that will get me kicked out of the Comic Coalition of Good Taste and say that when I was a kid I TOTALLY ate this $@&% up! Seriously, for the pubescent in me, this issue and this artwork was the Coolest. Thing. Ever! And even as an unabashed "Liefeld-hater" I still think this issue isn't "that bad" (relatively, mind you.) It shows promise and would be a good direction for a floundering series, if followed. Ironically enough, Weezie's writing seems a bit sharper than it's been in the past. Even though they reportedly didn't get along with each other, they made a decent team somehow minimizing each others flaws. Ataru320April 17, 2015 4:13 PM New Mutants #87 @jon dubya: Yeah was sort of being funny there. If there's one thing you have to think about with Liefeld, its that really its the writers that define his characters...because he can't. ChrisWApril 17, 2015 3:54 PM New Mutants #87 What, doesn't everybody get an ugly mohawk when they're coming home from a trip to Asgard? Jon DubyaApril 17, 2015 3:16 PM New Mutants #87 "Heck for all we know, he could just randomly draw some other company's mercenary character and claim it as his own...but we'll get to that issue soon enough." Actually we'll to it sooner than that, as the new MLF recruits (yes there are MORE of them!) are blatant ripoffs of existing characters. Hell we are already seeing it NOW, as fnord already pointed out the Forearm/Barbarous similarities and Wild side is basically just a miscolored Wolverine (and get used to seeing the Wolver-mane as we head into the 90s.) I think Cable was the only "original" character Liefeld created. And besides being "off-model" expect to see numerous inconsistencies as well with costumes, hairstyles, general design etc.. For instance, Rictor ALREADY look different than he did in NM#85, even factoring in artistic differences. fnord12April 17, 2015 2:30 PM What's Missing I wasn't aware of them so thanks for pointing them out. I have been interested in filling out my Golden Age stuff. It seems like there's more "continuity" (of the single series variety, at least) than i was aware of. But for the couple of years i intend to just go forward and cover the 90s. I'll start looking for used copies of the softcovers, though. Mark DrummondApril 17, 2015 2:03 PM What's Missing Will you be covering the stories in the softcover Golden Age Masterworks? Mark DrummondApril 17, 2015 2:02 PM New Mutants #87 Wouldn't Stryfe's giant helmet wings bang against his shoulder spikes whenever he turns his head? Rohit RaiApril 17, 2015 1:32 PM Black Panther #14-15 Thanks for searching man :) and yeah I wouldn't take hawkeyes word for it either , the panther is well respected to be caps equal. TCPApril 17, 2015 1:28 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #134-136 Sal Buscema's work definitely stood out from the pack when I first started reading comics in the early-90s, and it remains a favorite of mine. His art, along with Alex Saviuk's in Web, gives stories a certain charm that I find to be largely missing from the MacFarlane/Larsen-era of Amazing. DermieApril 17, 2015 12:55 PM Jungle Action #24 Windeagle's original outfit is a truly bizarre costume design--a fully covered upper body, and then a nearly-nude bottom half. We've seen women characters get costumes like that before (Mockingbird, Carol Danvers, etc) but rarely men. fnord12April 17, 2015 12:48 PM Black Panther #14-15 You know, that does sound vaguely like something i mentioned once, but i don't remember what issue it was in, and i did some searching on the site and didn't find anything. Maybe someone else will remember. If this is to settle a Whoodwin/Battleboard type question, i wouldn't take Hawkeye's word for it, in any event. DermieApril 17, 2015 12:38 PM Captain America #368 I've always found it interesting that a Nazi villain like Red Skull would employ an openly gay henchman like Machinesmith--and how he and the rest of the Skeleton Crew just accept Machinesmith so easily. They can't be unaware of it--he is flamboyant enough and open enough that he isn't making any effort to hide it. And Mother Night and her brother both comment openly about it at one point. For a team of super-villains led by a Nazi and including a street thug like Crossbones and a brother/sister team with church-based costumes and code-names, they are surprisingly tolerant and open-minded. LOL I guess Machinesmith's skills and expertise prove his value to Red Skull, and the fact that he is robotic now maybe negate the matter of sexuality in his mind...although anatomically-correct artificial lifeforms like Vision and Jim Hammond having sex with humans, and even non-anatomically correcting robots like Ultron creating bridges for himself, shows that sexuality IS still an issue. But I guess the Skull doesn't think about it that much. Rohit RaiApril 17, 2015 12:34 PM Black Panther #14-15 Hey you write amazing reviews, I read a lot of your reviews. I just wanted to ask if you know about any issues you've read where hawkeye or somebody( i can't remember who, but I'm pretty sure it was hawkeye) said that captain america could fight better than the black panther, I remember reading it somewhere in your reviews, you might have written it under references or notes, I just wanted to know if the statement about captain america being to able to fight better than black panther is a statement that actually exists or am I just remembering it incorrectly? Erik BeckApril 17, 2015 11:43 AM Captain America #243-245 I have to agree with David Banes. It hasn't happened much yet at this point, but I think Wolverine is absolutely the king of being nude in the Marvel Universe. Erik BeckApril 17, 2015 11:40 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #36-37 Maybe this is why Swarm was on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, because he had fought both Iceman and Spider-Man. Erik BeckApril 17, 2015 11:23 AM Amazing Spider-Man #196-200 Kveto mentioned the 1989 Batman film and the decision to have the Joker be the one who killed Bruce Wayne's parents. That brings up two things: 1 - This reflect what DC did in the late 40's, when Bruce Wayne was able to track down Joe Chill, the man who killed his parents, and then Chill is killed, essentially closing the case. 2 - That one of the great things the first Spider-Man film did was change it so that Uncle Ben was killed in a mugging in the city, thus negating the need to explain why on earth the burglar went all the way out to Queens. But, if only Aunt May had stayed dead. I think the reason I never regularly collected Spider-Man at any point was that I was so tired of the constant drama over Aunt May and her health and her financial state. I just wanted her gone and out of the story. TCPApril 17, 2015 11:00 AM Amazing Spider-Man #48-49 It seems like Stan named every other henchman he created "Blackie." See also Blackie Gaxton from ASM #11 and the mook from ASM #39. TCPApril 17, 2015 9:59 AM Fantastic Four #52-53 A couple of weird errors from Stan and Jack in #53 -- Black Panther says he will take out the "two guards" at Klaw's hideout, when there are three other people in the panel; and, as can be seen above, Klaw miraculously gets his hand back before jumping into the converter. Vin the Comics GuyApril 17, 2015 9:36 AM Avengers #219-220 Apparently, Heather got some godly injections courtesy of Thor. Her actions are directly a response from Thor reputing her aspirations of goodhood from Avengers #148. Ataru320April 17, 2015 8:44 AM New Mutants #87 I get the need for a new direction with how the comic became with the generic adventures and at least this tries to maybe bring in the idea of a new group of mutant liberation/antagonists. The problem...is that Liefeld is the type who just does stuff "because its cool". He doesn't care about rhyme or reason, he does it because he wants to do it. Massive battle armor, strange looking Mindless Ones, a guy with four arms literally named "Forearms" (then again Ben 10 did that better...and he was an alien)...if its awesome, Liefeld draws it. For the most part we're just in for the ride at this point. Heck for all we know, he could just randomly draw some other company's mercenary character and claim it as his own...but we'll get to that issue soon enough. MichaelApril 17, 2015 7:57 AM New Mutants #87 @ChrisW- regarding the attack on the secret energy station, the problem is that next issue Cable concludes they attacked the station because they were stealing stuff needed to create a bomb but in issue 93-94, the MLF's plan involves POISON, not a bomb. ChrisWApril 17, 2015 3:08 AM New Mutants #87 I'm ambivalent about this. I agree that "New Mutants" was completely flatlined and something needed to be done. It's just... was this the only option? And it's not just the art. The characters have become so generic and formless that they're light years away from the people we knew. Interchangeable mutants whining about being mutants and getting into fights. Does Sam still have a family? Dani just abandoned hers. Nobody misses Doug, Illyana or Amara [and Shan was dropped like a bad habit.] Boom Boom reminisces about "OUR mentor"s dream, when she never met Xavier in the first place. He was leaving the planet when she first appeared. Then Rictor's the one responding to her about how noble that dream was? Yeah, there's a guy who'd be real receptive to peaceful coexistence. Skids doesn't remotely resemble the cute Morlock chick we use to know, although I guess it's believable that she'd immediately join the mutant terrorists. And why is Mystique there? Doesn't she have government organizations to infiltrate? Or at least a group to lead? Nope, just generic horrible dialogue. The fact that X-Factor returned from space at the moment the New Mutants returned from Asgard kind of proves the theory we've been tossing around here that both storylines were planned to get them out of the way for a while. The new villains are just stupid as well. Generic powers, simple names, kindergarten-level characterization at best. Stonewall, Super Sabre and the Crimson Commando may not have been much - and it's not clear why they were ever introduced in the first place; did Freedom Force need plussing up that badly? - but they were a lot more three-dimensional and we knew much more about who they were, what they did and why. They weren't just trashing some prison and fighting a new character we know nothing about before reporting to a shadowy boss we've never seen before. Why was the MLF even attacking that secret energy station in the first place? Because of Rusty and Skids? Wouldn't a non-secret energy station have served that purpose better? They'd still have the same chance of bringing the Avengers or the Fantastic Four down on their heads, but at least people would know about it. Then there's Cable. I never liked Cable. The ultra-violent guy only works if he's in the minority and not the leader. He doesn't even have superpowers and he's leading a superhero team? He's little more than the Punisher with a stupid costume. [Although I see that the prison disagreed, and left him with his spiky armbands, boots and belt in the last scan.] He would have been tolerable if he'd just lasted one adventure against the Mutants I'd Like to F*ck, but nooooooooooo... And then there is the art. God save us, there is the art. The facial expressions and the unwillingness to draw backgrounds are bad enough, but the lack of thought going into this stuff is astounding. Look at the splash page, crowded with five characters, with details thrown in behind them after-the fact. Tubes that are just there, not even plugging into the wall, circling around the teleportal. In her first appearance, Tempo's legs are going a different direction from her hips which are going a different direction from her upper body. The angles are constantly tilted for no reason, making it feel like a story told by a five year old on a sugar rush. Constant close-ups and crowding the panel with bodies, leaving no sense of space or context. Cable's firing guns which not only don't have trigger guards, they don't even have triggers. But for all that, it was clearly the direction comics were going at the time. Nathan AdlerApril 17, 2015 2:20 AM New Mutants #87 @fnord12: So Wildside was able to make them invisible through his power to "distort reality". So is his power akin to Sue Storm's, Mastermind's or… perhaps be thankful John Byrne never wrote a saga revealing he could fold space around them;) Although now that you think about it, that white hair might suggest he is the Scarlet Witch's other brother;) And re: Forearm, perhaps he is a clone of Barbarus made by Mister Sinister;) At this point the MLF appear to be being set up as a new Brotherhood, what with Freedom Force now working for the government, but Louise doesn't appear to have twigged to that here enough to infer it in the dialogue (or didn’t want to)! Morgan WickApril 16, 2015 11:58 PM X-Men: The Hidden Years #16-22 Byrne explains what happened to Cyclops' dialogue in #19, and what it was supposed to be, here: http://www.byrnerobotics.com/FAQ/listing.asp?ID=2&T1=Questions+about+Comic+Book+Projects#53 BillApril 16, 2015 11:53 PM Avengers West Coast #58 I never did get why Tony put up the Iron Man ruse with his fellow Avengers. I could maybe see him not letting the US Agent and the Human Torch know who he really is, since he doesn't know them...but it seems weird to act like Tony Stark isn't Iron Man around his buddies who pretty much know it's him in the armor. I agree with Andrew, it does get rather tiresome. Andrew FApril 16, 2015 11:02 PM Avengers West Coast #58 Other Avengers are constantly thinking to themselves that Iron Man might be Tony at this time. Pretty much every appearance, he makes some allusion or shows some technical knowledge that gives him away. It gets really tiresome. ChrisApril 16, 2015 10:03 PM New Mutants #87 I agree with FNORD12 that as bad as Liefeld can be, he was a bdly needed shot in the arm for this title. There is nothing wrong with Simonson wanting to focus the book on kids being kids while living in this weird mixed up mutant world. That can work. What isn't working are the main plots. They are retreads of old Claremont concepts (and excesses). There is a lot of treading in the water and no progression. There isn't a good mix of old New Mutant characters and the X-Factor kids. Things have not been working out for several years now. Quite frankly, I found the title boring. Liefeld needed a strong hand to control him, and he doesn't get it. But at this specific point in time and in this specific book, if I had to pick between Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld, I think I'd make the same decision Harras did. MichaelApril 16, 2015 9:53 PM Avengers West Coast #58 I think they meant senior member with the MOST previous leadership experience- at this point, Jan's arguably got more leadership experience than Hank. fnord12April 16, 2015 9:36 PM New Mutants #87 Thanks, Michael. For now i've just changed it here to the (Time Travel) tag and i can always rename the tags at some point. JackApril 16, 2015 9:33 PM Fantastic Four #191 Perez drew Sue like Debbie Harry. BillApril 16, 2015 9:16 PM Avengers West Coast #58 "According to Avengers by-laws, chairmanship of the West Coast team would revert to the Wasp as the senior member with previous leadership experience." Wouldn't it be Hank Pym? He was the obvious team leader back in his Goliath days. MichaelApril 16, 2015 9:16 PM New Mutants #87 The Atlantis Attacks New Mutants Annual is supposed to take place between pages of this issue after the New Mutants got back from Asgard but before they notice X-Factor's ship, but that's impossible since this issue takes place after Uncanny X-Men 255, and Storm's an adult in Atlantis Attacks. Nathan AdlerApril 16, 2015 6:42 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 @fnord12: I also think it is telling when Byrne refers to Wanda's twins as the outcome of a "hysterical pregnancy". That old outmoded trope of referring to it as the result of "neuroses" when such a condition can result from a tumour or endocrine dysfunction. He also appeared to have completely forgotten about Chthon here!? Convenient, that! Nathan AdlerApril 16, 2015 6:32 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 @Ryan: Well his primary editor after leaving DC would have been Mark Gruenwald given he was on the Avengers family of titles, and the Gru was usually a stickler for continuity so not sure why he even allowed this story!? fnord12April 16, 2015 5:55 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Hiring the talent is definitely one of the responsibilities of the editors, but you may be right that the assistant editors, who managed the day to day interactions, felt that way. One thing that seems to have happened with Byrne is that editors shifted the blame to the editor in chiefs. It's always hard to know who's telling the truth / remembering things correctly, but there are several stories where Byrne has claimed that Jim Shooter had such and such edict (e.g., "all stories must be completed in one issue") that Shooter claims was never the case, and Shooter speculates that he was used as a boogeyman by the editors to convince Byrne that he couldn't do something. Along the same lines, i'd love to know if Tom DeFalco has a different version of what happened with this series. RyanApril 16, 2015 5:38 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 @PeterA: You are correct - I meant X-Men Forver. Thanks for correcting my bad memory. I'm sure there is something we can agree on. It had to have been a pain in the butt to be John Byrne's editor. I can imagine each editor saying something like 'oh no, not him!' as they realized he was writing his book. Or do the editors pick their writers and artists? david banesApril 16, 2015 5:15 PM Avengers #189 It does sound more like something Iron Man would say but it seems like goofy Beast grates straight laced Captain America most. Jon DubyaApril 16, 2015 3:09 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 @Walter: The odd thing is that scenario you described sounds like what eventually took place in Uncanny Avengers. Also thanks for reminding me about another annoying aspect of this story. If you remember way back during Uncanny #140 Byrne, rather snotty, reflected on how Chris Claremont "would not let go" of the Dark Phoenix Saga (even though it happened all of three issues ago from that point.) Fnord12 mentions the commentary in the review of that issue if anyone wants to check. Yet WHO'S the one dredging up the decaying corpse of the Phoenix storyline? (Well Marvel Now every 3-4 years, but you know what I mean.) This also ties into Michael's general observation since that was also a story of a powerful woman corrupted into a dangerous "bad girl." Except Jean's eventually "exonerated" for that while this still haunts any portrayal of the Scarlet Witch. Erik BeckApril 16, 2015 1:42 PM Avengers #189 @ David Barnes - But you forgot the best part. Beast's line is actually "Again? But that trick never works!" I've been using that line for every storyline involving clones. But I agree with you - one of the best closing panels ever. I always assumed it was Iron Man who said the "Shut up Beast!" - it seems out of character for Cap, although the direction of the caption does seem to indicate Cap. You can see that panel here. Vin the Comics GuyApril 16, 2015 12:30 PM ROM #65-66 It's clear that Shooter never gave Ditko instructions on how big the Scarlet Witch's rack was supposed to be...or is it Kitty trying on a new outfit? Ataru320April 16, 2015 10:54 AM Dazzler #38 Considering you can somewhat see late-70s ONJ in early Dazzler (yeah she was supposed to be Bo Derek but seriously...), seeing her "evolve" into "Physical" Dazzler shouldn't have been a surprise. Luis DantasApril 16, 2015 10:52 AM Punisher War Journal #14-15 The trouble with the "while I am around" clause is that it is so unnecessary and arbitrary. Peter can pursue and capture Punisher if he wants, and he knows that. Punisher just does not work as a shared-universe protagonist in a world of superheroes. MichaelApril 16, 2015 7:44 AM Uncanny X-Men #169-171 But Nathan, Mystique has a nightmare about Mastermind, her ankle hurts where she injured it in the dream and then the caption tells us that the cause of Mystique's nightmare and Rogue's flight is watching Rogue. That makes no sense unless it's Mastermind and/or the Shadow King. Nathan AdlerApril 16, 2015 6:30 AM Uncanny X-Men #169-171 It has been speculated by fans for 25 years now that Rogue leaving Mystique and Irene was a result of Mastermind (and/or Shadow King) stirring up trouble here. However, I'd instead suggest Rogue leaving Mystique is more for the part she played in the death of Michael Barnett, the lover of Carol Danvers, which caused Carol massively hate her, and after Rogue absorbed her memories and the associated feelings it was too big a clash. That's why she headed to Xavier's on that bus. Nathan AdlerApril 16, 2015 3:26 AM Avengers West Coast #56-57 @PeterA: Re: Byrne, how many new concepts did he introduce in the Fantastic Four that stuck? Not that many. He wasn't the ideas machine like Kirby, and it's interesting that Claremont was writing X-Men at the time and it was seriously pumping out new concepts and characters left, right and centre as if it had become Marvel's new Fantastic Four. Glad you like my fix of Cable & Stryfe as Wanda's twins:) PeterAApril 16, 2015 2:25 AM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Nathan, I think Ryan means X-Men Forever as opposed to X-Men: Legacy (which was the Xavier/Gambit/Rogue vehicle for a time, right?) Claremont "continued" his stories as if he hadn't left in 1991. It didn't occur to me Byrne was retreading a lot of Lee/Kirby. I knew he wanted to go "back to the basics" but didn't he come up with a lot of good ideas for Doom, Sue, the Thing...? (and the Torch "Hero" story, was that something Lee had already done with Kirby too?) I personally fondly remember Byrne's FF in part because it seemed fill-ins didn't exist when he was on it. It's all too rare creators try to really leave their mark on a series. Pity he left in a huff (is there a series he didn't leave in a huff? Iron Man maybe?) Wanda's twins as Cable/Stryfe is an awesome idea by the way, talk about connecting the MU dots :) Nathan AdlerApril 15, 2015 11:19 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 @Ryan: Or did Vizh like Wanda because of Simon's brain patterns;) But I doubt Byrne's intended Immortus plot would have been up there with DoFP, as he wasn't writing on mark with AWC (and to be honest his Fantastic Four run wasn't ground-breaking but a retread of Lee & Kirby's concepts, much like Jim Lee's wanting to return to Adams & early Claremont X-Men instead of moving forward). And Byrne's efforts to complicate Wanda's powers by making her a "Nexus Being" the way he did weren't commendable. Better to suggest her mutant powers were to make molecules unstable;) And when did Claremont start writing an X-Men: Legacy series in 1991? He was removed from the X-titles then! DarApril 15, 2015 11:13 PM Dazzler #38 I echo the Olivia Newton-John comment. I never liked this costume. Took away from her unique look and persona. Claremont would further ruin her by making her a generic background X-Man. Mark DrummondApril 15, 2015 10:49 PM Questprobe #3 Amazing Heroes #175 stated that the Questprobe games ended because"[AI] never upgraded its programming ability, and thus wound up standing still in an ever-evolving market". Mark DrummondApril 15, 2015 10:40 PM Punisher War Journal #14-15 We don't actually see Hitler pulling the trigger though, and What If #4 established that the Torch burned in just before he could. RyanApril 15, 2015 10:24 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Most of you guys commenting here should take a shot at comic book writing. I bet you'd make some good stories. I liked the idea of Scarlet Witch's probability powers being based on retroactively changing the fabric of time. It explains something other than the lazy "it's magic" approach whenever we come across that is hard to explain. It's completely viable to me that Wonder Man would like Scarlet Witch since him and Vision have the same brain patterns. The differences in experiences could have changed their personalities, but who's to say that it would have change who they're attracted to? A lot of my opinion is based on the great storylines Byrne has come up with in the past without editorial interference. His Fantastic Four plots were brilliant and every X-Men issue he was involved in with Claremont is considered a classic. When you read about the storyline's intended plot, it would have been right there with the Days of the Future past. We'd still be talking about it today and who knows, maybe movies would be coming out from Marvel Studios based on it. I'd really like to see John Byrne write an Avengers: Legacy series (like Claremont did with the X-Men starting from 1991). This could start out with this story and see where he was going with it. I have a feeling House of M was the closest we'll see to it. MichaelApril 15, 2015 7:59 PM Avengers West Coast #58 One thing always bothered me about this issue- Tony says that Vibro escaped from the Vault "a couple of breakouts ago". The last breakout was the one in Acts of Vengeance and the one before that was the one that Tony caused in Armor Wars. Vibro was shown to escape in that breakout and in Captain America 341 Steve says 2 of the villains that escaped were never recaptured. So are we to believe that Vibro is on the loose because of the breakout that Tony caused? But if that's the case, then why doesn't Tony express guilt over all the death and destruction? (Unless Tony is so arrogant that he knows Vibro escaped as a result of his actions but convinced himself the earthquake wasn't his fault.) EnchloreApril 15, 2015 7:44 PM Daredevil #25 When Mike Murdock got a reference in the Netflix series I flipped out. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 5:52 PM Marvel Premiere #49 You and Christopher Priest aren't the only ones who didn't like this issue. Hawkeye is very critical of how Falcon does in this issue when Falcon rejoins the Avengers in #189. Ataru320April 15, 2015 4:52 PM Captain America #153-156 I just noticed something in your comments about how perhaps the Vita-Rays were the "stabilizing" component of Cap's Super-Soldier formula and that perhaps 50s Cap had super-strength due to not having Vita-Rays. Considering not too long after this is the whole "Cap gets super-strength" sequence (did Englehart just think Cap worked better with powers when he's supposed to be the peak of human potential?), I sort of wonder if 50s Cap was a prelude to that...and that perhaps due to the circumstances (the Viper and the antidote) that somehow it may have temporarily allowed for Cap to gain the same super-strength that 50s Cap had while keeping his sanity...and that eventually when it wore off or his body became adjusted to it, it went away. It's not a perfect theory but that's what happens when you think on the fly. TCPApril 15, 2015 4:37 PM Captain America #153-156 There will also be mention of an "Arnold Schwarzenheimer" during Erik Larsen's Revenge of the Sinister Six storyline. How many Arnold expies does one universe need?? Ataru320April 15, 2015 4:23 PM Venus #18 Yeah...that Cap and Bucky...and a year before "Seduction of the Innocent" too...but hey, the Torch blows people up and Venus isn't too bad either. ChrisWApril 15, 2015 2:17 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 And Nathan Summers was intended to be sacrificed by his mother at the climax of Inferno, part of the ages-long plan to bring Limbo to Earth. But if Nathan's real mother is Wanda (from a certain point of view) then it makes him and her a crucial part of Ch'thon's schemes(or perhaps Ch'thon being manipulated by Mephisto.) Warping time retroactively is how Inferno was ended (and Cable showed up not too long afterwards.) Just after Inferno is also when Doctor Strange recovered the Darkhold even though it had last been in Urthona's possession. The Darkhold is connected with Ch'thon as well, and without it, Doc had been practicing black magic. Ch'thon had been trapped in Wundagor Mountain where the High Evolutionary worked for so many decades. We know Wanda and Pietro were born there, but Jessica Drew also grew up there. In fact [I doubt this is canon, but it's an interesting thing I've learned on this site] Viper was possessed by Ch'thon for over fifty years, and said she was Jessica's mother. She worked with the Yakuza for quite a while too, which suggests a connection to the Hand. The High Evolutionary would also build Counter-Earth, and bestows a Soul Gem on Warlock. The Soul Gem would eventually be associated with Thanos [coming to a movie theater near you in 2018] who loves Death as much as Mephisto does. Just before Thanos was reborn and assembled the Infinity Gauntlet [consisting of the Soul Gems] Galactus had required them to save his life after devouring the Elders of the Universe, who had been using the gems to try to kill him. This led to a big fight between him and the In-Betweener, requiring Master Order and Lord Chaos to step in. And couldn't Inferno also be seen as a conflict between Order and Chaos? Now - with the connections between the Soul Gems and cosmic beings - it's worth noting that Galactus' second appearance in the Marvel Universe was just before the High Evolutionary's first appearance in a Lee/Kirby Thor story, which also featured Wanda and Pietro exploring Wundagor and pondering their origins. And if all these reincarnations and time changes aren't enough, it's worth noting that Quicksilver married into a royal family created during a visit from the Kree who were attempting to recreate the Celestials' experiment, and more importantly, Wanda married the Human Torch, the very first Marvel superhero. And, again the things I learn on this website, the Human Torch's creator's stepdaughter Frankie Raye went on to become Galactus' herald. BUApril 15, 2015 1:45 PM Untold Tales of Spider-Man #11 No way John Byrne didn't have a hand in the art here. TCPApril 15, 2015 1:43 PM Punisher War Journal #14-15 Is that really Hitler, though, or one of his many body doubles (aka "Mein Bots")? kvetoApril 15, 2015 1:19 PM Punisher War Journal #14-15 As always, this shows the double standard that the punisher gets from other heroes. "No killing while im around" but after we part, go ahead and go back to killing. fnord12April 15, 2015 1:01 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Confirming it's at the end of #255. And that i prefer Wolverine's brown costume. ;-) ChrisWApril 15, 2015 12:53 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 I don't remember if it's in #255, but yes, he does fry one of Lian's fellow doctors with energy bolts coming out of his eyes. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 10:48 AM Uncanny X-Men annual #3 I remember having to hunt this down since, annoyingly, the Classic X-Men series didn't reprint the Annuals. Very fun story with great artwork. And they'll return to Arkon's world in Annual #5. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 10:16 AM Uncanny X-Men #123-124 "I been waiting months for a rematch with the Hulk." And that, right there, is why there is the sliding timescale. Because that battle happened before Wolverine joined the X-Men and we had Christmas in #99 and Christmas again in #119. Years is more like it. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 10:09 AM Captain America #237 Does it seem out of character to anyone else that Vision calls Cap "Cap"? That just reads like a writer who doesn't know how to do Vision's dialogue properly. But maybe I'm just not remembering other times when Vision might have called him Cap? fnord12April 15, 2015 9:59 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #32-34 Thanks TCP. Added him. TCPApril 15, 2015 9:51 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #32-34 The Iguana actually just had another appearance recently, fighting Spidey in ASM v3 #16. No explanation given for his return, which I guess shouldn't be surprising. Fnord, you may want to tag him for this reason, though I realize that is quite the gap. LevesApril 15, 2015 9:38 AM Strange Tales #121 Did plantman rob the hotel of the still at large nazi war criminals carrying the Reich's gold? lol Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 9:07 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #32-34 @Mark Drummond - Actually, there are three play references here. The first is the title of an Edward Albee play, the last two are both Tennessee Williams plays, which were made into movies in 1964 and 1958 respectively. But I am impressed with how many title references you get. fnord12April 15, 2015 8:56 AM Avengers #183-187 Correct on point #1. In the Considerations for Iron Man #120-128 i detail where Iron Man comes in and out of this story. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 8:52 AM Iron Man #120-128 This is a very nice story - it's like they finally decided that something other than Spider-Man needed a real world bit in it. The art is interesting - I would have said this was John Byrne with an unfamiliar inker. To see that this is JRjr, the same artist who will later have ridiculously muscle-bound pencils for every character he drew, well, that just goes to show you never know what direction someone might go in. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 8:37 AM Avengers #183-187 Several things: 1 - Fnord, I assume you have this and the Iron Man issues in GN and don't want to slice them up, which is why those aren't interspersed. Although, for the purposes of the site, it does read smoother the way you have it. 2 - I don't care what Marvel has done or eventually will do. As far as I am concerned, this is the origin of Wanda and Pietro. 3 - I agree with Mike that that Wonder Man seems to have officially joined here, though I believe Marvel Universe in the 1986 Expanded Handbook listed him officially joining in #194. 4 - Cap under-cutting Gyrich is just awesome. How often do you get to see Cap smirk? 5 - I agree with Joe - was Wanda trying to district him? But, to the 12 year old in me, it's just awesome. 6 - @ Steven Printz - I would argue that this is a mental and spiritual violation. Nothing seems to indicate rape. But given what he does do her mind, I think "violate" is the correct word. 7 - In regards to Monitor Duty. That had never really been a regular Avengers thing, leaving someone behind. But in JLA, monitor duty was always a big thing. It just seemed like a little thing to keep Vision out of the story. 8 - As hokey as it is, I have always loved that the Avengers need to work as a team to get Chthon into the doll. 9 - In regards to Magneto. This was something that it seemed like Marvel wanted to make clear enough to hardcore fans without actually saying it. They did the same thing later with Cable and drove lots of us nuts who wanted to just yell: "Just say he's Nathan Christopher Summers already!" 10 - All said and done, still one of my top two Avengers storylines ever. I can't imagine how excited I would have been to actually be reading comics in 1979 and have John Byrne on both Avengers and X-Men. fnord12April 15, 2015 8:30 AM Marvel Premiere #47-48 Sorry, Erik, my fault. The portion with Lang getting out of prison and getting a job with Stark is told in a flashback that takes place before the main story, and Lang's Avengers #181 appearance takes place in between. I've updated the Considerations section. Thanks for altering me. MichaelApril 15, 2015 8:13 AM Avengers West Coast #56-57 @PeterA- the problem isn't you misremembering, it's Bendis's inability to explain things in plain English. In Disassembled, Fury comments that Agatha's been dead for a "long time". How long is a "long time", especially with Marvel Time? It also wasn't clear from the story if Wanda killed Agatha or found her dead. (Breevort claims it was the latter.) fnord12April 15, 2015 8:12 AM Captain America #177-186 Walter, i like this theory . But there's a footnote in Daredevil #118 that says that Python's appearance there takes place before this arc. I try to honor footnotes like that unless it's impossible not to, so i wouldn't swap the issues even though what you're suggesting makes sense. On the other hand, there's no reason why your theory couldn't still work. Viper could have already approached Princess Python before Daredevil #118 and Python could have rejoined the Circus as a double agent. Maybe she even convinced Ringmaster to get the Madison Square Garden gig on Viper's orders. Maybe Blackwing's involvement was more necessary than it seemed. Seems like great fodder for an Untold Tale. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 8:01 AM Marvel Premiere #47-48 Surprised no one has mentioned this before, but this might need to move. If Scott Lang is already employed at Stark in Avengers #181, even though Lang isn't referenced as Ant-Man, and even though that is his first published appearance, this would seem to need to come first. It would certainly make sense if Hank recommended Scott to work at Stark. Nathan AdlerApril 15, 2015 7:51 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Am I misremembering a scene in #255 where the Shadow King leaves Lian's colleague as a lifeless husk? Since when did a telepath have the powers of Selene? With this villain's return was he now unleashing mystical abilities? I always wondered this in #266 and whether those claws he tried capturing little Storm with were! Nathan AdlerApril 15, 2015 7:34 AM Avengers West Coast #56-57 My fix for this whole plot: Eric DalanApril 15, 2015 7:16 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 ChrisW and david banes: Get lost, the brown costume is hideous. The only reason people like it is nostalgia goggles. There is a reason it was never brought back. Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 7:07 AM Marvel Team-Up #82-85 This of course makes me think of the great line Peter says about Black Widow in Ultimate Team-Up: "She's the hottest woman I've ever seen. And I have cable." Erik BeckApril 15, 2015 6:55 AM Marvel Team-Up #79 I had to go look at Uncanny X-Men #189-191 and make certain there was no actual inbound reference, because I remember being very confused reading those issues as to when Kulan-Gath had appeared before and when Spider-Man had faced him and was glad to read in your listing there that it doesn't actually directly reference these issues. Good to know my memory wasn't failing me. That first panel of Red Sonja is some seriously awesome cheesecake. PeterAApril 15, 2015 6:55 AM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Wanda asking USAgent if he also wants her special considerations seems to clearly indicate she used either her hand or more likely her mouth, based on her head in the original art literally going down and Simon looking down. Likable art, terrible storyline. Byrne as a storyteller on Avengers was, sadly after his run on FF, an absolute failure. Most likely specifically because of no strong hand like Shooter's around. This also reminds me to ask if Agatha Harkness's appearances from here on are null and void because this Witch killed her as told in Disassembled? Or sm I misremembering? ChrisWApril 15, 2015 6:49 AM Uncanny X-Men #4 Or there was a mix-up between Wanda and Pietro's costumes somewhere. Had there ever been villains who weren't really evil before Pietro and Wanda? I don't mean like Bennett Brant who redeems himself while dying, I mean characters who flat-out tell the villain that they're not really on his side. There's no doubt about Toad and Mastermind for instance, and I can't think of other villains - Marvel or DC - who would qualify. If this was a new development away from black-and-white hero/villain moralities, I wonder if it was just a result of the use of mutants. Kirby had an increasing interest in heroes and villains sharing the same origin [Asgardians, Inhumans, New Gods] and both he and Lee were probably thrilled to have such a convenient origin so they didn't have to come up with something new for each character. So it would make sense to give them that sort of personality. Toad's the toady, Mastermind is the lech, Magneto's the leader. Why's Quicksilver there? Um, because of his sister. Why's she there? Because Jean needs someone to fight, and um, Magneto saved her. They joined the Avengers immediately after leaving Magneto's service. LevesApril 15, 2015 5:21 AM Amazing Spider-Man #12 I just checked it fnord12, you are right but they also mangle terms like 'formulae' and 'bacteria'. I guess I shouldn't blame the editors for non knowing basic stuff about microbiology back in the '60s ;-). Nathan AdlerApril 15, 2015 12:11 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 @Luis: Jemail was the mind of a terrorist that David absorbed into himself. @Jon: Re: Destiny, I'm thinking more Claremont's original intent there as opposed to what came later (being the CC purist I am:) DermieApril 14, 2015 11:47 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Fnord, I'm not sure Magneto's reaction to Wanda's torture of the prisoners can really be counted as evidence one way or the other to whether or not there was anything sexual going on. He was absent when Wanda did whatever she did to Simon--he just walks in on her threatening the USAgent, and can see Wonder Man with claw marks down his chest. Anything sexual that may or may not have happened was already done before he walked in the room. Jon DubyaApril 14, 2015 11:21 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 On one hand Nathan, I would say that could be possible, since a recent series established that Legion actually has WAY more than 3 personalities (actually the real question at this point is where the hell "Cyndi" came from? We got explanations for the other two personalities.) The only thing is that Destiny's conscious (or ghost or whatever) is has already been seen as a separate entity in itself. And given that this was suppose to be "Jack Wayne" doing the mischief here, I'd doubt he'd want to share more mind space with anyone (Rogue storylines already confirm that this is huge burden under the best if circumstances.) Walter LawsonApril 14, 2015 11:17 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Byrne's AWC mega-arc seems like a deliberate replay of his two biggest X-Men stories. This is the Dark Phoenix part, and the unpublished part would have been Days of Future Past, with Immortus having rewritten time so he conquered the 20th century as Kang, leaving the heroes facing a dystopia. It akso sounds a lot like the later Age of Apocalypse scenario, in which a mad mutant's mucking with the timestream leads to just such an outcome. Kang's dystopia would have been stopped thanks in oart to the Black Knight, who would have popped out of the dimensional bubble Thor put him in and who alone would have had knowledge of how the world was supposed to be—i.e., he'd play the role Bishop played in Age of Apocalypse. Why would Byrne re-do his X-Men epics? To get them right, of course, without any interference from Claremont or Shooter. We'll see other riffs on Dark Phoenix in Harras's Avengers and DeFalco's FF in the early '90s. This Byrne effort is unfortunately by far the most significant storyline to see print in AWC. Jon DubyaApril 14, 2015 11:09 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Kveto: "The destruction of the Scarlet Witch was totally uncalled for." Even worse, Byrne's interpretation still colors the Scarlet Witch TODAY! Modern writers have taken Byrne's ball and ran with it, with storylines doing nothing but casting Wanda as an unstable loose cannon prone to going off the rails every five minutes and using Byrne's storyline as the catalyst of their own arcs. This really is a big derailment of Wanda's character and standing among fans. By the way I don't think I even mention the reaction of readership if an unstable man "serviced" a captive and unwilling woman in front of all her (horrified) friends. Particularly if the two started dating later on. I mean even reading this as a rather impressionable kid back in the day that scene (and Magneto's subdued, nonplussed response of "petty cruelty" as if his daughter had merely called Simon "fat" on Facebook or something) earned a big "WTF were they thinking?" reaction from me. (Although if you've seen what Byrne does with Superman, this isn't that surprising.) SharApril 14, 2015 11:03 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Shooter (who followed Conway as Avengers writer) was also a proponent of a Wanda-Simon attraction. In case the link does not work, Shooter said (about a Wanda-Simon attraction):"I wanted, for once, to have a tension unrelieved, a lust and love unrequited, a chance for dishonor disdained. I thought of Simon Williams as a man of honor." Erik BeckApril 14, 2015 10:54 PM Uncanny X-Men #120-121 I'm glad that Northstar's personality was fleshed out later on because in his early appearances, with the sibling issues and his abrasive personality as well as his speed, he just seemed too much like Quicksilver all over again. BillApril 14, 2015 10:36 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 To me, it makes sense that Wonder Man would be attracted to the Scarlet Witch if the Vision (obviously) was. Both of them sharing the same brain pattern, it's obvious that Wanda is the kind of woman Simon would be attracted to, which the Vision was able to act upon while Simon was "dead". Beyond that, things get muddy, as the different lives Simon and the Vision led would essentially alter their personalities, opinions, likes/dislikes, etc.. Basically, they come from the same starting point, but then veer off down different roads. Simon's attraction to Wanda could easily lessen over time, as he didn't really spend much time with her, while the Vision was a loyal husband and father. It's all interesting to think about when I have some spare time ;) Mark DrummondApril 14, 2015 10:28 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #103 Peter David stated in Amazing Heroes #175 that the college students were based on Leopold & Loeb. Mark DrummondApril 14, 2015 10:23 PM Amazing Spider-Man #8 (first story) True, but bullies in general(especially back then) tended to avoid harassing people their own size. SApril 14, 2015 9:49 PM Hulk #193 Wow, Samson landed on 122nd street from the World Trade Center? That's more than 10 miles away! SApril 14, 2015 9:26 PM Captain America #231-236 I think the Handbook had to "re-create" quite a few death panels because there was no good on-panel image. I would assume in this case since they didn't have an actual panel, they had an artist create one based on that video image panel. Admittedly, I can't name any of the top of my head, but I know there are a bunch. Quick googling only finds comments about creating some panels to show power demonstrations, and editing panels of Cyclops to show him in his "current" costume (which he never actually wore, so all the panels showing him in it had to be edited). fnord12April 14, 2015 9:15 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Thanks, Michael. I've added a couple of scans of those scenes and it did seem like Gerry Conway especially was going that way during the period after Englehart left, but it didn't last long. I do think this was one of the more reasonable revelations from Byrne during this run, but at the same time i think Wonder Man (especially) and the Vision have evolved so much as characters even since Wonder Man's resurrection that it wasn't necessary to keep going back to the "same brain patterns" thing. MichaelApril 14, 2015 8:29 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 This is the second time in little over a year that we had a mother changing into a crazy, more sexual dominatrix with a perverse lust for her brother-in-law after losing her family. It's kind of creepy. Nathan AdlerApril 14, 2015 8:03 PM Uncanny X-Men #4 @Steven: Perhaps Jack wanted her called the Emerald Witch;) MichaelApril 14, 2015 7:52 PM Avengers Spotlight #29 Another weird thing- Absorbing Man and Titania are being shown marched to prison together but Creel thought Titania was dead last time we saw him. It gets especially weird since DeFalco later makes a big deal out of Creel finding out Titania was alive. Ataru320April 14, 2015 7:29 PM Hulk #193 Considering Herb Trimpe's passing, I find it somehow nice his Hulk run ends with the return of probably his "legacy character": Doc Samson. (yeah people will say Wolverine but that was John Romita who created him, Trimpe just drew him) Somehow Samson tends to just be Reed Richards minus genius intellect and with psychology...plus he can fight Hulk on two levels. Humberto M. FerreApril 14, 2015 7:14 PM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #12-15 Great presentation of those issues, better than the one on my own site in fact! Just shared this link on Facebook, related to the passing of Herb Trimpe. fnord12April 14, 2015 6:37 PM Captain America #231-236 The scene that i show above is all that is in issue #233. In Cap #237, he sees a video tape confirming that Sharon was killed, and the scene on the video is the same drawing as what you linked to except that it's cropped and in black & white (you can find it on that entry). It's possible that at some point afterwards they used the full image as a flashback, but i wouldn't have tracked it. Or maybe they took the drawing and recolored it for the Handbook? Or originally decided it was too gruesome (or not Code approved?) so they cut it, and then used for the Handbook? As you say, it's interesting (unless i just missed a panel somewhere, but i did double-check #233 and it wouldn't make sense for it to appear in #234-236 since Cap doesn't find out about it until #237). Erik BeckApril 14, 2015 6:13 PM Captain America #231-236 Fnord, this is interesting, because the way you present the book, it seems like Sharon's death is not obvious, but when they did Marvel Universe they showed an image that was her burning up. Those images usually were in the original death scenes (that's why some of them in books I've never read look familiar - because I saw their deaths pictured in MU). Did that Sharon image not appear in this original run? You can see that image here. LevesApril 14, 2015 6:10 PM Amazing Spider-Man #10 From this point on the series really takes off and becomes the best in the marvel universe. LevesApril 14, 2015 5:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #4 I think Chris hit the spot with his comment. fnord12April 14, 2015 4:51 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 Heh, thanks Bill. I guess that would make Wonder Man a narcissist, too. Fixed it. Kveto, yeah, "Gruenwald" is showing a woman his etchings when Iron Man parachutes in. BillApril 14, 2015 3:43 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 "Wonder Man's secret love for the Vision." uh, I assume you meant the Scarlet Witch and not the Vision? LOL!! Although, that would be something no one saw coming... kvetoApril 14, 2015 3:34 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 I'm with you on most everything here. The destruction of the Scarlet Witch was totally uncalled for. Removing one of the best marvel marriages just cause you don't like the husband is annoying. I would have liked to see how Bryne planned to play things out, tho. I'll never believe has was gonna "reset" things after he was done (how could he after showing the Vision nude?). But kudos to Roy Thomas for cleaning up this mess he was left with. That he manages to piece something together from all of this is amazing. I remember a funny scene where a guy who looked a lot like Mark Guenwald was just about to pull a model, when Iron man fell through his roof and messed it all up. kvetoApril 14, 2015 3:19 PM Avengers West Coast #56-57 obligatory link to the legend that shows Wanda was originally giving Simon a bj (which became mistranslated as castration when they put her head in the panel) http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/05/04/comic-book-legends-revealed-365/ Vin the Comics GuyApril 14, 2015 3:14 PM Captain America #286-289 Toodles! Luke BlanchardApril 14, 2015 2:35 PM Special Marvel Edition #15 Shang-Chi's mother's description of Fu Manchu is based on a description from the novels. Starlin's version of Fu Manchu looks modelled on Christopher Lee, who played him in several films. But the Lee version lacked a beard. RickApril 14, 2015 11:28 AM Iron Man #160 According to Marie Severin, Steve Ditko refused to draw a drunk super hero for the splash page, even though it was a dream sequence. So she stepped in to do that page. I learned this a couple of years ago when I came across a scan of the original artwork for the splash page. Marie had written a note at the bottom of the page explaining that. LevesApril 14, 2015 11:07 AM Amazing Spider-Man #8 (first story) Bullying is not always about size MArk. Ataru320April 14, 2015 11:04 AM Journey Into Mystery #99-100 Have to say this: that shot of Surtur swimming in fire is awesome. Ataru320April 14, 2015 11:01 AM Tales Of Suspense #48 Heh, I think the only problem that Mr. Doll has is that its trying to create a second Puppet Master without the depth that he has. I guess since they weren't really blending villains too much yet, they figured "let's just create a supervillain like the Puppet Master without bringing in the Puppet Master" I give lattitude mostly cause it was still early in Marvel. Though considering how cute (and pouty) Pepper can be, I can ignore Mr. Doll for her (and complain about her glamorization not too long later) BillApril 14, 2015 10:49 AM Avengers #2 Actually, yes she is. The Wasp is a founding member of the Avengers; she even named the team. LevesApril 14, 2015 10:14 AM Tales Of Suspense #48 Lame story, pathetic villain. Not even the description of the new armor redeems this one. LevesApril 14, 2015 9:56 AM Avengers #2 Actually the Wasp is not a full member yet. Nathan AdlerApril 14, 2015 4:54 AM Daredevil #120-123 @Walter: Wow, my phrase (from my blog) has now entered the cultural zeitgeist:) LevesApril 14, 2015 4:39 AM Tales Of Suspense #45 When the strange millionaire refuses medical help and only wants to lock himself in a room saying he can 'medicate' himself one thought comes to my mind. Drug addict! PeterAApril 14, 2015 3:20 AM Fantastic Four #204 Nick Fury Jr aka Blick Fury is especially odd considering Miles Morales is being imported to the MU soon. Of course in this case it's the movies basing themselves on the ultimate comics to begin with so it's interestingly circular. I just don't understand that none of the suits ever notice there is no real crosspromotion? Like a billion people are gonna watch Age of Ultron in a few weeks but I highly doubt even 1 percent of them will be thereafter looking for a comic. And if they do look for one, why deal with retcons like Wanda and Pietro because the odds they will buy an older tpb that has them as mutants are quite high. Now I'm imagining them taking retconning to the next level and changing the word mutant to inhuman in all future reprints. Say, is this inhuman kick they're going on any good for the Kirby estate? And oh yeah, showed that panel out of context to my wife and she was aghast. Aghast I tell you! Walter LawsonApril 14, 2015 1:09 AM Daredevil #120-123 My fan fix for why Silvermane would be worried about the Circus of Crime stumbling on his base: Princess Python was working for another sometime wannabe Hydra leader, Viper, during the Serpent Squad affair. He had wanted Blackwing to make sure the circus wasnt being used by Viper as a front for uncovering his operation. Walter LawsonApril 14, 2015 12:13 AM Captain America #177-186 It would make more sense for Princess Python's timeline is this story took place before her Daredevil 118 appearance. Iron Man 50 ended with the princess attempting suicide-by-acid-vat and being told she'd be psychiatrically committed. I can definitely see Viper/Madame Hydra recruiting an ally from a mental hospital, and the princess's frame of mind would be right for her to throw in with a nihilist like Viper. In Daredevil, Princess Python is back with the Circus of Crime, and she's with them again subsequently in Black Goliath. Having her interrupt her CoC stint to join the Serpent Squad seems like something to avoid, if possible. Of course, there is the coincidence that Viper is Madame Hydra, and the CoC's operation in Daredevil is unwittingly tied in with the Silvermane Hydra operation. It's also interesting that years later Princess Python gets a hard time from Sidewinder when she quits the Serpent Society in Gruenwald's Cap, and Viper not long thereafter makes a play for to take over the Society. Did Viper get some intel about Sidewinder's operation from Princess Python? Ataru320April 13, 2015 10:29 PM General Comments Hopefully big hair Mary Jane will appear in a later year...then again it isn't the same if it isn't Big haired Mary Jane by McFarlane. (though seeing Larsen's isn't bad either for context) AndrewApril 13, 2015 9:58 PM Avengers #167-168, 170-177 Actually, Gyrich didn't walk into the mansion with "little or no resistance." It's not mentioned here, but during Nefaria's attack the mansion was surrounded by a SWAT team. Gyrich only got past them by flashing his federal ID. fnord12April 13, 2015 9:02 PM General Comments Whoops. Thanks, Ataru. Yeah, i wanted a Ron Frenz retro cover contrasted with a McFarlane cover but i went back too far on McFarlane. MJ's big hair on the cover i originally picked was too much of a beacon, i guess. But i've changed it. MichaelApril 13, 2015 8:24 PM Fantastic Four #204 Yeah, but it's gone to ridiculous lengths with Marvel- Nick Fury's been written out and replaced with his never-before-seen black son and the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are no longer mutants, despite being mutants for over half a century. Ataru320April 13, 2015 8:14 PM General Comments noticed from a search that one of your '89 covers was from '88 (the Spider-man one); sort of like the idea of at least one representative of McFarlane but nothing from '89 stood out? TCPApril 13, 2015 2:37 PM Amazing Spider-Man #271 It's interesting to me that Madame Fang never made another appearance, yet DeFalco would create an incredibly similar character, Madame Qwa, during his ASM run in the 90s. Erik BeckApril 13, 2015 12:07 PM Hulk Smash Avengers #2 I'm glad I never tried to sort all my books like you. To go from Byrne's art in Avengers to this would have just made me smash my head on a table. I think I'll go back to Byrne's art now. LevesApril 13, 2015 12:03 PM Strange Tales #111 (Human Torch) LOL! I gave it 4 stars just for the laugh it gave me! 'We ought to get a bonus for this scoop', sure you did morons! You all have cancer now. Erik BeckApril 13, 2015 11:53 AM Fantastic Four #204 I have to agree with Clyde. I'm surprised I've never seen that panel before. Taken out of context, it is one of the great panels of all-time. Still, this seems like an awful lot to happen in one issue. And to be fair to Marvel, this kind of influence from the outside use of characters happened at DC back in the sixties - Mr. Freeze only became Mr. Freeze after he was called that on the Batman show and the whole creation of Batgirl stems from involvement with the show. MikeCheyneApril 13, 2015 11:43 AM Marvel Two-In-One annual #7 While the story borders on Thing worship, I will say that in the limited context of what is happening, Thing makes sense. He is not stronger than Thor or Hulk, but he also understands what boxing is and plays by the Champion's rules. In an actual battle with the Champion, I'm pretty sure Thor/Hulk would do okay. Nathan AdlerApril 13, 2015 10:56 AM Uncanny X-Men #176 Claremont's two prologue scenes in Uncanny #176, "Decisions", each flag up dubious moments from Claremont's own run: the Valerie Cooper scene gives a detailed recap of Uncanny #150, which featured Magneto attempting to force the countries of the world to disarm - a somewhat noble goal, albeit tyrannical in execution. The X-Men stopped him, effectively allowing the governments of the world to keep on building bombs and weapons. The Morlock scene reminds us of a much more recent adventure, wherein the X-Men encountered a group of underprivileged, disenfranchised, self-loathing mutants and reacted to their plight with no compassion. Luis DantasApril 13, 2015 10:11 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Wait, Jemail used to be an actual, separate person? Having skipped over New Mutants #26-28 but read #44, that did not come across at all. Luis DantasApril 13, 2015 10:10 AM New Mutants #44 The scene of Dani entering Illyana's room has shades of tentacle porn. Particularly once one notices the finger on her lips. Nathan AdlerApril 13, 2015 7:41 AM The Saga of the High Evolutionary @Michael: Thanks:) @fnord12: Noo!!! Nathan AdlerApril 13, 2015 7:40 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 In New Mutants 26 through 28, which introduced Legion and revealed him to be Charles Xavier's offspring, we learn that a much younger David Haller was attacked by Arab terrorists in Paris. Upon this vicious attack, David lashed out with his mutant powers for the first time, killing the terrorists. However, one young terrorist, Jemail Karami, was absorbed into Legion's consciousness upon the point of his death. While the Arab terrorist Jemail Karami became trapped within Legion's mind, he had his own separate consciousness and memory and was still a whole person. Why bring this up? Well, in Uncanny X-Men #255, when Legion appears before Destiny on Muir Island, and with Destiny's apparent knowledge, kills her. However, we are not shown the actual moment of her death. Could it be that is that while Destiny's body is killed by Legion via the Shadow King, at the moment of her death, Destiny's consciousness is absorbed into Legion's mind, just as the Arab terrorist Jemail was. This would seem to suggest that Destiny is alive, in a fashion. Would this have been another shocking twist revealed during Chris’s planned Shadow King Epic? I don't know for certain this is something Claremont had cooked up. But the fact we never see any of Destiny's actual killing, makes one wonder. Perhaps Destiny's consciousness within David Haller's mind would have derailed the Shadow King's diabolical plan to cause a race war. She could have rallied the other multiple personalities within Legion's mind, and derailed his plot. Or at least, played a part in it. My only problem with this theory is HOW the Shadow King would not sense Destiny hiding inside David’s head if he was possessing him. fnord12April 13, 2015 7:31 AM The Saga of the High Evolutionary I wouldn't add it to this entry, so we'll just have to wait until i get to the year 2000. Which will be in the year 2019, by my estimation. ;-) MichaelApril 12, 2015 11:43 PM The Saga of the High Evolutionary The scene is in Uncanny X-Men 380, for the record. Nathan AdlerApril 12, 2015 11:19 PM The Saga of the High Evolutionary @fnord12: Is it possible to add the scene which Berend refers to as an addendum to this page (or tell me to get back in my box:)? BerendApril 12, 2015 10:54 PM Amazing Spider-Man #48-49 Ah, okay, that makes sense. BerendApril 12, 2015 10:53 PM The Saga of the High Evolutionary Some around 2000 an X-Men story also inserts Mr. Sinister into the origin story of the High Evolutionary. DouglasApril 12, 2015 8:58 PM Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Strange Encounter The "visible astral form" bit is, I'm guessing, an explanation for the bit in ASM Annual #1 where Flash Thompson and his pals run into (and recognize) Doctor Strange. MichaelApril 12, 2015 7:54 PM Amazing Spider-Man #48-49 He's mad that the new Vulture is *claiming to have destroyed Spider-Man*. BerendApril 12, 2015 7:38 PM Amazing Spider-Man #48-49 Why is Kraven so mad at there being a new Vulture? He only met the previous one once, didn't he? BerendApril 12, 2015 7:11 PM Amazing Spider-Man #22 That guy wishing he could draw feet like that: first appearance of Rob Liefeld? BerendApril 12, 2015 6:45 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #1 Considering how many Sinister Six's (Or Sinister Twelves, or Sinister Syndicates or whatever) there eventually will be, it's rather surprising how long it took before the second incarnation came around! Also because of how often we've seen Spidey go up against a group of his villains now, I was initially surprised that Marvel felt the Ultimate Sinister Six deserved their own mini series. If you stop and think about it though, they are indeed a pretty powerful group, and they do make a good challenge for the Avengers (Or the Ultimates). DermieApril 12, 2015 6:04 PM Damage Control #4 Although it has never been confirmed (or denied), I have always suspected that Dittomaster is the same guy as Ditto from Dan Slott's SHE-HULK run. We know that law firm has given second chances to other former super-villains (Awesome Andy, for example), and the similar names and powers (including the melty play-doh visual effect while shape shifting) makes me wonder. Steve RequinApril 12, 2015 4:15 PM Avengers #145-146 Just for curiosity, here's what the Frenc-Canadian version of the cover looks like: https://comictrip.wordpress.com/2013/03/25/les-vengeurs-no-7677/ MichaelApril 12, 2015 8:58 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Re: Betsy's eyes not sending footage to Mojo- I always assumed that was Roma's doing. Erik BeckApril 12, 2015 8:38 AM Avengers #181-182 The beginning of what my be favorite arc of Avengers (it's either this or the siege of the mansion). Such great writing and absolutely fantastic art. And my favorite lineup of Avengers (it becomes just as good with the sub-ins of Wonder Man and Ms Marvel over the course of the arc - especially since it helps with the Beast and Wonder Man friendship). My favorite line, which I assume is Beast: "Hey! It is the Toad!" Nathan AdlerApril 12, 2015 6:29 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 @Walter: Interesting that the visions were the flipside of what they experienced in the Crystal of Ultimate Vision. Just what was the significance of the Siege Perilous in relation to the Shadow King? But don't forget Madelyne's vision before Inferno!? That was pretty analogous. Perhaps Farouk was subtly attacking the X-Men through Dreamtime, given Gateway is shown to be shackled. If so, that would suggest it wasn't S'ym necessarily giving Madelyne her visions, but SK. Or is there some connection between the Dreamtime and Limbo? Mind you SK seemed surprised at the X-Men being alive until they returned through the Siege!? The only way to answer if Farouk was powerful enough to influence the Siege Perilous, would be to work out just what that crystal was, and how Pierce was able to destroy it so easily. And why would he work against his own pawn, Pierce, by warning Betsy? And re: the Dreamtime, just what were the outsign spirits? Were they allies of the SK? What is the significance of the term "outsign"? Recall the crèches in Genosha were similar to those beneath the orphanage, and both were similar to the creches of the Technarch? And despite Warlock being the first transmode being on Earth, how did the Genoshans develop a transmodation process long before his arrival? Or had Magus infecting Limbo started to bleed the transmode virus back through time? The previous visions were from the Adversary IIRC which makes Naze shown as a host of SK on the astral plane in #273 intriguing. Mastermind's powers expanded way beyond what Emma's machine was capable of, which makes me think SK was involved that far back, and Magneto's claim in #275 gives credence to this. Claremont had something huge afoot. @BeastCharming: Claremont let his assistant editor know about Gateway since the letters page of #229 (his first appearance) replies to a correspondent as follows: "And the full truth won't be known about Gateway for quite some time – which just might cost the X-Men dearly!" ChrisWApril 12, 2015 4:46 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 I think the visions had more to do with the fact that the Australian adventure was coming to an end (and good catch on noticing their frequency.) I'm definitely not of the mind that Farouk was behind all/most of the things going on, and I would speculate that this has more to do with Gateway, or at least the X-Men's presence around him and Claremont's eventual plan to have him replace Xavier. What do their visions show? Dazzler was supposed to die, Longshot was supposed to have another miniseries, Betsy did send the X-Men back through the Siege, and Peter had nothing in Australia, which was really really getting to him. Notice his reincarnation came as a happy artist with a hot girlfriend. Banshee, Forge and Jean decided to leave him with his happy ending. The Siege probably would have led to another connection to Otherworld, and possibly another attempt at Mad James Jaspers [interesting how Jaspers has the first name and similar powers to Captain Britain's brother.] But otherwise, I think the visions served as foreshadowing that this part of the story was ending. The X-Men did their duty, they'd served their time, they fulfilled whatever point there was to the Australian excursion. BeastCharmingApril 12, 2015 4:16 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 You're sure convincing me, Walter! We do know he had major SK plans for #300, and I never realized until reading all the comments how shifty Gateway really is (doesn't he end up helping Onslaught too later on?) Is it possible that Mastermind and SK are teaming up somehow? Is Gateway a true character or is he a construct, a trap? How much of his plans was Claremont sharing with his editors? What if Gateway has sOmething to do with Mad Jim Jaspers? I'm excited to see what else is coming up for Uncanny in the next 2 years before Claremont leaves just to find out if there are developments I missed back when I first read these. ChrisWApril 12, 2015 4:13 AM Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 (Wolverine) That would make sense. Karma/Farouk was wiping out Coy's empire at the time, and he (they) moved right in for Wolvie's solo series. With Madripoor and Genosha, how many countries was Claremont trying to set up over the years in his overall 'mutant arms race' plot? I also wonder how much Marvel editorial was behind Wolverine not really making much effort to keep the secret that he's still alive. If you're trying to sell a Wolverine book, only established fans are going to know who Logan/Patch really is. Walter LawsonApril 12, 2015 3:37 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Ever since Inferno the X-Men have been (systematically?) tormented by visions. Dazzler sees death when she shines a light into the Siege Perilous (#246). Longshot leaves the team after a disturbing dream (#248). Colossus's artwork reflects an imagination so tortured that Deathstrike thinks death will be a mercy (#249). Then we get Psylocke's vision of the X-Men killed by the Reavers (#250) and Wolverine's crucifixion "fever dream" (in these issues). These could be unrelated incidents--just Claremont over-indulging in a cheap form of foreshadowing and atmospherics. But I wonder if there's not something more deliberate going on. Could Farouk be subtly attacking/corrupting the X-Men through Dreamtime or the astral plane? Forge, of course, will run into him in a vision in #253. But would Farouk be powerful enough to influence the Siege Perilous, in the case of Dazzler's vision, or would he warn Psylocke about the Reavers (who are probably his dupes)? Mojo turns up in yet another vision, the induced one experienced by Psylocke while the Hand is brainwashing her. If he found out the X-Men were alive sometime before that, could he have been twisting the dreamscape to cause mischief for them? Or, lastly, is there something else altogether at the root of this, something about the mysterious nature of the X-men's Outback base and its computer system? The Reavers themselves seem baffled by the changes to the computer, and it's played a role in dangerous visions since #232, when it spontaneously showed a newscast of Jean Grey and Cyclops to Madelyne and kicked off the dream quest that led to her becoming the Goblin Queen. (How much of that, by the way, was Sym's doing, and how much might have been begun by whatever force was behind the computer?) Maddie subsequently has a vision (#238) in which she casts the Genegineer and his telepath as Mr. Sinister. I assumed that was just a repressed memory coming through, but it's worth wondering if it was part of a larger pattern. Claremont had used visions and dreams as plot devices before, in #219 and #223, for example, but their frequency after Inferno (and arguably even in the lead-up with Maddy) is suggestive. It reminds me a little of the psychic attacks carried out by Mastermind during the "From the Ashes" arc. I'm about halfway convinced Claremont was setting up something big. Nathan AdlerApril 12, 2015 1:07 AM Uncanny X-Men #102-103 Come on Padraic's acknowledgement of Logan's name makes it so obvious he ran capers with Wolverine back in his agent days. In his first appearance he similarly appeared at the Californian mobile home of Tom and Linda Pritchett, and called Tom by name. Yes, he's Elf with a Gun from Defenders #25. The question remains what he and his crew scoping out in Cassidy Keep;) Walter LawsonApril 11, 2015 9:46 PM Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 (Wolverine) The evidence is light, but I'll bet Roche's villa is the same one previously occupied by Karma/Farouk. They're both perched on high ground, a mountain or cliff, and they seem to have a similar "Berlin Wall" fortification. These are qualities any number of bad guy lairs might share, but Claremont likes to reuse specific locations, I think this is one of them. AndrewApril 11, 2015 7:39 PM Avengers #85-86 In a funny turnabout, when Marvin Wolfman and George Perez went to DC they created the Teen Titans villain Gizmo, who is a carbon copy of Tom Thumb. BillApril 11, 2015 5:52 PM Avengers West Coast #55 "Er..say what? Did Von Doom have a Doombot garage sale and every villian took advantage of the bargain?" Wouldn't you?? LOL! fnord12April 11, 2015 4:21 PM General Comments Yeah, my next backissue add will either have an MM&M theme (Moon Knight, Micronauts, and Master of Kung Fu) or it will focus on continuity inserts. Or maybe both. But it won't be for a while. I intend to work my way through the 90s for the foreseeable future. Thanks for the recommendations! You might want to check the What's Missing page. A lot of the stuff you've listed is already there, and you may find other inserts that you're interested in. Jon DubyaApril 11, 2015 3:50 PM Avengers West Coast #55 "The robot Red Skull is surprised by this turn of events, and Kingpin smartly decides that it is time to duck out." Er..say what? Did Von Doom have a Doombot garage sale and every villian took advantage of the bargain? Also did this seem to anyone else to be more of a "DC" story? Things like the Grand League of Super-Villians meeting, and the gimmicky nature of the crossover seem just seems more in line with DC than Marvel. pst1993April 11, 2015 2:40 PM General Comments When you do your next big back issue thing, I have some suggestions for comics to get and review. I would suggest a lot of continuity inserts. Captain America Patriot is a good start as it cronicles the Patriot's time as Captain America. The 70th anniversary one-shot specials of Marvel Mystery Comics, Miss America Comics, USA Comics and All-Winners would be good as I found them enjoyable. There is also Marvel Boy The Uranian. Then there's Avengers 1959 (they actually retconned in an Avengers Team for the year 1959). The Hero's Gap now has more inserts. First X-Men, Before The Fantastic Four and Angel Revelations. Erik BeckApril 11, 2015 1:06 PM Thor #280 Somehow I missed this in all my Squadron Supreme collecting. Couldn't your site have been available twenty years ago? I never realized Master Menace had appeared before the SS maxi-series. Mark DrummondApril 11, 2015 12:06 PM Ghost Rider #57 David Kraft stated in Comics Interview #78 that editing this book was his worst experience at Marvel. Luke BlanchardApril 11, 2015 10:24 AM Wolverine #10 I would guess Claremont left for time reasons. X-MEN went to two issues a month for the Summer and he was also writing EXCALIBUR. Two Summer issues of WOLVERINE in addition may have just been more than he could handle. I had a look at his workload for the previous couple of years to see if I could tell what his limit was. Unless I've missed something, beginning with Jul. 86 (on sale) his features were UNCANNY X-MEN, NEW MUTANTS and the back-ups in CLASSIC X-MEN: two and a half issues (plus annuals). In Jul. 1987 he was down to UNCANNY X-MEN and CLASSIC X-MEN. But for Jul. 1988 he did two issues of UNCANNY X-MEN, EXCALIBUR, two Wolverine instalments for MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS, and WOLVERINE. Possibly he got ahead during his post-NEW MUTANTS period, and his limit was three issues per month or at most four. Erik BeckApril 11, 2015 9:27 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #120 Yeah, so strange to see Giffen's later art here - it's instantly identifiable to anyone familiar with his work on Legion or Justice League. Erik BeckApril 11, 2015 9:25 AM Uncanny X-Men #118-119 Sunfire and Firelord always seem to fight everybody. But, while I find it annoying in Firelord (he just seems to annoy everybody), I find Sunfire's overwhelming belligerence towards everyone rather refreshing. And I just love the way Byrne draws him. I really wish he got used more. fnord12April 11, 2015 9:05 AM Amazing Spider-Man #167-168 Yeah, i intend to cover it. Not to get off topic but i think there are some interactions with other characters that had to have happened in some way. We'll look at it more when we get there. Ataru320April 11, 2015 7:56 AM Amazing Spider-Man #167-168 Yeah was being silly about those two earlier. And considering you found a way around the retconning of Secret Wars II (love the idea you gave that "making it like it didn't happen was the Illuminati's wish and thus the Beyonder still did what he did in '85-'86), I'm sure you probably can find a way for Nightwatch's series to still exist for your list, right? fnord12April 11, 2015 7:31 AM Amazing Spider-Man #167-168 Now it can be revealed that JJ was killed and replaced with a Spider-Clone this issue. Thanks BeastCharming. Also funny to see Walter mentioning not remembering Nightwatch here since his series was just recently retconned out of existence in the latest She-Hulk series. BeastCharmingApril 11, 2015 6:54 AM Uncanny X-Men #141-142 Maybe him being merely apprehended inspired future writers to come up with the Summers Rebellion? What I always found interesting is that the dystopian future really needs Franklin to age and since he never does, what is everyone so worried about? Keep Franklin a kid and bob's your uncle, right? BeastCharmingApril 11, 2015 3:29 AM Amazing Spider-Man #167-168 Hey fnord, been loving the heck out of your site for quite a while now and wanted to extend my gratitude for putting this together. It is great fun to read up on a particular year in order. I picked this issue to do my first post on because I spotted an amusing typo: "We see him doing something with the photos in his dark room, and then he returns the photos to JJ's death." I assume it is JJ's desk, unless Peter was in a very dark place indeed ☺ Nathan AdlerApril 10, 2015 7:30 PM Uncanny X-Men #141-142 I was always intrigued by why Havok was noted on the cover of Uncanny X-Men #141 as "Apprehended," but never appeared in the story. david banesApril 10, 2015 7:11 PM General Comments Well, quite enjoyed the first two episodes of Netflix Daredevil, I think it's worth keeping watch. ChrisWApril 10, 2015 2:18 PM Avengers West Coast #55 I never understood the point of "Acts of Vengeance" in the first place. Heroes fighting villains that they don't usually fight, ok, but it begs the question why they don't? It goes back to old questions like 'where were the Avengers when Galactus showed up?' Why is Spider-Man the only superhero around for miles when Doc Ock or a Goblin starts doing sinister deeds? And the name just never made any sense. If supervillains are really going to pull an "act of vengeance," it's going to be with a couple dozen of them ganging up on Daredevil, and then on Spider-Man, and then on Power Man/Iron Fist, and then... And that's without Loki manipulating everybody. Similar to what Luis and Ataru said, I think the editorial staff was trying to prove they could replicate the success of the mutant crossovers without realizing that the only reason the mutant books could cross over was because they were done by a much smaller group of creators. "Too many cooks spoil the broth" may be a cliche, but cliches have truth in them. Ataru320April 10, 2015 12:20 PM Avengers #179-180 Sure that monolith isn't some distant cousin of the Stone Men from Saturn? And that Stinger/Iron Man panel...yeah, you probably said it best. Erik BeckApril 10, 2015 11:52 AM Avengers #179-180 That's the second time in a couple of years where all the Avengers were captured and then chained to a wall. Talk about your "talking villain syndrome". Erik BeckApril 10, 2015 11:39 AM Amazing Spider-Man #187 I agree with fnord, this looks very "Starlin-y". That drawing of Cap facing off against Spider-Man and the later one of him cutting across panels are two of the best illustrations of Cap I've ever seen. Ataru320April 10, 2015 11:19 AM Avengers West Coast #55 I think even with the problems in the mutant books, there was a bit more coordination since less authors were involved in them. While the Mutant Massacre and beyond probably had its problems, it at least was more or less a small section of the company writing it and it feels like it gets a bit more done, mostly by necessity due to how extensive a lot of what Claremont was doing had to be cleared up. Here, we have practically the entire company and nearly all the lines involved in Acts of Vengeance and it just feels like it goes in so many different directions that no one knew who was doing what and how. It really wasn't "needed" like Claremont's crossovers (Mutant Massacre/Fall of the Mutants/Inferno), more just an excuse to shake up the villains and some of the rivalries; and the differences in the perspectives of the "cabal" does feel like the differences in the approaches by the various writers trying to make it work. I do believe that fnord did have a good solution: just have Loki "stir up trouble" by shifting all this around and screwing with the universe for a laugh instead of that whole "I want revenge for starting the Avengers" motive and maybe it would have felt more successful. Luis DantasApril 10, 2015 10:38 AM Avengers West Coast #55 Personally, as I think my comments on the mutant books make clear, I don't think Mutant Massacre and particularly Inferno worked at all well, to a large extent because they were so ambitious and fell so short. For all that the seams are visible in Acts of Vengeance, it is to a far lesser extent than in Inferno or Atlantis Attack, and therefore it seems to be a far more succesfull event than any of the other recent ones. Then again, that is because I do see it as far less ambitious as well. The setup has plenty of built-in excuses for certain inconsistencies and IMO does embrace them, as evidenced for instance by the pathetical insistence of the cabal in being oblivious to the manipulations from Loki and claiming individual leadership even while they are defeated in this issue. fnord12April 10, 2015 9:45 AM Avengers West Coast #55 Listening to the comments on this, it seems like everyone liked the concept but agrees the story didn't work. It makes me think that Marvel should have just embraced the randomness of it. Loki is a God of Mischief. Just let him come to Earth and stir up trouble just for the sake of it, and if it results in some serious losses for the team he accidentally created, well, good! Instead of a big confrontation with him at the end, he could have just slunk off thinking, "Heh heh, that was fun." Ataru320April 10, 2015 9:28 AM Avengers West Coast #55 I think the biggest problem with Acts of Vengeance (and likewise Atlantis Attacks) looking at it from the perspective of this website is that there wasn't the neat collective such as what the X-Books had for Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants and even (sort of) Inferno to make it work out the way it could have. When the bigger stories started, it was at first confined to mostly one writer in one book as a major mini-series, as we saw for the most part with Contest of Champions and Secret Wars. By the time of the Mutant Massacre, you have Claremont and the Simonsons working together, allowing for the X-Books and even some slight associates like Thor and Power Pack getting involved to create an illusion of it being important while having tight control. But these two really just want to take what worked with the mutant books and make it linewide with all sorts of writers and artists and whatnots going in all sorts of directions, from those who are with it and want to make sense of it all (Dwayne McDuffy) to those who flat out ignored it outside having tangential threads that sort of make it work (the X-Books) to those that mocked the idea for being overblown and trying to throw everything off they want to do(Peter David's Hulk, Simonson's F4). If there was greater coordination between writers and no mandate, it could have been something more...instead it is just a weird experiment that worked for some things but not others. Nathan AdlerApril 10, 2015 9:17 AM Wolverine #4-8 @Michael: Pretty sure it's either #11 or the final part. Re: the Don, glad I'm not the only one. Perhaps it works a little better if we don't assume the thugs at the airport were sent by Coy, but were instead random thugs? So the Don sends Fixit to check in on Coy, not telling him he's a mobster. The Don then tells Coy he's sending someone to help him, even though he's really sending Fixit to assess the situation, hoping to motivate Coy into stepping things up, something Karma realises but Coy doesn't. Fixit gets there and Wolverine uses him to mess up Coy, Coy gets mad because he thought Fixit was supposed to help him, Fixit gets mad because the Don lied about Coy not being a bad mobster guy. Toss out the notion that the airport thugs were sent by Coy and squint a little, and it almost all works... except... ... what was the Don expecting Fixit to find when he investigated Coy? He knew that Fixit and Berengetti were "straight arrow" guys. What's the best case scenario for the Don? He knew from his reputation that Fixit was a formidable dude, and he knew he was a "good guy," so it seems strange to point him like a bullet towards Coy for any reason, if they're allies!? Nathan AdlerApril 10, 2015 9:12 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 @Ryan: With regard to Spiral's Body Shoppe, see comment 4 above. MichaelApril 10, 2015 8:05 AM Wolverine #4-8 Nathan, where is it stated in the Gehenna Stone affair that Chanf was murdered by Baal's vampires? Because in Larry Hama's run, Chang's death is mentioned a couple of times and Wolverine always refers to Bloodscream/sport as a perpetrator. RyanApril 10, 2015 7:45 AM Captain America #367 Agreed with the review here. There is no way Magneto would join forces with the Red Skull. Magneto would do exactly what he did to Red Skull in this issue - leave him to starve in a pit. RyanApril 10, 2015 7:37 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 When I read these issues I thought of Kwannon as Suwan from the Nick Fury series. Wasn't a problem that Suwan was in suspended animation? Also I think Spiral's body shoppe is a good explanation of how Psylocke was able to become the Asian ninja that she is. Was it necessary X-Men already had Jubilee and much of Wolverine's stories dealt with Madripoor and Mariko. I don't think another Asian character was really needed to the cast. It makes sense that Psylocke went Asian because Jim Lee wanted to draw an Asian ninja instead of a boring European lady with purple hair. Also I love the interaction between Jubilee and the Mandarin. She is such a mall girl - really funny. JSfanApril 10, 2015 6:01 AM Avengers West Coast #55 david banes, I tried to get back into comics properly in the early 90s and picked up Clone Saga and then I picked up Maximum Carnage. Those two stories was enough to make up my mind that collecting comics wasn't for me and I was better off staying as a casual reader. Nuff said. Nathan AdlerApril 10, 2015 5:54 AM Fantastic Four #323-324 After Annual #16 Dragon Man should be forever one with Ral Dorn. And yet here we see him as one with Aron the Watcher!? Intriguing;) Nathan AdlerApril 10, 2015 4:50 AM Wolverine #4-8 Some rather late items and maybe the discussion of this issue is over. If so, curses. But... something about this story never made sense to me: What was "the Don" actually trying to accomplish? At the end, Coy tells the Hulk, "The Don sent you here to help me, not cripple my operation!" The Hulk replies with "From what you're tellin' me, the Don lied." And indeed if we go back to #7, we find the Don saying that he just wants Fixit to go to Madripoor to see what his business partner (Coy) is up to. "Find out what the score is." Later in #7, Karma seems to confirm this, telling Patch that Fixit is an enforcer sent to f*ck up her Uncle. So... I don't get it. I assume the guys who attacked the Hulk in #7 worked for Coy. But why did Coy send them if he thought Fixit was there to help him? And why did Karma think the opposite of what her uncle thought? Didn't she only hear about Fixit from him? Is it just me? I can't parse it out. Nathan AdlerApril 10, 2015 4:48 AM Wolverine #4-8 It is revealed in the Gehenna Stone affair that Chang was murdered by Baal's vampires, but its obvious that Claremont intended Bloodsport to be the perpetrator from issue #5. I suspect that change was Peter David's subtle payback for Chris's use of Hulk in #8. Nathan AdlerApril 10, 2015 2:10 AM Fantastic Four annual #17 @fnord12: The ending was in fact followed up on in Morrison & Millar's Skrull Kill Crew:) Vin the Comics GuyApril 10, 2015 2:01 AM Marvel Two-In-One #87 My question is - did Ben get some from the giantess on the couch next to him when Scott arrived? cullenApril 10, 2015 1:17 AM Damage Control #4 Might be a fun exercise to tally up the Batman: The Movie references over the year. It had an impact across the industry - from how comics were treated as cultural objects worthy of respect, to a major raising of the level of possibilities for comic-related IP - that is hard to even explain to people who didn't live through it. Luis DantasApril 10, 2015 1:15 AM Captain America #368 Of course! It has been established in his first appearance as Machinesmith (in the Stern/Byrne issues of Captain America) that he can send his brain patterns to other robotic bodies at will (supposedly only if the robots have been custom made to be receptible to his brain, of course). That sure makes his control of the Magneto robot possible. In that case, there is nothing except perhaps lack of chutzpah to prevent him from animating a Red Skull robot and joining the Acts of Vengeance cabal on the Skull's behalf. cullenApril 10, 2015 1:14 AM Captain America #368 Ah i see. Oddly never followed that character (despite being a big fan of Gruenwald's Cap run!) and still don't exactly "get" how he works! david banesApril 10, 2015 1:05 AM Avengers West Coast #55 Speaking of brainstorms needing another year, or decade, to be prepped I can't wait for Maximum Carnage! Oh and Clone Saga. MichaelApril 10, 2015 12:09 AM Captain America #368 It's Machinesmith's mind inside the Magneto robot. Nathan AdlerApril 9, 2015 9:52 PM Hulk annual #5 Diablo was obviously what writers of Lost had read;) ChrisApril 9, 2015 9:47 PM Avengers West Coast #55 I was so excited about Acts of Vengeance when it was first advertised, and was disappointed by the time it ended for the reasons you described. Maybe there was not enough time to truly think of good stories after the first brainstorm - they should have given it another year. Also a few ground rules would have been good (#1 being, "No, you can't use Dr Doom in your book at all.") There's a few pearls here and there, but overall disappointing. MichaelApril 9, 2015 9:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man #329 The idea that Flash was dating Felicia without realizing who she was makes no sense, since Felicia's identity is public knowledge and that was shown to be the case as recently as Moon Knight 4-5. In Spectacular Spider-Man 210, Steven Grant had Flash claim that he always knew Felicia was the Black Cat but that makes no sense, as we'll see- Flash clearly didn't know and Felicia was introduced to reporters, etc, without them recognizing her. MichaelApril 9, 2015 9:05 PM Damage Control #4 In She-Hulk:Ceremony, Carlton's company still controlled Wyatt's tribe's land at the end of this story. But in every later story, Wyatt's tribe has their land back. I guess Nick made Souris give Wyatt's tribe their land back. fnord12April 9, 2015 9:04 PM Avengers West Coast #55 There is a short space scene in this issue when Wonder Man and USAgent fly up to Magneto and Scarlet Witch's house and then in the end scene are shown to be defeated. Didn't realize it would be a topic of conversation, so i didn't mention it. Sorry. BillApril 9, 2015 8:35 PM Avengers West Coast #55 The space stuff hasn't happened yet. However, while Wonder Man doesn't need to breathe, he would still need a helmet in space so he can communicate with everyone else via communications link-ups. MichaelApril 9, 2015 8:27 PM Avengers Spotlight #29 To expand on what kveto said, there's a major problem with placing this issue. While the Avengers are fighting Loki, Simon and USAgent are trying to rescue Wanda from Magneto. They fail and at the start of AWC 56 we see Simon being held prisoner. The storyline in AWC 56 lasts until AWC 62. The problem is that this issue makes it seem like Wizard teleported directly from AWC 55 into this issue. The backup in Avengers Annual 19 establishes that Wizard was captured in Avengers West Coast 55. I think Gruenwald's idea was that Wizard was captured by the Avengers, teleported away after the end of AWC 62, and Loki messed with THAT teleportation, which is how Wizard ended up here. MichaelApril 9, 2015 7:49 PM Avengers West Coast #55 Note that Byrne seemed to forget Simon didn't need to breathe, since he had Simon wearing a helmet in outer space. RobertApril 9, 2015 7:10 PM Iron Man #120-128 Is that mayor supposed to be Ed Koch? MegaSpiderManApril 9, 2015 6:17 PM Amazing Spider-Man #329 Ah yes, Captain Universe Spidey, also known as "The Costume That Makes Spider-Man for Playstation A Cakewalk". CecilApril 9, 2015 5:51 PM Iron Man #84-85 Bless Roger Slifer,R.I.P. fnord12April 9, 2015 3:47 PM Hulk annual #5 I agree about the placement, TheBruce. I will say that sometimes it'll be necessary to bounce back and forth across the country, but in this case this is a very standalone annual so it's an easy move. I've pushed this between Hulk #194-195 and prior to a bunch of other Hulk appearances between those issues. MikeCheyneApril 9, 2015 3:16 PM Avengers West Coast #55 I have a guilty pleasure love for this crossover because it is so simplistic and dumb; it's just an excuse for random battles between folks who don't usually fight, which is good fun. Now as part of an ultra villain cabal thing...no, it doesn't work at all. What would have worked I guess is if Loki or whoever was manipulating all these events not so much as part of an undefined "master plan to get the Avengers," but just as a series of subgoals to cause chaos and distraction...if it hadn't been played to death, some sort of alien force testing our heroes' ability to adapt would have sufficed. kvetoApril 9, 2015 1:50 PM Avengers Spotlight #29 We'll see in the avengers annual back-up that Hank Pym caught the wizard. and the Vision destroyed the red skull robot. whats the point of making guardsman's armour stronger. they'll just have to weaken it again when villains need to break out. and im pretty sure we'll see guardsmen outside of the vault in the future. cullenApril 9, 2015 12:22 PM Captain America #368 The Magneto robot has thought-balloons?! clydeApril 9, 2015 12:13 PM Avengers West Coast #55 If you allow for the fact that this crossover was just a chance to see a bunch of chaotic battles, it was fun. Otherwise, it was a disaster. It was more like Loki was punishing the people who had to sit through this awful crossover. TheBruceApril 9, 2015 12:12 PM Hulk annual #5 Claremont's Hulk comics weren't very good. This story actually references his abysmal INCREDIBLE HULK #170. I place this story between INCREDIBLE HULK #194 and #195. IH #194 takes place amid the expansive wheatfields in "the Great American Heartland." This annual's story occurs in Colorado. IH #195 begins with the Hulk hiding on a train, emerging in Florida, where he remains until he is captured by Ross and Samson in #199, leading directly to #200 (in New Mexico). I think this makes more sense than him leaping from Florida to Colorado and then back again. Erik BeckApril 9, 2015 12:12 PM Spider-Woman #10 So, now we're 10 issues into Spider-Woman. And it seems like every issue brings in a new person who will eventually be in Night Shift. Erik BeckApril 9, 2015 11:32 AM Iron Man #115-116 Yeah, it's interesting how early Perez and Byrne at least look the style they will have later. JR jr has a style that looks nothing like the overly muscular style he will develop by the end of the 80's. I would never have guessed it was the same artist. clydeApril 9, 2015 11:13 AM Thor #413 Really strange to not label it an "Acts Of Vengeance" crossover after telling you "to not miss the conclusion to Acts of Vengeance in Avengers West Coast #55." You're absolutely right that you would need this issue to complete the collection. Nathan AdlerApril 9, 2015 9:57 AM Uncanny X-Men #14-18 @Luke: I actually have that magazine and yep it's got to be the inspiration;) fnord12April 9, 2015 9:06 AM Amazing Spider-Man #176-180 I added that scan to the ASM #37 entry. Thanks for pointing it out. That may have just been the equivalent of the "knock a person out with one punch" scenes that you see in a lot of older movies, but it is an interesting bit of evidence to be combined with the scene in Spectacular Spider-Man magazine #2 that Michael pointed out. fnord12April 9, 2015 8:22 AM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #7 Thanks for identifying the robots, Luke. I've added a note above. Luke BlanchardApril 8, 2015 11:36 PM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #7 The green robots are the ones from FANTASTIC FOUR #85-#87. My guess is the robots in the montage are supposed to represent the different kinds of Marvel U robots. The Fury LMDs represent LMDs, the Awesome Android represents the Mad Thinker's creations, and the green robots represent Doom's Doombots. irh13April 8, 2015 11:27 PM Amazing Spider-Man #176-180 Norman Osborn may have relied on weapons, but he had super-strength. People forget that, in his normal guise, he knocked out Spider-Man with one blow to the back of the head, way back when he was first introduced in ASM #37. And this was during the Lee-Ditko era, before the likes of Gerry Conway, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman weakened the character to the point where it seemed anyone could knock him out. ChrisApril 8, 2015 11:19 PM Captain America #367 Great issue. Deft handling of all the characters. Probably the best single issue in the entire crossover. MichaelApril 8, 2015 10:38 PM Captain America #368 Fnord, note that this issue confirms that Machinesmith was trapped when Cap put the Sleeper in stasis. That's why Machinesmith was listed as "in custody" on the monitor in issue 355. Mark BlackApril 8, 2015 10:34 PM Captain America #367 Kieron Dwyer had some hits and misses, but I felt like when he was at his best (like the Skull/Magneto parts of this issue) his work had a very kinetic feel to it. AndrewApril 8, 2015 10:22 PM Avengers #313 "Surf, peasant!" sounds like a single from the classic Beach Boys album, "Live in Leningrad." MichaelApril 8, 2015 10:14 PM Captain America #367 Fnord, I don't think the Red Skull in Avengers 313 and Avengers West Coast 55 was intended to be a robot. First, as you pointed out, the Skull's appearance in Avengers 313 doesn't read like he's a robot. But more importantly, Gruenwald devoted an entire backup story in Avengers Annual 19 largely to explaining the Skull was a robot. My theory is that when Gruenwald wrote Captain America 368, he had no clue what was going on in Avengers 313 and Avengers West Coast 55- he just threw the Skull robot in as a reminder of Machinesmith's skill at robotics. Then, when he found out what happened in Avengers 313 and Avengers West Coast 55, he wrote the Annual backup to explain away the error. Nathan AdlerApril 8, 2015 10:09 PM New Mutants #86 @Michael: Re: Zero, I suspect android given similar designed robots ended up in Liefeld's early Prophet issues. fnord12April 8, 2015 9:29 PM Captain America #367 Yes, thanks Erik. Fixed it. MichaelApril 8, 2015 9:25 PM New Mutants #86 This issue shows one of the biggest reasons why New Mutants Annual 5 has to take place before the kids go to Asgard- this issue explicitly takes place after X-Men 255 and by then Storm's a kid. Erik RobbinsApril 8, 2015 9:25 PM Captain America #367 Well Peggy's IS Communications, so I think it is usually meant to be her. fnord, did you mean that this issue should take place BEFORE Punisher #29, as Subbie is up and about in that issue? (As he is out of commission at the start of this issue.) BerendApril 8, 2015 5:31 PM Captain America #367 That Hank Pym face is indeed amaaaaaaazing XD I could see Peggy Carter calling Namor "Subbie". Not any of other staffers though. fnord12April 8, 2015 5:29 PM Tales Of Suspense #95-99 (Iron Man) Maybe it's a bio-duplicate! ;-) I agree that it requires her to move very quickly from the boat to Stark's factory and back. And it may mean that they hadn't yet decided that Whitney Frost was the Maggia leader. But you will see in Iron Man #1 that Jasper Sitwell pulls Whitney out of the water when the boat is sinking and it is left as a little mystery what she is doing there. So it seems like they were planning something. BerendApril 8, 2015 5:19 PM New Mutants #86 The Vulture wants to kill the Tinkerer for knowing the secret of his wings? Hate to break it to you Adrian, but about half the people building a power suit in the Marvel Universe know how to incorporate a flying mode. You're not really that special anymore... kvetoApril 8, 2015 4:36 PM Avengers #313 "Learn that, Herr Doktor!" is a cool line RobertApril 8, 2015 4:05 PM Avengers #313 This was the only AoV issue of Avengers (East) that I bought at the time and that was mainly because I thought Mandarin's new armor looked cool. Sloppy slip-up about Hellcat's hair. It's not a big deal I guess but you would think somebody would've caught it. kvetoApril 8, 2015 3:44 PM Captain America #367 Loki seemed as shocked as the others when the doombot blew up. and that wouldnt explain the skull robot. unless he had very dumb magic. clydeApril 8, 2015 3:33 PM Captain America #367 "Odd that Loki's portal couldn't tell the difference between the Doom and skull robots (it kept out the controller so there were some restrictions)" kvetoApril 8, 2015 3:31 PM Avengers West Coast #54 I liked that these villains had to be tricked into fighting the avengers. they didnt just do it because Loki told them to. kvetoApril 8, 2015 3:29 PM Captain America #367 I wonder if it was Magneto who sent the skull robot. He encountered a lot of them this issue. But that seems a bit sly for magneto. Odd that Loki's portal couldn't tell the difference between the Doom and skull robots (it kept out the controller so there were some restrictions) The skull was impressively wily in his escape attempts. and I felt he basically won the argument with Mags. If Magneto is so much better than a Nazi, he sure has a lot of innocent blood on his hands. You're right, Gru wrote villains much better than heroes. david banesApril 8, 2015 3:29 PM Captain America #367 Oh man I remember seeing that last page on the internet years and years ago and it gave me chills. It felt right to have two of Marvel's greatest villains meet, one with no redeeming features and one with depth and history, and have their confrontation end like that. It just felt so right and natural for the two characters. clydeApril 8, 2015 3:28 PM New Mutants #86 Maybe they can send a "cable" to the x-teams for some information on their child. Ataru320April 8, 2015 3:25 PM New Mutants #86 The squinty faces (though with Vulture and Tinkerer, it probably is appropriate being old but still...), the lips on Skids, the diamond feet, the overdone muscularity...yep, we're really hitting the Liefeld this time around, and its only going to get "better". And look...I have no idea who glowy eye is but shouldn't Scott and Jean be worried about their kid? fnord12April 8, 2015 3:09 PM Captain America #367 In Namor's defense, unlike Pym he's just had a device pulled off the back of his head that was affecting his nervous system. clydeApril 8, 2015 2:51 PM Captain America #367 "The issue starts off with Henry Pym making the most hilarious facial expression of all time. I kind of think this is how Pym feels most of the time, and sometimes it just comes to the surface." ChrisWApril 8, 2015 2:37 PM Excalibur #4-5 Who would win in a fight between Silvesti's Storm, Rogue, Betsy and Dazzler against Davis' Rachel, Megan and Kitty? Erik BeckApril 8, 2015 11:48 AM Fantastic Four #201 So, after the redesign, Sue and Reed are right on the other side of the wall from Johnny. They couldn't have given themselves a little more privacy? Ataru320April 8, 2015 11:38 AM Amazing Spider-Man #186 What took Spidey so long in-universe to do that anyway? His appearance on "The Electric Company" actually started from 1974 (which is the same time the "Spidey Super-Stories" comics started...heck by this point we already had the infamous Star Wars homage with Moondragon and Thanos!) MerhajApril 8, 2015 11:35 AM Tales Of Suspense #95-99 (Iron Man) Hello fnord. Here's your partner in Marvel chronology in Brazil! Erik BeckApril 8, 2015 11:33 AM Amazing Spider-Man #186 "I just gave free rights to the Electric Company TV show." I love that they plugged that. Electric Company was a truly awesome show and I absolutely loved it, especially because Spider-Man appeared on it. Since I was 4 when this issue came out, I was definitely much more into Electric Company than actual comics. Erik BeckApril 8, 2015 11:25 AM Captain America #224 "my first issue of cap. For a long time after that I assumed he had dark hair." I can totally understand that. The first issue of X-Men I ever read was #129 and I spent like a year trying to guess what powers Havok and Polaris had. TCPApril 8, 2015 10:58 AM Marvel Two-In-One #16-17 During the Revenge of the Sinister Six, Spider-Man would recall his adventure with Deathlok. I guess at least some of his memories came back, or maybe seeing a version of Deathlock in the present "unlocked" them. BillApril 8, 2015 10:12 AM Excalibur #4-5 As a teenager at the time these issues were coming out, I certainly had no complaints about any "needless cheesecake drawings". Nathan AdlerApril 8, 2015 7:50 AM Avengers #299-300 @fnord12: HB rings a bell, perhaps a Scooby-Doo creature!? fnord12April 8, 2015 7:41 AM Quasar #7 Thanks, Michael. I was thinking of ASM #329 as an AoV issue, ergo if this takes place prior to that, it's during AoV. But i guess just because it has the AoV Aftermath tag, it doesn't have to take place immediately after. fnord12April 8, 2015 7:39 AM Avengers #299-300 Thanks for pointing out the Tom Morgan credit, Vin. I've added him. Nathan, no, it still looks vaguely familiar but nothing specific. It's kind of like a Hanna-Barbara version of the Man-Thing or something. Nathan AdlerApril 8, 2015 7:16 AM New Mutants #1-3 @Erik: Gyrich never named it. It was dubbed so by the NSC. Erik BeckApril 8, 2015 6:48 AM New Mutants #1-3 @Nathan - Has Gyrich ever struck you as a subtle person? Erik BeckApril 8, 2015 6:47 AM Thor #272-278 Not to beat a dead serpent, but yeah, sock puppet is the right description. Still, I can't help wondering if all of this wouldn't seem as weak if Simonson hadn't come along and made us all realize how awesome it could be. Still, the scene at the beginning is nice - it's always nice to see the heroes, especially the god heroes, interact with kids. Nathan AdlerApril 8, 2015 6:26 AM New Mutants #1-3 @Erik: Pretty blatant suggestion for a facility they'd likely want to hide from the general public!? Erik BeckApril 8, 2015 6:22 AM New Mutants #1-3 @ Nathan Adler - I don't know that they ever actually say it, but I would think the reasoning would be that they were "wide awake" to the "mutant threat" - as opposed to those who still were walking around with their eyes closed, oblivious to the danger. Nathan AdlerApril 8, 2015 5:38 AM New Mutants #1-3 Thinking back to Gyrich's dialogue in New Mutants #2 (p.7) that "We're establishing a facility for the containment and extermination of mutants", that seriously sounds like the camps seen in Days of Future Past. So Project: Wideawake was the start, and Shaw was involved in directly financing the extermination of his own kind. But why call such a project "Wideawake"? Morgan WickApril 8, 2015 4:02 AM Amazing Spider-Man #171 Surprising this was a regular issue of ASM instead of Team-Up. Were they that desperate to flog Nova's book? I've always thought it funny that the initial letters of five consecutive months spelled out "JASON". Nice to see someone else had the same realization and made it a questionable clue in a mediocre murder mystery! Nathan AdlerApril 8, 2015 3:26 AM Excalibur #4-5 @Dar: Re: the cheesecake, hey don't knock it (says the teenager inundated with Silvestri, Davis and Lee - high times;) DarApril 8, 2015 2:04 AM Excalibur #4-5 Alan Davis...and John Byrne. It seems like Claremont loved working with guys who like to do needless cheesecake drawings. It was the Happy Perverts Club over at the X-titles. Nathan AdlerApril 8, 2015 2:03 AM Thor #160-161 @Dar: Yet Odin is presented as on par with Galactus in these issues (textually). Do we think Kirby had intended to reveal Galactus had "been at" Asgard? DarApril 8, 2015 1:47 AM Thor #160-161 This shows that even Lee and Kirby could get their relative power-levers all mixed up. No way can even a thousand Thors and a thousand Egos combines equal a Galactus who can destroy whole galaxies. RobertApril 8, 2015 1:20 AM Captain America #313 I actually made a friend because of this comic. In sixth grade a new kid in our class heard me talking about comics with some other kids. The next day he gives me this issue and an issue of Star Comics' Heathcliff. They were both in rough shape and rolled up like a newspaper. And I really didn't care for Cap a lot at the time and certainly not Heathcliff. But comics were gold to me and I appreciated the gift. We were friends from that day until I lost touch with him after high school. DermieApril 7, 2015 11:28 PM Quasar #7 "Hernia belt"--ha! But yeah, someone really hiked Wendell's tighty-whities up a fair bit between panels there...they looked normal on the previous page. Nathan AdlerApril 7, 2015 9:39 PM Avengers #299-300 @fnord12: Have you figured out who the "Inferno"-ised Growing Man reminded you of? MichaelApril 7, 2015 8:57 PM Quasar #7 I don't see why this HAS to go during Acts of Vengeance. Amazing Spider-Man 329 features Loki seeking revenge for his defeat in Acts of Vengeance but it doesn't necessarily have to happen immediately after Acts of Vengeance. Amazing 329 features Loki using a spell to compel the Tri-Sentinel to destroy New York but Thor 414 takes place a few hours after the end of Acts of Vengeance and features Loki in the guise of a mortal crimelord- it's weird if both plots are running simultaneously. Vin the Comics GuyApril 7, 2015 8:32 PM Avengers #299-300 Tom Morgan got a special inking credit - he did a great job on Big John's pencils. Too bad Uncle Walt got pushed off this book. Vin the Comics GuyApril 7, 2015 8:25 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 I'm still trying to figure out how a tribble got onto Englehart's head in the last panel of #333. I actually didn't have an issue with these last stories, knowing that Uncle Walt was coming. #332 explained the Ben-Alicia-Johnny relationship more than the Skrull retcon, wouldn't you say? Vin the Comic GuyApril 7, 2015 8:16 PM Quasar #7 I hope that you found those Terminus Factor issues in another quarter bin - what a dog that series was. I liked the Quasar series overall, but I wish that we learned a new space factoid each issue. The Roche Limit was a nice one. Paul Ryan was an awesome penciler, and I prefer Manley's newest style a la Bruce Timm (as of Black Panther #s 9-10). Vin the Comic GuyApril 7, 2015 7:58 PM Captain America #365 I think that last shot of the Red Skull was either inked or fully drawn by Todd McFarlane - any thoughts? Kieron's still one of my favorite Cap artists. MichaelApril 7, 2015 7:53 PM Captain America #365-367 (Cobra) We'll find out later in Captain America Annual 10 that Sidewinder resigned because he was upset that so many of the Society members sided with Viper. Vin the Comic GuyApril 7, 2015 7:53 PM Fantastic Four #335-336 I actually enjoyed these three issues, with #336 being the best. DeCarlo's inks really worked with Lim's pencils, and I'd like to see Lim handle an issue of Spider-man, with DeCarlo inking. The very end of #336 is maybe some of the most fun I've ever had with the FF, especially Ben in the exo-skeleton. His confidence in going against the Super-Adaptoid was incredible. Lim's rendering of the Thing really took my breath away - at times, I thought Byrne had come in and drawn the figure. MikeCheyneApril 7, 2015 7:36 PM Captain America #365-367 (Cobra) Never again (or before?) was Cobra depicted so badass. Erik BeckApril 7, 2015 5:41 PM Fantastic Four #196-200 As soon as you said the FF were broken up for several months, I absolutely knew they would re-unite for #200 and I said to myself, "please let this be better than what they did with Avengers #300." That said, it was, if for no other reason than that they didn't re-unite the FF with a ridiculous short-lived team. Not a great anniversary issue, but still better than some (and by that, I mean better than Avengers #300 - and for that matter, better than Avengers #200 given what happened to Carol Danvers in that issue). Erik BeckApril 7, 2015 5:36 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #22-23 I understand he's supposed to be kind of in the mood, but that is still some really strange pencilling on Flash. Erik BeckApril 7, 2015 5:28 PM Spider-Woman #4-6 That's an awful lot of the future Night Shift showing up in in just a couple of issues. Maybe Shroud just read these issues and said, those are the guys I want. kvetoApril 7, 2015 5:15 PM Captain America #365-367 (Cobra) I was a bit surprised they didn't use this opportunity to show Acts of vengeance going after one of Cap's sidekicks (Falcon, Nomad, etc.) But getting Cobra to get over the Hyde dynamic was a good move for both characters. The revenge stuff had run its course. But I think they brought back an old Master of Kung Fu colourist to colour Cobra in these issues for some reason. RobertApril 7, 2015 4:29 PM Captain America #365-367 (Cobra) The spitting bit is a classic. Pretty good story but what's with all the bolded words? Seems like every balloon has at least two or three. Try reading some of that out loud and put emphasis on the bold words and you'll sound like Christopher Walken. RobertApril 7, 2015 4:16 PM Quasar #7 Love the review. Hate the retcon and a big 'UGH' at the reminder of The Terminus Factor coming up. BerendApril 7, 2015 12:35 PM Web of Spider-Man #61 Perhaps the writers should've given the cabal a different goal. If they had wanted to make superheroes look bad in order to pass the Superhero Registration Act (Which they then could control thanks to having infiltrated the government or something like that) they could've had a whole bunch of wins, making them look much more impressive, without killing any heroes. Mark DrummondApril 7, 2015 11:10 AM Avengers Spotlight #28 I suppose Leviathan's new name is better than "Pantagruel". MichaelApril 7, 2015 7:47 AM Avengers West Coast #54 As the letters pages make clear, NOBODY was clear who the official leader was- they finally get around to electing one in issue 70. Nathan AdlerApril 7, 2015 6:09 AM Wolverine #4-8 So under what circumstances do we think Claremont intended to have Banapur Khan, Cheong, Lal, Amram Singh, Hanrahan, Krause, Rohmer all come back as a team wanting revenge on Wolverine? Robert April 7, 2015 4:54 AM Hulk #293 The Hulk rebuilding the town is pretty silly but I wonder if it was ever followed up on. Some writers love that stuff -- revisit the town from this forgotten story and find out the guy has set himself up as a dictator or something. Chances are that as soon as Hulk left, all the houses collapsed anyway. Banner's a scientist not a carpenter. RobertApril 7, 2015 4:37 AM ROM #50 I'm glad Torpedo was killed off instead of retiring or simply disappearing from the book. Throughout the series he was shown to be a very poor superhero. It's more realistic that someone who isn't very good at a job that requires putting themselves in harm's way would meet with a tragic end. Nathan AdlerApril 7, 2015 2:23 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 @Walter: Oh you had to quote Kitty to bait me didn't you. What does the Shadow King want a clockwork universe for, if he is a "nightmare"? His name means "seer of truth" in Arabic, a title given to disciples of Umar. Despite how Marv Wolfman later changed the character's origin in his Fantastic Four run, the "seer of "truth" Veritas in Strange Tales #154 was revealed to be a prisoner in Umar's Dark Dimension dungeon. Intended connection? After all Umar is a Faltine! Walter LawsonApril 7, 2015 2:15 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 @Berend: Yes, I think there's even a reference or two in Age of Apocalypse that makes explicit the retcon that Destiny here was anticipating the disruption (with the M'Kraan crystal,if i recall) that would lead to AoA. I took Destiny's vision to be a benign but sobering premonition of death. But there's a chance Claremont intended the vision as a warning of what the Shadow King would do, bringing an end to change and freedom. In X-Men: True Friends, Kitty says of SK, "What matters to him is order and control. What he wants is a universe that runs like a clockwork mechanism, eternally precise, unambiguous, unchanging." Luis DantasApril 7, 2015 12:45 AM Avengers West Coast #54 That he is, Chris. ChrisApril 7, 2015 12:33 AM Avengers West Coast #54 Byrne is treating Pym very respectfully here. Pym hasn't been this confidant and competent since his Ant-Man days. I'm not sure who the official leader is at the WCA now (or even if there is one with Cap's reorganization), but he is the WCA chairman in all but name during this run. ChrisApril 7, 2015 12:28 AM Web of Spider-Man #61 Comparing Acts of Vengeance to the fourth Masters of Evil only show how much better that storyline was. While none of the Avengers did die, Stern did a great job building real suspense. Hercules, Captain Marvel, Black Knight, and Captain America were all knocked out, defeated, or almost killed at one point. The Avengers had to summon a lot of reserve members to hit back, and they still lost the mansion. There was a real sense things were bad. In this crossover, the only time it seemed like things had gotten out of control was in one off comments and in Moon Knight. Loki would have done better by pulling Zemo out of the volcano, promising to bring back his dad, and telling him to create a plan to go after all the heroes. ChrisApril 7, 2015 12:20 AM Avengers Spotlight #28 I have no problems with the readers figuring out it is Loki before the villains or heroes. Obviously we have a lot more knowledge as readers than people do in the comics. How many mortals has Loki really interacted with? Very few. RobertApril 7, 2015 12:00 AM Hulk #277-279 So why is Kingpin dressed as the Watcher? Luis DantasApril 6, 2015 11:55 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 The clues were there, particularly in Quasar #5 where he improves the Absorbing Man's powers. Not too many people have seen Loki up close (Creel is one of the few exceptions), and Loki is well established to be capable of sorcery, illusion casting and shapeshifting. He is, after all, the god of lies and trickery. It is not too much of a jump to assume that he enjoys tricking several proud masterminds basically by hiding in plain sight with no disguise. Personally, I think it works better that way than if he decided to make himself appear as a blond dwarf or something. MichaelApril 6, 2015 11:31 PM Marvel Two-In-One #53-58 Mortificator, there are Jewish Sunday schools. RobertApril 6, 2015 10:43 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 Mortificator, thanks for telling me that. I haven't read every issue of the crossover and, at the time, I certainly wasn't buying every issue. I'm still not sure why they didn't make more of an effort to hide his identity from the readers. If he's disguised why not draw him looking differently? IIRC he wasn't revealed as Loki to the readers until the end of the storyline, right? And that seems like an unnecessary misstep on Marvel's part. Even as a kid I knew it was Loki or Namor just because of how he was drawn. And I knew the many reasons it couldn't be Namor, so it had to be Loki. The mystery is not there for us and it could have been with the simplest of changes to the art. Luis DantasApril 6, 2015 9:23 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 The way I see it, one of the themes of Acts of Vengeance was hubris leading to intentional blind spots. We readers are supposed to guess he is Loki (it is indeed obvious if we think about it). The cabal is depicted as too proud to overcome their self-imposed delusions. For instance, several of them seem to buy into the line that all the others are subordinated to themselves personally, which of course they all know deep down to be a lie. There is actually some interesting, subtle commentary on the nature and effects of evil in there. I wonder if it was intentional. MortificatorApril 6, 2015 8:57 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 Loki is supposed to be magically disguising himself, Robert. It's mentioned in his fight with Apocalypse. MortificatorApril 6, 2015 8:48 PM Marvel Two-In-One #53-58 Ben's reference to "Sunday school" is interesting, in light of the much later revelation that he's Jewish. BerendApril 6, 2015 8:14 PM Web of Spider-Man #61 The problem is, the Masters of Evil wanted to capture Avengers Mansion. You can have them do that without killing. But the Cabal is specifically trying to eliminate heroes. Even if you do a whole lot of stories like the one where the baddies destroy the Hydrobase, or where Gravitron trounces Spidey, as long as the heroes make it out alive, the Cabal are still failing to achieve what they want. RobertApril 6, 2015 7:59 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 It really is ridiculous that they didn't have Loki disguise himself. He took off the horn helmet and put on a suit. Okay....? Even if we use the Superman/Clark Kent excuse for suspension of disbelief (which Marvel shouldn't be using anyway), it still doesn't make sense. The disguise isn't just supposed to be fooling the other characters, it's supposed to be fooling the readers. I seriously doubt there were ever any Superman readers who flipped the page and saw Clark Kent and wondered "Wait -- where did Superman go?" It's moronic. MikeCheyneApril 6, 2015 7:57 PM Captain America #206-214, Captain America annual #3-4 I remember reading one commentator who noted Magneto's obsession with always having a homuncular sycophant around in these early mutant groups (Toad, Amphibius, Peeper). RobertApril 6, 2015 7:51 PM Web of Spider-Man #61 I don't think it would have been necessary for them to murder people to make it a better storyline. That's more of the go-to for comics writers these days, not then. All they needed was to have the villains winning battles throughout most of the crossover, only to have the heroes win in the end. Sort of like the Masters of Evil attacking Avengers mansion story. As it is, the whole thing seems like an exercise in pointlessness. Do any of the villains come out of the crossover any better than they went in? Was anything gained? Was the reputation of any of the villains improved from this? There were some decent individual stories in the crossover but overall it seems like a wasted opportunity to elevate many lower-tier villains and to remind people why the upper-tier ones are noteworthy. MichaelApril 6, 2015 7:51 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 I liked McDuffie's pointing out that it was too easy to figure out the lackey was Loki. "It's obvious if one thinks about it". cullenApril 6, 2015 5:59 PM Quasar #6 Brian Cronin recently did an appreciation post about this issue and the What If, which continues the tie-in: BerendApril 6, 2015 5:56 PM Web of Spider-Man #61 Makes you wonder, could Acts of Vengeance have been done right in a way that was also a nice read? All the big bad guys teaming up and winning sounds like an awesome story, but slaughtering a host of B- and C-list heroes to up the stakes is not something I'd be very interested in. BerendApril 6, 2015 5:49 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 The Hawkeye/Mockingbird story is cute, but I've seen Clint's deafness being used as an ersatz superpower way to often at this point. I like the Thinker story though. He's one of those villains who I always thought had a lot of potential, but never quite made it. BerendApril 6, 2015 5:45 PM Quasar #6 Ha, I love that the Watcher is actually standing around narrating the What If's :P Only a short time ago I would've thought that a stupid, fourth-wall breaking joke. However, in a (relatively) recent issue of Mighty Avengers Uatu's wife actually makes a point about his character by invoking "all those hours looking at alternate realities". I really liked that scene, and by extension like that it is, in a weird way, seeded here. Mark BlackApril 6, 2015 5:27 PM Web of Spider-Man #61 What an odd reference to Nova Scotia! kvetoApril 6, 2015 5:25 PM Web of Spider-Man #61 youre right. Acts of vengeance was massive failure for the villains. Not a single hero was killed as far as I know. In fact the only hero injured was Stingray getting knocked out. Ataru320April 6, 2015 3:22 PM Avengers Spotlight #28 Just realized this is probably the first real team-up of Angar and Melissa (I'd say Screaming Mimi but she's the future Songbird so gonna stick with just her real name); it isn't that notable but it is a cool combo for the moment. RobertApril 6, 2015 3:02 PM Web of Spider-Man #61 Doom talks about this Acts of Vengeance scheme like it's been a resounding success so far except where Spider-Man is concerned. Kingpin even backs him up. Are these guys really that delusional? As you've mentioned, the bad guys haven't been winning which is part of the problem with the crossover. Erik BeckApril 6, 2015 1:51 PM Hulk annual #7 Another linking issue that I never got a chance to read. I was confused as hell when Master Mold suddenly showed up in X-Factor, wondering how he had ended up in Alaska. ChrisWApril 6, 2015 12:03 PM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 From the context, I've always inferred that Magneto had just raised it, although that doesn't make much sense either. Would Lee and Scott have slept through that noise? [Or whatever they were doing; "the earth moved" indeed.] A cloaking device make sense, but surely Magneto would have repaired it before the X-Men showed up. He's getting ready to threaten the entire world, one would think he'd want his defenses in working order. What I meant was in a more general sense, that Lee and her boat [or whatever she did; I don't have the issues handy to check] would be tracking any new landmasses in the Bermuda Triangle so that ships don't crash into them or anything. I could understand Scott and Lee missing it, sort of. MichaelApril 6, 2015 8:17 AM Wolverine #4-8 Nathan, fnord reviews stories according to when they occured chronologically, not when they were intended to be released, so X-Men:True Friends would have to take place after Excalibur 41, since Kitty makes it clear in that issue that she hasn't seen Wolverine since he "died" in Dallas. MichaelApril 6, 2015 8:00 AM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 @ChrisW- when Lee sees Magneto's island, she remarks something like "Funny how I didn't notice it yesterday". So either it's like the mountain in Sandman or Magneto had some sort of cloaking device that was damaged (remember, she only saw it after a major storm.) entzauberungApril 6, 2015 8:00 AM Defenders #151-152 This seems lika cool run. Odd that it's been so forgotten, though. Most of the main characters seem to basically disappear after this, and given how many times the X-characters have mentioned it since it may as well not have happened. Nathan AdlerApril 6, 2015 7:19 AM Wolverine #4-8 Bloodsport telling Karma they are now bound together is reminiscent of Dracula to Mina Murray;) Nathan AdlerApril 6, 2015 3:09 AM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 During X-Factor Apocalypse indicated he monitored all his bases, so how I wonder did he feel about Magnus hijacking his Savage Land base? Nathan AdlerApril 6, 2015 3:07 AM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 Well there's Magneto's citadel in the Savage Land; although rather than building it himself you'll recall it was huge, miles across, and inside a volcano, and while Magneto was good, he wasn't THAT good. Given 'The Jungle Adventure,' Apocalypse is definitely the prime candidate for the original owner and Magneto took residence up there later, creating his Savage Land Mutates. ChrisWApril 6, 2015 2:56 AM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 Did we ever see any of Magneto's other installations scattered around the globe? With the possible exception of his island, I don't think so. What does he need them for if he's rebuilding Asteroid M? And regarding the island, it seems a bit contrived that no one would have noticed it for so long before Scott and Lee land there. [Although given its connection to Limbo, it may be that like line in "Sandman" about an occasional mountain - "It's not a very big mountain, but it's only there occasionally."] Nathan AdlerApril 6, 2015 1:46 AM X-Factor #1 @Luis: Good suggestion re: Wanda. Was Steve lining her up to be available for the team I wonder, and what might this have meant for her relationship with the Vision? With all the recent hullabaloo re: retconning Magneto as her father, I was never sold on the twins being his and my own preference for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch's father is who I believe Kirby intended. In X-Men #11, the mutant twins say they are leaving the Brotherhood to return to their home in the Balkans, the same area Lucifer (intended by Kirby as a mutant) operated suggesting he was intended as their father. So the twins, Pietro and Wanda were the children of a lord of mutants, but Lucifer not Magneto! And yes my fixes span further back than Claremont;) Yep Beast is obvious given Steve's work on Amazing Adventures! Luis DantasApril 6, 2015 1:25 AM X-Factor #1 Good question. Perhaps the Scarlet Witch? It would make sense IMO. Wanda is one of the very few mutants who may actually feel a bit guilty for being a bit privileged when it comes to mutant rejection, yet she would have a degree of divided loyalties (being married and all) as well. Besides, she has ancient yet underexplored X-Men ties as well. Besides her, obviously Scott as well. And Beast, who he seems to be fond of and who he has a story of writing well. Perhaps also Havok and Angel, probably Iceman. Luis DantasApril 6, 2015 1:17 AM Thor #272-278 The Midgard Serpent also appears (in a vision) in Thor #127-128, with yet another appearance. I agree that Simonson's version is the best. http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/midgardserpent.htm http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/journey_into_mystery_120125_th.shtml Nathan AdlerApril 6, 2015 12:39 AM X-Factor #1 Did you know Steve Englehart had put his own proposal forward with Al Milgrom for the X-Factor title? While Dazzler was the front runner before Jean (hence why she was earlier teamed with Beast), and Claremont offered Sara Grey as an alternative, I've always been keen to know who Steve & Al proposed as members of the team in their pitch!? Jon DubyaApril 5, 2015 10:48 PM Avengers #312 "The Avengers don't have a guess, either. They lament not being able to call and ask the X-Men about it, since they are thought to be dead." That line confused me because the Avengers HAVE fought against Freedom Force a number of times before. "One interesting thing to watch is the Vision's interactions with the Blob (i guess the Blob got the memo regarding the Vision being made of spare parts)." Given that this was written by John Byrne, who was trying to push his "Vision is walking toaster" theory hard, it isn't to surprising. Ataru320April 5, 2015 10:35 PM Thor #272-278 I just did a search on the Midgard Serpent, and somehow when Simonson drew it, it looks amazing in its draconian/serpentine hybrid...whereas here we just get a sock puppet with button eyes and have to just cope with that being the bringer of Ragnarok. Luis DantasApril 5, 2015 7:35 PM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 Good hypothesis, James. A similar explanation might be conceived revolving around his only other appearance since, in the Secret Empire arc in Captain America. He was imprisonned literally side by side with Unus and Mastermind, and just a stone's throw away from Blob. It is reasonable to extrapolate a scene where he asks one of the others why Magneto is not there with them and whether they know anything about the robot. James MApril 5, 2015 6:09 PM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 @Erik: Mesmero learned that the Magneto he served was a robot just before he was captured by the Sentinels - we then see, after they've all been freed, the captured mutants milling around Trask's base. Since Mastermind, Blob and Unus are all there, and will all serve as part of Magneto's Brotherhood in Defenders #15-16, it's not too much of a leap to say he spoke to one of them - maybe Mastermind, since he has a known connection to Magneto - who later passed this information on to the real Magneto. I will gladly turn this into a 6 issue, ultra-decompressed mini-series continuity insert if anyone at Marvel is willing to meet my fee. MichaelApril 5, 2015 2:00 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18 I meant the doctor, who he apparently trusted enough to share the fact that he was a mutant with him. Jay DemetrickApril 5, 2015 1:51 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18 "That guy" from Hidden Years was his uncle, the Dazzler. Or do you mean his family doctor? He fought his uncle in a solo story before Hidden Years so definitely not his friend. The family doctor wasn't necessarily his friend either, just a family retainer. Still, he seems to not notice the hidden hatred people have for him. fnord12April 5, 2015 1:23 PM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 Thanks, Erik. I've moved the scans around and added a few new ones. fnord12April 5, 2015 1:13 PM Iron Man #109-112 Darkstar and Vanguard don't learn that they are brother and sister until Hulk #258-259, the same story that introduces Ursa Major. Erik BeckApril 5, 2015 12:44 PM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 A great mini-arc with two fantastic fight scenes against Magneto (great Byrne art in those fights). Not reading FF, it was only this site that made it clear what their breakup was about that was mentioned by the newscaster. They also never explain how Magneto knew that Mesmero had followed a robot. Fnord - one thing: I think you've got the scan of Wolverine against the dinosaurs way too early. As I recall, that actually happens when they go to rescue Scott / Peter / Sean from Farrok's city, not as they're entering the Savage Land. Erik BeckApril 5, 2015 12:28 PM Doctor Strange #29 I like that even in the MU, where Dracula does exist, the play was still revived in the late 70's. MegaSpiderManApril 5, 2015 11:13 AM Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #12 You know, there's something about this comic that's more bearable than most other Marvel series of the time period. The writing comes off as a bit more natural and the art is less of a mess to look at. I think so, at least. Nathan AdlerApril 5, 2015 9:24 AM Cable #-1 I never figured out after the Classic X-Men #25 back-up, why Apocalypse didn't make Moses Magnum his Horseman, War!? MichaelApril 5, 2015 9:14 AM Avengers #312 Note that this is the first meeting between Avalanche, Blob and Pyro since Vision was disassembled. This means that Avengers: Deathtrap the Vault has to take place after this issue. MichaelApril 5, 2015 9:00 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18 Warren failed to recognize that TWO of his old friends were homicidal anti-mutant bigots- Cameron Hodge and that guy from Hidden Years. I think oblivious is a legitimate characterization of him. Erik BeckApril 5, 2015 8:23 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18 You know, it's one thing for supporting characters to be oblivious. But for other heroes? How does Warren not notice that Spider-Man, the same hero so constantly photographed by Peter Parker all the time, just happens to show up in L.A. at the same time that Peter does. ChrisWApril 5, 2015 7:31 AM Ms. Marvel #11-13 Could Carol's mind problems be the real reason Rogue's mind couldn't be read for so long? It stopped being a problem when Carol was asserting dominance later on. Ataru320April 5, 2015 6:33 AM Cable #-1 As bizarre as Apocalypse looks in this (not as bizarre as the huge lips in his first published appearance though), I like the idea of him just sitting on the outside preparing for the long-game in the universe. He just got up and needs to know what he's dealing with; so of course watching the next 20+ or so years will allow him to witness what he needs for his plans accordingly. (though through placing, I do also think its funny he doesn't intervene when the F4 go to Egypt; at least he's allowing his own rise in the past by having them help him indirectly kick out Kang) Nick YankovecApril 5, 2015 5:02 AM Fantastic Four #293-295 I've always found it intriguing that so many creators have nothing but bad things to say about Shooter, Byrne being one of the most vocal about his poor leadership. And yet, nearly all the creators at Marvel at the time, did their best work under Shooter. Miller, Claremont, Simonson, Stern, DeMatteis, to name but a few. Even the creators I'm not a huge fan of, Grunewald (on Squadron and early Cap), Milgrom (on Peter Parker and Avengers) for example, did their most interesting work to me. DaveyApril 4, 2015 10:31 PM Fantastic Four #19 Should add that during the Egypt perion, Apocalypse is roaming around in "Rise of Apocalypse" ChrisApril 4, 2015 7:44 PM Daredevil #275-276 I agree - it MUST be Karnak who allows the heroes to win. It makes no sense otherwise. I liked these issues when they came out, although like much of Nocenti's run there was a lot that bothered me. MikeCheyneApril 4, 2015 4:35 PM Daredevil #275-276 I'm not sure why I laugh so much at Doom calling Daredevil "the Daredevil," but it reminds me of how old people tend to add unnecessary "the's" to a lot of things, like "THE Family Guy." Ataru320April 4, 2015 3:56 PM Ms. Marvel #17-18 Highly doubt that Claremont had a master plan that lasted that long. Maybe he had ideas and had the means to juggle them in a few books, but when Iron Fist got folded into Luke Cage/Power Man and Ms. Marvel got cancelled, it was just easier to stick with X-Men since that was the one he was having the most success with and thus the easiest to control his story elements. Mark DrummondApril 4, 2015 3:07 PM Damage Control #3 A few years before this, DC angered a lot of creative people with its proposed ratings system, and about the time this issue was produced, Rick Veitch quit DC over the last-minute disapproval of his "Swamp Thing meets Jesus" story(which also caused Jamie Delano and Neil Gaiman to yank their proposed storylines from the book). RobertApril 4, 2015 2:52 PM West Coast Avengers #3 Convertible guy's thought about Tigra's rough tongue brings up questions about her anatomy that I'd rather not think about. RobertApril 4, 2015 2:43 PM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #3 The scene where Vision is holding Wanda while she absorbs the energy is a little suggestive isn't it? I know they're baby crazy but at least they could wait until they were back at home! MichaelApril 4, 2015 1:21 PM Punisher War Journal #12-13 That was meant to be "Marauders killed the Morlocks". RobertApril 4, 2015 1:11 PM Damage Control #3 I'm not aware of anything specific but Ernie Colon worked as an editor and artist for DC in the '80s so maybe it was something he slipped in there. cullenApril 4, 2015 12:51 PM Damage Control #3 I know part of the whole Damage Control thing was sneaking in digs at the competition, but is "DC is unfair to its employees" a reference to a real issue that was going on at the time? Erik BeckApril 4, 2015 12:40 PM Ms. Marvel #17-18 Sabretooth introduced in Iron Fist. Mystique introduced in Ms Marvel. There's reasons for both, but do you think Claremont just had too much he wanted to do and with X-Men still a bi-monthly, he was just going to get things started by introducing his characters in other places? Erik BeckApril 4, 2015 12:39 PM Iron Man #113 "A different costume, but I'd know him anywhere - it's the Unicorn!" Brilliant deduction there, Tony. Could it be because of that silhouette of a unicorn on the front of his costume? Erik BeckApril 4, 2015 12:38 PM Iron Man #109-112 I've always thought of Darkstar, Vanguard and Ursa Major as a solid team, so it's strange to see that all three of them were introduced separately. Do they even mention the relationship between Darkstar and Vanguard in these issues? RobertApril 4, 2015 11:57 AM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #2 Howell's art looks more suited to a child's coloring book. Could they really not find a better artist for this series? What about Mark Bright, Ron Wilson, or Paul Neary? Hardly superstars but better than this. ChrisWApril 4, 2015 11:56 AM Excalibur #9-11 I can make out Sneezy, Doc, Dopey, Harpo, Chico, Ringo and his other brother Darryl. mikrolikApril 4, 2015 11:50 AM Punisher #22-23 Interesting bit of trivia: Scully actually went on to be the first boss in the Capcom Punisher arcade game. Erik BeckApril 4, 2015 9:40 AM Nova #19 Yeah, Blackout as written here could have easily just been forgotten. But Roger Stern will do a very good job of actually developing over the course of his run on the Avengers. Luke BlanchardApril 4, 2015 8:15 AM Marvel Spotlight #32 On the other hand, Brian Cronin argues at http://goodcomics.blogspot.com.au/2005/12/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-28.html that Spider-Woman's origin was borrowed from the reported early intended origin of Wolverine. Luke BlanchardApril 4, 2015 7:28 AM Marvel Spotlight #32 Possibly she was called Arachne here so Marvel could still use the story if it lost the race to trademark the Spider-Woman name. I can't recall if I've read this somewhere. Sometimes counterpart characters have the same powers as their originals, but in other cases the creators partly differentiate them (as with the post-CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS Supergirl and Superboy). Spider-Woman has some of the same powers as Spidey, but her venom-blasts and air gliding build on aspects of spiders that Spider-Man doesn't reflect. Small spiders fly using a technique called ballooning. (Wikipedia has a page on it.) The MARVEL SPOTLIGHT origin is probably a conscious inversion of Spidey's. He's a human who gained spider characteristics. Here Spider-Woman is a spider who gained human characteristics. Perhaps when the character was being brainstormed someone facetiously suggested making her a spider bitten by a radioactive human, and the origin grew out of that. A similar inversion was used in the Spider-Ham origin. BerendApril 4, 2015 6:48 AM Damage Control #2 In the Netherlands mini series like these were often cut up and used as back-up strips for other comics. So I had a collection of Spectacular Spider-Man and got this series thrown in. Picked up my copy to compare translation to your scans of the original. Oddly enough most of the stuff with the mayor is still in there (It helps that he explains who he is in his first panel), but the line about affirmative action is missing. That bit on Wikipedia sounds like someone is just trying to describe his appearance here in a manner that Wikipedia won't label as lacking notability. Or maybe it comes from an Official Handbook entry? Luis DantasApril 4, 2015 6:46 AM Marvel Spotlight #32 The dye is so darned effective that I would not find it excessive if a continuity implant revealed that it is nanotechnological in nature or something. Jessica is just inexperienced enough at this point that the thought balloon would not be out of place; for all she knows of the world hair dye is supposed to be permanent. Maybe she was given this wonder dye by the High Evolutionary, HYDRA or even SHIELD. Ataru320April 4, 2015 6:35 AM Marvel Spotlight #32 I figured that since I did the same thing with Natasha in her "evolution" of her hair from first appearance to classic look and this was talked about recently, it seems worthwhile to do the same thing for Jessica. (at least I'm not doing Betty Ross...) With that said, here's what I got: -Marvel Spotlight 32: Jessica is a brunette BerendApril 4, 2015 6:29 AM Damage Control #3 When She-Hulk is complaining about facing lame-o's who haven't even figured out their name is looking very Larsen-y. The jokes about the 4th wall, DeFalco and certainly the one about She-Hulk shaving her legs were totally lost to me when I first read this. Nathan AdlerApril 4, 2015 5:07 AM Excalibur #9-11 Anyone want to hazard a guess at who the other members of the London branch of the Hellfire Club surrounding evil Courtney and Nigel are? Nathan AdlerApril 4, 2015 4:58 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 @Walter: I agree with you about Pierce, and it was interesting that upon his returning to the Reavers he has an absolute mad-on for Wolverine. So is the pure obsession with punishing Wolvie Pierce-driven or Shadow King driven? If SK, was it payback for X-Men: True Friends? And the arm of Pierce's Wolvie slashed was his cybernetic one, which would not seem to be a big a deal as his slicing and dicing the other Hellfire Club mercenaries. So I'd suggest Pierce's lust for vengeance on Wolverine is actually the Shadow King's, wouldn't you? Walter "In Error" LawsonApril 4, 2015 4:04 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 My mistake: Pierce did get his arm slashed by Wolverine in #132. I should have remembered that. Walter LawsonApril 4, 2015 3:40 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Pierce does say that all the Reavers have felt Wolverine's claws, yet I dont recall Pierce himself ever getting cut in any stories we've seen--so perhaps there is an untold tale here. Two more pieces of evidence for Pierce as a Shadow King agent/puppet. First, even as a kid I wondered what was up with his purple cloak and necklace: his costume looks more like something a sorcerer would wear than the 18th century costumery of the Hellfire Club, let alone businessman ir even supervillain attire. Second, the uncontrollable lust Pierce exhibits toward Deathstrike here and in upcoming issues is strikingly similar to Lian Shen's enhanced libido after the Shadow King has turned her to the dark side. I think the parallel is another clue, rather than just more of Claremont's usual. fnord12April 4, 2015 1:03 AM Fantastic Four #1-10 Belatedly answering Erik's first question (and Erik probably knows this by now since i gave a similar answer on Amazing Fantasy #15, but just for anyone else coming along): when i have comics in trades like i do for these issues i try to not break them up, so the idea is that events here are happening concurrently with other events in the 1962 category. I was less inclined to cut up trades when they were sequential when i started than i am now, and if i were reviewing these issues now i definitely would have cut up the trade. One downside to doing it now is that i can't transfer comments to new entries, so the comments here would have to all remain on whichever isues i keep this entry associated with. But i may still come back and do it at some point. In the meantime just think of these issues as happening at the same time as some of the entries that follow. The Hulk comic may be a special case anyway. Even though by issue #10 of this series we learn that there is a Marvel Comics within the Marvel universe, that might not have been applicable by issue #5, and we might write off the appearance of the Hulk comic as a topical pop culture reference (i.e. it could have just as easily been a Superman comic or something). fnord12April 4, 2015 12:54 AM Avengers West Coast #54 You're right Mark. That was a Giganto too, and the first (in the MU) to be given that name. This creature is called Giganto in this story, but i believe it's the first time it is given a name. Byrne previously used the creature in FF #264 and didn't use a name for it then. I've now separated out the tags for the two Gigantos. Thanks! Mark DrummondApril 4, 2015 12:38 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 In Comics Interview #76(10/89) Silvestri states that Claremont was definitely the one who put all the skimpier costumes on the women, and the interviewer makes repeated comments about Claremont constantly putting women into "panties and lace". Silvestri also stated that Claremont wrote way too much dialogue that could fit on his pages, and Marc would delete a big chunk of it. Mark DrummondApril 4, 2015 12:33 AM Avengers West Coast #54 Wasn't Giganto the whale-monster the Sub-Mariner controlled in FF#4? Is this monster actually called Giganto in this issue? Mark DrummondApril 4, 2015 12:13 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 I have to wonder if Claremont wasn't being pressured by editorial on some of these things--"more lady ninjas, they're popular" "more Frank Miller riffs" "no more smoking for Wolverine as it's a bad example to set" "more butt" etc. david banesApril 4, 2015 12:06 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 I was really liking Betsy as the armored team psychic than the ninja. DermieApril 3, 2015 11:20 PM Amazing Spider-Man #327 Are we sure this is MJ and not Medusa?! Her hair is so high on top of her head in some of those panels it looks like she could be hiding a second skull underneath it or something! And I see we're at Flash Thompson's "can't-keep-it-in-his-pants/desperate-for-love" phase where he had a different girlfriend in every issue--and they're all awful! Flash must have signed up for that discount online dating service: Bottom Of The Barrel Of Fish... MichaelApril 3, 2015 11:12 PM Damage Control #2 Dermie, I think that might be intentional- the idea might be that John thought Ray was intending to sexually harass Robin and was "turning the tables". MichaelApril 3, 2015 10:53 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 If it makes Mark more comfortable, I'll be more careful in my choice of words in the future. MichaelApril 3, 2015 10:47 PM Avengers West Coast #54 I always thought it was weird when Jan said that she couldn't carry Hank to safety. She was able to carry Absorbing Man a short distance in Avengers 275. MichaelApril 3, 2015 10:40 PM Punisher War Journal #12-13 This is the only story where Bushwacker is said to be working for the Marauders. It doesn't seem to match up with the eventual Dark Beast explanation as to why the Marauders killed the Marauders. MegaSpiderManApril 3, 2015 8:42 PM Punisher War Journal #12-13 This issue, I assume, is why Bushwhacker was in the Punisher arcade game. A reason, at least. david banesApril 3, 2015 8:05 PM Avengers West Coast #54 Hey what do Giganto and older Gamera have in common? They're both far too light for their weight. Gamera was 60 meters/196 feet and was only 80 tons where Showa Godzilla was smaller and over 20,000 tons. Iron Man is going to need a few dozen Hulkbuster armors to lift Giganto I think. BillApril 3, 2015 7:29 PM Amazing Spider-Man #328 Spider-Man punching the Hulk into orbit! I was in, maybe 9th grade at the time, and that was probably the coolest comic book moment to me to that point in time. Luis DantasApril 3, 2015 6:52 PM Avengers West Coast #54 It is a bit surprising that Iron Man does not recognize Giganto. He was, after all, very public back in Fantastic Four #1, and it should be easy to remember monsters of his size, or at least to remember that they were met early on the age of heroes. DermieApril 3, 2015 6:47 PM Damage Control #2 I realize John is supposed to be intimidating in that panel of him and Ray...but honestly, it looks more to me like John is sexually harassing him. Take the dialogue out of that scene and tell me that it doesn't look like John is about to kiss him... Luis DantasApril 3, 2015 6:45 PM Punisher War Journal #12-13 Oh, I see. Thanks! fnord12April 3, 2015 6:40 PM Punisher War Journal #12-13 They had Loki bribe the newscaster to mess with Bushmaster's head in that TV scan i posted. Now that he's reporting on Bushmaster's failure, i assume they're having him killed. Luis DantasApril 3, 2015 6:20 PM Punisher War Journal #12-13 Any ideas about what that line on the last scan about the retirement of the newscaster might mean? fnord12April 3, 2015 5:32 PM Damage Control #2 Yeah, i was going to mention it when we find out what's going on with him in issue #4. ;-) Until then it's not clear who he's reporting to or what's going on. He's also really not that interesting a character (here or in Ceremony). MichaelApril 3, 2015 5:17 PM Damage Control #3 This issue is really the first time Robbie shows a sense of humor- at the time I thought it out of character but it soon became his default characterization. MichaelApril 3, 2015 5:14 PM Damage Control #2 Fnord, I'm surprised you didn't make a bigger deal out of Mickey Souris's appearance. In She-Hulk:Ceremony, he was a sorcerer- Carlton's apprentice. And Carlton was running the company. In this limited series Souris seems to be doing everything himself and shows no magical powers. I suppose the idea is that after Carlton's defeat at the end of She-Hulk: Ceremony, Souris lost his magical powers and took over the day-to-day running of the company but that could have been more clear. pst1993April 3, 2015 3:28 PM General Comments When I saw all they did in the mini-series The Marvels Project, I knew it was coming. In the Young Allies 70th Anniversary Special one-shot celebrating 70 years of Marvel, it was revealed that a lot of the Golden Age Timely Comics were wartime propaganda to boost morale. These stories didn't happen the way they did. They just got the basics right. Due to this, they did other series of the 2010s like Captain America Patriot (chronicles The Patriot's time as Captain America), the 70th anniversary one-shot specials of Marvel Mystery Comics, Miss America Comics, USA Comics and All-Winners. Erik BeckApril 3, 2015 12:38 PM Marvel Team-Up #69-70 This issue highlights what is both great and annoying about Claremont. He makes great use of personalities here - I love the interaction between Thor and Spider-Man. Thor has always had a warmer relationship with Spider-Man than any of the other Avengers and it helps show why Thor would offer him membership in Avengers #221. On the other hand, things get left dangling and sometimes dealt with off-panel. For instance, the last time we actually saw Alex and Lorna, they were still mind-controlled. Yes, we heard from Moira that they had recovered and gone to Muir Island, but it seems like that should have been shown. And Beast reacts to Lorna's phone call, but then abandons Lorna and heads off to find the X-Men. But these issues simply highlight the awesomeness of Byrne's art. I love the image of Spidey hanging on to the hammer for dear life. ChrisWApril 3, 2015 12:20 PM Doctor Strange #13 Comics, at least American comics, weren't known for their wide range of coloring or paper stock, and Marvel was hardly leading the way, so I'd put most of those problems down to the colorists trying to figure out what they were doing. I'd also agree that Guice's art looks a bit posed and stilted, but I'd forgotten how good it was. As much as anything, it's trying to bring a sense of realism into a comic book about the master of the mystic arts. Luis DantasApril 3, 2015 11:36 AM Spider-Woman #48-49 An early example of one of Ann Nocenti's most unusual trademarks: she seems to rarely write a story that does not have some sort of glaringly disfunctional relationship to which people are oblivious when they should not be. Much as Marv Wolfman hardly ever fails to create romantic subplots. fnord12April 3, 2015 9:49 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 @Walter: thanks for pointing out that Claremont is doing a Frank Miller thing here. That explains a few things. Looking at Psylocke's dream sequence as a preview of (intended) upcoming arcs is interesting too, and i may have to come back and expand on the scenes here when i get to those stories. @Nathan: I don't have a dog in a "Did Claremont or Byrne write a better Mandarin?" fight, but as i mention in the entry, the status quo for the Mandarin from this issue comes from David Michelinie & Bob Layton. Not saying that Claremont didn't do a nice job running with it. @Mark: I agree there's potentially a thin line between slut-shaming and calling out creators for gratuitous sexualization of female characters, but Michael's comments are clearly criticizing a writer for using a bad trope, and it doesn't seem like he's crossing a line to me. I agree we can all try to choose our words more carefully (me included). fnordlash12April 3, 2015 7:56 AM Moon Knight #10 Maybe someone got confused doing a quick flip-through of Captain America #342 where Fer-De-Lance gets pushed into a computer and fried right before Coachwhip shows up. But honestly, if you're going to be a super-villain you can't just have whips. Electrifying them up is the least you can do. MichaelApril 3, 2015 7:45 AM Moon Knight #10 Were Coachwhip's whips ever shown to be electrified before this? fnord12April 3, 2015 7:40 AM Doctor Strange #13 That's correct. It's like flexographics on steroids. Also true of a few other comics including Moon Knight, Punisher War Journal, & Cloak & Dagger. $1.50 cover price. A credits page instead of an ad on the inside front cover. Nathan AdlerApril 3, 2015 7:36 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 @Michael: Where did Claremont confirm this? MichaelApril 3, 2015 7:29 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 Yeah, Walter, Claremont HAS confirmed that Alex was originally supposed to be a freedom fighter. Luke BlanchardApril 3, 2015 6:10 AM Ka-Zar Quarterly #2-3 / Marvel Tales #30 (Angel) The GCD tells me the X-MEN back-ups were 5 pages. The Angel/Dazzler stories were 11, so they're too long to have been intended for those slots. But they're also too short to have been intended for the lead slots in the break-up period, which were 15. 11 pages was the length of the features in the split-books just before they were spun off into their own titles. But only right at the end, beginning with issues on sale Oct. 1967; before that they were usually split 12/10 for a couple of years. When ASTONISHING TALES and AMAZING ADVENTURES started in 1970 their features had 10 pages. The point that throws me is the fact that there are three instalments. I doubt it was normal to produce multiple instalments of a feature that didn't have a firm slot, and I doubt Lee would have assigned a regular slot to the Angel without testing the waters first. He's too weak a character. The first solution I can suggest is an elaboration of fnord's: the story was created as a two-part lead story for X-MEN #49-#50. That would account for 30 pages, or 29 if the splash of the second part was dropped. The extra pages would be the new openings and closes needed to make the story work as a three-parter. Arguably, the presence of Fred Duncan associates the story with the break-up period. And the story matches Marvel Girl's description of Warren in #48 as a roving agent. He wasn't otherwise shown in that role. On this theory the original pages were done in 1968 and the new ones in 1970. It might be possible to spot shifts in Tuska's style between the old and new pages, or the presence of a different inker. My second solution is the instalments were originally a single story created for MARVEL SUPER-HEROES. I can imagine Lee doing "The Angel" there; he did "Medusa". This would explain why it wasn't by the regular X-creators. Perhaps Martin Goodman wanted Lee to do an "Angel" story because the Golden Age Angel was long-running. The catch is the story is too long: 31 pages if one discounts the splashes of the second and third parts. The longest MARVEL SUPER-HEROES story was the 25 page Medusa one, and most of the others were 20 or 22. (The Doom one was 24 and the first Captain Marvel one 15.) One can make the theory work by the supposition that the original story ended with the storyline not resolved, like the Black Knight and Guardians of the Galaxy ones,(1) and extra pages were added to resolve it. The remaining possibility I can suggest is the instalments were created for a planned giant title like WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS, which had a mix of old and new material in its early issues. But this theory runs into the three instalments objection, and the longer new stories in WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS were 10 pages. The Hercules story in KA-ZAR QUARTERLY #1 was also 11 pages. It was apparently created close to its appearance, as it features the Avengers line-up Goliath (Clint Barton), the Black Panther, the Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and the Vision. That places it after the return of Wanda and Pietro in AVENGERS #75. The issue came out the same month as AVENGERS #78.(2) Another date tell is the author, Allyn Brodsky, who according to the GCD began writing for Marvel in 1969. But the Angel stories could have been created earlier than the Hercules one. The other Marvel Siegel story from the period listed at the GCD is the "Gunhawk" story from WESTERN GUNFIGHTERS #1, 1970. But this could also have been an inventory story, so it doesn't settle when Siegel again briefly wrote for Marvel. On the second page of the instalment in KA-ZAR #2 the Angel thinks "once, this would've been by cue to alert the entire X-Men team for action.../ but every so often, I get the bug to go it solo!" This actually sets the story either before or after the break-up period, because it implies he could call them. But the dialogue could have been altered, and arguably the "once' statement would more naturally match with a statement that those days are over. Such a line would be consistent with the story's having been created during the break-up period or after X-MEN #66. (1) Most of the MARVEL SUPER-HEROES stories didn't end on out-and-out cliffhangers. Nathan AdlerApril 3, 2015 2:49 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 @Walter: Ooh, John Garrett as another Reaver (potential;) Speaking of which, just why did Donald Pierce hate Wolverine so much? I understand the Hellfire mercenaries, but not the White Bishop! And yes, the Psylocke direction is odd, first the Crystal of Ultimate Vision makes her see herself as Jocasta, then Gateway makes her see herself as a Reaver. Then she becomes Lady Mandarin, a name reminiscent of Lady Deathstrike. When Longshot arrives in the Danger Room, Warlock notes the goop her arrives in to be analogous to the transmode virus, so were the bionic eyes Mojo gave her spreading some cybernetic virus through her system? Mark BlackApril 3, 2015 2:14 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 When it's essentially a bunch of men commenting on these changes, I'd prefer to steer entirely away from phrasings such as "slutty bad girl". Walter LawsonApril 3, 2015 2:01 AM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 Claremont is riffing in Frank Miller, with Wolvie and Jubilee as Dark Knight Batman and Carrie Kelly Robin--which is why Jubilee is dressed that way--as well as with Psylocke as Elektra. And the Hand as the Hand, plus I've wondered if the Reavers, especially Bonebreaker's crew, dont owe something to the cyborgs in Elektra: Assassin. I always presumed Mojo and Spiral were real. Like Nathan, I've been wondering if the Shadow King, partly through Gateway, manipulated Psylocke into sending the X-Men through the Siege, with the idea that they would be more easily corrupted once they emerged. I think it's unlikely, but possible. Claremont has been depicting Psylocke as a frustrated action junkie throughtout his run, notably in the annual where they encounter Horde. The scenes of Psylcke encountering the post-Siege X-Men in her mind may indicate what Claremont originally planned, before editorial interference changed his plans. The Colossus and Rogue scenarios play out pretty much like this, and the Dazzler one is close, if not exact. Havok is the big change: did Chris intend him to be a freedom fighter rather than a Magistrate? EHHApril 3, 2015 1:39 AM Strange Tales #178-181 I imagine that readers of the day who were confused by the clown issue probably didn't know that it was Jim Starlin's thinly veiled criticism of Marvel management. Speaking of which, "diamonds among the garbage". Apparently Starlin shares the same opinion about his book as you do, fnord12. ;) cullenApril 3, 2015 1:11 AM Marvel Comics Presents #18 (Christmas) For those curious, the Marvel Appendix gives citations for the previous appearances of the Willie Lumpkin side-characters: http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/ghostocp.htm The appearances are from the 1950s Stan Lee comic strip featuring Lumpkin; but they were reprinted in Marvel Age so they count as "comic book appearances" - to some, at least! cullenApril 3, 2015 12:51 AM Doctor Strange #13 I *think* at this point Strange was using a different paper stock and possibly a different color process than the majority of the Marvel titles? It might have some relevance to the pink-red woman. MichaelApril 3, 2015 12:15 AM Doctor Strange #13 Note that this issue puts a different perspective on Kaluu's claim during Gillis's run that he had noble intentions when the Ancient One opposed him- if he was working with Varnae, then his intentions were probably not so pure. RobertApril 2, 2015 11:42 PM Fantastic Four #274 Love Byrne's art but Alan Gordon is not a great match for him. Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 11:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 @Chris: Mandarin's portrayed much better here by Claremont than Byrne's version which is very much an archetypal supervillain in his blue battlesuit. This take is something quite different and, dare I say it, more fascinating. Apart from a confrontation in the third part, Mandarin's traditional battle armour, which looks like an Oriental stereotype is eschewed for a snazzy business suit, bringing the character up to date. Rather than playing into Western stereotypes about the East, it acknowledges that Chinese power is increasingly modern and economical. Matsuo contextualises the Mandarin's status quo: "Before the century is done, Lord, Hong Kong will revert to Chinese sovereignty," he explains. "Yet even now, winds of change blow from the Gobi to the South China Sea. The Middle Kingdom is in ferment, the old men in Beijing have broken faith with their people, their world will end with their lives." ChrisApril 2, 2015 11:25 PM Moon Knight #10 I like Killer Shrike and was pleased he got some respect here. Still, this is an odd villain combination. ChrisApril 2, 2015 11:17 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 The quality of X-Men had been slowly declining since the end of Inferno. With this set of issues, it begins its steep decline. I never really liked Psylocke and making her some Asian assassin was so incomprehensible, that I stopped caring. I also thought it lame that Mandarin was not shown to be a supreme badass. Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 10:56 PM Wolverine #4-8 Might the tentacled monster suggest an N'Garai cairn;) Morgan WickApril 2, 2015 10:15 PM West Coast Avengers #14-15 "But souls for lives lost its charm for me, sometime after the first two million, so I've been very creative with yours!" What do you know? Steve Engelhart was laying the groundwork for One More Day twenty years before the fact! Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 9:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 @Michael: Prior to telepathically cajoling the remaining X-Men through the Siege Perilous, Colossus theorises that Psylocke's actions aren't her own as far back as Uncanny X-Men #250. Her hallucinations under reprogramming by the Hand lend some credence to this assertion. Luis DantasApril 2, 2015 9:30 PM Spider-Woman #48-49 The wig was a regular part of her costume early on, demonstrably as of #16. Her speech in these issues imply that at some point she chose to switch to a costume that showed her natural hair (except that she was not a brunette prior to #1, but never mind). Luis DantasApril 2, 2015 9:28 PM Spider-Woman #16 The wig idea was fairly good. It helped make the distinctive visuals more realistic. It does not explain why Jessica never again had light brown hair after #1, but some mysteries are not to be clarified. Note that as of #48-49 she has switched to an alternate costume without the wig, apparently for some time (she has to rip her own hair short and comments later that the wig wig "still fits"). Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 9:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 Though these issues are often listed as Matsu'o Tsurayaba's first appearance, there is actually a minor ninja named Matsu'o during the Kitty and Wolverine miniseries. That Matsu'o is notable for being the only ninja in the service of Ōgun to survive the miniseries. Early appearance? Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 9:27 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 In Uncanny X-Men #255, the post-Siege Perilous Psylocke who ends up on the private island of Emil Vachon (revealed to have become the base for Matsuo Tsurayaba's branch of the Hand) is still British Elisabeth Braddock. Contrary to what is believed by the general fan population at the time, Psylocke did not emerge from the Siege Perilous in an Anglo-Chinese body (in Uncanny X-Men #255 the post-Siege Perilous Psylocke who ends up on the private island of Emil Vachon is still British Elisabeth Braddock), but as Uncanny X-Men #256 suggests she is metamorphosised into this physiognomy by either the Hand themselves or Spiral and Mojo. It is worth noting, however, that the additional inclusion of Slaymaster, Doug Ramsey, etc. in the scenes from her subconscious in this issue suggest Spiral and Mojo are similarly part of her hallucination and the Hand are working alone. I suspect the reason fans believed Spiral's Body Shoppe had some involvement is the scenes immediately reminded them of Lady Deathstrike transformation in Uncanny X-Men #205. Whatever the case may be, after Claremont left Fabian Nicieza had to complicate the whole plot by revealing Betsy had instead switched minds with a Japanese woman (forgetting the fact that a nationalist like the Mandarin would never put forward someone Japanese to command his criminal empire). I'm interested to know people's thoughts on these issues, and whether you think Spiral and Mojo were involved in Psylocke's transformation into an Anglo-Chinese physiognomy or whether you think it was just the Hand involved and if so how were they able to do this? Further evidence that Claremont didn't intend a complete body-switch when she went from British Betsy to Anglo-Chinese Betsy, occurs through another very important scene in Uncanny X-Men #257. That is, when Wolverine and Lady Mandarin battle in this issue, and he rips off her mask, he makes the comment "That face!" recognising her as Psylocke just before she uses her psychic knife to knock him out. Was he shocked that he recognised her scent but saw a different face, or recognised her as Psylocke but was shocked that her features had become Anglo-Chinese? Or was the scene a self-homage to Kitty Pryde & Wolverine #3 where Wolverine is totally surprised to find out that it's Kitty under Ogun's mask? It seems odd that he wouldn't recognise Betsy until he removed her mask, given her racial physiognomy had changed!? That is, how does he recognise her when her face should be the one way he doesn't?!? However, if he recognised her during the fight and was shocked her racial physiognomy had changed when removing her mask, one would assume Claremont would have had him commenting that it was her before he removed it!? Thoughts? Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 9:17 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 In Uncanny X-Men #255 the post-Siege Perilous Psylocke who ends up on the private island of Emil Vachon (revealed to have become the base for Matsuo Tsurayaba's branch of the Hand) is still British Elisabeth Braddock. MichaelApril 2, 2015 8:52 PM Moon Knight #10 Dixon used the "cops fighting random villains with Reed Richards's technology" bit in Code of Honor 3 too. MichaelApril 2, 2015 8:44 PM Web of Spider-Man #60 As a kid, it never made sense to me why a heart attack was supposed to bother Goliath. West Coast Avengers 1 established that he doesn't have blood anymore. So why should a heart attack bother him? MichaelApril 2, 2015 8:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 Fnord, I always assumed that Spiral and Mojo were real. Remember, the Hand comments that an outside element has entered Betsy's mind.Plus, the sensitive and scuba team die- remember, Mojo's presence often brings death to living things nearby. Plus, Betsy's smile at the end- I assumed the idea was that Mojo and Spiral twisted the spell so that Betsy would be loyal to them and was surprised that they didn't try to use it in their next encounter with the X-Men. This is basically the same problem as with Maddie's dream sequence- Claremont threw in elements that made no sense and that he never bothered to clearly explain- Gateway in Maddie's case, Mojo and Spiral in Betsy's case. MichaelApril 2, 2015 8:01 PM Avengers #312 Fnord, as we'll see later, the crowd was right about Wanda- she HAS become a mutant supremacist. fnord12April 2, 2015 7:43 PM General Comments Thanks, pst1993. If that's the 2006 Joe Casey/Joe Weston series, it's already listed on the What's Missing page. pst1993April 2, 2015 7:24 PM General Comments Hey fnord, there's a continuity fill-in mini-series called Fantastic Four First Family. It takes place right after they got their powers for the first two issues and then it takes place after Fantastic Four #1 for the rest of the mini-series. fnord12April 2, 2015 6:44 PM Moon Knight #10 @Robert - you know, i didn't even give the original Ringer a 2. But since you mentioned it, i've gone ahead and given both a 2. But only because i'm rounding up! DermieApril 2, 2015 6:22 PM Moon Knight #10 Killer Shrike gets a typical boobs-and-butt pose in that first panel...and the odd thing is it actually looks fairly natural! Normally when you put male characters in poses that are typically given to female characters in exploitative art it looks weird. Luis DantasApril 2, 2015 6:00 PM Moon Knight #10 Coachwhip's costume is truly weird. Looks entirely like something a stripper would wear. She even uses and then discards a trenchcoat over it. Luis DantasApril 2, 2015 5:53 PM Doctor Strange #13 The art is distracting, but the coloring of Sara and Imei is even more so. Even early Master of Kung Fu did not have quite this bad color choices. RobertApril 2, 2015 5:50 PM Moon Knight #10 Shouldn't Ringer II's first appearance warrant at least a 2 in the historical significance rating? I mean, he's a jobber yeah but he still pops up from time to time even to the present day. Luis DantasApril 2, 2015 5:32 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 Such weak plot and painful storytelling. It feels like a stream of unconnected scenes from a not particularly meaningful narcisistic dream. Were I still reading the X-Men regularly at this point in time, I would hold doubts of whether Claremont knew what story he wanted to tell. In some ways this is worse than the Inferno issues. fnord12April 2, 2015 5:11 PM Captain America #238-239 Thanks, Ataru. I've merged the tags. Ataru320April 2, 2015 4:42 PM Captain America #238-239 Just noticed you put "Steven Tuval" and "The Mind-Master" as two tags when they're one and the same. I guess though he really did have nothing to do with all the hippies moved out to the suburbs and getting jobs by the late 70s, though... Dave BApril 2, 2015 3:40 PM Fantastic Four annual #16 I agree that the art is pretty bad here. I've never cared for Ditko's art, though like you say, he's pretty good with the abstract stuff. Ataru320April 2, 2015 1:15 PM Uncanny X-Men #256-258 OK, this has to be said: -Psylocke gaining her psychic knife: good Erik BeckApril 2, 2015 12:28 PM Avengers #167-168, 170-177 One of my all-time favorite Avengers storylines. It suffers after Perez leaves but the fight in the last issue is still pretty impressive. I like that we finally get Simon's safari jacket (my favorite of his costumes - he's too often had terrible costumes). I also love the idea in that first splash panel of the problems of being a mutant at times - imagine how much shampoo Hank must go through! I still think my favorite moment is when Hawkeye ties up Gyrich and eats breakfast (which will come back to haunt Hawkeye and be mentioned in the hearing in 190-191). fnord12April 2, 2015 8:47 AM Punisher #28 It was implied at least as early as issue #1 of this series that he seizes cash (from that issue: "There's a strongbox filled with cash and a kilo of coke. The coke goes into the East River on the way to my warehouse in Jersey."). And it's more explicit in issue #16 when the Punisher and friends raid one of the Kingpin's operations and Vernon Brooks says, "We've got enough moolah here to bankroll an army!". I didn't track this specifically so there may be earlier or more direct statements. He's never been a mercenary despite, as Mark noted recently, the fact that he was called a "hired assassin" on the cover of his first appearance. Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 6:04 AM Fantastic Four #74-77 Franklin is destined to control the Marvel Universe: the Beyonders designed mankind for this moment (as implied in F4 #319), so it makes sense that higher beings would take a keen interest in the birth. So where are they? This page may have the answer. Why is the doctor so keen that Reed gets back before the birth? Men were not allowed to be present at the birth (see Annual 6), but Reed had to be back in order to save the baby's life. If that is what the doctor means, how could he know that? Thoughts! The Stranger? And hey now we know where the name for the title Micronauts came from, Lee & Kirby! Nathan AdlerApril 2, 2015 5:09 AM Fantastic Four annual #16 Almost nobody likes this annual, but it's an absolute treasure trove. Dorn comes from a society that looks down on all time and space and tries to fix things: they have incredibly high standards of dedication to truth, and it's all about synergy, making things work together. I think the issue was just too advanced, too different for people to get a handle on. I do wonder how much influence Ditko (the artist) had on it, as it reads like something he wrote, yet is credited to Ed Hannigen. JSfanApril 2, 2015 4:06 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #159 This issue has a nice old-school feel to it. Quite an enjoyable read. Walter LawsonApril 2, 2015 1:01 AM Avengers #312 Vision tried phasing his arm into Blob in Avengers Annual 10 as well. That time it was painful for Blob, but otherwise had no effect. DermieApril 2, 2015 12:31 AM Avengers #312 Pyro may have been giving up a bit too easily there...but he's not the only one whose powers are getting under-estimated there. We've seen Wasp's sting blasts blow holes through brick walls before--Pyro gets hit with *two* blasts from Jan in that panel, and somehow is still conscious and able to run away! The only explanation I can figure is that she is seriously pulling her punches so that he'll be awake for interrogation... MichaelApril 1, 2015 11:32 PM Punisher #29 But Chris, in Avengers Spotlight 28, it's a plot point that the Thinker wanted nothing to do with Loki's plan because he predicted it would fail. MichaelApril 1, 2015 11:11 PM Avengers #312 Fnord, you left out the major clue that it's Loki- the "lackey" remarks that Hank and Jan were present "at the genesis of my shame". I remember thinking "It's gotta be Loki! And he's doing this because he's ashamed that he helped create the Avengers!". That line really made it too obvious- did they think we were all 8-year olds? ChrisApril 1, 2015 10:44 PM Punisher #29 I took the reference to the statistician who is a master at factoring possibilities as a reference that Doom had hired the Mad Thinker. I can't think of anyone else who fits the bill. Since Loki is serving everyone, it doesn't make sense that the Kingpin would ask who he is. But what do I know? I haven't read this is over twenty years! cullenApril 1, 2015 10:38 PM Punisher #28 Has it been explained yet / is it ever explained how Punisher can afford to maintain several warehouses, and rebuild massive high-tech arsenals featuring items with international and sometimes-illegal pedigrees? RyanApril 1, 2015 9:39 PM Avengers #312 It seems this is the heel turn for the Freedom Force. Claremont had a way of making villains become heroes but I like the thought of the Freedom Force being reformed heroes not feeling easy in their roles. BerendApril 1, 2015 7:02 PM Fantastic Four #35 With those pictures next to one another, it looks more like Professor X has popped on a Frankenstein cap. Erik BeckApril 1, 2015 6:04 PM Marvel Team-Up #68 Given that D'Spayre is created by Claremont and Byrne, it's odd that Claremont would use him again immediately after Byrne leaves X-Men. Erik BeckApril 1, 2015 5:45 PM Captain America #222-223,225-227 I'm normally not a fan of retcons, but I'm glad that Stern and Byrne retconned this. Or, since they went back to the original idea, maybe they un-retconned this? BerendApril 1, 2015 5:14 PM Spider-Woman Origin #1-5 I always reckoned that while Hydra started out as a fascist organisation, they eventually turned into a more general, world-conquering organisation, mainly after power for its own sake, 1984 style. As for where their recruits come from... perhaps the recruiters pretend to stand for whatever ideology will strike a chord with people (extreme left, extreme right, nationalist, communist, religious), only for those recruits to be manipulated (or even brainwashed) by the higher echelons? fnord12April 1, 2015 4:49 PM X-Factor #43-50 Jay, just to respond: i have pushed this forward but the placement of all AoV issues remains tentative until i get all the entries in. There are a lot of factors to juggle. Ataru320April 1, 2015 4:41 PM Avengers #312 OK, who switched Avalanche with ROM? Ataru320April 1, 2015 1:11 PM Spider-Woman #1 I'm not sure creatively what having five different writers in her initial run meant for Jessica other than everyone probably washing their hands of her after that original run. While she's the longest lasting of the "female clone" trio, it really does mean it lasted that long mostly on the strength of the character in general than probably writing quality. (by comparison: Ms. Marvel pretty much became a Claremont character, while Shulkie had David Anthony Kraft for her initial run prior to the later adjustments by Stern and Byrne) Luis DantasApril 1, 2015 12:52 PM Spider-Woman #1 Oh yes, it is. To the best of my knowledge that is a detail that has simply been forgotten along the troubled way of Spider-Woman's solo book in the 1970s and 1980s. It went from Marv Wolfman to Mark Gruenwald to Michael Fleisher to Chris Claremont to Ann Nocenti in just fifty issues (unusually for the time), often going through considerable overhauls along the transitions. That meant that things such as her hair and her pheromones were not always kept consistent. Erik BeckApril 1, 2015 12:11 PM Spider-Woman #1 Wait, Jessica Drew doesn't actually have black hair? Is this shown to be true in any other appearance of her? Erik BeckApril 1, 2015 11:43 AM What If? #9 I'm shocked, shocked to discover that Roy Thomas would do a What If story that used random little known characters from before the Silver Age. "Unfortunately the writing isn't very good. Neither is the art." Actually, the art is terrible. The Watcher example just below that comment is simply awful, but yet, not nearly as bad as the drawing of Ike. Erik BeckApril 1, 2015 11:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #109 The splash page has a hilarious bit of Wolverine anxious to get out of Fang's uniform. Really? I know your costume was destroyed in outer space, but there was nothing else you could wear? "Nightcrawler is planning a date with Amanda Sefton, and he invites Colossus to go along" Is that the time where Peter tries to write a letter home and has the awesome line: "Dear Mama and Papa. I am sorry I have not written but my comrades and I were busy saving the universe." Also, Nightcrawler is going to see Star Wars in an issue cover-dated 1978. It might be hard for people to comprehend now exactly how long Star Wars stayed in theaters, but I saw it the first time with my brothers in May of 77 and our whole family went for my sister's 2nd birthday in August of 78. Ah, the days before VCRs when films stayed in theaters forever if they were successful. Just simply a great, great issue. Especially the way Byrne draws Peter's transformation mid-punch. TCPApril 1, 2015 9:56 AM New Warriors #1 Was just coming to rant about my distaste for Night Thrasher, but, unsurprisingly, I see that's well-traveled territory. Carry on. fnord12April 1, 2015 8:23 AM Doctor Strange #12 In it's one of the scans above. She says that the AoV cabal learned that she was on Earth, and the footnote says since Thor #403. We could interpret that as neglecting to mention a minor inconvenient banishment to another dimension if necessary, but i will try to place the Wonder Man story after this issue. MichaelApril 1, 2015 12:11 AM Doctor Strange #12 Fnord, does the wording of the issue imply that Amora's been on Earth CONTINUOUSLY since Thor 403? Because the Enchantress is the villain in the Wonder Man stories in Marvel Comics Presents 38-45 and at the end of that story she's banished to (probably) another dimension. So if that's the case, Marvel Comics Presents 38-45 has to take place after this story. NickMarch 31, 2015 6:12 PM Hulk Smash Avengers #4 Car-crash of an issue. This is Fixit, probably the weakest Hulk of them all, and he more than holds his own against a powerful team of Avengers, including a guy whose strength rivals that of Thor? Iron Man can't even budge Fixit? Really? Terrible, biased writing and meh art ... at least the previous issues in the mini-series made some effort to show the Avengers in a good light. NickMarch 31, 2015 5:34 PM Thor #411-412 I LOVE that cover for #411 ... just a basic design that works fantastically and Frenz drew a surprisingly good Juggernaut. Always did. Michael: point take about Busiek and Thor's portal manipulation and I respect Kurt for making the effort to explain why Thor didn't use this power more often. Honestly, though, I think he overthought it. To me, the reasoning is Thor simply forgets to do it most of the time. He's not a total idiot but he thinks with his fists a lot of the time. Thor also has supreme confidence in his own brute strength to get the job done against anyone short of the Hulk and he likes to test his strength. He's a warrior god after all. He sees this sort of thing as the cowardly way out. It's also not an instant thing he can do, it takes a while to conjure up, so it's not a great tactic in pitched battle; when Thor tried the same thing against Count Nefaria, the Count was able to block the portal with a building. In fact, the result of the Odinson teleporting away Juggy gives another, even better reason for his avoiding use of this power ... potentially endangering innocent lives. Like I say, I give lots of credit to Kurt Busiek for thinking this through and attempting to rationalise why Thor doesn't rely on portals more often but we're talking about probably the most powerful superhero in the Marvel Universe here, with the possible exception of the Silver Surfer. When he waves Mjolnir, he can do pretty much whatever he wants. Walter, the rematch is a barnstormer and a pastiche of the first Hulk/Thor fight from 'Avengers'. It proves that Thor's every bit as strong as Juggernaut but it's Cain's durability and forcefield that makes him unstoppable. I think Fixit would've been WAY outmatched against Juggernaut but the Professor/Juggernaut fights later on were interesting. kvetoMarch 31, 2015 4:04 PM Iron Man #244 The answer to his problems wasnt a new suit of armour. The answer should have been "MURDER CHAIR"! kvetoMarch 31, 2015 3:54 PM Captain America #366 You should see the next panel where he is forced to carry out the Voices command....actually, you shouldn't. nobody should:-) Erik BeckMarch 31, 2015 12:39 PM Marvel Two-In-One #44 "And the story has a Zeus Ex Machina ending." I can't decide if that's brilliant or if I want to slam my head on the desk. Mark DrummondMarch 31, 2015 11:26 AM Iron Man #244 Editorial interference with this issue caused Michelinie to quit the book. Higher-ups at Marvel demanded that editor Howard Mackie cut 4 pages(why, and what was on those 4 pages wasn't revealed when this was reported in Amazing Heroes #172) which Mackie resisted, but by the time he gave in there was no time to notify the creators. Michelinie quit, but stuck around until #250 to finish his storyline. Mark DrummondMarch 31, 2015 11:11 AM Fantastic Four #335-336 Dan Mishkin was pretty much an exclusive DC writer, I don't know if he did anything for Marvel. StevenMarch 31, 2015 9:27 AM Amazing Spider-Man #327 I became a reader of Spider-Man's adventures at this point. I agree that Eric Larsen is a better fit for Spider-Man than McFarlane. Erik BeckMarch 31, 2015 7:16 AM Doctor Strange #11 Chris, we could just consider you saying "I'm surprised that wasn't an X-book." That works just as well and not only covers Mikhail but the ridiculous concept of a third Summers brother. :) JSfanMarch 31, 2015 5:01 AM Captain America #366 Oh, this is the book where Captain America wanks. :P kvetoMarch 31, 2015 2:03 AM Captain America #365 I actually prefer this portrayal of the skull, as one who mistrusts his fellow cabal members but wants to be a part of the group in case they succeed. Much better than Bryne's portrayal that he (and the others) each naively believe themselves to be in charge. ChrisMarch 30, 2015 11:31 PM Doctor Strange #11 Erik, colossus' brother was first mentioned way back in X-Men 99 or 100. However, I think you are right that his brother as a mutant (come back from the dead) was after Claremont. My comment was in jest, but regardless of the specifics, this is the type of thing Claremont always does. Too bad there is no edit feature, instead I should state that the Viper was Dr Strange's mother. Would that make everyone happy? ;) ChrisMarch 30, 2015 11:24 PM Captain America #365 It is hard to square how this recruitment of the Red Skull makes any sense to Byrne's writing of the Skull in Avengers who is always commenting that this is his own plan and manipulating the others. Just lame. I also hoped to see that some mention was made of the Controller's defeat by Iron Man during the Stark/Armor Wars and show how this has affected the Controller. The Dwyer/Bulanadi team is putting up some great art though. ChrisMarch 30, 2015 11:20 PM Fantastic Four #335-336 I was disappointed at the time there were just lame villain attacks (although I agree with comments that I don't consider all of these villains intrinsically lame, just how they were presented). If they had give one good fight at some point (perhaps setting up a cool battle in earlier issues so it's not a complete slugfest), I would have been fine. MichaelMarch 30, 2015 10:59 PM Fantastic Four #335-336 The correct statistic isn't that there were disproportionate black and Hispanic casualties in Vietnam, it's that there were disproportionate black and Hispanic casualties in Vietnam IN THE INITIAL STAGES OF THE WAR. (In the later stages, there were fewer black and Hispanic casualties, so it evened out.) Erik BeckMarch 30, 2015 9:44 PM 2001: A Space Odyssey #1-10 I was gonna say that the stuff with X-51 in Earth-X now makes sense. But it still doesn't make sense - now I simply know where it all came from. MichaelMarch 30, 2015 9:24 PM Alpha Flight #79-80 Note that Talisman is depicted as two years younger than Heather- in every previous flashback, Heather is at least 6 or 7 years older. MichaelMarch 30, 2015 9:14 PM Fantastic Four #335-336 Note that X-Factor is clearly not back from space at this point and Hydrobase is sunk. That's another argument against placing the end of Atlantis Attacks after X-Factor 51. fnord12March 30, 2015 8:51 PM Captain America #365 Thanks, Michael. Even if i discard all references to days and weeks as temporal, it's still insane amount of books to fit in, especially when considering the New Warriors also have a dependency on UX #255. Let me keep going until i create the entry for Avengers #312 and the X-Men AoV issues and then i'll start reshuffling the X-books best i can. MichaelMarch 30, 2015 8:12 PM Captain America #365 Fnord, the problem with placement of this issue is that the Skull appears as part of the cabal in Wolverine 19. So Wolverine 19 has to take place after this issue. Except that Avengers 312 takes place explicitly after Uncanny X-Men 255, and Avengers 312 takes place shortly after Hank Pym and the Wasp arrive in New York following the events of Avengers West Coast 53. In Avengers West Coast 53, Hank doesn't know about Hydrobase sinking but in issue 366, Hank is examining the Sub-Mariner in the subbasement, just as the Skull is leaving his first meeting with the Cabal. IOW, only a few hours is supposed to take place between the Skull joining the Cabal and Avengers 312 but at least a week takes place between Wolverine 19 and Uncanny X-Men 255. Matthew BradleyMarch 30, 2015 7:50 PM Marvel Spotlight #27 Sorry. I only know what I read in the comics. fnord12March 30, 2015 7:37 PM Marvel Spotlight #27 What am i, a marine biologist and/or expected to have basic literacy skills? Thanks, fixed it. MikeCheyneMarch 30, 2015 7:04 PM Fantastic Four #335-336 You could probably argue that the mind controlling Acts of Vengeance device also subtly made the bad guys really disoriented and easy to defeat since that was (?) the point of Doom's scheme anyway. Anyway, as a kid I was upset that Reed couldn't identify Mad Dog because I owned an Avengers Spotlight issue with him appearing and his name wasn't mentioned there either. Ah, the days before the Internet. Matthew BradleyMarch 30, 2015 7:04 PM Marvel Spotlight #27 For what it's worth, and per your own scan, it's a squid, not an octopus. I've seen people claim that Ryker's creation here is the future Deathlok, which is ludicrous for innumerable reasons. I like this story, but am really curious why Marvel felt the need of a trial balloon for a character whose own book had finally succumbed to poor sales barely a year and a half ago, and was still being featured regularly in not one but two other titles, SVTU and INVADERS. david banesMarch 30, 2015 6:12 PM Fantastic Four #335-336 On the one hand I really do like some of those villains so it's a bit lame so many of them are just nudged aside. Some, like the Beatle, are treaded as jokes for years. Other hand: well they are a corner stone of Marvel comics, Reed is super smart, unlike the Avengers they don't change their team so much so some villains should be easier than others. Pretty much what was said in the last second. kvetoMarch 30, 2015 6:05 PM Fantastic Four #335-336 So, everybody else's villains are way beneath the FF? Lame. Ataru320March 30, 2015 4:27 PM Captain America #366 Amazing: in a few years the Voice goes from a has-been whose first and only appearance in forever was against Ant-Man in the 60s (pre-Wasp)...to one of the most meme-worthy panels outside Joker's obsession with "boners". Some obscure villains would die to get that promotion in notability. kvetoMarch 30, 2015 4:22 PM Amazing Spider-Man #327 I'm actually pretty sure when Jerome was created they looked back and found this guy. They clearly met each other because they recognised each other. He said he was being written out as she was being written in, which implies they were in the same storyline in the soap opera. And are you sure about them not having an affair beyond a bunch of clandestine necking? that's just what MJ wants you to think;-) kvetoMarch 30, 2015 3:39 PM Captain America #366 Hahahahaha! If only you could appreciate it:-) fnord12March 30, 2015 3:34 PM Captain America #366 Oh fine, i added it. So immature! ;-) kvetoMarch 30, 2015 3:27 PM Captain America #365 Namor looks downright scary in some panels. kvetoMarch 30, 2015 3:23 PM Captain America #366 Don't forget the famous "Captain America, I command you to wank!" panel. MikeCheyneMarch 30, 2015 1:46 PM Captain America #366 I LOVE Crossbones; I assume Skull tolerates him because Bones has a sort of childlike fanboyish love for Skull. Crossbones for me was the prototypical "uber cool, wisecracking killer" trope that became a cliche in the late 80s and 90s but completely devoid of any redeemable qualities. Erik BeckMarch 30, 2015 12:12 PM Iron Man #95-100 Nice little Lord of the Rings reference from Stark. Wouldn't have thought Tony would know that in those days pre-films (even pre-Bakshi). Interesting for the MU to have a black senator since there was only one in our universe at the time - Edward Brooke from Massachusetts. Erik BeckMarch 30, 2015 11:58 AM Doctor Strange #11 Chris - correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Claremont leave X-Men several issues before Mikhail was actually brought in? So that really shouldn't be on Claremont. BerendMarch 30, 2015 11:51 AM Fantastic Four #11 "Invisibility alone can be a very dangerous power, if coupled with a weapon and/or some martial arts abilities, but Sue was never developed to be anything along those lines." Well, in the 90's Chris Claremont finally has Sue get some martial arts training from Iron Fist. But that's a long way away! Mark DrummondMarch 30, 2015 11:29 AM Doctor Strange #11 When the vampire-return was previewed in fanzines, the Montesi Formula was called the "Montessori Formula". fnord12March 30, 2015 7:33 AM Iron Man: The Iron Age #1 Thanks Berend. I've pushed it back. Jay DemetrickMarch 30, 2015 3:55 AM X-Factor #43-50 This may need to be moved forward a bit because of Apocalypse's references to what's happening in Acts of Vengeance. He appears in Fantastic Four #335 before this, flying over the city and says in X-Factor #49 (in that scan you posted): "interesting & bizarre Alliances... Magneto and the Red Skull... the Kingpin and Doctor Doom... and the Wizard." Shown on his screens are: top row- Magneto, Mandarin, Kingpin, middle row: Juggernaut, Hobgoblin, Foolkiller (I think?), Doctor Doom, bottom row: Red Skull & Wizard. So this has to take place after they've formed their alliance (specifically Red Skull's interaction with Magneto). Walter LawsonMarch 30, 2015 1:56 AM Thor #411-412 New Warriors aside, this is what all of Acts of Vengeance should have been like. A classic matchup that does credit to the villain, even if he has to lose in the end. And because he has to lose, I'm glad it's thanks only to Thor's banishment power. I forget how the rematch goes, but Thor simply shouldn't be able to beat Juggie in any conventional brawl. Makes me wish Peter David had given us a Juggernaut vs. Grey Hulk fight, too. Erik RobbinsMarch 29, 2015 8:48 PM Doctor Strange #9 Oh, wow, yes he did. I don't want a Heroclix of this version. Though I guess he DOES look more "dragon-y", to go with the name. BerendMarch 29, 2015 8:15 PM Iron Man: The Iron Age #1 I just noticed: you say in the chronological placement that Happy Hogan is not yet hired, yet this story is placed after Tales of Suspense #45. MichaelMarch 29, 2015 6:44 PM Doctor Strange #11 Chris, the difference is that Mikhail was first mentioned less than a year and a half after Colossus was introduced, so we didn't have to wonder why he was never mentioned before. ChrisMarch 29, 2015 6:15 PM Doctor Strange #11 The "brother who no one ever heard of who is now a supernatural creature" is so bad, I'm surprised Chris Claremont is not responsible for it. I'm just surprised he's not a Russian cosmonaut. Retroactively introducing unknown members of the immediate family is always jarring. Thomas could have told the exact same story, but made it less distracting if he just made Victor a cousin to whom Stephen was once close. Then have someone else put Victor in cryogenic suspension rather than the elaborate backstory Thomas used. All the somersaults Thomas must do to make things work in continuity just demonstrates a different approach is needed. I agree that there is something strange about Jackson Guice's art, but in the end I like it. This demonic version of the Hobgoblin is much more appropriate to occult heroes like Strange than Spider-Man, although the power deferential is just too much. BerendMarch 29, 2015 6:10 PM Doctor Strange #9 Man, Dragonus looked a lot cooler in the actual Werewolf by Night story! MichaelMarch 29, 2015 5:19 PM Doctor Strange #11 The spell that makes the Hobgoblin think he's become human again will remain in effect for the next few stories. kvetoMarch 29, 2015 3:30 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #9-10 No word on how the "Black Hand" an all-black organization, kind of a black kung-fu version of the black panthers, suddenly became an all-white gang. kvetoMarch 29, 2015 3:20 PM Iron Fist #15 They might have kept it out because the X-men made such a poor showing against an unpowered kung-fu guy. The Fist basically kicks their butts for pages and pages until numbers tell. Pretty embarassing the way Wolverine boasts about himself in the 3rd person after the way that Fist handed him his head (and would have killed him if not for Nightcrawler) Luis DantasMarch 29, 2015 3:11 PM New Warriors #1 To be fair, these picture make it seem particularly reddish. Seeing Thor #411-#412 or even the cover of this issue makes the brown color more evident. Luis DantasMarch 29, 2015 3:08 PM New Warriors #1 Color perception does vary a lot beyond clinical daltonism. For what it is worth, I would definitely call this costume of Nova brown instead of red, albeit approaching reddish shades. Erik BeckMarch 29, 2015 1:14 PM Iron Fist #15 I agree with Chalm Shraga's comment. I wish they had included this in Classic X-Men. It's the same writer and artist and it fits in perfectly - it also has a number of developments to that team. Annoying to have never read it until now. Erik BeckMarch 29, 2015 1:05 PM Super-Villain Team-Up #14 "Captain America says of Magneto, "From what I heard of his battle with the X-Men, Magneto's more powerful than ever..."." Aside from the question of when Cap Annual #4 takes place, when would the X-Men have had time to let anyone know of their battle? They came rushing back from Scotland, battled Eric the Red, battled Firelord and went right through the Stargate. Did they file a report to the Avengers while flying back from Scotland? fnord12March 29, 2015 12:54 PM New Warriors #1 Yeah, i guess i have to admit that it's really red. But somehow when offset by the yellow highlights it looks brown to me, even though the same thing doesn't happen in reverse for Firestar. Funny thing is that i wrote this entry a while back, then switched gears for a backissue add. Then when i came back to this year and wrote the entry for Thor #411-412 i started writing brown to describe Nova's costume and then caught myself. But i didn't think to re-check this entry. cullenMarch 29, 2015 12:25 PM New Warriors #1 Looks like we're getting into "White and Gold / Blue and Black dress" territory... Erik BeckMarch 29, 2015 9:27 AM Uncanny X-Men #107-108 I'm in agreement with you, fnord. I like Cockrum, but I absolutely love Byrne. This is the start of my favorite writer/artist run on any comic unless you count the Claremont / Jim Lee first three issues of X-Men as a "run". I especially like Byrne's art in the scene with the FF and Avengers. I love when major earth-shattering (or universe-shattering) events actually get reactions from other heroes. It's always so ridiculous when a major event happens and it seems like all the other heroes in the MU are unaware of it. For us who are both Marvel and DC readers, it's easy to spot the Legion of Super Heroes analogies - basically every member of the Imperial Guard has a Legion counterpart. Not surprising, since Cockrum loved designing new costumes when he was on Legion, that he would create a whole Marvel version of them all. Erik BeckMarch 29, 2015 9:15 AM Uncanny X-Men #106 It's double ironic that this wasn't reprinted in Classic. The first, of course, is that Xavier's dark side will come back in the mid-90's and for those who had never read this issue it seemed like a new idea, when in fact, it was clearly grounded in this issue. The second, is that in the first issues of the Dark Phoenix Saga, Scott basically says to Xavier all the same things Banshee says to him here. It's clear that Scott agrees with Banshee, whereas Xavier simply sees this as a form of failure on Scott's part. Two key things that were passed over because this fill-in wasn't included in Classic. david banesMarch 29, 2015 1:14 AM Iron Man #251-252 As to the name swap for a beat, well, I guess to some people all Chemistros look the same. Erik RobbinsMarch 29, 2015 12:13 AM Marvel Comics Presents #82-87 (Firestar) Wow. If they had just had Destiny alive (which, as Michael mentions, the art suggests was originally the case), a huge amount of continuity headaches would just disappear. This does look like it was meant to take place much closer to Firestar's limited series. Walter LawsonMarch 28, 2015 11:55 PM New Warriors #1 Nova's costume looks red to me, rather than brown as the entry says. Is this a matter of color-blindness? John Byrne used to say he thought Iron Fist's green costume was brown. Sorry for the personal question, but seeing Nova's costume referred to as brown twice in the entry brought to mind the Byrne story. fnord12March 28, 2015 3:29 PM New Avengers: Illuminati #3 Yeah, i picked up on that from the this and other questioners. But it's Brevoort's response that is interesting/weird. He's saying that there isn't a contradiction (i think). The only thing i can think is basically what i'd already decided here; that we should just assume that the Beyonder wasn't telling the truth in this issue. kvetoMarch 28, 2015 3:26 PM Thor #411-412 I had the same thought flipping through these issues in the shop: what are these punks doing in my Thor vs Juggernaut fight. kvetoMarch 28, 2015 3:23 PM Avengers West Coast #53 Bryne made IM really strong in his AWC issues. Here he pounds Ironclad a country mile away and next issue he's lifting monsters the size of a city block. kvetoMarch 28, 2015 3:20 PM Iron Man #251-252 Going into this, I was reminded of IM and Wrecker's two panel fight in Secret wars #8. Chemestro's power always felt too comicbooky to be taken seriously. kveto from pragueMarch 28, 2015 3:03 PM Moon Knight #8-9 Well said, Michael. That is what I was going for but I was trying to say it affectionately. (I had also just returned from the pub last night so I were a bit tipsy) Mark, I wasn't intending you to take it as an exact like for like obviously. Just trying to put it in terms which (I presume) are closer to home for you all. I'm just amazed how often discussions of the Flag-smasher transform into discussions on communism. As far as I know, Flag-smasher has never proposed an economic platform of any kind. He denied being a communist in his first appearance and was shocked that he'd be accused of such. As Luis notes, I think he had the ultimate pacifist ideology, militarized. Making him, or at least the idea of him, interesting. As far as I know, this was his first important appearance outside of Captain America , showing how pointless it really is for him to face any villain other than cap. remove the nationalism vs anti-nationalism debate, and he's just another generic terrorist. MichaelMarch 28, 2015 1:55 PM New Avengers: Illuminati #3 Fnord, the point is that in New Avengers 30, Pym is explaining the relationship between the Beyonder and the Beyonders and he says that the Beyonder was a "child unit". That would seem to contradict the "mutant Inhuman" retcon this issue. fnord12March 28, 2015 1:25 PM New Avengers: Illuminati #3 Just putting this out there: http://brevoortformspring.tumblr.com/post/114753082128/oh-my-god-new-avengers-32-the-brotherhood-the I haven't read (the latest) New Avengers #32, but the part about not reading this issue carefully enough is somewhere between interesting and frustrating. I feel like i've been over this issue as much as my little brain can handle, and no one else has come along to say "Wait a minute, you've got it all wrong!" either. Mark DrummondMarch 28, 2015 12:20 PM Thor #221-228 Gerry Conway stated in Comics Interview #75 that he designed Firelord's appearance. Erik BeckMarch 28, 2015 12:19 PM Uncanny X-Men #104-105 Had Polaris revealed her new name to anyone other than yelling it while chasing Storm? Is that the kind of info Moira would have told him? ("Yo, Jamie, Lorna Dane is now called Polaris."). As for Firelord, is there any point where he doesn't show up and screw things up? He has to be one of the most annoying characters in the entire MU. Mark DrummondMarch 28, 2015 12:17 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 Gerry Conway stated in Comics Interview #75 that he came up with the War Journal entries because he didn't think the Punisher was the kind of character that should have thought balloons. Mark DrummondMarch 28, 2015 12:14 PM Amazing Spider-Man #129 Gerry Conway stated in Comics Interview #75 that he had nothing to do with the cover describing the Punisher as a "hired killer". According to Tony Isabella's blog; it was Roy Thomas, not Stan Lee, who changed the name from Assassin to Punisher. Mark DrummondMarch 28, 2015 12:11 PM Wolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection Per Chaykin in Comics Interview #75: backgrounds were done by two members of his studio--Corky Lehmkuhl and Nick DuBois. Erik BeckMarch 28, 2015 12:10 PM Avengers #164-166 How appropriate that Byrne draws the arc here where Django Maximoff first appears and then will be back on the book to deal with the story arc where he arrives. Mark DrummondMarch 28, 2015 12:07 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 Englehart didn't elaborate, but he did state that DeFalco wanted to revert some titles "back to 1964", so I'm guessing he meant the classic Thing look. MichaelMarch 28, 2015 12:04 PM Moon Knight #8-9 I think kveto's argument is that he actually grew up in a Communist country (Czechoslovakia) so he knows more about it than those of us that were raised in the United States or Britain. It's a legitimate argument, as long as you remember that a Ukrainian or a Balt might legitimately have a different view of Communism than a Czech. Mark DrummondMarch 28, 2015 12:02 PM Fantastic Four #334 Englehart didn't elaborate any further. But since Louise was a Marvel editor for several years and Walt wasn't, maybe she had more tolerance for arbitrary directives? Mark DrummondMarch 28, 2015 11:59 AM Moon Knight #8-9 I disagree that white people talking about being black is an apt comparison--nobody is born being a communist; that has to be learned. fnord12March 28, 2015 11:39 AM Hulk #331-333 Thanks, EHH. Added him. Luis DantasMarch 28, 2015 9:55 AM Moon Knight #8-9 Flag-Smasher, as originally conceived by Mark Gruenwald in Captain America #312, had the ultimate pacifist ideology, admitedly mishandled into an schyzoid violent form by some form of PTSD or something. The concept is hard to write correctly, and I fear Gru is just not nearly subtle enough a writer to pull it off. Quite simply, the concept was far better than his writing skills could sustain. Flag-Smasher's behavior becomes self-contradictory even in his first appearance, because the story needs him to be a threat despite his own concept. Which may be why, after nearly a year without touching the character, Gru decided to bring him back in a frankly insane, unrecognizable form in #321. He has been nothing but a gross caricature with inescrutable and probably insane motivations since about halfway into his very first appearance, being reduced to a generic boogeyman leading a generic terrorist group. Such a waste of a fascinating idea. Erik BeckMarch 28, 2015 9:15 AM Fantastic Four #187-188 I actually wondered at first glance if 188 wasn't drawn by Perez. 187 is so clearly him - that panel of Thing lying on the ground is quite good, but the latter issue isn't recognizable as him, at least not to me. EHHMarch 28, 2015 2:05 AM Hulk #331-333 You forgot to add Ramon here. Luke BlanchardMarch 28, 2015 12:31 AM Marvel Two-In-One annual #6 Mark's first point could explain why the Squadron Supreme's American Eagle was renamed Cap'n Hawk in THE AVENGERS #148: the new character was in the works, and the other's name was changed to clear the way for him. But it may be the AVENGERS issue came out too early for this to be the case; it reportedly went on sale in Mar. 1976, so for my theory to be true the new character would have had to have been in the works by early that year. The GCD tells me there had been three previous American Eagles from other companies. (I must tip my hat to Mark again here: I looked this up because of one of his comments on AVENGERS #85-#86.) The first was a Golden Age patriotic hero who appeared in comics from Standard. The second was a Native American warrior who starred in PRIZE COMICS WESTERN in the 50s. Many of the instalments were pencilled by John Severin and inked by Bill Elder. The third was a WWII fighter pilot who briefly appeared in the 60s in Charlton's FIGHTIN' AIR FORCE. Ron Wilson's character somewhat resembles the Prize hero, as he also wore an elaborate war bonnet. But he was a 19th century character and not a superhero. The Bronze Terror, the star of "Real American" in DAREDEVIL COMICS, was a superhero who wore a war bonnet and skull mask and protected Native Americans in the present day. Luke BlanchardMarch 27, 2015 11:52 PM Avengers #85-86 I think the "for burning" names were after THE LADY'S NOT FOR BURNING, a play by Christopher Fry. MichaelMarch 27, 2015 11:21 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 Mark, I'm curious- when you say that DeFalco demanded Ben be "un-mutated", do you mean that DeFalco demanded Ben be turned human or that DeFalco demanded Ben be returned to his "normal" Thing form? Because fnord and I have wondered why She-Hulk:Ceremony and the Avengers Atlantis Attacks Annual read like Ben was supposed to be the Thing and not in an exoskeleton. MichaelMarch 27, 2015 11:14 PM Fantastic Four #334 He quit X-FACTOR over editorial interference? He was just the artist on X-Factor? He quits and his wife stays on? ChrisMarch 27, 2015 10:35 PM Moon Knight #8-9 I never thought Flag-Smasher was any kind of Marxist, but I figure his economic ideas are probably a bit more left wing than right. Flag Smasher is just not motivated by economic motivations. He believes in a global government and a "one world" philosophy. He probably even believes in a kind of democracy - except when the people vote the "wrong" way. I think he trusts the "experts" more than "the people". He's like an evil Dag Hammarskoljd. That's a strange concept, but I think Flag Smasher decided that terrorism actually works and that by taking "direct action" he can radicalize people into joining a one world movement, or perhaps weaken the major world powers so that they stop acting on their own, this strengthening the transnational movement. If he ever did succeed in his goals, I imagine he would act in a similar way that Gruenwald had the Squadron Supreme in their Utopia Project except much more willing to kill people. That his real goals were never properly developed is a major reason he never became an interesting character. I agree with kveto's earlier comments that he had potential. kveto from pragueMarch 27, 2015 9:36 PM Moon Knight #8-9 I always find it cute when you guys educate each other on communism. A bit like a white man telling another white man what its like to be black:-) MichaelMarch 27, 2015 9:18 PM Moon Knight #8-9 The Soviets opposed nationalism in theory, PB210. In practice, the Soviets carried their own form of imperialism in Eastern Europe. During Stalin's era, suspect nationalities were deported to Siberia. MichaelMarch 27, 2015 8:50 PM Cloak and Dagger #9 Why does She-Hulk think that Bruce should be dead? Sharon Venutra told her that Ben saw the Hulk alive in Fantastic Four 320. PB210March 27, 2015 8:34 PM Moon Knight #8-9 "Flag-Smasher's goal was never anarchy, but a kind of transnational utopia - a world where UN bureaucrats decide everything. I would have liked a more sophisticated depiction to his methods and goals". http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/captain_america_312.shtml Flag-Smasher explicitly claims himself as other than a Communist. One could take that to mean Leninist-Marxist. So Flag-Smasher could still fit in the latter part of that description-not all socialists, Marxist or otherwise, follow Lenin. That said, Flag-Smasher never, to my knowledge, ever expresses any concern regarding the exploitation of the workers or proletariat. I still find it odd that Flag-Smasher expressed such disdain for the Warsaw Pact. As I wrote earlier, Communists and other Marxists do generally strongly oppose nationalism and other such forms of bigotry as dividing the working class of all nations from uniting against the corporations. Eric Ambler in one of his novels, Journey Into Fear, postulated much the same. On the other hand, Marx actually thought that corporations would try to discourage warfare, since he felt that corporations have their as their priority their class, not other members of their nation. I would guess Flag-Smasher would extinguish all protectionist trade policies, abolish all tariffs, and so forth. RobertMarch 27, 2015 2:55 PM Hulk #230 Mark, you probably know this by now since it's been a few years since your comment, but Elliot Maggin did an issue of Spidey Super Stories and an issue of Spectacular Spider-Man before this. Luis DantasMarch 27, 2015 12:35 PM Moon Knight #8-9 I don't think ULTIMATUM was ever well depicted. They ill suit the original character of Flag-Smasher. Erik BeckMarch 27, 2015 12:09 PM Fantastic Four #179 Hawkeye will later play on Tigra's interest in the Thing to keep him around in the early issues of WCA (so that might count as an inbound reference). I always wondered at that time how on earth Tigra ended up hanging with the FF. JSfanMarch 27, 2015 9:40 AM General Comments Ah, I see. Brilliant! fnord12March 27, 2015 9:26 AM General Comments A while back during a dispute between commenters here someone complained that i was too hard on one guy, threatening to ban him, but just gently told the other guy to go have some chamomile tea. The person who complained completely misinterpreted the entire exchange. But i thought it was funny and added a Chamomile Tea button, with the idea that when you were feeling like you might submit an angry flame comment, you could click the Chamomile Tea button instead to calm down. Then later i decided that the button should be more theme-appropriate, so i changed it to Sturky, the monster used to calm down Betty Ross when she was having a histrionic fit in Hulk #271. fnord12March 27, 2015 9:21 AM Avengers West Coast #53 Unlike me, Magneto gets a little poetic license to do some Shakespearean villainspeak. JSfanMarch 27, 2015 9:06 AM General Comments Hi, fnord. I was just wondering what Sturky tab means? JSfanMarch 27, 2015 9:04 AM Avengers West Coast #53 Magneto: Fool! Think you Magneto cares one whit for such paltry scheming? I think you mean 'You think.' Fnord, you're not the only one to make typos. :P MichaelMarch 27, 2015 7:53 AM Thor #411-412 Fnord, you're apparently not the only one that didn't like the Juggernaut fight. As you'll see later, we get a rematch between Thor and the Juggernaut soon. fnord12March 27, 2015 7:47 AM Hulk #314 Thanks for calling it out, EHH. As i think you realized, i was actually trying to point out that the scene seems racist. But i've rephrased it to avoid any ambiguity. MichaelMarch 26, 2015 11:54 PM Cloak and Dagger #9 According to Avenger Annual 19, this takes place at about the same time as Avengers 312. EHHMarch 26, 2015 11:50 PM Hulk #314 "...has descended so low as to sleep with an Hispanic." While I understand what you are saying, could you reword it a bit? The way it is now, it makes you sound unintentionally racist. MichaelMarch 26, 2015 11:49 PM Moon Knight #8-9 In the Assassin Nation Plot, Ultimatum was working for the Skull. I guess there are two different factions- one loyal to the Skull, the other loyal to Flag Smasher. MichaelMarch 26, 2015 11:34 PM Avengers Spotlight #27 According to Avengers Annual 19, the fight with the Awesome Android takes place at roughly the same time as Fantastic Four 334. MichaelMarch 26, 2015 11:30 PM Avengers West Coast #53 Simon really is a hero, agreeing to give the Vision back his brain patterns now that Wanda is in a coma and can't have sex with him. ChrisMarch 26, 2015 10:56 PM Thor #411-412 I thought the portrayal of the New Warriors was so bad I have no intention of buying the comic when it was announced. However, after a glance on the stands, it looked a lot better and I'm glad I picked it up. I'm of mixed minds about the DeFalco run. I kept dropping the title and picking it up throughout his run. Many of the plot concepts were very good, but the whole Eric Masterson ploy was annoying. ChrisMarch 26, 2015 10:53 PM Cloak and Dagger #9 This was the first Cloak & Dagger issue I had picked up since a Strange Tales issue. I was horrified at how bad the series had become. ChrisMarch 26, 2015 10:51 PM Moon Knight #8-9 An enjoyable set of issues, but I don't think ULTIMATUM was depicted as well here as in Gruenwald's CAP. Flag-Smasher's goal was never anarchy, but a kind of transnational utopia - a world where UN bureaucrats decide everything. I would have liked a more sophisticated depiction to his methods and goals. I did like the Punisher/Moon Knight team up. The Midnight sidelick angle simply doesn't work, and it's the major failing of Dixon's run. I think he has in mind a long term payoff, but it doesn't justify the wasted space or time. ChrisMarch 26, 2015 10:44 PM Avengers West Coast #53 I always liked the U-Foes and enjoyed their use here. Because of both the art and the writing, the AWC was much better than the main title, and it stays so during Acts of Vengeance. Mark DrummondMarch 26, 2015 9:48 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 Acoording to Englehart in Amazing Heroes #171, DeFalco gave him 6 months to wrap up all his stories. DeFalco also demanded Ben be un-mutated, that Ms. Marvel get dumped, and Crystal to get lost(reportedly saying "I don't want Crystal in this book. I don't want anybody to talk about her...). DeFalco also threatened to fire Englehart initially if he left his name off the stories, so Steve challenged this by using "SFX Englehart" As for why DeFalco didn't just dump him immediately, he stated that Macchio and Anderson fought for him to the end but only relented when DeFalco threatened them with firing if they didn't get in line, but Steve didn't get fired then "Basically because nobody but Tom DeFalco believes in this..." DeFalco declined to respond to AH, but Craig and Ralph stated they fired Steve after Tom "expressed his opinion". Steve noted that Tom came to Marvel from Archie by way of Star Comics, and that Tom thought the average age of Marvel readers was 8 years old. Mark DrummondMarch 26, 2015 9:38 PM Fantastic Four #334 According to Steve Englehart in Amazing Heroes #171, Simonson quit X-Factor and Avengers over editorial interference with his stories. He took over the FF only after demanding to be left alone, with Ralph Macchio supposedly responding "I can't promise anything, but we'll try it." Mark DrummondMarch 26, 2015 9:35 PM Silver Surfer #23 Englehart detailed his rejected story for this issue in Amazing Heroes #171: Death was angry over the In-Betweener forcing her to kill off some of the Elders, and she wakes up Thanos at the end to get revenge for her. He confirmed that DeFalco wanted a return to single-issue stories with the Surfer "all by himself, flying around moaning over Shalla-Bal" and that each issue had to have a moral. Mark DrummondMarch 26, 2015 9:29 PM West Coast Avengers #38-39 Englehart's first comments on his removal from WCA were in an interview in Amazing Heroes #171(9/89). He claimed that it was yanked from him in a duplicitous manner--he sent in a plot, got no pages back, was told they were eventually coming--and then heard rumors of Byrne taking over. He called Marvel, got denials, and then got confirmation from Howard Mackie that he was tossed off. He went to DeFalco thinking Mackie was the problem, and then found out DeFalco was behind everything. He also stated his problems started with DeFalco when he first became EIC at Marvel. Tom supposedly promised raises to everyone, reneged on them, and then Englehart "held his feet to the fire" over it, getting on DeFalco's shit list. Englehart also stated he never had any personal problems with Shooter and was always able to get a rational response from him. MichaelMarch 26, 2015 8:41 PM Iron Man #251-252 Chemistro is far less powerful than the Molecule Man. The Molecule Man can transform objects, e.g. turn a car into a plane. Chemistro can only turn a car into stone, for example. MichaelMarch 26, 2015 8:31 PM Thor #411-412 Nova was called "Kid Nova" because in the early '80's Marvel adopted a rule that only one character could have a name at a time. It was Gruenwald's job to make sure that rule was followed. Gruenwald thought there was no way anyone would bring back Nova after the way his series failed, so he gave Frankie the Nova name. DeFalco decided the way to handle this was to rename Rich "Kid Nova". Fabian didn't like the idea and had the other characters only refer to him as Kid Nova when they were angry at him. Gruenwald later admitted the whole mess was his fault. PB210March 26, 2015 7:50 PM Moon Knight #8-9 "Surely by funding ULTIMATUM's anti-government agenda he'd be more of a dangerously naive idealist, right?". Flag-Smasher's thought does not seem opposed to government per se, rather it opposes Terra/Earth-616 having **separate** governments. Flag-Smasher would possibly feel quite content if his planet had only one government, much as the Kree, Shi'ar, Skrulls, etc. have only one native planet with one government. John Sunlight from Doc Savage had a similar goal. http://wfm-igp.org/content/icrtop http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneWorldOrder http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Anarchism World Federalists have a similar goal. I wonder how Flag-Smasher contemplates the economy. Free enterprise or government ownership? Does he find the supposed exploitation of labor acceptable so long as people do not think in terms of nationalism? AndrewMarch 26, 2015 7:14 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #3-6 Secret Warriors retconned the retcon. Now LMD technology was developed by Leonardo DaVinci! BillMarch 26, 2015 6:43 PM Cloak and Dagger #9 The big question from this issue remains unanswered: how did the Jester know She-Hulk is ticklish? LOL!! (I do love the boxing glove that punches her in the face; very Three Stooges!) RobertMarch 26, 2015 5:56 PM Cloak and Dagger #9 You know the title you're writing is in trouble when you ask what villains you get to use during Acts of Vengeance and the response includes Jester, the Fenris Twins, and that Rock guy Peter David forgot to kill off in Hulk. fnord12March 26, 2015 5:50 PM Marvel Team-Up #125 I don't know, Darci. I just read this story again and it really does hinge on the revelation that Zabo was really Donalbain's brother. I added the relevant scan. I mean, it would be easy enough to retcon it to mean it the way you suggest, considering how minor a character Zabo is, but i think DeMatteis intended them to be literal brothers. david banesMarch 26, 2015 5:38 PM Marvel Team-Up #14 *Sees first panel nose* Oh Gil Kane? *Double checks credits* Gil Kane. Ataru320March 26, 2015 3:57 PM Marvel Team-Up #125 Seriously, when I saw "Zabo" I thought somehow you were talking about Mr. Hyde. As great as a Cat/Tigra fight against Mr. Hyde would be, it probably would sadly lead to easy victory for a guy who started off fighting Thor. (could be a fun strength vs. agility fight regardless) RobertMarch 26, 2015 3:42 PM Avengers #141-144,147-149 Thor and Namor fought in Invaders #33. They also had a fight in a later issue of Thor (during the MC Wyman era), when both were suffering from some tragic 90s fashions. david banesMarch 26, 2015 2:50 PM Avengers #141-144,147-149 Have Thor and Namor ever had a straight up thrash fight? They must have. I think they fought in an early Avengers story. But back then brawls only lasted a panel or two to get the point across. I'm talking more along the lines of Hulk vs. Thing or Thor vs. Okra right here. DarciMarch 26, 2015 2:47 PM Marvel Team-Up #125 I think the most significant thing about Zabo's story is that he claims she killed his brother. Nowhere else, to my knowledge, is there any familial relationship between Donalbain and Zabo. I wonder if it's more a "band of brothers" type reference? fnord12March 26, 2015 2:46 PM Avengers #141-144,147-149 I haven't tracked him actually being in Chicago, but i have Cat #1 between Iron Man #51-52, and issue #51 actually ends with an epilogue that takes place "weeks later" than the rest of the issue. So that seems like a good time for him to have gone on a business trip. Not sure if Engleheart intended anything more specific. Looking at publication dates, Cat #1 has a Nov 72 cover. Iron Man #49-51 (Aug-Oct 72) take place in New York and in Iron Man #52-53 (Nov-Dec 72) Stark flies in a plane from New York to California. MikeCheyneMarch 26, 2015 2:42 PM Avengers West Coast #53 As a kid, STUPID me thought Immortus was the Acts of Vengeance power broker dude. DarciMarch 26, 2015 2:27 PM Avengers #141-144,147-149 I have a question about Iron Man's comment that he was in Chicago on Stark business the rainy night The Cat first appeared. How does that scene in #144 fit in Iron Man's chronology? When would Stark have been in Chicago? david banesMarch 26, 2015 1:28 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) On the last scan, why is Wolverine trying to karate chop Alex? "You should have tried this instead-hey hold still you made me demonstrate wrong!" Mark DrummondMarch 26, 2015 11:58 AM Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) NCTV review of one episode: "The Pharaoh Cult attacks Havok at the Cairo airport with guns blazing. He runs, then blasts them with plasma energy. He blows up attacking planes, saving himself and a helpless female. He fights the pharaoh's tracker bodyguards in a duel to the death to save his G-string clad girlfriend, who has the pharaoh holding a knife to her throat(to be continued)" Mark DrummondMarch 26, 2015 11:46 AM Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4 A National Coalition on TV Violence report contained this review of #3:" Spy tale about an American seeking a fellow spy trapped in the USSR. The KGB has turned him into a sort of mutant, a beast. Violence consists of beast mutant trying to kill the American spy trying to rescue him; he in turn is killed by the spy; also graphic electrocutions of a Russian agent." Erik BeckMarch 26, 2015 11:41 AM Marvel Team-Up #59-62 Looking at this for a while I kept thinking, I must have read this. I remember seeing the Super-Skrull actually portrayed as immensely powerful and battling Ms. Marvel. I had to go look up to realize that they put in the John Byrne FF Omnibus, even though it's two years before he took over FF. Still, good issues, especially for the art. pst1993March 26, 2015 10:15 AM General Comments So I got some comics called Avengers Origins. All they do is re-tell the origins of Luke Cage and some other heroes. The only retcon I can find is in Avengers Origin: Ant-Man and the Wasp where it's revealed that Janet Van Dyne knew Hank Pym long before he was introduced. They now met right before he shrank himself for the first time. And also Avengers Origins Thor where we see that Odin manipulated Donald Blake to find the hammer. Then there's the Season One series that have lots of retcons for heroes origins. fnord12March 25, 2015 10:33 PM Web of Spider-Man #59 Thanks Dermie. Should be fixed. DermieMarch 25, 2015 10:27 PM Web of Spider-Man #59 You accidentally have the image of Puma knocking out Kate posted twice. fnord12March 25, 2015 8:54 PM Hulk #363 I gave the first Phil Sterns appearance to issue #362. MichaelMarch 25, 2015 8:48 PM Amazing Spider-Man #327 Note that Magneto's thoughts seem to suggest he's actually become a villain again, in contrast to the "He's just pretending" from Uncanny X-Men 253. ToddMarch 25, 2015 8:27 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 Yes, the art is of its time, but you know...I haven't looked at this in ages, and I still remember the panels so vividly, even ones you didn't scan in. Looking at what is above, I know what comes next. I'll never forget that last panel. Just the simplest means, the moon, the night sky, some buildings, the silhouette of Peter in the distance, I think a suggestion of a hanging head. What is it, a few inches on the page, and it stays with you. Ditko was a genius, and I think we remember Lee's somewhat clunky words because the illustrations evoke them so well (something like "a lean figure fades into the darkness"). I'm just giving a round up for the old guard. The art got more sophisticated in the later eras, but those artists stood on the shoulders of giants. MichaelMarch 25, 2015 7:57 PM Hulk #363 I wonder if PAD confirming that the Hulk was still thought to be dead was a reaction to the scene in Iron Man 247 where a bystander correctly identifies the Hulk. Erik BeckMarch 25, 2015 7:48 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 Fnord - you could also just buy the first 10 issues of FF. At the moment you can get them on ebay for a low combined amount of $4380 (over half of which is for #1). kvetoMarch 25, 2015 6:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #327 The guy MJ makes out with is probably Jason Jerome, the actor she'll later have an affair with in Spectacular. Ataru320March 25, 2015 6:15 PM Amazing Spider-Man #327 At this point my complaints aren't Mary Jane's hair...it's her lips! What did Larsen decide to give her collagen now? fnord12March 25, 2015 6:15 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 Well, this site is sort of my index for my actual collection, and letting things get out of sync will result in me never being able to find anything. So it's either tearing it up or letting things stand the way they are! Or Marvel could release Fantastic Four Classics #1-10 with back-up stories that fit perfectly after the original issues, and i'd snatch those up. fnord12March 25, 2015 6:13 PM Marvel Team-Up #31 Thanks, Luis. It's actually in #63, but i found it and added a note in the References for those issues. Luis DantasMarch 25, 2015 5:55 PM Marvel Team-Up #31 MTU #64 does indeed tell us that Peter remembers having met Iron Fist due to the recording. It is in a caption box during the final fight against Steel Serpent. gfsdf gfbdMarch 25, 2015 3:24 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 Of course, the good folks here at Supermegamonkey, would surely understand if you wanted to edit your website and NOT tear up your property... :) fnord12March 25, 2015 3:21 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 Very valid question. This is a case where my personal comics collection has defeated me. I have FF #1-10 in a trade paperback that i haven't wanted to break up. So it should be understood that those 10 issues are happening concurrently with other events especially in the 1962 period. I really ought to cut up that trade or something. fnord12March 25, 2015 3:16 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #101 I was being serious. If it's a Batman reference it's over my head, which wouldn't be surprising. fuzzyfootMarch 25, 2015 2:55 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 Out of curiosity, why would you place this particular comic this far into the reading guide knowing that it takes place around FF #3? I just find it a little odd that we'd read FF#1-10 and then have to go back in time to read this story that you mention takes place around FF #3. clydeMarch 25, 2015 2:41 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #101 FNORD - when you wrote - JSfanMarch 25, 2015 2:41 PM Fantastic Four #334 You know, I can believe Byrne's idea that Reed would be able to stretch his face to look different. There was a 'comedian' in the UK back in the 80s called Phil Cool and his schtick was to contort his face into grotesque shapes. He was sort of rubbery. I just don't get the whole Spike mace and... *shudder* Dinosaur thing. fnord12March 25, 2015 2:21 PM Fantastic Four #334 Check out the spiked mace he formed in Fantastic Four #200 or the way he was managing a secret identity circa Fantastic Four #276. But this... monstrosity does seem to be on a whole new level. fnord12March 25, 2015 2:17 PM Quasar #5 Agree, thanks. JSfanMarch 25, 2015 1:46 PM Fantastic Four #334 Can someone clarify whether Mr. Fantastic can actually shape change like how he does in that terrifying last scan. I thought his powers were more akin to elasticity. Mark DrummondMarch 25, 2015 10:54 AM Amazing Spider-Man #326 Colleen tends to have trouble taking any criticism of her work--when she was doing "A Distant Soil", one of the frequent criticisms was that she'd give characters hair so long that it'd drag on the floor and pick up dust and crap. She's had issues with some publishers as well(not just Dave Sim). MichaelMarch 25, 2015 8:14 AM Quasar #5 BTW, Kenjiro Tanaka becomes a supporting character for the rest of the book, so maybe the historical significance rating should be raised to 2. fnord12March 25, 2015 7:48 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #158 Oops, thanks. ;-) MichaelMarch 25, 2015 7:45 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #158 Well, Loki says that the Kingpin is the FOURTH to join them, and Magneto, Wizard and Doom have already been recruited. Then again, Loki is the god of lies. fnord12March 25, 2015 7:35 AM Fantastic Four #334 Der, thanks Michael. I guess that's why the MCP didn't list any of them as characters. I've removed Ramrod. fnord12March 25, 2015 7:31 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #158 I'm not sure the Mandarin's absence means he hasn't been recruited yet. We saw just Dr. Doom and the Mandarin in Avengers #311, for example, and we know the Wizard was recruited at that point. But i'm happy to put more comics before Avengers #311 to justify Peggy Carter's report to Quasar about the number of villain attacks. kvetoMarch 25, 2015 2:42 AM Fantastic Four #334 These FF issues, while humourous, really put a lot of these villains in a joke catergory. Very annoying. Especially for heavy hitters like Thunderball. I mean the Constrictor started out fighting the Hulk. Something that became endemic in the 90s, make fun of the old school guys in order to make the new kewl villains seem more dangerous. And how many 90s villains became winners in the end? kvetoMarch 25, 2015 2:36 AM Avengers Spotlight #26 I guessed Molten man as well, but he seems to have a beard which I doubt Molty could grow. MikeCheyneMarch 25, 2015 1:20 AM Avengers Spotlight #27 I agree a Boomerang/Hawkeye fight has potential, but I guess in reality, while villains may have gotten an advantage over a hero they don't fight a lot, they also might get an extreme disadvantage in not knowing anything about that hero as well, so you would get some awkward mismatches--in this case, I don't think it works because it's not like Boomerang hasn't gone up against a variety of heroes with long-range powers before. MichaelMarch 24, 2015 11:26 PM Quasar #5 IDIC previously appeared in Master of Kung-Fu 102. They were an Evil Corporation then, and as we'll see in X-Factor Annual 6, they're a front for AIM. MichaelMarch 24, 2015 10:43 PM Fantastic Four #334 BTW, fnord, I think it's supposed to be four different guys in trenchcoats, not one- note that one is taking the Metroliner to DC, another the Greyhound, etc. MichaelMarch 24, 2015 9:18 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #158 Maybe the Wizard told Graviton he wanted Spider-Man killed as a favor to the Kingpin or something, and Graviton misunderstoood. MichaelMarch 24, 2015 9:07 PM Avengers Spotlight #27 This issue is a perfect example of the problem with Gruenwald-DeFalco continuity- like fnord pointed out in his review of New Mutants 77-87, they refer to everything, regardless of whether or not it makes sense. Iron Man is present for the duration of Avengers West Coast 53- he can't be fighting the U-Foes and the Wrecker at the same time! Tony can't be in two places at once- he's not Wolverine. :) RobertMarch 24, 2015 8:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man #326 Coleen really isn't suited for superhero books. Or at least she wasn't at this time. Some of this is "Marvel Try-Out Book" caliber. MichaelMarch 24, 2015 8:31 PM Fantastic Four #334 This issue really helped destroy the Beetle as a credible villain. This issue was the first time we saw the Beetle in his new armor since Iron Man destroyed the original in Armor Wars, and he's treated like a joke and defeated by the FF's security system. Simonson should have realized that he was essentially reintroducing the Beetle and using him as a joke would set the tone. Beetle's next appearance cemented the impression and Beetle was treated as a loser until Thunderbolts. MichaelMarch 24, 2015 8:18 PM Amazing Spider-Man #326 One of the letter writers complained that Colleen Doran's men were too feminine in appearance. I remember that Coleen Doran said (not referring to that particular letter) she heard that criticism a lot and she considered it sexist. MichaelMarch 24, 2015 7:58 PM Damage Control #1 If Damage Control is a stand-in for Marvel, then that would make Mickey Souris buying it very ironic. Souris means mouse, and Souris was introduced as Beatrice Carlton's apprentice in She-Hulk:Ceremony. In other words, Mickey Mouse bought Marvel! clydeMarch 24, 2015 7:52 PM Fantastic Four #276-277 "The impact of this story and the surrounding issues is greatly reduced if we're aware of the retcon that says that the Alicia here is really the Skrull called Lyja Lazerfist." MichaelMarch 24, 2015 7:49 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 Maybe Molten Man? But he shows up shortly after Acts of Vengeance wanting to reform, so if it was him, he changed his mind very quickly. fnord12March 24, 2015 5:56 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 Good question. I've added the scan. A weirdly colored Hydroman, maybe? kvetoMarch 24, 2015 5:43 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 by the way, who's the golden guy IM shoots saving Hawk-eye? fnord12March 24, 2015 5:30 PM Damage Control #1 I think the idea is that most of the villains have escaped and if any were left (and we know that there were) they were at least temporarily trapped inside. And then the attack on Avengers Island and the other AoV attacks happen and there's no going back. But i agree it can feel like a dropped thread. kvetoMarch 24, 2015 5:02 PM Damage Control #1 That's interesting. I never considered that it could be a comedy ending. I can see that now. I was looking forward to how Hawk-eye and Iron man were gonna deal with IM having no power. Comedy or not, where did they go? Why didn't they show up in this issue? fnord12March 24, 2015 4:31 PM Amazing Spider-Man #326 But that's why i say the secret ID isn't worth anything. The point of a secret ID is to protect the innocent people you associate with from super-villain attacks. That's obviously not working. Everybody at the Bugle was put at risk because of Parker's "association" with Spider-Man. clydeMarch 24, 2015 4:25 PM Amazing Spider-Man #326 FNORD - when you say "It does make you wonder if Peter Parker's secret identity is worth a hill of beans." I would have to disagree. Everyone knows that Spider-Man has a "relationship" with Peter Parker in regards to pictures being taken. So, the easiest way to get Spider-Man to come to you is to threaten Peter. And since Peter works at the Daily Bugle, that's where most people would start. Of course, most people might take him hostage in the Daily Bugle building hoping to trap Peter Parker. However, this is "gravy train". It's beneath him to initiate contact that way. He can just raise the Bugle building and have the hostage come to him. fnord12March 24, 2015 4:20 PM Damage Control #1 It's interesting, but until your comment on ASPOT #26, i didn't think of the end scene as a cliffhanger. I think it's meant to just be a funny ending. kvetoMarch 24, 2015 4:15 PM Avengers Spotlight #27 A fight betwixt Hawk-eye and Boomerang should be a blast. How did they make it so boring. Also, I consider Boomerang more of a Spidey villain than an Iron Man one. At least Spidey is the guy he hates most. Great idea by having the back up avengers team-up. But again a boring fight. kvetoMarch 24, 2015 4:03 PM Damage Control #1 I bought this issue solely because I was led to believe it would finish the cliffhanger in that issue. you know being written by the same guy and all. How does this issue bite? Let me count the ways. 1. The aforementioned Wrecking crew at four times their power, 3 of them taken out by unpowered Captain America. Then Cap takes a Wrecking ball TO THE HEAD from Thunderball. 2. Thunderball, one of the only actually evil black bad guys getting a redemption because, you know, black criminals are just misunderstood. 3. No attention to the preceding cliffhanger. Ok, thats all Ive got. Maybe there weren't so many ways:-) AndrewMarch 24, 2015 12:03 PM Uncanny X-Men #196 At this point I was pretty much "hate reading" this book, but this issue was really good. Spot-on character studies, insightful little scenes, and the bullet thing was awesome. fnord12March 24, 2015 7:54 AM Ghost Rider #29-32 Yeah, that was the bad joke i was trying to make in this entry. ;-) Neither Salicrup brother's first name is given in this story. fnord12March 24, 2015 7:52 AM Amazing Spider-Man #66-67 Thanks Luke. Looks like i had only listed the credits for issue #67. Updated it. fnord12March 24, 2015 7:49 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #100 Clyde, that's fine but the point is that the symbiote shouldn't be immune to everything else, and later stories seem to treat it that way. adriano moraesMarch 24, 2015 5:11 AM Ghost Rider #29-32 The Salicrup brothers is a nod to editor Jim Salicrup. I presume he was still an assistant at the time Luke BlanchardMarch 24, 2015 3:03 AM Amazing Spider-Man #66-67 The splash page of #66 credits the art of the issue to Romita/Heck/Demeo (Esposito). Luke BlanchardMarch 24, 2015 12:25 AM Avengers #311 One of the questions in the FAQ at Byrne's website is why John Romita, Jr's name appeared before Byrne's in the credits of IRON MAN. Byrne's answer is he always puts the artist's name first because he thinks the artist is more important than the writer. ChrisMarch 24, 2015 12:10 AM Avengers #311 I think the idea could have easily been made to work. As a hook - having the major Marvel villains team up against the heroes - is pretty fun, and having Loki being the mastermind is a good twist. Minimal effort is needed to make it work. Mandarin can regain his memory. The Skull didn't resolve to not engage in master plans - it was merely to be more subtle in his master plans. Instead of being a ringleader accepted as an "equal", the Kingpin could have been used as an unwitting pawn by the others. I also question how much of Acts of Vengeance is "Byrne's idea". The name for the crossover had already been established. Byrne came up with the "swap villains" idea. I think everything else was determined by an editorial conference with the writers. Anyway, once the decision was made to proceed - regardless of whose idea it was - people should have been writing the main plot the same way - not contradicting each other. The difference in how the main villains viewed the conspiracy was very off putting. This is the same whether the idea was good or bad. MichaelMarch 23, 2015 10:36 PM Avengers #311 Chris, the problem is that Byrne's idea really doesn't make sense. The Red Skull in particular had resolved not to engage in master plans the last time we saw him, the Mandarin had the memory of all his battles with the heroes but the last one with Iron Man erased in his last appearance, this really isn't the Kingpin's type of scheme, etc. Acts of Vengeance is an example of what Byrne criticized McDuffie for doing in She-Hulk: Ceremony- shoehorning characters into a plot they don't belong in. ChrisMarch 23, 2015 10:10 PM New Warriors #1 I enjoyed this title far more than I thought I would. It shows what some intelligence, creativity and respect can do for characters that seem third string, derivative, or lame. Night Thrasher had too obviously a Batman origin rip off feel to it, so I was expecting something would be done to subvert it. ChrisMarch 23, 2015 10:05 PM Avengers #311 Byrne's Avengers titles are really the only issues in the entire crossover where some effort is made that each of the bad guys thinks this alliance is their plan, and that Loki is their servant. It seems in every other title, if the main bad guys are shown, they are talked into the plan by Loki, and it is obvious they are reluctant members. Gruenwald's portrayal of the Red Skull is particularly egregious in this. That is something that should have been caught and policed by Editorial. It feels like the other Marvel writers don't like this conceit and do everything possible to sandbag it. As for this issue, it did not have an impact to me. I never liked Hydrobase as home for the Avengers. It certainly did not have time to create any sense of nostalgia or belonging. And coming so soon after the mansion was wrecked, it didn't even have shock value. clydeMarch 23, 2015 9:25 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #100 FNORD - You said "there was nothing in the original story that said that the costume was only vulnerable to sonics; it's just what Mr. Fantastic used to safely remove the costume without harming Peter." MichaelMarch 23, 2015 8:55 PM Marvel Comics Presents #82-87 (Firestar) This story is weird- the art in some places makes it look like Destiny was supposed to be alive. (What is that- a Destiny statue next to Mystique?) So maybe the story was done before Destiny died. But if that's the case, why did the story change from 8 parts to 6? fnord12March 23, 2015 8:46 PM Avengers #311 Michael, regarding Quasar, it's just the normal rolling concurrency. Quasar may be fighting Quantum and then flying home from the West coast, but in the meantime Silver Surfer is doing stuff and She-Hulk is doing stuff and Daredevil is doing stuff, etc. I guess since i have multiple Punisher appearances in between it's a little muddled and i can move Quasar up, but we're going to run into stuff like that with characters staring in multiple books. MichaelMarch 23, 2015 7:57 PM Avengers #311 Avengers Annual 19 establishes the She-Hulk's battle with Pseudo-Man in She-Hulk 10-11 takes place concurrently with this issue- it's the reason Jen wasn't available to defend Hydrobase. MikeCheyneMarch 23, 2015 7:24 PM Avengers #311 Acts of Vengeance was one of the first sets of comics I ever owned; as a kid, I was pretty dumb and didn't even grasp the magnitude of how many comics were part of this, so I thought it was mostly Avengers and Spider-Man related (in my defense, it seems like most of the plot was Avengers related). I did annoyingly never get the Avengers issue that basically wrapped things up, so I didn't realize Loki was the bad guy. kvetoMarch 23, 2015 5:08 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 As far as I know, this cliffhanger never gets resolved. Kind of a bummer. The very nature of comics is that the vault has to be easy to break out of. Otherwise we get no repeat villains. I suspect the line about shrinking Orka was to cover up the idea that the artist didnt know he was supposed to be giant. I think that happens often in these big villain scenes. The artists probably have to thumb through the handbooks to find a picture of the villain without reading the stats. Never understood why they let the villains keep their costumes. Magic, i guess. Acts of vengence was a bad idea from the villains perspective. they should have got big gangs of villains and ambushed heroes (masters of evil style). The final results will show how ineffective the plot was. 0 heroes killed. There was a nice clue about Loki in Avengers 300 as he ranted about being the catalyst for their formation. 27 votes for the punisher as an avenger? what were they smoking? fnord12March 23, 2015 5:06 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 At least they're not in prison in their costumes, which is something we've also seen sometimes. I can maybe offer that they don't force the villains out of their costumes until they get to the Vault in case they are booby trapped or something, but that still wouldn't explain why they keep them around. We'll just have to go with Because It's Comics! :-) RobertMarch 23, 2015 4:46 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 I realize I'm overthinking it but it's funny to me that these guys were (presumably) arrested and tried before being sent to the Vault, and yet they have their supervillain costumes just waiting for them so when they're released they get to resume their supervillain careers. fnord12March 23, 2015 4:31 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 I guess it could be Hyde, and that's probably what the MCP assumed. He looks so scrawny compared to his other uncostumed appearance, and based on where the Guardsman drives the Wizard after that scene it doesn't seem to be right across from that guy, while after the Wizard gets his costume he seems to be directly across from Hyde's cell. That could all be problems with the art, though. cullenMarch 23, 2015 3:54 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 I took it to be (an uncostumed) Hyde, even before I saw him in the group shot later on. The spotty art doesn't make guessing any easier. fnord12March 23, 2015 3:26 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 Tsk, you're right, that's not mustache. I am very disappointed. I thought it was a big long black tendril of a mustache, which would have been awesome. The Mad Thinker is a good guess. He'll appear in Avengers Spotlight #28 in a story by this same creative team, so it's a good bet that it was meant to be him. I'll add him to the Charactesr Appearing. Thanks. DermieMarch 23, 2015 3:18 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 The unidentified villain in the cell below Griffin--could that be Mad Thinker? I don't think he actually has a mustache (that's just the shadow of cell bars passing across his face), and the hair colour and length are right for it to be him. Ataru320March 23, 2015 3:05 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 I think part of the reason the Wizard gets a pass from Loki is more or less longevity. He really is the second "major" human (not counting Skrulls) villain to emerge in the Silver Age aside from Doom himself and actually in comics emerged a month after Loki's first incursion on Asgard since Thor's reawakening. My guess is that lasting this long with the F4 as opponents (though mostly he fought Johnny until the Frightful Four emerged) gives him cred in a community so diluted with anything and anyone becoming a villain at this point. fnord12March 23, 2015 2:52 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 I think it's fair to say that the Wizard got into the equipment room along with the control panel that opens the cells, but it's not explicitly stated. RobertMarch 23, 2015 2:48 PM Avengers Spotlight #26 Do they explain in the book how the villains get their costumes back? In one panel we see Hyde wearing prison garb then suddenly he's in his regular get-up. More magic? Erik BeckMarch 23, 2015 11:47 AM Iron Fist #14 This is, of course, one of those "wait a minute" issues, when you realize Sabretooth was initially introduced in Iron Fist. It does make more sense now to have looked at it and realize that Claremont wrote it. Luke BlanchardMarch 23, 2015 10:32 AM Iron Man #142-144 The sequence where the space station is gradually revealed to Tony was probably modelled after a similar sequence in the James Bond film MOONRAKER. TCPMarch 23, 2015 9:14 AM Iron Man #249-250 I'm curious of Andros' relation to Arno Stark, since Arno indirectly got his wife and child killed in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20. Time-travel in the Marvel universe still confuses me, though; I'm never sure if we're seeing actual time-travel or inter-dimensional travel. Nathan AdlerMarch 23, 2015 8:33 AM Uncanny X-Men #154-157 Deathbird had her name stripped of her after it was prophesied that she was destined to commit great evil, and was later exiled from the Shi'ar Empire after brutally murdering her mother and an unnamed sister. But what if D'Ken exploited this prophecy and set her up to ensure he would be next in line for the throne? Outlook likely! And why during her exile did Deathbird end up on Earth of all places, a planet her brother had previously visited? How long had Deathbird been on Earth? How long ago had her mother and unnamed sister been murdered? And how long ago had she been exiled? Did she take the opportunity to visit Earth during her exile in an effort to discover just what her brother had been up to there, and find any possible clues that might implicate him in her mother and sister's deaths? She couldn't come out and accuse the Emperor, her brother, so it seems likely she would need to gather hard evidence first. Or were her mother and sister really killed? Had D'Ken perhaps imprisoned them on Earth? Or if they were genuinely dead, what specific proof was she expecting to find on Earth to prove her innocence? If D'Ken was behind the murder of his mother and unnamed sister, it brings into question his motivations for sending one of his starships to Earth on an exploratory mission to collect zoological specimens. So what was he really up to on Earth too and how might the truth be connected to the royal murder? Or how about the following: But if they were alive, what if Deathbird became aware of her brother's plot to kill them and set her up, interfered by stopping their deaths but made it look like they had been carried out and let herself get blamed and exiled so she could flee with them to Earth? This could explain why she has never denied the "matricide" accusation - protecting her mother and sister. JSfanMarch 23, 2015 7:38 AM Iron Man #249-250 The Iron Man book is the only one that I've found still interesting after 88 but I feel that even this book is starting to flounder. I think we're seeing the beginnings of the decline in quality in regard to stories at Marvel. Luis DantasMarch 23, 2015 12:32 AM Iron Man #249-250 I wonder what that line about how Andros "must be a future version (of Tony)" is supposed to express. Is it a manifestation of Tony as a self-important narcisist who expects to be reborn in his descendants? Ataru320March 22, 2015 8:12 PM Iron Man #249-250 Sorry Victor, but unless its Doreen Green involved, anything referring to "squirrels" in Marvel just won't work! But hey...at least they had more hope for the survival of Radio Shack in "the future" considering current events. (that and elements swiped from Back to the Future II) Ataru320March 22, 2015 7:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #153 If you want to know how much further Lockheed was probably realized, if you look close on the cover for this issue, there is a tiny dragon beneath the cover...sneaky stuff. Erik BeckMarch 22, 2015 6:33 PM Defenders #52-56 It's so weird, after all of Infantino's iconic work for DC to just scroll down a page and come upon a random panel of his artwork. It's so easy to identify that it always stops me cold and makes me think, what the hell is Carmine Infantino doing pencilling a random issue of Defenders? Morgan WickMarch 22, 2015 6:23 PM She-Hulk #1 I'm not sure if this was intended as an actual script for the TV show, but I strongly suspect it was at least written with the TV show in mind. Note that the opening narration says "Call him David, or Bruce, or Bob" (is there any reason for Comic!Hulk to ever be called "David"?), and then doesn't refer to him by first name the entire rest of the story, with Jen being given a tendency to refer to him as "Doc" to keep her from referring to him by first name. Dr. Banner has more than a passing resemblance to Bill Bixby as well. Erik BeckMarch 22, 2015 6:16 PM Daredevil #146-147 Just for variety's sake, here's a link to some DC work of Kane's with up-nostril shots. Though, to be fair, I don't remember this as a big thing on his late 50's / early 60's classic DC Green Lantern run. MichaelMarch 22, 2015 5:32 PM Iron Man #249-250 A clever use of exact words this issue- Tony wishes that Rae knew how much she meant to him, and the narrator tells us that "She KNOWS". Not that she RETURNS his feelings. Remember, Rae was intended to be Madame Masque. kvetoMarch 22, 2015 5:01 PM Marvel Team-Up #98 Fnord, Maybe along with the "So big, so fast" alerts you should have a "Murder Chair" alert. ChrisMarch 22, 2015 2:36 PM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) I dislike Wild Child having a costume in the flashback. When Byrne introduced the various Flights, only Puck, Marinna, Box, and Flashback had costumes in Beta Flight while all of Gamma Flight were still in training suits without a costume. They didn't get their costumes until Delphine Courtney formed Omega Flight. Getting details like correct that is what makes flashback scenes more interesting. ChrisMarch 22, 2015 2:27 PM Defenders #48-51 That may just be an issue of an artist developing his skills. Infantino broke into the business in the 1940s, so his work in the 1950s represents a decade where he developed his craft and settled into his style. Giffen did the same. To see if Infantino actually developed, we'd need to look at examples from his forties work. But Giffen is very different here. Like Barry Windsor Smith, he is much more of a Kirby clone at this point. ChrisMarch 22, 2015 2:21 PM Iron Man annual #4 Having not read the comic in question, I suggest that perhaps MODOK was only reading surface thoughts at the time, and was not able to do deeper probing? david banesMarch 22, 2015 1:45 PM Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12 Volcana overweight? I suppose from the woefully outdated BMI chart. More like curvey to me. Erik BeckMarch 22, 2015 1:14 PM Defenders #48-51 It's interesting how some artists change and others don't. Look at Carmine Infantino's work in the 50's and it's easy to see he's the same artist that did Howard the Duck #28. But look at this and look at Keith Giffen's work on Legion less than a decade later. I had to read this three times to be certain I was reading it right. Erik BeckMarch 22, 2015 12:58 PM Power Man #41-46 This is the second time now I've realized a pathetic villain I thought was created as a one-off for a Solo Avengers storyline really had previously existed. In both cases (Goldbug this time, the Orb was the other one), I think the character was so rarely used that they weren't given MU pages in the mid 80's Handbook, which is why I didn't realize it. Perhaps I should have looked closer at the Appendix. Ah, the thing you learn. Erik BeckMarch 22, 2015 12:54 PM Iron Man annual #4 MODOK read Tony's mind? Wouldn't he then know he's Tony Stark? Wouldn't that be a big deal? Also, at least no one from this issue is in Secret Wars, so they couldn't be expected to know they were recycling a plot. Erik BeckMarch 22, 2015 12:49 PM Champions #14-15 The Swarm is one of the single worst movies to ever be nominated for an Oscar (for Costume Design, of all things). On the other hand, Swarm, the villain, was used in a pretty neat episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (which works, I suppose, since Iceman was one of them). In that case, as I recall (it's been over 30 years), Swarm was a mutated swarm due to radioactivity from a meteor or something - not a former human. Had a really cool distorted voice. SMarch 22, 2015 12:25 PM Defenders #26-29 What about Vance Astro's story about the Techno-Barons and the tyrant Kwall? I assume that's from some other Marvel story in the future? Ataru320March 22, 2015 8:06 AM Daredevil #25 Any character can be compelling and interesting in the right hands, even a joke. The fact that Leapfrog lead to Frog-Man proves that someone at least saw something to use him for, even if it more or less is to admit that its such a silly concept that at least its worth having around for a few laughs. And yeah, to me Mike Murdoch is so bad it's just hilarious. Not good, just the whole idea that Matt would stoop to this sort of thing just to protect his "secret identity" when others in the hero community were at least figuring it out. At least from the panels during this whole period, I can just laugh at how ridiculous it is, especially in the whole period where, as said, other heroes were dropping it or, in the case of Thor, admitting there was no real secret identity in the first place. Nathan AdlerMarch 22, 2015 7:00 AM Wolverine #10 In the Wolverine #10 flashback, Wolvie doesn't have his Adamantium yet. I'm pretty sure at this point Wolvie is just tight-lipped on his past and doesn't like to talk about it. As a kid I always assumed that Wolverine lost any memories he had prior to the Weapon X project. However, this was only established in the 1991 Weapon X storyline, and the character still had 15 years of history before that. How else could he remember getting into a brawl with Sabretooth pre-Adamantium if his memory was wiped? This adds a level of dimension to the character in that it's not that he doesn't REMEMBER his past, it's that he doesn't want to talk about it, preferring to remain stoic and mysterious. Luke BlanchardMarch 22, 2015 12:12 AM Howard the Duck #5-7 Come to think of, the names of the characters may have come first, and may have originated as Gerber's snarky nicknames for the characters parodied. As a nickname 'Tillie the Hun' would be a slam on Red Sonja's truculence, which is also mocked by Tillie's dialogue in the splash panel. That Gerber nicknamed characters like this is my speculation, but if this guess is right it strongly supports your case, as Thunderbird is the character the nickname Sitting Bullseye could fit.(1) "Dr. Angst" as a nickname for Modred would mean "just like Dr. Strange, only with more angst". I've not read the Modred stories so I can't say if this fits him. But given the period I'm guessing it does. I compared Red Sonja to Sif and Valkyrie. The DEFENDERS version of Valkyrie reportedly debuted a week after Red Sonja. Gerber bought the villains from the treasury back during his run on SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK. (1) Because he was arguably not powerful enough to be an X-Man, and was so quickly marked for death. Brian Cronin quotes an account of Dave Cockrum's about how the decision to kill him came about at http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2005/10/13/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-20/2/ . clydeMarch 22, 2015 12:11 AM Power Man & Iron Fist #113 BTW - here's a new link to that issue. clydeMarch 22, 2015 12:06 AM Power Man & Iron Fist #113 FNORD - this is the same "problem" with Alicia being retconned into "Lyja Laserfist". It is obvious with her that it was not thought about until after the fact. Therefore, she acted just as Alicia would. ChrisMarch 21, 2015 10:42 PM Daredevil #25 Even Leapfrog could become a respectable character under the hand of a good writer. Perhaps not a serious menace, but someone who is not a joke. Rather than just being someone who jumps, play on the fact that he is a "frogman" and make him someone who uses the water as well. Give him a scuba suit under that costume so that he can fight people underwater, or at least use it to approach his targets and escape. It'd be useful for crime in New York City. He wouldn't need to be a fully trained navy seal, but even a little bit of expertise and he'd be tough. He couldn't go up against true amphibious characters like Namor, but for someone not use to it - he'd be more slippery and dangerous. And I agree that Mr Fear could be a very good villain. I agree with the utter fail of the Mike Murdock storyline. Just terrible. For all of Kirby's and Ditko's faults at writing without Lee, the dreck Stan put out without them indicates who were the real idea men of the House of Ideas. mikrolikMarch 21, 2015 10:25 PM Daredevil #25 Honestly, the Owl, Mr. Fear, Gladiator, and even Stilt-Man can be compelling characters and actual threats if they are written competently. Leap-Frog... probably not so much... Although the Fabulous Frog-Man is fun! mikrolikMarch 21, 2015 10:20 PM Iron Man #25 Seems kind of weird that the guy talking to Stark at the end says "Who knows what will really happen in ten to thirty years?" in a story now written and published over forty-five years ago. We're still here, so that's something... I guess? cullenMarch 21, 2015 9:16 PM Marvel Premiere #1-2 Just to balance out the commentary, I love Kane and wish he did more for Marvel. MichaelMarch 21, 2015 7:00 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 He doesn't APPEAR but this is the first time he's MENTIONED. Jay GallardoMarch 21, 2015 6:37 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Wikipedia says that issue 99 contains the first appereance of Mikhail Rasputin. I do not have these issues anymore but I do not remember him there Ataru320March 21, 2015 5:49 PM Marvel Premiere #1-2 Its not the worst I've seen of Gil Kane. At least Adam Warlock's upside-down so we don't get a true "Kane nose shot". Mark DrummondMarch 21, 2015 2:00 PM Howard the Duck #5-7 The Black Hole probably is based on Nova; I just didn't think of him. I find that character really forgettable for some reason... I'm convinced Sitting Bullseye is based on Thunderbird. They're both almost identical from the neck up, plus the bullseye on S.B.'s chest is a reference to the(no longer in use in any media) "Dead Indian" trope--which Thunderbird was certainly guilty of. Tillie the Hun says at one point that she'll marry the first man to defeat her, which to me is a dead giveaway that she's a Red Sonja parody. I'm not sure if Sonja was considered derivative by anyone, but the whole celibate-until-defeated-by-a-man aspect was criticized by a lot of fans and critics, especially female ones. Luke BlanchardMarch 21, 2015 1:43 PM Howard the Duck #5-7 The characters Gerber parodied may have been ones he saw as particularly derivative. The Punisher was modelled after Don Pendleton's the Executioner. Gerber may have thought Modred too much like Doctor Strange. The characters we've suggested as the model for Sitting Bullseye could all be considered cliched, and there had been many archers and Native American heroes in comics. But I'm not sure Red Sonja fits this pattern. At the time Marvel had two other sword-wielding heroines, Sif and Valkyrie. But they had never had their own features. I suppose it could be argued Red Sonja's feature was a variation on Conan's, but it's not like Marvel had only one superhero. He bikini look was similar to Shanna the She-Devil's, but Tille the Hun doesn't parody that element. Luke BlanchardMarch 21, 2015 1:24 PM Howard the Duck #5-7 Dan, that's a better guess than mine, as I think "the Black Hole sucks" is intended as metacommentary, and it's easier to imagine Gerber feeling that strongly about Nova. The "derivative" and "bland" slams also don't really fit Bloodstone. Star-Lord could be another possibility - he also had a star design on his helmet - but I can't say he's a better one than Nova. I like your point about the match between the Nova and Black Hole names. Sitting Bullseye might be a parody of Red Wolf. When the treasury appeared Thunderbird had been dead for a year, and he'd only appeared briefly. Red Wolf had held his own title,(1) and had recently appeared in several of the Tigra issues of MARVEL CHILLERS. Alternatively, Sitting Bullseye might be a parody of American Eagle. On fnord's page on MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #6 Mark wrote that American Eagle was originally going to appear in 1976, and parts of the issue were prepared then. Gerber could have known about him. The two characters carried similar weapons; Sitting Bullseye a bow and arrows, American Eagle a crossbow and arrows. Red Wolf didn't carry arrows, but he did use Native American weapons. (1) This initially featured an Old West version, and the modern day version in the final issues had a different secret ID to the AVENGERS version. But they all looked much the same. Vin the Comic GuyMarch 21, 2015 1:21 PM Avengers #164-166 Is the last panel of #165 penciled by Dave Cockrum? SharMarch 21, 2015 1:13 PM Fantastic Four #66-67 Mike, I don't think you're in the minority about Kirby's females. Stan was critical of Kirby's women and often had Sinnott or Romita Sr. rework or retouch the faces of Sue, Crystal, Alicia, Sharon Carter, etc. A case in point is the very Crystal panel you cite: Stan instructed Romita to "pretty up Crystal's face", as noted in The Jack Kirby Collector #60. In this same TJKC article there are also notes from Stan criticizing the Alicia panel you mention and complaining that all "J.K. gals" look alike. MichaelMarch 21, 2015 1:08 PM Iron Fist #11-13 BTW, is it me or did Jean suddenly become a lot more, I don't know, maternal, compassionate,gentle, after she returned in X-Factor? I can't think of any scenes where Jean was either in a maternal role or displayed great compassion before she returned in X-Factor. (The possible exception is X-Men 129, when she talks with Kitty but as Scott points out, that's because she's the most normal looking of the heroes present.) I have to wonder if this was in some way a reaction to Maddie becoming a mother, the X-Men/Alpha Flight crossover where Maddie becomes a healer, etc.- like there was some sort of competition between Maddie and Jean to see who could be the most maternal/compassionate/etc. kvetoMarch 21, 2015 12:56 PM Iron Fist #11-13 Misty could have been delivering that line ironically, as well. fnord12March 21, 2015 12:31 PM Iron Fist #11-13 Hey, she's a Silver Age heroine. Of course someone compliments her cooking. She does say in her back-up feature in X-Men #57 (i have it reprinted in Cat #4) that she's "not exactly the domestic type", though. fnord12March 21, 2015 12:26 PM Hulk #271 Sorry Mike, primitive commenting system, and i haven't wanted to upgrade it because it will add a lot of overhead. (Or, i make typos all the time so it makes me look better when other people do too. ;-) ) Erik BeckMarch 21, 2015 11:47 AM Iron Fist #11-13 Aside from the Danger Room, does anyone else wonder when Jean became a gourmet chef? Did I miss that? Has anyone ever complemented her cooking before? Aside from all that, that is one kick-ass panel where Cap shows up. I know that's not who I want to find standing over me, mad. MikeMarch 21, 2015 11:00 AM Marvel Premiere #1-2 Those intense shadings under the nose on the 2nd panel, and below that funky full page lying down angle with those oddly posed running people in the background... Gil Kane alert! MikeMarch 21, 2015 10:51 AM Thor #163-167 Though her right eye appears visually low, I agree with you that Sif looks cute in that panel and I also like her face in the panel of her hugging Thor. I can really tell that Kirby makes his female faces too wide and that he models all of them after Jackie O, but a few times here he managed to keep them looking a little better than I've seen from him. MikeMarch 21, 2015 10:44 AM Fantastic Four #66-67 This may be blasphemy to some, but I never liked Kirby's art, particularly his female faces. That 6th panel above with Alicia shows how badly he misses. He did well on that Crystal side shot (with torch in the window), but usually his faces bother me the most, everything else appears fine. I never liked the mouths on his male characters either. kvetoMarch 21, 2015 10:38 AM Iron Fist #11-13 Then,I do wonder why the handbooks went to such elaborate lengths to explain the name "Danger room" away.(You'll find it in the Wrecking crew entry) MikeMarch 21, 2015 10:34 AM Hulk #271 Wish I had an edit button, sometimes mistakes happen when I revamp a sentence and fail to go over it thoroughly. I changed "very well" to "pretty badly" and forgot to fix "doesn't ink" to "inks." kvetoMarch 21, 2015 10:30 AM MikeMarch 21, 2015 10:29 AM Hulk #271 Sal Buscema has been one of my favorite artists and I loved the way he drew Hulk during the bronze age, but his Hulk here looks terrible and Sal doesn't ink himself pretty badly in this issue, looking quite rushed. Frank Giacoa complimented him very well during the early 70s. Klaus Janson inked him pretty good too. On another note, I never liked RR until I saw the GoG movie. They really did an outstanding job with him. kvetoMarch 21, 2015 10:26 AM Web of Spider-Man #34 There is a countdown sequence while the final pass is in the air and time "runs out" just as the little guy scores the winning touchdown. MichaelMarch 21, 2015 10:25 AM Iron Fist #11-13 They referred to it as a "Danger Room" in one other issue, Captain Marvel 54, which fnord linked to. kvetoMarch 21, 2015 10:22 AM Iron Fist #11-13 That's fine, but it's not a "Danger room". The Avengers have never, to my knowledge, refered to it as such (outside of this comic) MikeMarch 21, 2015 10:20 AM Marvel Team-Up annual #6 Frenz draws a really good Spider-man in these panels. I can tell he used Romita's classic late 60's Spidey head shots as reference. MichaelMarch 21, 2015 9:22 AM Iron Fist #11-13 Kveto, the Avengers DO have a training room, though. We first saw it in Avengers 66. kvetoMarch 21, 2015 7:37 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #122 I guess Gerry Conway later forgets that Pete can't speak Spanish during the Lobo Brothers arc, when Spider-man suddenly becomes masterfully fluent in the language. Erik BeckMarch 21, 2015 7:36 AM Defenders #44-46 Reading Nighthawk's line about being on his payroll, I get the idea where the Ultimate version of Defenders came from. kvetoMarch 21, 2015 7:07 AM Iron Fist #11-13 While the cocept of Iron fist and Cap against the Werescking crew is great in theory, I have plenty of problems with it. First off, Cap acts amazingly stupid in order for them to have their misunderstanding fight. Second, the avengers don't have a "danger room". One of the handbooks tried to explain it away by saying it was equiptment created by Tony Stark that was being tested before sent to the X-men. Ok, then why did it have a "Thor" sequence if it was going to the X-men? (rhetorical question) third, the Wreaking crew are thor level villains who just battled the defenders. Sorry but they should not get beaten by two unpowered heroes, even with a "danger room" to help. This was the early beginnings of depowering the Crew. Luke BlanchardMarch 21, 2015 12:44 AM Doctor Strange #1-2,4-5 Martin O'Hearn points out that a few months later the Silver Dagger, the caterpillar and Clea made in-joke cameo appearances in Gold Key's DARK SHADOWS #31. His post is at http://martinohearn.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/doctor-strange-dark-shadows-crossover.html . Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 10:46 PM Champions #11-13 Am I the only one who think Hawkeye and Ghost Rider seem kind chummy for two characters who shouldn't have met before? I know Ghost Rider's been in the Champions, but would Hawkeye even really know who Ghost Rider is? Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 10:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Michael, yeah, agreed, I just got to that today and it is a mess. But in this case, it was a bit more I think, as they used the whole team. It's always tricker when one character has their own book. When the Wolverine regular series came out, my feeling was, I'm gonna just ignored it and hope that nothing there impacts my issues of X-Men. AndrewMarch 20, 2015 9:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Huh. Yep, Alex and Lorna are de-brainwashed in a word balloon and footnote in 109. I blinked and missed it. MichaelMarch 20, 2015 8:09 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Eric, if you think an apology was owed for Marvel Team-Up Annual 1, then take a look at fnord's entry for Fantastic Four 176-178. It was like the people writing Fantastic Four forgot that Marvel Two-In-One was being published. MichaelMarch 20, 2015 7:54 PM Avengers #250 Clyde- the counterargument is that in Silver Surfer 19, for example, Eros was able to make Nova kiss Firelord even though she was in love with the Surfer. MichaelMarch 20, 2015 7:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #235-238 Andrew, Claremont has said in interviews that he honestly didn't realize that he had reused the name until fans pointed it out to him. (How many Delgados were there in Claremont's stories?) So his smiling and saying "Maybe" was probably a way of hiding "Oh crap, I reused the name?!" BuffyMarch 20, 2015 6:48 PM Avengers #255 Jay Patrick, you're definitely not alone! Gary HimesMarch 20, 2015 6:44 PM Fantastic Four #271-273 The tripod is identified as "...like one of those Martian fighting machines from the movie "War of the Worlds"! (Emphasis mine). I'd just like to point out that at the time this was published the WotW movie being referred to would have to be George Pal's 1953 version...in which the Martians used "manta ray" ships and NOT tripods. (This is a case where Marvel's sliding time scale works in the story's favor, as the comment can now be interpreted to referring to Steven speilberg's 2005 remake of "War of the Worlds" in which the invaders DID use tripods that [superficially] resembled this one.) kvetoMarch 20, 2015 6:28 PM Captain America #237 really annoying the way that Josh and Steve are toasting "to good friends" after meeting about two minutes ago. I was thinking, the first issues that hint at Steve Rogers art talents were the Steve Gerber "pinko-counter culture" issues which turned out to be false memory implants. So what if the idea that Steve is a good artist is an implant too? I imagine a scene where Steve shows up to be a commercial artist and all he can draw are stick figures and scribbles. Would that be funny? AndrewMarch 20, 2015 5:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #235-238 At a convention in 1983 I asked Claremont if there was a connection between the kid in the Avengers Annual and Madeline Pryor. (This was back in the days when you could just walk up to a major creator at a con...) He smiled and said "Maybe". Several years later, and this is the best he could come up with. The man plants seeds, but doesn't water them. Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 5:37 PM Strange Tales #178-181 For me, and I would imagine, for anyone who knows Eros (Starfox) more from his days as a light-hearted Avenger, that first panel you have of him is really shocking. This is a magnificent saga. I considered listing Adam Warlock's death in my 10 Comic Book Deaths. I didn't because Warlock, as a character, never meant that much to me - he died long before I began reading comics and had already returned before I quit comics the first time in 1991. But that final page of the Avengers Annual is so well done, it's really remarkable (that whole Annual is, I think, the best of all the Avengers Annuals). david banesMarch 20, 2015 3:07 PM Thor #351-353 Oh I want to pick up the trades and read this story again. I think I liked the Malekith portion slightly more, I guess I really like that villain. There's certainly something very charged about Simonson's work on the title from start to about here. The Surtur Saga kind of like the firey honeymoon and the feud with Hela is more the long happy marriage. I got the feeling Walt went in with the thought of 'I got to do this storyline and get it done! I made it! They kept me on long enough...oh they want to keep me for another 18 issues or so? Better get another overall arc.' clydeMarch 20, 2015 2:48 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #18 Finally a wedding that had a "super villain attack" before it actually started. clydeMarch 20, 2015 1:40 PM Avengers #250 "The Wasp likens Starfox's pleasure power to the "mind-warping powers" of Moondragon." fnord12March 20, 2015 1:38 PM Fantastic Four #271-273 SEO-ing my way to fame and fortune! clydeMarch 20, 2015 1:08 PM Fantastic Four #271-273 FNORD - FYI, when you do a search for "Taft-DeMaibring sequence" using Norton safe search, your site comes up with a link to this entry. Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 12:05 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Given that ridiculous, but obviously necessary paragraph from the Index, I feel like an apology was owed, like when Byrne drew his apology over allowing the use of Tigra when she was tied up in a subplot. In terms of Claremont, Comics Should Be Good recently did a post on Claremont's appearances in X-Men and suggested the bottom right is Cockrum and his wife and that Claremont isn't on the page. But the interesting thing on their scan is that the colors are quite different than the one on this page, and the person identified here as Matt Murdock looks to have blonde hair. Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 11:40 AM Avengers #155-156 "In the end the Avengers are defeated. Which is fine if they were defeated by Dr. Doom, but most of them were defeated by Hydrobase scrubs, who are just scientists, and that's kind of embarrassing." There seems to be a rule (in both Marvel and DC) that brainwashed people don't fight up to their top abilities. Moira's explanation in X-Men #3 that mutants fight off brainwashing every time they use their powers certainly seems a workable idea for all super-powered heroes. Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 11:35 AM Super-Villain Team-Up #9 Shooter's art isn't horrible. The bigger problem with it is that it's an Avengers team-up, which means Shooter's art comes between George Perez and George Perez, and even early Perez is eons better, so it makes Shooter's pencils look worse. Also, it may be a difference in scans, but the inking seems a lot better on Avengers as well. Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 11:27 AM Iron Man #92 Fnord, I definitely don't recommend using the ones from the Millenium Falcon. My guess is they break a lot. clydeMarch 20, 2015 9:22 AM Iron Man #92 If I knew the answer to that, I would be as rich as Tony Stark.;) fnord12March 20, 2015 9:15 AM Avengers #154 Thanks for the catch, Erik. I've pushed Captain Marvel #50-53 forward a bit to accommodate. fnord12March 20, 2015 9:12 AM Iron Man #92 So Clyde, i'm confused. Can i wear one around my neck and walk into a fire to charge my cellphone or not? fnord12March 20, 2015 9:11 AM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 Thanks, Kveto. I definitely know that i'll have to do some shuffling when i start Acts of Vengeance but i'll keep a lookout for that. Erik BeckMarch 20, 2015 7:19 AM Avengers #154 Fnord, you placed Captain Marvel #50-53 between this and the Annual, but the Vision should be flying straight here after the Annual and Scarlet Witch is still injured. I know there were a lot of Chronological Placement Considerations with the CM issue, but perhaps it needs to be moved to account for this issue? Luke BlanchardMarch 19, 2015 8:35 PM Strange Tales #127 (Human Torch) The plot is similar to the cover story from BLACKHAWK #109, in which (spoiler warning) a villain called the Question Mark is revealed at the end to be Blackhawk, testing the other Blackhawks to see who could take over from him. clydeMarch 19, 2015 4:19 PM Thor #351-353 "Oddly, Storm is shown fighting with the heroes in issue #352. She doesn't have any dialogue, and none of the other X-Men are shown or mentioned, but that's pretty clearly her." kvetoMarch 19, 2015 3:10 PM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 just realized, Cap's appearance here will cause problems for you. I'm fairly sure in Cap #365, we'll see him and Diamondback returning together from Madripoor which leads straight into Acts of Vengeance (just a heads up) davidbanesMarch 19, 2015 1:55 PM Iron Man #92 I like the Melter even if he's really plain because the melting armor always looks like melted chocolate or caramel. You'd think since Tony has no super powers he should be way more worried about all that flying molten metal touching his bare skin. SharMarch 19, 2015 1:52 PM Fantastic Four #151-153 Actually, every single Buckler FF issue prior to #153 (#142 on)--and also after #153--contains numerous panels "inspired by" the Kirby books. This includes the handful of FF comics Buckler does when he returns to the book briefly in 1989. The Tony Isabella blog entry referred to is here: clydeMarch 19, 2015 1:30 PM Iron Man #92 noun, Physics. clydeMarch 19, 2015 1:27 PM Avengers #249 "If you'd like, you can compare the art and dialogue from some of the scenes above with the same scenes from Thor #350 and let me know if i was right to be outraged about the differences when i was 9 years old." Erik BeckMarch 19, 2015 12:01 PM Ms. Marvel #1 "The cover does claim that this book will be "in the senses-stunning tradition of Spider-Man"." Didn't Marvel try to get him somehow on the cover of every new book? It was like they needed to remind people - hey, we're Marvel, the people who bring you Spider-Man, so try this new book. But, to be fair, I'm reading my way through DC Year by Year, and all through the 50's and 60's, Superman was actually part of DC's logo, so it's not like they weren't always trying to make people aware of their top character either. Erik BeckMarch 19, 2015 11:35 AM Iron Man #92 Wait, a thermocoupler is a real thing? Or least real in Marvel? Totally just thought it was a Star Wars invention. Mark DrummondMarch 19, 2015 11:07 AM Fantastic Four #151-153 According to Tony Isabella's blog, Gerry Conway contributed nothing to #153. Tony and Rich co-plotted it and since the book was much behind schedule, produced the whole thing in 4 or 5 days, which could partly explain the presence of Kirby swipes in that issue as a time-saving tool. adrianoMarch 19, 2015 8:58 AM Amazing Spider-Man #46 There is a legend that his name was originally meant to be "The Vibrator" and that is why he has a V on his belt. MichaelMarch 18, 2015 10:34 PM Iron Man #188 O'Neil has said that he had Rhodey go crazy because he felt that technology was out of control and dangerous. Unfortunately that says more about O'Neil than Rhodey. clydeMarch 18, 2015 8:25 PM Iron Man #188 At least when DC did this with Batman and Azrael, it made sense why Azrael went crazy. Here, as FNORD pointed out, it's out of character. MichaelMarch 18, 2015 8:22 PM Marvel Fanfare #40 (Storm) Well, the story was PLOTTED before X-Men 185, so it's possible Mystique knowing Storm would lose her powers was in the original plot (but obviously the Fall of the Mutants references weren't.) MichaelMarch 18, 2015 8:11 PM Thor #390 The problem really started with Simonson's Thunderfrog story in Thor 364-366. There's no way that a frog could have the super-strength necessary to lift Thor's hammer. The Official Handbook tried to explain this by suggesting that if you're a human, you need superhuman strength but if you're a frog, you need super-frog strength, which Thor had. But the end result was the two rules blending into one. Erik BeckMarch 18, 2015 6:02 PM Avengers annual #6 Now, this is the start of a beautiful friendship. The friendship that developed between Beast and Wonder Man in their time together as Avengers is one of the best developed, most enjoyable in all the time I read Marvel Comics. My biggest beef with the story was how Whizzer just shows up and somehow his speed ability, running into Nuklo, takes out Nuklo. That always seemed a ridiculous contrived ending. Luis DantasMarch 18, 2015 5:30 PM Captain America #231-236 It is actually securely above average for a Cap story. clydeMarch 18, 2015 4:16 PM Marvel Fanfare #40 (Storm) "But the other nice thing about writing a continuity insert is that Destiny can accurately predict the future. So it's revealed here that Destiny (and Mystique) knew that if they gave Storm the info on Rogue, Storm would lose her powers. And furthermore, Destiny has knowledge of the events that will occur during Fall of the Mutants." clydeMarch 18, 2015 2:34 PM Thing #14 The strange spacecraft seems similar to the small spacecraft from "Buckaroo Banzai". kvetoMarch 18, 2015 2:27 PM Hulk Smash Avengers #2 Continuity implants suuuuuck. kvetoMarch 18, 2015 2:19 PM Captain America #231-236 I often wondered why this storyline, a fairly important one where Cap's longtime girlfriend gets killed, was not often referenced. After reading it in essential format i understand why. It is very bad. The Grand Director adds nothing to the story and Daredevil feels incidental. I only kinda wish he had acctually shot "Bucky". We'd have been spared Jack monroe/Nomad. MikeCheyneMarch 18, 2015 11:11 AM Amazing Spider-Man #169-170 Faustus was always a big dude, but was he ever presented as a physical threat? Captain America kicked his ass in one panel, while even Cap had trouble with Kingpin. fnord12March 18, 2015 10:44 AM Strange Tales #114 (Dr. Strange) Fixed the image. Thanks, Shar. clydeMarch 18, 2015 10:40 AM Defenders #134 "Moondragon is greatly disturbed by Manslaughter's mental domination of her. She describes it as a severe violation." SharMarch 18, 2015 10:31 AM Strange Tales #114 (Dr. Strange) You are so right about the linework, Ditko's work is incredible. I was never a Dr. Strange fan but read the early stories in Marvel Collectors' Item Classics and I recall being stunned by Ditko's work, it was so different from what I was used to--Kirby, Buscema, Romita, Curt Swan and so on. (Btw fnord, looks like the Bentley-Strange face-to-face panel is posted twice.) kvetoMarch 18, 2015 8:53 AM Amazing Spider-Man #169-170 Michael, don't get me wrong. I like Spider-man to be low powered and capable of getting beaten up by ordinary thugs. I just think if you've got the high-tech arsenal of the Tinkerer at your disposal, a big hammer shouldn't be your weapon of choice. (especially when your mate gets a laser-murder tank) MichaelMarch 18, 2015 7:55 AM Amazing Spider-Man #169-170 Kveto, keep in mind that in issue 162, Spider-Man got knocked out by pistol-whipped by some goons. Erik BeckMarch 18, 2015 6:54 AM Defenders #41 When I first started reading Marvel regularly was right at the Trial of Hank Pym, and with Trish Starr appearing a lot, and a lot of her back story given in Avengers #217, it's interesting that I never once realized that she had been Nighthawk's love for a while. Dan SpectorMarch 18, 2015 6:03 AM Marvel Team-Up #69-70 Yeah, Tony was just knocking them dead around this time. His ink work on Simonson's first run on Thor (ending about this time) had gotten better and better with each issue, and this was right up there with it. Byrne's fondness for people and things reversing course (sometimes taken to extremes, such as the "Kraven punches straight overhead to hit Spidey" image you used from Team-Up 67) really pays off on the "Thor rescues Spidey" sequences you highlight here. The Beast running off to find the X-Men led me to pick up X-Men #111, saving me a TON of money on both those issues and the Cockrum New X-Men issues I went back and got. The speculation prices went up like a rocket, very shortly thereafter (remember, X-Men is still bi-monthly at this point) and I consider myself quite lucky to have had Shooter let Claremont use the Beast (and this issue) to point Avengers readers at the soon-to-be red-hot X-book. Thanks, Jim! kvetoMarch 18, 2015 5:38 AM Marvel Spotlight #32 Ah, call him Mentallo. That's what the handbooks would do. (e.g Turk) kvetoMarch 18, 2015 5:35 AM Amazing Spider-Man #169-170 You gotta like the goons that try to take on Spidey with a high tech sledgehammer and pick-axe. That'll do the job! kveto from pragueMarch 18, 2015 5:17 AM Marvel Spotlight #29 Because my tastes don't range in that direction, and it's not the kind of thing I'd want to research. Dan SpectorMarch 18, 2015 4:45 AM Fantastic Four #191 Sadly, the Sharon McCall letter seems to be all too serious. Just because Sharon is (presumably) female doesn't mean she's going to be a feminist. There were (and still are) many women who prefer the "traditional" idea of femininity, "helpless hostage" tropes and the like. A good portion of the hate mail that Sue has gotten over the years (and she has gotten a LOT of hate mail) has come from women. Not only from women, not mostly from women, but hardly exclusively from men, either. The "Kill Sue" mail that came in around 310 (and eventually led to the ridiculous Sue v. Crystal "cat-fight" issue, certainly a low point in both the book and Steve Englehart's history) had some female contributors, IIRC. I can't say why, as I'm neither female nor the specific letter-writers in question. I'm just noting that it happened. You'd have to find Sharon McCall herself and ask what she was thinking... Dan SpectorMarch 18, 2015 1:27 AM Marvel Premiere #39-40 And, after ROM, both the Torpedo suit and the Jones family (after a fashion) end up in New Warriors (v. 1). #73 is one of the saddest stories I've ever read, leading me to toss both a "well-done" and a "curse you!" in Evan Skolnick's direction. But that's about two decades away, of course. Dan SpectorMarch 18, 2015 12:43 AM Iron Man #108 Some absolutely lovely work by Charming Carmine Infantino here; I find most of his Marvel work below his classic Flash at D.C., but this is gorgeous. I've never been a huge Bob Wiacek fan, but I'm guessing he had a lot to do with the result. I just figure that Tony spent the time between issues waiting for Hank to show up and killed off at least one bottle of scotch to pass the time. He's a melancholy drunk, for sure. Funny that the Beast is grilling himself to learn about the Avengers' files while Tony apparently never bothered to read up on the Growing Man. But of course, HE's Tony Stark, he OWNS the Avengers, they should all just be grateful he doesn't kick them out of the mansion...yeah, not surprised by this at all. Dan SpectorMarch 17, 2015 11:57 PM Captain Britain #3-39 "S.T.R.I.K.E."??? Good Lord (and Lady), S.H.I.E.L.D. was always supposed to be an international organization, and I know we've seen their British division on at least one occasion, at the start of Avengers (v.1) #115. I wouldn't be surprised if they were also in the Thing/Spider-Woman mess in Marvel Two-In-One, um, 29-33? (Or something like that. The one that wound up with Alicia Masters as a giant spider. It was set in London, and I'm pretty sure Nick Fury showed up, so there were probably British S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there, too.) Was thinking of getting some of these off of eBay, but didn't realize the main story was only 7 pages long. Have to adjust my price point, then. And the J Buscema/Palmer art is as gorgeous as ever I see; a pity it's only in the B/W issues. fnord12March 17, 2015 10:10 PM Amazing Spider-Man #167-168 No, you're right. If i have a blank Historical rating it means i forgot to put it in. Both "Will" and Bart do have a degree of significance. fnord12March 17, 2015 10:06 PM Power Man & Iron Fist #87 Thanks, Kveto. I've added a tag for him and some scans, and even got a So Big, So Fast alert out of it. This must be after Moon Knight #26 but not directly after since there's a reference to MK #28. Dan SpectorMarch 17, 2015 9:47 PM Fantastic Four #185-186 Also, the black band around the collar is noticeably thicker; in the earliest issues of the book, the band seemed to come halfway down to the "4" insignia. This isn't quite so thick, but it's more than they had before. Ataru320March 17, 2015 8:40 PM Amazing Spider-Man #167-168 Surprised there is no Historical Significance...then again its just Will 'O The Wisp and "that third Green Goblin" so its probably a 1. Erik BeckMarch 17, 2015 7:57 PM Amazing Spider-Man #169-170 Yeah, fnord, I'm totally with you. "Normal human male with moderate regular exercise, mostly in his upper body." That's what the current Marvel database says for Faustus. For him to take on Spider-Man is just ridiculous. Ataru320March 17, 2015 7:35 PM Hulk #297-300 I think the reason why Shulkie wouldn't have worked is exhibited in Bruce's post-Byrne meltdown; when he gets angry enough, the Hulk probably won't listen to anyone, even family. It is tough to say how much the Hulk even knows about Jen's situation compared to Bruce; it at least made sense in the 90s animated series that the Hulk ends up gaining a "connection" to Jen prior to her becoming Shulkie just like how Bruce has. clydeMarch 17, 2015 7:25 PM Hulk #297-300 "But it's not said why She-Hulk, who would seem to be an obvious choice to bring in against the Hulk, isn't around." Time Traveling BunnyMarch 17, 2015 6:05 PM Captain Marvel #8-11 Zo definitely reminded me of Oz (even the names are similar, so I suspect this was intentional), but more than that the whole planet felt eerily like Heaven. The clouds, the beautiful "nurses," the golden gates... This was the first issue of Captain Marvel that was genuinely interesting. AndrewMarch 17, 2015 5:04 PM Thor #391 I think if your name sounds like a Stan Lee super-villain secret identity already, you don't need any further reason to change it. My problem is there was already a British science fiction writer by that exact name. His 1974 "Inverted World" is one of the great New Wave novels. Do some research, Owlsley. AndrewMarch 17, 2015 3:33 PM Avengers #288-290 Okay, I didn't know about the Quinjet thing. Still this doesn't seem like the best solution to the problem. What are they going to do if there's an emergency in New York? Swim there? (And that question was rhetorical.) kvetoMarch 17, 2015 3:26 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #72 And this was my introduction to Moon Knight. kvetoMarch 17, 2015 3:25 PM Power Man & Iron Fist #87 Commodore Donny Planet (no relation to Captain?) has another appearance in Moon Knight 26. It might be set before this issue but I'm not sure. He's another one of those "it's not fat, it's muscle" type guys marvel liked. BillMarch 17, 2015 1:22 PM Avengers #288-290 ....and because the Masters of Evil just destroyed Avengers Mansion! AndrewMarch 17, 2015 12:48 PM Thor #390 There are (or I guess, were) actually two rules about Thor's hammer. First, taken from the original myths, is that it's too heavy to be lifted by anyone but Thor, period. The second, added by Stan and Jack, is that anyone worthy who holds it will possess the power of Thor. So if Cap got hold of the hammer in its walking stick form, he could turn into Thor, like Beta Ray Bill, but he shouldn't be able to lift Mjolnir when it's in its hammer form. The two rules seem to have blended into one now, with anyone who's worthy being able to pick it up and wield it, so I guess I shouldn't complain. But that's always bothered me. fnord12March 17, 2015 12:36 PM Avengers #288-290 Not sure if your question is rhetorical, but in case it's not: after the Vision tried to take over the world's computer systems, the Avengers lost their security clearance, and with that the privilege of landing their Quinjets in the city. AndrewMarch 17, 2015 12:31 PM Avengers #288-290 Why did they decide to leave New York and set up on an artificial tropical island again? Erik BeckMarch 17, 2015 11:46 AM Avengers #152 I love how it takes them 14 friggin issues to finally decide on a team and then Wanda decides to go on a leave of absence in the very next issue. Then again, this is the team which changed its membership in its second issue. RobertMarch 16, 2015 11:12 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #4-5 When creating new characters, there's trying...and then there's The Hitman. MichaelMarch 16, 2015 10:29 PM Thing #20-22 That was the problem- instead of Shooter's "hodgepodge of worlds" idea, Byrne went with the "Battleworld is completely shaped by Ben's and Ultron's minds" idea. ChrisMarch 16, 2015 10:22 PM Thing #20-22 This was not a very good set of issues with the Thing. Byrne's scripts on the Thing were never great, but at least on Earth they had some relevance. Since The Thing's time on Battleworld is temporary and can't lead to anything long term (like new villains that will carry over), then the quality of the stories better be so good that the period is remembered fondly. Since Battleworld is a hodgepodge of various worlds - some with life, some not, some with advanced technology, others not - it's a setting that cries out for some real epic sci-fi stuff. Instead, it's just mundane plots. So much more could have been done with it. MichaelMarch 16, 2015 7:55 PM Thing #11 Clyde, the real problem is Thing 22, which suggests that Ben and Ultron are the only "real" inhabitants on Battleworld. Then, Ben leaves without taking anyone but Ultron with him and the planet falls apart. If Ben was wrong,he just left dozens of Zsaji's people to die. Jay GallardoMarch 16, 2015 5:22 PM Savage Hulk #1-4 Maybe this wasn't a great story, but that "Jean give me a targetarget" it's IMHO INE of The best x men moments ever. clydeMarch 16, 2015 4:02 PM Thing #11 FNORD - just because we never saw any other beings, doesn't mean they weren't there. There are plenty of places on Earth that aren't referenced in comics every month. Also, who said time has to function the same over the whole planet? The Beyonder could have easily made each section have it's own timeline, sort of a mini-planet for each section. Kind of like what happens on the Stranger's world during Quasar's issues. Erik BeckMarch 16, 2015 11:28 AM Avengers #150-151 Yeah, #150 is basically the comic equivalent of a "clip show". But in the end, even though it would have been nice to have Hellcat, we get what will basically be the core team - a fantastic group of seven (and I've always preferred seven to six). Worth the wait to come out of this with this team, with a great mix of personalities and especially to have Iron Man as chair instead of Thor, who never really seemed to be much of an actual leader. SharMarch 16, 2015 10:10 AM Champions #1-10 Ah, looks like the first image of Pluto here was somewhat based on a similar Pluto image from Thor #164 --perfectly understandable, as Heck was probably unfamiliar with this character. Fnord12 has the image I'm referring to in his Thor #164 entry: JSfanMarch 16, 2015 8:19 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #56 For someone that isn't really a proper artist, that's some decent art by Shooter JSfanMarch 16, 2015 8:14 AM Solo Avengers #14-16 Man, She-Hulk reminds me of Psylocke from UXM #213. Ataru320March 15, 2015 10:20 PM Amazing Spider-Man #161-162 The whole thing is worth it for "goofy laughing Wolverine"; my dad had a copy of this (actually he had a huge run of Spidey from the mid-late 70s he kept somewhere that water ended up destroy most; had the death of Gwen Stacey, the original Clone Saga and everything) and it was probably one of the highlights of picking up the pieces of what remained of his comic collection. MichaelMarch 15, 2015 8:51 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 That doesn't count as a dropped plotline- Scott mentions Alex and Lorna trying to kill him in issue 98, we see the brainwashed Alex and Lorna again in issue 104 and 105, and in issue 109, we find out Xavier de-brainwashed Alex and Lorna. AndrewMarch 15, 2015 8:26 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 X-Men 98 features Claremont's first dropped plot line. In issue 97 Scott's brother and his girlfriend were brainwashed and abducted by a violent alien, but there's no mention of any search for them, or even any concern. They just reappear in Marvel Team-Up some time later. clydeMarch 15, 2015 8:05 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #58 "They're both sneaking in to grab the updated costumes the Tinkerer has been working on." Erik BeckMarch 15, 2015 5:05 PM Marvel Team-Up #48-51 I really like that first panel and wish it were bigger (in the comic, not on this page). I agree with Spidey; the presumptuous arrogance of Thor and Iron Man (and Captain America often as well) about any super-heros that don't full under their purvey is pretty irritating. Reed Richards has it as well, of course, but Reed Richards and "presumptuous arrogance" kind of go hand in hand. Jean DeWolff is a good character and it's a great intro, but she's really disappointing in the rest of the story after the Wraith appears. Erik BeckMarch 15, 2015 5:00 PM Champions #1-10 "If i could do it all over again, i would buy the Champions as single issues to avoid some of this, but i've put the relevant Ghost Rider issues around this entry." I suspect there are a lot of thoughts concerning the Champions that begin with "If I could do it all over again. Starting with the horrible costume Angel wears the first few issues. But what always seemed strange, and I haven't read the full issues, is there any explanation as to why Warren and Bobby would be together? They had almost no down time together in the X-Men days and now suddenly they're part of a team together (and were the original concept for the book). MichaelMarch 15, 2015 4:03 PM Iron Man #88-91 There were some problems with the Avengers- Perez being late on issue 145-146 and of course, Englehart getting kicked off the book in issue 150 but mostly it was Englehart letting the plot drag out. Hawkeye goes time traveling looking for the Black Knight in issue 137, Moondragon and Thor go looking for him in issue 141 and they don't rejoin the Avengers until issue 149. Not counting the fill-ins, that's 11 issues. Erik BeckMarch 15, 2015 1:57 PM Marvel Treasury Special: Captain America's Bicentennial Battles Here's an example of that ad with Cap on the fife that fnord references. I think this image appeared in like every book that Marvel put out that year. Erik BeckMarch 15, 2015 1:54 PM Iron Man #88-91 Beast's appearance here just underscores how flipping long it took for the Avengers to sort of their membership. They put out their call for new members in #137, it takes over a year for that to be resolved in the Avengers title, and in between Beast shows up as an Avenger in X-Men, MTU and here. What was going on with the Avengers at the time (the book, not the team)? Erik BeckMarch 15, 2015 1:40 PM Amazing Spider-Man #161-162 Wait, Spider-Man teams up with a random character and they have a misunderstanding fight before teaming up? How is this not an issue of MTU? Erik BeckMarch 15, 2015 1:37 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #10 Mike's comment shows the interesting range in ages among the people who come here. I think of myself as an older reader, but at this point I was still a little kid and the actual comics I had from this era I either bought later as back issues or read my older brothers (6 and 9 years older) old tattered copies. And I'm certain there are commenters who are a lot younger. The nice diversity of ages provides some interesting differing viewpoints. Erik BeckMarch 15, 2015 9:34 AM Amazing Spider-Man #156 I remember having a kids book about Spider-Man as a kid. Two of the featured villains, alongside classics like Lizard and Sandman, were Cyclone and Mirage, so I grew up thinking of them as much more prominent villains in the Spider-Man stories than they actually were. That made me a little bummed when Mirage is eventually offed with the rest in the Bar with No Name. Luke BlanchardMarch 15, 2015 2:28 AM Tomb of Dracula #69-70 Perhaps it's |HE COULD HAVE FOUGHT HARKER,| meaning either that he ran away or just gave in. david banesMarch 15, 2015 12:58 AM Amazing Spider-Man #224 Aunt May looking decrepit before Ultimate Spider-Man? NO! This was a fun issue I love the Vulture getting some good runs from Stern. Luke BlanchardMarch 15, 2015 12:18 AM Tomb of Dracula #69-70 I've put these comments into a separate post as they're much more speculative. The text by the second panel on p.17 might partly read |DOMINI LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW [...] HE COULD HAVE CAUGHT[...] NEW CONSORT|. A lot turns on the CAUGHT. The letters I think I can see are |UGHT|. I initially thought the next line had |ASK,|, but I can interpret its letters as the |KER,| of |HARKER,|, although not with confidence. So the lines may read |HE COULD HAVE CAUGHT HARKER,|. That could indicate that #71 was going to climax with a fight between Quincy and Dracula, Quincy was going to be killed in the castle's destruction, and Dracula was going to get away. But I'm not sure |CAUGHT HARKER| is plausible. Why would Domini be adamant that Dracula could have done that? He couldn't catch people while flying. He flew as a bat. I think the text by the final panel was for the next issue blurb. It might read |RESOLUTN "--DESIRE [...] END.-"|. Luke BlanchardMarch 15, 2015 12:06 AM Tomb of Dracula #69-70 There's also a jump in fnord's selections; the first two unused pages are pp.3 and 4 and the last p.17, which in the period was the last page. There's space for the next issue blurb at its bottom. I think the opening panel of p.3 represents Domini remembering Janus's transformation into the Golden Angel, not the angel's leaving. In the dialogue note at the bottom of the page Topaz says she knows what happened to Dracula. On p.4 she starts to show Domini a vision of this. The vision starts with Dracula and Torgo tied together, so either the vision was going to begin with a brief recapitulation of their fight, or the previous issue was going to end with the pair about to fight. I think the first panel of p.17 is the end of the vision. I can't make out most of the left margin notes, as they're cut off on the left, but I believe the one for that panel reads |BACK TO DOMINI AND TOPAZ THEY STARE AT THE RUBBLE THAT ONCE WAS DRAC'S CASTLE|. My initial thought was that Domini is crying on the page because she thinks Dracula has been killed. But my guess is Domini's "solution" in #50 was that Dracula should be redeemed by love. This was a horror series, so Wolfman may not have planned that she should get her wish. So Domini may instead be crying because Dracula has turned back to evil and she knows he can't be redeemed. It may be that all the unused pages survive and appeared in the Essential. I don't have it; it might be possible to figure out from their page numbers which pages were intended for #70, which #71, and which were new. fnord12March 14, 2015 8:20 PM Out of scope That's listed on the MCP's non-canon page. And until now i would have said that it was totally unrelated to the Marvel universe and shouldn't be listed here any more than, say, Groo. But i see now that in 2014 it was referenced in X-Force, so i've added it to the Alternate Future list. fnord12March 14, 2015 8:18 PM Avengers #145-146 Your comment did connect for me the fact that Keith Pollard drew those 3 pages specifically because issue #146 needed an intro/recap that wouldn't have been in the Giant-Size issue, so it did have some value! Vin the Comic GuyMarch 14, 2015 7:40 PM Out of scope How about StrikeForce: Morituri? BillMarch 14, 2015 7:18 PM Avengers #145-146 Darn! Somehow I skipped past the very top of the page and fnord covered everything I just posted. Now I look dumb. Nothing to see here; please disperse :) BillMarch 14, 2015 7:17 PM Avengers #145-146 These two issues were supposed to be another Giant-Size issue, but when the format was discontinued, they were stuck with this story. It was then split into two parts and Keith Pollard drew the set-up for the second part and they became, essentially, two fill-in issues. fnord12March 14, 2015 1:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man #240-241 Clyde, sorry i didn't respond earlier. It's not shown exactly when the replacement happens but it seems to be sometime between Keating's appearances in ASM #265 and #275. fnord12March 14, 2015 11:54 AM Amazing Spider-Man annual #22 Thanks for that, Robert. That's actually an interesting point. He's never called that in his regular series but they do use that name here (although only in a thought bubble). I wonder if Tom DeFalco was more willing to embrace the name or if they realized "Masked Marvel" wasn't going to work as his actual super-hero name since he's meeting other heroes in this story, or just a coincidence. fnord12March 14, 2015 11:46 AM Alpha Flight #50 Well, i don't know their individual names and i don't usually tag groups in the Characters Appearing. I have to admit your comment made me debate it again, but i figure people can find them with a regular text search or through the References. Erik BeckMarch 14, 2015 9:19 AM Avengers #145-146 Yeah, I think a C is pretty generous here. I bought this in the late 80's, trying to collect the whole Avengers / Squadron crossover (two of my favorite groups) and was so disappointed that they stuck these two issues in the middle of the storyline. The art, especially, was so disappointing, surrounded as it was by Perez's work. Just terrible. Bad fill-in's are the worst thing for OCD collectors, because you feel the need to get them but you don't really want them. Erik BeckMarch 14, 2015 9:10 AM Fantastic Four #168-170 The second FF issue I ever read was 169. Both a great and a not great place to come into the team. It's got great art and it really sucked me in to the story, with a lot of flashback scenes (Ben gets into a bar-fight and has flashbacks to being the Thing). On the other hand, I read that issue on and off for 30 years and this is the first time I have ever seen the conclusion or known precisely who was controlling Luke Cage (and the Wrecker, who is mentioned in 169, so I knew it was in the middle of a storyline as well). RobertMarch 14, 2015 4:08 AM Speedball #2 If this series weren't so disconnected from the rest of the MU, they could have used Paste Pot Pete as a villain for Speedball. Instead they come up with another glue-themed baddie who fits the Scooby Doo style rogues gallery Robbie has. RobertMarch 14, 2015 3:52 AM Amazing Spider-Man annual #22 You said he never calls himself by the name Speedball but he appears to in his thought bubbles during his first transformation scene: "Transforming me into -- SPEEDBALL!" AndrewMarch 13, 2015 8:41 PM Alpha Flight #50 Those Whose Name Is A Very Good Description of What They Look Like don't rate Characters Appearing? clydeMarch 13, 2015 11:26 AM Power Man & Iron Fist #102 I love Iron Fist's expression - "Heart Of The Dragon!" david banesMarch 13, 2015 4:57 AM Strange Tales #171 I remember Robert E. Howard also did a Solomon Kane story that had zombie creatures that were a blending of old and new zombie traits. They were mindless as in they were controlled by a spell caster but I think they ate flesh and had to be destroyed by magic or fire. Oh and they were not called zombies but vampires or vampyres. I remember finding it very interesting to see some traits of modern zombies popping up as far back as the 30s. Luke BlanchardMarch 13, 2015 4:16 AM Strange Tales #171 "Zuvembie" comes from a Robert E. Howard story called "Pigeons from Hell". In this the zuvembie is a monster created by the arts of a voodoo-man, but not a zombie. RobertMarch 12, 2015 7:34 PM Marvel Comics Presents #10-17 (Colossus) There's something in the way Rick Leonardi draws Piotr that reminds me of Tim Sale's Superman. clydeMarch 12, 2015 3:59 PM Captain America #291 It's a good thing Tumbler decided to hang up his costume for good. Otherwise, he would have been a prime candidate for Scourge. He was a low level villain who didn't really have much appeal to readers. clydeMarch 12, 2015 3:12 PM Hulk #292 FNORD - I love how you got all the corner covers together. That looks awesome!! TCPMarch 12, 2015 1:15 PM Amazing Spider-Man #174-175 "It's OK, kids, those are just 'mercy bullets!' Those people will wake up any day now..." TCPMarch 12, 2015 11:10 AM Amazing Spider-Man #129 "The Assassin"? That name is right up there with "The Hitman" and "The Bounty Hunter." Talk about being defined by your work... Mark DrummondMarch 12, 2015 10:46 AM Amazing Spider-Man #129 According to Conway in Alter Ego #131: he wanted to call the character the Assassin, but it was Stan Lee who changed it to the Punisher. KarlosMarch 12, 2015 9:15 AM Master of Kung Fu #122 Moench said in an interview a few years ago that when DC offered him the Batman gig, he was told by Shooter that he couldn't work for both companies. And so Moench quit Marvel to work at DC. Odd that Shooter effectively (according to Moench) ousted Moench from the title, yet closed it down just 3 issues after he left. Wanyas the Self-ProclaimedMarch 12, 2015 9:07 AM Doctor Strange #1-2,4-5 A lot of great things were supposedly written while on drugs. This is not one of them. The best issue of this story was the reprint (which you obviously don't mention). There are some interesting ideas, but overall, I agree, it's a rambling mess. I enjoyed the art more then you did, but these comics suffer from a common problem of weird panel and balloon layouts (I thought Orzechowski was better than that) that almost dare you to follow the story. Vin the Comic GuyMarch 12, 2015 6:58 AM Alpha Flight #67-70 Calimee did a servicable job on Strikeforce:Morituri. I hope that you're planning on doing profiles; maybe I'll try it out. You do such a good job, though. Nathan AdlerMarch 12, 2015 6:34 AM Uncanny X-Men #97 @Erik: the following issue has a silhouette that appears to be Peter Corbeau so was he initially being set up as a Shi'ar agent? Luke BlanchardMarch 12, 2015 2:50 AM Invaders #22-23, 25-34 The Asbestos Lady is a Golden Age villain, from Human Torch stories in CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #63 and THE HUMAN TORCH #27. She appeared on the cover of the latter. The Frankenstein issue may have been suggested by a wartime storyline from Dick Briefer's "Frankenstein" series in PRIZE COMICS. When the series started the monster was handled as a monster. Somewhere along the way Briefer reformed him and adopted a light-hearted tone. Then he did a story where the Nazis captured him and turned him into a Nazi, dressed in a black military uniform and cap. When he recovered his good personality he pretended he hadn't, so he spent several issues dressed like this. The INVADERS monster has a somewhat similar appearance, but Thomas and Glut could have come up with the idea of doing a Nazi Frankenstein's monster story independently, from the Frankenstein name. Erik BeckMarch 11, 2015 6:30 PM Uncanny X-Men #97 It's at the end of Inferno, I believe where they mention how it hurts for Alex and Scott to zap each other (when Alex is trying to goad Scott to blast Sinister) but it doesn't really harm them, the way it would a normal person. Having now finally read the old X-Men issues, it's interesting to have seen the original Erik the Red appearances and to realize that until here Lorna wasn't called Polaris - nothing in Giant Size X-Men #1 made me realize that. I got the impression from the way that the Hellfire Club was written into this back story in the backup stories in Classic X-Men that it's supposed to be one of them watching Lang, but it does look more like something a Shi'Ar would be wearing. And, for those of us who are big Cyclops fans, it's nice to see him take down Wolverine a peg. Erik BeckMarch 11, 2015 5:57 PM Uncanny X-Men #96 @Chris - To be fair to Claremont, that while he often does this, it seemed like, even from the start, that there was a lot more to Moira than met the eye. And it's less than 10 issues later where we see Muir Island and start to get a clue as to how much more there is to Moira. ChrisMarch 11, 2015 3:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #96 Moira is introduced as a housekeeper. And later becomes a virtual super scientist and expert on mutations. Very typical of Claremont. No one is just normal even if they are introduced as such. entzauberungMarch 11, 2015 3:24 PM Uncanny X-Men #46 Well, I'm not sure if I have any non-helmet-related examples that actually disproves Juggernaut's invulnerability/unstoppability. It's just that in Amazing #229-230 his powers are very clearly stated (and there's a literal sense about them), while in the earlier X-Men/Hulk/Beast appearances I've read he's just a really tough dude. fnord12March 11, 2015 2:25 PM Uncanny X-Men #96 7 or 8 is high for a supporting character, even one that will ave as many appearances as Moira, but you're right that i should have called out her first published appearance here. That's the problem with continuity inserts, especially the ones snuck into the Classic X-Men reprints; i occasionally lose track of what was new in realtime. Thanks for pointing it out. Erik BeckMarch 11, 2015 12:06 PM Defenders #31 "Men kill Bambi's mother!" That, that is just awesome. Erik BeckMarch 11, 2015 11:53 AM Uncanny X-Men #96 Fnord, I'm confused. Shouldn't this issue have a 7 or 8 for Historical Significance Rating because of the first appearance of Moira? She is the seminal X-Men supporting character and this was her first published appearance. Also, maybe even a little bit for the first reference to Storm's claustrophobia. One advantage to reading these in Classic from here on out - it's much more obvious when panels are inserted because the art is so much different. But still, the reaction to Storm swimming is one of my favorite Classic inserts. Erik BeckMarch 11, 2015 11:45 AM Defenders #30 Yeah, this like epically bad. That Tapping Tommy could take out a team this powerful is ridiculous. But I'm glad you included the gas bomb, because I love how they all keep talking - maybe if you shut your mouths and stopped talking the gas wouldn't knock you out. Mark DrummondMarch 11, 2015 10:55 AM Daredevil #82-83 According to Alter Ego #131: Smith did layouts, Weiss finished them, and Colan really was on vacation. Mark DrummondMarch 11, 2015 10:52 AM Savage Tales #1 (Man-Thing) According to Alter Ego #131, Roy plotted the story and Gerry did the dialogue. Mark DrummondMarch 11, 2015 10:48 AM Astonishing Tales #1-3 Gerry Conway confirmed in Alter Ego #131 that #3 was his first Marvel Universe story. HaydnMarch 11, 2015 9:54 AM Amazing Spider-Man #86 Maybe she used Nice 'n Easy? AndrewMarch 10, 2015 9:48 PM Thor #377-378 Note that Simonson spells it "Grendell", with two l's, to distinguish him from Matt Wagner's Grendel, who'd been around for several years at this point. fnord12March 10, 2015 9:38 PM Uncanny X-Men #46 Fixed the image. Thanks for that and the comments, Jonathan! Entzauberung, i'm still not sure if i really answered your question so let me know. jonathanMarch 10, 2015 9:15 PM Uncanny X-Men #46 By the way, the picture of Juggs reacting to Xavier's death is the same picture already used above. I do want to say I love this site, I have been reading it for a while without commenting, but it's great to read through & reminisce about these old comics! jonathanMarch 10, 2015 9:08 PM Uncanny X-Men #46 I'd like to know that myself. I haven't read all his appearances before Amazing 229, but none of the ones I've seen seem to state it outright. In his first Hulk fight he dukes it out with the Hulk, but after his helmet's removed he is KO'd by Xavier & Jean, but they specify Cyclops is blasting at the same time. Like Fnord, I get irritated when people get his powers wrong, but now I'm starting to wonder if they weren't defined until Stern, or by the 80s Handbook? fnord12March 10, 2015 8:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #46 I don't know, i feel like that was the case from the very beginning. The earliest stories play up his "forcefield" more than i, as someone who started reading comics in the 80s, expected, and there are a couple of stories that have the idea that once his helmet is off he can get punched out. I'd guess those things get nailed down by the time of his Claremont appearances. The helmet problem is shown in his Hulk appearance prior to that. But i never felt like he was really just a strong or just partially invulnerable guy until later, if that's what you mean. He always seems pretty unstoppable. Did you have anything specific in mind? MichaelMarch 10, 2015 7:59 PM Iron Man #219-221 That's because, as mentioned above, this isn't the real Spymaster. (Although you'd think Tony and Rhodey wou ld be a bit suspicious about an impostor looking different from Spymaster since they saw Spymaster unmasked in issue 210- sure,they might have assumed Spymaster had plastic surgery but still...) MegaSpiderManMarch 10, 2015 7:26 PM Iron Man #219-221 You don't have Spymaster listed as a character appearing. Erik BeckMarch 10, 2015 6:27 PM Fantastic Four #164-165 The first Fantastic Four issue I ever read because my brothers had a tattered coverless copy of it when I was growing up. Like the second one I ever read (also tattered and coverless, coming about a dozen issues later), it ended on a cliffhanger and I never read the conclusion, so it's great to finally see it here. There's a great moment in the first issue where Johnny is passing out and Reed has to do an amazing job stretching across the city to catch him. Interesting to know that, like Defenders #1, I had an important issue (the first appearance of Frankie Raye) and didn't know it because it didn't have a cover. entzauberungMarch 10, 2015 4:31 PM Uncanny X-Men #46 Feels like this is the right place to ask this :)...when is the Juggernaut's "can't be hurt by physical means" and "can't be stopped by physical means" really established? It's there in Roger Stern's classic Spider-Man story, but doesn't seem to be other than regular hyperbole in the early Juggernaut stories I've read. fnord12March 10, 2015 1:09 PM Giant-Size X-Men #1 It's kind of a judgment call on behind-the-scenes appearances. The Marvel Chronology Project does list him as being here BTS. But since he's not shown and he doesn't do anything that affects the plot of this issue, i haven't listed him. Erik BeckMarch 10, 2015 12:37 PM Avengers #141-144,147-149 Nice early George Perez art. Not what he would become, but still good. I do wish Patsy as Hellcat had stuck around - she would have been a nice pairing with Beast. The Beast as we know him today - hilarious but also brilliant - really begins with this arc. Erik BeckMarch 10, 2015 12:04 PM Giant-Size X-Men #1 Fnord, I assume you don't list characters who are there but don't actually appear. Because I know later Wolverine will reference the fact that James Hudson is in the room for the tie-cutting scene, but of course, we don't seem him and he won't actually be introduced until a year and a half later. Erik BeckMarch 10, 2015 11:50 AM Avengers #137-138 Again, with two major characters romantically interested in Moondragon. Granted, I have the benefit of knowing where the character will go, but still. What the hell is wrong with these people? Erik BeckMarch 10, 2015 11:38 AM Giant-Size X-Men #1 Interesting that Cockrum would design characters based around his ideas for the Legion, since at the end of his run he'll essentially bring the Legion into Marvel as the Imperial Guard. Also interesting that when this was reprinted in Classic X-Men they ditched the entire second half of the story. That's probably why they lated reprinted the whole issue on its own, exactly as it had been printed back in 1975. AndrewMarch 10, 2015 9:27 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Watcher) The background, which should be colored red, is colored blue for some reason making it look like Sue is pregnant or something. What I want to know is why her husband is wearing street clothes while she's slinking around in a catsuit. AndrewMarch 10, 2015 9:15 AM Mephisto vs.... #2 I'm pretty sure this is the first time anything was mentioned about pheromones. Before the issue was just about how the Beast looked. He thought he was ugly, but when he finally ventured out in public it turned out the some women liked the way he looked. It was actually a nice metaphor for learning to accept yourself the way you are. The introduction of mind altering chemicals just makes the whole thing creepy. clydeMarch 9, 2015 8:29 PM Amazing Spider-Man #244-245 FNORD - I have the trade as well. But, my Origin of the Hobgoblin trade has all the scenes you put in. I guess it's a later version. It says second edition. Ataru320March 9, 2015 7:43 PM Hulk #277-279 Looking it over, the concept in itself isn't that bad, its just the execution. The idea of the Hulk trying to right his wrongs after gaining Banner's mind and thus lead to a pardon isn't such a bad one even if it is prior to the revelations regarding who the Hulk really is. Further, there are certain people out there who would sympathize with the Hulk/Bruce and want to help them with it: there are those like Spidey or Jen/Shulkie who would obviously be there for him, but there is also Sasquatch who likewise is a victim of Gamma exposure and the first to encounter the Hulk after this sudden change in status quo. And of course Reed Richards wouldn't want to turn down an experiment like this and would have a greater understanding of Bruce...maybe Tony but he tends to be a tough balance between altruism and wanting to have his wealthy lifestyle. The problem is after the U-Foes scheme falls apart, it just becomes "every hero ever shows up to support a presidential pardon and the Leader pops up to make it all work out for a happily ever after...until Nightmare screws him over." I guess the whole storyline of "The Professor" in the Peter David run made it work better. Dan H.March 9, 2015 7:13 PM Hulk #277-279 I guess Byrne just overlooked this story when he revealed in AF #12 that Snowbird couldn't leave Canada without risking death. She seems pretty lively here cavorting around in Washington D.C. MattMarch 9, 2015 5:39 PM Thor #402-405 More than twenty-five years later, this regressive run still makes me mad. I know there are people who like it. But to me, this whole run is one giant step backward from Simonson in pretty much every respect. DeFalco and Frenz took everything he did with the book -- everything that turned Thor into my favorite comic at the time -- and just ripped it to pieces. Bad dialogue and characterization, story lines that have little to do with Asgard and more to do with Kirby-era scifi goofiness, art that is less tribute to Kirby than just manneristic copycatting -- ugh, ugh, ugh. Everything that had improved was turned back. Just terrible. Vin the Comic GuyMarch 9, 2015 4:22 PM Silver Surfer annual #1 Joe Staton did a great job with this annual. Bob Hall did a great homage to Alpha Flight #9 with the cover - it is a fantastic image, after all. Fnord, you may be correct in that SS was Steve's best '80s series. I happened to enjoy his FF and WCA as well, but I'd been missing most of the early SS books. Vin The Comic GuyMarch 9, 2015 3:59 PM Captain America #350 Anyone catch the Red Skull teases in the smoke? Erik BeckMarch 9, 2015 1:31 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 @ Michael - Actually, Ford was the House Minority Leader, and unless they've been Speaker previously (like Pelosi now or Boehner before) it's not necessarily a political position that your everyday person could name. fnord12March 9, 2015 1:27 PM Power Pack #16-17 Thanks Andrew. I've removed the duplicate. Erik BeckMarch 9, 2015 1:17 PM Amazing Spider-Man #144-146 Thanks for the info, fnord. I must admit, prior to coming to this site, I never much thought about the inkers, only the pencillers. Although, the way the site is set up, it's also fun to watch the pencillers develop over time. AndrewMarch 9, 2015 1:16 PM Power Pack #16-17 The scan of the fight in Central Park appears twice. AndrewMarch 9, 2015 1:15 PM Power Pack #16-17 And/or the 1963 novel by Walter Tevis. fnord12March 9, 2015 12:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man #144-146 Romita was Marvel's art director at this time, charged with ensuring that the art always retained a consistent house style. That means he redrew a lot of heads and other stuff, and in some cases just had to ink or finish an entire issue. In this case, the inclusion of "Bullpen" in the credits suggests that there was a deadline issue or other problem that necessitated an all hands on deck approach. Erik BeckMarch 9, 2015 12:22 PM Amazing Spider-Man #144-146 John Romita does the inks for someone else's pencils? Is that odd? (not a rhetorical question - I am honestly wondering if someone can put up information about whether or not it's odd that a highly regarded penciler would ink someone else). As for the clones, aggh. Every time I see clones I want to just run away, especially in a Spider-Man story. Never ends well, not only for Peter and his supporting cast, but for us readers either. JSfanMarch 9, 2015 11:53 AM Hulk #277-279 This story is awful. Just awful. Wow! TCPMarch 9, 2015 11:01 AM Fantastic Four #32 Another nice Reed quote from this issue: "I'm through explaining! You three are going to learn to follow orders blindly, if need be!" This despite the fact that explaining would have helped clear Sue and Johnny's consciences for the fight. Nice job, "Mr. Fantastic." kvetoMarch 9, 2015 10:55 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #125-126 So that's what Peter looks like with a sparkling white mullet. (in the buff to boot) TCPMarch 9, 2015 9:14 AM Captain America #338 I thought Prof. Power was kind of interesting in his first appearances, when he was a jaded political figure and not another cliche, costume-wearing villain. But, the same writer who created him turned him into that cliche villain, so I guess there's no excuse. JSfanMarch 9, 2015 6:55 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #125-126 "I suppose if you were just reading through a run of Spectacular Spider-Mans, Spider-Woman would just feel like a random guest star and you wouldn't be getting the whole story" Yep, that's exactly how I felt. I never liked her because I thought she was just a Spider-Man knock-off. JSfanMarch 9, 2015 6:51 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #125-126 Alan Kupperberg's art sucks during these issues at least. Why is Spider-Man "Line-dancing"? and where Spider-Woman explains why she has to follow orders or she may never see her daughter she looks like a mad woman rather than just someone that is angry. DougMarch 9, 2015 2:16 AM Ka-Zar the Savage #32 Thanks much for the reply, and also for posting the pin-up, too. This site is top-notch. :-) BerendMarch 9, 2015 1:33 AM Captain America #338 Professor Power is one of the worst characters in Marvel history. Weird history, ugly costume, boring personality, no interesting powers, stupid gimmick henchmen that you'd expect in the DC silver age... It's a miracle they bothered to bring him back after this. Mark DrummondMarch 8, 2015 10:05 PM Alpha Flight #50 Steve Saffel, A Marvel promotions rep, said in Comics Journal #130(6/89) that "a writer" tried to introduce a character with AIDS, but the story was rejected. Why? Because AIDS didn't exist in the Marvel Universe. He Actually Said That. RobertMarch 8, 2015 7:44 PM Captain America #341 There's a current bit of controversy over a TV remake of Uncle Buck with Mike Epps as the title character. When I read about it, the first thing I thought of was this Bucky debate. clydeMarch 8, 2015 6:32 PM Avengers #233-234 This was one of the first issues I owned. Seeing the same scene in this issue and the FF issue was a real "WOW" moment for me. It brought to light in my mind the continuity that Marvel is so famous for. fnord12March 8, 2015 6:29 PM Marvel Chillers #4 Thanks, Matthew. Tigra says at the start of this issue that she was hunting the Rat-Pack, and when she runs into a different group of green-clad gunmen in this issue i guess i got confused. Updated it. kvetoMarch 8, 2015 6:22 PM Marvel Team-Up annual #5 I loved this issue as a kid. even tho i knew none of the history and most characters were new to me, this was the first issue that pulled upon that shared universe concept we all love so much. that and spider-man being the big hero by being the one to get the cube. Ive also never liked Quasar from this issue since he spent most of it as a bad guy. I also remember Spider-man webbing up three thieves who were all black. I only remember because I think it was the last time I saw a marvel street gang that wasn't a mix of ethnicities. fnord12March 8, 2015 6:21 PM Ka-Zar the Savage #32 It's Mary Wilshire. She was also one of the artists on issue #29 and she's done a few other scattered things in the Marvel Universe (including some New Mutants and the Firestar mini). She also had a run on Red Sonja and did a lot of Marvel's Barbie comics. kvetoMarch 8, 2015 6:03 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #15 This is definitely not the first instance of "threat or menace" headline. That headline (reversed) appears in ASM #140 describing the Grizzly. MichaelMarch 8, 2015 5:57 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #5 Englehart established that there *WAS* a Communist Red Skull in Captain America 155. It's weird because Englehart probably intended the Red Skull in this story to be the Communist Red Skull but there's no footnote or anything in Captain America 155. It was the Handbook that confirmed that the Red Skull in this story was the Communist one in Cap 155. DougMarch 8, 2015 5:41 PM Ka-Zar the Savage #32 Anybody know the artist that did the nice bonus pin-up of Shanna in this issue? Looks like her first name is Mary but I can't make out the last name. (It's not Marie Severin.) kvetoMarch 8, 2015 5:23 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #5 I do like that when they bring "this" skull back in Solo Avengers #6 he's still sporting that chest blaster. Anybody know when it got established that this wasn't the original skull? that sounds like a handbook type revelation to me. I do think this is the first issue where spider-man straight up kills a guy. Leading a heat-seeking missile into him, he knew the guy would die from that. kvetoMarch 8, 2015 5:06 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #3 Why does spider-man have to catch the Hulk to join? Isn't that the most impossible test ever? Somehow I doubt they made Hawk-eye or Quicksilver catch the Hulk in order to join. Matthew BradleyMarch 8, 2015 4:58 PM Marvel Chillers #4 I see no indication whatsoever that these gunmen are in any way connected with the Rat Pack seen in #3 and #5. Greer simply stumbled onto the hospital heist/kidnapping during the time she'd been trying to track them down. clydeMarch 8, 2015 3:18 PM Amazing Spider-Man #240-241 FNORD - When was Chris Keating replaced by the foreigner? clydeMarch 8, 2015 2:20 PM Captain America #281-283 FNORD - Didn't a later retcon reveal that Dum Dum Dugan was an LMD all this time? If so, how and why would he have a heart attack? Was this a cruel trick on Nick's part to foster the belief that he was real? Or was it simply that the LMD was malfunctioning (perhaps due to old age)? clydeMarch 8, 2015 1:37 PM Uncanny X-Men #169-171 Angel was pinned by his wings in the Morlock tunnels again in Mutant Massacre. It had a much greater emotional and physical impact at that time. Erik BeckMarch 8, 2015 1:00 PM Iron Man #74-75,77,80-81 Here's the link to a description of the Emperor Norton that Mike Drummond mentions. He's really a fascinating character, well known in San Francisco (Christopher Moore has a big nod to him in his vampire books that take place in San Francisco). Erik BeckMarch 8, 2015 12:55 PM Daredevil #120-123 I've said it before but I'm gonna say it again. Do all pre-Frank Miller Daredevil foes just suck? At first I thought El Jaguar was just Kraven in a new outfit, but no, he's just another terrible DD villain. fnord12March 8, 2015 12:28 PM What's Missing Thanks, Michael. I've added that. I see there was also a 1950s Combat Kelly series but according to the Appendix it was confirmed in a Sgt. Fury lettercol that they're not the same person, so i haven't added that. MichaelMarch 8, 2015 12:21 PM What's Missing The 1972 Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen series, which took place during World War II and crossed over with the Howling Commandos, is missing. fnord12March 8, 2015 12:20 PM Spider-Woman #50 He must have escaped. Added Tatterdemalion back and lined the entry with air fresheners to keep him there this time. Thanks. kvetoMarch 8, 2015 11:01 AM Daredevil #195 I would have liked more stories on the contradiction of DD being a superhero and a lawyer. The guilt of having to defend criminals he knows as a fact (moreso than anyone) are guilty. DD works better without supervillains. kvetoMarch 8, 2015 10:57 AM Spider-Woman #50 I'd like to see Tatterdemalion's specialized prison. Lined with air fresheners? MichaelMarch 8, 2015 10:37 AM Spider-Woman #50 As Loki at the MCP pointed out recently, one of the prisoners in the second scan you posted looks like Tatterdemalion. kveto from pragueMarch 8, 2015 10:03 AM Amazing Spider-Man #22 Believe it or not, the painting makes a reappearance in the "Avant guard" storyline in "Web of Spiderman" but it at least gets destroyed there. Erik BeckMarch 8, 2015 9:39 AM Power Man #24-25 Good lord! I would ask if the Ringmaster runs the only circus in the MU, but I know there'll be the Avengers issue where it turns out the Taskmaster is running the circus. Maybe Marvel heroes should just go the zoo. kvetoMarch 8, 2015 6:09 AM Marvel Team-Up annual #7 This was my introduction to both the collector and Alpha flight. I agreed with Spidey when he commented about their own private little soap opera. The torch/panther/dynamo story idea was interesting but why not make it based on an actual story. I'm sure with a minimum amount of research you could find a superhero fight set outside of NY to use. kvetoMarch 8, 2015 5:30 AM Power Man & Iron Fist #105 Princess Azir could have just hired Khumbala back. CecilMarch 8, 2015 12:29 AM Iron Man #195 When I borrowed this to read during lunch in fifth grade, I was captivated! I came to the Rhodes tenure very late, but found the idea fascinating. Any of us could imagine wearing that armor, but the series is about what it takes to be Iron Man. Tony and Rhodey both were at interesting points in that identity journey. Stories had a spell binding relevance from the new reader seeing changes. And speaking of spells, that day I really did not conceive of the possible stereotypical mystic depiction, since I had no real idea of literary stereotypes as being such. There is an innocence in a time when you do not yet know people actually pursue some of the mysterious paths hinted of in four color, to say nothing of identifying ethnic otherness with fantastical qualities and projections. I enjoyed the nimble erudition present in a lot of O{Neil I[ve read. Comics are mind expanding at their best! fnord12March 7, 2015 11:32 PM Hulk annual #9 Somehow i wrote "members" instead of "adventurers". ?!? Thanks for pointing it out. fnord12March 7, 2015 11:31 PM Hulk Smash Avengers #3 Fair enough, Clyde, and i'll bet that most of the people that can recognize the creators appreciate the tribute and probably aren't as curmudgeon-y as me. SMarch 7, 2015 11:28 PM Marvel Two-In-One #59 Based on the length of the Torch's arms in that first panel, I suspect this is actually the Super-Skrull impersonating him... fnord12March 7, 2015 11:27 PM Marvel Two-In-One #61-63 Agree. Thanks. SMarch 7, 2015 11:25 PM Hulk annual #9 Is there a word missing in the first sentence of the review? They're all "former members" of what? clydeMarch 7, 2015 9:44 PM Hulk Smash Avengers #3 FNORD - When you wrote "A tribute to the penciler and editor of Stern's Avengers run. I do find it a bit saccharine and distracting from the story, though. If it was just a panel or two it would have been a nice nod, but it goes on a bit more than that and the "argument" isn't really very substantial. And the characters are so obviously meant to represent real people that it takes you out of the story a bit. I can understand wanting to honor people close to you that have passed, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the plot." My only issue with this is that I wouldn't know who they are if I had run into them on the street. In fact, the only real way I ever know that there are writers and artists writing themselves in is from reading your entries. I have to assume there are other people reading comics who aren't as familiar with the faces behind the comics either. So, from my viewpoint, I don't even pay any attention to them as anything other than characters in the story. Obviously, if there's a scene where the heroes are flying through Marvel offices, I can see your point. ChrisMarch 7, 2015 4:48 PM Thor #232-236 I don't think there is anything wrong about the character of Jane Foster. It's the dynamic between Jane and Thor that is the problem because there is only so much that can be done with it. This is a typical problem with any superhero girlfriend (or boyfriend) scenario, but the whole "it is forbidden for immortal to mate with a mortal" angle quickly forces the same story line again and again. A good mortal supporting cast for Thor has always been a problem because by their nature, they can't be peers and the relationship possibilities with Thor are quickly played out. Although the Simonson run does have mortals in it, they are less supporting characters than either recurring characters or characters that exist to drive the plot. Erik BeckMarch 7, 2015 1:24 PM Thor #232-236 Stories like this make me wonder if Walt Simonson's brilliant run on Thor was partially the result of not being burdened with Jane Foster. MichaelMarch 7, 2015 1:05 PM Marvel Two-In-One #61-63 You might also want to mention under Historical Significance first mention of the Beyonders, especially considering that they're playing a major role in Hickman's current Avengers storyline. MichaelMarch 7, 2015 11:46 AM Avengers #164-166 That's because Gyrich is apparently a real person Shooter knew. Wanyas the Self-ProclaimedMarch 7, 2015 11:42 AM Marvel Premiere #12-14 Sise-Neg is awful spelled backwards. MichaelMarch 7, 2015 11:25 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 Re:Kveto- I think he might be thinking of the scene in Avengers West Coast 61 when "Toro" of the Legion of the Unliving claims that he was the Torch in the original Legion of the Unliving story. MichaelMarch 7, 2015 10:12 AM Defenders #15-16 I just assumed that Mastermind was being held in an adjacent cell to the other villains and the "re-aging" ray also entered his cell. ToddMarch 7, 2015 9:00 AM Fantastic Four #282-284 The dour-looking guy staring into his glass in that interpolated Secret Wars panel looks like Shooter. I mean, he looks both like real Shooter and more specifically like the way Byrne drew "Sunspot" (the four-page villain who rants about his ability to "create a new universe," and then shoots his own foot off) in that notorious sequence from DC's Legends. Erik BeckMarch 7, 2015 8:35 AM Marvel Team-Up #28 "In literally the most implausible scene to ever appear in a Marvel comic, Hercules drags the island back." Only if you decide that Hercules picking up the island and hitting Thor with it years later was just a tall-tale. Erik BeckMarch 7, 2015 8:28 AM Amazing Spider-Man #138 I was really glad when they finally started to acknowledge that Peter and Flash had really become friends over the years. That kind of writing was what made Spider-Man as good a series as it was. AndrewMarch 7, 2015 8:13 AM Comet Man #1-6 #4 is presumably from "The needle and the damage done," by Neil Young, and #6 is from the death scene of Hamlet, incongruously. fnord12March 7, 2015 1:25 AM Fantastic Four #282-284 Ordway didn't do a ton for Marvel, period. And yeah, FF #276-283 seem to be his only pairing with Byrne at Marvel. fnord12March 7, 2015 1:22 AM Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 Man, Tabe8, you really made me have to think for a minute on that one! Changed "Mentos" to "Mentor"; thanks. Tabe8March 7, 2015 1:03 AM Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 I never knew that Thanos' father was the Freshmaker! Mark DrummondMarch 7, 2015 12:55 AM Avengers #164-166 Jim Shooter first used "Gyrich" as the name of a planet in Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #214(1/76). Walter LawsonMarch 6, 2015 11:36 PM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) Liefeld has said in interviews, explaining that he didn't lobby to get Louise Simonson fired from New Mutants, that he expected to take over the Wolverine book, not New Mutants/X-Force. I believe him: it explains why X-Force introduces a slew of concepts, like the new Weapon X and the immortal X-Ternals, that seem more like Wolverine concepts than New Mutants or even Cable ones. I wonder if this was a try-out of sorts for Liefeld's Wolverine, and maybe the results seemed so bad that Marvel scotched the idea of giving Wolvie's book to Liefeld. cullenMarch 6, 2015 10:57 PM Fantastic Four #282-284 I love the Byrne/Ordway combo. Rare for Marvel, yes? BillMarch 6, 2015 10:49 PM Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 At least this particular time, it was explained that the Legion of the Unliving members were pulled from time at the moment before their death. That covers all the bases. With future appearances of the Legion, you do raise a good point. However, with some creative thinking things can usually be figured out. For example, the Green Goblin wasn't Norman Osborn (who, it turns out, wasn't dead), but Bart Hamilton (who is still dead). Bucky wasn't the original (who, it turns out, wasn't dead) but one of his replacements. Like I said, you have to b e creative, but it can be done. What I want to know it, when will Oort the Living Comet get around to making his first (living) appearance?? fnord12March 6, 2015 10:12 PM Fantastic Four #285 The scene Vin's referring to is in Fantastic Four #282; you can see the scan in the Considerations section. Erik BeckMarch 6, 2015 8:31 PM Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 Oh man, this is a convoluted mess to try to understand and I used to own it. How ridiculous is a storyline that it takes three Giant-Size issues to wrap it all up. There are some very interesting things (I agree with fnord - the early stuff with the Skrulls and the Kree is fascinating). There are also some really just idiotic things (we basically have four versions of Kang running around in this storyline). But to me the main problem will be a continuing problem and I will quote a future line of the Beast's: "Again? But that never works." Here I am referring to the Legion of the Unliving. Because Marvel is so bad at keeping characters dead, it seems every time they do one of these at least one of the characters from the previous time has been brought back to life, usually revealing that they were never dead in the first place, so it looks dumb every time. Granted, this is the first time, but still. Vin the Comic GuyMarch 6, 2015 7:16 PM Fantastic Four #285 Anyone notice Jim Shooter eating alone in the SW2 scene? TCPMarch 6, 2015 4:01 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 Certainly not the worst of its era, but definitely not a winner. I would put it on-par with most Marvel Team-Ups of the time, and that is not saying very much. Maybe if Rapier had gone on to do ANYTHING else besides getting offed by Scourge it would be notable. Funny, though -- the ASM Annuals of this era were actually improving in quality (I detest Denny O'Neil's regular ASM run, but enjoyed his Annuals). Meanwhile, Spectacular got crap like this, even though freakin' Roger Stern was writing the main series! After Annual #3 (which I do think is a bit better than this issue aside from the art), there wouldn't be another Spectacular Annual until 1984. jonathanMarch 6, 2015 2:38 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 I must say I'm surprised to see this called the worst of its era. (For a start, Annual 3 with the Man Wolf is much worse than this...) The sword duel is contrived & Spidey getting KO'd is also silly, but anyone who's seen Gerry Conway Spidey comics has seen him knocked out by worse, including by Aunt May. The intimidation scene in the Bugle is good, and I remember it being one of the first times I actually found Spidey's wisecracks funny, when he's fighting the thugs. It's nowhere near as good as Stern, but I prefer it to a fair bit of Mantlo stuff. fnord12March 6, 2015 1:32 PM General Comments OK, the updates are done now. If you find you're having trouble with anything, please let me know (a comment on this page, the forum, or the email link at the top of this page). One thing to always try is doing a cache refresh. Control-F5 or your OS & browser equivalent. But i know of no reason why that should be necessary this time. Erik BeckMarch 6, 2015 11:39 AM Captain America #177-186 That panel of Cap mourning Roscoe is just hideously bad. It's the kind of panel that gets taken out of context and shows up in random places on the web. But Hawkeye as the Golden Archer? That's just too damn confusing, especially as Golden Archer in the Squadron Supreme was calling himself Hawkeye the only time we've seen him to this date and he'll eventually have a costume just like the one Hawkeye uses, but there isn't a Golden Archer on this earth, and, oh, my head hurts. fnord12March 6, 2015 11:00 AM General Comments I'm about to start doing some background updates to the site software. This should be completely seamless to end users*, but there's always a chance something might go wrong. If so, i'll be aware of it and will frantically be trying to fix it, so no need to try to alert me. I'll update this comment when i think i'm done. *Actually the forum will go down for a little while. Mark DrummondMarch 6, 2015 10:51 AM Cloak and Dagger #5 The National Coalition on Television Violence, deciding that they had to issue a report on things they didn't like in comics as well, cited this issue in a statement on 5/18/89. Their synopsis of it was quoted in Comics Journal #130: "Two teen-aged mutant humans, one male who lives in a fourth dimension and one blind female star along with another virtually naked female in Marseilles, France. The second heroine takes over the international drug trade in a massive and brutal shootout that she causes. The first heroine is pictured on the inside cover of each issue totally naked. In one scene it appears that she is about to be raped by a demon. The second 'bad' heroine, besides being a very glamorized international drug dealer who works with the male hero killing other drug dealers, is also a cigarette smoker." The Journal ran an accompanying illo of Dagger and Ecstasy captioned "A nudist and a cigarette smoker." fnord12March 6, 2015 10:42 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 Ok, i tried to give the benefit of doubt, but at this point obvious troll is trolling and he's been banned. For what it's worth, he's commented here under several different user names, usually reserving this one for his confrontational stuff. You'd think people would realize that i can see that, but i guess not. Sorry it was directed at you, Erik. Rob G.March 6, 2015 10:27 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 I also don't want to extend this subtopic but the fact that Eric Beck casually mentions he googles people?? Why? Because they had a minor disagreement or misunderstanding about something he posts, he googles them for what exactly- to find something to use against them? Its vaguely creepy and supports my then-small suspicion that a healthy amount of his posts are intended to provoke response. What other poster needs to link to his name and advertise himself? If you want me to leave I will fnord but again, I have really only discussed the issues and content at length. I never google searched then dropped snarky remarks about people and what they may have done in their past. I never link my name. I just talk comics Rob GranitoMarch 6, 2015 10:23 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 I feel I was respectful to E. Beck again but he seems kind of ill intended towards me. Anyway fnord I respect the site but what should I do, change my name? Evry time I post its about the content I never post controversy or about myself so Im not sure what to do unless I adopt the alias JSfanMarch 6, 2015 8:49 AM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) That last page looks like something I literally can draw. It's awful. I do feel the Liefeld could have been a far better artist than he is if he practiced and study anatomy more instead of resting on his laurels. I'm sooo looking forward to the 90s in an admittedly schadenfreude type of way. fnord12March 6, 2015 8:05 AM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) Thanks, Michael. I have pushed it back to circa AF #63. I may still adjust when i get to Building blocks. fnord12March 6, 2015 7:41 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 By the way, i'm not making this official site policy, but i have been a little uncomfortable about the Rob Granito handle. What the guy did was wrong but it seems mean to rub it in forever. Just my personal opinion, i guess. fnord12March 6, 2015 7:38 AM Marvel Super Heroes #12 (Iron Man) I considered it when i saw that panel but i saw that the MCP didn't list him and that narration panel talks about super-powered guards, plural. So i thought since we are so close the the unveiling of the Vault that it was reasonable to think that by this point there were multiples. fnord12March 6, 2015 7:36 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 @Kveto, have you been letting Ann Raymond bend your ear? That's what she thought when she learned that the Vision wasn't really the Golden Age Torch, but when the West Coast Avengers investigated they did find the Torch's body, which as far as i know confirmed that it was the Torch in this story. Erik BeckMarch 6, 2015 6:03 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 Ah, because I use my actual name when I post I don't think about the idea that some people use a name as a handle. After googling "Rob Granito" I now know that if I had really been offended by your bombast (which I wasn't), I could have just called you a tracer and see if you reacted like Jason Lee in Chasing Amy. LyronMarch 6, 2015 2:29 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 Rob Granito is a very funny online handle if you recall the controversy about three years ago. kvetoMarch 6, 2015 1:32 AM Fantastic Four annual #4 Wasn't this Torch later retconned to be Toro? MichaelMarch 5, 2015 11:32 PM Marvel Super Heroes #12 (Iron Man) Should Michael O'Brien be listed as a character appearing? There's SOMEONE in the Guardsman armor appearing. Rob GranitoMarch 5, 2015 10:05 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 Erik I didn't resent it at all, it was said in excitable but respectful bombast, because I appreciate banter and discussion. I wish I were Stan Lee in disguise, I'd get better press online. As for what you said, I think it's Reed's greying temples which maybe give an older age but no, I've always seen them as roughly the same age, Ben looks like a guy in his late 30s/early 40s, as much as an illustrated character reasonably can. clydeMarch 5, 2015 10:02 PM The Aladdin Effect (Marvel Graphic Novel #16) "The town of Venture Ridge, Wyoming, has been cut off from the outside world. People don't seem to remember how to get there, and people inside the town find themselves trapped there by an invisible forcefield. The town devolves rather quickly (only two months!) into a lawless post-apocalyptic society..." Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 9:59 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 I don't mean to suggest that it's a largely debated issue. But it seems to have been a continuity issue since the very beginning. While Reed and Ben are often described as having gone to college together, have they ever seemed like they're the same age? Have they ever been written to be the same age, other than writers describing them as having gone to college together? At the time when Ben has been human has he ever been drawn as if he's the same age as Reed? It's one of those things we're always told but never actually shown (I don't mean literally shown - obviously they are shown as roommates in college) - if you hadn't been told that they were roommates would you think they were the same age? I was amused though that you seemed to resent my suggestion, as if the question was a personal affront. Unless you're Stan Lee is disguise - then that would make sense. Rob GranitoMarch 5, 2015 9:43 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 You got it fnord. Thanks! fnord12March 5, 2015 9:41 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 That's fine, Rob. "Can you please cite your source!" is a perfectly valid request. ;-) It's the way your first comment was phrased that got me a little alarmed. Rob GranitoMarch 5, 2015 9:28 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 fnord, I don't mean any disrespect whatsoever and I am respecting your rules. At the same time I can't tell if Erik's comment is a joke or sarcasm or whatnot because I've just never seen or heard that brought up as "one of the biggest" continuity issues ever. Maybe he misremembered something? Or I never heard of this? Either option is possible. fnord12March 5, 2015 9:16 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 Rob, you seem to be overreacting. It's fine to disagree, but please be civil to other commenters. Rob Granito LivesMarch 5, 2015 9:03 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 What is Erik Beck talking about? "One of the biggest continuity issues HAS ALWAYS BEEN the difference in age.." what do you mean, it 'has always been'?! This is the first time I've ever seen someone suggest this or pose confusion over it. They went to college together, they've never ever been displayed as having an age difference- poor writing perhaps, but never has the continuity ever suggested otherwise. I kind of resent E Beck suggesting that this has been some kind of ongoing debate amongst fan for years. Rob Granito LivesMarch 5, 2015 8:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #42-43 Would this be the first reference to Martin Goodman in a Silver Age Marvel...? MichaelMarch 5, 2015 8:56 PM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) You're right- you can probably squeeze it in before Lil gets out of jail. Rob Granito LivesMarch 5, 2015 8:34 PM Daredevil #19 The Gladiator's speech style seems to change slightly since last issue. He was a little more well spoken then. Chalk it up to his mental problems maybe? Luis DantasMarch 5, 2015 7:15 PM Savage Hulk #1-4 Issues #3 and #4 are going out of their way to be a homage of Uncanny X-Men #133-135, aren't they? http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/uncanny_x-men_132-135.shtml Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 6:39 PM Marvel Team-Up #27 One of the very first Spider-Man stories I ever read thanks to Marvel Treasury Edition #27 (which I still own). That cover, done by Mike Zeck is actually pretty damn awesome. As a kid I loved this story - Spidey vs. The Hulk (and I still think it's pretty good). But as an adult I think it's a little odd for a Treasury, because it is so clearly a missing link in the Defenders story - and the footnote, which is complete in the Treasury, still mentions that Defenders #17 might still be on sale even though the Treasury was printed six years later). I'm glad for this site so I could see why Hulk left and the fight he's headed back to. By the way, fnord, that Treasury Edition also has a very short Angel story that doesn't appear anywhere else and you don't seem to have it, but it's not worth getting the Edition just for that - it's quite short and I know your dislike of the larger books. I think I still own my Treasuries because I think I forgot them when I sold my collection because they didn't fit in the comic boxes. Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 6:28 PM Defenders #17-19 Wait, Nighthawk has an employee named Pennyworth? And Luke Cage calls him "joker"? I love the JLA in Marvel concept but that may be taking it a bit too far. Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 6:21 PM Power Man #21 Fnord, that's very understandable. I was never much of a fan of Luke Cage but in my last days collecting Avengers they inducted Rage who seemed, though probably physically stronger than Cage, a much weaker character with no track record, so I have no problem with the Avengers bringing in Cage, although his old "hero for hire" concept doesn't really mix well with the Avengers. But it brings up the larger issue with the Deluxe Handbooks. How closely should we believe them? I remember that Rogue was listed at 50 tons, yet only like a year later, in San Francisco, working on those electric barbells, she was AVERAGING 50 tons a lift. So clearly characters, through hard work, can move up. Luke Cage is listed at 3 tons, yet Mr Fantastic considered him as a replacement for the Thing, one of the strongest characters in the MU at the time. And, given Cage's personality, I can see him whipping someone who is stronger. It's just interesting that they never really seemed to decide how powerful Josten was until after he became Goliath. fnord12March 5, 2015 5:09 PM Power Man #21 If that's from the Deluxe Handbook, don't forget that's after Josten was also infused with Pym particles. A lot of Josten's early career was teaming up with Swordsman to get kicked around by Captain America or Hawkeye. I guess i only have a dog in this fight because i didn't like when Cage was added to the Avengers and there was a reaction that Cage was just a street guy who wasn't worthy to be on the team. As long as he can lift "tons", i'm happy. MegaSpiderManMarch 5, 2015 4:50 PM Incredible Hulk & the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault #1 Y'know, looking at it now, Ditko's post Silver Age art isn't really as bad as you'd think. Not great, but not terrible, either. I don't think so, anyway. Ataru320March 5, 2015 4:00 PM Defenders #15-16 Somehow that's a story in itself that I'm surprised no one has told: how Mastermind goes from "baby" to "Jason Wyndergarde of the Hellfire Club". (I highly doubt it has anything to do with Emma Frost at an adoption agency) Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 3:16 PM Power Man #21 Good to know I didn't have a faulty memory - I thought it was much lower than the 25 tons they list him at now. BillMarch 5, 2015 2:57 PM Power Man #21 According to my old Marvel Universe Handbooks, Cage is able to lift 3 tons (and has invulnerable skin), while Josten was in the same category as Wonder Man, who could lift 95 tons. That's a BIG difference! DermieMarch 5, 2015 1:08 PM Power Man #21 I believe it was established at one point (probably in T-BOLTS) that since the device that gave Wonder Man his powers was designed and calibrated for Simon Williams, it didn't work quite as well for Josten. It still gave him super-strength, but not quite as much as it gave Wondy. Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 12:27 PM Power Man #21 Just checked the Marvel Universe wiki and it lists Cage at 25 tons. I thought Wonder Man was at something like 75 tons (of course his powers and Josten's have changed so much they are not listed). I thought I had remembered Cage being a lot lower when the expanded MU started listing strength levels in the late 80's. Maybe a faulty memory. Still, 25 tons should be way short of Josten if he really had Wonder Man-like strength levels. fnord12March 5, 2015 12:06 PM Power Man #21 I'd argue you have it backwards. Luke Cage is a lot more powerful than people realize, something you'll see that i point out throughout his solo and PM/IF run. It is somewhat inconsistent since a lot of writers also have the idea that he's just a street level hero. But i think there's a strong case to be made that Cage isn't street level powered, it's just that he prefers to stay involved at the street level. On the other hand, Roger Stern agrees with you which is why we'll see that Josten has been losing his power over the years to the point where he becomes the low-powered "Smuggler" in Stern's Peter Parker run. Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 11:53 AM Power Man #21 One thing that's always confused me - Josten got his powers in the same manner as Wonder Man, right? That should make him way out of Luke Cage's league. Erik BeckMarch 5, 2015 11:36 AM Defenders #15-16 I'm glad that someone already asked and Jay already answered the question about the other villains being turned into babies - I had no idea that happened. Interesting that Mastermind is never explicitly dealt with - he just next appears as an adult again in X-Men #122. I am a huge, huge fan of Nighthawk's costume. I created a character years ago designed to carry on the name and that specific costume. Mark DrummondMarch 5, 2015 11:09 AM Marvel Comics Presents #38-47 (Wolverine) The Black Shadow looks very much like the Shadow Monster Buscema drew in Conan the Barbarian around 1976. Ataru320March 5, 2015 11:02 AM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) This is probably one of the funniest reviews I've seen from you in a while with this. This is probably the first real entry in the chronology that is pure Liefeld with no one holding him down (until Nicieza appears at the end) and you really summed it up beautifully with the craziness and the "this mess" near the end. Mark DrummondMarch 5, 2015 10:52 AM Marvel Super Heroes #15 (Iron Man) The villain's name seems to be taken from Godzilla director Inoshiro Honda. fnord12March 5, 2015 9:56 AM Marvel Super Heroes #15 (Iron Man) Yeah, the last thing i have from DAK is some Marvel Two-In-Ones from 1983. This really does seem to be a Frankenstein of a story. fnord12March 5, 2015 9:54 AM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe I can only track a character under one name, so i would just continue to track Arcanna as Arcanna unless she later became more prominently known as Moonglow, in which case i'd rename the tag. fnord12March 5, 2015 9:52 AM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) Michael, is there a reason it has to take place after Lil gets out of jail? I was thinking the "lower bound" on the story is Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 since Wolverine mentions Madripoor in this story, and i was therefore considering putting this circa Alpha Flight #63 since that's a standalone fill-in. fnord12March 5, 2015 9:44 AM Ka-Zar the Savage #29-31 The last Leanne is seen is as an unconscious hostage in issue #30. In issue #31, it's a pair of male Lemurans that are handling the inter-tribe negotiations. fnord12March 5, 2015 9:40 AM Marvel Super Heroes #12 (Iron Man) Ha, i was defeated by my own idle speculation in the Dazzler #32 entry. I should have known better than to doubt Kurt Busiek. Thanks, Michael; i've removed the line about Blackout. AndrewMarch 5, 2015 8:04 AM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Does your database configuration allow you to track the same character with multiple names? Because Moonglow does appear after this, only it's Arcanna in the Moonglow costume. I think. MichaelMarch 5, 2015 7:53 AM Marvel Super Heroes #377-386 (UK) Note that Captain UK is referred to as a HE. Walter LawsonMarch 5, 2015 2:12 AM Marvel Super Heroes #15 (Iron Man) Oddly, IM annual 10 makes it look like the pre-Silver Centurion armor was the one IM was wearing when he rescued Deal. The use of a robotic version of the classic armor here is all the more curious--and isnt a David A Kraft-plotted story likely to date from before the silver armor's 1985 debut? I cant think of any Marvel work he was doing that late. MichaelMarch 4, 2015 10:36 PM Avengers #225-226 Clyde- the question is, what's the ratio of years real time to Marvel Time? The Black Knight was turned to stone in 1973 and this story is in 1982. If you use a 3:1 ratio, which wouldn't have been out of question at the time, then the Black Knight's been gone for 3 years. MichaelMarch 4, 2015 10:34 PM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) One of the main reasons why the MCP pushes these issues back so far is that Building Blocks takes place before Uncanny X-Men 260 and Wolverine is said to be still weakened from the Reavers' torture in Building Blocks. Wolverine doesn't seem to be weakened in this story, so it's best to place this story before Uncanny X-Men 251. The problem is that there's no good spot in Alpha Flight to place this after Diamond Lil got out of jail. MichaelMarch 4, 2015 9:58 PM Ka-Zar the Savage #32 There's nothing wrong with having a hero fooled by a villain claiming to want redemption- the problem is that Carlin doesn't have Shanna acknowledge that Parnival has done some horrible things. "I think you've blown some rivalry you had as kids way out of proportion!"The result is that Shanna comes across as an idiot that doesn't appreciate the magnitude of Parnival's crimes. MichaelMarch 4, 2015 9:46 PM Ka-Zar the Savage #29-31 Fnord, is there any clue to how Leanne came out of her coma later on in Marvel Comic Presents in these issues? MichaelMarch 4, 2015 9:20 PM Marvel Super Heroes #15 (Iron Man) It's obvious that Kaminski had no clue what the original plotters planned and the art wasn't self-explanatory- this is like the anti-Gambit-Champions. MichaelMarch 4, 2015 9:07 PM Marvel Super Heroes #12 (Iron Man) Wasn't there a line of dialogue in Avengers 273 suggesting that Zemo had Blackout freed from prison? And didn't the end of the Dazzler story imply Blackout was captured? clydeMarch 4, 2015 9:03 PM Marvel Comics Presents #38-47 (Wolverine) FNORD - would you say that this was a true "Jump The Shark" moment for this book?;) clydeMarch 4, 2015 8:37 PM Marvel Two-In-One #91 I only knew of the Sphinx from the New Warrior's run. Now that I've collected all his appearances, he definitely is a cool villain. cullenMarch 4, 2015 7:20 PM Marvel Comics Presents #38-47 (Wolverine) The standard Marvel tolerance-advocacy rarely seemed to apply to fat people, who were either fat because they're evil or evil because they're fat. RobertMarch 4, 2015 7:04 PM Marvel Comics Presents #51-53 (Wolverine) "It does kind of feel like Liefeld thought maybe he could do a whole story by himself and it became increasingly clear that he couldn't." You pretty much just summed up Liefeld's whole career with that sentence. RobertMarch 4, 2015 5:28 PM Marvel Comics Presents #38-47 (Wolverine) Black Shadow, visually at least, seems very much like a late '80s DC villain. RobertMarch 4, 2015 3:45 PM Ka-Zar the Savage #32 "Boy! Being a 'sponsible grown-up sure hurts your heinie!" Amen, kid. clydeMarch 4, 2015 2:53 PM Avengers #225-226 Hawkeye says "After all these years, he made it", meaning The Black Knight. I thought with the sliding timescale, it wouldn't have been that long ago. SharMarch 4, 2015 2:25 PM Avengers #69-71 Actually the "letter" in Alter Ego #130 is composed of excerpts from an email exchange I had with Roy Thomas after I saw the "SeulingCon" (aka July 4th-6th 1969 NYC Comic Art Con) image printed in Alter Ego #118. For me, that SeulingCon page was the missing piece of the puzzle. In my email exchange with Roy I speculated the sequence of events as follows: Ataru320March 4, 2015 12:23 PM Hulk #160 I think that Bruce Banner's choice of purple suit is less a fashion statement and more just of the times; during the late 1960s/early 1970s, purple suits were everywhere! Erik BeckMarch 4, 2015 11:52 AM Avengers #127 I love how all the Avengers are invited, including Mantis, who Pietro and Crystal haven't met, and Swordsman, who Pietro probably still thinks is a villain and traitor, given the last time they saw each other. Erik BeckMarch 4, 2015 11:33 AM Marvel Two-In-One #4-5 That first panel is an example of what is so fun about Marvel Two-in-One. It may not be a classic splash like FF#51, but the look on Ben's face just says it all. He's such a great character, it's no wonder they wanted to see what would happen when he mixed it up with other characters. Erik BeckMarch 4, 2015 11:26 AM Daredevil #110-111 Fnord, this is an example of why your site is so valuable. Reading in MU that Silver Samurai debuted in Daredevil, you'd be thinking "Whaaaa?" When people make first appearances in places far outside where they will be come to be known for (another example - doesn't Sabretooth first appear in Iron Fist?), it's good to finally see the issue and get some context. Mark DrummondMarch 4, 2015 10:36 AM Giant-Size Man-Thing #1 The original rejected cover to this was printed in Swampmen/Comic Book Creator #6. Mark DrummondMarch 4, 2015 10:34 AM Fear #11 Steve Gerber revealed in Comic Book Creator #6 that after Len Wein started writing Swamp Thing, Gerber met him in the Marvel offices and got him to spill the details to Swampy's upcoming issues in order to avoid accidental duplicating in Man-Thing's book. Mark DrummondMarch 4, 2015 10:29 AM Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 (Howard the Duck) According to Gerber, Neal Adams was originally supposed to do the art. Mark DrummondMarch 4, 2015 10:28 AM Giant-Size Man-Thing #4 The unaltered cover to this book appears in Swampmen/Comic Book Creator #6. AndrewMarch 4, 2015 10:23 AM Hulk annual #14 I never realized this story was written by John Byrne. I think it goes to show how much less sophisticated his scripts seem when not accompanied by his art. Kelloway's theory is interesting, but fails to take into account the Harpy and the Leader. Considering he later went on to create Pink Pearl and Big Bertha, I think all this demonstrates is that John Byrne has a "thing" about fat people. JSfanMarch 4, 2015 8:45 AM Werewolf By Night #32-33 The art looks a little stiff to me. Especially during the fight scenes. fnord12March 4, 2015 7:53 AM Marvel Super Heroes #11 (Ghost Rider) Good points, Michael. Due to the way my Original Ghost Rider Rides Again reprints are packaged, i want to avoid placing this between #76-77, but i've moved this directly before #76 and updated the Considerations. Thanks. MichaelMarch 4, 2015 7:51 AM Captain America annual #5 Is it me or did the artist draw Scythe as looking older than someone who was a front line soldier 8 years ago should look? fnord12March 4, 2015 7:42 AM Marvel Super Heroes #11 (Giant-Man) I agree. I'm sure this story was written to take place in an earlier period but with that narration panel it seems they deliberately made a decision to update it. Walter LawsonMarch 4, 2015 2:36 AM Hulk Magazine #23 The regular Hulk comic also started getting more sexual in the early '80s: Banner Hulk definitely hooks up with Bereet in one issue and I think the relationship with Katherine Waynesboro also gets physical. Maybe the TV show made Marvel think they should play up the "adult" side of the character. As the letter writer mentions, we had seen Olddan and Asp very strongly but not explicitly presented as gay characters prior to this, so it might be that Shooter-era Marvel thought the magazines were an ok place for depictions of homosexuality but the code books had to be more oblique. Kingsley really is a gruesome caricature, ultimately straight or not, but maybe that was misdirection on Stern's part as he built this unlikely character into the Hobgoblin. Arnie Roth balances the ledger somewhat for Kingsley. Shooter may well not have realized how homophobic the scene in this issue would seem: it's notable throughout Shooter's Marvel work that he wants his comics to be more "mature"--from the themes here to the Beyonder's encounters with "ordinary" mobsters and hookers in Secret Wars II to the trashy relationships in Starbrand--but he writes all these "adult" themes lke a guy who's more comfortable writing "Legion of Superheroes" than having an adult relationship himself. Pretty much any time Shooter writes about sex, the results are embarrassing, and in this case offensive. That's no comment on Shooter personally--Gruenwald also wrote relationship scenes like a guy who'd never kissed a girl, even though he was married and had kids--it's more a comment in the debilities of the comics culture in which he was writing. MichaelMarch 3, 2015 11:05 PM Marvel Super Heroes #11 (Giant-Man) I still say it's weird to refer to the western branch of Stark Enterprises as "Stark West" or even "Stark Enterprises West"- in every other story, it's just been Stark Enterprises, which makes sense, since Tony is managing the western branch personally. MichaelMarch 3, 2015 11:01 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 That is weird- Silvermane seemed pretty elderly before he took the formula- at least in his 70s- but Rapier, supposedly one of his contemporaries, looks like he's 50,55 at most. DermieMarch 3, 2015 11:01 PM Captain America annual #5 That scene at ad agency with Irene Clancy seems rather...I don't think 'progressive' is the right word, but I'm surprised to see a scene like that in an early 80s comic. A male character being subject to sexual harassment, including the woman editor checking out his butt, and making 'show me your stuff' innuendos? I can only imagine how a Gruenwald-era Cap would have handled such a thing. MichaelMarch 3, 2015 10:58 PM Marvel Super Heroes #11 (Ghost Rider) At the MCP, someone suggested that this should go after Ghost Rider 76, since Johnny uses the name Zarathos in this story and he first heard the name Zarathos on panel in Ghost Rider 76. Although I suppose it's possible he heard it earlier. DermieMarch 3, 2015 10:28 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 Rapier seems pretty darn fit for a man of his age...for a man of any age, actually, judging by those splits he's doing in the second scan! fnord12March 3, 2015 10:09 PM Marvel Super Heroes #10 (Vision & Scarlet Witch) Well, sure. Almost nothing was *intended* for Marvel Fanfare. What i meant was that they had the unrealized plots for the V&SW series and they intended to use them for Fanfare, since the first issue was published there. I'm sure Milgrom would have liked to use these stories in Fanfare #59-60. But i suspect they didn't get finished in time and the pencils didn't come in until after #60, which was the final issue. I suppose it's possible they never got started and Milgrom and Gil didn't work on this at all until 92. But it seems odd for Milgrom to run only the first part. In any event, i had no idea about a V&SW/Sandman splitbook. That's weird! MichaelMarch 3, 2015 9:52 PM Marvel Super Heroes #10 (Vision & Scarlet Witch) I don't think that this was written for Marvel Fanfare and not finished before it was cancelled. For starters, it would have to be written before Mantlo left Marvel in mid-1988- Marvel Fanfare wasn't cancelled until 1991. That's a long time to finish a relatively short story. MichaelMarch 3, 2015 8:16 PM Marvel Super Heroes #377-386 (UK) The scene with Captain Britain going to the neighborhood was supposed to be Captain Britain going to Northern Ireland: Erik BeckMarch 3, 2015 6:07 PM Daredevil #108-109 Daredevil was attracted to Moondragon? Are you kidding? I could go with the obligatory blind joke - after all he's with Black Widow, probably the hottest character in the MU (as Ultimate Peter Parker would say "She's the hottest woman I've ever seen. And I have cable.") and Moondragon, even aside from being bald, isn't exactly hot. But let's ignore the blind aspect. Moondragon may be the most arrogant character in the MU and is certainly one of the most annoying. She has absolutely zero appeal in terms of attraction. I suppose she might have been different back in 1974, but I don't think she could have been that different. Erik BeckMarch 3, 2015 6:02 PM Marvel Team-Up #23 On the one hand, this could be read as "anti-mutant" prejudice. On the other hand, I have always seen, in the FF and the Avengers, a general distrust and possibly even dislike of any other costumed heroes. They seem to view the rest of the MU as amateurs who don't know what they're doing and aren't to be trusted. Erik BeckMarch 3, 2015 5:33 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 It's out of order from where I'm commenting, but I feel I must chime in since this is the post of the day. Given the previous comments, I must say I have enjoyed this issue for over 30 years in what would seem to be the best way possible: as only a glorious two page ad spread in the back of Marvel Treasury Edition #27, with the Rapier and Spidey facing off and Silvermane pointing at them. The art seems to be a drastic improvement over this issue as well. kvetoMarch 3, 2015 5:15 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 Michael, have you read it? As david states, its not even so bad its good. just bad. The Rapier slashes spiderman webshooters so spidey has to swordfight the guy? then gets knocked out by a girl who conks him on the head with a rapier handle. Do I really need to elaborate further? too dumb to enjoy is right on the money. trust me, its bad:-) BerendMarch 3, 2015 5:13 PM Marvel Super Heroes #377-386 (UK) I was wondering just that Stephen. The name BNP had been used before (most prominently during World War II), so it could just be a coincidence. A quick google search hasn't brought up an exact date for the current BNP's founding. BerendMarch 3, 2015 5:07 PM Marvel Super Heroes #377-386 (UK) Man, that Untold Tale really helps solving the continuity issues with Captain Britain! StephenMarch 3, 2015 4:59 PM Marvel Super Heroes #377-386 (UK) The British National Party (as seen in the poster) are a real-world political party. They are, basically, fascists, and were formed as a splinter group from the National Front at about the same time this was written/published. Whether the poster was a direct reference or merely a co-incidence is unclear, though. BillMarch 3, 2015 3:19 PM Avengers #109 Up to this point, Hawkeye was the longest serving Avenger, hands down. fnord12March 3, 2015 1:52 PM Incredible Hulk Weekly #1,3-30,42-55,57-63 (Black Knight) Just to close the loop on my and Berend's comments about placement, see the Considerations on Marvel Super Heroes #377-386. Erik BeckMarch 3, 2015 12:29 PM Fear #20-23 "That is indeed Paul Gulacy's first comics art. At the time it was declared incredibly bad." That's because it's hideous. That might be the single worst drawing of Cyclops in his 52 year existence. And I'm including kids drawings. AndrewMarch 3, 2015 12:27 PM Avengers #109 The Vision had been in the upper left hand corner of every cover since issue 93. I think he stole Hawkeye's Thunder long before. AndrewMarch 3, 2015 12:19 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 I'm anxiously awaiting the next installments of the Marvel Masterworks of Marvel Team-Up, but the licensing issues will be incredible. In order to cover my favorite issues, they'll need the rights to Fu Manchu, Doc Savage, and Red Sonja, who was sorely missed from the paperback of the Claremont/Byrne run they printed a few years back. I can live with it if they skip the Saturday Night Live issue. Are the rights easier to get for the Essentials, I wonder? Besides Fu Manchu, they did Godzilla a while back, and Conan before that. MikeCheyneMarch 3, 2015 10:59 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 I think the handbook said Silvermane both went into shock AND had his youthful serum thing reversed, thanks to it, to explain why he's suddenly old again in his next appearance. Mark DrummondMarch 3, 2015 10:56 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #3 According to the 6/81 Comics Journal, David Kraft didn't want to do this story, but Shooter ordered that John Jameson had to be cured. Another disposable character (sorta)disposed of? Jim Mooney was the originally announced inker for this. Mark DrummondMarch 3, 2015 10:49 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 According to the 3/80 Comics Journal, this story was also originally supposed to be a Coca-Cola giveaway. BillMarch 3, 2015 10:31 AM Avengers #126 I agree! The Scarlet Witch over Mantis each day of the week and twice on Sundays. In a way I kind of feel bad for Mantis, since it seems like only Englehart was a fan of hers. Erik BeckMarch 3, 2015 9:53 AM Marvel Team-Up #18 It would have been nice to have a regular revolving team-up book. But my guess is that Marvel took one look at the sales figures without Spider-Man and said, forget that, Spider-Man's gonna be in every issue. Erik BeckMarch 3, 2015 9:36 AM Avengers #126 A synthezoid may have different ideas, but if it's me I'm taking the woman who 1 - I have been close to for a long time. 2 - Is much better looking (and red-headed, depending on the artist). 3 - Doesn't have attenae. 4 - Doesn't speak in a strange form of diction. 5 - Isn't unbelievably annoying. Jay GallardoMarch 3, 2015 8:06 AM Amazing Spider-Man #129 So, Harry can hear Peter through the door talking to himself out loud, but HE is the crazy guy? fnord12March 3, 2015 7:46 AM Marvel Fanfare #16 (Sub-Mariner) Thanks Michael. When i was wrapping up yesterday i didn't think anyone would miss those so i deferred doing them. But they've been added now. Faborst - it was a worthy tangent. The whole situation with the horse makes a little more sense now. Thanks! fnord12March 3, 2015 7:35 AM Dracula Lives #1 That's a good idea, Cullen. I will give the category pages a read-through when i'm done with the backissue add and make updates as needed. Thanks. fnord12March 3, 2015 7:33 AM Astonishing Tales #15 I've stripped the metadata from these images and it should be fine now, although if your browser has cached the images you'll have to clear the cache for the page (Control-F5 or your OS' equivalent). Thanks for letting me know! Luis DantasMarch 3, 2015 6:23 AM Astonishing Tales #15 Some combination of browser issues, HTML coding, and image parameters, no doubt. Fnord will most likely look into it now that you asked, but you may want to try another browser in the meantime (it all appears fine in my Chrome under Windows 7). EHHMarch 3, 2015 12:49 AM Astonishing Tales #15 Why is everything sideways? CullenMarch 3, 2015 12:10 AM Dracula Lives #1 I wonder, fnord, if your recent back-issue add - especially insofar as it is weighted towards Marvel's "genre" output - has made any of your "annual overviews" worthy of revision. Especially the really horror-heavy years. MichaelMarch 2, 2015 9:51 PM Marvel Fanfare #16 (Sub-Mariner) Aren't you going to put a note in the Marvel Fanfare stories- "this is only the Namor story, the Sky Wolves story is here"? MichaelMarch 2, 2015 9:42 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #3 Stupid Peter, why didn't you get rid of the dust? Because of that we had to sit through Cap Wolf? david banesMarch 2, 2015 9:40 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 It's pretty bad and ridiculous but not in that good way. I remember finding it pretty weak in the middle of a bunch of awesome Roger Stern Spectacular Spider-Man issues. And there was some serious continuity issues with Silverman. MichaelMarch 2, 2015 9:34 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 Kveto, why? It's bad but it doesn't seem THAT bad. MichaelMarch 2, 2015 9:24 PM Marvel Spotlight #11 The Captain Marvel story intended for issue 12 appeared in Marvel Superheroes 3 in 1990, so you'll be reviewing that one soon, fnord. MichaelMarch 2, 2015 9:11 PM Marvel Spotlight #9 "it's worth mentioning that this means he's penciled 5 of the 11 issues of Marvel Spotlight (and the first three issues by Pat Broderick were left over from the cancelled Captain Marvel series), so this almost seems like it was meant as a home for 80s Ditko" fnord12March 2, 2015 9:05 PM Hulk #286-290 I've just watched the Outer Limits episode for the first time (right now it's available here), and Hulk #286 definitely lifted the entire premise from that episode. There's war torn future with soldiers that do nothing but fight. They wear helmets that tell them to kill the enemy. And one of them winds up getting sent back to the past where a scientist tries to teach him to give up his war, as the Hulk does in the first half here. And the future soldier speaks in the same truncated English that they do here. The only thing that doesn't happen is the Hulk going back into the future with the soldier to topple a Kang statue. You can get the gist of the premise by watching the first few minutes. I can't speak to the claim that Mantlo intended to credit Ellison all along, but it's definitely not a tenuous charge on Ellison's part in this case (the similarity to Terminator, on the other hand, is non-existent). Regarding the Historical Rating, i think that will just be an Inbound Reference unless it was the case that MODOK and Ross had been colluding ever since this meeting? I don't think that was the case. TCPMarch 2, 2015 7:45 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #3 The cover of this issue features one of the worst depictions of J.J. that I've ever seen. FaborstMarch 2, 2015 7:25 PM Marvel Fanfare #16 (Sub-Mariner) This is a bit tangential, but Mythology trivia time! Poseidon/Neptune is not only the god of the sea, but also of horses. Both are means of travel that humans can tame to the best of their abilities but remain, to some degree, unpredictable. No matter how good of a sailor you are, a freak storm can capsize your ship. A horse can suddenly throw an experienced rider. That's why horses figured so heavily in Poseidon/Neptune's iconography. They're forces of nature that can never be fully controlled, just like the sea. It's also the reason he has the power over earthquakes. No matter how much humans try to subjugate the earth, Poseidon can suddenly destroy fields, forests, and cities. He's the quintessential god for reminding humans of their fallibility. Erik BeckMarch 2, 2015 5:58 PM Avengers #125 Since I had #126 but have never actually read #125, I'm glad you put in the panel about Vision / Scarlet With / Mantis / Swordsman. It helps provide context for a lot of what happens in #126. Erik BeckMarch 2, 2015 5:53 PM Avengers #120-124 I'm gonna side with fnord over Mike on this one. I think a C+ is awfully generous. This arc makes me glad that I was never able to complete the Avengers run before I sold all my comics. Though, even though I don't particularly like Mantis, I do love that panel of her flinging aside Thor and Wanda. I know I've seen it before. Perhaps it was on her Marvel Universe page? BerendMarch 2, 2015 5:11 PM Marvel Spotlight #9 Warlord Kaa came to my mind as well, just like when you covered Spotlight #4. I wouldn't have been surprised if you told me a random issue of West Coast Avengers had been devoted to tying all these shadow people together :P That panel where the top of that guy's head has changed into a shadow is actually really quite creepy. kvetoMarch 2, 2015 4:20 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man annual #2 This gets my vote as the worst comic of the era. I'd have been so pissed to have paid double price for this garbage. kvetoMarch 2, 2015 4:16 PM Marvel Spotlight #10 I remember once when I got the uni-power years ago. Used it to clean my drainpipes. clydeMarch 2, 2015 2:57 PM Marvel Spotlight #11 My first look at "Captain Universe" was in ASM when Spider-Man got it during "Acts Of Vengeance". I'm glad I don't have to wait long for the review from FNORD, since that's coming up after the back-issue add is completed. Nathan AdlerMarch 2, 2015 2:46 PM Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure Claremont always intending for Apocalypse to be the villain behind the adamantium experiment seems incorrect given the villain was only created in 1986. I'd suggest that as the villain was introduced under Harras' editorship of X-Factor he was forcing Claremont to make him behind it. We see this when Claremont had the Shadow King hinted as behind the Hounds, while in X-Factor Apocalypse creates Caliban to be the "First Hound". Perhaps Claremont's comment was more an implication that he had started accepting defeat from Harras's editorial decisions. Matthew BradleyMarch 2, 2015 2:10 PM Howard the Duck #1-3 Eureka! Makes perfect sense. Been trying not to get too far ahead of the actual comics while reading Howe's book, but I may need to jump ahead a little more... fnord12March 2, 2015 1:06 PM Howard the Duck #1-3 Well, according to Sean Howe's book, Gerber was McGregor's Editor/Proofreader, so it's likely he had read the speech before it was published. The timing does amplify the in-jokey nature of the parody. Matthew BradleyMarch 2, 2015 12:58 PM Howard the Duck #1-3 Also, would HTD #2 be parodying JUNGLE ACTION #20 when the latter--per Marvel's recently revived checklists--had only gone on sale a week earlier? Not challenging anyone's account; it just seems odd. Erik BeckMarch 2, 2015 12:03 PM Captain America #169-175 In regards to Falcon's mutant power, I can't help but think of the Twisted Toyfare Theatre where the X-Men throw a party. Falcon shows up, explaining his power to talk to Redwing is a mutant power. Cyclops then fries Redwing with an optic blast and responds "Now your mutant power sucks." Mark DrummondMarch 2, 2015 10:49 AM Marvel Comics Presents #1-12 (Man-Thing) In Amazing Heroes #168(7/89) Gerber was interviewed and mentioned some upcoming projects: A Man-Thing GN with Kevin Nowlan, a 2nd Man-Thing GN with Tom Sutton, and a Howard the Duck revival with Gene Colan. The Nowlan Man-Thing was released as a mini-series a few years ago, but I don't know if the other two showed up in any form. fnord12March 2, 2015 10:36 AM Hulk annual #9 I now see how i got the credits wrong, and i'm leaving this comment to also explain Mark's comment about Mister E now that i've updated things. I must have been looking at the UHBMCC's page for Marvel Spotlight since i was thinking about Ditko's Marvel works circa 1980. And then i guess i forgot where i was and entered the credits and title for Spotlight #9. Same issue number, but obviously a different series. Anyway, credits and title have been updated. "The mystery of Mister E!" is actually the title of Marvel Spotlight #9. I figured all this out when i started the review on that issue and said, "Wait, is Mister E a recurring character?!". And, sadly, he's not. AndrewMarch 2, 2015 8:19 AM Hulk #286-290 1) Does anyone know Bill Mantlo's side of the "Hero"/"Soldier" controversy? I don't have that story in any of my Harlan Ellison collections, and I know Ellison has a pretty broad definition of plagiarism. (I lost a lot of respect for him when he sued over the Terminator movie [over the same damn short story!]) Ataru320March 2, 2015 8:05 AM Strange Tales #172-173 Got to rewatch BH6 to see the Torpedo cameo. Its sad that certain characters are placed into the "Hall of Lame" by so many fans and writers instead of attempted to made better, but the fact we get Black Talon, Orca or Torpedo at all in any Marvel movie is at least a nice call-out to all that is out there. fnord12March 2, 2015 7:26 AM Team America #6 Sorry, Clyde. Turns out you can't add attachments. I thought other people had uploaded images but i see now they were just linking to external sources. Good news is i've found the extra pages and added them to this entry. fnord12March 2, 2015 7:22 AM What's Missing Thanks, Cullen. I've added it to the list. cullenMarch 2, 2015 1:02 AM What's Missing I picked up a copy of Tower of Shadows #5 today, and was checking if anything made the lead Roy Thomas-penned story 616. Indeed it is 616; it features the first appearance of the character Jason Roland. He will reappear as a character named the Hangman in Avengers West Coast. Gary Shawtown TaylorMarch 1, 2015 10:32 PM Hulk #318 One sexy year later and I am seeing this entry!!! Great stuff! Love the grey Hulk and this era! Wahhh-Hooo! AndrewMarch 1, 2015 9:57 PM Strange Tales #172-173 And Torpedo. I was trying to explain to my kids how cool it was, because the characters were all so awful. Then I realized how ridiculous that sounded, so I just shut up. Ataru320March 1, 2015 8:55 PM ROM #10-12 Linkara recently did a ROM retrospective; I think he reasoned it that there is a generational difference between science and magic with the Dire Wraiths, but that the gender dichotomy probably would work with the females going along with the older generation preferring the ancient ways of magic vs. the more "modern" males who end up using more science. I think its a reasonable explanation regarding how Wraith philosophies can go both generational and gender; with maybe some females choosing the "new ways" but not lasting as long as those who chose the older ways that show up later on. clydeMarch 1, 2015 8:54 PM Team America #6 FNORD - I have no idea how to include attachments on the forum. Any tips? Vin the Comic GuyMarch 1, 2015 8:32 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #54 Uncle Walt inked a couple of those pages - and I'm in agreement with you that Marie Severin could have stayed on as PPTSS penciler. Vincent NunesMarch 1, 2015 8:19 PM Uncanny X-Men #145-147 I don't see why it can't be both - Storm with the real Doom, later switched with a Doombot. fnord12March 1, 2015 7:01 PM Team America #6 Yeah, i guess because i have the toy insert versions i don't have these very special additional features. I'm sure everyone would love to get some tips from the pros on going fast and doing totally sweet jumps, so it's probably something you could attach in the forum if you're willing. clydeMarch 1, 2015 6:15 PM Team America #6 FNORD - I'm assuming you don't have the original issue of this comic. You're missing out on Honcho's Racing Hints for "Going Fast..How The Pros Do It" and Honcho's Racing Hints for "Jumps." I scanned them as a PDF picture file, if you're interested. Ataru320March 1, 2015 5:19 PM Iron Man #55 I meant all the stuff with the Captain Marvel character from '68 to just before Starlin. Reading it over on here and seeing all the crazy things done with him, it just shows no one had any idea what to do with him other than to create another hero to exploit cosmic aspects like the Surfer or Thor. AndrewMarch 1, 2015 5:14 PM Sub-Mariner #64-69 Somewhere (a letter column maybe?) Gerber admitted that the golden submarine was taken from the Beatles, that Ibbar is Rabbi spelled backwards, and sounding the horn at the end was blowing the Shofar. Basically he just threw these issues together with whatever he could think of. MichaelMarch 1, 2015 5:07 PM Iron Man #55 Ataru, would do you mean by the conundrum mess Captain Marvel was in from birth? Ataru320March 1, 2015 4:21 PM Iron Man #55 It really isn't that bad a concept that someone as cosmic as Drax the Destroyer is actually a human "rebuilt" to be this super-being, especially with the connection with Moondragon. With all the crazier things done to humans in this universe, what happened to Drax is nothing and it sort of gives more stakes to Heather. This arc doing what it did really is sort of the works of a mad genius, with Starlin starting out as an artist with Iron Man, having this crazy idea that also cleaned up some messes in continuity (Rick Jones in that preposterous end to the Kree/Skrull War) and created a rival to some of the innovative ideas going on at their "Distinct Competition" (Kirby's Fourth World) while giving a greater importance and development to the more cosmic aspects in the Post-Kirby world. Even with some seeing him as a Darkseid ripoff, Thanos really is a class by himself with all that starts from here on...and heck, it even saved Captain Marvel's reputation considering the conundrum mess he was in from birth. AndrewMarch 1, 2015 3:24 PM Hero For Hire #12 I always figured this guy's name was pronounced CHEM-is-tro, but according to the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon, he's chem-EE-stro. It's like the mag-NET-o/mag-NEE-to debate, only way more obscure. fnord12March 1, 2015 2:48 PM Howard the Duck #1-3 Matthew, i agree that is obvious. Even without "Killmallard", the tripods would have given it away. But i guess what wasn't obvious to me is that it therefore meant that Space Turnip was a parody of Don McGregor, and i still don't really get the joke. Erik BeckMarch 1, 2015 12:52 PM Marvel Team-Up #15 Holy crap! I thought Orb was just a really crappy villain created for Solo Avengers. He existed before? And they brought him back? I have to repeat the last comment I made, on a different issue. Who thought THAT was a good idea? Erik BeckMarch 1, 2015 12:50 PM Iron Man #55 So, wait. Originally they just created Drax? And then only later decided to have him be Moondragon's father? Who thought THAT was a good idea? Ataru320March 1, 2015 12:10 PM Avengers #62 Looks more like "three men and a robot" to me; if it weren't for Vision this would be the Avengers equivalent of Sun Vulcan. kvetoMarch 1, 2015 12:06 PM Avengers #62 You could call this lineup "The Average Avengers" Mark DrummondMarch 1, 2015 11:19 AM Cat #1 Wally Wood tended to add nipples and pubic hair to women he drew for the 1950s EC Comics as well; Marie Severin was colorist for the EC line so this couldn't have been news to her. Time Traveling BunnyMarch 1, 2015 11:19 AM Avengers #62 I always hated these covers that had the team as "The Mighty Avengers"... I mean Marvel already had the "mighty" Thor. Could they really not think of another adjective? Luis DantasMarch 1, 2015 10:48 AM Marvel Treasury Edition #25 Oh, now I have a better notion of why Contest of Champions summoned Olympians, Eternals and Asgardians only to announce that they could not participate. It was supposed to emulate the Olympics premise, as opposed to being a straight cosmic stakes tale. Mark DrummondMarch 1, 2015 10:35 AM Fear #17 According to Roy Thomas in Swampmen/Comic Book Creator #6, not only did Carmine Infantino complain to Stan Lee about this, but Steve Gerber nearly got fired from Marvel over it. kveto from pragueMarch 1, 2015 9:23 AM Amazing Spider-Man #91-92 This was my first Gil Kane issue and I thought the "upnose" panel with Bullit was really good. very appropriate for the context. I think he should have saved it for special dramatic panels, not a couple of times every issue. Erik BeckMarch 1, 2015 9:13 AM Marvel Team-Up #14 I'm a little bit with the earlier commenters and a little bit with Zellstern. As soon as I get to a page where I can identify Kane's art on this site, I have now started immediately looking for the up-nostril shot. On the other hand, his work on Green Lantern and Atom defined the early look of the characters (which is why he was one of the classic artists used in JLA #200, one of the all-time great combinations of Silver Age artists). Check out some of his DC work in the book The Silver Age of Comic Book Art. So, maybe he was just on the downward slide by the time he got to Marvel or maybe it is partially on the inkers. The letter is a bit harsh, though. And clearly the letter writer had no concept of how to win a no-prize. AndrewMarch 1, 2015 8:31 AM Avengers #112 I think Steve Engelhart had good intentions when creating the Lion God. The character was supposed to be a balance to all the European gods that had already appeared in Marvel comics. The only problem was Engelhart didn't have the knowledge of African culture or mythology to pull it off properly. Mantis is also problematic. I always thought she was an attempt to cash in on the kung fu craze, a sort of poor man's Shang Chi, but she was a well-rounded character and the way she threw the Avengers into turmoil made for interesting reading. However, in Avengers Masterworks 12 Engelhart calls her "very frankly, a slut." I didn't read her that way. In the original stories, she comes off simply as young and a little bit selfish, and it seems to me that her time as a prostitute was a result of limited opportunities as a poor child in a war-torn country. She's not a role model, but she's not a stereotype either. I choose to believe that Engelhart as a young man was more generous and open-minded, and that his appalling misogyny was something that only settled on his spirit as he grew older. Nathan AdlerMarch 1, 2015 6:50 AM Marvel Super Action #1 @Mark: The same illustrator/s from Marvel Premiere #27:) AndrewMarch 1, 2015 6:22 AM Marvel Spotlight #6-11 The Eagles released their single "Witchy Woman" in August 1972, so that probably had something to do with the introduction of this character. BerendMarch 1, 2015 6:20 AM Marvel Treasury Edition #25 That first paragraph does sound pretty mad Fnord, but we wouldn't want you any other way :) Gary Shawtown TaylorFebruary 28, 2015 10:57 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #77-79 I thought "Very funny! Your gravestone shall note that you died laughing." was actually pretty funny, if you read it with Doc Ock saying it with increased frustration. Matthew BradleyFebruary 28, 2015 10:39 PM Howard the Duck #1-3 I thought it was pretty obvious that the opening sequence of #2, with "Killmallard" fighting the alien war machines, was a parody of the Killraven series McGregor had been writing for the past two years in AMAZING ADVENTURES. AndrewFebruary 28, 2015 8:18 PM Hero For Hire #8-9 In principle, I really like the idea behind this story - the difference between Doom and Cage's attitudes toward money - and if Cage only had to walk across town to the Latverian embassy it would have made sense. But as it is the cost of the fuel alone for the rocket would have been many times what Cage was owed, so Cage just comes off as a jerk who takes advantage of the FF's hospitality. Nathan AdlerFebruary 28, 2015 7:56 PM New Mutants #30-31 This issue should remind others of my previous theory about the crystal Team America stole which coincided with the Shadow King's return. In the Fat Karma story here, Xi'an wears a very large crystal ring, very prominently displayed on the cover. Was Claremont hinting to us that ring was the crystal, and it was very important to Farouk. However, the outcome of the ring is never shown by the story's conclusion. AndrewFebruary 28, 2015 7:53 PM Defenders #5 Ah, you young folk with no sense of history... In the early seventies Engelhart was a breath of fresh air. His Scarlet Witch was light years ahead of Roy Thomas's, and Silver St. Cloud brought Batman to a new level. I won't defend his eighties work, and I won't say he didn't have issues, but his characters were usually well-rounded at this time, with real motivations. Valkyrie's supposed love for the Black Knight just came out of nowhere. Ataru320February 28, 2015 7:12 PM Marvel Treasury Edition #25 I did notice in Hulk 250 that many of the heroes who would eventually show up in Contest of Champions showed up there first even if they had to push Contest of Champions back. I sort of assume from this that Hulk 250 was probably printed thinking the Contest of Champions/Summer Olympics crossover was going to go through in 1980 after all prior to the pushback. (but because of this, we instead get them introduced through the Hulk World Tour) Further thinking about who was in the Contest of Champions focus, having characters who were needing/getting more exposure (the X-Men such as Wolvie and Storm) and heroes who were just starting to emerge that year and could need exposure themselves (Shulkie falls in this category) ended up being the major players alongside the international heroes of the game between the Grandmaster and Death, thus showing it was written for 1980 and not 1982. Mark DrummondFebruary 28, 2015 4:08 PM Daredevil #129 Peter Gillis has a letter here. Mark DrummondFebruary 28, 2015 4:06 PM Skull the Slayer #1-8 Englehart stated back in the 8/78 Comics Journal that he hated writing this book. Mark DrummondFebruary 28, 2015 4:02 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #11 The main story was originally announced as being strictly Goodwin/Perlin. Mark DrummondFebruary 28, 2015 4:00 PM Hulk annual #9 According to the Comics Journal(3/80) this story was originally supposed to be a Coca-Cola giveaway comic, and Walt Simonson was announced as being involved in some way(the cover?) Mark DrummondFebruary 28, 2015 3:54 PM Marvel Super Action #1 When this book was announced in FOOM #11(9/75), the Punisher's art team was called The Tribe. Mark DrummondFebruary 28, 2015 3:52 PM Giant-Size Defenders #2 When this book was announced in FOOM #5, Asmodeus was called "The Manipulator". Mark DrummondFebruary 28, 2015 3:49 PM Daredevil #75-76 Marvelmania #6(9/70) listed Marie Severin & Herb Trimpe as the artists for #75. MichaelFebruary 28, 2015 3:30 PM Marvel Treasury Edition #25 Kala being the Mole Man's bride is later forgotten about after this issue, except for Rom 28- Roy Thomas will explain that in 1991 as the Mole Man having forgotten about her. TCPFebruary 28, 2015 1:26 PM Marvel Team-Up annual #2 I was legitimately shocked by the ending when I first read this one. This stands out to me as one of the better Marvel Team-Up stories. Erik BeckFebruary 28, 2015 1:16 PM Amazing Spider-Man #124-125 Ah, beaten by a good two years. I had the same record for this story that Kveto and Todd had. Can't think of how many times I listened to them. Good times. I never had the Cap record, but looking at an image of the Spider-Man record online, I realize my copy had the ad on the front for other records and I distinctly remember the picture of the Cap record. Erik BeckFebruary 28, 2015 9:00 AM Defenders #7-8 @ Michael To be fair, Hawkeye doesn't get the arrows finished in time in the WCA Annual and has to throw his arrowheads at She-Hulk to give himself more time. Erik BeckFebruary 28, 2015 8:53 AM Captain America #165-167 Granted, I never read a whole lot of Iron Man, but has anyone else ever referred to the Mandarin as "Mandy"? Maybe gives a whole new meaning to the Barry Manilow song. DermieFebruary 28, 2015 2:11 AM Hulk Magazine #23 I agree the letter writer handled that particular part of his complaint poorly, but other than that he raised a valid point about the very anti-gay tone of things. Shooter's "its not all gays" argument really doesn't hold up when you look at the lack of any positive LGBT portrayals, and the shortage of LGBT representation in general. As for the scene with Bruce/Hulk in the alley after the near-rape, that really is an odd moment. After almost getting raped he runs out into an alley and leans up against a wall, half-naked, and assumes 'the position'? You're subconsciously sending mixed signals there Bruce... Also, when did Bruce become such a sex object? Leaving aside the two men that want to rape him, he also has the 'desperate housewife' who tries to seduce him, the drug addict who wanted to sleep with Hulk but passed out instead, and Bruce does end up going to bed with Alice! Luis DantasFebruary 27, 2015 8:04 PM Hulk Magazine #23 Maybe it is just my meeting plenty of those people, but the story seems to strongly hint that Alice was raised disfunctional and emotionally dependent. She is not kidding much when she describes her EVP duties. MichaelFebruary 27, 2015 7:52 PM Hulk Magazine #23 Agreed about that part of the letter, Mark- the letter writer was like "How dare Banner be angry and scared after almost being raped?" kvetoFebruary 27, 2015 4:58 PM Marvel Two-In-One #52 I though this one was good for a first time issue written over a weekend. I liked the way Moon Knight tried to engage in banter but the Thing was having none of it. "By the way, they call me the Moon Knight." No they don't. you call yourself the moon knight. Mark DrummondFebruary 27, 2015 4:24 PM Strange Tales #157-168 (Dr. Strange) Per Dan Adkins in Amazing Heroes #167: Jim Steranko inked a few panels on p. 4 of #166. Mark DrummondFebruary 27, 2015 4:21 PM Daredevil #42 Per Dan Adkins in Amazing Heroes #167: Jim Steranko inked one panel on p.12. Mark DrummondFebruary 27, 2015 4:17 PM Hulk Magazine #23 "Barbra Jean Benson" was probably named after Barbi Benton. I've got Essential Rampaging Hulk; none of it has any bearing on the regular MU. The friend Shooter refers to is Mile High Comics owner Chuck Rozanski. Chuck actually told the attempted rape story in detail in his column in Comics Buyer's Guide(during the early part of its monthly phase), but he didn't report it as a shower assault--he feared being raped to begin with, and stacked his comics inventory against the door to his room to stop intruders. Someone actually did attempt to force the door open, but the weight was too big to move. YMCA shower rape actually was a fairly common trope in sex-oriented media in the early 1970s. Of course, I have no idea how often that actually happened... One part of that letter bothered me: the writer's minimalization of rape by calling it "making". Uh, NO. If this story was about an attempted rape of a woman, that writer would've been slammed as an idiot immediately. Mark DrummondFebruary 27, 2015 3:58 PM Marvel Two-In-One #59 That newspaper is a reference to some kind of prank pulled on Austin that Chaykin was involved in. This story was actually plotted during Wolfman's earlier run on MTIO, but was left unfinished. Mark DrummondFebruary 27, 2015 3:55 PM Hulk annual #9 DC had a Mister E of its own at close to the same time, and I think Ditko had at least one story in an issue he was in. Mark DrummondFebruary 27, 2015 3:51 PM Incredible Hulk & the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault #1 It's been stated in a number of fanzines that Ditko doesn't like to go back to his Marvel characters of the 1960s, but here he has no trouble going back to the Hulk(he certainly didn't create him, but he did draw him for a while back then). wanyas the self-proclaimedFebruary 27, 2015 1:57 PM Alpha Flight #28 I finished Byrne's Alpha Flight (and the hulk issue and issue 29) yesterday morning and I have a few thoughts. I really can't imagine the tonal shift in real-time to the mignola-Mantlo team. It really is awful. While I appreciate this early Mignola work, I prefer his slightly later stuff. But, Mantlo. I thought I was prepared, but nothing can prepare you. No character behaves as previously especially Heather, Bochs and Shaman. Bochs refers to himself as crippled over 4 times in that 1 issue after never having done so once previous. We can see he has no legs and is in a wheelchair! He clearly overcame his issues with that. and the quick reversal of their status to a government sponsored team gave me whiplash. And the dialogue is awful and there's so much of it. It really is amazingly awful. Erik BeckFebruary 27, 2015 11:53 AM Captain America #164 "He was apparently called away from a Conan the Barbarian convention." You got that right. Either that or Alan Weiss was doing some serious acid. And aside from his ridiculous outfit, he's just drawn horribly. Eww. Must block from brain. Erik BeckFebruary 27, 2015 11:44 AM Amazing Spider-Man #121-122 For the first time, my link to my name goes to a specific post, rather than just my blog. That's because that post specifically references these issues, and indeed, fnord's own comments above about a possible story-telling reason for killing off Gwen. I also throw a shout-out to you fnord, for this website as a whole. Now, on to this story. Well, it's one of the few times that I'll actually argue the grade - I agree with Mike, this is an A+, one of the very best two-part stories Marvel ever did. It's not only the way Gwen's death was handled (very well), but how Peter thinks he's saved her (when he actually likely killed her - though she would have died anyway if he hadn't tried) and then vows revenge, and then how it actually plays out, with Peter forgoing revenge, only to have the Goblin die anyway. Two absolutely brilliant issues. The Green Goblin was, in my opinion, hands down the best Spider-Man villain of all-time and I refuse to believe he ever came back from the dead. Not to mention that these stories are part of the inspiration for Spider-Man: Blue, one of my favorite all-time books. Also, credit to the moviemakers at Marvel who managed to use two brilliant moments from these two issues in what were essentially two different franchises (the use in Amazing Spider-Man 2, which I won't explicitly mention for those who haven't seen it really stunned me - I couldn't believe I hadn't heard about that in advance). Probably my two favorite Spider-Man issues of all-time. fnord12February 27, 2015 9:26 AM Hulk annual #9 It is Moench, thanks. Was it the mangled chess motif that gave it away? Between this and Marvel Spotlight #29, it seems like Moench had maybe heard of chess but wasn't sure how it worked. It's interesting because, as Ataru points out, Stane's chessmen were cool. But it's not like they adhered to the rules of chess either. Ataru320February 27, 2015 8:58 AM Hulk annual #9 Maybe these losers heard rumors about Obediah Stane and decided to jump on it before he made his move. (bad joke to connect things, I know) MichaelFebruary 27, 2015 8:02 AM Hulk annual #9 The Marvel Wiki lists the writer as Doug Moench, not Bill Mantlo: fnord12February 27, 2015 7:42 AM Marvel Spotlight #4 Thanks for the reminder on where Captain Marvel's solar dependency comes from. I've put in a link to #57. david banesFebruary 27, 2015 3:50 AM Marvel Spotlight #1-3 They stuck the Nitro issue and the first two issues here into my Death of Captain Marvel trade. I actually kind of liked the story with Isaac and it is concluded not with more violence but making Isaac understand what he's doing. Luis DantasFebruary 26, 2015 10:07 PM Marvel Spotlight #4 This talk about losing a soul to the monstruous masters sounds vaguely like an Objectivist rant from Ditko. Luis DantasFebruary 26, 2015 10:04 PM Marvel Spotlight #4 IIRC, Captain Marvel #57 established that Mar-Vell drains energy from the Sun (involuntarily even) and #59 reinforced that. fnord12February 26, 2015 8:30 PM What's Missing Oh, that's awesome. Now i regret saying that after the current back issue add i'm going to go at least through the DeFalco EiC and "Silo" years before going backwards again. MichaelFebruary 26, 2015 8:25 PM What's Missing No, this is actually a redone Godzilla story: fnord12February 26, 2015 8:15 PM What's Missing Thanks, Michael. Any relation to Ditko's other Dragon Lord from Fantastic Four annual #16? MichaelFebruary 26, 2015 7:57 PM What's Missing The Dragon Lord story in Marvel Spotlight 5 is canon- Dragon Lord later appears in an Avengers:Initiative story. fnord12February 26, 2015 7:54 PM Marvel Team-Up annual #2 First published appearance, because he does appear in the back-up in Classic X-Men #29, which, probably not coincidentally, reprints UX #123. He's not a robot there, right? MichaelFebruary 26, 2015 7:40 PM Marvel Team-Up annual #2 Note that this issue is the first ACTUAL appearance of Colonel Vazhin- as opposed to the robot we saw in Uncanny X-Men 123. Gary HimesFebruary 26, 2015 7:32 PM Marvel Two-In-One #49 This story seems to have been inspired by "Dark Shadows". Too bad Barnabas didn't show up... fnord12February 26, 2015 4:14 PM Marvel Two-In-One #52 This reminds me of those times in Marvel Team-Up annual #3 and Uncanny X-Men #150 when you made similar points. ;-) Actually, i don't think this is a bad thing, depending on how it's done. I didn't include the scan here, but the panel has the Thing basically saying, "Pfff! Mind-control?! People have tried to mind control me twice already this week! It ain't gonna work, loser!" At its best, the references remind us that these are characters in a continuing story that remember their past history. That's nice just for adding some depth to the characters. But it can also show that a character is growing and acting differently to similar situations. Or at least just acknowledge that, yes, this scenario isn't super-fresh but we know it and it's how we react to it that's different. They can get gratuitous, especially when it's of the variety of "Hey, this car is red just like the cape of the main character in Other Book I Am Writing #3". And i'd prefer they only be used for things that were really relevant. But on balance i'd rather they erred on the side of including more than less. clydeFebruary 26, 2015 3:16 PM Marvel Two-In-One #52 FNORD - we should have a drinking game where you take a shot every time someone compares a current experience to a previous one. Just using your site alone, we would all be drunk in a couple of hours. Why was this such a common occurrence? clydeFebruary 26, 2015 11:29 AM Hulk annual #10 FNORD - I already have a superhero name. It's "Proofreader Man"(tm) - "able to spot errors in grammar and spelling". "No one can escape the power of correct wording in sentences, exclamations, and questions." :) JSfanFebruary 26, 2015 8:41 AM Howard the Duck #30-31 Interesting. I find HTD very very hard to get into. I bought a couple of issues to see what all the buzz was about but I didn't find anything remotely funny in them. I figured the book had a very small number of followers but just enough sales not to have it cancelled. I'm still trying to work out what anyone saw in them. fnord12February 26, 2015 8:05 AM Hulk annual #10 Thanks for the info, Clyde. And don't sell yourself short, i'm sure you'd make a fine Marvel Universe character. And yeah, i guess if i found a copy it wouldn't be customized to be about me, but i think i can live with that. ;-) fnord12February 26, 2015 7:41 AM Howard the Duck #30-31 @Michael, yeah, it clearly says that in the scan. I'm really just commenting on Mantlo's heavy use of references, a very different style than Gerber's. I've made my comment a little clearer. JSfanFebruary 26, 2015 5:09 AM Howard the Duck #30-31 I'm asking a genuine question: was the book really a critical success or were the numbers just above the Mendoza Line? MichaelFebruary 25, 2015 11:26 PM Howard the Duck #30-31 I don't think Howard used the actual Flames of Faltine, just a mechanical substitute. MichaelFebruary 25, 2015 11:08 PM Howard the Duck #29 Goniff's name is a reference to gonef, the Yiddish word for thief. clydeFebruary 25, 2015 10:31 PM Hulk annual #10 Seeing how much it's going for on mycomicshop, I'm kicking myself for not getting two or three copies when it originally came out. Too bad I don't have the FF's time machine. clydeFebruary 25, 2015 10:19 PM Hulk annual #10 Although an argument for it to be in-continuity is made on the wiki entry for Captain Universe - clydeFebruary 25, 2015 10:08 PM Hulk annual #10 FNORD - I'm no expert, but the fact that the comic involves me as a character in the Marvel Universe would tend to make me think it's non-canon. clydeFebruary 25, 2015 10:06 PM Fantastic Four #237-238 "Horton subsequently hypnotized her, gave her the disappearing costume, abandoned her, and started sending her weekly checks for $1,000." fnord12February 25, 2015 10:02 PM Hulk annual #10 He wasn't going anywhere in particular so the fact that it may have been a long way around the fence doesn't seem like it should have been a catastrophe. He's just easily upset. I've had my eye on that personalized Captain Universe comic but it's not cheaply available. Anything about it make it explicitly non-canon? The MCP doesn't list it. clydeFebruary 25, 2015 9:07 PM Hulk annual #10 FNORD - when you say "Apparently the thought of having to walk around a fence was too much for Banner.", I'm not sure if you're kidding or not. I see the fence as continuing in an L shape from that point sideways. fnord12February 25, 2015 8:43 PM Howard the Duck #28 All things are on the internet somewhere. ;-) MichaelFebruary 25, 2015 7:55 PM Howard the Duck #28 Fnord, I'm curious- I thought that you didn't have Howard the Duck Magazine 1, so how do you know about that scene with Beverly? minFebruary 25, 2015 6:45 PM Thor #134-135 Man-Beast to Thor: I destroy your time sense! Thor should have retaliated by destroying his kung fu. Gary Shawtown TaylorFebruary 25, 2015 6:08 PM Team America #6 Gutman is from a Bogart movie. Probably a choice of Kupperberg who recognized the name and casted the actor to resemble the character. Gary Shawtown TaylorFebruary 25, 2015 5:09 PM Defenders #110 Little over the top that a worldly guy like Doc Strange is moved to TEARS by that otherwise heartfelt letter. SharFebruary 25, 2015 2:43 PM Avengers #75-76 @Jim Wojton: Yes, the pay rate seems to have been the deciding factor. In Alter Ego #115, Roy Thomas states that "John was briefly scheduled to be the first penciler of Conan the Barbarian after I acquired the rights to Howard's hero." However just when Big John was "all set to sink his teeth into the new bi-monthly, Martin Goodman decided we had to use a penciler with a lower rate so he [Goodman] could recoup the $150 per issue Marvel would be paying the Robert E. Howard estate. John and I were both disappointed, but Goodman's cheapness turned out to be a windfall for Barry Smith, who came into his own on Conan." Of course Buscema eventually became Conan's regular penciler, but--as JB stated in an interview (also in that same issue of AE)--he was "disappointed when they [Marvel] didn't give it to me from the beginning." kvetoFebruary 25, 2015 2:32 PM Bizarre Adventures #27 (Jean Grey) Jean looks a whole lot like Red Sonja in that steel bikini. Probably due to being drawn by John Buscema. kvetoFebruary 25, 2015 2:29 PM Howard the Duck #30-31 Even with Gerber what's the point? That's just me. I never got Howard. I could never find anything humourous in him. Gary Shawtown TaylorFebruary 25, 2015 2:21 PM Fantastic Four #241 I have to think that the comment now by T'Challa (and previously by Quicksilver) about Ben's "changed appearance" is realllllly stretching it. It's quite obviously The Thing, just less 'granite' looking. Time Traveling BunnyFebruary 25, 2015 12:50 PM Iron Man #17-19 The "rejuvenator" was previously mentioned in Avengers #61, but in this issue it's the "ultra-rejuvenator" so perhaps this is a new model. Mark DrummondFebruary 25, 2015 11:43 AM Avengers #69-71 About the last page of #71: a letter in Alter Ego #130 details that the cover to Marvelmania Catalog #2 was done first showing the Wasp in the brown plaid coat. Then for some reason(maybe Martin Goodman being micromanagerial, as he was around that time), another artist altered the page to provide the generic super-hero outfit for her, which was used for #71. A 3rd version of the page was used on the 1969 Seulingcon Program Book and later reprinted in Alter Ego #118. All 3 versions were inked by Grainger, and I'm guessing the catalog cover showed up just by the Marvelmania people requesting any unpublished art that was around. Mark DrummondFebruary 25, 2015 11:34 AM Avengers #89-97 Per a letter in Alter Ego #130: John Romita supposedly redrew Captain America's head on the splash page in #93. Mark DrummondFebruary 25, 2015 11:31 AM Avengers #85-86 Per Len Wein in Alter Ego #130: he actually did call the character the Golden Archer, but Roy changed it to Hawkeye for a reason nobody remembers. Mark DrummondFebruary 25, 2015 11:25 AM Godzilla #12-14 When #13 came out, I showed it to a cousin of mine and tried to explain the Mega-Monsters' names for him, but he insisted "No, it says so on the cover! That one's name is Mayhem!" fnord12February 24, 2015 8:51 PM Ghost Rider #65 Not in this issue. In addition to the panels shown here, he only says to the Loan Shark, "I-I'd kill you if anyone found out! So help me, I'd--", and then the Shark says that Red's gone crazy and he has his henchman hit him. In issue #70, Roger Stern has Johnny Blaze think that Red has a minor gambling problem and that's probably why he had to go to a the loan shark. But that was probably Stern's way of wrapping that thread up without making it into a "thing". MichaelFebruary 24, 2015 8:18 PM Ghost Rider #67 I think the idea is supposed to be that the ghost was an agent of Heaven, so her presence was able to hurt Ghost Rider. MichaelFebruary 24, 2015 8:16 PM Ghost Rider #65 Did we ever find out why Red borrowed the money? MichaelFebruary 24, 2015 8:06 PM Ghost Rider #60 Historically, though, many Yoruba deities became associated with Christian saints- that's how Santeria and Voodoo came about. Look at Haiti- many Haitians find no contradiction in being both Voodoo and Catholic, no matter how contradictory that seems to an outsider. clydeFebruary 24, 2015 7:46 PM Uncanny X-Men #150 Once again, we see a character compare an experience to something else that happened to them previously. Do people really do this as often as comic book characters? clydeFebruary 24, 2015 7:22 PM Marvel Team-Up #108-109 Hasn't Spider-Man met Luke Cage & Iron Fist? They're heroes who charge for their services. What's the difference? kvetoFebruary 24, 2015 6:38 PM Ghost Rider #60 I get what you are saying as well. I just see this as a well-intentioned attempt to add some diversity/cultural history, i guess very unsuccessfully. (unsurprisingly, when writers get bashed for these types of things, they become afraid to try again, hence we get little diversity) I don't think him being african would be vastly different from black american. I'd hazard to guess that many black americans would have an interest in African history/culture/juju magic no matter how far removed they are generation-wise. the same way an american with european ancestry might be interested in scandinavian or germanic or greek gods despite their ancestors living in the new world for umpteen generations. With the Christianization of western africa long before 1980, I doubt you'd find many traditional juju priests there or in america. So i don't see how making him an actual african would help other than placing him closer to the source material. (I think its silly for the crusader and the black knight to be Americans, considering that country has zero claim to chivalry, but Im not gonna be offended by it;-) clydeFebruary 24, 2015 6:26 PM ROM #23 With all the times the FF loan out the Skrull saucer, they should pay the Skrulls for the ship. clydeFebruary 24, 2015 6:13 PM ROM #21-22 FNORD - my guess on RON's single name is he was the first one to wear the armor. Perhaps to protect any future volunteers, they chose a codename to protect their identity. Mark DrummondFebruary 24, 2015 6:09 PM Solo Avengers #17 Comics Interview #72(6/89) published a Mike Zeck panel from a "Sandman limited series". I have no idea if an actual Sandman series ever got published or even announced, though. Mark DrummondFebruary 24, 2015 6:06 PM Logan's Run #6 (Thanos) Zeck confirmed in Comics Interview #72 that this was his first color work for Marvel; it was drawn in 1976 as a try-out with no plans for publication. Mark DrummondFebruary 24, 2015 6:05 PM Punisher #1-5 In an interview in Comics Interview #72, Grant confirmed that he came up with the name "Frank Castle", but Marvel didn't want the Punisher to have a real identity--they wanted him to have a series of assumed aliases. Grant pointed out that this was impossible, due to him being arrested and having a military record. fnord12February 24, 2015 5:40 PM Hulk #292 Correct, no reference at all to the Ghost Rider appearances. The Clown's only real scene here is noticing Bruce Banner and thinking (correctly) that the Ringmaster would love to get a chance to fight the Hulk again, so he goes and alerts his boss. Maybe he got hypnotized into rejoining? fnord12February 24, 2015 5:32 PM Ghost Rider #60 I can see your point to an extent, Kveto, but i do think there is a big difference from, say, the Crusader. He was an overly zealous Christian that became a villain and whose interpretation of Christianity was shown to be false (it's why Thor beats him). Here we have someone that is purportedly Christian but we're shown that no, he really gets his powers from an African Leopard God. And yet somehow is still a Christian reverend. I think that plays into a couple of stereotypes, not just 'black people are savages' (something sadly easily found in many a Yahoo News comments section) but that black Christianity isn't real Christianity (something that came out during the Jeremiah Wright situation, for example). People don't take offense to the Crusader because there's no prevalent stereotype that says white people are all really knights in shining armor or even zealous crusaders (or vikings). But black Americans do have to contend with the savages stereotype. And then add to that the weird Christian/Leopard God juju contradiction. I get what you're saying. England gets Captain Britain, the Middle East gets the Arabian Knight, and there can be an African hero that uses "black juju". They're all based on their region's supposed histories and legends and they can all be somewhere between offensive and well done depending on how much care and attention they get from the creators. Maybe if Destroyer of Demons was from Africa, not the United States, i could see it better. The Black Panther having a Panther God works because he's from an uninterrupted lineage that worships a tribal god (and because he's got a lot of positive attributes; he's not just a throwback to an African stereotype). I'm sure Michael Fleisher intended no harm but i do think "Black Juju" is pretty offensive. At least we can agree that DoD is lame! :-) I think that's part of the problem, though. If the character was created with more thought and wasn't introduced with some unacknowledged contradictions, why, he could have been as unoffensive as Brother Voodoo! BerendFebruary 24, 2015 5:28 PM Hulk #292 I'm guessing there is no explanation for why the Clown is suddenly a bad guy again? kvetoFebruary 24, 2015 4:38 PM Amazing Spider-Man #313 great story:) kvetoFebruary 24, 2015 4:35 PM Godzilla #15-16 I don't think I've ever seen anyone as happy as that cowboy! kvetoFebruary 24, 2015 4:33 PM Godzilla #12-14 It's interesting to me that marvel never really seemed to sit down and think which properties would work well in the MU and which would be better in their own universes. Series like gi joe just kind of evolved into other universes. Transformers started out in the MU then realised it would be better in its own universe. I say this because Godzilla would clearly work better outside the MU. Otherwise, every issue should be the avengers and FF trying to stop godzilla. clydeFebruary 24, 2015 4:28 PM Marvel Two-In-One #79 Yet another marvel character who gets taken to the Stranger's world. That Quasar run of issues is something I'm looking forward to having FNORD review. kvetoFebruary 24, 2015 4:26 PM Ghost Rider #60 With all due respect,fnord, is a black preacher taking up juju magic really that offensive? I mean if it were a white preacher, it wouldn't make much sense. Around this time, we have a white priest who decides to become a crusading knight and I don't recall anyone taking any offense. A bit earlier, we had a Scandinavian american who decides to become a mad viking and I don't recall offense taken. I don't see why juju is offensive and viking isn't. I'd much rather villains draw on their ancestral past for inspiration than have it just be random. I like the idea of trying to add villains from less common backgrounds to combat the demonic GR. That said, DoD is lame. But I could imagine a cool juju villain. Ataru320February 24, 2015 1:52 PM Godzilla #6-8 Just as an aside: not too long after these issues with an actual "piloted giant robot", Marvel actually helps create their own giant robot show of their own: the Japanese "Supaida-Man" tokusatsu, complete with the giant "Leopardon". Most of the main staff from this Spider-Man adaptation had actually just were brought over from Sentai (the Japanese team show that eventually became "Power Rangers") and amazingly after this they brought the giant robot to the team show through the likewise Marvel-produced "Battle Fever J" in 1979. (even further, the main writer of Supaidaman and BFJ, Susumu Takaku, was also the main writer of a little anime called "Golion", better known in the US as "Voltron") AndrewFebruary 24, 2015 1:26 PM Daredevil #128 I don't know. The character's shoulders-to-hips ratio looks kind of feminine to me. Maybe she's sure all that glitters is gold? clydeFebruary 24, 2015 1:10 PM Iron Man #151 Tony making the moves on Ling is totally in character for him. He's a playboy first, hero second, IMO. fnord12February 24, 2015 12:29 PM Amazing Spider-Man #313 That's awesome. Thanks for sharing, Jason! clydeFebruary 24, 2015 12:16 PM Defenders #96 FNORD - when you said - "from the lettercols, i'm in the minority here, but i don't think much of DeMatteis' flat straightforward writing style or the Six Fingered Hand plot." I would have to say it was popular considering how much these issues cost for "the Six Fingered Hand plot." It didn't just cost me six fingers, it cost me an arm and a leg ;) Jason ClemonsFebruary 24, 2015 11:58 AM Amazing Spider-Man #313 That "in-joke" was actually the result of a promotion. There was a Marvel Trivia contest sponsored by Macy's and the winner would be featured in a Marvel comic. I know, because that was me. I was able to include a friend of mine (Troy), and they ended up sending me a gross of that issue. In the years that followed, as McFarlane's popularity blew up, I was able to walk into comic conventions like a pimp with stacks of SM 313's, worth about $30 each. Ah... Good times. clydeFebruary 24, 2015 10:52 AM Avengers #210 This is the same problem that DC had with the JLA. When you have a team book with a super-powerful hero - such as Superman, he can't be as powerful as he is in his own book. Thor should have been able to get rid of the weather all by himself with his hammer. Of course, that would negate the need for the rest of the Avengers assistance. MichaelFebruary 23, 2015 11:52 PM Alpha Flight #33-34 A recent Comics Should Be Good article reminded me of the major problem with this story- Avengers 66 implied that Adamantium had been created recently but this story suggests Adamantium had been created decades ago. MichaelFebruary 23, 2015 11:15 PM Ghost Rider #54-56 Note that Hamilton says Lincoln died after "decades" of service as the Phantom Rider- as opposed to the later revelation that he died a few years after becoming the Phantom Rider. MichaelFebruary 23, 2015 9:46 PM Ghost Rider #63 Ivan Velez eventually retconned that Johnny and Roxanne grew up in the Quentin Carnival. That's completely inconsistent with this issue- Johnny's not acting like he's returning to the place he grew up and nobody recognizes Johnny or is recognized by him. clydeFebruary 23, 2015 9:35 PM Marvel Team-Up #105 "so there's no reason for the Hulk to be trying to smash Iron Fist on sight here." On the other hand, he is the Hulk and "Hulk Smash". MichaelFebruary 23, 2015 9:27 PM Avengers #214 I'm not sure if Shooter overdid making the Ghost Rider evil. On the one hand, we'd never seen him do stuff like leaving a child to die and zapping Warren with hellfire unprovoked leaving him comatose before this issue. OTOH, we had seen him burn down a town, cause the accident that injured Gina's driver and endanger people on numerous occasions. MichaelFebruary 23, 2015 8:54 PM Ghost Rider #61-62 This story raised the question- if Water Wizard can control water and oil, why can't he control blood? He would be easily able to defeat most opponents if he could make the blood in their bodies stop. The Official Handbook suggests that he has difficulty controlling small amounts of liquids. clydeFebruary 23, 2015 8:40 PM Dazzler #3-5 I'm glad Dazzler didn't accept the X-Men's offer of being trained. I think her on-the-job training served her much better. MichaelFebruary 23, 2015 8:38 PM Ghost Rider #60 Sure, Destroyer of Demons, Ghost Rider isn't too bad- it's not like he burned down a town a few issues ago. MichaelFebruary 23, 2015 8:21 PM Ghost Rider #54-56 To be fair, we saw in Marvel Team-Up 91 that Tatterdemalion's coat was lined with silver, so maybe the scarf is too. clydeFebruary 23, 2015 7:19 PM Marvel Team-Up #106 You mean like this? BerendFebruary 23, 2015 5:31 PM Ghost Rider #61-62 First Black Juju and now these Saudi's? Ghost Rider takes a turn for the racist all of a sudden... BerendFebruary 23, 2015 5:21 PM Ghost Rider #59 "To cement their alliance, Moondark gives Water Wizard some new threads. Not a new costume, just literally threads to sew up Water Wizard's existing one." That's too bad, 'cause if there is anyone in need of a better costume it's the Water Wizard! MortificatorFebruary 23, 2015 4:23 PM Marvel Spotlight #4 Wow, she stoned his wheelchair too. I guess it's convention now for victims' clothes to turn to stone with them, but affecting the wheelchair seems odd. Erik BeckFebruary 23, 2015 2:16 PM Avengers #113 Figuring out Tony Stark is Iron Man was never that hard - I'm glad they dropped that for the film and just had him tell the world. But to know Don Blake is Thor? That takes some real thinking or actually witnessing him transform. Erik BeckFebruary 23, 2015 2:06 PM Marvel Team-Up #9-11 This is another one I still have, reprinted in the large Marvel Treasury Edition #27. But, looking at your scans, I realized some things have been changed. The confrontation between Peter and Harry isn't in it at all - Peter simply sees Iron Man on the television and then shows up at Avengers Mansion (I was really confused reading this as a kid, because it shows Avengers Mansion right on the street - it wouldn't be until a later issue where I realized it had been moved). Footnotes appear to have been changed as well - Zarko is listed as last appearing in Thor #245. The coloring on Kang is also different - the coloring on mine is the same as his coloring later on. The second splash page is dropped entirely, making it all flow like it's one story. Some of the other footnotes are dropped as well, which is interesting, because they would have had to alter the artwork there (I'm not really sure how footnotes are put in, in relation to finished art). I always found it very fun, especially since this was the only place I had ever seen Johnny's other costume As per Crystal - both in regards to Quicksilver and Johnny, it's interesting that Johnny refuses to go to the Great Refuge because of her, but she never actually appears in the issue anyway. Mark DrummondFebruary 23, 2015 11:47 AM Omega The Unknown #1-10 According to an article in Amazing Heroes #166, Roger Stern hated this series so much that he called it "Smegma The Unknown". Mark DrummondFebruary 23, 2015 11:44 AM Amazing Spider-Man #320 This storyline was announced in some fanzines under the name "The Symkarian Triangle". MortificatorFebruary 22, 2015 10:52 PM Iron Man #49-51 Oh, and sorry for the double-comment, but the Cyborg-Sinister somehow reminds me of the goofy Flying Dutchman that Mephisto sent after the Silver Surfer in the Surfer's first series. MortificatorFebruary 22, 2015 10:46 PM Iron Man #49-51 It almost sounds like Princess Python became a prostitute, with her "strung-out working girl" thought bubble. I wonder if she brings the snake along? AndrewFebruary 22, 2015 9:24 PM Marvel Team-Up #48-51 With the central conceit of a supposedly dead policeman operating as a vigilante out of a graveyard, I always figured this story started out as a spin on Will Eisner's Spirit, but grew into something else entirely. Luis DantasFebruary 22, 2015 7:42 PM Captain America #357-364 I remember a letter commenting on Priscilla's hard-to-interpret face in that last panel. Thinking about it, her word balloons are very much at odds with both the expression and the gesture. Far as I know, she is never seen again after #364 except in USAgent's four-issue series. Between the very small number of pages in each part, the rotating features and signs of last minute editing such as this last couple of panels, one gets the feeling that Gruenwald did not have any certainty on what to do with the characters on the aftermath of the impostor Cap storyline. The stories seem to be made in order to postpone decisions and clear statements about how the characters act, feel and find motivation as long as possible. They are very much filler hoping to become something else. fnord12February 22, 2015 5:21 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) I'm glad you were able to use the site that way, Andrew. Thanks for the feedback. AndrewFebruary 22, 2015 3:15 PM Captain America #357-364 For whatever it's worth, John Jameson's and Karla Sofen's moonstones are related. In Thunderbolts 45, the Supreme Intelligence said that they, the Bloodstone, and the Alpha Stone that created the Baselisk were all fragments of a larger stone that was a "geological survivor of the Big Bang", a remnant of the previous universe. And the Supreme Intelligence has always been super-reliable about stuff like that... clydeFebruary 22, 2015 2:34 PM Marvel Two-In-One #76 Terri Bottoms - another awesome name from Marvel Comics. clydeFebruary 22, 2015 2:25 PM Marvel Two-In-One #75 This issue does become important later on in the Fantastic Four's run. MichaelFebruary 22, 2015 2:09 PM Ghost Rider #51 If the ghost hates motorcyclists so much, then why did he help Johnny and the kid? And even if Clem was really a good samaritan, wouldn't it be dangerous to put 6 dangerous criminals in his truck? AndrewFebruary 22, 2015 1:45 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Well, sure, but that Andromeda was human, not a mermaid or anything. clydeFebruary 22, 2015 12:59 PM Dazzler #1 Andrew, I still rate it higher than Spider-Woman, if that means anything. MichaelFebruary 22, 2015 12:13 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Andromeda was a character from Greek myth: AndrewFebruary 22, 2015 11:19 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Fnord, I just wanted to say thanks for the insanely detailed site. I didn't buy Marvel comics from the mid-eighties through the turn of the century, and in terms of quality I still don't think I missed much, but I often want to know the backstory of characters appearing now, and this site is the best place to find them. Andromeda made an appearance in Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four, and I was wondering what her story was. Now I know, though I still don't know why an Atlantean has such an "outer space"-type name... clydeFebruary 22, 2015 10:38 AM Marvel Team-Up #102 IMO, there's no excuse that can justify adding history without knowing the full backstory of the character or characters you're trying to change. If you're going to handle a character, know the character, from his or her beginning until the present. Tabe8February 22, 2015 10:03 AM Uncanny X-Men #141-142 As SPECTACULAR as this site is, this particular review doesn't do Days of Future Past justice. Throughout the plot lives the conflict that the x-men face. They need to save the life of the politician who wants to take away their freedom in order to prevent an even worse future. It's stunningly deep and complex for comics at the time. THIS is a story to tell your friends to read to get interested in comics. I own every issue of x-men (until I gave up comics in the late 90s). This two-issue story is the best. Luis DantasFebruary 22, 2015 12:11 AM Uncanny X-Men #141-142 True that! clydeFebruary 21, 2015 11:13 PM Uncanny X-Men #141-142 "Storm is now team leader, and she worries in general that she's not the leader that Cyclops was." clydeFebruary 21, 2015 9:16 PM Power Man & Iron Fist #66 "The Constrictor brags about how his electric coils nearly defeated the Hulk. That's not how i remember it from Hulk #212. I remember the Constrictor getting trounced." In his defense, would you admit to getting beat up all the time or would you outright lie about it? Jim WojtonFebruary 21, 2015 7:43 PM Avengers #75-76 Big John Buscema was originally wanted as the artist on Conan the Barbarian. I wonder if his rendering of Arkon played a role in this offer? They went with Barry Smith instead. Buscema was either too busy or Smith was cheaper to get. fnord12February 21, 2015 7:19 PM Avengers #60 There's a screenshot of the scene here. It was episode #91, broadcast Jan.6th, 1974. Maybe instead of Kang, it was Immortus, cleaning up some Sliding Timescale problems. Jim WojtonFebruary 21, 2015 7:13 PM Avengers #60 File this under "anachronism". This issue found it's way onto an episode of M.A.S.H.. I can't recall the season or the episode, but Radar is lying on his cot reading a comic, and it's Avengers #60! Apparently the prop department didn't think it mattered what book he was reading, no one would notice! Has anyone spotted this? Maybe Kang left it in Korea at the 4077th? fnord12February 21, 2015 2:39 PM Marvel Two-In-One #28 Fair enough! Changed it. StephenFebruary 21, 2015 2:03 PM Marvel Two-In-One #28 Are you sure that's an AIR-breathing pill the Thing's popping? fnord12February 21, 2015 12:55 PM Ghost Rider #38-39 Not that i think it's a deeply explored topic in the comic, but i think the analogy would be if there was an organization whose leaders were advocating that homosexuality was immoral in a way that was a borderline incitement. You could certainly arrest anyone that committed violence because of that, but the First Amendment debate would be about shutting down the organization. Mark DrummondFebruary 21, 2015 12:30 PM Fear #17 I suspect Dave Cockrum was entirely responsible for Man-Thing being there(he also put the Creature from the Black Lagoon in a later panel, and he was known to be a fan of those movies). Cary Bates was still a 100% DC guy at the time, and editor Murray Boltinoff was one of those longtime DC guys who considered anything Marvel did to be beneath their notice. MichaelFebruary 21, 2015 12:26 PM Ghost Rider #38-39 To be fair about the First Amendment lawyer, I think that the lawyer's argument about the First Amendment was a legitimate clue, since a lawyer would almost certainly realize that the First Amendment doesn't protect attacks on third parties- you can't, for example, beat up a gay man and argue that you should go free because your religion requires gay-bashing. fnord12February 21, 2015 11:56 AM Thor #302 Kveto, you're right. Thanks for calling that out. I've listed him as a character and added a scan to the Thor #275 entry. fnord12February 21, 2015 11:46 AM Marvel Two-In-One #28 I'd like to think he's like a reverse zombie: any fish that bites him becomes the Piranha. fnord12February 21, 2015 11:45 AM Fear #17 Mike Sterling put up a scan of this recently. fnord12February 21, 2015 11:44 AM Marvel Super Action #1 I liked it as "fun". ;-) MidnighterFebruary 21, 2015 11:44 AM Ka-Zar #12-13 No, in Avengers there are new zebra kids, not these ones. Jay GallardoFebruary 21, 2015 11:20 AM Ka-Zar #12-13 I think these zebra people are appearing in the current Avengers Storyline MichaelFebruary 21, 2015 10:00 AM Doctor Strange #45 Roger Stern has said in interviews that he always found the idea of Strange being Clea's lover and master at the same time kind of creepy. DermieFebruary 21, 2015 1:24 AM Marvel Super Action #1 My post should say the Punisher's "gun", not his "fun"...whoops! Luis DantasFebruary 21, 2015 12:12 AM Marvel Team-Up #99 @GranitoLives: don't worry too much. Fnord is very much updating the site. It is just that he is currently going through some missing back issues (check the "Recent Updates" link on the left margin of the webpage). As I understand it, next on queue are the Acts of Vengeance issues and 1990. NotPercyShelleyFebruary 21, 2015 12:11 AM Doctor Strange #45 Wow, I find that last panel completely creepy and not at all sexy or romantic. Luis DantasFebruary 21, 2015 12:03 AM Thor #302 @Walter Lawson: come to think of it, there is more than a hint of Green Lantern in Locus, with a pinch of Wonder Woman's ridiculous foe the Angle Man in for flavor. GranitoLivesFebruary 20, 2015 11:57 PM Marvel Team-Up #99 fnord did you stop this site or what? Luis DantasFebruary 20, 2015 11:54 PM Fear #17 More of an easter egg really (he and Swamp Thing have mannikins or statues of some kind used as decoration at the entrance of a circus haunted house, and the colloring is ever so slightly off for Man-Thing), but the cover date is identical. An inside joke between Cary Bates and Steve Gerber, probably. Mark DrummondFebruary 20, 2015 11:02 PM Fear #17 At the same time this came out, the Man-Thing had a bizarre cameo in DC's Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #198. kveto from pragueFebruary 20, 2015 7:42 PM Thor #302 I recall Tyr getting a single panel appearance in Thor 275 MichaelFebruary 20, 2015 7:37 PM Marvel Two-In-One #28 The next time the Pirahna shows up, there's only of him again. Maybe only one of the Pirahnas survived? DermieFebruary 20, 2015 6:51 PM Marvel Super Action #1 Wow, the Punisher's fun has quite a kick--the recoil apparently blew his robe off! He was dressed in a robe in the panels before he shot Audrey, and its back again two panels later--but in the panel where he shoots her, he's suddenly naked except for the bedsheets. Luis DantasFebruary 20, 2015 5:59 PM Marvel Two-In-One #34 The 1908 explosion in Siberia is the Tunguska event, which happened in real life. This story tells one of three mutually exclusive explanations for its happening in the Marvel Universe. fnord12February 20, 2015 2:22 PM Marvel Team-Up #99 It comes and goes and there's at least one more appearance of it after this issue. But we stop seeing it once the Sandman starts to reform. clydeFebruary 20, 2015 2:10 PM Marvel Team-Up #99 When does Sandman get rid of that awful,awful costume and go back to his traditional one? clydeFebruary 20, 2015 1:56 PM Marvel Team-Up #126 (Spider-Man / Hulk) Moses Magnum is a close second. Mark DrummondFebruary 20, 2015 12:07 PM Marvel Team-Up #56 Electro in the basement:that's got to be one of the worst saliva-filled garage-door mouths Buscema's ever done. Mark DrummondFebruary 20, 2015 12:02 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #11 JRJr has stated several times that Al Milgrom basically saved the story. Mark DrummondFebruary 20, 2015 11:57 AM Marvel Super Action #1 Plus: you have to wonder if Chris Claremont knew about this story when he put Ruffio Costa in Daredevil Annual #4. Mark DrummondFebruary 20, 2015 11:55 AM Marvel Super Action #1 If that was indeed the Mechanic in ASM#129, he seems to have built some extremely accurate prosthetics and given himself entirely different hair. George Evans' EC work was also noted for its anatomical accuracy in torture and death scenes, to nauseating effect. Mark DrummondFebruary 20, 2015 11:44 AM Marvel Spotlight #29 Embarrassed? What for? clydeFebruary 20, 2015 10:47 AM Hulk #252-253 Because Berend, wait for it......................they told him he could work for peanuts. ;) clydeFebruary 20, 2015 10:31 AM Marvel Team-Up annual #3 I notice a lot of superheroes compare their experiences to previous ones. Do they get a sense of deja vu and just want to let us know? fnord12February 19, 2015 10:47 PM Marvel Super Action #1 Thanks for that catch, Michael. I've put link to that entry here and added a few relevant scans. But the majority of this story, including the portion showing the Mechanic, is part of the flashback. I don't think it should affect placement of the scene with the call girl, which i think was meant to take place in the present. Luis DantasFebruary 19, 2015 10:23 PM Marvel Super Action #1 Punisher's armorer? Good memory. It seems that you are right, and it does fit nicely with this tale. ZeilsternFebruary 19, 2015 8:56 PM Fantastic Four #204 In Kirby's defense, the Monocle was created during his last few months with Marvel, when he knew the end was near and when he was (surely) focusing his attentions on the upcoming Fourth World. MichaelFebruary 19, 2015 8:39 PM Marvel Super Action #1 Isn't the dude the Jackal kills in Amazing Spider-Man 129 also called the Mechanic? I think it's supposed to be the same guy. If it is, then the Punisher story should take place before Amazing Spider-Man 129. BerendFebruary 19, 2015 7:24 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #11 THAT is JRJR's first work for Marvel?! The storytelling may be okay, but the anatomy, the movement, the faces... good lord, it's horrible! DermieFebruary 19, 2015 5:53 PM Marvel Spotlight #29 "Twinkletoes" alone wouldn't necessarily be an anti-gay slur. But when combined with "pansy" and "tinkerbell", it definitely was intended that way. kvetoFebruary 19, 2015 5:06 PM Fantastic Four #204 That makes more sense:-) fnord12February 19, 2015 5:04 PM Fantastic Four #204 His first appearance was actually Fantastic Four #95. A Lee/Kirby original! kvetoFebruary 19, 2015 5:01 PM Fantastic Four #204 Although I think the Monocle is all kinds of awesome, I am surprised he was introduced as late as 1979. He must have felt out of date even back then. kvetoFebruary 19, 2015 4:58 PM Marvel Spotlight #29 I guess I'm naive but I never would have seen "tiwnkletoes" as a homophobic slur or picked up on the character being gay. I'd just see his awkward body language as a result of the crappy artwork. Mark, I'm really glad that I didn't know that. I'd be embarrassed to reveal that info if I knew it. :-) Mark DrummondFebruary 19, 2015 11:27 AM Marvel Team-Up #52 Batroc calls the monster "Mon Cheri"? A subsequent letter criticized the monster's change in appearance between Kirby's Cap and here: he changed color, lost some toes, and could no longer fly. This issue has excessive Backg-Hunting. And in the panels where Batroc is captured, we get signs saying Kane, Mortimer, Robinson, and Fing(er)--all of whom were guys that did Batman in the Golden Age. No idea why Dave Hunt put those in there... Mark DrummondFebruary 19, 2015 11:18 AM Marvel Team-Up #41-44 Moondragon's cleavage seems to have been whited out on her splash page. Mark DrummondFebruary 19, 2015 11:12 AM Marvel Spotlight #29 It's even worse: a merkin is a vaginal wig that strippers used to wear after job-related shaving down in order to keep their boyfriends from freaking out(this was in the days before Brazilian waxing). That's where Stanley Kubrick derived the name "Merkin Muffley" in Dr. Strangelove. Ataru320February 19, 2015 8:48 AM Master of Kung Fu #122 Sort of wonder if that last "bye, folks" by the Reston clown is in reference to the last words of "The Howdy Doody Show" spoken by Clarabell in its final episode? fnord12February 19, 2015 7:40 AM Master of Kung Fu #122 I've added a scan of the panel karlos refers to. DermieFebruary 19, 2015 1:44 AM Marvel Spotlight #29 I'm of mixed feelings about the Merkins character. Obviously it isn't a positive thing to have a gay character just to be the target of homophobic slurs and insults from the hero. But on the other hand, the fact that a gay character was included at all at that point in time is sort-of a good thing, in terms of providing some degree of visibility and representation. I think its the fact that it appears to be part of a pattern of homophobic portrayals that really makes it a bad thing. Moon Knight's homophobic attitude here is interesting in hindsight, given Marc's reaction years later when Frenchie comes out of the closet. Marc didn't react particularly well when he first found out, although he adapted quickly enough. karlosFebruary 18, 2015 7:28 PM Master of Kung Fu #122 The clown character, who says goodbye at the end of this issue - Moench himself? david banesFebruary 18, 2015 2:40 PM Fantastic Four #204 Oh hey Dr. Faustus did come first by about two years so the Monocle does seem especially redundant even in a superhero universe. clydeFebruary 18, 2015 2:34 PM Captain America #229-230 Captain America tests out Quasar again for Avengers membership in a later Captain America issue. BerendFebruary 18, 2015 2:15 PM Marvel Spotlight #29 The only thing that sounds the least bit interesting about this all is the name of the villain. CONQUER-LORD! To bad have doesn't live up to his name. clydeFebruary 18, 2015 12:54 PM Fantastic Four #204 Johnny's thought balloon as he gets the pager call is hilarious as it can be taken in a very different light.;) DermieFebruary 18, 2015 12:11 PM Iron Man #92 Tony probably turns up naked in enough odd places that no one thinks anything of it by now. ;) One of the advantages of being a rich bed-hopper. Time Traveling BunnyFebruary 18, 2015 11:26 AM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #10 I found a couple of sources saying that Barry Smith did fill-in art on pages 2-4, though no one seems to know why. http://nick-caputo.blogspot.com/2012/08/barry-smiths-uncredited-marvel-art.html fnord12February 18, 2015 9:52 AM Werewolf By Night #42-43 And it turns out there was a conflict in Iron Man #92, so i've had to go back to my original placement for Iron Man #93-94 and ignore the reference here to those issues. See the Considerations. Mark DrummondFebruary 17, 2015 10:28 PM She-Hulk #8 Mrs. Claus is apparently based on the mother in "Hans Und Fritz". Comics Interview #71 contains a panel of an upcoming She-Hulk villain called Jurist Prudence, resembling a female Judge Dredd. Possibly she was for #9. Luis DantasFebruary 17, 2015 8:02 PM Amazing Spider-Man #182-183 IIRC, Tinkerer says that the Whell was adapted from some other customer's order. I wonder if it was revealed or hinted who would that be? My only guess is that it might be a reference to the Blackhawk's old nemesis, the War Wheel. MichaelFebruary 17, 2015 7:56 PM Incredible Hulk Weekly #1,3-30,42-55,57-63 (Black Knight) Weirdly, Alan Moore references Necromon's attack on Brian when he was flying home when Merlyn is rebuilding Brian but he makes it sound like Brian's mind might have just snapped, not that he was attacked by a demon. fnord12February 17, 2015 7:31 PM Incredible Hulk Weekly #1,3-30,42-55,57-63 (Black Knight) Thanks, Berend, i should have said something about those. I still have to look at the post-CoC Captain Britain appearances which i'll do when i cover the issues in the X-Men Archives reprint soon. I think we'll have to go with a "new costume is at the cleaners" solution, but even with that i'll still have to find a way to split up the Alan Davis issues, since there's also a dependency with Captain America #305-307. PB210February 17, 2015 7:12 PM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 Above quote from Walter Lawson partially, Stephen. PB210February 17, 2015 7:11 PM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 ========================================================= So, Superman does not come from another planet, the Green Lantern Corps does not feature extraterrestrials, the Kree-Skrull conflict never saw publication, nor did the Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.? Aliens visited earth so often that practically every Marvel hero encountered some in his first few appearances. I find it amusing when people call properties such as the Green Hornet and Zorro as part of the genre yet overlook properties such as Luke Skywalker. BerendFebruary 17, 2015 6:44 PM Incredible Hulk Weekly #1,3-30,42-55,57-63 (Black Knight) I can imagine the Grandmaster being able to grab Captain Brittain from Otherworld-teleportation-limbo, but how do you explain Cap's appearances in Hulk and Rom? Did the Grandmaster's effect linger for a while before Cap was snapped back? clydeFebruary 17, 2015 6:38 PM Incredible Hulk Weekly #1,3-30,42-55,57-63 (Black Knight) BEST...D&D...CAMPAIGN...EVER!!! Plus the Excalibur seems to have a lot of the same characteristics that the Black Knight's ebony sword has. StephenFebruary 17, 2015 6:20 PM Incredible Hulk Weekly #1,3-30,42-55,57-63 (Black Knight) On the three-page-per-issue story format, this was quite common in British comics - many of which were anthology titles with lots of different stories. StephenFebruary 17, 2015 6:13 PM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 @PB210 Whilst the Doctor technically fits the definition of superhero, he certainly doesn't originate from that genre. The series is science fantasy with its roots in British adventure stories. And Star Wars is a space opera, again something not really belonging to the superhero genre - even if Luke Skywalker fits the technical definition of a superhero. The point I was making was basically that, in the era of Marvel UK, the characters we think of as superheroes were never the really big sellers on my side of the Atlantic. Transformers and Star Wars were, at their height, the most popular comics in the UK - something which titles starring recognised superheroes never even came close to. That's not in any way a criticism of the genre, just differing cultural tastes and expectations. If Marvel UK had put superheroes front and centre across its titles it wouldn't have had nearly as much success, and might have folded many years earlier. Also, there have been a handful of arguably British characters in the superhero genre, but they've almost always been either American creations or knockoffs of American creations. Captain Britain was clearly created in an attempt to do a British Captain America, and it wasn't until Alan Moore got hold of him that the character really began to work. As a genre, it's definitely American, and whilst us Brits are familiar with - and appreciate - large chunks of American culture, this is one such chunk that we've never felt the need to do ourselves. TCPFebruary 17, 2015 3:56 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 Spider-sense has to be among the most misrepresented superpowers. I like to think of it as a replacement for the six extra eyes of a spider, but it always ends up coming across more like radar or low-grade ESP. And, of course, there's the question of how and when it triggers at all... clydeFebruary 17, 2015 2:47 PM Marvel Two-In-One annual #3 I believe the Monitors turn up again on the Stranger's homeworld during an adventure in Quasar's book. clydeFebruary 17, 2015 2:21 PM Hulk #228-229 She was great at manipulating Blackout. And she was featured prominently in the "Siege Of Avengers Mansion" storyline. HaydnFebruary 17, 2015 2:14 PM Tales To Astonish #90-91 Min, either underpants were made of unstable molecules back then, or they were protected by the Comics Code Authority. Take your pick! Mark DrummondFebruary 17, 2015 12:05 PM She-Hulk #1 Byrne revealed several plans for this book in Comics Interview #71. He was going to use Wyatt Wingfoot for the first 5 or 6 issues and eventually break them up. However, his use of Wyatt was vetoed on grounds that he was appearing in the She-Hulk Graphic Novel(which became "Ceremony"),and Wyatt actually was removed from #1's splash page. In #12 She-Hulk was going to visit her father in California(Byrne confirmed her mother was dead), and the Blonde Phantom would start a romance with him. He also intended to use her in Avengers and WCAvengers in separate storylines at the same time. Mark DrummondFebruary 17, 2015 11:56 AM Sensational She-Hulk (Marvel Graphic Novel #18) Byrne stated in Comics Interview #71 that the last page was censored. The uncensored page ran in that issue, showing Wyatt and She-Hulk in bed after obviously getting it on, with She-Hulk showing much side boob. Mark DrummondFebruary 17, 2015 11:52 AM Black Panther #1-4 Denys Cowan provided more background for this in Amazing Heroes #163: Jim Shooter had a problem with the first issue, claiming "it looks like all the white people are killing all the black people". Despite this, Cowan continued work on the book and had #3 finished when, as #1 was at press and going to the printers, Shooter yanked it back and said "it just wasn't good enough". Cowan basically went "fuck this, I've had it", and stormed away from Marvel. Five years later, DeFalco and Gruenwald persuaded Cowan to return, where he did the 4th issue and added 3 pages to the 1st. Mark DrummondFebruary 17, 2015 11:44 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #49-52 Denys Cowan confirmed in Amazing Heroes #163 that the White Tiger stories were his first Marvel work. Mark DrummondFebruary 17, 2015 11:19 AM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 I believe Slaymaster was brought back(and killed); I think he was the one that blinded Betsy Braddock. fnord12February 17, 2015 11:15 AM Captain Britain #3-39 Thanks, Mark. I had trouble finding info on Jim Lawrence. His work on the British James Bond comic was the thing that came up the most. But that explains why James M. says that all of the dialogue sounds unnatural to British ears. Mark DrummondFebruary 17, 2015 11:09 AM Captain Britain #3-39 Jim Lawrence is actually American. He wrote for radio in the 1950s, also did the Friday Foster comic strip(which became a movie), and wrote some Executioner-type paperbacks. Luis DantasFebruary 17, 2015 11:03 AM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 So Courtney Ross did not know of Brian's dual identity as of MTU #65? And apparently not even after #66, going by early issues of Excalibur? That is a bit surprising. fnord12February 17, 2015 8:08 AM Captain Britain #3-39 I already had a II designator for the Manipulator that appears in Avengers and Cap, and i guess the 1992 character would be III unless i see that there's a short descriptor i can use, but i've updated the tag for this one. Thanks. Jay GallardoFebruary 17, 2015 5:02 AM Tomb of Dracula #36-40 I think that Cornell created Marcus Harold because Harold H Harold was being used in Hawkeye. But that is just a guess It looks like Fraction has kept Harold connection to vampires as a part of his backstory and that is why we only see him at night. But in the series he is inside a Life Model Decoy provided by Madam Masque, no retcon about why he is not a vampire anymore or how he came back to life Luke BlanchardFebruary 16, 2015 9:20 PM Uncanny X-Men #14-18 I strongly suspect the Trask article was modelled after an article by Otto Binder that appeared in the Dec., 1953 issue of MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED. The article speculates that an atomic war might create a mutant superior race, and discusses what this could mean for existing humanity. It could be Lee or Kirby read the article when it came out and kept it, or that X-MEN reminded someone of it who brought it to their attention. MichaelFebruary 16, 2015 8:54 PM Captain Britain #3-39 There's another Manipulator introduced in 1992 that kills Julia Carpenter's ex-husband, so you should either delete this tag or change it. Luis DantasFebruary 16, 2015 8:13 PM Captain Britain #3-39 Countries always feel to be under particularly troubled times. PB210February 16, 2015 7:09 PM Captain Britain #3-39 A little odd to see SHIELD and Hydra getting lumped into the "super" category. ========================================================== The presence of advanced technology makes them I suppose one remove from technology user heroes commonly considered part of the category, I suppose. fnord12February 16, 2015 7:07 PM Tomb of Dracula #36-40 I didn't see the Cornell run all the way through but i don't think Marcus' connection to Harold was ever explained. I thought it might turn out that Marcus was Harold since he seemed to not want to talk about himself. You can see his intro scene here. There's one of those AR symbols that might have explained more but i didn't follow it. As for how Harold survived, i was hoping you could tell me! ;-) I guess there was no explanation in the Fraction stories? Apparently circa Civil War, in a Blade #12, Blade was tricked into reviving all the vampires that have ever been killed, but i'm assuming Harold wasn't a vampire in Hawkeye. PB210February 16, 2015 7:04 PM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 "Captain Britain is something of an odd hero. Superheroes are a peculiarly American genre, which never really took off in British comics (Marvel UK's flagship titles were Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi; Doctor Who Weekly/Monthly/Magazine; and Transformers)". Kind of odd that they would accept those properties yet feel reluctant about other properties. The Doctor, for example, largely falls into the "Not Wearing Tights" category. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotWearingTights However, Jeff Rovin did include the Doctor in his Encyclopedia covering what he termed "Adventure Heroes"; in an earlier volume he profiled Superman, the Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, the X-Men and Luke Skywalker. http://www.blackgate.com/2014/01/31/spotlight-on-fantasy-webcomics-do-superheroes-qualify-as-fantasy/ cf. comments. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=superhero.htm Box Office Mojo includes Flash Gordon in the above category while Luke Skywalker receives no mention? Jay GallardoFebruary 16, 2015 7:03 PM Tomb of Dracula #59-60 Funny that this book was On the verge of cancellation at this time. In Spain, Tomb of Dracula was a huge success, there was no way that you could find a copy, every issue was An instant sold out. Even when the series ended, the Spanish editors began to reprint it from number 1. fnord12February 16, 2015 6:59 PM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 Thanks for the Cockney Rhyming Slang pointer! I had never heard of that. And that was the Dr. Who episode i was thinking of; thanks. Regarding cover dates, Marvel Team-Up #65-66 came out Oct 25 and Nov 22 (those are release dates, not cover dates). Super Spider-Man #248, which first starting printing Marvel Team-Up #65, had a Nov 9 cover date. So it seems like there was a two week lag between the American and UK releases. Is that normal? I thought there was normally a longer lag and i'm trying to see if they did something special because of the Captain Britain appearance. Jay GallardoFebruary 16, 2015 6:53 PM Tomb of Dracula #36-40 I haven't been following Cornell's series, was Marcus his brother or something? Also, checking other entries here i found out that Dracula turned Harold into a vampire, and he even was vanished from existence thanks to the Montesi Formula. But in the Hawkeye series he is human again and there's no mention of his vampiric past...Is there An explanation for that? James MFebruary 16, 2015 6:50 PM Captain Britain #3-39 I'd imagine it was more a reference to the economic troubles in Britain throughout the 1970s - spates of strikes, high unemployment, just generally a mess. Obviously the Troubles didn't help either. Speaking as a British reader, the dialogue that's aiming to be more British comes across as forced to me. Obviously writing British characters as you would American characters is going to result in the odd Americanism slipping in, but that's less distracting than having characters use slang like 'bloke' every other sentence in an unrealistic way. That just makes it look the writer's trying too hard to remind the readers where the story is set, repeatedly. Writing like that never feels natural. StephenFebruary 16, 2015 6:09 PM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 The Doctor Who story you're thinking of was Terror of the Zygons, originally broadcast in August/September 1975. I agree with Berend about it being odd that Brian's using Cockney Rhyming Slang. That example is one that's widely known, but not one of the ones that's become commonly used amongst non-cockneys. As for UK cover dates, they were usually the date you took the comic off the shelves, so a week after the actual publication date. cullenFebruary 16, 2015 5:43 PM Captain Britain #3-39 That panel of Captain America rebuking "minions of bureaucracy!" is quite a thing. Surprised it hasn't been appropriated as a right-wing meme! I also wonder if Cap's "UK's having a ROUGH TIME now" comment is supposed to refer to The Troubles or any other contemporary occurrences - or simply a reflexive in-universe comment on the recent rise in supervillainy. BerendFebruary 16, 2015 5:34 PM Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #233-247 "Better have a butcher's" is indeed a very British phrase: it's Cockney Rhyming Slang for "Better have a look" ("look" rhymes with "Butcher's hook". Yes, rhyming slang is odd.) Since Cap have a manor I always pictured him more as an upper-class toff rather than a cockney, so he must be using it ironically. Slaymaster goes through all that trouble to kill people in ironic manners, but when he captures Captain Britain he goes for sharks, rather than trying to drown him in a vat of tea, or smother him with a union jack? fnord12February 16, 2015 5:08 PM Tomb of Dracula #36-40 A Marcus H. Harold also appeared in Paul Cornell's Wolverine run. Erik BeckFebruary 16, 2015 3:53 PM Daredevil #99 This is both the great thing about the Marvel Universe (and the reason for this website), but also a pain. I was a constant Avengers reader, but I used to have just random issues of other titles because of storylines that wound up in other titles. Jay GallardoFebruary 16, 2015 3:32 PM Tomb of Dracula #36-40 Harold H Harold has appeared in a couple of issues of Matt Fraction Hawkeye Series kvetoFebruary 16, 2015 2:46 PM Iron Man #95-100 I think that's Tony doing a Charles Bronsen impression. RyanFebruary 16, 2015 1:44 AM Iron Man #248 So Abe Zimmer runs a tapeworm viruns in the worldwide computer network looking for the key phrases "spinal surgery", "nerve damage", etc. Good thing there is google now. Luis DantasFebruary 15, 2015 9:26 PM Marvel Team-Up #114 The Young Watchers will turn up later in Captain America #270 and #272, also by DeMatteis. Luis DantasFebruary 15, 2015 9:19 PM Captain America #272 Transplanting characters he created from one book to another, even after everyone else forgot about them, is something of a JM DeMatteis trademark. Much like Marv Wolfman introducing a love interest with disturbing behavior early on, or Chris Claremont writing about the N'Garai. Luis DantasFebruary 15, 2015 6:38 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #38-40 This is probably the first appearance of Senator Martin, Chip's father, who will much later return with a chip (pun unintended) on his shoulder. clyde February 15, 2015 3:26 PM Amazing Spider-Man #155 I like the fact that Leroy Tallon's name is a play on the word Talon - claw, since he has metal hands. clydeFebruary 15, 2015 3:24 PM Amazing Spider-Man #154 Thank goodness he didn't keep the Kirby costume. It was horrible. fnord12February 15, 2015 12:29 PM Doctor Strange #32-37 Thanks, Luis. I've added Chamber of Chills #4 to the What's Missing page and listed Ludi as a character. I see that the Dr. Strange Essentials trade included that story, which is pretty cool. Since i have the original Strange issues, i'll have to see if i can track down a cheap copy of the original Chamber story. kveto from pragueFebruary 15, 2015 12:01 PM Iron Man #7-8 the Gladiator actually makes for a good Iron man foe. Its cool to see his wrist blades against IM armour. Tuska draws a very pretty Whitney. I liked her origin, kindof a commentary on the vapid "jet set". Luis DantasFebruary 15, 2015 12:00 PM Doctor Strange #32-37 I just noticed that you have not yet covered 1973's Chamber of Chills #4, which is the first appearance for Murdoch Adams, Lenore and the demon Ludi (who should be a character appearing in this entry as well, doesn't he)? kvetoFebruary 15, 2015 11:57 AM Captain America #108 Interesting in this one, that without the real Sharon behind the scenes, corrupting Pete's paste, the Trapster probably would have beaten Cap. MichaelFebruary 15, 2015 9:07 AM Marvel Team-Up #39-40 The weirdest example has to be Web of Spider-Man 62, where the Molten Man shows up to ask Liz for a loan so he can go straight, Peter assumes it's extortion and his Spider-Sense goes off. Why? If the Molten Man wasn't planning on harming anyone, then the Spider-Sense shouldn't go off no matter what Peter believed. MichaelFebruary 15, 2015 9:01 AM Captain Britain #1-2 Technically Claremont IS British but he moved away from Britain when he was a child. AndrewFebruary 15, 2015 6:40 AM Marvel Super-Heroes #20 They recently printed the first few pages of the planned Starhawk story in the Marvel Masterworks "Rarites" collection. This Starhawk was a sort of Buck Rogers in a post-apocalyptic wasteland with typical babbling Roy Thomas dialog, nothing like Star-Lord or Gerber's Starhawk. Luis DantasFebruary 15, 2015 5:39 AM Marvel Team-Up #39-40 Admitedly, the capabilities of spider-sense are not presented in anything resembling a consistent manner. That said, the average depiction seems to involve something similar to a dog sniffing indicators of emotional state from people. But it goes a bit beyond that, if we are to understand that the spider-sense is also a factor in his uncanny ability to avoid gunfire (which the first Punisher appearance implies to be the case). On the other hand, it is sometimes implied that the Spider-Sense is actually precognitive to some extent. In the second Spider-Man meets Superman story (the one published by Marvel and drawn by John Buscema) the spider-sense tells him which way to turn a lever in order to avoid an explosion. Understandably, the stances where it is shown as clearly precognitive are few and far between. Spider-Man is not meant to be Madame Xanadu. kveto from pragueFebruary 15, 2015 5:25 AM Marvel Team-Up #39-40 Ive said this before, but I feel his spider-sense should only work when he (or those near him) is being phsyically attacked. It shouldn't buzz in the mere presence of a villain. If it buzzes when a bad guy is around, that means his spider-sense is capable of reading minds and casting moral judgments upon people. Spider-sense should not make him psychic. If his spidey-sense goes off in the presence of anyone "bad", then he's be constantly assulted by buzzing as he walks down the NY streets. Luis DantasFebruary 15, 2015 4:20 AM Captain Britain #1-2 For whatever reason, Claremont just isn't a great fit with Captain Britan IMO. I first met the character in his Marvel Team-Up appearance (by Claremont, of course) and it never once crossed my mind that Claremont could have previous experience with it. I vividly remember finding Captain Britain an exciting character, and hoping to soon find more stories with him. Stories that I just assumed outright to be by someone else as opposed to Claremont, who gave me a subtle yet powerful vibe of handling someone else's character. I guess I'm not much of a comicbook facts paranormal. Luis DantasFebruary 15, 2015 4:11 AM Marvel Team-Up #58 @Clyde: Or most likely, Trapster did. After all, it in Acts it was the villains to chose unusual foils, not the heroes (although in some cases it was presented as sheer luck of the draw instead). clydeFebruary 15, 2015 12:18 AM Fantastic Four #185-186 FNORD - in regards to the costume change, I looked at the scans from the previous FF entry and noticed a slight difference on the emblem. The "old" emblem had a blue circle around the blue four and white backing. These costumes have a black circle around the blue four and white backing. clydeFebruary 14, 2015 11:58 PM Fantastic Four #179 Mark - my guess would be the Impossible Man. I think he picked up that habit from the Thing. fnord12February 14, 2015 11:53 PM Captain Britain #1-2 Yes. I initially reviewed these issues from the Marvel Tales reprints and i've now gone back and added to the entry after going through the deluxe hardcover trades. The trades also reprint the Marvel Tales version in the back of the first volume. fnord12February 14, 2015 11:52 PM Marvel Comics Presents #14 (Speedball & Nomad) Except, confusingly, when i'm doing a back issue add - like right now - in which case it's better to look at the Recent Updates link. But at least when i'm not doing a back issue add you should be able to use the forum to get a push notification (i.e. email) when i've listed something in the Added today thread. If enough people are interested in me doing that for the Back Issue adds as well i can do that (please let me know in the forum instead of here to not clutter up this entry). And yeah, i don't have a similar ability for comment responses. I'm using a system that at this point is pretty outdated for stuff like that, unfortunately. Regarding Speedball, it's definitely the case that i can't confirm that the stories here and in the Marvel Super-Heroes specials were leftover from the Speedball series, but it seems a likely explanation for why the kept cropping up. We do know that Tom DeFalco spent the initial budget for the New Universe on Speedball, and from there it's been speculated here that the stories had already been drawn and paid for, and that the entire Speedball series was an attempt to recoup that "investment". You can check out the entries and especially comments on the various Speedball entries for more. But it is mostly speculation. Thanks for the interest, Corey! clydeFebruary 14, 2015 11:04 PM Marvel Team-Up #58 Erik - My no-prize attempt at this problem is that Spider-Man blocked this painful memory from his mind due to his disgust of Ghost Rider's treatment of the Trapster. Luis DantasFebruary 14, 2015 10:55 PM Quasar #1 I see what you mean. Gruenwald really wrote it from the heart. :) clydeFebruary 14, 2015 10:43 PM Quasar #1 I have to agree with Thanos6. I loved this series all the way to it's bitter end. It really had a down-to-earth feel to it, IMO. clydeFebruary 14, 2015 10:38 PM Hulk #209-211 FNORD - in regards to the comment you wrote - "she says "And it's miz, not miss.", I would guess that there was a word balloon that was dropped after it went to the printers. Probably something like "Thank you, Miss." MichaelFebruary 14, 2015 10:24 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Well, he was at DC, then, so what was he supposed to do? AndrewFebruary 14, 2015 9:40 PM Iron Man #10-13 At this point the Controller only absorbed people's strength. Despite his name, he didn't actually "control" anyone until Starlin started writing him. clydeFebruary 14, 2015 9:26 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 "He also didn't want Phoenix decisively beating his character Firelord." clydeFebruary 14, 2015 8:42 PM Captain Britain #1-2 FNORD - were these reprinted in the Captain Britain trade paperbacks? clydeFebruary 14, 2015 8:12 PM Marvel Comics Presents #14 (Speedball & Nomad) Corey - in regards to your query about new issues being added, you should look at the Forum section periodically. There's a topic called "Added today" that does exactly that. http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2 clydeFebruary 14, 2015 8:08 PM Hulk #202-203 This is similar to what DC did with the Atom being in love with Laethwyn in the jungles of South America in the 80's. CoreyFebruary 14, 2015 6:46 PM Marvel Comics Presents #14 (Speedball & Nomad) I'm not sure if it's definite that the Speedball story is left over from his cancelled solo series because that series still had several issues left to go at the time of this issue's release. Of course, it's possible that Steve Ditko had completed a bunch of stories in advance, they already knew the Speedball series would be getting cancelled before his stories were used up, and they had an empty spot in Marvel Comics Presents to fill so they just dropped this one in. Jo Duffy was scripting or co-scripting a lot of the stories after the first few issues. On the other hand, he never inked himself in the solo series. (Side note: I wish there was a way to subscribe to threads so I'll get notified if someone replies, and I wish there was a way to subscribe to the site, so I'd be notified when new issues are added. Nit picks aside, great stuff!) ChrisFebruary 14, 2015 11:56 AM Uncanny X-Men #54-56 Introducing a heretofore unknown brother is sloppy, bad writing, but it can be forgiven in this case because Havok turns out to become a likable, interesting character in Claremont's hands much later. It helps that Neil Adams designed his costume. Time Traveling BunnyFebruary 14, 2015 11:02 AM Uncanny X-Men #53 Lending even more evidence to the "this issue was out of order" theory, it ends with the same "next month" blurb that ended #52-- "Cyclops Wanted: Dead or Alive!" That was supposed to be this month, but is instead held off until #54. Jay GallardoFebruary 14, 2015 9:33 AM Amazing Adventures #9-10 Maybe Magneto das dying his hair ah this time. Mid-life crisis, you know. Luis DantasFebruary 14, 2015 5:47 AM Skull the Slayer #1-8 To be fair, they never became exactly rare. Nor are they necessarily fraudulent. It is quite usual for word of mouth to attempt to spread when a book's sales become worrisome. ChrisFebruary 13, 2015 9:41 PM Skull the Slayer #1-8 Statements that the book was becoming more popular indicated by the letters or latest numbers, but it was too late, was a very common refrain from Marvel in the 1970s and to a lesser extent the 1980s. I think someone's ego required it. AndrewFebruary 13, 2015 9:26 PM Captain Marvel #8-11 Una was the first Dead Girlfriend, before Dorma, Gwen, Jean, or Elektra... fnord12February 13, 2015 6:06 PM Fantastic Four #300 It's definitely a cool site that has given me some food for thought. TCPFebruary 13, 2015 3:57 PM Fantastic Four #300 A belated thank you for turning me on to Chris Tolworthy's F.F. site! I've only just recently managed to find my way out of that rabbit hole. His analysis sparked my interest in the F.F. themselves, even if I don't agree with everything I read. Mark DrummondFebruary 13, 2015 3:28 PM Skull the Slayer #1-8 It's easy to see why Wolfman's original idea was rejected by DC: it's way too similar to Murray Leinster's SF story "The Runaway Skyscraper". There were still some DC editors who were longtime pulp SF fans at that time. Putting Conan into all those Marvel promo ads made economic sense; his books sold really well, especially to segments of the public that didn't normally buy comics(the same applied to MOKFu). That's why Conan was able to suatain a b&w magazine until Marvel dumped all its b&w's in the late 1990s, long after all its contemporaries got cancelled. clydeFebruary 13, 2015 12:43 PM Hulk annual #5 If all these characters are duplicates, then why the heck is the price for this annual astronomical? I've been trying to get this comic for awhile. However, it's a huge amount of money because of the appearance of "Groot" (quotation marks for duplicate character). Ataru320February 13, 2015 10:02 AM Fantastic Four #13 Somehow with all the depictions of the Watcher as varied as Nurse Steven's race and many female Marvel characters hair colors, I think that Uatu's first appearance is probably the most majestic, with the huge head and the glowing eyes making him seem so alien yet so relatable. Not too many others really depict him like this, usually just keeping him as "a fat bald guy with a raised collar and cape who happens to have a lot of stuff on the moon and interfere a lot". Somehow thinking about Genesis' song "Watcher of the Sky", I sort of figure Kirby, being the sci-fi nut he is, was influenced by "Childhood's End" to create Uatu. MichaelFebruary 13, 2015 8:14 AM Defenders #2-4 The other problem with the attempts to free the Surfer is that Strange can also travel through TIME- it's not clear why they can't just send the Surfer back to 1964, before Galactus first visited Earth. fnord12February 13, 2015 8:10 AM Amazing Spider-Man annual #10 That does make sense, Clyde. Luis DantasFebruary 13, 2015 1:14 AM Marvel Two-In-One #20 IIRC, the other Watchers said much the same thing during his trial in Captain Marvel #39 http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/captain_marvel_37-39.shtml MichaelFebruary 12, 2015 10:10 PM Skull the Slayer #1-8 If Scully was a pilot, than why is a Captain America-level fighter before he gets the belt? And why does the dialogue imply he was drafted? clydeFebruary 12, 2015 9:39 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #10 FNORD - challenge accepted. In regards to how Spider-Man knew about the fly killing Stillwell, it's obvious that J.J.J. told him to get Spider-Man to come there and battle The Fly to get pictures for the Daily Bugle. J.J. didn't have to be sure, just really have a feeling about it. clydeFebruary 12, 2015 9:25 PM Marvel Two-In-One #20 I always assumed the Watcher had a "soft spot" for the FF. He seemed to like that group more than other "humans" on Earth. I mean, really, he saved all their stuff when the Baxter Building went up in space. That's a true friend IMO. Luis DantasFebruary 12, 2015 9:20 PM Gambit and the Champions: From the Marvel Vault #1 Sort of nice to see the Champions end up fighting among themselves (and relying on a guest star) once more. That has become a theme, almost a duty for the group. A bit sad, considering how little they lasted. But boy, this sounds like a completely unnecessary story. MichaelFebruary 12, 2015 8:29 PM Marvel Team-Up #39-40 "Spidey's spider-sense is being very selective today, not triggering until the mystery villain actually fires the gun, making it too late to save Mosquito's pigeon." Erik BeckFebruary 12, 2015 6:56 PM Thor #221-228 I'm amused that Firelord is your second favorite herald. To me, he's the guy who manages to piss off every other character in the Marvel Universe. Is there anyone he hasn't made mad at some point or another? Erik BeckFebruary 12, 2015 6:51 PM Fantastic Four #133 "Fight dumb. Everyone dumb." One of the greatest written panels the Hulk has ever appeared in. Erik BeckFebruary 12, 2015 6:47 PM Defenders #2-4 Oh, also, forgot. Since I'm a big fan of Dane Whitman and had the issues of Avengers where he comes back to the present, I was stunned to realize that he was stuck as a stone statue for something like a freakin decade! Erik BeckFebruary 12, 2015 6:46 PM Defenders #2-4 I just read these in the Masterworks. It's really disappointing because #1 is still, to me, really really good, with great artwork and almost every other issue of Defenders, until it ends in 152 will just be a disappointment. I thought it was really amusing when "Hulk" was wearing Strange's cloak when Strange was disguised as him. But here, when it's really the Hulk wearing it, it's even more amusing. The Surfer flies off because Strange couldn't get him off Earth - they travelled in the other dimension but not off Earth apparently because the dimensions work differently. Still, it's sound in theory - after all, they left Earth in the Himalayas and arrive back in front of Garrett Castle - they certainly moved. A couple of art notes - the two examples you used of Barbara screaming are just awful - both the way the scream is portrayed, but also how she is drawn. But the other note is just strange. Buscema draws all the issues, but for some reason, in #4, after they arrive back on Earth, Namor has an earring in his left ear. It's never there in #3. They did, however, change inkers in #4, so maybe that's the answer? It was just strange to see it suddenly appear in the middle of adventure. ZeilsternFebruary 12, 2015 11:12 AM Ka-Zar #12-13 Wow, had no idea Russ Heath had done any Marvel work. Issue #12 is gorgeous. Luke BlanchardFebruary 12, 2015 9:42 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #12-15 The title of #12 is a play on that of a 1972 movie about St Francis, BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON. fnord12February 11, 2015 9:37 PM Ka-Zar #12-13 Yeah, there were zombies and some kind of deal with a headless skeleton and a magic lizard skull. And last arc had a talking statue. *shrug* ;-) fnord12February 11, 2015 9:34 PM Amazing Adventures #15 The MCP lists it as a different Number One, with this being his only appearance besides a flashback to the Griffin's origin in Marvel Team-Up #78. Not sure how they made that determination (it's not clear from the Secret Empire entry in the Deluxe Handbook), but i followed them on that, and since it's his only realtime appearance, i didn't list him. fnord12February 11, 2015 9:29 PM Avengers #105-108 That was all me. I guess i was hungry. Fixed it; thanks. Mark DrummondFebruary 11, 2015 9:29 PM Marvel Preview #2 The Punisher's helper in this story never reappears, as far as I know. I think "Bruno" appears in the other b&w Punisher story, which would make him a recurring character. fnord12February 11, 2015 9:28 PM Marvel Preview #2 @PB210, correct, i've not read any of the Fleming novels and i'm really talking about the movies. Mark DrummondFebruary 11, 2015 9:23 PM Ka-Zar #12-13 You forgot to mention the Zombies! fnord12February 11, 2015 9:23 PM Fantastic Four #126-128 I actually do like JRJR. But i agree that before he gets very stylized on X-Men he overdid the muscles on characters like Peter Parker (a very egregious example here). After that, though, his style is too abstract for me to worry about whether or not it looks like a realistic body. No one is going to say his Superman is too muscular, in any event (Lookit those scrawny legs!). Dan H.February 11, 2015 8:59 PM Amazing Adventures #15 Is this a different Number One than the highly-placed public official? I notice you don't have him listed as a character appearing. MichaelFebruary 11, 2015 8:40 PM Marvel Preview #2 The sheer stupidity of professional killers conducting an execution in a public park during daytime has been commented on many times. Erik BeckFebruary 11, 2015 6:47 PM Avengers #105-108 @ fnord - I can't tell if you made a hilarious spelling error or if this is just Marvel being Marvel, because chili is a kind of food and Chile is a country in South America. @ Mark Drummond - "Lorelei had blonde hair in her previous X-Men appearance." That's nothing. Wanda starts this page with black hair, later has fairly reddish hair and then has brown hair with a little bit of red by the end of the page. PB210February 11, 2015 6:43 PM Marvel Preview #2 I did say they were more like James Bond villains, right? They're called the International Industrial Alliance, and they're going to take over the world with a laser. To digress a little bit, Gerry Conway, who created the Punisher, once noted that he started reading Doc Savage because that other series in prose spent far too much time for him describing gourmet meals and golf while largely lacking the sort of gadgets Doc Savage had.* I recall that Conway made this comment in an introduction to a Sanctum Press reprint of the Doc Savage novels from Anthony Tollin. Doc Savage Double #18 featured the Gerry Conway quote. Conway seemed familiar with the pulps such as the Shadow (homaging him with Larry Cranston and Grant in the Committee perhaps) and Doc Savage. (He of course knew about paperback original novel heroes such as Mack Bolan.) I infer, Fnord12, that you have perhaps not read either the novels or the comic strip adaptations. *(The author had his hero use far more limited technology than one would expect based on your comments. The author also had the hero endure genital torture with a carpet beater and express disdain for homosexuals. Incidentally, the paramilitary fanbase wrote in about firearms to the author-sound familiar?) Erik BeckFebruary 11, 2015 6:40 PM Marvel Feature #3 Ataru320, you're sort of right. Thomas does mention Big Bird specifically in the intro to Defenders Masterworks. But he also mentions an EC pre-Code story "based on the popular puppet show, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie. In the climax of the EC effort, the puppet 'Allie Gator' turns out to be actually an alien that has taken over the puppeteer's hand - and mind - and, on being elected President of the United States (!) decrees that from now on everyone in the country will be taken over by one of his interstellar relatives." He remembered it for years and combined it with Big Bird for this story. Thomas does pretty much confirm that he brought in Xemnu because he was the "Hulk" in pre-FF days as an in-joke. Erik BeckFebruary 11, 2015 6:34 PM Marvel Feature #1 Not to dispute Mark Drummond's comment, but perhaps to add to it, here is what Roy Thomas wrote in the intro to Defenders Masterworks: "Will Bill, though, didn't like inking Ross Andru. Ross's penciling style had an unpolished, even unfinished look to it. That's because, in Ross' eye, his penciling never was totally finished. He'd lay down a pencil line for, say, a muscle . . . then he's have another thought of what that muscle might look like . . . and then he'd draw that one, too. His inkers - particularly Mike Esposito, Ross' major inker for many years - would have to choose which line to embellish, and the other(s) would be erased. Bill, however, found that approach sloppy. And, being in a cantankerous mood that month, he decided that if Stan was going to make him ink Andru, he'd ink all of Andru - or at least most of it." Sorry for the strange punctuation - I copied it verbatim. But if you think it looks bad in the scans above, you should look at the Masterworks, where it just looks awful. Thomas does talk about how mad Stan was, but also "its scratchy look still, today, comes just about the closest possible to looking like Ross' pencils." The ironic thing about the truly terrible art is that the cover is by Neal Adams and has a perfect drawing of the Hulk - one of my all-time favorites (they used that cover as the cover for Masterworks). Erik BeckFebruary 11, 2015 11:39 AM Fantastic Four #126-128 "I do like John Buscema's art although he has a bad habit of making everyone too muscular". I am gonna assume then, fnord, that you, like me, can't stand John Romita Jr's work. Talk about too muscular! No one is beautiful enough for Tyrannus, huh? Boy is he gonna be upset when he ends up in the body of The Abomination. fnord12February 11, 2015 7:31 AM Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 Although the circumstances are a little unusual, the Doc Savage characters aren't listed because of my "don't list the locals in a time travel story" rule, since their appearances here would not be in the right place for them chronologically. If i were ever to expand my project to the 1930s, for example, these appearances would show up last for them, which wouldn't be correct. fnord12February 11, 2015 7:26 AM Daredevil #124-125 After Doc Savage's color comic was cancelled, Marvel published a b&w magazine that ran from 1975-1977: Luis DantasFebruary 11, 2015 2:10 AM Daredevil #124-125 Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 is cover-dated July 1975 (presumably right before #124 here) and has Doc Savage and the Fab Five as guest stars. Curiously, Marvel's last Doc Savage issue was #8, cover dated January 1974, so this is not plugging for that series. Maybe Marvel just wanted to make some use of the character (in this case as some color for Cooperhead's origin) while they were still sitting over publishing rights that they could not otherwise make a profit from? I'm a bit surprised to find out that they stopped regularly featuring the character in early 1974 and yet could still guest star him as late as in November 1976's Marvel Two-In-One #21, but apparently such was the case. Luis DantasFebruary 11, 2015 1:58 AM Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 Beyond the villain of his Marvel Two-in-One appearance reappearing in a couple of further MTO stories and a Squadron Supreme GN, I don't think they are. Thomas Lightner himself get a new alias, appearance and set of powers in most of his appearances, so the continuity of his character is rather light IMO. In any case, I am not aware of even oblique mentions to Doc or the Fab Five in any other Marvel story beyond this one here and MTO #21. Not even in Lightner's further appearances. BTW, shouldn't they be listed as characters appearing here and in the MTO #21 entry? cullenFebruary 10, 2015 11:50 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 I'm so glad you finally got to this one, even though it's bad. Have Savage's exploits been depicted or referenced, even cheekily or obliquely, in any 616 titles or handbooks since the mid-70s? MichaelFebruary 10, 2015 11:31 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 Gwen must not have been very knowledgeable on politics- Ford was Senate Minority Leader before he was Vice President. Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 9:40 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 Oh, and "The Lurker In The Swamp" actually was a character in Gold Key's Dr. Spektor comic. Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 9:38 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 That's supposed to be some species of lizard jumping off that branch. Why wasn't Man-Thing oozy this time? Because Gerry Conway only did enough research to learn who created Howard "Dhuck" and no more than that. The Lizard has definitely contracted Diminishing Threat Syndrome this time. Remember when Spider-Man actually used to worry about defeating him? Some pages in this reproduced very badly in the Essential volume for some bizarre reason. Erik RobbinsFebruary 10, 2015 9:38 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 It seems to be a favorite thing with the Man-Thing to introduce him in a story with him fighting a croco...alligator. (I guess the guy is a chemist after all, not a biologist). How many gators has the Man-Thing fought on panel now? Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 9:30 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 Another MU book that has fallen into no-reprint limbo. Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 9:18 PM Daredevil #130 Batman had a villain called Death-Man in the Silver Age with very much the same costume. Either Candy Nelson has wandered in from one of the more amateurishly drawn Archie comics, or else somebody whacked her over the head with a 2x4. Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 9:14 PM Daredevil #129 That appears to be Walter Cronkite as the newsreader. Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 9:11 PM Daredevil #128 "Stairway To the Stars" is also a Blue Oyster Cult song. Maybe Dave Kraft was rubbing off on him? Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 9:08 PM Daredevil #126-127 "Framm"? "Smeed"? Gary HimesFebruary 10, 2015 8:01 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 Actually, Doc Savage ran into his fair share of smart, tricky females back in the pulp days--not to mention his cousin Pat, who was the farthest thing from a "demure little thing" as you could get. (My guess is that Spidey just didn't want to admit his spider sense tipped him off ) Ataru320February 10, 2015 4:42 PM Marvel Feature #3 I know there were probably kids shows that still had furry mascots; not to mention "Sesame Street" had started in 1969 and obviously had a major impact on kids television from the get-go. So having Xemnu as a kids TV star at this point isn't too freaky. Wanyas the Self-ProclaimedFebruary 10, 2015 12:43 PM Daredevil #35-38 That last pic is fantastic! Erik BeckFebruary 10, 2015 12:35 PM Defenders #1 This issue was both fascinating and confusing to me as a kid. My older brothers owned it, but by the time I first read, it was missing the cover and first page, so it wasn't until years later that I realized that it was the very first issue of Defenders. I never knew what happened of course, because we didn't have #2 (have the Masterworks on hold at the library - over 30 years later I'll finally get to finish the story). But it was a cool intro - Necrodamus was clearly massively powerful given who he was going against and at point it appeared that he stabbed the Hulk in the stomach. What was really confusing were the flashback scenes you mention in references. In those, Dr Strange has his dorky-looking mask, which I had never seen before (and in fact, don't think I ever saw again until looking at this project) and I just couldn't tell what was going on. Still, for a team that was endlessly ridiculed in Twisted Toyfare Theatre, this is actually a pretty cool beginning. RandFebruary 10, 2015 12:32 PM Daredevil #35-38 I completely agree with Chris. (First comment above.) Over the course of the first 19 issues of "Daredevil", Everett, Orlando, Wood, and Romita co-create: Matt Murdock, Daredevil, The Owl, The Purple Man, Mr Fear, Stilt-Man, The Gladiator, and others. Gene Colan joins the book starting with #20, and this story arc brings us forward another 19 issues. In this same amount of time, Colan co-creates: um... "Mike Murdock" and The Leap-Frog Ataru320February 10, 2015 12:22 PM Daredevil #126-127 Its sort of sad thinking it over that the Torpedo ends up being the depiction in comics of "a hero who doesn't make it" in the same way the Grizzly gets to be "a villain who doesn't make it" (though at least the Grizzly gets to ride off into the sunset). Just the idea of someone who gets into this, has some adventures, never really becomes that notable or important in the long run but keeps trying, and then gets into a situation way beyond his control leading to his death...its amazing it was never really planned like this but it just sort of happened. Something like this really feels more like an actual tragedy than some random hero who appears, languishes in obscurity, then only comes back to be killed off in some massive crisis. fnord12February 10, 2015 12:03 PM Captain America #153-156 You're probably right that the Arnold here is meant to be Schwarzenegger. But i'm not sure that i should tag him. This could be dismissed as a one-off parody of Schwarzenegger or just a random guy named Arnold. He's not necessarily "Arnold Schwarzburger". I don't like to be the one that makes the decision that he's actually a different established character. I would wait until Marvel established that in an Index or something. That said, i guess i should be tagging Arnold Schwarzburger in his West Coast Avengers appearances, so thanks for bringing that up. Since the MCP doesn't list him, i'll follow the Marvel Reading Order for his appearances, but if anyone knows of any others, please let me know. Erik BeckFebruary 10, 2015 8:19 AM Captain America #153-156 Fnord - going in a totally different direction, could that "Arnold" be the Marvel version of Schwarzenegger? He was already Mr. Olympia at this point and it does seem similar to him. If so, he appears again later as the star of the Arkon films and even has a brief skirmish with Wonder Man when Wonder Man goes to the studio. He could be tagged. Nathan AdlerFebruary 10, 2015 7:33 AM Black Goliath #4-5 In Black Goliath #5, Sharra is referenced in the context of Sharra's Forge, the cruellest terrain on the cruellest of planets, Kirgar. The forge was named, "in bitter irony," for the mother goddess of legend. In this story, the alien Derath references Kirgar as "once the throneworld of a mighty empire which collapsed a million cycles ago... leaving all of its glorious cities to crumble into dust." fnord12February 10, 2015 7:30 AM Captain Marvel #58-62 David was asking about stuff he saw in his Rebirth of Thanos trade, which reprints stuff from the 90s. He was asking if the transformation of Drax is something that evolved over time, since he was observing that Drax seems bigger here than in his earlier appearances. But as Dermie notes, the transformation really happens all at once and his appearance here is just an art style choice. Mark DrummondFebruary 10, 2015 2:56 AM Daredevil #120-123 The Supply Division Chief's name begins with "Th" and he clearly has some kind of mask. I'm guessing he's an obscure Silver Age villain Tony found. I'm not sure why the Dreadnought is listed as Heavy Weapons Division Chief--it's a programmed robot, and would actually be a heavy weapon. "Him! He's far stronger than..." Uh, what? I suspect "Neither Do I--Len" is an outright Jab at Tony rather than a joke. Tony's mentioned on his blog several times that he had, uh, difficulties with Len as EIC. Jay DemetrickFebruary 10, 2015 1:42 AM Captain Marvel #58-62 That event hasn't happened yet for Drax @ this point. MichaelFebruary 9, 2015 10:36 PM Daredevil #124-125 Len Wein would later do a Batman story with a killer leaving gold coins in his victims' eyes. MichaelFebruary 9, 2015 8:33 PM Daredevil #120-123 One of the main purposes of the text pages was to explain away the "Red Skull founded Hydra" retcon in Captain America 145-148. clydeFebruary 9, 2015 8:00 PM Amazing Spider-Man #16 Erik, I agree with all your pairings except Thor and Jane. Odin forbade him to be with a mortal. This was a true "Romeo & Juliet" love affair. kvetoFebruary 9, 2015 6:18 PM Dracula Lives #3 Darkhorse did reprint both Kane/Dracula stories in the "Saga of Solomon Kane" reprints (2009) volume so Mark's above comment is not completely correct. (Sorry Mark:-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Kane_(comics)#mediaviewer/File:Saga_of_Solomon_Kane.jpg fnord12February 9, 2015 6:14 PM Daredevil #120-123 Ah, thanks for that, James. Isabella's text piece lists the Fox as having "past unknown" as opposed to all the other characters that have had previous appearances. But for the Deluxe Handbook under the Hydra entry they do show the villain from Strange Tales. So it probably wasn't Isabella's intention but it was a good call by the Handbook authors. It would have been a good use of the character. The Marvel Appendix has more. He's still at best behind the scenes here, like Fixer, so i'm not listing him as Character Appearing. James MFebruary 9, 2015 5:59 PM Daredevil #120-123 I'm pretty sure the Handbook (Deluxe Edition) said that the Fox from these issues was the Fox from Strange Tales Annual #2. Don't know if that's no longer continuity? Erik BeckFebruary 9, 2015 12:50 PM Amazing Adventures #15 Patsy Walker answers her door dressed like that? I wish she lived in my neighborhood. Erik BeckFebruary 9, 2015 12:39 PM Avengers #101 This is the oldest Marvel comic I ever actually owned a copy of (as opposed to a reprint). I got it because I was trying to collect as much Avengers as possible and I found it really cheap. But it deserved to be cheap. It is, as fnord says, quite terrible. It might work as an Ellison short story, but as an Avengers story it's awful. But seriously, when does the Watcher ever not interfere? Erik BeckFebruary 9, 2015 12:30 PM Tomb of Dracula #1-6 I never cared for this or Conan as a kid, focusing much more on superhero comics. But I've grown to greatly appreciate them as I have come to love the original source material. These veers a lot more than Conan from the source, but it is still very enjoyable, and much more so once Wolfman comes on board. Mark DrummondFebruary 9, 2015 11:56 AM Daredevil #119 The title seems to be taken from the "Night Gallery" episode "They're Tearing Down (name I can't remember)'s Bar!" Mark DrummondFebruary 9, 2015 11:53 AM Daredevil #118 How fast did Conway write this? So fast that he mashed up Benny Goodman and Henny Youngman and gave us "Henny Goodman"! Mark DrummondFebruary 9, 2015 11:49 AM Dracula Lives #13 Believe it or not, when Marvel revived Supernatural Thrillers as a recurring serial book rather than a series of one-shot stories, the starring feature was announced to be "The Victims of Dracula". I think this was hastily abandoned when someone at Marvel realized that this would give them 4 books with Dracula in the title, while their best-selling superhero, Spider-Man, only had 3 1/2(he had to share Marvel Team-Up with the Human Torch at the time), making Dracula the de facto Marvel Flagship Character. I think the "Victims" episodes later appeared in another b&w book(Monsters Unleashed?) Mark DrummondFebruary 9, 2015 11:42 AM Dracula Lives #8-9 Doug Moench's story titles were taken from the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild side" and the short story "The Man Who Collected Poe". fnord12February 9, 2015 9:22 AM What's Missing Thanks, Midnighter. Listed the 1.x series and ASM Family #1. Great Power was already listed. Erik BeckFebruary 9, 2015 9:03 AM Amazing Spider-Man #105-109 No, don't back down Gwen! It's so nice for someone to actually get at the whining Aunt May and make her realize she's not the only person around. MidnighterFebruary 9, 2015 8:13 AM What's Missing You should list Amazing Spider-Man 1.1/1.5 and Amazing Spider-Man Family 1, stories that take place between Amazing Fantasy 15 and Amazing Spider-Man 1. fnord12February 9, 2015 7:30 AM Daredevil #118 Ah, thanks. Seems mean! I always thought she just had a special rapport with her snakes. DermieFebruary 9, 2015 12:35 AM Captain Marvel #58-62 Drax's diminished mental capacities were the result of brain damage from his own death, with Moondragon fried his brain in AVENGERS #220. MichaelFebruary 8, 2015 11:31 PM Daredevil #118 Princess Python used her electro-prod before, in Amazing Spider-Man 22. david banesFebruary 8, 2015 11:10 PM Captain Marvel #58-62 Is it me or is Drax starting to look bigger? I skimmed a few pages of Rebirth of Thanos and noticed Drax is not only bigger but dumb. Kind of like another big green guy who is simple minded. I'm assuming that happened because Thanos perished for a while somehow? ZeilsternFebruary 8, 2015 9:26 PM Fantastic Four #52-53 I know that the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama used a black panther logo in the spring of 1966 - right around the time this issue was being drawn. And then by fall of '66, after this issue had been on the stands for a few months, the Oakland Black Panther Party got organized. I'm really curious as to who influenced who? fnord12February 8, 2015 8:14 PM General Comments Thanks and welcome, lividhedgehog! MichaelFebruary 8, 2015 8:08 PM Dracula Lives #6 In Uncanny X-Men Annual 6, there's a copy of the Montesi Formula hidden away by Rachel Van Helsing but the spell can't be used without the user losing their soul. The most likely explanation is that that's the version Montesi sent Harker (he probably figured out a way around the "losing your soul" problem before using it on the vampire but after sending it to Harker) and Harker didn't tell King and Blade because he didn't want them to lose their souls trying to kill Dracula. Luis DantasFebruary 8, 2015 7:48 PM Dracula Lives #6 Interestingly, 1983's Doctor Strange #61 reveals that Doc was fully aware of the Montesi Formula, yet Hannibal King and Blade were not. There is no direct contradiction there, but if Quincy Harker really had the incantation, one would expect him to spread it to pretty much anyone he knew he could trust to fight vampires - Rachel, Frank Drake, Inspector Chelm, Taj, perhaps even Brother Voodoo and Daimon Helstrom. That list would most likely include Hannibal King and would most definitely include Blade; their disagreements never ran anywhere deep enough to cause a moment's hesitation in that regard. Maybe Montesi was simply attempting to make Dracula uncertain, or maybe he was drawing his attention away from whoever he may have sent the incantation to. Harker, after all, will be on Dracula's crosshairs anyway, and is one of the very few people that may actually be safer if Dracula thinks he may have the Montesi formula. MichaelFebruary 8, 2015 6:50 PM Dracula Lives #6 As we'll see in Doctor Strange 12-13, Montesi belongs to a family that's been studying the Darkhold for centuries. lividhedgehogFebruary 8, 2015 6:15 PM General Comments Many, many thanks for the work you've put in here. I found this site today when looking for a list of the order of Marvel releases in the sixties. I've now spent hours poking about and reading. The sheer scale of the work you've put in is staggering and much appreciated. It's now bookmarked and going to be a much-used go-to resource. Really great stuff! MichaelFebruary 8, 2015 4:50 PM Dracula Lives #5 We'll find out in Doctor Strange 15 that the emnity between Dracula and Cagliostro started when Cagliostro stole the Darkhold, which Dracula wanted. Mark DrummondFebruary 8, 2015 2:14 PM Dracula Lives #3 Marvel couldn't reprint the Kane story because they lost the REH license, and Dark Horse, the current licenseholder, can't reprint it either because that's Marvel's copyrighted version of Dracula there. Those two Dracula/Kane stories are now in indefinite no-reprint limbo. Mark DrummondFebruary 8, 2015 2:08 PM Dracula Lives #2 (Marie Laveau) Nobody knows why Marvel made Laveau white, but Chris Claremont embarrassingly repeated the error later in MTU. To make matters worse, when DC gave readers a Marie Laveau story in "Ghosts", they got her race correct--and that was while editor Murray Boltinoff was starting to have memory problems, making Marvel's error look even worse. Andrew February 8, 2015 1:46 PM Avengers #54-55 In the Black Knight's first appearance he called his horse Pegasus. For this appearance, Roy Thomas decided that was too obvious, so he picked a name at random out of Tolkien. AndrewFebruary 8, 2015 1:26 PM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #1-3,5 Mark, the Scorpio in issue 1 wasn't Jake Fury, but the Scorpio in issue 5 was. AndrewFebruary 8, 2015 12:55 PM Avengers #52 Thomas's attempt to change the Panther's name and costume at this time seem like well-intentioned reactions to his race. First changing his name, to combat Kirby's weird habit of putting "Black" in the name of every black character, and secondly exposing the lower half of his face so it didn't seem like they were trying to hide his race. But in the letter columns Thomas said he wanted to change the name only because there were already two Avenger reservists with "Black" in their names (the Black Widow and the Black Knight), and the change to his mask was only so readers could see his expressions. Either way, he was less cool with those changes, so they didn't last long. Erik BeckFebruary 8, 2015 12:06 PM Amazing Adventures #11 I had to go check the Carl Maddicks page after you wrote he was assassinated, thinking to myself, wait "he's Artie's dad and he shows up in the start of X-Factor and dies there, handing off Artie." I can't decide if I just don't look the way Hank originally looked with fur or if it's just the artist. I think more the latter. JenniFebruary 8, 2015 9:36 AM Dracula Lives #2 (Marie Laveau) Why did they make Marvel's Marie Laveau a white woman? I mean I know they kept nothing but the name because it is associated with vodoo and apart from the name it is a completly made up person but it is a little sad that she has to look exactly like most other horror comic ladies. Young Marie Laveau looks way to similar to the woman in the beginning to me. Erik BeckFebruary 8, 2015 8:29 AM Avengers #89-97 I recently re-read this for the first time in well over a decade and was thoroughly disappointed. I think almost every criticism that fnord has of this series is spot-on, though the Adams art, especially in his first issue, is amazing. A few notes though: 1 - I love that Carol Danvers wants the Avengers to fill out paperwork and that Vision tries to get out of it. Then she catches him on that and they begrudgingly go ahead and spend hours doing the paperwork. 2 - When Cap throws his shield and nails the guy in his head, how does that guy not die? Seriously, he got struck by an adamantium / vibranium shield flying through the air into his unprotected head. 3 - The first Adams issue is really a great issue and one of Hank Pym's shining moments - the art is great and he has some great moments in it. 4 - For such a major storyline this might have the most ridiculous resolution in comics history. Much as I don't like most of Marvel's big events of the last 20 years, "No more mutants" was one hell of a way to resolve things. This is just silly beyond belief. DomiFebruary 8, 2015 4:04 AM Micronauts #29 The book titled "origin ...bicameral mind" was being read by Hank/ the Beast when Dark Phoenix woke up in X-Men 135 AnthonyFebruary 8, 2015 3:05 AM Daredevil #113-115 The wiki entry is probably correct as a house ad in Tales of the Zombie 5 for next issue lists ... a special Man-Thing fiction tales by Steve Gerber ... that is nowhere to be found in issue 6. The letters page and editorial didn't make any mention of the omission. Mark DrummondFebruary 7, 2015 7:26 PM Journey Into Mystery #85-92 According to Tony Isabella's blog, Steve Ditko was the one who had the idea for the corner boxes on the covers. Erik BeckFebruary 7, 2015 11:45 AM Marvel Team-Up #1 I'm surprised it took them so long to come up with this idea. Brave and the Bold had been dedicated to Batman team-ups for a few years by this point, and World's Finest had been the Superman / Batman team-up comic for years now. Part of the reason for this, I'm sure, is that Spider-Man wasn't in any group, so this allowed the writers to bring in other Marvel characters to interact with him without having to constantly have them in and out of Amazing. Erik BeckFebruary 7, 2015 11:31 AM Amazing Adventures #9-10 I hope Sekowsky was immediately fired for the WORST drawings of Magneto in human history. That's so bad I can't come up with the appropriate words. Erik BeckFebruary 7, 2015 11:30 AM Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 Truly momentous from a comic history standpoint. But a good story on its own, with very good art - especially that panel to end the issue with the return of the full memory of the Green Goblin. As for the Gwen retcon - well, that's dumber than Alicia being a Skrull. As far as I'm concerned, it never happened. fnord12February 7, 2015 10:44 AM Daredevil #113-115 Awesome, thanks for sharing that, Anthony. I've updated the reference a bit. AnthonyFebruary 7, 2015 6:03 AM Daredevil #113-115 The Wikipedia entry on Richard Rory has this to say about the Tales of the Zombie footnote, : In the issue, Daredevil #113, he noted it was the site of several recent deaths. A footnote says that this is a reference to Tales of the Zombie #6, but as the cabin in that story was only a day's walk from New Orleans, Louisiana, it is clearly a reference to a two-part text story in Monsters Unleashed #8-9. All stories in question are Gerber's, perhaps implying that the story was published in a different place than originally intended. MichaelFebruary 7, 2015 12:06 AM Excalibur #6-7 It did happen- Marvel Comics Presents 31-38, by Michael Higgins and Erik Larsen, and it featured the whole team. Mark DrummondFebruary 6, 2015 11:42 PM Wolverine #4-8 Amazing Heroes #160 had a notation that Wolverine's appearance in the Alf Spring Special was vetoed, not by Marvel higher-ups, but by Alf's owners. Mark DrummondFebruary 6, 2015 11:39 PM Excalibur #6-7 At about this time, an Excalibur serial was announced for Marvel Comics Presents in later 1989, but I don't know if it ever happened(or who would have starred in it). Mark DrummondFebruary 6, 2015 9:59 PM Dracula Lives #1 Marvel's flooding of the newsstands with horror b&w's also wiped out Skywald, a would-be Warren competitor co-founded by (temporarily)ex-Marvel Sol Brodsky. MichaelFebruary 6, 2015 9:59 PM Tomb of Dracula #67 Or Quincy could have described her to Harold. ChrisFebruary 6, 2015 9:54 PM Dracula Lives #2 (1944) Marvel had a schizophrenic portrayal of Eastern Europe. There were lots of pseudo-Balkan non-Communist countries during the Cold War. Latveria, Transia, Wundagore, Symkaria. Especially once the horror boom began, Eastern Europe became the locale for monsters - because that is how the old gothic novels were - even though Communists were in control everywhere. Now with the sliding time scale, it's not much of a problem. Mark DrummondFebruary 6, 2015 9:39 PM Tomb of Dracula #67 Lilith clearly doesn't know Harold, so maybe Dracula explained about Lilith during the interview he gave Harold, and Harold just reasoned it was her? Ataru320February 6, 2015 8:31 AM Marvel Team-Up #75 Based on the dates, this is the same month as the Hypno-Hustler...maybe this was just this whole "anti-disco" thing going on at the time. (though seriously, I still see the Hypno-Hustler as an advocator of FUNK considering the reference) CecilFebruary 6, 2015 5:00 AM Marvel Team-Up #101 The back-up's title is a play on the Elton John hit. As an adolescent I loved J.M.'s robots, counterculture references,and verbosity. It seemed very deep, with supporting characters touching upon pieces of the real world. By their time I found more of his Marvel work, I shared his Sixties, rock, and eventually, literary affinities. He was a big Gerber fan. CecilFebruary 6, 2015 4:48 AM Iron Man #140-141 A writer's strike caused the debut of Magnum, P.I. to be pushed to December, 1980, so most of these issues we associate with that cursory similarity in the first Micheleinie - Layton run actually preceded the show. I had never checked! Vin the Comic GuyFebruary 5, 2015 10:43 PM Marvel Team-Up #75 Pete can't boogie?!? Spidey would burn the roof off of that discotheque! Walter LawsonFebruary 5, 2015 9:27 PM Amazing Spider-Man #36 Not so, Andrew: im no Rand fan, but her philosophy insists that the way to earn money is through application of one's reeason. Rich guys who werent self-nade successes were villains in her world view. cullenFebruary 5, 2015 9:22 PM Dracula Lives #2 (1944) Perhaps Dracula resisted Stalin with the same vigor as he pursued the Turks; perhaps he was upheld by the West in the postwar period as a bulwark against Communism, as the fascists in Greece, Spain and Italy were. MichaelFebruary 5, 2015 8:05 PM Dracula Lives #2 (1944) You know, this raises the question- why didn't Stalin try to do anything to get rid of Dracula when he controlled Transylvania between 1944 and 1953? Especially since most of the major landowners in Transylvania had their property taken over by the state. Dracula being an Evil Aristocrat with a weakness to religious items would be a prime target for a Communist. BillFebruary 5, 2015 2:08 PM Tomb of Dracula Magazine #5 Because in America, we're not allowed to see boobs. Boobs are the devil! kvetoFebruary 5, 2015 9:40 AM Tomb of Dracula Magazine #5 Let me get this straight, marvel essential. So, violence, blood-sucking, stakes through the heart, violence against children, ravished by an ameoba demon, etc. these are all fine. But boobies- that's too far. cover that smut up. WTF is the point? Ataru320February 5, 2015 8:30 AM Marvel Team-Up #74 I'll take Belushi fighting the Silver Samurai over Uri Geller anyday at least. CecilFebruary 5, 2015 5:26 AM Marvel Team-Up #74 I had just discovered early SNL about the time I found this! I saved up and waited; I think it was $3.50 or $4. It has its moments and the cast is recognizable but it seems like a lost opportunity. The era seemed like a sweet spot for MTU, the more affordable back issues plus guest stars; I found most of the Nancy Rushman storyline and began to imagine untold bad issue gold. I sometimes dream of finding uncannily great old Marvels. Hate waking up and realizing the shop and comics were only a dream. Lol Things like that help explain the lasting appeal. ChrisFebruary 5, 2015 1:19 AM Tomb of Dracula #68 This is one reason why I never got into Gene Colan's art. Too much just looks ugly or not done well. Now, I must admit that Colan and Palmer do a fantastic job (usually) on Tomb of Dracula. Colan's art works here and astounds me in a way it never did while on Iron Man or Daredevil. Colan has great strengths in plotting the story and atmospherics, but he's never been a good draftsman in my opinion. Nathan AdlerFebruary 5, 2015 12:53 AM Uncanny X-Men #12-13 @fnord12: I'm wondering if Kirby had something else entirely intended for the Ruby Gem, and Stan just hung Cyttorak on it. A contact from the KM has suggested that Kirby intended something else in the margin notes of page 20. So he obviously planned some connection with the ringed planet otherwise why place it there on the temple wall. MichaelFebruary 4, 2015 11:11 PM Tomb of Dracula Magazine #2 A demon called Asmodeus plays a role in the 1991 Tomb of Dracula series by Wolfman but it's not clear if it's the same demon, and Angela is never mentioned. MichaelFebruary 4, 2015 11:01 PM Tomb of Dracula #69-70 Looking at those scans more carefully, they were from issue 71. So it's entirely possible the Janus/ Between-Heaven-and-Hell resolution was saved for issue 72. Also interesting is that Topaz refers to Jack Russell as "my man" when every later writer assumed that Jack and Topaz broke up before Tomb of Dracula 62. DermieFebruary 4, 2015 10:25 PM Tomb of Dracula #68 I think it is some sort of rebound effect--the force of her head being slapped back caused her chest to heave forward. Or she's trying to attack him with her breasts. Either or. fnord12February 4, 2015 9:58 PM Tomb of Dracula #62-65 It's a great point, Chris, and it's exactly why Blade comes across as more successful than the rest. fnord12February 4, 2015 9:55 PM What's Missing Thanks Michael. Listed them. fnord12February 4, 2015 9:53 PM Tomb of Dracula Magazine #3 Yeah, you're right, thanks. fnord12February 4, 2015 9:51 PM Tomb of Dracula Magazine #1 Ah, thanks for reminding me. It's from Chelm. He says he wishes he could contact his vampire hunter friends, but "Rachel Van Helsing returned to the States and I've yet to learn her new address -- and Frank Drank -- no one knows where that young man took off to.". I suppose that's ambiguous enough that Frank could have went with Rachel to New York, but it doesn't sound like it. MichaelFebruary 4, 2015 8:59 PM What's Missing The Lilith stories in Marvel Preview 16, Dracula Lives 10-11, Tomb of Dracula Magazine 3(text) and Tomb of Dracula Magazine 6 are missing. ChrisFebruary 4, 2015 8:47 PM Tomb of Dracula #62-65 The Vampire Hunter Knitting Circle might seem less impotent, if the magazine used the time between the group confronting Dracula, if they went through the basics of slaying all the random vampire minions that Dracula created. It would make them seem more heroic, and eliminate the question of what happens to all of the vampire thralls Wolfman leaves out there. It would seem more like a hunt as they followed up the leads to get them to Dracula. It is certainly a lost opportunity. MichaelFebruary 4, 2015 8:45 PM Tomb of Dracula Magazine #3 This issue also featured a text story about Lilith. MichaelFebruary 4, 2015 8:05 PM Tomb of Dracula Magazine #1 You mentioned in Tomb of Dracula 70 that Rachel's and Frank's breakup was revealed here but how? Neither of them is listed as a character appearing. MichaelFebruary 4, 2015 7:57 PM Tomb of Dracula #69-70 I still think that it would have made more sense if we would have seen all of Wolfman's original plot.Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell. Ataru320February 4, 2015 3:20 PM Tales Of Suspense #91 (Captain America) From the positioning of his head, this looks like one of the earliest "up-nose shots" of Kane as well. It doesn't feel as dynamic as the "up-noses" of the 70s. Erik BeckFebruary 4, 2015 11:29 AM Hulk #141 With that stupid hair and ridiculous costume I've never been able to take Doc Samson seriously. I don't know that there's a dumber looking costume that lasted longer. fnord12February 4, 2015 8:46 AM Uncanny X-Men #12-13 Curious where you're gong with this, Nathan. I know you're aware that Cyttorak had been invoked by Dr. Strange and Baron Mordo almost a year prior to this, and those guys aren't normally in the habit of calling on aliens. fnord12February 4, 2015 8:41 AM Tomb of Dracula #69-70 I've added some notes and scans regarding pages that were cut from issues #70-72 when it was all condensed into a single issue. BerendFebruary 4, 2015 8:35 AM Tomb of Dracula #68 What on earth is going on with Rachel van Helsing's anatomy in that picture of Dracula slapping her? BUFebruary 4, 2015 8:23 AM Tomb of Dracula #62-65 Wong was arguably dead before she healed him - maybe doing a resurrection right away burned off a lot of her power... fnord12February 4, 2015 7:41 AM Tomb of Dracula #67 Came to the same conclusion regarding Angel reading TOD Mag #5 last night. Added her. Nathan AdlerFebruary 4, 2015 5:41 AM Uncanny X-Men #12-13 In Uncanny X-Men #12, as Xavier rushes after his step-brother Cain Marko into the sacred lost temple of Cyttorak there is a mural to his right with a Sun and a ringed planet like Saturn. By this stage, Cyttorak had not been established as a mystical entity/ demon. Could the crimson bands have originally been planned as the rings/ bands of a planet called Cyttorak? What system was this ringed planet in? And what was the scaled figure holding the ruby? A guardian, and if so where from? The ringed planet? MichaelFebruary 3, 2015 10:22 PM Tomb of Dracula #69-70 More evidence that this isn't what Wolfman planned- in issue 50, Domini says "I know what will happen (to Dracula) in the end" and the Surfer looks at the picture of Jesus and says "Even I could not hope for a better, more fitting solution". It's hard to figure out how that's supposed to mean "Dracula gets blown up by Quincy Harker". MichaelFebruary 3, 2015 9:59 PM Tomb of Dracula #67 Shouldn't Angel O'Hara be listed as a character appearing? She and Lilith are eventually separated in Tomb of Dracula Magazine 5, so it seems they're two characters sharing a body, not Lilith impersonating Angel. MichaelFebruary 3, 2015 9:34 PM Tomb of Dracula #62-65 This issue is the major problem I have with Gillis's Strange Tales series. In this issue, it's stated that Topaz will gain VAST powers when she turns 21- enough to destroy Satan and eliminate evil- and free will- throughout the world. Topaz turns 21 in Strange Tales 1- and Gillis references the prophecy about her increased powers in that issue- and all she can do is ... heal Wong. You would think that Strange would try to use her increased powers to stop the demons but Gillis mostly treats her increased powers as nothing special. MichaelFebruary 3, 2015 8:48 PM Tomb of Dracula #61 Blade inexplicably disappears from the series at this point. MichaelFebruary 3, 2015 8:33 PM Tomb of Dracula #59-60 I think the argument is that Lupeski might do something that hurts innocent people to kill Dracula, which is exactly what happens. Of course, it doesn't make the vampire hunters look competent since none of them thought to get the baby to safety but the vampire hunters being incompetent is pretty much par for the course. AndrewFebruary 3, 2015 7:44 PM Amazing Spider-Man #36 I think Ditko didn't really "get" Rand. Or maybe Rand's philosophy just doesn't hold together outside the spheres of economics and politics. From a Randian perspective, Fester, who only cares about money, should be the hero, and Parker, a foolish altruist, should be the villain. Dan H.February 3, 2015 5:43 PM Captain America #177-186 My Cap collection was very hit-and-miss for a long time so I didn't get around to reading the Lucifer arc for years after I'd read some of the surrounding stories. It still strikes me as a bizarre off-handed way to get rid of Rafe, who'd been set up as Sam's antagonist, but I guess with the impending "Snap" crap, the thinking must have been that Sam's own past would be a much more challenging opponent for him to overcome than everyday Rafe. Still, the guy had been in the book off-and-on for years. Then he's just plucked as a host by Lucifer and it's like he never existed. Erik BeckFebruary 3, 2015 12:36 PM Hulk #139 I don't know what's worse - the second panel of the Hulk in your first scan or Nixon. Both of them are just awful. Erik BeckFebruary 3, 2015 12:29 PM Captain America #135-138 Seems the right place for this anecdote. Growing up in the late 70's / early 80's, I was too young for Megos and Secret Wars / Super Powers weren't out yet. So I had a good hundred Star Wars figures but no superhero figures. So I used the Star Wars figures as superhero figures, usually going for color approximation (e.g. Leia in the red Bespin dress was Scarlet Witch). Eventually I had figures that couldn't correspond so I just made them those heros anyway. My "Falcon" figure was the Biker Scout. This one I got clever with - since it looked like a jet pack on his back and since there could easily be jets in those boots, I decided that Stark had given the Falcon Iron Man like armor. So, I like seeing him here with the jet pack - I liked the idea of Falcon armor. I especially loved that they basically went that way in the Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Good to know the ideas of 9 year old me were pretty good. MegaSpiderManFebruary 3, 2015 1:42 AM Amazing Spider-Man #14 It's kinda hard to ride on a flying broomstick without it looking phallic. That might be why the CCA raised a hand against it. MichaelFebruary 2, 2015 11:58 PM Tomb of Dracula #57 I think the idea behind Dr.Sun was to create a villain that was Dracula's opposite- Sun is the product of science where Dracula is the product of sorcery, Sun is a creature of the future (e.g. advanced technology) while Dracula is a creature of the past, Dracula is a corrupted aristocrat while Sun is the product of a corrupted egalitarianism. Unfortunately, he just doesn't come across as menacing enough to justify Drake, Van Helsing and Harker deciding to resurrect Dracula to stop him. MichaelFebruary 2, 2015 11:34 PM Tomb of Dracula #55 I could accept Drac not wanting to kill or vamp Lupeski but there's no reason why he can't just take control of his mind, either by hypnotism or by draining his blood. Yes, there's the mind control dulls-their-wits excuse but (a) Danny Summers was mind controlled and he still had enough of his wits to lead Frank into a trap that he only escaped due to the intervention of Brother Voodoo and (b) it's not clear why he needs Lupeski to have his wits anyway. ChrisFebruary 2, 2015 11:29 PM Tomb of Dracula #57 I agree. After building up real well to issue 40 or so, the next twenty issues seem interminable. The Church of Satan plot simply isn't that interesting. I think Wolfman had a cool idea, but didn't know how to resolve it satisfactorily so he kept padding it out to find time to think. There are so many great moments in this magazine, but Dr Sun was just a ludicrous concept that did not fit well, and the Church of Saint is a good concept that goes nowhere. It doesn't help that the Domini and Janus elements don't work. Erik BeckFebruary 2, 2015 12:32 PM Avengers #85-86 I, of course, love the Squadron Supreme, but they look terrible. When the mini-series comes around, they will pseudo ret-con by saying the original Supreme members were the analogues to the original 7 JLA members, so there are still two members we haven't met (Princess Power, Amphibian) and one we will only meet in flashback (Skrull). Wikipedia is way wrong on Tom Thumb - he is an analogue to the SA Atom, but Thomas decided to have him short rather than shrink. He's a scientist (like Ray Palmer, the SA Atom) and is nothing like the GA Atom. American Eagle is probably listed as American Eagle II because in the mini-series we will learn that his father was the original American Eagle in WWII. Erik BeckFebruary 2, 2015 7:58 AM Amazing Spider-Man #94 That splash page looks very familiar. I think Marvel used it for a long time as a generic picture of Spider-Man and his villains in ads and such. It really is pretty great. AndrewFebruary 1, 2015 9:29 PM Tomb of Dracula #41-43 The "Night Staker" is a reference to / rip-off of the 74-75 TV series "Kolchak, the Night Stalker", which was an inspiration for the X-Files. AndrewFebruary 1, 2015 9:11 PM Fantastic Four #196-200 Yes, the way Doom is written is over the top, and his UN scheme is kind of dumb, but his fight with his clone is pretty awesome. The clone is Doom's attempt at a "do over" of everything he got wrong in his life, but of course it doesn't work out. And Reed and Doom's mano a mano is also cool. BTW, it's clearly established that it's the unfiltered radiation that drives Doom mad. The reflections of his face are just a dramatic flourish. fnord12February 1, 2015 9:04 PM Tomb of Dracula #41-43 Added a reference in the Nova entry. Thanks. MichaelFebruary 1, 2015 8:19 PM Tomb of Dracula #41-43 Nova 23 reveals that it was really Juno's brain that was destroyed this issue. Luis DantasFebruary 1, 2015 8:18 PM Tomb of Dracula #36-40 "It's been a weird case where the guest star never met the main character of the book." Indeed, but it will not be the last time. #53 will have much the same thing happening again. MichaelFebruary 1, 2015 7:08 PM Tomb of Dracula #36-40 Note that Brother Voodoo is able to teleport Drake from Brazil to Boston, while Doctor Strange 48 suggests that Voodoo's smoke telelportation might be a ruse. SimonFebruary 1, 2015 6:38 PM Uncanny X-Men #217-218 Issue 218 marks the debut of all-time favourite outfit for Rogue! Whilst I can't begin to fathom why she would choose to wear her underwear outside her full bodysuit (unless Silvestri did it as a giggle about the "standard superhero costume"), it certainly became (for me, at least) her most iconic look. fnord12February 1, 2015 6:01 PM Tomb of Dracula #31-35 Thanks, gfsdf! gfsdf gfbdFebruary 1, 2015 4:56 PM Tomb of Dracula #31-35 Let me just say how much I appreciate your overviews/mini-essays. With your recent back issue add, I'd missed your more critical entries, so this one was very welcome. MichaelFebruary 1, 2015 3:28 PM Tomb of Dracula #31-35 The Blade story in Marvel Preview 3 WAS originally supposed to appear in Vampire Tales but eventually wound up in Marvel Preview. Hilariously, the cover of Vampire Tales 10 said Blade: Wanted for Murder but no Blade story appeared. Mark DrummondFebruary 1, 2015 3:22 PM Tomb of Dracula #31-35 I'm guessing the "things" the vampire women did to Rachel were rape-y in nature. MichaelFebruary 1, 2015 2:46 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) The Jones-Gulacy Shanna serial was published in Marvel Comics Presents 68-77. Mark DrummondFebruary 1, 2015 2:19 PM Damage Control #1 Dwayne McDuffie said in Amazing Heroes #159 that the inspiration for Damage Control came from when he saw an episode of the 1960s Batman TV show featuring a "Batmobile Drag Chute Pick-Up and Dry Cleaning Service". Mark DrummondFebruary 1, 2015 2:15 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) In Amazing Heroes #159(2/89)Paul Gulacy states that this did indeed start as a Deathlok serial. Gulacy decided to update and redesign him, but Marvel supposedly felt that this conflicted with their further plans for Deathlok, so Gulacy's redesign was retitled Coldblood. No legal problem with Luther Manning was mentioned. He also stated that his next MCP serial was Shanna the She-Devil(written by Gerard Jones), but I don't know if that happened. Erik BeckFebruary 1, 2015 1:05 PM X-Men: The Hidden Years #16-22 It's interesting that Byrne keeps drawing Bobby in costume but not iced up. I don't remember any artist at the actual time ever doing that, but it's in a lot of the scans of these issues. Erik BeckFebruary 1, 2015 12:59 PM Fantastic Four #102-104 You have to love Ben getting griped at by Nixon for being too loud. That's a pretty classic panel. Erik BeckFebruary 1, 2015 12:51 PM Avengers #83 To me there are two ways of approaching this issue, both of them completely valid. First is fnord's view. Thomas does indeed take any notion of women's liberation and mock it and throw it out the window. The female Avengers are duped and lead around by a villain. The second is the pure entertainment aspect. It actually brings in some more female heroes, it brings us the first Rutland parade (Dennis O'Neill and Neal Adams will bring it into the DC universe a year later) and is just plan goofy. This is actually one of the issues I still have, the final one in my Treasury Edition. Nathan AdlerFebruary 1, 2015 9:31 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 @ChrisW: You might have some more sympathy for Gateway here: https://fanfix.wordpress.com/2013/12/05/gateways-origin As for who moved Alex, wrote the note and left flowers, given Jubes revealed involvement in getting Wolverine to safety in Uncanny X-Men #252... And in relationship to Gateway and the computer, at almost the exact same time Claremont introduced Gateway Technologies in the factory ruin at Loch Daemon in Excalibur #2, the spot where Captain Britain had originally battled another character called the Reaver!? Erik BeckFebruary 1, 2015 9:12 AM Avengers #82 Daredevil's mention of the "three blind men and the elephant" parable will come back in a truly bizarre and pretty bad issue of West Coast Avengers almost 20 years later. Dan H.January 31, 2015 4:32 PM Howard the Duck #5-7 Building on my comment above: I realized after I wrote that "the powers are totally different" that they're really just opposites. A Nova propels matter away. A Black Hole draws it in. It's more complicated than that in how their powers manifest, but not much. Erik BeckJanuary 31, 2015 4:13 PM Avengers #78-79 A couple of those panels (the one where the Reaper looks completely crazed and the one of Vision in his mask) look a lot like Neal Adams work. Ataru320January 31, 2015 3:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #86 I've sort of kept track: she was a redhead from the beginning but for some stupid reason they changed her to black hair through the "Victoria's Secret outfit" period. They finally remembered when she got the catsuit she was a redhead all along. Erik BeckJanuary 31, 2015 3:30 PM Amazing Spider-Man #86 So, Black Widow is now a redhead, with a skin-tight costume and is drawn by Romita. The Marvel Universe just got 700% hotter. ChrisJanuary 31, 2015 12:59 PM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 Most likely, neither Wolfman or Colan understood little about the religions involved or India. Since many Americans confuse Sikhs with Muslims, it's entirely possible neither understood that a forehead dot identified the person as Hindu instead of Muslim. fnord12January 31, 2015 11:42 AM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 Between the bindi, the references to Allah, and the crosses, maybe they are hedging their bets. Best to be safe in a region with so many vampire attacks. Erik BeckJanuary 31, 2015 11:39 AM Daredevil #65-66 You aren't kidding. If you had told me those first three panels were out of Tomb of Dracula I absolutely would have believed you. Mark DrummondJanuary 31, 2015 11:00 AM Master of Kung Fu #48-51 In Amazing Heroes #159, Gulacy said that at the height of his collaboration with Moench on MOKF, it was the 3rd best-selling Marvel color comic behind Conan the Barbarian(#2) and Amazing Spider-Man(#1). He also said he left Marvel due to burnout over the monthly grind. Mark DrummondJanuary 31, 2015 10:57 AM Fear #20-23 To correct my earlier post: Gulacy stated in Amazing Heroes #159 that his first story was a Shang-Chi story for DHOKFu. The Morbius one was his 2nd story but the first one printed. Mark DrummondJanuary 31, 2015 10:51 AM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 If they are indeed Muslims, then either Wolfman or Colan made a big mistake as Taj's wife has what appears to be the Hindu dot on her forehead. Mark DrummondJanuary 31, 2015 10:47 AM Tomb of Dracula #30 I agree that the vampire-corpse odor thing wasn't used on any consistent basis, but the whole 'corpse" aspect of vampirism does become more important near the end of the book. Amidon37January 31, 2015 9:41 AM Nova #15 With all the resources and friends Nick Fury has at his disposal it certainly does not make sense for him to recruit Nova here. I did enjoy the thought bubble where Nova is wondering if being attacked by other heroes is some sort of initiation. Certainly a play on the standard "misunderstanding fight". Amidon37January 31, 2015 9:36 AM Nova #13-14 The loan officer who rather smugly turns Charles Rider down for a loan is "Benjamin Dover". Surely a "Ben Dover" reference as Rider is being turned down by a bank he has been a customer of for years. JackJanuary 31, 2015 9:08 AM Tales Of Suspense #95-99 (Iron Man) Sorry - was referring to Iron Man & Sub-Mariner # 1 JackJanuary 31, 2015 9:07 AM Tales Of Suspense #95-99 (Iron Man) One of my favorite Silver Age comics - for its uniqueness, oddity. And, it was a two nifty reads. Erik BeckJanuary 31, 2015 8:42 AM Avengers #75-76 No surprise that Arkon is created by Roy Thomas, a huge Conan fan. But, is there ever a point where Arkon isn't seeking a mate? AndrewJanuary 31, 2015 6:14 AM Iron Man annual #9 Man, I hate that "energy can neither be created nor destroyed" excuse. One of these days someone ought to write a story where somebody gets shot and says "Ha ha! I am made of matter, which can neither be created nor destroyed!" fnord12January 30, 2015 11:37 PM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 Taj's wife and others in the area (e.g. a friend in issue #26 that convinces Taj to go back to his wife) all say "By Allah" and "Thank Allah" and the like, so i assume they are Muslim. ChrisJanuary 30, 2015 9:02 PM Tomb of Dracula #30 It's possible vampires don't have a pronounced odor detectable from usual distance people have from each other, but something that one would detect only if they are in prolonged intimate contact. Not mentioned, but plausible, is that the odor becomes stronger the less blood Dracula has in his system (or if it's been along time since he last drank). MichaelJanuary 30, 2015 7:49 PM West Coast Avengers #46 That would explain a remark Vision makes in issue 49- he asks Hawkeye "Wouldn't Midwest Avengers be a more appropriate nomenclature?" MichaelJanuary 30, 2015 7:48 PM Tomb of Dracula #30 But Mark, the problem is that people who have encountered vampires before don't seem to be able to recognize them by smell. Just five issues before this, a woman whose husband was killed by a vampire doesn't realize Hannibal King is a vampire. MichaelJanuary 30, 2015 7:39 PM Giant-Size Dracula #3 Why does Elianne think "the infidels say suicides are eternally damned"? She's Muslim- Islam says suicides go to hell also. And why should a Muslim care what Christians think? Besides, Islam also says people who engage in child murder and black magic go to hell. Mark DrummondJanuary 30, 2015 6:32 PM West Coast Avengers #46 When Marvel first announced this book to fanzines, the Great Lakes Avengers were actually called the Midwest Avengers. Mark DrummondJanuary 30, 2015 5:19 PM Tomb of Dracula #30 The stories weren't meant to be fill-ins--we would see other issues with Dracula's Diary in the future. I'm guessing they were deliberate breathing spaces in between epics. It may not be romantic, but vampires smelling like corpses(and other aspects of dead people) is necessary to Dracula's (far in the)future epiphany about what kind of empire he actually rules. Mark DrummondJanuary 30, 2015 5:10 PM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 Aren't Taj and his wife both Hindu? Mark DrummondJanuary 30, 2015 5:05 PM Giant-Size Dracula #3 "The vampire's got away...anyone got a good look at him?" Oh, who does he THINK it is? Is it really accurate to call Dracula a Magyar? I thought the Magyars settled primarily in Hungary, west of Transylvania/Romania. Mark DrummondJanuary 30, 2015 4:54 PM Giant-Size Dracula #2 Claremont seems to have not read Deacula's origin too closely--he was turned into a vampire by Lianda the Gypsy, not by Turac. Mark DrummondJanuary 30, 2015 4:48 PM Monsters Unleashed #11 (Gabriel the Devil Hunter) At the time, Gerber probably had too much on his plate already, and Wolfman was only ever able to do maybe 2-3 books a month at best. Erik BeckJanuary 30, 2015 12:12 PM Hulk #125 At this point, it seems like they had decided that they didn't to create any more uber-powerful villains. They could just take other uber-powerful villains from other comics (Sandman from Spider-Man and FF, Rhino from Spider-Man, Absorbing Man from Thor) and bring them in to fight the Hulk. I won't be surprised if the Hulk faces Juggernaut soon. Mark DrummondJanuary 30, 2015 12:04 PM Giant-Size Dracula #2 Historical Significance: First mutant ever written by Claremont. Kate refers to herself as one at least once, and although you could argue that she's just being self-deprecating, there's no other explanation given for her mind powers. Erik BeckJanuary 30, 2015 12:02 PM Fantastic Four #94 That first panel of Agatha Harkness is really strange looking, and that's saying something when you're talking about Agatha Harkness. I think Chris deserves a no-prize for his "Medusa never had amnesia" theory - it sounds totally plausible to me. fnord12January 30, 2015 9:48 AM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 Not directly, but we'll find that he is secretly behind it. Luis DantasJanuary 30, 2015 7:49 AM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 IIRC, the trouble up ahead for him is not even Dracula-related. Nathan AdlerJanuary 30, 2015 3:26 AM Uncanny X-Men #64 @Cullen: Which hobbyhorses of Gruenwald's are you referring to;) fnord12January 29, 2015 8:32 PM Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #14 Having now seen the Agent Carter episode, i don't think i have to bump the significance. ;-) MichaelJanuary 29, 2015 8:27 PM Tomb of Dracula #26-28 Frank saying he's been letting others make up his mind for him and then letting Chastity make up his mind for him is kind of funny. MichaelJanuary 29, 2015 8:21 PM Giant-Size Dracula #2 We see the Saarpools again in Marvel Team Up 79 and Doctor Strange 45. Erik BeckJanuary 29, 2015 7:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #64 Even though he always act like a hot-headed jerk, I have always liked Sunfire and never thought he was used enough. Heck's art is better than usual, except in that last panel he makes Scott look like he's about 45. "What's that pulling sensation?" Way to be aware there Warren. Luis DantasJanuary 29, 2015 7:25 PM War is Hell #9 People sure had a healthier attitude towards war back at the time... Erik BeckJanuary 29, 2015 7:19 PM Avengers #69-71 Personal Historical Significance Rating: 10 The first appearance of Kyle Richmond. There's a reason that my website is called Nighthawk News and he is the reason (https://nighthawknews.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/10-comic-books-to-remember-or-why-this-is-called-nighthawk-news/). I must admit, I have always loved the Squadron idea (I'll love it even more when the Squadron Supreme comes around). When I desperately wanted to be a comic book writer at age 12, both Nighthawks had just been killed off, so I created a new one. And I was always a huge Justice League and Avengers fan, so the idea of combining them was just awesome (although, the version of the Avengers printed in JLA was pretty weak). Other notes on these? I agree that's a coat Jan is wearing, but it's pretty damn short and I also find it odd she's in a completely different, much much less revealing outfit in the group picture. Also, I almost never notice the inking, but either there's something screwy with the source panels that fnord used or with the inking, because in the first page of the Nighthawk / Cap battle Nighthawk's outfit is a much darker blue than previously and later. fnord12January 29, 2015 5:21 PM Captain America #135-138 Thanks for pointing out the missing rating, Ataru. But i don't normally award points for these sort of prototyping feints. I think it's interesting to see the creators toying with ideas like this but i generally save the point for when it actually happens. Ataru320January 29, 2015 4:50 PM Sub-Mariner #34-35 Considering the previous Surfer apperance had that whole "I'm going to be a villain now!" speech, I wonder if being away for a while and fighting Namor sort of just snapped him out of it...then again considering Namor and the Hulk are about as "anti-hero" as you're going to get at this point and they do fight the Avengers together...so maybe its just an evolution of that. (though without Doctor Strange to at least keep them on the right line of the law) Ataru320January 29, 2015 4:46 PM Captain America #135-138 There's no historical significance with this one; but I probably would give it a 2 or 3 for this being the first time Falcon flies, foreshadowing his classic suit and abilities. fnord12January 29, 2015 12:58 PM Haunt of Horror #2 (Gabriel the Devil Hunter) Added her (it?) but i gave that MCP story a read and it's definitely ambiguous. I guess more on that when i get to 1992! Erik BeckJanuary 29, 2015 12:04 PM Fantastic Four #90-93 Nice to see I'm not the only person who immediately thought of "A Piece of the Action" one of the best episodes of the original Star Trek. Ataru320January 29, 2015 12:04 PM Silver Surfer #7 Somehow seeing the creator of the killer rabbit (and Frankensurfer) just makes me think of that line from "Young Frankenstein" by the villagers about how many descendants of Victor there are and how mad they all tend to be. (as we see here and in the Frankenstein books) Erik BeckJanuary 29, 2015 12:02 PM Hulk #118 When Roy Thomas went to create the Defenders did no one say to him, uh Roy, every time that Namor and Hulk end up in the same place they fight. Guaranteed. Erik BeckJanuary 29, 2015 11:59 AM Silver Surfer #7 Walter Lawson points out the (sadly) true story about Carter and his rabbit. But really, all I could think was that this rabbit ended up in a time warp and went back to attack Arthur and his men. TCPJanuary 29, 2015 11:18 AM Fantastic Four #13 I love the moment where the Watcher tells the group that "space is your heritage." That line carries a lot of meaning for both the Marvel universe and our own. BillJanuary 29, 2015 10:41 AM New Mutants annual #2 So then a Cypher/Psylocke pairing is not only creepy but illegal too. Ick! Mark DrummondJanuary 29, 2015 10:40 AM Supernatural Thrillers #11-15 Tony Isabella has said before that Asp and Olddan were supposed to be comics' first gay couple, but the comics code wouldn't allow it. JSfanJanuary 29, 2015 7:51 AM Uncanny X-Men #213 1st and only X-Men comic I bought in real-time and I just fell in love with Alan Davis's art. Man I tried to replicate the splash page of Psylocke many a time. MichaelJanuary 28, 2015 11:34 PM Haunt of Horror #2 (Gabriel the Devil Hunter) The demon that Gabriel fights in Marvel Comics Presents 106 claims to be Catherine, so you might want to add her as a character appearing. fnord12January 28, 2015 9:46 PM Supernatural Thrillers #5 Ah, ok. The reference to "the Gaza strip - Israeli occupied Egypt" threw me. Thanks. MichaelJanuary 28, 2015 9:05 PM Supernatural Thrillers #5 The 1973 Arab-Israeli War started in October of 1973- this issue is dated August. fnord12January 28, 2015 8:31 PM Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #14 Hey, i didn't even know they had last names! I see now they were revealed in 2008's Marvel Atlas #1. I've raised it to a 3 since it's the first appearance of the Blitzkrieg Squad, and they do have a few appearances. We'll see if anything comes of Ernst appearing in the TV show. MichaelJanuary 28, 2015 8:05 PM Monsters Unleashed #11 (Gabriel the Devil Hunter) Moench's horror was truly terrifying, although not the way he intended. Between Werewolf By Night, Frankenstein and this, he showed he couldn't write horror. I don't know why Marvel didn't get Wolfman or Gerber, for example, to try to write those books. JackJanuary 28, 2015 7:29 PM Amazing Spider-Man #289 I enjoyed this story way back then - Leeds as the Hobgoblin was cool. But, alas, I'm in the minority. Time Traveling BunnyJanuary 28, 2015 6:51 PM Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #14 Ernst Mueller just showed up on Agent Carter. Maybe a significance rating bump for that? kvetoJanuary 28, 2015 2:53 PM Supernatural Thrillers #11-15 Despite the chaos, i liked this story. basically a super-villain problem without superheroes to deal with it. i particularly liked the way Cairo broke down into anarchy in wake of the elementals dome. I wonder how Zepyhr got breast implants in the ancient past? Hers stand at unnatural attention. I wonder if all the homosexual overtones in the Asp and Olddan's relationship were intentional. I felt bad for Zephyr, givinging up godesshood to become a beard for the Asp. Erik BeckJanuary 28, 2015 12:44 PM Daredevil #53 "I hope you'll be pleased with me" takes on a whole new meaning after what happens to Karen later. Erik BeckJanuary 28, 2015 12:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #57-63 The art and layouts here are all kinds of awesome. I read the Masterworks that go me to #50 and then stopped, so I will have to actually read this, since it appears to be better than issues #12 to 50 put together. I have to disagree with you on the second Angel costume (or, basically his original costume, as the backups retconned in) - it's loads better than the one with suspenders. I like how Mesmero learns about the Magneto robot but the X-Men themselves won't learn about for years, until Magneto tells them (how did Magneto find out?). I also love how in the villain picture, Banshee is just standing there with his pipe. Erik BeckJanuary 28, 2015 8:49 AM Uncanny X-Men #54-56 Not just the first Havok, but the first "let's suddenly expand the Summers clan with no warning whatsoever". It's astounding the difference between Roth / Heck and Adams. Not only does the art leap forward incredibly, but at least Adams knows what color Jean's mask is. Erik BeckJanuary 28, 2015 8:42 AM Captain America #114-119 That first panel is rather strange. Why would Goliath just sit there at 10 feet tall in that room? Too often the large characters are drawn as being large at times when there would be no reason for it, as if they are afraid to draw them at normal height. fnord12January 28, 2015 7:58 AM What's Missing Thanks Michael. Listed it. fnord12January 28, 2015 7:55 AM Iron Man #115-116 Thanks, Luis. I did have the Ani-Men appearing in DD #157 & 158 as separate characters with references back to these issues, but i've made a few clarifications to make it clearer and added their deaths to the historical significance rating here. Vin the Comic GuyJanuary 27, 2015 5:54 PM Avengers annual #17 Please explain to me why M.D. Bright never penciled an issue of X-Men. His action scenes are top-notch. Vin the Comic GuyJanuary 27, 2015 5:19 PM Hulk #350 I'd love to see these two issues redone by one artist. Vin the Comic GuyJanuary 27, 2015 5:07 PM West Coast Avengers annual #3 One of my favorites - Englehart brought back a stronger Giant Man, only to have Clor burn a lightning bolt through his chest in Civil War. Erik BeckJanuary 27, 2015 1:52 PM Avengers #64 I remember first seeing this referenced in Avengers 230, after Hawkeye killed Egghead. Since I was a kid, I thought Barney had literally saved the Avengers by buying a farm, not knowing the phrase. I refuse to believe he came back. That's just stupid. Erik BeckJanuary 27, 2015 1:36 PM Captain America #111-113 Great Steranko art, but that is one funky pose that T'Challa is standing in when questioning Rick. Erik BeckJanuary 27, 2015 1:34 PM Silver Surfer #4 Ha! One issue after the great panel of Mephisto on his throne, we have one of Loki on hist throne. And as Michael pointed out, if there's one person who lies more than Mephisto, it's Loki. Erik BeckJanuary 27, 2015 1:32 PM Avengers #60 The third of four in my Marvel Treasury Edition. The group shot by Buscema looks even better in the Edition, as it's enormous (I think part of why I didn't sell it is that it didn't fit in my comic boxes and I might have forgotten about it when I sold my collection). It's strange to think that Hank was Yellowjacket for something like five times the amount of time he was Ant-Man / Giant-Man / Goliath combined. MichaelJanuary 27, 2015 12:41 PM What's Missing Captain America: the Medusa Effect is a 1994 Graphic Novel by Roy Thomas that takes place in 1943. Mark DrummondJanuary 27, 2015 11:37 AM Strange Tales #174 I suspect Buscema did very loose pencils that got finished by Mooney; the faces here are very Mooneyesque. Buscema was also starting up Savage Sword of Conan at the same time, and when Alfredo Alcala became an early inker, Buscema's uninked contribution got published somewhere eventually and were revealed to be reeeeaaaallllyyyy loose. Mark DrummondJanuary 27, 2015 11:29 AM Marvel Team-Up #27 Interesting that Nighthawk is called a criminal here; that was never reflected in the Defenders book. Starlin has Spider-Man's head out of proportion to his body here--and judging by how he drew him in the Death of Captain Marvel GN, he had that problem for a long time. MichaelJanuary 27, 2015 11:29 AM Captain America #350 Maybe they meant the Medusa Effect Graphic Novel that came out in 1994. Mark DrummondJanuary 27, 2015 11:23 AM Daredevil #49-51 An unused Smith panel from this story appeared in Comics Interview #68. Mark DrummondJanuary 27, 2015 11:20 AM Sub-Mariner #26 Rejected Buscema panels from this issue appeared in Comics Interview #68. Mark DrummondJanuary 27, 2015 11:18 AM Avengers #101 Rejected Buckler panels from this issue appeared in Comics Interview #68. Mark DrummondJanuary 27, 2015 11:16 AM Captain America #350 At about this time, Comics Interview #68 stated that Roy Thomas was plotting a Golden Age Captain America graphic novel for Marvel, but I don't know if it ever happened. MichaelJanuary 27, 2015 10:31 AM Avengers #59 T'Challa SHOULD have recognized Hank- there's some debate about whether his senses are "peak human" or "superhuman" but either way it makes no sense for Jan to recognize Hank but not T'Challa. Earth's Mightiest Heroes II tries to retcon this into the others realizing it's Hank and playing along because they're worried about his sanity. MichaelJanuary 27, 2015 10:27 AM Silver Surfer #3 Loki, maybe. Erik BeckJanuary 27, 2015 10:06 AM Daredevil #47 A classic Daredevil tale. Because, as Dan Spector noted, it's reprinted in Son of Origins, it was one of the first Daredevil stories I ever read. So, for a long time I didn't realize how awful most of the early Daredevil stories were. Erik BeckJanuary 27, 2015 10:03 AM Avengers #59 You always gotta wonder - can Hank so disguise his voice that they don't know it's him? Jan at least seems to realize it. Couldn't the Vision at least recognize it? Erik BeckJanuary 27, 2015 9:55 AM Silver Surfer #3 That panel of Mephisto on his throne is one of the best villain drawings I've ever seen. "Mephisto does not lie!" Such a brilliant line. Is there any character in the MU who lies more than Mephisto? Luis DantasJanuary 27, 2015 6:36 AM Daredevil #155-157 In #158, Death-Stalker claims that these Ani-Men are not the originals. Luis DantasJanuary 27, 2015 2:43 AM Iron Man #115-116 Death-Stalker, in Daredevil #158 or so, claims that Iron Man killed the original Ani-Men. Would that be a reference to the explosion Spymaster caused in these issues? Nathan AdlerJanuary 27, 2015 12:51 AM Uncanny X-Men #49-52 @Erik: Thanks:) You might also like my latest fix on my home page if you were a fan of Claremont's Mister Sinister iteration! LevesJanuary 26, 2015 10:36 PM Avengers #3 This must be the worst Spider-Man art I've ever seen....EVER! Makes you wonder if Kirby deliberately wanted to sabotage Ditko's character. LevesJanuary 26, 2015 10:34 PM Tales To Astonish #57 (Giant-Man/Wasp) They still managed to butcher Spider-Man's art here. LevesJanuary 26, 2015 10:03 PM Strange Tales #122 (Dr. Strange) Except for the ending this is a superb story that in my opinion pioneered the evolution and cosmology of early RPG games. LevesJanuary 26, 2015 10:00 PM Amazing Spider-Man #14 Well in Spider-Man's defense this time he insists in being paid in cash. Also I had no idea the CCA objected over the use of a flying broomstick. They must have thought it had something to do with witches/witchcraft, etc. rik fenixJanuary 26, 2015 9:34 PM Hulk #250 Loved this issue. fnord12January 26, 2015 9:01 PM Amazing Spider-Man #12 It was definitely said to be a virus in Fantastic Four #25 and your faith in the mad science of Silver Age Reed Richards is stronger than mine. ;-) LevesJanuary 26, 2015 7:43 PM Amazing Spider-Man #12 As far as I remember Richards worked with bacteria not viruses and he would be a top idiot if he permitted them to propagate via air. MichaelJanuary 26, 2015 6:33 PM Marvel Team-Up #27 This issue is the main problem I have with the "Chameleon was a kid during the Russian Revolution" retcon. That guy Joe Cord supposedly saved the Chameleon's life when the Chameleon was a "kid"- and he looks like he's under 45. MikeCheyneJanuary 26, 2015 5:38 PM Marvel Team-Up #27 Man, who IS Joe Cord? How did he save Chameleon's life? How did Russian spy Chameleon know this guy? There's a story out there! MikeCheyneJanuary 26, 2015 5:35 PM Marvel Team-Up #25 The Ani-Men are actually decent Daredevil (or other low powered or inexperienced hero types)--you've got a mix of strength, speed, agility--they could have been DD's Enforcers! Erik BeckJanuary 26, 2015 2:57 PM Uncanny X-Men #49-52 @Nathan Adler. That was fantastic - all that work you do in "fixing" is pretty impressive. I'm gonna continue to believe that Lorna isn't his daughter but Pietro and Wanda are his kids (and that Alicia was never a Skrull). Nathan AdlerJanuary 26, 2015 2:37 PM Uncanny X-Men #49-52 @Erik: I likewise was never convinced at Lorna being Magneto's daughter. My alternative theory is here if you'd like a look: https://fanfix.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/the-link-between-polaris-and-zaladane-and-malice ZeilsternJanuary 26, 2015 12:30 PM Fantastic Four #80 Coming just a few months after Kirby saw his creation, the Silver Surfer, get taken over and retconned by Lee and Buscema - I've always seen work like Tomazooma as proof that Kirby was deliberately dialing things back, determined not to give Marvel any new character creations that might have commercial value. Erik BeckJanuary 26, 2015 11:30 AM Fantastic Four #80 When I first saw the splash page of Tomazooma I thought I had misread the heading and was reading an issue from Roy Thomas' first run on X-Men. Erik BeckJanuary 26, 2015 11:28 AM Uncanny X-Men #49-52 Ah, the beginning of the ever changing family trees in the X-Universe. How ironic I should read this on a day when Comics Should Be Good posts a bit about whether or not Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are really Magneto's kids. The joy of longer reading anything new is that I don't have to be burdened with the constant revisions of what has been established. As far as I'm concerned, Pietro and Wanda are his children, Lorna is not. But good to know this confusion has been going on since early 1969. Mark DrummondJanuary 26, 2015 11:15 AM Marvel Team-Up #25 "Unholy Three/Trio" is probably taken from the silent & sound Lon Chaney films. The cover of the issue of Crazy Spider-man is reading doesn't correspond to any actual cover at the time. Is that supposed to be an observatory telescope or a Dalek? Mark DrummondJanuary 26, 2015 11:02 AM Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 This got reprinted in an Essential volume, despite the fact that Marvel no longer has the Fu Manchu license, and has not had for several years. Either the Sax Rohmer estate(or what's left of it) isn't paying attention to anything besides prose fiction, or else it just doesn't care. Nathan AdlerJanuary 26, 2015 4:30 AM Fantastic Four #20 If the Watcher transported the team to his Moon base, Reed would be unlikely to refer to it as "some other dimension". So does Uatu perhaps transport them to his base in Limbo previously shown in #13 and Strange Tales #134? Is he able to mask his actions from his brethren there? LevesJanuary 26, 2015 2:34 AM Tales To Astonish #43 (Ant-Man) If someone could invent such a ray why the hell would he need to work any more? He could be rich and immortal. LevesJanuary 26, 2015 2:22 AM Fantastic Four #14 ROFL! The last 2 comments are pure gold! david banesJanuary 26, 2015 1:25 AM She-Hulk: Ceremony #1-2 As much as I find Shooter a total sleazeball I have to admit and not begrudingly that I think Marvel Comics entered a second Golden Age under his rule. AndrewJanuary 25, 2015 9:50 PM Silver Surfer #29-31 In no other appearance of the Living Tribunal is it suggested there's a fourth, blank side to his head. That just makes no sense to me. Also, I have to point out that tribunals don't have three members. The etymology of the word is from "tribe", as in a tribunal represents a tribe, not "tri", as in three. cullenJanuary 25, 2015 5:38 PM Young Men Comics #25 (Human Torch) Toro still a teen ten years after the War! Did Roy Thomas ever try to explain that? MichaelJanuary 25, 2015 5:32 PM ROM #29 Rom's lie will cause problems later in Thunderbolts. MichaelJanuary 25, 2015 4:53 PM Giant-Size Defenders #2 Strange being haunted by the ghosts of the people that died because he gave up being a surgeon never made sense to me- he gave up being a surgeon because his hands were injured and it would endanger his patients if he operated. It would make more sense for him to be haunted by the ghosts of the patients that died because of his greed. fnord12January 25, 2015 4:08 PM Master of Kung Fu #17 Thanks, Michael. Listed him and added a scan. MichaelJanuary 25, 2015 3:55 PM Master of Kung Fu #17 Tak appears in this issue. Mark DrummondJanuary 25, 2015 2:15 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 And Marv Wolfman was even worse in that respect; I actually dropped Spider-Man for a while back then because of him. MichaelJanuary 25, 2015 1:57 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 I'm willing to accept Peter having trouble with Shang-Chi because Shang is borderline superhuman. But I agree with Roger Stern that Peter had trouble with losers without powers like the Tarantula too often in the '70's. Just two issues later, in Giant-Size Spider-Man 4, Peter has trouble with Moses Magnum, who at the time was apparently intended to be a "normal" 54 year old man. And Wein would later have Peter get humiliated by people that made no sense- he got knocked out by getting pistol-whipped by some ordinary goons in Amazing Spider-Man 162 and later on in issue 170, he would have trouble with Dr. Faustus, a fat man who was never shown exceptional combat skills. Mark DrummondJanuary 25, 2015 1:29 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 Maybe this is the (retitled)story promised at the end of Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1? fnord12January 25, 2015 10:45 AM Avengers #57-58 Consider that implied with the 8 rating for the introduction of the Vision, the first character created to be an Avenger. ;-) It's worth noting that to support your theory, the cover of the book starts calling the team the "Mighty" Avengers just a few issues from now, with #62. fnord12January 25, 2015 10:42 AM Hulk #200 That makes a lot of sense to me, Andrew. I've added a few References based on your theory. I like that it's mostly about Betty, since that's the point of contention between Glenn and Bruce. Thanks for thinking about it and posting it here! And also thanks to Gary for raising the No-Prize question in the first place. Erik BeckJanuary 25, 2015 9:13 AM Avengers #57-58 Fnord, you should add in the historical significance - "the last time the Avengers have a low-powered team." Since #16, they've really been lacking in firepower. But, from here on out, with the Vision around, and the eventual returns of Thor and Iron Man, they will pretty much never lack for a major heavy hitter again. This is another issue (#57) I still have in my Marvel Treasury Edition. A really great issue with great art and a fantastic end. You had to know Ultron would return, but it was still a fantastic end page. MikeJanuary 25, 2015 9:10 AM Avengers #115-118 / Defenders #8-11 Contrived? In a superhero comic book? Say it ain't so!! I disagree with you there, Martin. The art, story, most of the dialogue (okay the inhumans always spoke in silly melodramatic tones) in this series still holds out to this day. There have been worse excuses to have a superteam vs superteam battle. The fact that neither team sat down and had discussions until it was over doesn't detract from anything. That's like saying "If The Warriors had packed guns to the big gang meeting, the movie would be over in 10 minutes!" The reasoning for this missing logic (as an afterthought) is to have this big drawn out war over several issues. Anyway you get my point, and this is still an A+ series for me despite its conceived flaws. Not budging on this one. MichaelJanuary 25, 2015 9:01 AM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 It's not clear that Goblin Queen was a reference to Bell's Demon Queen. It's discussed here: AndrewJanuary 25, 2015 8:32 AM Hulk #200 This is my second favorite super-hero-walking-around-inside-someone's-brain story, after The Brave and the Bold 115, so I'll give it a shot. Samson says the characters who appear are "memories" called up by "Talbot's subconscious" to "defend itself." They appear in groups, in a particular order: 1) Missing Link, Juggernaut, Abomination 1, 4, and 6 are easy, as they represent distinct themes. The others are a little tougher, but a little digging through the back issues shows that these groupings appeared before. Specifically, the Leader and the Rhino prevented Banner's wedding to Betty in issue 124, after which Betty went to Talbot for reassurance. The Sandman and the Mandarin captured the Hulk and Betty in issue 115. The Hulk freed them, but once again Betty ended up in Talbot's arms, with the Hulk feeling like Betty had betrayed him. Lastly, Modok turned Betty into the Harpy in issue 168, and she tried to kill the Hulk for supposedly causing Talbot's death. So here's my take. When the Hulk first appears in Talbot's brain/mindscape, Talbot calls up villains who represent pure brute force to repel him. When that doesn't work, he calls up group 2, to hurt him by reminding him how he failed to marry Betty. Remember, at this point the Hulk is wearing the "encephalo-helmet" Samson conveniently created for him, so he's really still Banner at this point. Next, Talbot calls up another time Betty rejected him, and in the Hulk's mind, betrayed him. At this point, Banner has to tear off the helmet, which is damaged by the fighting and "the brain's constant violent electrical activity." Now that he's purely the Hulk, Talbot draws up a quintet of heroes to defeat him. When that doesn't work, he calls up what should be his trump card, the Harpy, from the time Betty actively hated the Hulk, and specifically because of her love for Talbot. Then finally he brings forth the most frightening person he can think of, the Gremlin himself, who ruined his life, appropriately swollen to the size of a giant in Talbot's mind. It's a bit of a mess, but I think that's as close as anyone's going to come to figuring it out unless Len Wein tells us himself, though God knows he's probably forgotten himself by now... JackJanuary 25, 2015 7:10 AM Amazing Spider-Man #132-133 Mike, ASM 133 was my first off the rack. And, yes, the stark difference from the cartoons of the day was jarring. JackJanuary 25, 2015 7:06 AM Amazing Spider-Man #139-140 Sure, perhaps not an Eisner Award winner, but Conway's ASM run is one of my all-time favorite runs in comics. And this tow-part story may be 2nd only to the Death of Gwen Stacy. As they say, to each his own. Luis DantasJanuary 25, 2015 1:44 AM Frankenstein #13-18 Ralph and Frank run into the "Eastern Seaboard" of I.C.O.N., according to the narration of what I assume to be one of its operatives. Could it be a sly reference to Atlas/Seaboard comics? The timeframe looks just about right, and this comic does have a strong Atlas-like vibe. Mark DrummondJanuary 25, 2015 1:33 AM Frankenstein #13-18 I suspect Moench's runs of hackiness are due to 1)his repeatedly-stated preference to not do super-heroes, and 2)unlike Steve Gerber, maybe he just doesn't do well with nonverbal, (mostly)unthinking characters? Mark DrummondJanuary 25, 2015 1:26 AM Legion of Monsters #1 (Frankenstein) It's possible that Moench had a serious problem with homosexuality at this point; the 2nd part of his Moon Knight story in Marvel Spotlight around this time has a number of gay slurs. Mark DrummondJanuary 25, 2015 1:12 AM Tales of the Zombie #10 Evidently Bambu needed a 2nd job when Cheech & Chong weren't performing. Mark DrummondJanuary 25, 2015 1:07 AM Tales of the Zombie #9 The Bizarre Adventures story actually takes place during the 1970s run, which makes its exclusion from the Essential even dumber. Nathan AdlerJanuary 25, 2015 1:02 AM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 @ Matt and david banes: Yes Demon Queen was already taken, in the British fantasy comic published at the time, Redfox. Claremont dubbed Madelyne Goblin Queen in tribute to the Demon Queen saga written by his friend Chris Bell. @Jon Dubya: Yeah I agree with you about Weezie doing the sexist damaging stuff to Maddie. @Walter: My latest fix explains a possible reason why Claremont keeps having Mister Sinister suggest he has no heart:) fnord12January 25, 2015 12:42 AM Amazing Spider-Man #72 Thanks and welcome, Jenni. fnord12January 24, 2015 8:52 PM What's Missing Listed it. Thanks. MichaelJanuary 24, 2015 7:14 PM What's Missing The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange features four stories- the first takes place after the Earth is recreated in Doctor Strange 13 and before Strange's encounter with Xandar in Doctor Strange 19, the fourth story takes place shortly before Strange's first encounter with Dormammu, the second story takes place "in the 1960s" and the third story- your head will explode trying to figure out when the third story takes place. Mark DrummondJanuary 24, 2015 6:37 PM Tales of the Zombie #8 Gerber's complaints here seem a bit dated--the pill had been around since the early 1960s, and swinging got its start around 1965 or so(admittedly it was much more widespread in the 1970s). Ataru320January 24, 2015 5:03 PM Daredevil #42 Looking from the base "Daredevil" section on the site, the only key villains to emerge prior to Bullseye and Frank Miller in this book are more or less those that made bigger impacts in Marvel Universe proper by other writers, such as Owl, Purple Man and Man-Bull. In comics, at least he mostly kept Gladiator and Stilt-Man to himself...and Stilt-Man at least just has a novelty due to being DD's Paste-Pot Pete. Mark DrummondJanuary 24, 2015 4:59 PM Tales of the Zombie #4 John Albano's presence here is strange; he was the co-creator of Jonah Hex and was almost 100% a DC guy. Mark DrummondJanuary 24, 2015 4:47 PM Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 For some weird reason, this issue got horrible reproduction in the Essential volume. And even weirder, when Morbius meets Werewolf By Night a year later, he gets freaked out when he changes back to Jack Russell! Did Morbius receive some amnesiac blow to the head in his Fear series in-between? Mark DrummondJanuary 24, 2015 4:35 PM Amazing Spider-Man #20 Amazing Heroes #158 contains a strange notation: apparently Marvel in 1965 was considering a 3-D Spider-Man book with a backup feature called simply "The 3-D Man". Roy Thomas supposedly took the name for his own creation a dozen years later. Mark DrummondJanuary 24, 2015 4:31 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 At this time, Amazing Heroes #157 ran a preview of the proposed Longshot unlimited series. Details: a prequel Longshot GN by Nocenti/Adams had been dropped, he was going to quit the X-Men in the first issue(with a guest appearance by the group), his recurring villains would be Mephisto & Mojo, and the book would be bi-monthly. Mark DrummondJanuary 24, 2015 4:26 PM Super-Villain Team-Up #1-4 Tony Isabella's blog confirms that Everett's contribution was pages from an unused solo Dr. Doom story(intended for Astonishing Tales #9?) JenniJanuary 24, 2015 3:15 PM Amazing Spider-Man #72 Yes I only read it in Origins of Marvel Comics. Man, I really hated these dynamics. I mean why would Peter want to be with someone who referred to his having been bullied at school as the way Flash used to be kidding? And Flash making these horribly awkward "compliments" to Gwen (although she do seem to take them as compliments) and Peter instead of rolling his eyes or something goes all possesive and wierd even though Gwen did make the point to Flash she was with Peter. And also want to say I am so happy I found this site fnord12 this is amazing, thank you so much for sharing this with everybody! MegaSpiderManJanuary 24, 2015 3:11 PM End of Line An F? You're too hard on yourself. ;) AndrewJanuary 24, 2015 2:13 PM Amazing Spider-Man #72 This story was reprinted in Origins of Marvel Comics, so any true Marvel fan would have already owned it. Erik BeckJanuary 24, 2015 11:24 AM Silver Surfer #1 Another one I remember from Son of Origins. That last panel you scanned is one of the great all-time Surfer panels. Erik BeckJanuary 24, 2015 11:16 AM Daredevil #42 Good lord, do all pre-Bullseye Daredevil foes suck? Erik BeckJanuary 24, 2015 8:50 AM Avengers #54-55 Really great art here. I love that Crimson Cowl simply sends the Black Knight a letter to invite him into the Masters of Evil. That new Masters of Evil is interesting - at least it has some holdovers from the original. But unlike say, The Lethal Legion, which always seemed to have the Grim Reaper, the Masters come around a lot with a lot of leaders. It was always fascinating that Ultron debuted as Ultron-5. He's a home run right off the bat and is probably the definitive Avengers villain. Erik BeckJanuary 24, 2015 8:32 AM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #1-3,5 Never was a huge Nick Fury fan and never bought an issue where he was the primary character. But this is just great, great work by Steranko. One of the few times I would argue for a higher grade, under the theory that people who had no interest in comics would buy this just for the art. JackJanuary 24, 2015 7:50 AM Amazing Spider-Man #124-125 One man's junk is another man's treasure! Loved this two part story as a kid! And, still do! Jay GallardoJanuary 24, 2015 4:30 AM Monsters Unleashed #4-10 (Frankenstein) The original art of that The Classic Monster splash page hanged on my wall for years, but I sold it a couple of years ago. I needed money for a new guitar. I will only say that Buscema's work on that page was beautiful, amazing!!! Ataru320January 23, 2015 9:28 PM Thor #329 My own pet theory: Mary Gold never left and Nurse Stevens was always her; thus the changing gender/hair color/such. Would be cool and playful of her but that's just my own imagination regarding how mermaid magic works. MichaelJanuary 23, 2015 7:54 PM Frankenstein #13-18 "i'm not too fond of the idea that some suburban scientist can cook up a creation in his living room that parallels the mad achievements of the original Dr. Frankenstein." kvetoJanuary 23, 2015 6:20 PM Erik BeckJanuary 23, 2015 11:25 AM Uncanny X-Men #43-45 Was this the first example of Roy Thomas bringing back a Golden Age character (even if it was later retconned out)? Also, a good sign of the relative popularity of the books - X-Men and Avengers both debuted the same month. Yet, the Avengers has already been printing so much more often that by this point, X-Men is still only at #45 and Avengers is at #53. CreelJanuary 23, 2015 10:52 AM Defenders #120-125 Chris, you are right. It was IH #369 fnord12January 23, 2015 7:22 AM What's Missing Thanks, Michael. Listed it. MichaelJanuary 22, 2015 9:51 PM What's Missing Bizarre Adventures 31 contains a Hangman story. Time Traveling BunnyJanuary 22, 2015 1:52 PM Fantastic Four #51 That splash page was my Facebook profile picture for about a year. Why, yes, I am a huge dork! Erik BeckJanuary 22, 2015 12:23 PM Avengers #52 This might be the oldest issue I still have, in Marvel Treasury Edition #7, an Avengers collection in large format that I couldn't bear to give up because of childhood memories. I always thought the Black Panther was immediately the coolest character in the room, no matter who else was around. Erik BeckJanuary 22, 2015 11:54 AM Amazing Spider-Man #57-58 Interesting how Ka-Zar first showed up in X-Men, then Daredevil, then Spider-Man (next will be Hulk). Even though I think of the FF as the explorers, Ka-Zar won't appear in Fantastic Four until the late 80's. Erik BeckJanuary 22, 2015 11:51 AM Uncanny X-Men #40 There's a great moment (not pictured above), where Xavier explains the story of the book and Iceman is unfamiliar with it. Xavier then chides Bobby because "it was required reading." Clearly, even being telepathic, doesn't mean you can always get your students to do their homework. MegaSpiderManJanuary 21, 2015 11:46 PM Daredevil #201 I've always liked B.W's grey outfit, short hair look. Kinda wish it'd show up in one of the movies. Mark DrummondJanuary 21, 2015 11:23 PM Amazing Spider-Man #50 Actually, by the time the Osborns showed up, Nixon's career was considered to be over for good(but that did change). MikeCheyneJanuary 21, 2015 10:46 PM Captain America #285 I understand for dramatic purposes why the Porcupine can't find any buyers, but come on, SOMEONE would want this suit. At the very least, I'm not sure why someone like Hammer or the Tinkerer wouldn't buy it and retool it. Erik BeckJanuary 21, 2015 12:04 PM Avengers #47-50 I'm with Chris. I came across Black Knight as a part of the 80's team and he was one of my favorite characters. It just took until then before he was used right. Erik BeckJanuary 21, 2015 11:34 AM Uncanny X-Men #37-39 I remember being fascinated by Factor Three, who only earned a footnote in the second volume of Marvel Universe, only to be massively letdown when I finally read these issues recently. I was especially put off by the "Mastermind simply recovered from being turned to stone" aspect. It just took over the book for far too long and then was a big letdown as a conclusion - since Roy has done such a bad job creating villains let's unite the ones that Stan created. I agree very much with the concept of the "graduation" costumes - it was nice to have them look like a team and now that they're older, nice to have them not look so much like a team. I still love Cyclops' uniform and Marvel Girl's uniform, though recently dismissed by my wife as "just ridiculous" works for me - I first saw it when I read the Dark Phoenix Saga and even then knew it was aimed at the 12 year old in me. But, yeah, Angel's costume is just terrible. I must admit, I do like the back-up stories and learning how the team was gathered. But, having read them originally in Marvel Saga, I was surprised upon actually reading them to see the much wider array of Jack's powers - Marvel Saga made it seem like radiation will turn him to diamond, whereas he has an array of telepathic powers in these stories. Ataru320January 21, 2015 8:43 AM Strange Tales #112 (Human Torch) If you look at the cover, you'd think the Eel was the "Living Bomb"...only he's referred to as the Eel in a thought bubble by Johnny. I wonder what makes eels explode anyway? And if all "bubbles" was like that super-long Thing one, maybe modern comics would be way more interesting...or just "text books with funny pictures". MichaelJanuary 20, 2015 11:54 PM Tales of the Zombie #9 It's not clear what happens to Bruce Mason after this story. In a Spider-Man Unlimited issue, Hannibal King helps Donna Garth get the Zombie back from Lilith, Donna hits on him and King turns her down without mentioning her being married. It's possible Donna's divorced or widowed but OTOH, it's possible Donna just had a moment of weakness and King was too polite to mention she was married. DermieJanuary 20, 2015 10:17 PM Tales of the Zombie #8 Seriously? Birth control turns you into a sociopath and a killer? You'd think they'd put that on the label... You've got to love the double standards for the art in the 70s--a swingers orgy and while all the women are in their underwear or lingerie, all of the men are fully dressed! fnord12January 20, 2015 10:06 PM What's Missing Thanks, Michael. I've added it, but the good news is that it's included in Essential Marvel Horror vol. 2, so i can include it in the current Back Issue Add. MichaelJanuary 20, 2015 7:53 PM What's Missing Strange Tales 172, a Brother Voodoo story, is missing. Erik BeckJanuary 20, 2015 12:14 PM Tales Of Suspense #95-99 (Iron Man) Ah, this answers my question on the Cap story in TOS #89. One of my brothers definitely must have had Marvel Double Feature #13, which had that Cap story, and the second part of this story (TOS #96) because I remember very distinctly both Iron Man falling at the start and Whiplash at the end. Ah, childhood memories. fnord12January 20, 2015 9:35 AM Avengers annual #1 I've thought about adding alternate types of tags, although i hadn't considered villain teams, which is a good idea. I was thinking having a separate type of tag for artifacts like the Infinity Gems and the Wand of Watoomb and stuff like that. But i don't want to just mix it in with the Characters, and there's currently no easy way to set up a different category of tags, so it would have to be something that's only available in the Advanced Search, same is if you were searching for Writers or Artists. Something to think about for one day, but since it would be kind of clunky it's probably not worth the effort. One day i imagine i'll have to do a rehaul of the system and it'll be something to think about for then. In the meantime i imagine a plain text search would probably work pretty well. Erik BeckJanuary 20, 2015 6:47 AM Avengers annual #1 To have this back-to-back with the Daredevil Annual just shows how pathetic the Daredevil villains are. This is so much a better group. Fnord - on a side note, have you ever considered doing tags for various villain groups? Or is it too much of a hassle, especially deciding if it's really a named group, and if various versions of the same named group (Masters of Evil, say) should be tagged the same. Erik BeckJanuary 20, 2015 6:22 AM Avengers #41-42 By the Zestful Zither of Zeus is totally becoming my new catchphrase. Nathan AdlerJanuary 20, 2015 4:55 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Oh and if you want to work out Farouk's connection with magic, you might be interested in my latest post "How Would You Fix... Mister Sinister's origin?" here: Nathan AdlerJanuary 20, 2015 4:53 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 @ChrisW: I've picked up on heaps of similarities you don't mention. You've got my email as I think we both need to bounce this once back and forth in order to eliminate and improve:) ChrisWJanuary 19, 2015 8:06 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Michael, as for the Brood eggs-as-disease analogy, that's not what it was. It was a natural process, egg hatching to maturity and giving birth to a baby Brood. These are aliens, and even the eggs are powerful and self-aware, so I could accept some leeway, but only up to a point. A human woman doesn't give birth after two months while a different human woman is pregnant for eighteen months. Like I say, I can accept some leeway. The egg immediately went after Wolverine, but only in self-defense against his healing factor and skeleton. Storm began a physical transformation earlier than the rest of the X-Men, but probably because she's a Claremont favorite, and in-story she felt herself being corrupted mind, body and soul and the egg was no doubt working in self-defense again. I'm not one of those who demand that publishing time be in any way equivalent to comic-book time, but the sheer length of this storyline meant Xavier would have had to be implanted twelve issues before he actually turned into a Brood, and none of his actions were consistent with someone implanted with a Brood egg until the early "New Mutants" issues. Then his personality shifted exactly like Storm or Colossus did after they were implanted. Finally, because I haven't derailed this page enough with different points, in #187, just after Storm has killed a Dire Wraith (or thinks she has) she, Forge and Naze and the Wraiths are somehow connected in a never-explained mind-meld, along with "one other that is neither human nor alien, both alive and dead, possessing the divinity of a god and the cruel humor of the devil." Convenient answer would be that this was the Adversary, only Naze hadn't yet summoned the Adversary. Less-convenient answer would be that this was Farouk. Maybe it was the Demon Bear, which had recently appeared in "New Mutants" and would connect this back to Forge and Naze. What strikes me is how similar the experience reads to Xavier going into a coma and the foreshadowing we had from that. It wasn't a Wraith attack, because they used Storm and Forge's momentary weakness to press their assault. The Adversary is the most obvious suspect, to trick Naze into summoning him like he tricked Naze's student Forge into sacrificing his squad in Vietnam. But I'm actually starting to build a theory that it was Farouk, both in #187 and in Charley's coma. Both times, it came out of nowhere, and both attacks focused on people Farouk hated. It doesn't explain why Xavier became catatonic on a starship far far away - unless Farouk was clinging to him, almost like a mental Brood egg, and seized his chance to find a host body when he met Shan - but it oddly fits with his basic goals, corruption and domination (not like that's unique among Claremont villain) and might even explain the entire 'reformation of Magneto.' As Magneto altered the Earth's magnetic field to prevent long-range telepathic communication (which, you know, is totally realistic) Farouk felt the need to keep tabs on the master of magnetism. Using what influence he could, he turned Magneto away from villainy. Who did he find to make that happen? Scott Summers' ex-girlfriend, Lee Forester. [Magneto's Island where Illyana was kidnapped to Limbo and the appearance of Magnus [!] which destroyed Asteroid M and sent him crashing to Earth are either icing on the cake, or continuity Claremont would eventually get to... on Earth-2.] Through Lee, and perhaps Xavier, Farouk led to Magneto's reformation, to his taking over as headmaster, indeed to his infiltration of the Hellfire Club and becoming "The Shadow King." In #274-5, Magneto did refer to having fought the Shadow King, so it's possible he got rid of the influence off-panel, and returned to the villain he used to be. There are a lot of holes in this theory, I don't deny that. Farouk isn't magic, he's not going to have a clue about Magnus being able to rip apart a star in search of his so, or Magneto's Island leading to Limbo, Illyana's kidnapping and eventually Inferno. Or maybe he is (somehow) and that's why the mental strikes on Xavier and Storm foreshadowed the eventual Brood/Adversary connections. And then there's "Secret Wars." Even if we take "Illuminati" seriously (which I don't) there's no way he could prepare for the experience on Battleworld. Or Nimrod, or Rachel Summers. And these are just X-Men-centric examples, how did he know the Casket of Ancient Winters (which I know nothing about) wouldn't end his schemes permanently? Or Doctor Doom? Or Dormammu? At best it explains why Xavier woke up after dreaming of his first meeting with Magneto, and fathering an illegitimate child with Gabby who would go on to prove very useful to Farouk. And the founding of HYDRA, where Baron Strucker's kids would accelerate Magneto's "reformation." And possibly even why the Hellfire Club' Inner Circle admitted an anti-mutant cyborg, so that the Reavers would eventually be formed to destroy the X-Men. I've been reading way too much of Nathan Adler's site, but this was fun. Erik BeckJanuary 19, 2015 3:51 PM Avengers #43-44 Interesting that Jan has a birthday with a specific age (obviously there's a reason, but still). That's so rare in the MU. The only others that immediately spring to mind are Peter Parker and Kitty Pride. Erik BeckJanuary 19, 2015 3:45 PM Amazing Spider-Man #51-52 I love how Kingpin in the splash page declares that the city is his because Spider-Man is gone. Do the FF, the Avengers, Daredevil and even 3/5 of the X-Men (Jean at college, Bobby and Hank so often in the Village) just not count? Or would they just not care? Erik BeckJanuary 19, 2015 3:42 PM Uncanny X-Men #34 Art by the inker. Must not make Chasing Amy joke. Must not make Chasing Amy joke. david banesJanuary 19, 2015 1:19 PM Strange Tales #178-181 Also apparently Bolgia, the big red thug of the opening trio is the same species as the Blood Brothers. That's a neat tidbit. I figured the Bloods wew created. TockJanuary 19, 2015 1:00 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Some say Bryne made this so horrible because he just did what he wanted to and how he liked it and didn't give shit about what ohters did, and someothers say that he did it to anatagonize Enaglehart as revenge for what he did after taking over the FF after Bryne Erik BeckJanuary 19, 2015 7:59 AM Amazing Spider-Man #50 I wonder if the Osborns are modeled (physically) on Nixon. Come to think of it, Norman could have been totally modeled on Nixon, though Nixon treated his kids better. Erik BeckJanuary 19, 2015 7:54 AM Fantastic Four #65 Reed's gonna blow a bunch of money on Sue's wardrobe, whereas his is all apparently custom made because it seems that every item of clothing he owns must be made out of unstable molecules. ChrisWJanuary 19, 2015 12:01 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Shan: Fair enough, but even you admit they were 'hiding the truth,' which was my original point. A truth that only Xavier knows, or only Xavier, Ororo, Peter and Kurt know is still hiding the truth from everybody else. "The entity that attacked [Shan] may strike again. If that happens, I want the New Mutants far away, out of danger." What if that entity attacks the New Mutants when they're far away and supposedly out of danger? Xavier and the X-Men won't be available, and by hiding the truth, the New Mutants are much more vulnerable as a result. Xavier didn't do a good job of protecting the New Mutants from Farouk or the Brood in the first place, just like the X-Men didn't do a good job of protecting Alex and Lorna from the Marauders. I can't even say their hearts were in the right place, because Betsy's reaction to Alex' return was "Kill him." X-Factor: It's Magneto *and* Wolverine. Magneto spent too long fighting the original X-Men, he obviously recognized them, and in the spirit of 'If keeping this information secret puts your teammates at risk, don't keep it secret,' he'd have told the X-Men immediately. They'd all wonder who the redhead is, but they'd have something to go on. And then Wolverine is sniffing *ALL* the original X-Men's scents in the Morlock tunnels? [And the New Mutants too.] Scott, Bobby, Warren, Hank, and someone who smells exactly like Jean. It might be Dark Phoenix reborn, maybe they should investigate. He smells her again at Sarah Grey's house. And the decision is that maybe Wolverine should just shut up and let problems build for a long time and if it gets any of his teammates killed, at least he didn't tell them what he discovered. Being informed might have been helpful, and he couldn't allow that. Just imagine how Maddy would have reacted, much less Storm or Alex. My job involves having a security clearance. I understand not telling people things they don't have a need to know, and trusting the higher-ups to know what people do or don't need to know. This helps distinguish between telling people things that they can know but are utterly irrelevant, or things that they can know but will bore them to tears if they're told. That said, as I make my way through Essential X-Men (and related "Classic New Mutants" books) I'm flabbergasted by how often the main characters choose secrecy when honesty would really be the best policy. MichaelJanuary 18, 2015 11:07 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Xavier didn't hide the truth about Karma from all the X-Men- he told Storm, Peter and Kurt about it and they helped him hide the truth from the other X-Men and the New Mutants. ChrisWJanuary 18, 2015 10:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Lockheed, I have no problem with him being impervious to Xavier yet susceptible to Empath. Empath, Mastermind, Karma and the like occupy a place in mental abilities where there's no real objection to them using their talents against someone who is technically immune to a full-fledged telepath. I don't even know that the telepath has to be actively exercising those talents. I'd swear there was a scene where Xavier/Jean/Rachel/Betsy/Emma manipulated people's emotions [Farouk certainly did, but he always does that, so I won't count him] but I'm blanking on a specific example. With regards to Lockheed, I'm just noting that Xavier was far more successful with the other dragon alien. Illyana was speaking Russian at the end of #160, and isn't seen again until #164, when she asks Xavier how she returned to the mansion with Xavier and Moira (no mention of the X-Men) and spoke only Russian, but woke up the next morning speaking English. The mansion was still being rebuilt in #163. Moira appears in #163, and no it isn't explicit, but there's almost no chance it happened prior to #160. Illyana's been staying with the X-Men since #148, and spoke Russian the whole time. Kitty didn't tell her fairy tale in English. I'm not sure what your point is about telepathic conversations. Certainly the X-Men have been taught about such things, to broadcast their thoughts and so on. Receiving messages sounds less likely. I could see a telepath knowing that a conversation is going on, even if he/she can't actually follow it. I don't think it could bypass a mental screen, because that's the point of a mental screen. Unless they find a weakness or something, but that's for an individual story and not a general rule. I see your point about eavesdropping, and agree that Xavier would have decided long ago not to make a habit of such things, but I can't reconcile that with natural wariness. Especially for a superhero, especially for the leader and founder of a superhero team, especially for someone who is actively thinking about anti-mutant hostility and (given the random thoughts he was writing down earlier in the issue) should be smart enough to take precautions. "Do I sense anybody out there seeking me harm? Any random supervillains in the vicinity? No? Ok." It would screen out the generic 'I hate muties. Wonder what's on tv tonight' people while still giving him a chance at self-protection, which he completely failed at. This is a guy who used to warp the minds of entire crowds, is he really that incapable of counting how many ordinary humans are directly attacking him? Actually, as I make my way through the middle portion of Claremont's "X-Men," one of the things which strikes me the most is how far the main characters went to avoid sharing information. About anything. Even as they monologue about how dangerous the situation has become. Xavier hides the truth about his being mugged, Wolverine and Magneto hide the truth about X-Factor and the redhead working with them, Betsy hides the truth about her Mojo eyes, Illyana hides the truth about almost everything. The team mindwipes Alex to keep him from learning the truth, even if it means Lorna gets captured. In "X-Factor," Scott hides the truth of his marriage from Jean. Wolverine hides his name, his origin, the fact that his claws are part of his body, the fact that the Canadian government might want him back from his own teammates. Rachel hides her origins and parentage. Xavier hid the truth about Karma from the New Mutants (and the X-Men.) Corsair hid the truth about his relationship to Scott. Wolverine hid the truth about the Brood eggs from the X-Men as long as possible. Yes, it made for good drama. Yes, I can understand arguments that the characters had good reasons for each individual event. These are just top-of-my-head examples, and I've found many more while reading the Essentials, and in every case I find myself thinking "If keeping this information secret puts your teammates at risk, don't keep it secret." Mind-wiping Alex is the most egregious example. "He and Lorna will still be at risk, they won't have a clue who's attacking them, we'll be denied their skills, but at least we have our secrets." HUNH? StephenJanuary 18, 2015 7:54 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Some thoughts on how some of the telepathy anomalies could be explained. Lockheed is difficult/impossible to read telepathically because of his alien thought patterns. I don't think that's necessarily incompatible with him being subject to Empath broadcasting the emotion of fear (which is how I assume his emotion control power works). Presumably something less primal would be doomed to failure, and a telepath not used to using their power in such a way might have difficulty doing it, or assume that the initial resistance would apply to every other attempt. It may be possible that Illyana telepathically learning English overnight happened before Limbo. IIRC, the dialogue doesn't explicitly state that it happened afterwards. Telepathic conversations are something I've always assumed can bypass any kind of mental screen somebody has in place. X-Men with mental shields are taught to be able to broadcast their thoughts in a way that a properly trained telepath can pick up, and to receive a message. This explains many (but not all) of the inconsistencies with Maddie and Rogue. When it comes to Prof X missing the thugs in #192, earlier in the issue when they're in the airport, Rachel is thinking that he was probably right to tell her not to telepathically eavesdrop on people. Which presumably means that he screens them out unless he has a specific reason not to. That still leaves some inconsistencies with Rogue and Maddie. But I think I've demonstrated that there are some plausible ways to explain some of the inconsistencies, and it's possible that some of these were in Claremont's mind when he was writing. MichaelJanuary 18, 2015 7:19 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 I think that scenes like that can be attributed to Xavier's respect for privacy. He refused to read Gambit's mind when Bishop accused him of disloyalty in X-Men 9. ChrisWJanuary 18, 2015 7:14 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Surprise, Xavier *can* read Rogue's mind in #186. He's hooked up to Cerebro and she's possessed by a Dire Wraith. And of course in #192 he completely misses a group of people heading straight for him with malevolent intent as he's specifically thinks about mutant prejudice and sees "muties die!" graffiti. The following issue he tells Kurt "I was a soldier before you were born." Nice way to maintain situational awareness there, Chuck. MichaelJanuary 18, 2015 4:42 PM Tales of the Zombie #3 Weird thing about that "Net Result" story- when I was a kid my mom get me a book of horror stories- there was a similar story about a kid that collected moths being pinned himself by the moths. Someone else asked about it here: MichaelJanuary 18, 2015 4:22 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Betsy is able to read Maddie's mind in issue 221 to find out that all records of her existence are erased and in issue 222, she's able to determine Maddie is still alive. Even more confusing, Xavier himself is able to read Maddie's mind in X-Men/Alpha Flight 1- that's how he learns she's pregnant. Maybe Xavier was able to figure out how to read Maddie's mind eventually- it just took him a while to figure out how, and he left notes so Betsy could do the same thing. Ataru320January 18, 2015 4:12 PM Fantastic Four annual #3 But...so is Sub-Mariner and the Hulk and they're not there either. Its like that cover is just an excuse to draw the entire Marvel universe of that moment and just say in the middle "and oh yeah, Reed and Sue get married in this issue". Not necessarily the best thing to advertise two characters getting married. ChrisWJanuary 18, 2015 4:08 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Oh, and I found Xavier's Madelyne reference. #174 "Madelyne's is one those rare brains whose thoughts are closed to me. It's a natural phenomenon - though most unusual in a normal human." I don't recall Betsy having any trouble reading Maddie's mind. ChrisWJanuary 18, 2015 3:37 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 More inconsistencies. #181, Xavier can get far deeper into the mind of the dragon they brought back from Battleworld than Lockheed. "For the most part, the creature's thought processes are quite normal and orderly. What she's doing makes perfect sense. She can't comprehend why everyone's so upset. I'll have to probe deeper, make her understand- NO!! She's misinterpreting my mindtouch as an attack!" At the end of the story, Xavier makes it even more confusing. "Sensing his [Lockheed's] thoughts is one thing, Colossus. Comprehending them is another. Lockheed is truly alien and, I suspect, far more than a simple animal." SharJanuary 18, 2015 3:21 PM Fantastic Four annual #3 And here's a link to the cover. SharJanuary 18, 2015 3:15 PM Fantastic Four annual #3 I meant the "corner" box, of course. SharJanuary 18, 2015 3:14 PM Fantastic Four annual #3 At least Jan made the cover--she's under the credit box. ChrisWJanuary 18, 2015 3:14 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 The impression I've always had was that all of the X-Men were hosting queens. The Brood were saying as much right from the start. #155: "They [Storm and Corsair] appear to be prime specimens, fit perhaps for the mother-of-us-all herself." [Incidentally, this is right after Storm tells Corsair what happened to Jean off-panel, the last time Claremont wedges it into the series until #174 when Rogue asks why everyone's so freaked out about Madelyne. Yes, Kitty dresses up as Dark Phoenix in #157, but there's no exposition. You're expected to know what everyone is talking about.] #156: "Such formidable adversaries may prove to be splendid hosts for the mother-queen." #157: "As breeders, they would serve the 'mother of us all' herself!" #161: "You have served the Brood well, renegade. And so shall these X-Men as host-forms for the spawn of our blessed ruler, the 'mother-of-us-all.'" #162: "But he [Wolverine] hosts a queen! The great mother will surely desire confirmation of his death." #164: "Each egg contains an embryonic queen. It bonded itself to our nervous systems, so it can't be surgically removed." Also "The embryo queens possess a degree of awareness. They know when they're threatened an' they'll take any steps to ensure their survival." #166: "A queen embryo was implanted in you [Storm] - in every X-Man - by the Brood's mother queen. Did yours hatch?" "We all carry queen embryos inside us! When they hatch, we'll turn into sleazoids!" "A *FINAL* (emphasis mine) royal embryo exists, and when it hatches, your world is doomed!" Also, the New Mutants had nothing to do with it. Xavier didn't even learn about Karma until #165, much less any New Mutant other than Illyana. In "New Mutants" #1-2, a Brood zaps Dani and traps her in the Danger Room. The last two panels of #2 imply that Xavier was complicit in this. In #3, he's certainly acting out of character (similar to Storm dismissing Wolverine's worries in #162) and the Brood tells Dani they will be implanted with royal eggs. It's not specified how much time has passed between "New Mutants" #2 and 3, but my reading is that this was the Brood who implanted Xavier, and it was a typical Brood pregnancy. Looking at the Brood Saga and the issues surrounding it, I find the whole thing (dare I say it?) pregnant with meaning and subtext, which is why Charlie's coma sticks in my craw. Erik BeckJanuary 18, 2015 12:54 PM Fantastic Four annual #5 Even though they're married, I'm a little surprised that Sue being pregnant was okay by the Code at the time. And it might have confusing for younger readers and prompted talks with older siblings or, gasp, parents. Erik BeckJanuary 18, 2015 12:44 PM Amazing Spider-Man #48-49 The Romita work is nice. But I really love how this same story was drawn in Spider-Man: Blue, one of the few books I actually kept when I sold off almost my entire comics collection. Erik BeckJanuary 18, 2015 12:41 PM Tales Of Suspense #89-90 (Iron Man) Fantastic art. With all due respect to Heck, I dread to think what he would have done in that opening page. Conlan's work is just great there. MikeCheyneJanuary 18, 2015 12:28 PM Captain America #309 Don't you think AIM would want to remake Compound X07, seeing as how it basically makes people invulnerable (albeit probably insane as well)? fnord12January 18, 2015 11:23 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Or alternatively, if they are aware from the beginning, maybe the Queen was able to learn about the New Mutants from Xavier and realized that laying low and waiting until Xavier got back to Earth was its best propagation strategy. Xavier's telepathic powers almost gave the game away - hence his visions - but it was able to take control enough to keep him from realizing what had happened. fnord12January 18, 2015 11:18 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 The egg in Xavier was a Queen, right? Maybe they take longer to gestate? Erik BeckJanuary 18, 2015 9:16 AM Fantastic Four #61-63 I always liked the original Sandman "costume." You gotta admire a super-villain with all that power who just does his stuff in his stripey shirt. Important rule for super-villains: Never, ever, team up with Blastaar. He's incredibly powerful and he will absolutely betray you the first chance he has. Erik BeckJanuary 18, 2015 9:08 AM Tales Of Suspense #88-90 (Captain America) Oh, wow. This gives me a weird flashback. I'm not sure where I read this story, but I know I read it somewhere (perhaps my brothers had that issue of Marvel Double Feature, because it's the only place it was reprinted before the 00's according to GCD). That panel of Bucky pulling off his mask I probably haven't seen for 30 years, but as soon as I saw it, I knew it instantly. As for the second panel, it's great how some artists you can see the work and suddenly realize who they are. The first panel didn't do it, but that second ones scream Gil Kane. I think I can picture Green Lantern in that same pose Power Man is in. ZeilsternJanuary 18, 2015 8:12 AM Thor #184-194 In trying to solve the eternal mystery of "Who Did What?" (Kirby versus Lee edition), this run of THOR is a good piece of evidence. It's all Lee (and Buscema) with no Kirby. And we get gorgeous art, we get epic dialogue and... we get very little in the way of original creation. The Guardian and Durok are pretty lame (and that's being generous). Everything else is a retread of Kirby concepts. I read these issues and I conclude that it was indeed Kirby who did the bulk of the creative heavy-lifting in the Lee-Kirby partnership. Ataru320January 18, 2015 7:39 AM Amazing Spider-Man #112-115 I think that "The Godfather"'s influence is less to do with caricature's and more to do with a legitimacy of using the mob in a certain way. Prior to this, it was more about bizarre gimmicks like Count Nefaria the "what the heck am I, a mob boss or a generic supervillain"; but here its an actual mob gang...even if it is still lead by a gimmicked character like Hammerhead. I think its probably just as important for comics in some ways as what was seen in street crime with the laxing of drug rules in the CCA at this point. ChrisWJanuary 18, 2015 12:43 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Brood eggs are self-aware and immediately powerful, to the point where one egg saved Kitty from lethal exposure to radiation long before it finished gestation, and another egg did its best to transform Wolverine ahead of schedule. There's absolutely nothing about Charley to make him physically less susceptible to a Brood egg than any other human/mutant. As a writer, I can accept that thematically, this was where the story was headed - although he wakes up from the coma after remembering his first adventure with Magneto? - but as a reader, it just makes me scratch my head. Sorry to digress from the earlier discussion about telepathy, but like I said, I've just been re-reading Essential X-Men and the Brood Storyline sticks out as one of Claremont's best works, which I am eager to write about as soon as I can find an angle. AndrewJanuary 17, 2015 7:27 PM Amazing Spider-Man #112-115 I think Hammerhead owes more to the old Dick Tracy villain, Flat Top, than Marlon Brando. ChrisWJanuary 17, 2015 7:24 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 But it can't be handwaved away like that. [Ok, it can, and obviously was, but it's ridiculous.] Why would telepathy save anybody from a Brood egg with a natural gestation period? What magical biochemistry does Xavier have that lets him resist a Brood egg for so much longer than any of the other X-Men? It's not the same weird contradiction about immunity to telepathy, it's just another weird contradiction/inconsistency that permeated Claremont's mutant titles and never got explained. [By the way, I'm still going through Essential X-Men, and although I haven't found it yet, at one point Xavier does specify Madelyne as (from memory) 'one of those rare human beings whose minds are naturally closed to me.' Just another inconsistency in an ever-growing list.] Mark DrummondJanuary 17, 2015 2:44 PM Daredevil #247 An early version of the cover was printed in Amazing Heroes #157. AndrewJanuary 17, 2015 1:12 PM Avengers #66-68 PB210 makes a good point about that commandment. If you really break down the etymology, it translates as "Thou shalt not kill, except when it's OK to kill." Maybe the circular logic infuriated Ultron so much it made his head explode. As for Cap's shield, the Tales of Suspense line was really one of Stan's throwaway lines, like when Professor X declared his love for Jean Grey in a single thought bubble in X-men 3. The idea of the indestructible shield didn't get picked up again until Cap 152, when Mr. Hyde tried and failed to break it. (Oddly enough, he would again try and again fail exactly 100 issues later.) It didn't really take off until Avengers 165, when Super-Count Nefaria couldn't break it. After that, John Byrne wouldn't shut up about it. Busiek's well-intentioned campaign against an Adamantium shield never made a lot of sense. There's no reason metallurgists couldn't have accidentally created Adamantium in the 40's and simply been unable to replicate the process. MichaelJanuary 17, 2015 12:46 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 But all of that can be handwaved by saying "The Brood egg affected Xavier differently because of his particular biochemistry or because he was a powerful telepath". In real life, diseases affect people differently for all sorts of reasons. It's not a weird contradiction like Illyana/Rogue/Lockheed being immune to telepathy in some ways but subject to it in others. AndrewJanuary 17, 2015 12:10 PM Thor #168-170 Ecce is Latin for "behold." Nifty name for a Watcher. cullenJanuary 17, 2015 11:32 AM Hulk #151-153 Nice catch, Andrew. MichaelJanuary 17, 2015 8:57 AM Defenders #5 I'm not sure I buy that- we've discussed Englehart's ... issues writing women many times on this site, although they seem to have become more pronounced in the '80's. Erik BeckJanuary 17, 2015 8:48 AM Uncanny X-Men #30 This issue, especially that third example you use, has some of the worst art I've ever seen in a Marvel book. Jean is drawn so badly you'd think a grade school kid did it. AndrewJanuary 17, 2015 8:40 AM Uncanny X-Men #28 For at least a hundred years, snub noses and weirdly elongated filtrums had been visual short hand for "Irish" among American and English cartoonists. Like buck teeth on Japanese and hook noses on Indians, it didn't really matter if the convention had any basis in reality. Roth was just following a well established convention/stereotype. AndrewJanuary 17, 2015 7:47 AM Defenders #5 Englehart, who usually wrote comparatively well-developed women for the time, does an unusually poor job with Valkyrie's characterization here, especially her unconvincing unrequited love for the Black Knight. I suspect that EoC Roy Thomas, who created both characters, must have dictated that sub-plot. AndrewJanuary 17, 2015 7:23 AM Hulk #151-153 The splash of 153 is a reference to the Chicago Seven trial, with the gagging of the radical Bobby Seale. For much of the early seventies the Hulk was a stand-in for disaffected youth, a gentle giant who was only stirred to violence in response to institutional oppression. kvetoJanuary 17, 2015 6:47 AM Tales of the Zombie #1 Sure, I just was wondering why they didnt base Donna off the dark, curly haired girl in the original and draw her that way. That's what i meant about fashions. The 70s artists prefered to draw a blonde obviously, so changed the original. although the story never addressed why Donna would be living alone in a hut in the middle of a swamp after her father's death. JSfanJanuary 17, 2015 4:56 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #72 Damn, Wein knows how to colour a book. I think she's was/is(?) the best in the business. Sparky RyanJanuary 17, 2015 12:19 AM Amazing Spider-Man #266 They could have left out the use of 'The Spastic Three' as an alternative name for the Misfits in the last panel, as it is quite derogatory to the disabled. Although I'm hopeful no malice was intended. ChrisWJanuary 16, 2015 10:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 But that makes no sense, in exactly the same way Claremont's use of telepathy makes no sense. Why would a Brood egg implanted in Xavier take so much more time to gestate than a Brood egg implanted in all the other X-Men? Storm and Cyclops were physically transforming within a few issues, but Xavier stayed human much longer, and retained enough self-control to beg for death in #167 after he'd already transformed? And the New Mutants weren't implanted in that early X-Babies story featuring the Brood? And Xavier simply woke up from the coma by remembering the first time he met Magneto? This is not consistent or coherent. This is a good example of what people mean when they use "comic book" as a pejorative (and I say this as someone who loves the story itself, and I've just re-read it.) MichaelJanuary 16, 2015 9:58 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Re:Xavier's coma: I think the idea was the Brood implanted an egg in Xavier when he was their prisoner in issue 156 but it took longer for him to undergo the metamorphosis for some reason. ChrisWJanuary 16, 2015 9:38 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 I wouldn't think there's any difference. There is more to a person's mind than their emotions - there are conscious thoughts, unconscious thoughts, there is intelligence - but emotions are part of our mind as well. Xavier, Jean, Rachel and Betsy could erase people's thoughts and memories ("They won't remember that the X-Men were here") change people's emotions in the process (Jean decided that Carmen Pryde would no longer be furious at his daughter's long disappearance) they could change perceptions (Betsy making Rogue think she was flying upwards when it was the opposite) there are subtle divergences from explicit telepathy (Mastermind and Empath) and the way that minds explicitly "closed" to telepaths are somehow not "closed" when Claremont decides it's inconvenient, or vice-versa. See X-Men Annual #12 cited above, where Betsy can get a precise lock on Rogue from a long distance, but is somehow blocked by Storm. Hell, X-Men #161, Xavier finds that Magneto's mind is closed off to him. Not to mention the fact that in the lead-up to #150 [great issue, by the way; I re-read Essential X-Men #3 yesterday] Magneto changed the Earth's magnetic field specifically to prevent long-range telepathy. I know this is a superhero comic book and not exactly true-to-life, but the inconsistencies pile up to the point where one has to wonder what's the point? [Totally different example, why did Xavier fall into a coma in #157? The Brood was clearly involved, because Cockrum drew one of the Brood at the exact moment, and Oracle found the same picture when she scanned Xavier the following issue, but it couldn't have been that he was implanted with a Brood Egg because we were still several issues from the X-Men being implanted, and they went through the metamorphosis long before Xavier. He woke up from the coma just by remembering an early adventure with Magneto and Gabby against HYDRA, something that had nothing to do with the Brood. An early "New Mutants" issue was definitely the set-up for Xavier being implanted. So what was the point? The point is that Claremont is inconsistent and never explains this stuff!] Sorry about the digression, but like I said, I just re-read Essential X-Men #3 (and just finished the Brood Saga a few minute ago) and am boiling over with thoughts about this stuff. Anyway, affecting someone's emotions is affecting their mind. It's not affecting their thoughts, perceptions or memories, but it is affecting their minds. Erik RobbinsJanuary 16, 2015 9:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #28 And you didn't even mention Rogue, Magneto, Juggernaut or Emma Frost. ChrisWJanuary 16, 2015 8:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #153 Also Claremont's interest in airplanes. The X-Men didn't have an SR-71 before he took over (I'm positive) and given that Lockheed was a major producer of aircraft, Maddy was right. Lockheed is a perfect name for a... cat? MichaelJanuary 16, 2015 8:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Something else to note- Lockheed was also stated to be immune to telepathy- and as a result in X-Men/Micronauts 4 the Entity couldn't affect him- but Empath was able to affect Lockheed's emotions in Uncanny X-Men 193. What's the difference between affecting someone's EMOTIONS and affecting their MIND? ChrisWJanuary 16, 2015 8:26 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Additional research, in #164, Illyana asks Xavier why she sometimes hears his voice in her head, and why she fell asleep one night knowing only how to speak Russian, but woke up the next morning speaking English. But two panels later, Xavier thinks "Illyana's thoughts are protected by an extra-ordinarily powerful and sophisticated psionic shield." Then how did he teach her English??? Claremont's inability to be consistent did not start with Rogue. Mark DrummondJanuary 16, 2015 5:21 PM Wolverine #4-8 At about the time #4 was published, Amazing Heroes #157 had a weird announcement: Marvel was considering an Alf Spring Special guest starring Wolverine. No idea if that actually happened. Mark DrummondJanuary 16, 2015 5:17 PM Amazing Spider-Man #315 A few early reports of Inferno stated that Venom would appear in that, but evidently his reappearance got pushed back to here. Mark DrummondJanuary 16, 2015 5:13 PM Tales of the Zombie #1 Donna in the Menace story had to be redrawn to conform with the rest of the book, in the same way the Zombie had to be given long hair. The Zombie was confirmed to be in the MU in the first OHOTMU Book of the Dead. Weirdly enough, the Zombie story in the late 1982 Bizarre Adventures horror issue was not included in the Essential. The Dracula story there wasn't reprinted in the Essentials either; I'm guessing someone at Marvel just plain forgot the book existed. Mark DrummondJanuary 16, 2015 4:57 PM Red Wolf #8 The over-expository dialogue and boatload of slang comes courtesy of Fox writing at DC for decades. Mark DrummondJanuary 16, 2015 4:51 PM Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos #100 That's Roy Thomas and Larry Lieber behind Captain America's hand in that one panel. fnord12January 16, 2015 3:22 PM Tales of the Zombie #1 You may remember that the Essentials trade included the story from Dracula Lives #2 with Dracula meeting Marie Laveau. The story, which was published the same month as this issue, showed Simon Garth in the crowd at Mardi Gras, in what i assume was meant to be an overlap with the scene from Menace #5. The Dracula story is otherwise unrelated to the Zombie (and i'll cover it when i get to my Dracula Essentials) but his inclusion there showed that he lives in the same world with Dracula. That said, at this point i don't think Dracula was really shown to be part of the MU yet. His cameo in Dec 73's Avengers #118 is i think his first mainstream MU appearance. kvetoJanuary 16, 2015 2:48 PM Tales of the Zombie #1 Its been awhile since i read my tales of the zombie essential. Is there anything that connects to the MU? I remember it being pretty separate. Also interesting that they changed Donna from a dark, curly brunette in the 53 story to a willowy blonde in the 74 redo. I guess just changing fashions. i figured they made Simon a jerk so we'd not feel so sorry when her got sheared (a pretty grisley death). fnord12January 16, 2015 2:29 PM Daredevil #104-107 "Daredevil and the Black Widow" was the title on the cover from issues #92-107. It was never called that in the indicia, though. cullenJanuary 16, 2015 2:11 PM Daredevil #104-107 I notice the footnote reference refers to issues 95-96 as "Daredevil/Black Widow." Was that ever the title's "official" name? (If you've addressed this previously, feel free to direct me!) Erik BeckJanuary 16, 2015 11:36 AM Uncanny X-Men #28 Two notes here - 1 - Marvel has the sliding timescale which allows some characters to age (Kitty) and some never seem to. But does anyone seem to age backwards like Banshee? Is it just Werner Roth's art, or does he never appear as old in any later appearance, over the years, as he did in his first appearance? 2 - Do the X-Men hold the record for most foes who would eventually become members of the team? I mean, seriously, we already have Mimic introduced, here we have Banshee, soon we will have Changeling (who is only technically a member of the team because of being Prof X). Quicksilver was a member of X-Factor, though, I don't believe he was ever an X-Man. Erik BeckJanuary 16, 2015 11:29 AM Fantastic Four #57-60 Clearly from how quickly they brought the Surfer back they knew they really had a winner with him. This was lampooned brilliantly in Twisted Toyfare Theatre when the Hulk accidentally comes in and ends up with the Power Cosmic (I've always loved that phrase). fnord12January 16, 2015 9:28 AM Strange Tales #125 (Dr. Strange) Thanks, Nathan. I've added a scan. Ataru320January 16, 2015 8:58 AM Daredevil #104-107 The greater question is obvious: why won't Captain Marvel just let him eat his ice cream? Unless he just thinks that the kid is going to want to share it with Thanos or something. (I think the mad titan's favorite flavor is "Deathberry" myself) Nathan AdlerJanuary 15, 2015 11:26 PM Strange Tales #125 (Dr. Strange) @fnord: This also marks the first time the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak are employed (after their first mention in the previous issue). david banesJanuary 15, 2015 9:54 PM Daredevil #104-107 Also Rick Jones ordered TWO scopes of Vanilla ice cream! Why is one pink!? MichaelJanuary 15, 2015 8:34 PM Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos #100 Ralston's career as a politician will be a plot point in future stories. (Heck, the poor man will get shot AGAIN, as you'll see "soon" when you get to 1990.) MichaelJanuary 15, 2015 7:55 PM Tales of the Zombie #1 Garth's a jerk but he was well within his rights to beat up Gyps. Gyps had no qualms about watching Donna naked and she clearly didn't like him touching her when she had nothing on but a towel. Plus, the fact that he later DOES try to kidnap her makes me think he probably would have raped her then and there if Garth hadn't intervened. MichaelJanuary 15, 2015 7:44 PM Captain America #350 As of All-New Captain America 3, Remender has undone the Snap Wilson retcon, and the Skull's recollections in this issue aren't addressed. Nathan AdlerJanuary 15, 2015 7:18 PM Strange Tales #130-144 (Dr. Strange) The Crimson Bands are initially shown as a BINDING spell, yet here in Strange Tales #143 Doc called on them to reveal where his cloak and amulet were, so not just for binding! So what's the deal with this "Cyttorak" energy; flexible enough to bend around someone, then unbreakable enough to bind them but also able to "reveal"? And just what is meant by "reveal", does the energy uncover, enable one to see through a masking spell, just what? Erik BeckJanuary 15, 2015 2:06 PM Amazing Spider-Man #44-45 How convenient that Curt Conners, like Bruce Banner, always seems to be wearing the same outfit when he transforms. Erik BeckJanuary 15, 2015 2:00 PM Fantastic Four annual #4 One of the biggest continuity questions has always been the difference in age between Reed and Ben. After all, they went to college together. But in issues like this, Reed seems so much older. TCPJanuary 15, 2015 8:53 AM Amazing Spider-Man #41 What's even more surprising is how little the Rhino actually appears in the early Spider-books. He has his run here and then pretty much becomes a Hulk villain until the late-80s/early-90s. Erik BeckJanuary 15, 2015 8:23 AM Amazing Spider-Man #42-43 No, WE just hit the jackpot because they waited until Romita took over the book before introducing MJ. With the way Romita draws her, she, hands down, becomes the hottest woman in the Marvel Universe at this point. And, while she may be an "irresponsible pleasure-seeker", that's a welcome relief, from the worrying types like Jane Foster, Pepper Potts, Karen Page. Erik BeckJanuary 15, 2015 8:13 AM Amazing Spider-Man #41 Romita hasn't quite his stride with Gwen here. It's a surprise that it took this long for the Rhino to appear. I think of him as one of those classic Spider-Man villains who showed up in the first 20 issues or so. Erik BeckJanuary 15, 2015 8:05 AM Uncanny X-Men #24 It makes you wonder if the writers had a contest to see whose caption could sound the most like Stan. Luis DantasJanuary 15, 2015 7:31 AM Werewolf By Night #38-41 @Michael: the captions in the last panel with Mack state that Mack was real enough, and presumably so was his story. However, apparently at some point Jeesala (the ugly witch-type talking with Raymond Coker) took his place and appearance to test Jack. No, it does not make a whole lot of sense, at least to me. fnord12January 15, 2015 7:28 AM Werewolf By Night #42-43 Oops, thanks. MichaelJanuary 14, 2015 11:16 PM Werewolf By Night #42-43 You've also got to move Werewolf By Night 38-41 before these issues. BillJanuary 14, 2015 11:03 PM West Coast Avengers #5 "It seems a bit wrong, since it should really only be magic or silver that stops him, but Hawkeye did manage to tag him with a silver arrow earlier, although it was only a superficial hit, so maybe that had a delayed effect. Or maybe Firebird's flame has a mystical characteristic." Or, maybe Wonder Man is just THAT darn strong! A solid hit from him will put just about anyone down and out. Mark DrummondJanuary 14, 2015 10:32 PM Werewolf By Night #38-41 The title to #39 is taken from the Doors' first album. FOOM back then did confirm that this book was being relaunched with a superhero direction, but Moench at the time wanted to steer clear of that as much as possible. MichaelJanuary 14, 2015 10:23 PM Werewolf By Night #38-41 I never read that Doctor Strange issue as saying ALL of Brother Voodoo's powers are fake, just some of his tricks. MichaelJanuary 14, 2015 9:28 PM Iron Man #209 Note that Buck Cowan is walking in these issues, even though he was in a wheelchair in the last issues of Werewolf By Night and Spider-Woman 19 (and Werewolf By Night 39 suggested his condition was permament). fnord12January 14, 2015 9:22 PM Werewolf By Night #42-43 @Michael - thanks. Note that this puts me out of sync with the MCP, which has IM #92-94 after Avengers #156. I'll be adding #92 as part of this Back Issue Add; hopefully nothing there causes a conflict. Ataru320January 14, 2015 9:00 PM Werewolf By Night #42-43 I think that while not Tomb of Dracula, the Werewolf series did ultimately introduce a few things that do seem key to the Marvel universe in many respects, from the major (Darkhold, Moon Knight, Tigra...and of course Jack Russel) to the minor (Topaz, Tatterdemalion, Hangman). But I think you are right in your assessment: while with problems before, Moench dropped the ball completely. ChrisJanuary 14, 2015 8:49 PM Amazing Spider-Man #260-261 Probably the last great Spidey-Hobgoblin fight until Stern comes back to revive the character. MichaelJanuary 14, 2015 8:32 PM Spider-Woman #19-20 The retcon that Jack still can't control his werewolf side under a full moon was probably an attempt to explain why Jack was out of control in Spider-Woman 6, although the real explanation is that Marv Wolfman never read Werewolf By Night 38-41 (not that you can blame him). MichaelJanuary 14, 2015 8:06 PM Werewolf By Night #42-43 Fnord, this story is referenced in Avengers 152, so this story and Iron Man 93-94 (which you linked to correctly but described as Daredevil 93-94 in the references) have to be pushed back before Avengers 150-152. MichaelJanuary 14, 2015 7:56 PM Werewolf By Night #38-41 I'm confused- if the father and son were illusions, does that mean the ex-wife and her boyfriend were illusions too? And why should we care? AndrewJanuary 14, 2015 7:17 PM Amazing Spider-Man #259 Hey, "This Man... This Monster!" only gets a C, and that's Stan and Jack at the height of their talents, so clearly the ratings are more than a little subjective. So much depends on how old you were when the books first came out. I was in my mid-twenties when the black costume saga was going on, and I couldn't stand it (based mainly on the art). AndrewJanuary 14, 2015 7:07 PM Amazing Spider-Man #260-261 In Fall of the Hulks Alpha (also 2010) it's implied that the Intelligencia are responsible for freeing the symbiote. I guess Jeff Parker didn't read Spider-Man/ Fantastic Four. fnord12January 14, 2015 6:43 PM Werewolf By Night #42-43 I started off with modestly high hopes. The Darkhold and the origin of Topaz, first appearances of Hangman and Tatterdemalion... The earliest issues weren't that terrible, and Mike Ploog's art was fun. And i was looking forward to Doug Moench taking over, but that turned out to be a turn for the worse, with less and less to say about the Werewolf as a character and more and more weird mystic mumbo jumbo. Don't worry, though, plenty more Marvel horror Essentials to come in this Back Issue Add! ;-) RobertJanuary 14, 2015 5:05 PM Werewolf By Night #42-43 You must be so glad to be done with this crappy series. Reviewing stuff like this, especially so many consecutively, has got to make this project feel like a chore sometimes. CecilJanuary 14, 2015 4:59 PM Ghost Rider #80-81 Your 5th book is Spider-Woman, with #50. New to stories of superheroes with chilling powers and poetic writing, I believe these were enhanced by a mystique created in 1983 when I had no money of my own and rushed through spinner racks wherever I found them. fnord12January 14, 2015 1:16 PM Werewolf By Night #34-37 That said, if Stern was heading toward an appearance by the Amazing Doctor Glitternight, i... don't know how i would feel about that! fnord12January 14, 2015 1:13 PM Werewolf By Night #34-37 Michael, having read through the whole WWBN series now, i agree that Stern must have been picking up on the unresolved thread of Topaz's half missing soul and that got lost in the transition to Peter Gillis. fnord12January 14, 2015 1:12 PM Tales Of Suspense #80-81 (Captain America) That's correct, Erik. It seems like a duplication of efforts for me to reproduce all the covers. I just link to the GCD when i have something to say about one. Erik BeckJanuary 14, 2015 12:04 PM Tales Of Suspense #80-81 (Captain America) It is a great cover, fnord. I'm surprised you don't do more covers - is it because they're all available over at the gcd? Erik BeckJanuary 14, 2015 11:54 AM Amazing Spider-Man #39-40 Yeah, the art here is really fresh and great. These two issues are widely acknowledged classics. I remember reading the second issue on Bring on the Bad Guys as a kid. Mark Drummond - in terms of that interview, it's nice to see these same arguments would crop up 20 years later with the Hobgoblin. MichaelJanuary 13, 2015 10:22 PM Werewolf By Night #34-37 This is the last appearance of Phillip Russell- Buck and Lissa make appearances after this but he just disappears. fnord12January 13, 2015 9:45 PM Fantastic Four #48-50 Added that scan. Thanks for recommending it, Erik. fnord12January 13, 2015 9:40 PM Werewolf By Night #32-33 Thanks Michael. That's the hazard of not reading your Marvel comics in chronological order. I've updated this entry and added the relevant scan to Moon Knight #4. Mark DrummondJanuary 13, 2015 8:51 PM Werewolf By Night #34-37 Restoring a skull to a headless skeleton was also the climax to the "Chopper" episode of The Night Stalker, which would have been shown in early 1975. MichaelJanuary 13, 2015 8:43 PM Werewolf By Night #34-37 Note that at the end of this story, Topaz is still missing part of her soul. I'm more convinced than ever that Roger Stern intended Topaz's statement that Topaz was missing half her soul to refer to what Glitternight did but Gillis misunderstood. Mark DrummondJanuary 13, 2015 8:42 PM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #5 I think Paingloss is taken from Voltaire's "Candide". Mark DrummondJanuary 13, 2015 8:36 PM Werewolf By Night #27-30 I think the villain's name may have been taken from the 1930s film "The Amazing Doctor Clitterhouse". He bears an amazing resemblance to a flying squirrel. Is he supposed to have empty eyesockets, or is he just drawn that way? Interestingly, when Moench created Dr. Demonicus for Godzilla, he originally wanted to call him "Dr. Nightgaunt", but that name was rejected as being too similar to this guy. MichaelJanuary 13, 2015 8:21 PM Werewolf By Night #32-33 Moon Knight's dealings with the Committee- and how they got the costume- are explained in Moon Knight 4, which you summarized and linked to but didn't note the revisions to this story. Mark DrummondJanuary 13, 2015 8:13 PM Werewolf By Night #34-37 Marvel and Doug Moench should be lucky Richard Matheson wasn't a comics fan--the entire story is lifted from his novel/film "(Legend of)Hell House". Belaric Marcosa is a rearrangement of the villain's name Emeric Belasco. If this isn't Doug Moench's creative low point, I don't know what is. And Bill Mantlo's plagiarism was considered horrible! We have FOUR ISSUES of it here! The movie is highly recommended, by the way. Mark DrummondJanuary 13, 2015 8:07 PM Avengers #66-68 The original rejected cover to #66 by Barry Smith/Syd Shores was printed in Comics Interview #67. Mark DrummondJanuary 13, 2015 8:03 PM Alpha Flight #66 Mantlo does list both Graphic Novels as upcoming. I believe Shooter's opposition to a settlement with Mantlo is also cited in the Comics Journal's coverage of Shooter's firing, but I don't think it was called the central reason for it. I personally think that Mantlo's reason is a bit more plausible for the firing--creative micromanaging could seem to upper management to be merely differing opinions, but opposing a legal settlement when it's in a business' best interests to do so would be a red flag about the opposing person being a company liability. MichaelJanuary 13, 2015 7:59 PM Werewolf By Night #31 I've always been impressed by the stupidity of Jack's "solution" in this story. Leaving the Werewolf in the woods far from people might work. Except that it turns out Jack chose a site close enough to the lodge for a CHILD to walk to in bad weather. Erik BeckJanuary 13, 2015 6:21 AM Fantastic Four #52-53 I agree with Zellstern. Stan might have terrible with how he writes women at this point, but he and Kirby do a very good job with Wakanda and the Black Panther. He's an awesome character from the first time he ever appeared. Erik BeckJanuary 13, 2015 6:07 AM Uncanny X-Men #22-23 The cover of #22 is rather hilarious. "Here comes a startling stampede of yesteryear's most sensational supervillains!" Okay, first, if they were sensational they wouldn't be in this issue. As fnord says, this is clearly a group of C-list villains. That this group could take down the X-Men is embarrassing. Second, why bother to bring in villains from all these other titles when you've already, in the first 20 issues, created Magneto, Blob, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Toad, Mastermind, Unus, the Juggernaut and the Sentinels. That's a hell of a villain lineup and the best you can do is poach third-rate villains from other titles, almost all of whom are now forgotten? Third, yesteryear. Yesteryear? None of these villains is more than three years old. I love how they advertise it as if they brought back villains from World War II (ironic, since it won't be that long before the Red Skull actually is brought back). It's all just a sign of how badly done X-Men was in these years. I love Roy Thomas when he can indulge his real whims (Conan, modern retellings of WWII adventures), but this is just terrible. CecilJanuary 12, 2015 11:57 PM Amazing Spider-Man #147-150 No one 'real' is the Jackal! Lol Good one. I am missing one of these (well 147 and 150) but the clone idea was so eerie and raised such interesting questions, particularly to someone raised religiously fundamentalist. Both the science and theology- both barely touched here-intrigued me in repellent, transgressive ways, as I read this 12 years afterwards as an adolescent. The Ben Reilly set-up- probably never pondered at the time, as the impetus seems to have been any credible way to create Gwen anew- had potential,but was just unlikely. Spider-man is ultimately a creature of the Big Apple and those "years on the road" stories will have to be some other character! Well, glad things finally clicked for Peter... fnord12January 12, 2015 9:41 PM Code of Honor #1 I reserve the right to not think about Code of Honor at least until i cover issue #4 and possibly forever. ChrisJanuary 12, 2015 9:07 PM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #5 These issues of Werewolf By Night seem awful. It's obvious none of the writers had any idea of how to do it, or make a real premise out of the book. In Tomb of Dracula, at least Marv Wolfman figured out the main plot needed to follow the vampire hunters, keeping Dracula as the ongoing antagonist. These all seem to be random fights with no overarching theme. It's surprising the book lasted so long. MichaelJanuary 12, 2015 8:45 PM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #5 The weird thing is that this was after the Creatures on the Loose story started but before John went to the other dimension. Is werewolves in sword-and-sorcery-in-another-dimension really so cool an idea that two writers came up with it simultaneously? MichaelJanuary 12, 2015 8:26 PM Code of Honor #1 So now that you've done almost all the Werewolf issues, are you going to move them (and Fear 25-26) prior to this issue? MichaelJanuary 12, 2015 8:18 PM Werewolf By Night #27-30 Ataru- to be fair the monsters are also called the Nightmare Creature and the Sin Creature. MichaelJanuary 12, 2015 8:12 PM Alpha Flight #66 I think Mantlo is embellishing here. No other account that I've read mentions Mantlo as a cause of Shooter's firing. The editors were clearly refusing to give Mantlo work under both the late Shooter and the DeFalco regimes and considering how low the sales for Alpha Flight were falling, Potts really had no choice but to fire him. Ataru320January 12, 2015 7:54 PM Uncanny X-Men #22-23 Something about Colosso makes me think of it as one of Zeon's mecha from Gundam. AndrewJanuary 12, 2015 7:40 PM Marvel Feature #3 This is the first time Marvel ever brought an old Monster Age character into the 616 universe. It was pretty unique for the time, and set a precedent for other monsters, like Groot. Erik BeckJanuary 12, 2015 7:40 PM Amazing Spider-Man #36 "It's interesting that Gwen's personality changed almost immediately after John Romita took over on art." Also interesting that Gwen started being really good-looking after Romita took over. Ditko is great for Doctor Strange backgrounds. For females, not so much. Also, The Looter? That name with that costume? Officially scraping the bottom of the barrel. Just awful. Erik BeckJanuary 12, 2015 7:31 PM Tales To Astonish #90-91 The Abomination has always been such a disappointment. Given his power level and maintaining his intelligence, he should have been one of the most powerful Marvel villains ever, and he just never manages to do much with it. I mean, Hawkeye beats him. Granted, I'm a big fan of Hawkeye, but still. Erik BeckJanuary 12, 2015 3:29 PM Fantastic Four #51 Glad you used the splash page. Probably in my Top 10 all-time splash pages. SharJanuary 12, 2015 2:23 PM Tales To Astonish #82-83 The Iron Man-Subby crossover here in 1966, plus the Cap-Nick Fury story in Suspense a month or two earlier, may have been written in anticipation of the proposed line-up changes to the split books that Mark Evanier wrote about a few years ago over in The Jack Kirby Collector. The idea was the Cap and Nick Fury features would be in Suspense; IM and Namor in Astonish; and Hulk and Dr. Strange in Strange Tales. At some point the more popular series--Cap, IM and Hulk--would spin off to their own solo mags and the Inhumans, Black Panther, Silver Surfer, and perhaps Wyatt Wingfoot would move into the split books as second features. This was all put on hold when Goodman couldn't convince Independent News/DC to alter the famously restrictive distribution deal. It would have been interesting to see an all-Colan Astonish, since he was the regular artist for both the IM and Sub-Mariner series at the time. CecilJanuary 12, 2015 1:58 PM ROM #6-9 Have I mentioned yet: the birth date, Nov. 9 (1951 I think) is Bill Mantlo's. Ataru320January 12, 2015 1:46 PM Werewolf By Night #27-30 I don't know what's more hilarious with this: the fact there's a character named "The Amazing Doctor Glitterlight"; the fact that Lissa doesn't become a werewolf and becomes...some blue lizard...thing... (seriously after giving us the potential, you have to deliver on giving us a proper werewolf form for Lissa) or that there is actually a monster in the Marvelverse literally called "Explicitive Deleted". Ataru320January 12, 2015 12:23 PM Tales To Astonish #82-83 (sees panel of Secret Empire No. 1) Heh...so that's what he was doing between January, '61 and his second try at the White House. (shot) Erik BeckJanuary 12, 2015 12:02 PM Fantastic Four #48-50 I'm surprised you didn't include the awesome shot of Galactus taking away the Surfer's power to leave Earth, thus encouraging years of changing plots and meandering. Is there a character that non-comics fans think is as cool as the Silver Surfer? Again, great Kirby art - he was born to do this kind of thing. Although, given that Kirby was the first to draw the Watcher, you'd think he at least would have some consistency in how he is drawn, but no, the Watcher never seems to look the same from one appearance to the next. I'm afraid I have to agree with your trade. As much as I hate having things changed, Galactus in shorts is just painful. Gotta love the Thing and the "PLINKK!" sound effect. One thing about having abandoned comics years ago - I am not burdened with later revelations (every time it gets mentioned about Alicia being a Skrull, I think to myself, nah, that's crazy). However, to me, the single best thing about the Earth X version of the Marvel future was the concept that Galactus' goal is to destroy Celestial eggs. I thought that was a great reasoning for why he behaves as he does and why he would choose certain planets. It may not be cannon, but it was a great idea. Erik BeckJanuary 12, 2015 11:32 AM Fantastic Four #44-47 Amazing how the Kirby art for the Iron Man / Sub-Mariner fight looked so bad, but his art for the initial intro of the Inhumans is so cool. I always liked Black Bolt because he could do so many things, but he was always so damn mysterious. I love how not only can't he speak but he almost never gets thought bubbles either. And what precisely are his powers other than the voice (the best use of which, in my opinion, was in Earth X)? They really seem to be all over the place. Mark DrummondJanuary 12, 2015 11:11 AM Alpha Flight #66 Amazing Heroes #156(1/89) has the first post-Marvel interview with Mantlo, done shortly after being fired off Alpha Flight. It's short but interesting: he claims that he was taken off Alpha Flight when he told Carl Potts he wanted off the book and wanted a solo character book instead(which he didn't get), he claims he was taken off Hulk when he complained about Sal Buscema getting stale, and ditto for Cloak & Dagger when he complained about Bret Blevins being an inappropriate choice. He explains the origin of Shooter's feud with him as the result of Mantlo's organizing Marvel writers into a "union"(probably not a professionally organized one) to get negotiations and contracts and avoid arbitrary reassignments and firing(Shooter was assistant editor then and opposed this, but Mantlo won out in this in 1978). He also claims that Shooter's refusal to offer a settlement to Mantlo in 1986-7 was the main reason why Marvel higher management dumped Shooter, as it was clearly unprofessional legal behavior rather than a creative dispute. He did state that he wanted to write for the post-Shooter Marvel again, especially on Cloak & Dagger, and that he had an additional Spider-Man/Cloak & Dagger Graphic Novel coming out(no idea if it ever did). However, he does make some strange statements and omissions. Plagiarism issues aren't mentioned at all. He says that the following writer on Hulk got a "new artist", but since both were John Byrne, he winds up sounding rather strange. He also says that editor Carl Potts was "the only editor to fight to keep me", but earlier in the interview says that Carl was the one who ultimately dumped him from Marvel. Mark DrummondJanuary 12, 2015 10:53 AM Amazing Spider-Man #1 An article in Amazing Heroes #156 pointed this out: it isn't possible for a space capsule to have an orbit so low that a jet plane could overtake it. Jay GallardoJanuary 12, 2015 10:10 AM Werewolf By Night #22-26 I know this was supposed to be a horror comic, but the scene where these three guys chase each other was truly hilarious!!! Dan H.January 11, 2015 8:37 PM Captain America #145-148 The "Howard Hughes homage being kidnapped and replaced" would seem to have been shamelessly ripped off from the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever." However, that film was apparently released in December and the first couple of these issues would actually have been on newsstands by then, with the others already being written at least. And I'm sure the novel version did not have that particular plot point, so I'm wondering how the timing worked out here. Maybe Hughes' reclusion had already led to rampant speculation (or at least a few jokes) that the real deal was remaining "hidden" for some nefarious reason. Thus, two stories coming out about the same time with a similar plot point. fnord12January 11, 2015 7:42 PM Captain America #248-249 Agree. I've moved Cap #247 a little closer to these issues, and after the Marvel Fanfare issues. fnord12January 11, 2015 7:42 PM Captain America #247 Added the Reference, and it's actually a placement consideration, too. Thanks Amidon37. SharJanuary 11, 2015 6:14 PM Amazing Spider-Man #63-65 The (temporary)change to a "no-response" policy for letters was likely the result of Flo Steinberg's departure in 1968. She'd been handling much of the letter column work: reading and selecting letters for print, showing them to Stan and others, transcribing their responses, etc. Amidon37January 11, 2015 1:40 PM Captain America #248-249 Odd that you have Cap 247 broken up from Cap 248-249 with Fanfare 22-23 in between. I believe Cap's only appearance in Fanfare 23 is his leg on the stairs. I guess he could have gone to Avengers Mansion in the hour between 247 and 248, but it seems more likely he would have stayed at Fort Dix. Amidon37January 11, 2015 1:34 PM Marvel Fanfare #22-23 The Grey Gargoyle is living stone again even though the Scarlet Witch reverted him to human at the end of Avengers 191. Amidon37January 11, 2015 1:09 PM Captain America #247 In the references it should be noted that Cap refers to the Avengers having their security clearance reinstated stemming from Avengers 191. fnord12January 11, 2015 11:50 AM Marvel Spotlight #33 I didn't realize there wasn't an Astonishing Tales #37 when i listed the References for this issue. The reference to the (non-existent) #37 has Deathlok's computer saying that his logical unit is dysfunctional and the footnote says "Because of the detonation device which almost destroyed Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #37". Mark DrummondJanuary 11, 2015 11:10 AM Captain America #286-289 DeMatteis made one blunder in Deathlok's history--he says a few times that Luther Manning was actually brought back to life, but the Astonishing Tales series does make clear that Deathlok's flesh parts are animated but still dead(the cannibals in the series were able to smell his flesh decaying). Mark DrummondJanuary 11, 2015 11:00 AM Marvel Team-Up #46 The cubes used by the cannibals don't appear in Deathlok's main series, and the confrontation with Ryker mentioned on the last page had already happened by the time this was published(which Mantlo had to know about, as he replaced Doug Moench as scripter.) Mark DrummondJanuary 11, 2015 10:56 AM Marvel Spotlight #33 This was actually supposed to be Astonishing Tales #37, but the book got cancelled first. The original cover is in the Complete Deathlok PB. Erik BeckJanuary 11, 2015 8:42 AM Tales To Astonish #82-83 I know a lot of people love Kirby and he's vitally important. But, still, to go from the Conlan art in the first part of the story to those first few panels is just horrifying. fnord12January 11, 2015 8:42 AM Marvel Premiere #28 Thanks, Michael. This affected Marvel Preview Magazine #8 too (although the MCP has that between MTIO #15 and PPTSSM #6). I've pushed both back prior to Marvel Two-In-One #15. Erik BeckJanuary 11, 2015 8:37 AM Tales Of Suspense #75-76 (Captain America) I gotta admit, I also love Batroc. I imagine his accent as a cross between Cleese in MPATHG and the chef in The Little Mermaid (I can just see Batroc cooking and singing "Les Poissons"). He brings a smile to my face in every appearance. AndrewJanuary 11, 2015 8:05 AM Captain America #145-148 Just because no one else mentioned it, the "worlds richest man" is Harold Howard, an obvious analog to Howard Hughes, whose descent into mental illness was widely rumored but officially unconfirmed at the time. He has been kidnapped and "replaced" by the Kingpin. It's just another pointless attempt to be topical. As far as I can tell, the story was set in Las Vegas solely to make that reference. AndrewJanuary 11, 2015 6:44 AM Thor #184-194 Stan had a high opinion of the Hela story here. He included it in The Super-Hero Women (that's right: he couldn't think of enough actual super-heroines to fill out the book, so he had to resort to a villainess). Also, the "So shall it be!" panel was used for one of those trippy black-light posters Marvel released in the early '70s. cullenJanuary 11, 2015 3:04 AM Werewolf By Night #11-12 Elijah Muhammad also resisted the draft in World War II. Just in case people from Mars stumble upon this page, might as well get it all out there. RyanJanuary 10, 2015 10:44 PM Inhumans Graphic Novel "This is an incomprehensible mess of a story" Neither comment is surprising considering Ann Nocenti is the writer. fnord12January 10, 2015 9:53 PM End of Line I've been working on a back issue add (i.e. issues older than the current year i'm working on). I tried to tell people in the "News" section on the main index page and the BillJanuary 10, 2015 8:34 PM End of Line Matt, I wouldn't worry too much. Fnord is on the brink of the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover, so he's probably been reading and cataloging all the issues into their correct positions. That was a decent sized crossover, so it would take a while. That's my No-Prize answer and I'm sticking to it! :) MattJanuary 10, 2015 8:28 PM End of Line Is this site dead? I'm not trying to be rude but I check it everyday and it has not moved ahead since November. I hope not because I really love reading it everyday. MichaelJanuary 10, 2015 1:58 PM Marvel Premiere #28 You have this issue placed in between Marvel Two-In-One 15 and Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man 6. Isn't Morbius stuck in another dimension then? Erik BeckJanuary 10, 2015 12:52 PM Amazing Spider-Man #32-33 This issue just astounds me. The lifting of the machinery is so great, but almost all the other scans show that Ditko was not exactly at his best here. It's almost like Romita drew the classic lifting scene. Erik BeckJanuary 10, 2015 12:46 PM Tales Of Suspense #73-78 (Iron Man) What an impressive change here with Conlan's art. It's almost like the 70's arrived early at Tales of Suspense. fnord12January 10, 2015 11:37 AM Marvel Team-Up #68 Thanks, Midnighter. Added him. AndrewJanuary 10, 2015 7:44 AM Uncanny X-Men #177-179 Another continuity change (or pre-change) here is that Wolverine loses his mutant healing power but doesn't get adamantium poisoning. Personally I never liked the idea of adamantium poisoning since the whole point of adamantium is how stable and non-reactive it is. AndrewJanuary 10, 2015 6:54 AM New Avengers: Illuminati #1 My only fanboy continuity complaint with this issue is that it's clearly established in Iron Man 125 that Tony Stark only received hand to hand combat training from Captain America after his armor was confiscated for the assassination of the Carnelian ambassador in issue 124, and this takes place much earlier. AndrewJanuary 10, 2015 6:44 AM Avengers #89-97 Speaking of "setting up a rather bizarre idea", the single panel where Captain Marvel muses about Anelle and the caption says "though once, for an instant, he could have wished she would have become - something more" is used much, much later to suggest they had an affair and an illegitimate child, who became Hulkling of the Young Avengers. Not as bad as Norman Osborn boning Gwen Stacy, but pretty high up there on the list of unlikely bed-mates. MidnighterJanuary 10, 2015 6:21 AM Marvel Team-Up #68 You didn't list Amos Jardine in the Characters Appearing PB210January 10, 2015 3:35 AM Werewolf By Night #11-12 Intriguing question on this issue; it came out in 1973. I wonder how many outlaw or fugitive or employing lethal force vigilantes preceded this issue in comic books during the Silver Age and post-Silver Age period. DC's adaptation of the Shadow came out in Oct-Nov 1973. I wonder how many vigilantes fitting the parameters debuted in 1973 to 1980. Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:48 AM Fantastic Four #82-83 The idea for Dr. Doom's eventual solo series evidently got floated in this book early on, as a letter in #83 says something like: "What kind of adventures can a villain have? 'Dr. Doom invents a New Zap Gun' Is this what we're in for?" Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:43 AM Amazing Spider-Man #63-65 Possibly due to Marvel's 1968 expansion and overworked staff, letters started appearing in the columns without responses beginning in the August issues. Responses started again in December, but not before a letter appeared in a Stan's Soapbox saying something like "Dear Stan, Here's an amazing coincidence. You aren't answering your letters, and I'm not buying your comics." Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:36 AM Daredevil #158-161,163-167 Klaus Janson stated in Amazing Heroes #155 that the replacement story in #167(due to the Angel Dust problem) had to be completed really fast, but Jim Shooter, despite knowing this, proceeded to loudly criticize Janson's efforts in front of the entire Marvel office, thoroughly pissing Janson off. Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:23 AM Marvel Premiere #12-14 Klaus Janson stated in Amazing Heroes #155 that he did backgrounds for Dick Giordano as his assistant on Dick's Dr. Strange issues. Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:20 AM Jungle Action #6-8 Klaus Janson confirmed in Amazing Heroes #155 that this was his first comics work. Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:17 AM Tales To Astonish #84-87 According to Roy Thomas in Comics Interview #66, Bill Everett didn't like Stan Lee putting Namor's people in Atlantis(I guess Bill intended them to be from an unnamed city at the pole) and he really hated "Imperius Rex!" Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:11 AM Avengers #89-97 In Comics Interview #66, Roy states that Neal only turned in 3 or 4 pages of #97 by some deadline, thoroughly irritating Roy and causing him to give the issue to Buscema instead, who reportedly had only a few days to lay out the whole book. So some unpublished Adams pages for this may exist somewhere(and that may explain the "consultant" credit). At some other point in this, Tom Palmer reportedly declared he was sick of pulling all-nighters to finish Neal's late pages and vowed never to ink his stuff again. Mark DrummondJanuary 10, 2015 12:03 AM Uncanny X-Men #20-21 Roy Thomas in Comics Interview #66 further clarifies that Werner Roth completely plotted #20 from an idea of Stan's, and that unlike situations with Kirby and Ditko, this was the only issue where that happened. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 11:53 PM Avengers #72 A rejected Buscema panel from this issue appeared in Comics Interview #66. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 11:47 PM Amazing Spider-Man #39-40 In the Roy Thomas interview in Comics Interview #66, reference is made to a John Romita article where he claims that Stan Lee wanted Ned Leeds to be the Goblin, but Ditko disagreed and started drawing a guy that became Norman Osborn instead. Roy also states that at one point Ditko wanted the Goblin to be a nondescript nobody. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 11:39 PM Avengers #69-71 Roy Thomas stated in Comics Interview #66 that he designed the Squadron Sinister's costumes, not Sal Buscema. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 11:36 PM Avengers #57-58 Per Roy Thomas in an interview in Comics Interview #66: Stan Lee hated the Vision's red face and declared it to be silly and clownish. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 11:32 PM Captain Marvel #8-11 The original rejected cover to #10 by Marie Severin was printed in Comics Interview #66. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 10:05 PM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #3 The Silver Monster in Jack's dream at the start is actually quite impressive. Amazing that the Comics Code didn't complain about the zombies; I'm guessing that as long as the word "zombie" wasn't used, they just didn't care. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 10:02 PM Werewolf By Night #22-26 The Hangman's comments were very much in line with contemporary WW2 and John Wayne films at the time. A tag line from Wayne's "The Green Berets" went something like "So you don't believe in heroes anymore?" I think Jack Kirby's Atlas appeared in DC's First Issue Special about the same time. This Atlas seems to be twins with the Toxic Avenger. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 9:51 PM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #2 Most interesting panel: the Frankenstein Monster eating a live rat. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 9:44 PM Werewolf By Night #16-19 Looking at Baron Thunder, the first thing that comes to mind is: so Bert finally got driven around the bend by Ernie and became fat and evil. Mark DrummondJanuary 9, 2015 9:04 PM Werewolf By Night #11-12 One WW2 draft resister(who spent time in jail for it) later became a jazz composer known as Sun Ra. AndrewJanuary 9, 2015 7:38 PM Marvels #2 My favorite part is "it all went off without a hitch". It didn't, of course... but then it did, because the part where the villains all attacked is now in an alternate timeline, thanks to the Watcher. fnord12January 9, 2015 6:02 PM Journey Into Mystery #120-125 / Thor #126-127 Thanks for pointing this out, Erik. I mentioned in the considerations that this story takes place concurrently with some issues of Avengers, since Thor's meeting with the new team takes place between Avengers #17-18 and then Thor's fight with Absorbing Man is shown in Avengers #22. The MCP has the FF wedding happening between Avengers #18-19, so i think that fits with the idea that this long run of issues is happening concurrently with other stories, and there's a gap somewhere in here where Thor takes a break to go to the wedding, maybe soon after first meeting the new members. I've updated the Considerations here with this info. Erik BeckJanuary 9, 2015 12:12 PM Journey Into Mystery #120-125 / Thor #126-127 Fnord - a slight chronological placement problem. If Thor is just meeting the replacements now, who does he think was answering his call of Avengers Assemble at Reed and Sue's wedding? Did he just not notice the people sitting with Captain America? On a different note - does Wanda just goes about destroying things in the meeting room? Doesn't really seem like the best time to practice her powers. Ataru320January 9, 2015 12:06 PM Fantastic Four annual #3 I just did a check and basically both Hank and Jan vanish completely from the radar between the end of their Tales ot Astonish run and the storyline where they rejoin the Avengers. Characters vanishing these days is rather regular with how massive the universe is and how many they have to keep track of, but for this time period it just feels bizarre to have those two not even attend one of the key moments of this period. Erik BeckJanuary 9, 2015 11:56 AM Fantastic Four annual #3 This would be the first time I would argue with one of your grades, but only from the perspective of a kid reading comics. As a kid, this would have been great - a comic that has almost every hero and villain from the MU fighting it out. That would be a great introduction for someone who's just looking for some hero comics (although, oddly, no Hank or Jan - they didn't get invited?). But, thinking about it, this is clearly an example of what I call "late 90's Oakland Raiders syndrome". Like those teams, the villains here have a tremendous amount of talent and power, but like those teams, they have no chemistry and they get beaten by a group of heroes who really they should be able to soundly defeat. Jay GallardoJanuary 9, 2015 5:07 AM Werewolf By Night #16-19 "Libro del malditos" is a wrong sentence. In Spanish (although we should say "Castellano", for there is no such thing as "Spanish language") there are four articles words, El, la (for singular words), Los, Las (for plural words). If Malditos is a plural word, the correct sentence should be Libro de LOS Malditos. "Book of the Accursed," is correct, Walter, but I would say that "Book of the damned" is more accurate... Walter LasonJanuary 9, 2015 1:41 AM Werewolf By Night #16-19 Libra del Malditos can probably be translated as "Book of the Accursed," which fits with the werewolf curse. AndrewJanuary 8, 2015 9:08 PM Captain America #131-132 The reason Strucker was made a robot in this story was to not cheapen the drama of his death in Steranko's classic run of Strange Tales. Of course they still brought him back eventually, but it took decades. ChrisJanuary 8, 2015 8:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #14-18 The rule of early sixties Marvel is the more involvement Kirby and Ditko have on the book, the better they are. You have the top tier books where Kirby and Ditko are doing most of the plotting (FF, Thor, Spidey, Strange, Cap). You have the mid tier books where they have continued, but sporadic involvement. Don Heck is on some of these (Iron Man, X-Men, Avengers, Hulk). The bottom tier is absolute garbage and is mainly by people other than Kirby/Ditko doing the plotting; even worse if Stan isn't even doing the scripting but Larry Lieber is (Daredevil, Gi/Ant-Man, Torch solo). Mid-tier and bottom-tier books occasionally switched places. X-Men was a mid tier book with some strong elements, but Kirby is obviously not interested in it and other people keep being brought in. I wonder what would have happened if Ditko took it over? He seemed to have a much better handle on portraying high school kids and their emotional conflicts better than Kirby. MichaelJanuary 8, 2015 8:03 PM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #3 This issue brings up one of the major problems that I had with Gillis's Strange arc. Jack's grandmother is able to use Topaz to amplify her spells, just like Taboo did- because Topaz is a familiar. And Gillis clearly remembered this, since he had Urthona describe Topaz as a familiar. So why couldn't Strange use Topaz to amplify his spells the same way? It might not have been enough to stand against the threats to Earth but you'd think that he would have tried before resorting to unholy magics that require human sacrifice. Jon DubyaJanuary 8, 2015 7:57 PM X-Men Origins: Iceman #1 One thing that's weird here is that Bobby's parents are presented as totally supportive of him. Yet in later appearances (especially in the 90s) Bobby's father is depicted as a total bigot, to the point where dealing with familial prejudice was a running subplot for Iceman. This is made all the more odd since THIS story was written after many of those ones. MichaelJanuary 8, 2015 7:53 PM Werewolf By Night #22-26 I'm not sure what the point of killing Hackett and replacing him with Northrup was, since Moench ends Northrup's arc by having him decide to keep Jack's secret- there's no reason that couldn't have been done with Hackett. I also wonder where Friedrich was going with him- doesn't one of the cops in issue 19 say something about his "beastly nature"? fnord12January 8, 2015 2:18 PM Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #1 Thanks, Erik. Some of the MCP guys work on the Marvel Indexes, so Marvel could and very well may get their advice when working on stuff like this. But the current philosophy at Marvel is that continuity shouldn't get in the way of a good story, so i think they mostly just don't worry about it too much. Erik BeckJanuary 8, 2015 11:50 AM Uncanny X-Men #14-18 I grew up loving the X-Men but having read hardly any of the old issues other than #1. Having now plowed through the Masterworks, it's easy to see why the series was eventually cancelled. First of all, as fnord mentions, Xavier is constantly mind-wiping people. It just makes for sloppy writing. Second, there are all sorts of bizarre ideas (and not necessarily good bizarre). The Sentinels - a great idea. Created by an anthropologist? Stupid idea. That he is the only one who can create more because the Sentinels can't figure that out. Terrible idea. Then there's Magneto's random return and the "magnetic hypnosis" which is just absurd. Magneto ranks up with Doom and Subby for most random powers used and then dropped. Third, this was where Marvel attempted to be hip, with Bobby and Hank dropping in on the Village and it is always awkward. It just never works and I can see why people looking for a hero comic didn't like it and there's too much sloppy action for people looking for more to like it. Looking at the great original five X-Men, I never understood why weren't more successful. Now I understand. Too many of these early stories are just too painful to read. Erik BeckJanuary 8, 2015 11:30 AM Daredevil #8 "So long as I am master of my stilts, I'm unbeatable! I'm completely invincible!" Possibly the most ridiculous / hilarious thing ever said by a Marvel villain. Erik BeckJanuary 8, 2015 11:28 AM Spider-Man/Fantastic Four #1 I really hope that before Marvel does any other series like this, someone at their office either finds your site or the MCP and figures out precisely where to make things fit. In essence, fnord, you're really doing Marvel a great service that they just don't know about. Dave BJanuary 8, 2015 9:56 AM Defenders #87 Thanks for clearing up what happened with the story a bit. I read this issue recently and it looked like the storyline had been dropped, and I was wondering what was going on. kvetoJanuary 8, 2015 9:32 AM Werewolf By Night #6-8 "way down upon the Sawmi Rihva, far, far from home...." Ataru320January 8, 2015 8:58 AM Giant-Size Creatures #1 I was going to mention this in Giant Size Werewolf #2 but I think it works better here: the reason "Giant Size Creatures" works better for this issue is because of the combo of Jack Russel and Tigra making her debut. Its two werecreatures for the price of one; sure it was still essentially "Giant Sized Werewolf-By-Night 1" ultimately but at least they gave Greer some respect in regards to her big change in status quo. (plus even with the cancellation of her book after four issues, the Cat was still at least notable enough to have a lot of supporters...enough to lead to them wanting her on the Avengers, but with Greer now a catgirl, we ended up with Patsy Walker instead...but that's something else altogether) MichaelJanuary 8, 2015 8:00 AM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #2 I don't think Giant-Size Super Heroes should be lumped in with Giant-Size Super Stars and Giant-Size Creatures- the latter two continued the numbering but Giant-Size Super Heroes didn't. Plus there was a story intended for Giant-Size Super Heroes 2 that was never published. But more on that when we get to Giant-Size Super Heroes 1. MichaelJanuary 7, 2015 9:27 PM West Coast Avengers #37 The Voice was afraid that Hawkeye would release the shaft before he could finish a word. MichaelJanuary 7, 2015 9:01 PM Werewolf By Night #20 Baron Thunder implies that the reason that he wanted Jack was to use his blood to strengthen the other members of the Committee, but the Committee's next appearance hints at other reasons why the Committee wanted Jack. MichaelJanuary 7, 2015 8:46 PM Werewolf By Night #16-19 The funny part is Jack doesn't realize that there's a fourth full moon. It's amazing how human beings were able to calculate the lunar cycle since the beginning of history but Jack can't just pick up a calendar.Between this and going after the chest on the night of a full moon with Clary, it's a miracle Jack never killed an innocent during this series. SVCLJanuary 7, 2015 7:18 PM West Coast Avengers #37 Couldn't The Voice have just said "Hawkeye, don't shoot at me"? That's stupid. AndrewJanuary 7, 2015 7:16 PM Avengers #154 I distinctly remember around this time on TV the censors finally allowed somebody to say "stick it where the sun don't shine," and suddenly everyone on TV and in comics were sticking this and shoving that. Everyone had a different version of it. It was a strange time. Ataru320January 7, 2015 4:52 PM Giant-Size Werewolf By Night #2 So then its basically "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf-Man"...in the Marvel Universe with Satanists. Yeah...I can dig that. RobertJanuary 7, 2015 3:08 PM Werewolf By Night #16-19 I picked up #19 in a back-issue bin at my LCS years ago, attracted by the werewolf vs Dracula idea. It was a very worn, well-read copy. After reading it I couldn't help but wonder who could have liked this so much they read it over and over. Maybe if I were stranded on a desert island and this was the only thing I had to read. But even then I would probably just use it for TP. Erik BeckJanuary 7, 2015 11:31 AM Avengers #18 Glad to see Wanda save the day. Since Sue is often portrayed as the weakest member of the FF and Jan was always pushed aside in the first issues of Avengers, it's good they realize for once that Wanda has more power than the rest of them put together. AndrewJanuary 7, 2015 7:35 AM Thor #281-282 The "laborers" Rama-Tut is using to build his Limbo castle are Dr. Doom's robot guards from old issues of the FF. At this point, the Marvel editors were still toying with the idea that Kang might once have been Dr. Doom. John Byrne finally settled this question, in the negative, in FF 273. MichaelJanuary 6, 2015 11:30 PM Marvel Fanfare #33 No, he's arguing that mutants are largely feared because of MAGNETO- that makes sense, since a lot of the public didn't believe in mutants until Magneto showed up. At this point in Marvel continuity, it WAS canon that there were individual anti-mutant incidents but no organized anti-mutant movement until Magneto showed up. (Later retcons (e.g. Genosha) contradict this but it was canon at the time.) Just don't think about the real-life equivalents. Nathan AdlerJanuary 6, 2015 11:24 PM Marvel Fanfare #33 I'm utterly stunned at Claremont's suggestion here that the fight for mutant rights was the primary cause of anti-mutant sentiment. That's like saying that racism didn't exist until after rights activists like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr or Malcolm X started speaking out and demanding equality. The only reason the fight for rights occurred in the first place was because society at the time was utterly indifferent to their needs and rights in addressing inequality, so they had to stand up. AndrewJanuary 6, 2015 10:19 PM Avengers #102-104 I think Claremont contributed a lot more than just an idea for this book. The Scarlet Witch reads very much like a Claremont female, and a lot of the phrasing ("A pose. More's the pity.") is classic Claremont. MichaelJanuary 6, 2015 8:06 PM Werewolf By Night #11-12 The other thing to keep in mind is that in World War II, there were conscientious objectors, draft dodgers, etc. but they were small in number compared to the people that served, and very few of them became writers. In Vietnam by some estimates almost half of the eligible draftees avoided serving one way or another, and a lot of them became writers. So whether they feel guilty about not serving,think it took more courage to refuse to go to Vietnam than to go or simply find it easier to depict Vietnam vets as antiheroes because they didn't go through the war themselves, they depict the vets as antiheroes. Erik BeckJanuary 6, 2015 7:36 PM Amazing Spider-Man #26-27 You could have had a good betting line going at this point as to which face would be seen first - MJ's or the identity of the Goblin. AndrewJanuary 6, 2015 12:58 PM Fantastic Four #271-273 It's worth noting that the Nathaniel Richards in these stories is a different person than the one in Hickman's recent FF run, and that this Nathaniel Richards was killed during the "Great Hunt". Either Reed made a mistake and this version is not Reed's "real" father, or (as I prefer to read it) the Nathaniel Richards from the SHIELD universe (where Galactus first visited Earth during the Renaissance) has "adopted" our Reed and his family, and he and Reed have just chosen never to discuss it openly. By the way, Byrne's contention that anyone trying to time-travel to the future will end up shunted "sideways" into another timeline is a weird time travel rule that I've never heard of before or since this story. Erik BeckJanuary 6, 2015 11:37 AM Tales To Astonish #67-69 Interesting that Hank and Jan get dropped here at the same time they leave the Avengers. Were they the first heroes in the MU to be languishing in limbo without a regular series showing what they were doing (not counting Sub-Mariner, who was only partially a "hero" at this point in the MU)? It's the opposite of what DC originally did with the Justice Society back in the 40's. The reason Batman and Superman were only "honorary" members was because they had their own titles (as opposed to just appearing in Detective and Action) and as Flash and then Green Lantern would get their own series, they would also be dropped. And again, in the early Justice League, Batman and Superman rarely appeared because they were in so many other books. But here, Jan and Hank are just left out to dry. AndrewJanuary 6, 2015 5:58 AM Alpha Flight #14-17 I feel compelled to point out that Aurora doesn't really have a "schizophrenic attack". As Byrne points out in issue 15, schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder are different things. He then, however, goes on to say schizophrenia is "a general term used to cover all forms of metal illness. The correct term is classic paranoid.", neither of which is accurate. cullenJanuary 6, 2015 12:38 AM Werewolf By Night #11-12 *grrr, "the government didn't have the *guts* to..." cullenJanuary 6, 2015 12:38 AM Werewolf By Night #11-12 Vietnam vets made good vigilante antiheroes because of the "stabbed in the back" narrative: the government didn't have the jobs to "let us get the job done" in Nam; the cops won't do the job right on the streets and we're "losing the war at home" too. The existence of this narrative and attitude makes it fertile ground - whether the creators have this viewpoint and are promoting it through their character, they're ridiculing that perspective, or using it for characterization and motivation. World War II veterans were generally treated well throughout culture (including the Left), they benefited from the GI Bill, and were generally not considered to be mentally or morally deformed by their experiences. That doesn't mean WWII participants didn't have deep scars or engage in atrocities; but it wasn't socially resonant in a way that would drive a fictional trope. ChrisJanuary 5, 2015 9:08 PM Iron Man annual #7 This was one of my favorite annuals when it came out. I had just started buying superhero comics. It was great fun. From the earliest stories of Goliath (this annual, early IM and WCA stories, the Assault on Avengers Mansion), it was obvious Goliath was very powerful. I would say the combination of ionic energy plus the Pym Particle made him more powerful than Wonder Man, and a great threat to an entire team of Avengers with only a few other villains. He was simply mishandled in later appearances. At one point, after the Living Laser got a powerful upgrade, I wanted to see him and Goliath in a revised Lethal Legion that really challenged the Avengers. Combined with say Klaw and the Radioactive Man, they'd be a very difficult team to defeat. MichaelJanuary 5, 2015 7:56 PM Werewolf By Night #11-12 If he fought in World War II, he'd be at least 46 by 1973. entzauberungJanuary 5, 2015 7:38 PM What's Missing As far as I remember, it takes place entirely somewhere during FF #1, AndrewJanuary 5, 2015 7:32 PM Iron Man annual #7 Josten's ionic powers become a plot device in the Thunderbolts series (around issue 44) when Count Nefaria gains control of him and Wonder Man because of his control of ionic beings (or something). But yeah, it's never clear why Josten isn't nearly as powerful as Wonder Man. PB210January 5, 2015 7:17 PM Werewolf By Night #11-12 "Meanwhile, we're introduced to a new villain, named Hangman. He's kind of like a horror version of the Punisher". Intriguingly, though, he did precede the latter by some months. Of course, Mack Bolan preceded both. The other intriguing aspect, not clear from your scan; he served in World War II. This would have made him, sliding timescale or otherwise, roughly 43 or so. I also find it intriguing since while the Vietnam war served as part of the backstory of many vigilante in adventure tales, as did World War I (cf. the Spider, the Shadow), World War II largely did not. The 1950's and 1960's served as rather a fallow time for vigilante fiction (the Spider pulps ended in 1943, the Shadow pulps ended in 1949, the Green Hornet radio show ended in 1952, the Shadow's radio show ended in 1954); most of the indigenous comic book heroes who made it through to the early 1960's and later had long stood as officially deputized by the early 1940's. fnord12January 5, 2015 3:45 PM What's Missing Just wasn't aware of it. Thanks, entzauberung. I've added it, assuming the entire series takes place in the past and there's no modern day framing sequence. BerendJanuary 5, 2015 2:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Destiny's crystal vision: inspiration for the "End of the universe" thanks to the M'Kraan crystal after Legion Quest (the set up for Age of Apocalypse)? Mark DrummondJanuary 5, 2015 11:26 AM Werewolf By Night #13-14 The splash page to #13 is supposed to be a reference to one of Will Eisner's Post-WW2 Spirit stories(Ploog used to be Eisner's assistant). entzauberungJanuary 5, 2015 11:21 AM What's Missing Given that Avengers:EMH and Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin is on this list, are there any reasons why the similar project Fantastic Four: First Famiy is not? AndrewJanuary 5, 2015 8:02 AM Howard the Duck #8 There's a subtle (for Gerber) commentary in the wardrobe of Howard's political consultant, Mr. Studley. The pattern on his shirt changes from panel to panel, like a leopard changing its spots. Nathan AdlerJanuary 5, 2015 4:30 AM Fantastic Four #195 Really odd scene in this issue where Namor comments about Sue and his past together. He says there were "many painful years" when he loved Sue before Reed claimed her. But in the comics there were only two years between Fantastic Four #4 and #27-35 where Sue chose Reed and they got engaged!? And the first of those two years cannot be called painful - Namor had a real chance of winning her heart. So might there perhaps have been a secret, earlier connection between the two? JoshuaJanuary 5, 2015 2:52 AM Punisher War Journal #11 The boot camp program is a real thing, here in Wyoming about half fail but the other half have a FAR lower recidivism rate and it also provides basic job training and discipline skills. To be honest most first offenders are given the option to go through it fnord12January 5, 2015 1:06 AM Daring Mystery Comics #1 Yeah, it does. This trade actually has some of the stories from Captain America Comics #1, which is why it was placed where it was, but i subsequently got a better reprint of CAC #1 and split out that entry and missed the fact that this book also has the All Winners Cap story. Thanks! I've also pushed this past the Tales of Suspense stories that follow CAC #1. BerendJanuary 5, 2015 12:34 AM Daring Mystery Comics #1 Wouldn't it make more sense to swap this entry and the next (Captain America Comics #1) if this entry already has a Cap story? fnord12January 5, 2015 12:25 AM Werewolf By Night #13-14 Yep, thanks Michael. Moved it. fnord12January 5, 2015 12:19 AM Howard the Duck #1-3 Found it and added a scan, thanks Matthew. MichaelJanuary 4, 2015 10:48 PM Werewolf By Night #13-14 You have Jack appearing in Tomb of Dracula 17 as one of the guys on the train to Transylvania before this issue. If Jack's going to Transylvania, then shouldn't that issue take place after this? Nathan AdlerJanuary 4, 2015 10:12 PM Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1-6 @Luis, Claremont realised Wolvie shouldn't hold his own solo series either and protested when editorial wanted to establish one. He offered to do the occasional miniseries to placate them, but commercial reasons won over sanity. @Walter: agree with everything you've stated. Ogun, the ninja martial arts master who acted as Wolverine's mentor, was a mutant whose power was the ability to possess and control minds via telepathy (introduced here as a criminal enforcer for the Yakuza). What's interesting is Ogun's name though. It doesn't exist in Japan or anywhere else except Africa, Yoruba in particular where he is the "God of Iron". What's further interesting about him is after he trains Kitty Pryde as a ninja and attempts to turn her into an assassin, she takes on the codename SHADOWcat. Claremont in an interview has further stated that he toyed with the idea of a few of the X-Men becoming teachers in Wakanda, and Kitty Pryde reluctantly becoming the new avatar of the Panther God. She is a cat, after all (Black/Shadow, Panther/Cat). But Shadow in Claremont's X-writing also linked with Farouk, so wondering if Ogun was another avatar of the Shadow King?! Nathan AdlerJanuary 4, 2015 9:50 PM Uncanny X-Men #111-117 When Amahl Farouk and Professor X fight on the psychic plane wearing armour, the Shadow King is wearing a SAMURAI helmet and suit of armour (while Xavier is dressed in a Roman gladiator-style get-up) with a phoenix-insignia on it. As far as I know there never was a story linking the Shadow King (or Xavier) to Japan (or Xavier to ancient Rome at that point) so what's up? ChrisJanuary 4, 2015 9:34 PM Uncanny X-Men #150 While the Jews were the primary victims of the Holocaust, I always remind people they only made up half of the death total. Gypsies, homosexuals, and people born with genetic disorders are usually mentioned next, but in fact millions of "ordinary" Slavs (Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs, Russians) as well as various religious and political prisoners also perished. So while a Jewish background is plausible, it is not the only one. Later stories may have made it explicit. One of the problems I have with mutant origins in the Claremont era and later is that writers seemed to forget the importance of radiation/nuclear power involved in birthing mutants that was essential in the pre-Claremont X-Men. Mutants aren't simply born, but are created by radioactive exposure to their parents before they are conceived. Therefore, the origin of Magneto should somehow account for his parents being near radioactive materials. Eventually mutants were being born everywhere with no relation to whatever "corrupted" their parents's genetic material that they could give birth to mutants. Given Magneto's obvious intelligence and scientific education, it's likely his parents were some sort of nuclear researchers in Europe seized by the Nazis. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 9:16 PM Micronauts #30-35 That first key looks a lot like the Scorpio key from Nick Fury. Anything ever come of that? Matthew BradleyJanuary 4, 2015 9:15 PM Howard the Duck #1-3 At least in the MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #12 reprint of #1, Beverly does reveal her full name in the last panel of story page 14 (page 77 of the treasury edition). AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 8:57 PM Ka-Zar the Savage #9-12 I'd be very surprised if this story arc wasn't inspired by Larry Niven's entertaining novel, Inferno. Ataru320January 4, 2015 8:32 PM She-Hulk #9-12 Directed here from the Werewolf-By-Night thread; seriously, just get White Rabbit to control the "bun brigade" and they'd be a massive threat to the entire Marvel Universe...or at least Plant-Man's carrot garden. (and trust me, by threatening a character created by a co-creator of Superman, you're really going up in the world) AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 7:46 PM Uncanny X-Men #150 This is definitely the first time Magneto is identified as a Holocaust survivor. I remember wondering if it meant he was Jewish or if the Nazis had come for him because he was a mutant. MichaelJanuary 4, 2015 6:56 PM Werewolf By Night #13-14 This issue is really where the Committee story goes off the rails. Taboo is suggested to have some connection with the Committee even though it's not clear how that fits into their modus operandi so far. When they next appear, it's stated that Taboo stole Phillip from the Committee and every writer from this point onward seems to have a different idea of what the Committee is about. ChrisWJanuary 4, 2015 6:56 PM New Mutants #72-73 But Cap didn't do much fighting on the Russian front, did he? MichaelJanuary 4, 2015 2:15 PM Werewolf By Night #6-8 The problem with the revelation that the truckers got turned into werewolves is that it raises the questions of why the heroes and villains that Jack wounded over the years never got turned into werewoLves. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 2:04 PM Uncanny X-Men #132-135 It always bugged me that Leland said he was increasing someone's mass when it looked like he was really just increasing their weight. This is comics, so anything's possible. Maybe Leland was pulling subatomic particles from another dimension, or something. But I think Claremont just believed "mass" was a more scientific-sounding way of saying "weight." SJanuary 4, 2015 11:26 AM Marvel Team-Up annual #4 Even if the powers were pheromone-based, I'd think earplugs would still work. You'll still do whatever he tells you to, but you can't actually hear him tell you to do anything. MichaelJanuary 4, 2015 9:25 AM Ka-Zar the Savage #1 There was clearly some attraction between them in Ka-Zar 1-2 but yeah, this is the first time they were shown as an actual couple. JackJanuary 4, 2015 9:23 AM Captain America #139-143 Amazing how timely this script is - even 40 years later. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 8:23 AM Marvel Team-Up annual #4 What I remember about this issue is that Peter Parker had gone from somebody who liked Ella Fitzgerald (ASM 136) to an Elvis Costello fan, which made me a little sad. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 7:31 AM Uncanny X-Men #129-131 To the "Historical Significance Rating" I'd add, "First appearance of Byrne's preoccupation with fetish gear and pubescent girls". Also, I don't think ANYONE has ever commented on this, but in his first shadowy appearances, Shaw wears yellow gloves and sits behind the diamond suit at the card-themed bench. I think Byrne originally intended Shaw to be Jack O' Diamonds, "The First Evil Mutant", from Roy Thomas's Origin of Cyclops story. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 7:20 AM Ka-Zar the Savage #3-4 The parrot joke was pretty old at this point. The full punch line (probably edited for space) is "It's the plumber. He's come to fix the sink." AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 7:12 AM Ka-Zar the Savage #1 This series was a completely new direction for Ka-Zar. This is the first time he was shown speaking colloquial English instead of his old half-barbarian-half-English-lord patois. And his domain was suddenly portrayed as being much larger and varied, increasing the range of stories that could be told in his book. And yes, at this point his relationship with Shanna was pretty casual. I'm pretty sure this is the first time they were shown as a couple at all. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 6:51 AM Avengers #200 Yeah, there's really no way to read this other than as a feminist being "put in her place." On the other hand, it did provide backstory for part of Busiek's awesome story Kang conquers the Earth arc. It's also worth noting that originally the father was supposed to be the Supreme Intelligence, which would have been even icky-er. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 6:22 AM Dazzler #1 I was one of the idiots who bought this when it first came out. God was it terrible. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 6:20 AM Uncanny X-Men #143 Maybe nobody's mentioned it because it's so obvious, but this whole issue is an homage to Ridley Scott's Alien. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 6:10 AM Elektra: Assassin #1-8 I dropped the series after three issues when it first came out. I think Miller and Sienkiewicz bring out the worst in each other. It's all machismo with no real human emotions or even a coherent storyline. I only recently bought the reprint to get the backstory for all the characters in Hickman's Secret Warriors. AndrewJanuary 4, 2015 6:03 AM Daredevil #168-182 The splash page for 182 ("She's alive!") is an homage to the penultimate scene in the great '80s noir film Body Heat. Definitely worth renting if you haven't seen it. Please take down the left/right rant comments. They're annoying. Nathan AdlerJanuary 4, 2015 4:01 AM New Mutants #72-73 Or what if Havok and Polaris have a child that is taken back in time just before WWII and ends up in a concentration camp!? Thanos6January 4, 2015 3:23 AM New Mutants #72-73 I'd love a What If where Cap liberated Auschwitz before his family was killed. ChrisWJanuary 4, 2015 2:08 AM New Mutants #72-73 Dude, that's the greatest idea ever! What If the X-Men sent Kitty Pryde back in time to save Magneto? Not only will we have world peace by 2015, but we might have hoverboards too. ChrisWJanuary 4, 2015 2:01 AM New Mutants #45 Just adding, I've always seen this issue as a plus mark in Claremont's mutant titles, just because Kitty was the star. By all rights, she shouldn't even be here, except as a cameo appearance. Roberto and Illyana barely appeared, f'r cryin'... It's only a smidgen further than Kitty being an important part of the early New Mutants story where she and Doug Ramsey were taken captive by the Hellfire Club and the X-Babies had to rescue them. Or the later storyline where the X-Men were taken captive by Mojo and the X-Babies had to put on their graduation costumes and rescue them. When it worked - and this issue worked - it was a perfect example of how a franchise should operate. Colossus, Rogue or Nightcrawler could appear in "New Mutants," the kids could appear in "X-Men" and it worked. One of my favorite moments in the entire franchise appears in one of my least favorite comics (the Bill Sienkiewicz issues) as Xavier calms (? Roberto? Rhane?) by telling how he discovered his mutant power, suddenly reading his step-brother's mind, and that act was discovered, causing a rift, which the Juggernaut has never forgotten or forgiven. I don't like "New Mutants" #45 because it's such an obvious Very Special Story, but the amount of work Claremont put into it makes it very special indeed. Nathan AdlerJanuary 3, 2015 10:36 PM New Mutants #72-73 Just as she rolled back Magneto to a cartoony shade of villainy in her run on New Mutants, Louise consistently undermined the progress Illyana had made at defining herself as anything other than a rape survivor, culminating in this arc, where her entire character is erased in the name of "restoring her innocence". This is not how recovery happens, and it is not how human stories work, things Claremont understood! Can you imagine if someone had pitched a plot where the X-Men travelled back in time to rescue Magneto from Auschwitz so that he'd never have become a villain? It's too tacky to even contemplate. But that's what happened in the New Mutants chapter of Inferno by Louise Simonson, the assassination of one of Claremont's finest characters, Illyana Rasputin. Nathan AdlerJanuary 3, 2015 10:34 PM New Mutants #52 Why was Magneto unable to repair Cerebro after its destruction by Sabretooth? Absolutely loved the interaction between Magneto and Illyana here:-) Along with Jean Grey, Illyana was Claremont's most tragic character. Nathan AdlerJanuary 3, 2015 6:50 PM Fantastic Four #325 With Kang attempting to break into the Dreaming Celestial's tomb under Diablo Mountain at the start of this storyline, while at the same time seeking revenge on Mantis, this made me wonder if he intended to reveal her whole Celestial Madonna schtick was that her son was intended to become a Celestial!? Erik BeckJanuary 3, 2015 1:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man #25 With all due respect to Ditko, I'm glad that we won't see MJ for a while yet. I never loved the way he drew Betty or Liz and it just allows Romita to knock the ball out of the park when we finally do get a good look at MJ (plus we get those later fashions which look so good on MJ - I can't imagine the MJ that Peter eventually meets ever actually wearing those clothes, even though it's 1965). But kudos to Stan for teasing us about her for a year and a half before we ever actually see her face. Erik BeckJanuary 3, 2015 1:28 PM Daredevil #7 "To make it more comfortable -- more distinctive!" How about, make it look less it was designed by someone who was blind. True, Matt is blind. But, still. So great to finally see the red costume we all know and love. Erik BeckJanuary 3, 2015 9:45 AM Journey Into Mystery #114-119 The whole "Trial of the Gods" isn't so different from Arthurian legends of choosing a champion to decide who is right in a conflict (see the scene in Excalibur). I love how they manage to grab all the other characters in the Marvel Universe and shove them in at one point or another. And Thor does quite well here - he has his first battles with the Absorbing Man and Destroyer - that's a hell of a lot of firepower (not to mention Loki). Nathan AdlerJanuary 3, 2015 12:29 AM Uncanny X-Men #12-13 After PADs Hulk run I always wondered whether Brian Xavier and Brian Banner had come across one another!? Bursten InfoJanuary 2, 2015 11:56 PM Red Raven Comics #1 (Mercury) The script is for Boy Commandos btw, as you probably already figured out : ) ChrisWJanuary 2, 2015 11:18 PM New Mutants #45 "From their point of view." Exactly. If the mutant/minority metaphor means anything, Roberto and Kitty are going to be much more protective of their fellow mutants than skin color or religion. No matter, they didn't consider anyone else's point of view, like Larry's. Sucks to be Larry. Oh well, he's dead so he doesn't count. Because mutants just want equality. As long as you don't make jokes about it. As for Rhane, humans should genuinely be afraid that a werewolf will try to kill them, especially if werewolves really exist. Do they know why the werewolf is trying to kill them? "Um, I may have made some comments at a high school dance, but I don't have any proof." The werewolf in question was very willing to kill them. And she clearly exists. Why does the concept of werewolves exist? Because humans are afraid of creatures that try to kill them. What is Rhane the werewolf eager to do? Kill human beings. At least the guy with the sunglasses makes a consistent attempt to keep wearing his sunglasses so he doesn't destroy everything. What does someone who doesn't want to get killed by a werewolf have to do to keep the werewolf away? Not make inappropriate jokes when you don't know exactly how people will respond to those jokes? You never know when a mutie is listening in? MichaelJanuary 2, 2015 11:00 PM New Mutants #45 From their point of view, why should they? If he had been making black jokes around Roberto, or Jewish jokes around Kitty, would their reaction had been any different? ChrisWJanuary 2, 2015 10:34 PM New Mutants #45 1: Ok, but "New Mutants" #45 was published contemporaneously with "X-Men" #210, right? #211 was the Mutant Massacre, and NM #46 was the first tie-in from that. Still makes the point, that Claremont has suddenly acknowledged X-Factor (and in both titles at the same time, no less.) I don't know what it means, but it's worth noting. 2: Yeah, there's the racial solidarity thing [and good on Claremont that he included it in the story] but there's also the human factor The art has already been showing nubile teenage girls and Roberto's having fun with them amidst Kitty's jealousy of Illyana, and Dani's discomfort with the whole scene (in her short skirt?) and that's just a small part of the '80s teen movie' going on here. Look at it from Larry's point of view. He's alienated. He doesn't know anybody. His parents are distant. He's bullied. For the first time in his life, he's actually having fun with a nice girl and as a typical teenager, he might actually have some progress for the first time in his life. Both Larry and Kitty are quite specific about this in their thought balloons. It's the human condition. Hours (and many glasses of spiked punch) later Kitty still likes him. She still wants to talk to him and dance. For all his teenage angst, he hasn't screwed up, and there's no reason to think he would. Until he started telling jokes about muties. He's with Kitty, he's with Kitty's friends, if it's not the 'in-crowd,' it's closer than he's ever been in his life. People who accept him for who he is - the joke being that if they knew he was a mutant, they'd have accepted him no matter what kind of asshole he actually was; look who Xavier's School hires as Headmaster! - and then they turn on him in a heartbeat. No if's, and's or buts, he is effectively dead to them, it's his own fault and he'll never be able to fix it. In the space of six (poorly-paced) panels, he's gone from Kitty smiling at him like a teenage girl having fun, to being shocked (with Rhane), to Sam's gruff dismissal, Illyana walking away and Kitty harshly shooting him down. "I thought you were a nice kid. My mistake." I still think the art sucks, and I'm still ambivalent about whether this story should have been done, but could there be anything more devastating to a troubled teenage boy than to be so quickly cut-off and shut-out by the ostensible heroes of the book (and Kitty Pryde too)? They didn't even hesitate (and only Rhane went back to check, more for plot reasons than anything else.) Never mind Cyclops or Wolverine, this issue makes it very clear that humans are right to fear people born with werewolf powers will try to murder them. And definitely worry about "homo superior" deciding suddenly that you aren't worthy enough to hang out with them, and won't even tell you why, much less care whether or not you live or die. Sure, they'll save you if the Juggernaut is destroying the city, but only as part of their job description. Reaching out to a fellow human being who unintentionally insulted them? Nah, they're above that. Writing all this has actually made me appreciate this issue more. I'm still ambivalent about it, but Claremont definitely worked on it, which may be why I think the art suffers. One of the rare times in comics where the writer's job was as important as the artist's. ChrisJanuary 2, 2015 10:00 PM Uncanny X-Men #12-13 Erik, I assume that while Xavier's family was involved in the Manhattan Project, that his father was involved in radiation experiments earlier as the build up to nuclear physics. There were a lot of scientific breakthroughs in the twenties and thirties involving radioactive materials even if they didn't produce nuclear fission. At least that is my no-prize version. In truth, I don't think Stan gave much thought to these timelines! MichaelJanuary 2, 2015 9:45 PM New Mutants #45 Claremont previously acknowledged X-Factor in X-Men 210, and Kitty made a big speech in that story too. ChrisWJanuary 2, 2015 9:15 PM New Mutants #45 I'm very ambivalent on this issue. It's trying too hard to be a "Very Special Episode," but for a franchise with no shortage of attempts, it's definitely one of the more successful ones. I also think it's utterly bizarre that Kitty is the star of the story, when it's not even her series. But it also works. Which resident at Xavier's (or member of the Marvel Universe at large) would have filled her role better? Your Mileage May Vary on the role was needed or the story itself. This was the first time Claremont specifically acknowledged X-Factor, wasn't it? Louise Simonsen had been writing it for a few issues by this point, and one assumes that between the two of them (and Ann Nocenti, Jim Shooter, etc.) they had worked out peaceful co-existence between the titles. Especially once Walt starts drawing. Who wouldn't like that? Speaking of the art, I am a big fan of Jackson Guice and Kyle Baker, and especially their work together on these "New Mutants" issues, but I find the art represented on these scans to be horrible. In the first pic, panel 1, someone who vaguely resembles Kitty is just jammed in behind Roberto and his hook-up chick, Illyana (I think that's her) has an enormous butt, Doug looks like a cartoon character in the second panel, and in the third, Dani's thigh and short-shorts [?] are larger than the rest of her body. [Looking at the actual story, it was a short skirt. Oh, that's so much better. If the entire "New Mutants" series wasn't about how Dani wanted to show off her stuff, what was it about?] Again, I like Guice's art and I like Baker's art and I love it when they teamed up. But not here. The backgrounds are empty, the pacing is awkward, Kitty's "Goodnight Larry" frown would be perfect in Kyle Baker's "Cowboy Wally" or "Why I Hate Saturn" (which, by the way, are two of the greatest comics ever. If you haven't read them, do so now. I'll wait.) Welcome back. Great comics, weren't they? Anyway, Kitty's portrayal in the later scan doesn't show the girl we know. This is a Very Special Episode. Yay, Kitty. The pacing should work, but it doesn't. The art should be good, but it isn't. That final scan, panel 1, we're looking at Dani from roughly eye-level. What position does Dani have to be in that we can see her from this angle, and we can read the car's bumper sticker as well? The basic idea is fine. Persecuted mutants, oppressive X-Factor, teen suicide, that's a story. But the New Mutants don't look that good by immediately cutting Larry off for saying things he didn't know would offend them. They do come off as elite, and considering their destructive power, humans are right to hate and fear them. Reading the story itself, there's also a gender wars subtext. Bobby has his pick of the girls and takes advantage of it. "I should be so lucky," thinks Kitty while remarking on it. "I wouldn't do that," says Larry, and Kitty thinks "Just my luck." She's already been ditched by her hot roommate after a guy danced with her just to get close to Illyana. Meanwhile Warlock is questioning Doug about his feelings for Kitty ("We were friends. We still are. That's as far as it goes.") Then they save Dani in her short skirt from being bothered by a bully, Sam gets farther with Amara than he ever has or ever will, and this is before Magneto sets up Kitty and Larry in the first place. Never mind mutant existence, human existence is complicated enough. I'm still ambivalent about this issue, but Claremont was obviously doing a lot of work. Guice and Baker did not live up to that standard. I don't hold X-Factor liable for Larry's death, but I'm glad that a comic book can be so complicated that people can hold the opposite view. This is what you get when you let Kyle Baker create comics. Mark DrummondJanuary 2, 2015 6:40 PM Avengers #299-300 Some fanzines ran the first version of #300's cover, which had Gilgamesh in his shirtless outfit rather than his armor. Erik BeckJanuary 2, 2015 12:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #12-13 There are several bizarre things about this issue that I noticed when I finally read the whole thing in Masterworks. 1 - Xavier's whole plan is so ridiculous. They barricade the mansion and then just sit back while he tells them his story. Then Juggernaut arrives and the barricades delay him a little and he tells them more story. 2 - They set up Alamagordo and hint that Xavier's mutant power comes from radiation from nuclear testing. We know Xavier fought in Korea (that comes out in this issue). Exactly how early did nuclear testing begin in the Marvel Universe? Sometime in the late 20's? MattJanuary 1, 2015 7:58 PM Solo Avengers #7 (Black Widow) Actually, the memory implant plot kind of clashes with her having been a child in World War 2 - it was created with a younger Black Widow in mind, and the guy who wrote it didn't seem to care much for continuity. These days, it's sort of accepted that she actually had been a ballerina - the latest version of her origin leaves it vague but possible, and then Black Widow's first ongoing (which tailed that origin pretty closely) said outright that she performed as a ballerina in the Bolshoi as her cover while she was in spy training. Of course, Ed Brubaker ignored that and more or less accepted the memory implant story as true during his Winter Soldier book, which again is odd considering he helped popularize her WW2 childhood after the X-Men story, and being ageless gives you a lot more time to actually practice ballet instead of spending your whole youth trapped in spy training. Nathan AdlerDecember 31, 2014 10:22 PM Haunt of Horror #2,4 (Satana) I'd suspect Claremont had it partially in mind. However, their human worshippers on the Earth were called the Camarilla, a Spanish/ Basque term. When I did a bit of digging I discovered Garai means "conquerors" in Basque. And given their appearance in Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu also by Claremont showed them as historical conquerors of Earth... Nathan AdlerDecember 31, 2014 8:17 PM Uncanny X-Men #160 Storm picks up a magic necklace and silver arm cuff PB210December 31, 2014 7:18 PM Haunt of Horror #2,4 (Satana) I wonder if the name N'Garai derives from the Negari from the Solmon Kane tale The Moon of Skulls. fnord12December 31, 2014 11:19 AM What's Missing Thanks, Michael. I've actually got the Alan Davis story and i guess i can add it to the current backissue add. I was waiting until the series ended before i listed it here but i see it's over now. In which case i kind of regret not getting the second story; i was kind of tempted by the fact that it took place during the Crossroads period. Shar, thanks for that link. Looks like there's no hurry in adding that issue to my project, but it's a goofy fun story. fnord12December 31, 2014 11:17 AM Thor #240-245 @Matthew - thanks. At this point i don't remember if there was another footnote that neglected the #101-102 story or if i just missed it in the footnote i cited, but i've updated my reference bullet. fnord12December 31, 2014 11:16 AM Hero For Hire #5 Thanks, Dermie. That is less unwieldy than Mrs. Frank Jenks, so i've updated her tag. fnord12December 31, 2014 11:15 AM New Mutants #45 PB, can you please keep your speculations away from religion on this site? I know you draw info from all sorts of sources and i enjoy your comments when you pull from the history of pulp fiction and similar things, but whenever you touch on religion it gets uncomfortable. I honestly don't know what you're trying to say here but i don't want to see it discussed further here. It doesn't seem very relevant to the comics and one way or another it seems to veer towards being offensive. PB210December 30, 2014 8:44 PM New Mutants #45 Incidentally, one wonders why in one of the scans above, Ms. Pryde does not seem to feel self-conscious viz. her implicit defense of homosexuals in one of the scans above. After all, the Biblical Moses seems to have initiated the death penalty for homosexuality. The fact that Ms. Pryde successfully used a Magen David to repel Dracula suggests that she does in fact accept that a historical Moses did give such a commandment. MichaelDecember 30, 2014 7:49 PM What's Missing Savage Hulk 1-6 feature stories from the Hulk's past. Ataru320December 30, 2014 12:45 PM Journey Into Mystery #97 Someone mentioned in another thread that this was the first "true" issue of JiM and where the "Thor Saga" begins...not sure about it due to the Lava Man, but I'll give it credit for where Tales of Asgard begins...with all those cows. Erik BeckDecember 30, 2014 12:17 PM Uncanny X-Men #11 Maybe the fact that this was it for Stan on X-Men explains some things. Like, why is Cyclops running around in his civies? I just read the issue in Masterworks and couldn't help wondering that. What happens later? The Stranger departs with Magneto and Toad. When Magneto next appears, it almost is like they forgot for an issue or two what had happened to him (I know they explain it, but it takes a while). And then Mastermind, who will next appear in the Factor 3 trial and just seems to have miraculously gotten better on his own. It was like Stan loved the BoEM and used them in so many issues and when he was leaving, decided, the hell with it, I'll make sure no one else can use them either. Erik BeckDecember 30, 2014 12:11 PM Tales Of Suspense #64 (Iron Man) "with a costume designed by Victoria's Secret." Designed by DC is more like it. This costume bears a strong resemblance to the original Black Canary outfit and she had been revived by DC two years previously. JeffDecember 30, 2014 10:26 AM Tales Of Suspense #47 I often like to think of this issue as when the "classic" or "modern" Iron Man series in "Suspense" begins. By that I mean that previous to this, Stan was merely plotting and Bernstein had been doing most of the scripting duties. Yes, I know that in the previous two issues under Bernstein, Pepper and Happy were created and more detail was given on the Long Island facility, But beginning here when Stan begins full writing duties, it truly becomes a serial. I have similar thoughts on last month's Journey 97, the first Lee/Kirby (and Heck briefly) Thor. Lee/Kirby FF and Lee/Ditko Spidey seemed to thrive on the "Marvel method" from day 1, but it seemed to me that Thor and Iron Man struggled under the Lee/Lieber or Lee/Bernstein plot/script arrangement until Stan firmly took the reigns with Kirby and Heck. MichaelDecember 29, 2014 11:01 PM Fantastic Four #35 I don't see Reed as THAT old. Remember at this point Reed was intended to be a World War II veteran- if he enlisted in 1942 at 22 years of age, he'd be 45 at the time of this story. There are plenty of good-looking 45-year old guys. david banesDecember 29, 2014 9:49 PM Iron Man #48 Yeah I noticed the character decay with jus his second appearance. Firebrand started off so interesting! Erik BeckDecember 29, 2014 9:07 PM Fantastic Four #36 Adding on Mark Drummond's comment, while Dr. Doom fights everybody, he is still primarily an FF villain. Sandman might be the first villain designed for one hero who really moved on to become a major antagonist for someone else. Erik BeckDecember 29, 2014 8:56 PM Strange Tales #130-144 (Dr. Strange) The art on this is really fantastic. This was one of the storylines they really played up in the later issues of Marvel Saga, so I remember seeing a lot of these panels there. Erik BeckDecember 29, 2014 8:52 PM Fantastic Four #35 Was that Peter Parker just a try-out for Hammerhead? And you gotta love Reed: "You feel about me the way that I feel about you?" Dude, Reed, did you even read the first 34 issues? kvetoDecember 29, 2014 4:08 PM Werewolf By Night #3-5 I've always stayed away from Werewolf by night because the forced hipness in Jack's dialougue in guest appearances always put me off. But you are making this series sound interesting (whether or not you intend to:-) kvetoDecember 29, 2014 4:04 PM Iron Man #48 Thanks, fnord. I read Firebrand's original appearance before I found out his race in much later stories. It doesn't take away from Goodwin's great story in IM #27 but as you say, it lessens his appearance there by heading for that overused sons of the serpent false flag/race trope. Grandpa ChetDecember 29, 2014 6:00 AM Fantastic Four #14 Housecleaning? Just as long as you do it silently. (The sounds you hear are of Grandma Cherie beating up Grandpa Chet.) david banesDecember 29, 2014 1:55 AM Hero For Hire #5 Black Mariah, Kevin O'Brian and Boomerrang. DermieDecember 28, 2014 11:20 PM Hero For Hire #5 Apparently Mrs. Jenks is eventually given the first name of Mimi in one of the Handbooks. david banesDecember 28, 2014 8:39 PM Thor #240-245 I kind of liked the Time Twister story. The antagonists are not crazy just see themselves as gods and are too powerful to fight. So Thor and co have to cease their existence. Matthew BradleyDecember 28, 2014 8:02 PM Thor #240-245 For what it's worth, the Zarrko footnote in #242 does cite "THOR" (i.e., JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY) #101-102 as well as #86. Ataru320December 28, 2014 5:55 PM Strange Tales #172-173 Anyone catch his "cameo" in Big Hero 6 with Orca? That was unexpected but awesome. BillDecember 28, 2014 3:25 PM Avengers #12 It's nice of the Moloid who is spraying Iron Man with a flamethrower to actually THINK for Iron Man. I guess he's showing sympathetic tendencies for the Avengers cause? SharDecember 28, 2014 1:56 PM What's Missing Re Not Brand Echh: Anyway, the team shown consists of the Wasp, the Black Panther, the Vision, plus Hank Pym as Goliath and Clint as Hawkeye, so it likely takes place after Avengers #58 when the Vision joins the team and probably before #59 when Hank becomes Yellowjacket. Or perhaps after #60, YJ and Wasp's wedding--but before #61 when Hank and Jan are away on their honeymoon (and maybe before he's decided to keep the YJ costume/identity). Here's a link to the story: Cringe WorthyDecember 28, 2014 1:04 PM Werewolf By Night #3-5 Makes you wonder, Michael, could the ending of issue 4 have been the inspiration for the polar bear-related ending of Road House? MichaelDecember 28, 2014 12:51 PM Avengers #12 They do use the "Avengers Attack" battlecry several times over the years. Erik BeckDecember 28, 2014 12:37 PM Avengers #13-14 Ah, the Maggia. So ridiculous. Even more so when there's an issue of X-Men (somewhere in the 20's) where the word "mafia" is actually used. Am I the only one here with a kid who watches Despicable Me? I can no longer think of Count Nefaria without thinking of Doctor Nefario from DM. Erik BeckDecember 28, 2014 12:32 PM Daredevil #6 Given how Stan was writing basically the same dialogue with minor changes in three books (I can't love Jean/Pepper/Karen because I have optic blasts/have a heart condition/am blind), if he ever wrote the wrong thing. Maybe have Scott think about Karen or Tony complain about being blind. Erik BeckDecember 28, 2014 12:29 PM Avengers #12 Recently read this for the first time in the Avengers Omnibus. I'm a big fan of Hank Pym and even I thought it was ridiculous when Cap says "Giant-Man's got a temper too and I wouldn't want to see it directed at us." Yo, Cap, Giant-Man is a big guy. Thor is a freaking God! Also makes me think of Ultimates, where Pym grows large and Cap still easily beats the shit out of him. Mark DrummondDecember 28, 2014 11:49 AM West Coast Avengers #17-24 An article in Amazing Heroes #149 confirmed that Henry Pym was going for the Tom Baker-Dr. Who look, and questioned how the fabric message in Espirita's bible didn't get lost, read by somebody else, or just plain decayed after 200 years. fnord12December 28, 2014 11:27 AM Tales To Astonish #61 (Hulk) Cool info. Thanks, Midnighter. Erik BeckDecember 28, 2014 8:21 AM Tales To Astonish #64 (Giant-Man/Wasp) In this period you so often see Jan drawn with her mask off. It's like they knew she was good looking enough to generally have the mask off and it was stupid for her to have such a ridiculous mask that hid all her hair. Granted, we also see Hank with his mask off a lot. Maybe just a function of so much of these stories being in the lab - these two are drawn with their costumes on but their masks on far more than any other character at this point. Erik BeckDecember 28, 2014 8:11 AM Fantastic Four #33 I wonder if anyone has ever done a timeline comparison between Namor and Aquaman about when was on their respective thrones and when they weren't. MidnighterDecember 27, 2014 9:17 PM Tales To Astonish #61 (Hulk) I can remember the suit used by Bruce Banner versus Skaar, during the Pak/Olivetti run on Incredible Hulk, shortly after 601 ChrisDecember 27, 2014 6:06 PM Hulk #130-134 The only issue with Jim Wilson I read was the one late in Peter David's run so I don't know anything about his relationship with the Hulk. It appears to be an ersatz replacement for how the Hulk interacted with Rick Jones early on. ChrisDecember 27, 2014 4:49 PM Strange Tales #126-127 (Dr. Strange) I was introduced to this story from Bring on the Bad Guys as well, and I just loved it. Dormammu was a great villain which Ditko would utilize well. After Ditko left, Dormammu's grandeur took a definite turn for the worse. I never understood why he wasn't restored to his proper glory. Erik BeckDecember 27, 2014 12:23 PM Journey Into Mystery annual #1 I never particularly liked Hercules. But it never really feels like a Thor-Hercules fight until someone gets hit with Manhattan. Erik BeckDecember 27, 2014 12:21 PM Avengers #10 I wonder if Immortus was just sitting around and thought to himself - the Avengers just beat me as Kang. I should try again as a new person. Who do you think decided years later, hey, those two characters were introduced basically back-to-back. Let's make them the same person! Erik BeckDecember 27, 2014 12:10 PM Strange Tales #126-127 (Dr. Strange) Another one I remember from Bring on the Bad Guys. Given the rarity of Dormammu's appearances over the years it's interesting they would put him in that. But this is one of the times where Ditko's art really meshes well with the story - there are some great things here you just couldn't put in a normal comic. Nathan AdlerDecember 27, 2014 1:56 AM Uncanny X-Men #229 While it's never clearly explained where the Reavers came from, think I finally have worked it out. In Uncanny X-Men #251, Donald Pierce refers to Pretty Boy, Bone Breaker and Skullbuster as the "last of my original Reavers". Then in Uncanny X-Men #252, he says to all the Reavers: "My genius crafted the bionics systems that make you all far more than human or mutant. And what I built, I can just as easily destroy", and then notes that Lady Deathstrike is different since she was turned into a cyborg by Spiral. While Cole, Macon and Reese were operated on by Spiral in Uncanny X-Men #205, they were described as cyborgs as far back as Uncanny X-Men #152, and since Pierce was with the Hellfire Club then it makes sense he was responsible for their original cybernetics and Spiral just upgraded them when she operated on Yuriko. So Claremont hadn't left it as a dangler, just us fans weren't paying enough attention;) fnord12December 27, 2014 1:28 AM Tales To Astonish #61 (Hulk) I'm fairly confident that the "robot" never appears again, but i recall that neither the spy or the suit/robot weren't actually named, so it's hard to do a Google search to confirm (and neither the MCP nor Marvel's Wiki list a character). It would be cool to see a Tyrannoid or something piloting it one day. fnord12December 27, 2014 1:24 AM Avengers #9 Scans for Avengers are from the official GIT PDFs that were available several years ago, and they were direct scans of the originals. But the problems with those scans are at a minimum exacerbated by the poor coloring quality (outside the lines!), and i also find that the "bolt face" Iron Man design makes his features look thin and indistinct, so it's definitely not all due to Heck's pencils. fnord12December 27, 2014 1:18 AM What's Missing Thanks all. Added it to the list. UHBMCC lists Steven Grant & Winslow Mortimer as the creators, and it's the issue after the K-9 back-up reprint, for what that's worth. RobertDecember 27, 2014 12:21 AM What's Missing I checked my copy of Marvel Premiere 59 and yup, there's a 4-page Werewolf By Night backup. Dan H.December 26, 2014 11:25 PM Fantastic Four #117-118 The Yeti/Kaliban conflation apparently was started by the *Official* FF Index written by Olshevsky, who credited them as the same character. The later "Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters" (whew) lists them as brothers. MichaelDecember 26, 2014 9:07 PM Punisher: Intruder There was a Graphic Novel adaptation of the Punisher movie by Yakin and Potts that appeared in 1990- maybe that's what they're talking about. MichaelDecember 26, 2014 9:03 PM What's Missing I don't have it in front of me but the GCD,comicvine and Marvel Appendix all claim that there's a new WBNight story in there. Mark DrummondDecember 26, 2014 8:04 PM Punisher: Intruder Comics Interview #63(8/88) has some info on the creative team for the 4th Punisher GN: Boaz Yakin/Carl Potts. Mark DrummondDecember 26, 2014 8:00 PM What's Missing Are you positive it's WBNight in there? I bought those Dr. Who issues when they first came out and the only backup I recall is a K9 story(also a reprint). ChrisWDecember 26, 2014 7:48 PM Marvel Team-Up #15 So there are people in NYC who are willing to buy Spider-Man merchandise, hmmm? And there are just as obviously people who are willing to bootleg Spider-Man merchandise. Lotta money being made, and Peter's not seeing a dime. Gotham City doesn't have any unauthorized Bat-merchandise. Erik BeckDecember 26, 2014 6:49 PM Avengers #9 I can't decide if Heck is really the problem. Certainly those first two scans have a lot of problems, but that may have been from whatever the source was (I know fnord grabs a lot of the scans). The backup is a bit bizarre. First of all, it looks like it's just stills from an animated show. Secondly, there are the continuity problems that Steven Printz and Shar. Third, Wasp complains about being called "doll"? Did she not hear Cap's complaints in TOS#59 that the trouble with girls is they all act like females? Hell, all the Marvel heroes are like that at this point (to be fair, so is a lot of society). Gary HimesDecember 26, 2014 6:42 PM Tales To Astonish #61 (Hulk) Hmmm...did this "robot" ever appear anywhere else? The way it's disposed of, falling into bottomless pit, would seem to be a perfect setup for the Mole Man or Tyrranus finding it and using it for nefarious purposes. (Or possibly Tony Stark suing Bruce for copyright infringement) Erik BeckDecember 26, 2014 6:38 PM Tales Of Suspense #58 (Iron Man) Kudos to Pepper for calling Happy on that jacket. Maybe she should go to Xavier's School and mock most of the guys there. Erik BeckDecember 26, 2014 6:33 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #1 Parts of this are really good a - a great collection of villains (I would say inspired, or ripped off, from Flash's Rogues Gallery, which first united a couple of years before) - a couple of great splash panels (Elektro and Mysterio) and an amusing way to pull in appearances from the other heroes (Hey! Buy our other books!). On the other hand, they had to come up with the "fight him one at a time" plot because those six would just crush him. Hell, just the combination of Doc Ock and Sandman should crush him. And Reed and Xavier are their typical dick selves. MichaelDecember 26, 2014 6:31 PM Fantastic Four annual #2 They were previously established to be roommates in Fantastic Four 11. Erik BeckDecember 26, 2014 6:16 PM Amazing Spider-Man #16 I wonder if other heroes got together behind Daredevil's back in the early years and said "Have you seen his costume? Is this guy blind?" And, as much as Reed is a dick to Sue so much, at least they're in an acknowledged relationship. Jan and Hank never seem to know where they are. And the rest of the universe seems to be of the "we love each other but can never tell each other" trope - Matt and Karen, Thor and Jane Foster, Scott and Jean. Reading these all in order just makes it so much more obvious. Erik BeckDecember 26, 2014 6:14 PM Avengers #8 Until recently I had never realized that Kang was always established as Rama-Tut. I had just assumed it was something added in later, like Immortus. Erik BeckDecember 26, 2014 6:11 PM Fantastic Four annual #2 Still a great origin story after all this time. Is this one of the first times of adding in history in the Marvel Universe? I don't remember it being mentioned before this that Reed and Ben were college roommates. Erik BeckDecember 26, 2014 5:48 PM Tales Of Suspense #57 Hawkeyer and Hank Pym must be the two characters we disagree about the most. I have always liked him - he's often so hopelessly outpowered and that doesn't stop him. He would develop into a great character in the 80's and was the reason I collected both West Coast Avengers and Solo Avengers. A lot of DC characters have no superpowers but that has always seemed to be more rare among Marvel heroes and Hawkeye has always been one of the best of them. Being an Avenger seemed to define him - after all, look at how long he was an Avenger. No wonder he would be so pissed when Gyrich would bounce him. I also like how his costume has changed so many times over the years, but it's almost always come back to some variation on this original Don Heck design. MichaelDecember 26, 2014 2:46 PM What's Missing Marvel Premiere 59 has a backup story featuring Werewolf By Night. (The main story is Dr.Who and therefore not in your project.) fnord12December 26, 2014 10:17 AM Iron Man #48 Kveto, for what it's worth, i think your original point makes sense, and i agree that the fist on his costume is a supporting factor. At least Firebrand never actually claimed to be black and then revealed otherwise, or we'd have to add him to the Sons of the Serpent/Diamondhead/etc. category. ;-) fnord12December 26, 2014 10:14 AM Amazing Spider-Man #17 Thanks for pointing that out, Seb. It wasn't corrected for the Marvel Tales reprint, either. I've added a scan. Erik RobbinsDecember 26, 2014 12:35 AM Werewolf By Night #3-5 Hmmm, how can we talk Wizkids into adding Dragonus into a future Marvel HeroClix set? kvetoDecember 25, 2014 7:00 AM Iron Man #48 funny thing is, when i made my original comment, I had a feeling some smarty pants :-) would try to "educate" me on the true meaning of the symbol and I originally thought about putting on a pre-emptive defensive comment that i of course knew that. Turns out I guess I should have put that comment. It's annoying that on this site that that is necessary. It was just a minor bit of info that helped me beieve Goodwin intended Firebrand to be black. The other info i noted i consider more compeling. sebfromfranceDecember 25, 2014 5:28 AM Amazing Spider-Man #17 big error when Flash calls Liz Allen's dad : "Mr. Brant" (page 11 first image) sorry for my english Luis DantasDecember 24, 2014 11:09 PM Marvel Spotlight #2 Thanks. Ahahah. MichaelDecember 24, 2014 10:55 PM Luis DantasDecember 24, 2014 10:53 PM Marvel Spotlight #2 Uh, I know I will look silly asking this... but what is wrong with Jack Russell as a name? Mark DrummondDecember 24, 2014 8:51 PM Marvel Comics Presents #10-17 (Colossus) Weirdly enough, some fanzines stated just before this serial started that this was going to "lead into" a proper Colossus GN by the same team. Mark DrummondDecember 24, 2014 8:48 PM Amazing Spider-Man #50 Amazing Heroes #148(9/88) contains a line stating that one other source claims that Jack Kirby conceived of and designed the Kingpin, but no other info is provided. Mark DrummondDecember 24, 2014 8:40 PM Marvel Spotlight #4 Thankfully Chiaramonte doesn't mess up Ploog's art here nearly as badly as he did on Ghost Rider(or on a bunch of other artists in the MU). Mark DrummondDecember 24, 2014 8:31 PM Marvel Spotlight #2 Roy Thomas originally wanted this series titled "I, Werewolf!" Mark DrummondDecember 24, 2014 8:25 PM Sub-Mariner #56 The title is taken from "Hiroshima, Mon Amour". Mark DrummondDecember 24, 2014 8:08 PM Iron Man #48 John Sinclair's White Panther Party(well, the people on his commune anyway) weren't above using the fist either, so there's precedent for cross-cultural use. Mark DrummondDecember 24, 2014 7:52 PM Marvel Team-Up #95 Black Canary had a few sporadic solo stories in Adventure Comics in the early 1970s, one of which Toth did. Her World's Finest series started in 1977, but after about a year she wound up having to alternate with Green Arrow rather than having side-by-side stories. DC's Huntress appeared in a DC Special first in 1977, than almost immediately became a regular in the Justice Society in All-Star Comics before shifting to the Wonder Woman backup. She was seen pretty much monthly until DC's Crisis in 1985, which pretty much guaranteed no more Bobbi Morse-Huntress. MichaelDecember 24, 2014 7:15 PM Marvel Spotlight #2 I meant if Jack turned 18 in 1972, he was conceived in 1953. MichaelDecember 24, 2014 6:36 PM Werewolf By Night #3-5 The ending is really confusing. First, it seems like Kane died of a heart attack but in issue 6, a detective talks about Kane being murdered. If Kane had a heart attack, why would the cops talk about Kane being murdered. Secondly, how did the bear statue fall on Kane? If the idea is that Kane's gunshots knocked the bear over, shouldn't it have fallen AWAY from Kane? Maybe Jack pushed the bear on Kane? But then wouldn't Jack's fingerprints be all over the statue? cullenDecember 24, 2014 6:29 PM Marvel Spotlight #2 God, Michael - Jack's mom must have cursed Jack herself, having to gestate that puppy for 18+ years! cullenDecember 24, 2014 6:27 PM Marvel Spotlight #4 That link is lol! MichaelDecember 24, 2014 5:50 PM Marvel Spotlight #4 Jack forgetting when his transformations take place becomes a regular occurence in this book. This website does a good job of summing up what most readers think about Jack Russell: MichaelDecember 24, 2014 5:36 PM Marvel Spotlight #2 Jack's mother is described as having met his father in a "small BALTIC state" but starting with Werewolf by Night 2, his father is describe as a "scholar in the BALKANS". Somebody probably realized that if Jack was born in early 1972, he was conceived in 1953, and in 1953 the Soviets were in control of the Baltic states, and trying to stamp out an insurgency. fnord12December 24, 2014 12:32 PM Fantastic Four #28 Professor X did fight the Vanisher on the White House lawn. I know the average person wasn't supposed to have realized that he was involved, but this is the Mad Thinker we're talking about! (That's all i've got...) Erik BeckDecember 24, 2014 12:21 PM Uncanny X-Men #6 The concept of Bobby making ice cream reminds me of the joke "That lemonade's gonna be pretty crappy unless life also provides you with water and sugar." Erik BeckDecember 24, 2014 12:15 PM Avengers #7 "Neither sentence makes much sense. Why de-power the Avengers unnecessarily? Make Iron Man pull some extra monitor duty or something." I completely agree. That was my first thought on this issue. It's like in high school, where someone skips school and they suspend him - you just gave the person what they already wanted - not to be in school. Why suspend Iron Man and hurt the team? Zemo should have gathered his original Masters and combined them with Enchantress and Executioner. I can't see the Avengers beating a team like that. GregDecember 24, 2014 12:11 PM Beauty and the Beast #1-4 I took out the 4 ish set, read the first comic and then banged my head against the wall for a half hour. It was the worst 15 min of my life! Couldn't get over how dumbed down Beast was and how dishonorable Doom was. I put the set back and vowed never to open them again! Erik BeckDecember 24, 2014 12:08 PM Fantastic Four #28 I don't recall seeing anything in the first five issues of X-Men in which Prof. X would have been revealed much to the public. How on earth would the Thinker know to plot this out, let alone have the Puppet Master make a puppet that would be able to nail him? Anyone else find this strange? Erik BeckDecember 24, 2014 12:01 PM Amazing Spider-Man #14 For someone who would end up as one of the key villains in history this really is a pretty unimpressive debut. It was cool though that they kept the identity secret for so long to keep people guessing - of course, that just lead to the same thing with Hobgoblin, which really drove people nuts (and had to be changed more than once). You know, Doom and Magneto had great first appearances. But do you think Stan could have known how big the Goblin would become? Ataru320December 24, 2014 11:42 AM Daredevil #2 Only practicing superhero lawyer for the moment. I'm assuming Jennifer Walters is just staying out of the limelight with her cousin on the run at this point...(yeah 16 years before Shulkie but that's what I've got) Erik BeckDecember 24, 2014 10:23 AM Daredevil #2 Is Matt Murdock the only lawyer in the Marvel Universe? I love how it's only the second issue of Daredevil and already he's being called on by other heroes. But, yeah, it would take years before DD would have any worthwhile villains. Ataru320December 24, 2014 9:04 AM Marvel Spotlight #2 I'm a bit surprised Jack came before Dracula in the releases. I guess somehow it was just easier to get a werewolf story up and running compared to one involving vampires and their lore. He really is a mainstay in Marvel, though, considering he goes easily from his horror roots to having quite a few matters with the mainstream heroes, including the Darkhold and Moon Knight as mentioned, but also Tigra and Spider-Woman in some ways. Erik BeckDecember 24, 2014 9:01 AM Journey Into Mystery #104-106 Thanks for the answer fnord. The interesting thing is how much might have been changed in the Masterworks. I just read the first X-Men Masterworks and when Jean first appeared she mentions her telekinesis, while in your scan it's "teleportation." HaywerthDecember 23, 2014 10:06 PM Giant-Size X-Men #1 @Jay Patrick, I agree totally. As a little kid, the new X-Men were a bit scary to me, especially Nightcrawler. And I always remembered that panel of Cyclops in the scan above. Those glowing red eyes were very intimidating and creepy. ChrisWDecember 23, 2014 10:02 PM Uncanny X-Men #96 Wolverine spent ten years of praying? That's not the Wolvie I know. Easy to see why Byrne and others saw something to the character that Claremont didn't. ChrisWDecember 23, 2014 8:20 PM Uncanny X-Men #160 Dave Sim has mentioned that, in hindsight, he was going overboard. The Wolverine parody on the inside of the story was defensible, but putting Wolveroach on multiple covers was not. By his own admission, all he was trying to do was make a point about bad inking on the "Wolverine" series, but even after being told to stop, he kept doing it on successive covers. [From memory] "All Marvel would have needed was to find one kid who bought an issue of 'Cerebus' thinking Wolverine was in it and they'd have bankrupted me with legal fees." He's also said that the "X-Men/Cerebus" crossover was mostly based on a conversation on a plane flight, and assumed that, as Marvel's top writer, Claremont had the interest and authority to make it happen. If Sim wanted to publish something, he did it. If Claremont wanted to publish something, the request went up through editors and lawyers and publishers and the need to find an available artist and schedule with the printers and distributors. I don't trust Shooter's account, but have no reason to disbelieve it either. Shooter, at least, knew how to get things published when he wanted them published. ChrisWDecember 23, 2014 7:43 PM Uncanny X-Men #145-147 I agree with Todd that "FF vs. X-Men" was a great FF story, and the X-Men weren't there for much more than to fill problems in their continuity. [Who can save Kitty? Let's call Reed Richards! Reed's having a generic-Claremont personal crisis and Doom's offering help, add in a Kitty/Franklin connection, we got a story here!] It also helped give an actual 'Us vs. Them' approach to mutant prejudice not normally seen in comics, except as generic humans whining about filthy muties. The FF are fully capable of going up against the X-Men, who immediately turn violent when they're given 'no' for an answer. The FF are far more concerned with what's going on with Reed (and Sue) and will not take kindly to Wolverine being himself. "Mutie bozos" is a good way to describe these nutcases. [I also wonder how much of Shulkie's part of the series was to plus up the FF, who wouldn't win in a straightforward match - Longshot and Dazzler beat the Torch, Havok beats the Thing, Wolvie's having his own drama against Reed, and Betsy/everybody else against Sue - and Claremont's own dig at Byrne's... "interest" in Shulkie.] Anyway, regarding the end of that miniseries, it was obviously intended to give Sue her "Claremont Macho Female" lines from the perspective of Wife and Mother, but in Doom's case, he's behaving as an Eastern European monarch/aristocrat, with decorum and respect. Kitty was saved, which is all he was trying to do in the first place. He lost, but not in a way that threatens his plans to rule the world. He had the pleasure of toying with Richards and the rest, as well as studying/making claims upon the X-Men and Storm. From Sue's point of view, she's demonstrating the FF's victory over him [which has nothing to do with the problem the X-Men needed solved; that was just a happy bonus] and delivering a Claremont Macho Female monologue, but to him it's tedious dinner-party chatter like he has with any dictator/despot/world leader. He politely listens (or pretends to) and looks for further ways to enhance his schemes, like the forged diary that led to this story. ChrisWDecember 23, 2014 7:14 PM Uncanny X-Men #129-131 Never mind Wolvie's reading habits, how did the Comics Code ignore the scene where he's completely naked and holding a 13 year-old girl in his arms? The off-panel bloodlust [pun intended] he's about to have is less disturbing to contemplate. ChrisWDecember 23, 2014 7:05 PM Uncanny X-Men #125-128 I always wondered why they didn't tell Hank what was going on and ask for help. This isn't one of those 'problems that would be solved with a cell phone' things, the Blackbird and the Quinjet *have* radios. They need to be able to communicate, to send (or receive) calls for help. Ok, Hank is already fifty miles away (or whatever) by the time they hear Lorna scream, so they give him a call and say "don't return the Quinjet, meet us at Muir Isle! We might need your help." How careless do they have to be to realize that Hank is going to wonder what happened? Or maybe he just likes being abused, since less than ten issues later, he runs to save the team after Dark Phoenix beats them. fnord12December 23, 2014 3:38 PM Journey Into Mystery #104-106 I believe they are from the Masterworks reprints. (You may already know my scans are from, er, online copies so that i can save time on reviews instead of scanning my own. I actually have the Essentials for these.) Erik BeckDecember 23, 2014 3:03 PM Journey Into Mystery #104-106 I'm curious where the JIM scans come from, since they have so much more a glossy look than the other issues in this period. Erik BeckDecember 23, 2014 3:01 PM Strange Tales #120 Having just read the first 10 issues of X-Men, it's strange to see Stan Lee writing Bobby as if the stuff in X-Men doesn't happen. Who asks Jean for a date? Certainly not Scott as those first 10 issues have a lot of Scott and Jean pining for each other without saying anything. Erik BeckDecember 23, 2014 2:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #5 Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were really on the forefront of the eventual theme of having tons of villains be not so bad. At least they were sympathetic from the beginning. More evidence of Prof. X being a dick - seriously, your final exam is going against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants? Ataru320December 23, 2014 10:27 AM Werewolf By Night #2 Its sad: now you have the actual run of Werewolf By Night, the context is going to be lost on how awesome this issue was. Nothing as random and awesome as werewolf-on-shark action. cullenDecember 23, 2014 8:25 AM Iron Man #48 My point is that even at the time (and I have lots of contemporary sources, I'm a big student of the era), the fist was used cross-culturally, and the fist therefore doesn't indicate an intended race. Its reduction to a symbol of "Black power" is a historical/media distortion and I was addressing that. fnord12December 23, 2014 7:54 AM Sub-Mariner #55 The UHBMCC lists Roy Thomas as the writer but doesn't cite a source. I've updated the credits to just list Everett as the writer but put in a note about that. fnord12December 23, 2014 7:53 AM Sub-Mariner #52-54 From the beginning she's said to be a "true Sub-Mariner" but she's still a child. She does pretty well for herself in Sub-Mariner #62. I guess since she becomes such a background character after the Sub-Mariner run we don't really get to see her development. She gets thrashed pretty soundly by Tiger Shark in Ms. Marvel #16; Claremont even has her mention her "true Sub-Mariner" status before having Tiger Shark dismiss her as a girl and knock her out. But Claremont does have her wake up complimenting herself for surviving the punch that knocked her through a sunken ship's bulkhead, which i guess implies super-durability. I'd say it's not really until the post-Handbook DeFalco issues where she's anything more than a supporting character that has an opportunity to show her powers. kvetoDecember 23, 2014 7:22 AM Iron Man #48 So what? I don't know what you are trying to say here, cullen. At that time, in 1970 it was most commonly associated with the black power movement and in his first story, Firebrand was representing black community interests. Its clear his creator intended him to be black. That's my only point, no interest in the history of it. Would you like me to include a link about how a Nazi salute originated with the Romans?:-) Walter LawsonDecember 23, 2014 4:26 AM Iron Man #52-53 The three demons Marianne envisions seem kind of reminiscent of three demons the Lama conjures before Raga. (They could be the same entities drawn somewhat inconsistently.) Walter LawsonDecember 23, 2014 4:14 AM Iron Man #49-51 When Tony breaks up with Marianne he tells her, "There are plenty of other fish I the sea!" Like the giant one he caught? david banesDecember 23, 2014 12:31 AM Sub-Mariner #55 Torg does look pretty cool. david banesDecember 23, 2014 12:28 AM Astonishing Tales #17-18 I think Plunderer should have stayed a pirate. At least 3D Man had different powers on each side of his body. MichaelDecember 22, 2014 11:29 PM Sub-Mariner #55 Roy Thomas is merely listed as the editor in the credits but you have him as the writer. Is there something we should know about? MichaelDecember 22, 2014 11:16 PM Sub-Mariner #52-54 Fnord, I'm not clear about something from your reviews- at what point was it made clear that Namorita had super-strength? She clearly didn't have it in these early issues but the 1986 Official Handbook claimed that she did and every writer that used her when DeFalco was Editor-In-Chief treated her like she was super-strong. So was it the Handbook that decided she was super-strong? cullenDecember 22, 2014 10:30 PM Iron Man #48 Sorry, this link is way better: http://www.docspopuli.org/articles/Fist.html cullenDecember 22, 2014 10:19 PM Iron Man #48 The "power to the people" fist (as the Panthers called it) was used cross-culturally, and afaik predates the "Black Power" movement - its lineage is in the Communist and anarchist workers movement. (Possibly particular to the US) fnord12December 22, 2014 8:18 PM Astonishing Tales #17-18 By Gemini's appearance in Astonishing Tales #17 we see that Joshua can actually possess Damian. Jay GallardoDecember 22, 2014 8:08 PM Astonishing Tales #17-18 Any Explanation about why the policeman brother turned evil too? kvetoDecember 22, 2014 6:29 PM Iron Man #49-51 these issues are a trip, but not in a good way. Theres something i just love about Princess python taking on Iron man with just her big snake. I always enjoyed seeing villains try to take on foes too big for their power set. kvetoDecember 22, 2014 6:24 PM Iron Man #48 I've often said Firebrand is one of my favourite villains but that is solely based on his first Archie Goodwin appearance. When brought back, he just didn't have the magic from that first appearance. Also, i didn't like them making him white, when he was clearly intended to be black (he's got a black-power fist on his costume even) Ataru320December 22, 2014 4:49 PM Thor #175-177 I sort of wonder how the heck Surtur gets around considering that he was previously sent to space, then comes back here, goes into the depths of the Earth...and then returns to space by the time of Simonseon. My guess: he just didn't want to get in the way of Marvel's cosmology of the "devil" and just thought launching a space invasion was way cooler than just being "another Earth threat". fnord12December 22, 2014 12:09 PM Iron Man #52-53 Good point. I've put brother in quotes. Dan H.December 22, 2014 12:05 PM Marvel Team-Up #95 That shot of "the Huntress" does look like something out of the 1960s Avengers TV series, but with the mask, it ironically makes her look more like a throwback to the original 1940s Black Canary than the current 1970s version (although there's a strong resemblance there, too, especially with the "karate hands"). BC wasn't mad popular at this time, but she did have a series somewhere drawn by Alex Toth and a run in World's Finest as well (may have been the same series for all I know). And the original DC Huntress had made a few appearances just prior to this. She appeared in one of the JLA/JSA teamups in the early 70s, as well as a weird "DC Super-Stars of Sports" story that came out about this time. Mark DrummondDecember 22, 2014 11:38 AM Iron Man #52-53 I think "sister" is meant here as in "cult-member" rather than biology. fnord12December 21, 2014 10:40 PM Strange Tales #176-177 Thanks, Silverbird. Added them in. SilverbirdDecember 21, 2014 10:29 PM Strange Tales #176-177 You forgot the story titles. The main ones are "Black Crossing", issue 176, and "There Comes Now Raging Fire", issue 177. MichaelDecember 21, 2014 7:14 PM Iron Man #52-53 This is the second time in a row that Friedrich has used Iron Man to plug his Ant-Man stories with the flimsiest of excuses. MichaelDecember 21, 2014 6:33 PM Iron Man #49-51 I don't blame Tony for his reaction- okay, so Marianne was worried that Tony would be in danger if she was in close proximity but she should have SENT someone (Pepper.a cop, etc.) to help as soon as she got to a phone. MichaelDecember 21, 2014 4:50 PM Iron Man #48 It's not just Tony's wealth- DUIs generally weren't treated very seriously in the 1970s. A decade later, a hero driving drunk with his girlfriend in the car would have been treated much more harshly. Ataru320December 21, 2014 4:30 PM Avengers #5-6 With the original MoE, it is rather sad seeing the fate of this quartet. Zemo ends up dying and replaced by his more interesting son, Black Knight dies and is ultimately replaced by Dane Whitman, and Melter is killed by Scourge. Radioactive Man is probably the longest lasting of them and he actually was the potential of a Chinese supervillain who wasn't another stereotype like the Yellow Claw/Mandarins of the world...but he for the most part sort of got stuck too despite being a radioactive man who can walk through security at an airport! (then again he was radioactive but not a gamma mutant; I guess his fate is that he never became a Hulk rival sooner) Luis DantasDecember 21, 2014 2:58 PM Power Man annual #1 Ballard (later Centurion, first seen in 1976's Black Goliath #4) is working for "the Council" in 1977's Ms. Marvel #9. It has never been made quite clear, but the general assumption seems to be that this is the Hellfire Club's Council of the Chosen as well. ChrisDecember 21, 2014 1:10 PM Avengers #5-6 At the time, the Masters of Evil were the group of important bad guys. It is strange how so many of them retreated into obscurity afterwards. The Radioactive Man, Black Knight, and the Melter all had potential to retain their status. Probably the point against them is that they were created too early in the Marvel Universe before the bad guys had much personality, and therefore there was less drama in their return except for the gimmicks of their power. I assume Zemo has created a special nutritional fluid which he imbibes through the hood into his mouth. Where is my No-Prize? MichaelDecember 21, 2014 1:06 PM Avengers #5-6 The Official Handbook claims that Zemo took nutrition intravenously. Erik BeckDecember 21, 2014 12:53 PM Tales Of Suspense #53 Ah, for once the old tired "if only he would just notice me" line has a good reason for he not noticing her. Sorry Pepper, but you're no Natasha. But hey, at least you know it. I love that she knows that Natasha's not out of Tony's league. Erik BeckDecember 21, 2014 12:49 PM Avengers #5-6 I recently read these issues in the Avengers Omnibus and I was surprised by several things. 1 - Those things on Cap's hand to attract his shield don't hardly ever seem to be shown again. 2 - The original Masters of Evil were a great group and these should be major villains and just aren't. Radioactive Man is incredibly powerful but rarely used and the rest are dead, with the Melter one of the highest level villains killed by Scourge. 3 - How does Zemo eat? 4 - I love the shot of Cap and Giant Man stuck to the ground being pulled away by the truck. That made me laugh out loud when I read it. 5 - The Avengers, of course, was the first Marvel book to really bring characters together. It's great to see them pulling villains together, even Paste Pot Pete, who isn't an Avengers villain. That's an even better use of the shared universe. 6 - Seriously, how does Zemo eat? Erik BeckDecember 21, 2014 9:12 AM Fantastic Four #25-26 Having just re-read the Ultimates, it's good to see that some things - Cap being very quick and able to try to wear down the Hulk while dodging him and the Wasp flying in and messing with his ear - don't change after several decades. cullenDecember 21, 2014 8:23 AM Captain America #128 Steve was gonna throw government-issue chainmail into an apartment incinerator? CullenDecember 21, 2014 7:25 AM Astonishing Tales #10 I appreciate that the Marvel Cinematic U introduced Bobbi with brown hair before turning it blonde as well. A neat and obscure nod! fnord12December 20, 2014 5:59 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Tsk, i did it again! Thanks, Dan. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 5:17 PM Astonishing Tales #9 This probably is the ST#2 story; Iranda's boobs do seem to be unnaturally covered up. The Lorna story is by Don Rico/Jay Scott Pike. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 5:14 PM Captain America #128 No way are those Wally Wood inks. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 5:11 PM Captain America #127 Neal Pozner later became a designer and writer for DC. Sharon's poses look much more like Wood than Colan; I have to wonder if Wood actually had to finish some penciling. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 5:03 PM Daredevil #72 "Credence" Clearwater Revival? Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 5:00 PM Daredevil #71 Very likely it was a political commercial or a news bit. Dan H.December 20, 2014 4:58 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 I think you mean the serpent-men from *Kull* in your references section, no? fnord12December 20, 2014 4:58 PM Daredevil #68 Heh, yeah. Here's a link to the cover. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:54 PM Daredevil #68 The cover to this is widely considered to be one of the silliest in Marvel's first decade. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:50 PM Daredevil #65-66 The TV show here is a takeoff on "Dark Shadows". Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:44 PM Amazing Spider-Man #72 I believe Marvel Tales skipped this because it appeared in the first Spider-Man Treasury Edition in Summer 1974. Unfortunately, that's a rather weaselly reason because the Treasury only reprinted the LAST page of it. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:39 PM Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #2 Quite a few 1960s(and previous) magazines had centerfold pin-ups, or just plain pin-ups. Not all of them were nude or topless either(for example, Esquire regularly had pin-ups). Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:27 PM Fantastic Four #309-311 In Comics Interview #62, John Buscema states that he left FF this time because he didn't like the direction it was taking, though he didn't really elaborate. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:23 PM Wolverine #1-3 In Comics Interview #62(8/88), Buscema stated that he designed Wolverine's bodysuit and that the shadows around his eyes was supposed to be a painted-on mask. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:17 PM Amazing Spider-Man #304-305 #305 took some criticism from fanzines due to MacFarlane obviously not using correct references for the Queen Mary. Mark DrummondDecember 20, 2014 4:15 PM Punisher: Intruder In Amazing Heroes #145(mid-7/88) an unnamed 4th Punisher GN was announced as written by "the same guy who did the first draft of the Punisher movie". I have no idea if it ever came out. Dan H.December 20, 2014 11:54 AM Defenders #62-64 I agree this story was terrible. It makes me wonder if it would have been worthwhile had the guests been written more in character or if that would have just been lipstick on a pig. Dan H.December 20, 2014 11:45 AM Captain America #217-221 The actual problem that Roy is trying to solve was introduced in Avengers #4. Cap never made it onboard that rocket-plane, yet he himself says that he fell into the water off the coast of Newfoundland, thus the "revelation" here should have been nothing of the sort. The only "mystery" was how Cap jumped off a motorcycle in Europe, failed to grab hold of the rocket-plane, and fell into the water near Newfoundland. That's some serious hang time. Unfortunately, in the meantime Roy had written scenes showing Zemo (not ID'd in Avengers #4) celebrating his success, so Roy couldn't just retcon that Cap made it aboard the plane and later fell off, as you suggest. The explosion had to have happened where Zemo could witness it, although in retrospect that would have been a far less painless retcon (simply have Zemo witness the explosion via some tracking instrument). There's also the problem that such prolonged exposure would have killed Bucky for sure, but that could have been explained by having Bucky gain access to a cockpit or some other protected area. Unfortunately, that introduces the problem that Cap must have definitely made it aboard, which means that Bucky spent a considerable amount of time trying to reconfigure the plane. So why wouldn't Cap have tried instead? It still could make sense if you figure that there was just a small cockpit and Cap knew that trying to exchange places with Bucky would kill him and he felt that Bucky actually had a chance of taking control of the craft and bringing it down safely somewhere. But Roy being Roy, he had to decide there was a bigger story here, even though his idea meant ignoring Cap's original statement that he knew he was off the coast of Newfoundland when the plane exploded. LyronDecember 20, 2014 5:19 AM Spider-Woman #3 I wonder how many archive visitors will come along with the new costume design via the game and comics? Funny...a lot of us discovered Jessica via the cartoon... Sometimes an alternative media take can relaunch a character in a big way. James MDecember 20, 2014 4:22 AM Daredevil #72 I think that might be the greatest opening line to any of your reviews. RyanDecember 19, 2014 11:56 PM Captain America #345-347 Gruenwald is writing some really fun comics between this arc and the Viper serpent war issues. The scene where Walker madly talks to his dead parents sent chills down my spine in a way that movies with similar themes do. Well done. It seems like a lot of other readers don't seem to care for Walker as Cap. I found myself rooting for him. I think he was portrayed to give an honest effort and I liked the chemistry between him and Battlestar. I saw Battlestar as his equal more than Falcon was to the Steve Rogers Cap. Someone called it when they compared this storyline to Azrael (sp?) taking over as Batman. But there are only so many stories to tell before they repeat each other. As mentioned in previous articles Gruenwald came up with great ideas but often failed in execution. I think he unintentionally did this to make his storylines simple. Sometimes a few more issues involving his themes would be required to build them up. I think this plot's pacing had just the right amount of time to be effective. It does make me wonder how the Falcon-as-Cap storyline will go. Will it be a rehash of this one? I am not current on comics so you guys might already know the answer. cullenDecember 19, 2014 4:17 PM Daredevil #69 Although I'm pretty dubious of the "radicals are actually fraudulent thugs" trope - especially when deployed by white liberal writers - it's worth it to point to real examples for reference, In case people weren't aware of the Philadelphia Black Mafia, operating exactly during this era, that was totally their m.o.: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Black_Mafia Andrew FDecember 19, 2014 12:48 PM Avengers Spotlight #22-25 Twice in the Hawkeye story, I was convinced that the horde of lame villains was a hallucination brought on by Mad Dog's fang venom. Ataru320December 19, 2014 11:02 AM Daredevil #77 Sadly now he has all the Conway Daredevil issues, apparantly we didn't miss any of the Mr. Kline saga; merely blind leopard people from mirror dimensions and a city of blind people. That insanity alone should have gotten us ready for Mr. Kline...and the Clone Saga... Thelonious_NickDecember 19, 2014 7:30 AM Amazing Spider-Man #221 Got this issue because it said "Crisis on Campus" and I thought maybe it was a sequel or throwback to the issue 68 "Crisis on Campus" issue. My impressions: cullenDecember 19, 2014 2:43 AM Daredevil #75-76 Weird narration shifts from third person to second person. And is Daredevil calling himself "friend" in a thought balloon? And yeah, the politics on display here are pretty shallow and gross. There certainly were plenty of pseudo-nationalists running around the Third World at the time, proclaiming liberation but really in the service of privileged cliques and foreign interests... but those were U.S. allies, not Guevara acolytes. Dan H.December 19, 2014 1:10 AM Secret Wars II #6 Hey fnord: Just saw your comment. Yeah, you're right - the One Above All is a Celestial. I must have had Kronos on the brain when I typed out my comment. SDecember 19, 2014 12:53 AM Daredevil #75-76 Matt Murdock's obviously really blind, based on that outfit he's wearing in the last scan. SDecember 19, 2014 12:49 AM Daredevil #71 Maybe that's not live footage at the end? Definitely weird. Nathan AdlerDecember 19, 2014 12:20 AM Uncanny X-Men #212 Yes, it's established here that the Morlock Tunnels have psionic barriers surrounding them... which presumably also explains why neither Xavier nor Cerebro detected the Morlocks prior to the X-Men's first encounter with them. But how? ChrisWDecember 18, 2014 11:46 PM Uncanny X-Men #3 The Professor and, Jee-anne! Here on Magneto's Isle!!! MichaelDecember 18, 2014 10:34 PM Daredevil #75-76 Delvadia is later revealed to be the home country of the Tarantula, and in those stories Conway portrays the revolutionaries sympathetically and the government unsympathetically. Maybe Conway felt bad about these issues? fnord12December 18, 2014 8:52 PM Daredevil #68 Thanks Michael. Added them as characters and updated my comment about Pop. MichaelDecember 18, 2014 8:26 PM Daredevil #68 Pop Fenton and Kid Gawaine appear again in Daredevil 119. Ataru320December 18, 2014 11:20 AM Uncanny X-Men #3 In Jan's defense: at least she isn't working with a bunch of lusty teens and a professor with psychic powers that could make him be presumed as a dirty old man even if Jean is the only fresh meat before the entire academy at this point. As many issues she has with Hank, its not like Thor or Tony are hitting on her...well maybe the Hulk but that would be a typical green fist to knock her out. fnord12December 18, 2014 7:38 AM Thor #391 They are the same person. He changed his name in 1993 for reasons he mostly doesn't discuss. RyanDecember 18, 2014 6:18 AM Thor #391 is Jim Owsley and Christopher Priest, who wrote the Black Panther ongoing series, the same person? Can anyone explain this connection? Nathan AdlerDecember 18, 2014 4:13 AM Uncanny X-Men #3 Don't forget Tom Sutton's Patsy Walker in neglige;) But how can we forget Ross Andru's Thelma of the Apes. Rowr;) Jay DemetrickDecember 18, 2014 2:24 AM Uncanny X-Men #1 I've always wondered at what Cyclops sees through his visor. If it blocks the red portion of the light spectrum, shouldn't what he sees through it be actually bleached of red? Because the beams coming from his eyes are red? And they're being cancelled out? Jay DemetrickDecember 18, 2014 2:08 AM Uncanny X-Men #3 No Sue Storm fans? Or Jane Foster? ;) ChrisWDecember 18, 2014 12:33 AM Uncanny X-Men #3 Jan should be hot just because she's such a great character. Natasha should be hot because that is her character. I can agree that Jean looks the best, your mileage may vary, but you have to admit, she's surrounded by teenage boys who will lust after her no matter what (and, er, the Professor.) Maybe that's why I prefer Betty, a working girl. Nathan AdlerDecember 17, 2014 5:08 PM Uncanny X-Men #109 Thanks fnord:) Ataru320December 17, 2014 4:51 PM Uncanny X-Men #3 Jan I wouldn't say is a looker until she finally gets rid of costumes that hide her hair. Probably about the point she and Hank first rejoin the Avengers after their comic ends. I almost forgot Natasha mostly cause of where she starts but considering she also starts off an Iron Man villain, she luckily has Don Heck to do his magic on her in her early appearances...even if nearly everyone forgets she's a redhead for a long period until she gets her Emma Peel catsuit. ChrisWDecember 17, 2014 3:38 PM Uncanny X-Men #3 I could easily see someone preferring Pepper (whom I only just looked at for the first time because I'm not an Iron Man fan, but I was aware of Don Heck's reputation.) Jan, I don't really see it, but that's because she's almost never seen out of that stupid costume. Of course there's also Wanda, who does look pretty good. Heck, I think Zelda (who will first appear in six issues) looks really cute. That said, I would still have to go with Betty once she changes her hairstyle. Wouldn't really rate Clea that high, even after she changes her hair. fnord12December 17, 2014 7:48 AM Uncanny X-Men #109 It's already here: http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/power_man_and_iron_fist_50.shtml Nathan AdlerDecember 17, 2014 6:59 AM Uncanny X-Men #109 fnord when will you get around to Power Man & Iron Fist #50? ChrisDecember 16, 2014 9:28 PM Quasar #4 I think Quasar's involvement with his business ends up being a weakness of the title. While I am big on supporting casts, I don't feel this was the right one for Quasar. As others have mentioned, Quasar is basically Green Lantern without the GL Corps. As Protector of the Universe, he has a big job to do. Most of his adventures should not be on Earth, but in the cosmos - perhaps on alien worlds instead of outer space, but away from Earth. If he's on Earth all the time, how can he be doing his job? I think the various Green Lanterns having jobs on Earth being the same way. What does it add to them? None of these characters need to earn a living - their powers will enable them to eat, have shelter, be clothed in a way that eliminates their NEED for a paycheck. This is a very by-the-numbers approach. I think what would have worked better would be: 1) Q has no secret identity. He doesn't even wear a mask anyway. Just let it be open like the FF. 2) His supporting cast should include people whose work on Earth makes sense in regards to his role. Keep his dad. Have a science professor at a university, a graduate student radio astronomer, scientists from his days at Project: Pegasus, STARCORE, maybe someone from the military, SHIELD, or someone who fought in the Wraith War. They could all be ordinary people, but they'd have a real role to play in the book. He could even keep someone like Kayla Ballantine around as someone's secretary, friend, or the aforementioned grad student. 3) Let him be a traditional superhero on multiple planets out there. Set stories, but on one of the Skrull, Kree, or Shi'Ar colonies (or any of the non-imperial alien races). Let's have reaction shots from the rulers of those places as to this human who isn't fighting them, but helping their people. It would make otherwise pedestrian superhero fights more interesting. 4) I'd minimize events on Earth to a handful like this issue's investigation of Quantum, or his role in the Avengers mag. Get his butt in space as much as possible. It will make his encounters with an Earthbound supporting cast more interesting, which in turn will make quasar a more interesting character. MichaelDecember 16, 2014 7:50 PM Daredevil #63 One thing I've always been confused about- does Matt need to consciously trigger his "lie detecting" ability or does it work automatically? This issue he wonders why he didn't use it on Karen, and this isn't the only time he seemed uncertain in retrospect if someone was lying to him, but other times it seems like it works automatically. Erik BeckDecember 16, 2014 7:30 PM Amazing Spider-Man #12 I'm inclined to agree with fnord. This is like, Clark Kent glasses bad. Utterly preposterous. Erik BeckDecember 16, 2014 7:27 PM Tales Of Suspense #52 (Iron Man) Bill (see comment on Uncanny X-Men #3) is right. Don Heck does a better job drawing females than most of the early Marvel artists. Natasha looks good right from the start. I would think that this first appearance of Natasha probably rates a 9 in importance. But who would have guessed 50 years ago that she would be such a great character and would turn out so well on the big screen. Erik BeckDecember 16, 2014 7:12 PM Uncanny X-Men #4 At least Wanda's hair looks a little red here. I was stunned when I recently read the Avengers Omnibus covering the first 30 issues and saw how her dark her hair was drawn. cullenDecember 16, 2014 6:57 PM Daredevil #63 If the sawblades attach, he must be dispatched. BillDecember 16, 2014 1:03 PM Uncanny X-Men #3 Yeah, at this point in things, I would agree that Jean and Jan are probably the two best looking ladies in the MU. I've always said that Don Heck drew the best looking women of the early Marvel artists and the Wasp (and a little later) the Scarlet Witch got to take advantage of that since Heck took over penciling of the Avengers around issue 9. cullenDecember 16, 2014 8:47 AM Marvel Super Heroes #387-388 (UK) Android Andy (Miracleman's buddy who shared a similar fate) is based on a UK character named Robot Archie: Erik BeckDecember 16, 2014 8:36 AM Uncanny X-Men #3 Sorry ChrisW, I should have been more clear. I think Jean is the best looking to this point. So, MJ (and Maddy) don't count at this point. So far we have Liz and Betty (I don't much care for how Ditko draws them), Sue (generic blonde), Pepper (sometimes drawn well, sometimes not), Jane Foster, Janet, Clea and Jean. JSfanDecember 16, 2014 6:34 AM Fantastic Four #275 I thought it was supposed to be Stan Lee, even more so when the wig flew off. TCPDecember 15, 2014 11:16 PM Amazing Spider-Man #72 Whatever the art credits are supposed to be, I think it was spot on this issue. The scene of Jonah fuming while chomping a cigar in his hospital gown is one of my all-time favorites! fnord12December 15, 2014 8:39 PM Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #2 I've added those two "super-strength" scenes. The flashback in ASM #96 is interesting. It seems to show scenes from both ASM #39-40 and this magazine without really distinguishing the two. MichaelDecember 15, 2014 8:11 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110 Axis: Carnage 3 suggests that not everything was what it seemed to be in this arc. MichaelDecember 15, 2014 8:03 PM Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #2 This issue might be what convinced Roger Stern that Norman Osborn had super-strength. In one scene, he knocks Harry and his doctor over easily, and in a later scene where he fights Peter hand-to-hand Peter is impressed by his strength. It's debatable whether Osborn was supposed to have SUPER-strength or just be unusually strong for a man his age. Ataru320December 15, 2014 7:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #3 I may be in the minority but I have a hard time with Kirby-drawn females; they all tend to look the same, particularly in the face with their lips. At this point in the Silver Age, I rather have a good girl by Ditko (like Clea or Gwen Stacy) or Don Heck (Pepper). ChrisWDecember 15, 2014 6:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #3 Jean is the best looking female in the Marvel Universe? I think Mary Jane Watson might disagree with you. [Not to mention Madelyne Pryor ;P ] kvetoDecember 15, 2014 2:59 PM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #12-15 I think we can imagine the Nick Fury from 72 was an LMD. this would explain his youthfulness better than an infinity formula. So this is the real Fury's final appearance.(I think this idea was just used for DumDum recently) TCPDecember 15, 2014 1:01 PM Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 I've only read the ASM reprint of this story, but I it seems like Richard Raleigh is a lot more interesting a villain as just himself, and not as the utterly lame Disruptor. It's also interesting to see that the origin story was already "evolving" at this point. Jay GallardoDecember 15, 2014 6:42 AM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #10 I love the fact that Nick leaves Laura at home, travels to outer space, gets almost killed, lands back on Earth and goes back home just like that. "hey babe, guess what".. that and the idea of the new day coming several hours later. MichaelDecember 14, 2014 11:11 PM Spectacular Spider-Man Magazine #1 Peter would have to be really stupid not to notice that he had the same adventure twice. BerendDecember 14, 2014 10:38 PM Fantastic Four #313-317 @MegaSpiderMan: If memory serves that's not actually a sound effect, it's something the Thing says. In the previous panel he says something like "That looks like a-", and in the next he goes "-warp". fnord12December 14, 2014 5:08 PM General Comments Correct. Note that most of the series - beginning halfway into issue #2 - is also reprinted in the Alan Moore Captain Britain trade. clydeDecember 14, 2014 3:23 PM General Comments FNORD - is "X-Men Archives featuring Captain Britain #1" the 7 set limited series published in 1995? mikeo'December 14, 2014 11:14 AM New Mutants #63 Possible the Lockheed in the final panel is a stuffed animal? Like the Bamf doll Nightcrawler once gave Amanda Sefton? no more of a stretch than the entire issue is... That being said, Lockheed did love Illyana, do not impossible he'd wander and visit. we do know he can cross the ocean alone after X-Men Unlimited 43. MikeCheyneDecember 13, 2014 8:42 PM Daredevil #18 While this is obviously the same guy as Farnum the Masked Marauder, is there anything that necessarily precludes Farnum being the guy who buys the building from Dunn (i.e., is this scene specifically referenced by Farnum, etc.)? Nathan AdlerDecember 13, 2014 7:41 PM Fantastic Four #313-317 Has anyone wondered whether the Dr. DeVere in #313 is related to "deVoor" who was the enemy of Project PEGASUS in Marvel-Two-In-One and the Devore who purchased the Fantastic Four when it incorporated back in Fantastic Four #160? Englehart had obvious plans which were abandoned and still unresolved nearly 27 years later! I'd forgotten the Nuwali contacting the Beyonders via tech identical to what Reed designed to access the Negative Zone. Odd that Reed had developed a larger device with identical design!? Was he not letting on that he had reverse engineered his from another I wonder? And you know with the Caretakers of Arcturus revealed as Fortisquians, does this make anyone wonder if James Starling or Omega were perhaps Fortisquians? A shame Englehart's run was cut short/ hamstrung by Defalco:( Ataru320December 13, 2014 7:03 PM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #12-15 This Bulls-Eye does have some things that look similar in appearance to the classic one; but I guess he isn't "magic". My own canon: the classic one killed this guy and took his name and elements of his look. MichaelDecember 13, 2014 5:24 PM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #12-15 I guess the idea was that Bulls-eye killed Super-Patriot, not Nick but Roy didn't know the details, so he came up with the LMD excuse in Avengers 72? ChrisDecember 13, 2014 5:05 PM Marvel Comics Presents #11 (Ant-Man) The "easy" stories to do with shrinking heroes are exactly the ones you can't do if you want the hero to be respectable. Instead of finding situations where the shrunken hero is at a disadvantage, the writer needs to find where it is an advantage (preferably allowing the hero to solve the problem that could not be done at normal height). This often means sneaking around, but I'm sure a creative writer could find lots of other means. However, most comics writers - even ones with some skill in the craft - are hacks. So it is no surprise none of the shrinking heroes have ever truly been successful. Mark DrummondDecember 13, 2014 4:46 PM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #12-15 Sid Greene's presence here is really weird; he was a longtime DC artist and it's strange that Marvel would go to him for what was probably a deadline crunch problem rather than somebody like Vince Colletta. Mark DrummondDecember 13, 2014 2:58 PM What's Missing It probably is #12--I haven't looked at the issues in a while, so I probably have the number wrong. I do remember that the Keeper shows up on the last page of a Hulk Vs. Thing parody story, so unless the Keeper had universe-crossing power I'm not sure if that story would count. fnord12December 13, 2014 2:52 PM What's Missing Is it definitely #8 and not #12? I see that the MCP list stories from Not Brand Echh #5 and Not Brand Echh #12 in their project. #5 contains "Keeper of the Comics Code" who appears again in a She-Hulk issue. And #12 seems to contain a straight Avengers story. Either way, i've just listed the series on this page with some notes, so thanks. Mark DrummondDecember 13, 2014 2:07 PM What's Missing There are two pages of "straight" Avengers by Thomas/Buscema in the otherwise parody title Not Brand Ecch #8. I don't know if they're considered canon because of that, but there's nothing in them that contradicts anything. MegaSpiderManDecember 13, 2014 1:34 PM Fantastic Four #313-317 That "TELEPORTATION" panel might be the worst usage of sound effects in comics I've ever seen. fnord12December 13, 2014 10:22 AM Marvel Comics Presents #13 (FF & Shanna) When i say sketchy i mean the art looks rough, like it was quickly drawn. It doesn't have to have a negative connotation; it just means instead of the lines being strong and solid the way most comic art in the tradition of say Kirby and Romita, the lines are soft and squiggly and it looks almost like the work is not fully done. If you take the panels after "killer to confess", for example, Shanna and the lion don't look fully drawn in the first panel, the flowered shirt guy doesn't even seem to have borders around his body, and he's kneeling on a patch of squiggly pencils in one panel. Shanna's hair in many panels throughout the issue also looks like a rough patch of squiggles that the colorist had a hard time dealing with. I could see Jones' art being inked or finished by someone else and it coming out very differently, which to me means that Jones' art is more like a layout sketch than full pencils. Again, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. I generally prefer bolder look art for my super-hero comics but i can see a story calling for a rougher style. I'm not an artist or an art critic so my vocabulary my not be correct, but that's what i'm trying to convey. Ataru320December 13, 2014 6:06 AM Avengers #4 Nice to know Asparagus head...er, Vuk survived Jean nuking his planet. Seriously if anyone needs to do a revenge plot on her, its him. Jay PatrickDecember 13, 2014 1:43 AM Marvel Comics Presents #13 (FF & Shanna) Fnord,I'm always curious about your opinions on story & art, but I have no idea what you mean by "sketchy". Should I just look at it as a synonym for "crappy"? Mark DrummondDecember 13, 2014 1:09 AM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #11 I don't have to say where that half-buried Statue of Liberty came from, do I? That Kree reference is utterly bizarre, when you think about it. Considering all the anti-communist stories Stan did, Gary's lucky that Stan didn't pay attention to rock bands. Country Joe & The Fish were admirers of Mao Tse-Tung, and the band was at first called Country Mao & The Fish. Mark DrummondDecember 13, 2014 12:51 AM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #6 This looks really rushed compared to #4, which makes you wonder how close to deadline Steranko quit. Mark DrummondDecember 13, 2014 12:46 AM Daredevil #18 I don't remember if they ever explained how the Masked Marauder's real name went from Mr. Dunn to Frank Farnum. Mark DrummondDecember 13, 2014 12:41 AM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #4 Roy was being a bit dishonest in calling Phoebe Zeit-Geist a spy strip--it was mostly a Candide-like serial with the title heroine constantly getting her clothes ripped off and receiving various forms of torture(Michael O'Donoghue was the writer),and was supposed to be a follow-up in theme to the first American reprinting of Jean-Claude Forest's "Barbarella" in the same magazine. gfsdf gfbdDecember 12, 2014 10:01 PM Avengers #4 http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/starhammerdbari.htm#son Looks like it was established in a '90s She-Hulk arc. Erik BeckDecember 12, 2014 5:14 PM Avengers #4 Probably the third most important comic in modern Marvel history behind FF#1 and Amazing Fantasy #15. I've read this lots of times as it has been reprinted a lot. But the story with Asparagus Head often gets left out - I think Marvel Saga might have even skipped it. Is it established somewhere that he misses out on his planet being destroyed by Dark Phoenix? I always assumed he was killed there. It's really a great story and a great idea, the revival of Captain America and the death of Bucky. But that backup story is just a mess and should been left out. Aside from the fact that it looks like it was done with water colors, there are far too many continuity issues, as you pointed out. Just terrible and it's a shame because it brings down one of the best early issues of Avengers. Erik BeckDecember 12, 2014 4:52 PM Fantastic Four #22 I agree with your 9 rating for Historical Significance. This turns Sue from the weakest link on the team (by a long way) to an incredibly powerful hero and easily the most powerful on the team. Since Jean Grey doesn't have telepathic powers yet (that we know of), this makes Sue the first really powerful female hero in the Marvel Universe. Because I've never read this issue and Marvel Saga didn't hardly include anything from it (if at all), this is the first time that I've ever actually seen Sue's shield power explained. I always thought it was just a gimmick, but at least here there's an explanation (it being a form of energy she can control). Has this information ever been repeated? Seriously, we've had like 40 explanations of what the Neutral Zone is and heard about the cosmic rays a zillion times, but I don't think I've ever before now seen an explanation of why Sue has the shield power. Erik BeckDecember 12, 2014 4:48 PM Uncanny X-Men #3 Well, at least Stan is consistent in these first few issues of X-Men: Scott shouldn't be allowed to dress himself (although, as I noted, he's probably color blind). Xavier is a complete dick who is always shouting (let's drag Blob in, then not let him go!) Jean is lusted after because, with the possible exception of Janet Van Dyne, she's the best looking female in the Marvel Universe. Credit with The Blob, though. With a name like that and his grotesqueness, he easily could have been a one-off character, but he's stuck around for decades and is generally worth a laugh, if nothing else. He's rarely boring and he's provided some of my favorite all-time comical moments (his appearance at the Avengers ball game, his landing on Muir Island). Erik BeckDecember 12, 2014 12:56 PM Avengers #3 I didn't even know about these backup stories until I started looking at these. Avengers Classic must have come along after I initially stopped reading in the early 90's. They seem to function at the same level as the X-Men Classics backups, to add characterization between the issues. Prof. X - still yelling. Maybe I should wait and see when he doesn't yell. I love how the FF ditch Iron Man for ridiculous reasons (a date? fashion show?) and the X-Men yell at him for interrupting their training, but it's Spider-Man, who is actually capturing crooks at the time, who gets told "Thanks for nothing." It would take what, another decade before Hulk and Sub-Mariner helped found The Defenders? Erik BeckDecember 12, 2014 12:47 PM Tales Of Suspense #49 (Iron Man) That blurb on the splash page reminds of the early DC Comics. The original Justice Society was a mix of DC characters (Flash, Hawkman) and All-American characters (Green Lantern, Atom). They all came out with a DC imprint, but they were separate companies, which often gets forgotten. Since this obviously comes after Avengers #2 (new armor for Tony), strange that they still show the Hulk as an Avenger in that panel. Maybe no one told Ditko? I don't buy for a minute that Warren can flap his wings so fast that it can melt the ice before Bobby can create more. And again, Professor X is still yelling all the time. I don't think he has yet had a sentence (at least in any panel that fnord has scanned) in which he ends a sentence with a period. fnord12December 12, 2014 7:51 AM Fantastic Four #19 Thanks Cullen. It was a link to Tom Brevoort's old blog which if i recall was a list of things he learned from Stan Lee. And one of them was that Mr. Fantastic looked silly with his neck stretched so Stan had an edict that it wasn't allowed to draw Reed that way. I'm sure that really was an edict but i've found examples from the 60s through the 80s where Reed's neck was stretched, so a few must have slipped through. Unfortunately even the Wayback Machine and Google cache do not have the page archived. I've updated the link here to my main blog which in turn still points to the link-rotted URL. cullenDecember 11, 2014 11:50 PM Fantastic Four #19 Heads up fnord, that "Mr. Fantastic stretching his neck" discussion board link no longer works. Ataru320December 11, 2014 3:27 PM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #9 There are dinosaurs because the giant squid was lonely and wanted friends. That's my only real reason. Ataru320December 11, 2014 12:20 PM Tales To Astonish #78-81 Somehow Boomerang's "over-Kirby" outfit reminds me a bit of the "over-Kirby" outfit that Sandman gets stuck with. Sometimes simple is better for some sorts of characters. Ataru320December 11, 2014 8:23 AM Uncanny X-Men #2 Somehow the Vanisher reminds me of something you'd see more of in the late 60s than the early 60s; the eyes/glasses in that first panel makes me think of Number 1 from Captain Marvel. RyanDecember 11, 2014 4:35 AM Daredevil #252 Ok. Done with Nocenti. Even with her Longshot series I couldn't see what the fuss was about. MichaelDecember 10, 2014 10:31 PM The Saga of the High Evolutionary It will be interesting to see if this story remains canon following the "revelations" in Axis 7. Erik BeckDecember 10, 2014 9:36 PM Tales To Astonish #50 (Giant-Man/Wasp) Do you think The Human Top and Paste Pot Pete got together and fought over whose nickname was more ridiculous? Erik BeckDecember 10, 2014 9:34 PM Tales Of Suspense #48 Could there be a more ridiculous villain for such an important moment in Marvel history? Original armor - a couple of issues. Second armor - like eight issues. New armor - with some modifications, the design has now lasted like 50 years (with some time off for other ones, but it always returns to this design). And yeah, that last panel of Pepper is just awful. Simply terrible. Erik BeckDecember 10, 2014 9:30 PM Avengers #2 So, they can't start the meeting until Ant-Man shows up. They do remember that Wasp is a member too, right? BillDecember 10, 2014 7:51 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 You're over-thinking things. Steven NoppenbergerDecember 10, 2014 7:12 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 I originally really like John Bryne artwork a whole lot. Now looking back, I still admire his artwork. AS a would be cartoonist no backgrounds are alright from time to time. As it allows the reader to focus on the character. Second word balloons often cover up most of the back grounds. Erik BeckDecember 10, 2014 5:01 PM Uncanny X-Men #2 You know, I think I see why Marvel Saga covered this whole issue in one panel. Several thoughts: 1 - There a lot of commenters in this forum who think Reed is a dick (and there's a lot of evidence for that), but Prof. X is the real dick. He's always yelling at everyone. 2 - Seriously. Every sentence he says in the panels you showed ends in an exclamation point. All the words are in large caps. If he was on the Internet today he would write in all-caps. I'm certain of it. 3 - I love how the first few X-Men books have Magneto, The Blob, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, The Toad and Mastermind - all classic villains. Then there's The Vanisher, who would basically appear like once in the next 20 years before Fallen Angels. 4 - Does the Vanisher have the worst costume in history? Do you think Stan and Jack talked about this, or Jack just said, hey, a cobra hood, weird eyes, pink outfit, purple cape. In UXM #1 you mentioned the Bobby is gay theory. Is there a Vanisher is gay theory? 5 - Claremont would leave a lot of loose ends going at times. But I like a lot that he would also tie up older loose ends that he didn't create, such as the cooperation between Xavier and Fred Duncan and the files the government would have that needed to be erased in #157. Erik BeckDecember 10, 2014 4:52 PM Strange Tales #114 (Human Torch) Maybe the first clue that he wasn't the real Cap should have been those goofy red shorts he's wearing? Ataru320December 9, 2014 10:34 PM Journey Into Mystery #98 I did make mention of it in another post but I do find it rather interesting that Thor is just treated that much like any other hero in the earlier issues other than the fact that "he's a god". The fact that he does fight the likes of Cobra, Mr. Hyde and the Grey Gargoyle may seem bizarre especially since they become notable fighting many other heroes and making their name elsewhere, but they really weren't playing up the Norse angle at this point and so to have them when Thor was just "the superhero who has Norse God powers" isn't that so bizarre. (not as bizarre as Daredevil getting lucked into starting off with the Purple Man considering how many duds his rogues gallery had early on) Erik BeckDecember 9, 2014 5:01 PM Journey Into Mystery #98 I agree with Chris. This is one of those ones (like how Sabretooth first appeared in Iron Fist) that I look at and think, that can't be right. He first appeared as a Thor villain? Erik BeckDecember 9, 2014 4:55 PM Amazing Spider-Man #6 What a run of amazing villains. Iron Man had a lot of Commies early on, Ant-Man kept fighting duds, Thor didn't have a lot in his first several appearances other than Loki. Yes, the FF had The Mole Man, the Skrulls and Doom, but Miracle Man wasn't exactly setting the world on fire and the Sub-Mariner had already existed. But, in the first six issues of Spider-Man, Lee and Ditko introduce The Chameleon, The Vulture, The Tinkerer, Doc Ock, The Sandman and The Lizard, with one issue off to fight Doom. That's one hell of a classic villain lineup. Erik BeckDecember 9, 2014 4:48 PM Fantastic Four #19 Hey ParanoidObsessive, don't forget that in that WCA story there's also Dr. Strange hanging around, and he helps out as well. Since Rama-Tut already seems to be middle-aged, he really should be quite old as Kang and ancient as Immortus. I mean, I know he time travels, but really he's had quite a long life. Who would have ever thought that Rama Tut would end up as 2 of the longest lasting most impactful Avengers villains. What might be the strangest thing about this whole thing is that Doom just abandoned his Time Machine and never went back for it (and in the WCA stories, it won't transport you in space, just time - they have to fly to where they want to be). Erik BeckDecember 9, 2014 2:36 PM Amazing Spider-Man #5 The drawing of Doom in the first panel of the flashback is horrible and cartoonish, but you have to love the flying karate kick aimed at apparently nothing in the final panel. Erik BeckDecember 9, 2014 2:33 PM Fantastic Four #18 The Thing can only lift five tons? I believe by the time of Marvel Universe he was at around 70 or 75. That's a massive change. And the Super-Skrull is Class 100? I don't remember that, unless they just ignored it when they did MU. Erik BeckDecember 9, 2014 2:27 PM Uncanny X-Men #1 Oh, so many things about this book. 1 - I too have always wondered where the hell Bobby is sliding down from. 2 - Great that, like with the Doombots, the Danger Room is here right from the start. 3 - On the other hand, if this is the first time Angel has flown through the spanner without a slip, how he has not just been splattered against a wall? 4 - To be fair to Scott, in theory he should be color-blind. Everything should just look red to him, since the optic beams are always firing. So he SHOULD have terrible taste in clothes. 5 - Although randomgirl points out a flaw in the artwork, the dialogue makes it clear that it's Bobby who's not interested in Jean, at least at first. 6 - When Phoenix powers up the stargate in #109 (or so), Scott thinks to himself "She used to be the weakest X-Man." How in the hell can telekenesis be considered a weaker power than having wings? I've never understood that. 7 - You don't show the panel, but Scott opens his visor all the way and it seems like his whole head is shooting optic beams. I don't know if Kirby did that kind of drawing much in later issues, but it was always an interesting one. cullenDecember 8, 2014 10:27 PM Marvel Fanfare #16-17 (Sky-Wolves) From what I can gather, this story was created to satisfy Wolfman and Cockrum's love for the Blackhawks. However, the story was released years after its creation. There is a little bit of info here: Dan H.December 8, 2014 9:32 PM Marvel Fanfare #16-17 (Sky-Wolves) Yeah, this almost seems like it was originally intended as a tryout in Marvel Spotlight or something, with an acknowledgement that it was too high-tech to have even happened in the Marvel Universe's WWII. But then at some point they decided to bring in the Gaff and make it a 616 thing. By then, it was too late to remove all of the absurd tech elements. Just speculating, but that's how I see it. Maybe it's just wishful thinking that somebody at Marvel understood this story was out-of-place. MichaelDecember 8, 2014 8:49 PM Marvel Fanfare #16-17 (Sky-Wolves) One major clue that this story was written a few years earlier was that Wolfman is the writer. Wolfman stopped writing for Marvel in 1980. Dan H.December 8, 2014 8:28 PM Howard the Duck #5-7 Wow - I read this as a kid so the subtext of the villains being commentaries on other characters completely went over my head. And Dr. Angst lays it on REALLY thick, too: "We all share a common fault! None of us has ever had an original thought in his or her life! That's why -- DESPITE our prodigious talents -- no one's ever heard of any of us! We're too DERIVATIVE -- too stereotypical -- even to make a name for ourselves as super-villains!" I agree with Luke that Dr. Angst is probably a commentary on Modred, but I think the Black Hole is supposed to be Nova. The star on the face, the "cosmic phenomenon" line, and the fact that the Black Hole is apparently a teenager just like Rich Rider. The origin he recounts is pretty similar to Nova's as well. The powers are totally different, of course. MichaelDecember 8, 2014 8:21 PM War is Hell #9 Weird that Kowalski was knocked out by the spy- you'd think they'd want to keep the Americans from finding out they stole what they did. But then again, Nazi and Soviet espionage was vastly different in the Marvel Universe than in real life. Erik BeckDecember 8, 2014 8:17 PM Avengers #1 There is so much that is awesome about this story on so many levels. 1 - Awesome level of power. There will be an early X-Men / Avengers face-off, but if Hulk hadn't left the team, the X-Men had no chance (they still really had no chance). The sheer power of having Hulk, Thor and Iron Man on the team is incredible. 2 - Awesome way to gather a team. The FF are a family. The X-Men are a school. The JSA came together because of the war. The JLA each fought a foe that turned out to be a group of foes. But Loki creates this entirely by accident. Love it. 3 - Awesome hilarity. The Hulk as a clown - always loved it. Flying all the way to the southwest in a few hours on flying ants - love it. Iron Man explaining what he's doing with that metal and the Hulk just standing there - love it. Loki conveniently standing in the one spot where Hank could dump him into a lead-lined container - absolutely love it. 4 - Awesome long-existing teamwork. Original FF - together for decades, in spite of fights. Original JLA - together for a long time, adding characters. Original X-Men - together for over a decade. Original Avengers? Finally together at the end of issue #1 and one member leaves at the end of issue #2. 5 - Awesome ending. I must have read this for the first time in the early 80's in Son of Origins, but I really remember reading it a lot in the mid-80's. In other words, after Mr. T became famous. And so the Hulk's, "I pity the guys" just sounded like it was 20 years ahead of its time. ChrisWDecember 8, 2014 8:07 PM Amazing Spider-Man #3 Erik, you're free to disagree about Doom's first appearance [at least until my master plan comes to fruition, mwah-hah-hah] but I did list Dormammu, Galactus and possibly the Kingpin as other major villains who lived up to their rep right from the first appearance. The first Juggernaut story (for instance) is a decent multi-issue tale, but it's nowhere near as good as Ock's story here. Ataru320December 8, 2014 4:14 PM Marvel Fanfare #16-17 (Sky-Wolves) The Flying Furher must fight the Ameridroid; it would be the greatest battle in comic book history. Erik BeckDecember 8, 2014 3:44 PM Fantastic Four #17 What is Ant-Man doing in that opening splash? Is he flying? Was he launched, like he does in his own book? If so, are there flying ants around to catch him? He's awfully high in the air for flying ants. Erik BeckDecember 8, 2014 3:41 PM Fantastic Four #16 Am I the only one who reads all the early FF issues and can't get the FF, as they are portrayed in Twisted Toyfare Theatre out of my mind? With Reed always inventing new things every other second, being kind of a dick, and Doom always launching the Baxter Building into space? It seems like issues like this, where Reed runs out with his cure and gives it to Ben and only then remembers that Ben is holding a piano, are the impetus for that view of the FF. Granted, Marvel allowed Toyfare to do that, so they at least have more of a sense of humor about it all than DC. kvetoDecember 8, 2014 3:35 PM Marvel Fanfare #16-17 (Sky-Wolves) I think we can close our eyes and pretend this issue never happened (in the MU at least) Dan H.December 8, 2014 1:40 AM Hulk #212-213 The five-part mech thing immediately reminded me of Combatra from Shogun Warriors (although in the comics, Combatra only had a single pilot). The SW comic didn't appear until late '78 (first issue cover-dated Feb '79) but of course the licensing and production of the comic would have started several months before that. No idea when the toy first appeared in America, but we might be getting into the right timeframe. And at least in Japan, Combatra existed as "Combattler V" in April of 1976 as a TV show. Maybe cels or screenshots appeared in Starlog or some other U.S. mag? Dan H.December 7, 2014 10:36 PM Daredevil #61 Given Daredevil's comment of "one stone... two birds" I actually think we're supposed to conclude that both Hyde and the Cobra are knocked senseless by the collision. Both Daredevil and the Jester are acting like it's down to one-on-one in that next panel. So by the time Hyde comes around, he's got a half-dozen guns in his face. It is bizarre that they don't at least put some cuffs on him in the meantime, though. Ataru320December 7, 2014 5:54 PM Tales To Astonish #44 (Ant-Man) This issue was reviewed recently on AT4W and I'm really surprised and find amazing that Jan's origin is associated with an Eldritch, Lovecraft-esque monster in the form of the Creature from K.O.S.M.O.S. Just the way it is portrayed here really just shows that it is something beyond all human concept, even if its basically another Silver Age "thing" that threatened the early Marvel heroes. MichaelDecember 7, 2014 10:07 AM Tales To Astonish #44 (Ant-Man) I think that Tales to Astonish 60 was the only time after this issue Maria was mentioned before Avengers 227. Erik BeckDecember 7, 2014 10:04 AM Amazing Spider-Man #3 But forgot to mention - what the hell is up with The Human Torch's appearance? The governor asked him there? He's visiting a school while waiting for his flame to charge? I know that Peter lives in Queens (although was that even firmly established back then?), but it makes it sound like the Torch just flew in from the other coast. And yeah, for someone who basically just loved girls and cars just two years before, it's kind of ridiculous to think of him as inspiring. Do you think he ever studied? Part of what made the FF so refreshing is that they aren't particularly inspiring at this point. Erik BeckDecember 7, 2014 10:01 AM Amazing Spider-Man #3 I agree with the others that Doc Ock is an all-time great villain. Though a number of these early villains are still around, this is the third time (after Doom and Loki) that Marvel really hits it out of the park. He looks great and he has a great origin. I disagree with ChrisW that there isn't another first appearance to compare - I think Doom's first appearance, complete with time machine and Doombot is a brilliant first appearance. Erik BeckDecember 7, 2014 9:53 AM Tales To Astonish #44 (Ant-Man) This may be better than the average Ant-Man issue but it is just an awful introduction for a great long-time character. Jan is the first female character to be introduced that I actually think is drawn attractively. Such a shame that her hair is then hidden under that ridiculous pointy top. I don't think she looks anything like Maria (and would Maria even be mentioned again for like another 20 years?). Ataru320December 7, 2014 7:41 AM Hulk #212-213 There had been three-piece mecha in anime at least; I know Sentai didn't even go five until '87 with Maskman. Then again Marvel and Toei did create Leopardon for their version of "Spider-Man" in 1978; they brought it to Sentai with BFJ in '79; then Marvel left and mechs kept getting bigger; but as a final wrap around: Susumu Takaku, main writer of Spider-Man and Battle Fever, was also GoLion's (Voltron's original anime) main writer. BobDecember 7, 2014 4:24 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #152 Classic MJ changes to big hair lady here, and then soon Spidey would have gigantic eyes in all titles. The irritating MacFarlanisms became the house style at this point. MichaelDecember 6, 2014 6:43 PM Hulk #212-213 Personally, I never understood why people made fun of Supernatural's racist truck but defended the Shining as scary. It's not like there are sentient racist hotels in real life but not sentient racist trucks. I guess what they were really saying is that the writing was much better in the Shining than in the Supernatural episode. And that pretty much sums up the difference between Voltron and the Quintronic Man. ChrisDecember 6, 2014 6:29 PM Hulk #212-213 The Quintronic Man seems like a failed attempt at doing Voltron, but 1977 was several years before even the Japanese did their show much less the American version. It's very interesting how the same kind of concept can be a success with a different implementation/talent behind it. cullenDecember 6, 2014 4:18 PM Punisher War Journal #1-3 Maybe that got morphed into Punisher Annual 2. Mark DrummondDecember 6, 2014 3:57 PM Punisher War Journal #1-3 When this title was announced in Amazing Heroes #143,Moon Knight was listed as an upcoming guest star, but I don't remember if that ever happened. cullenDecember 6, 2014 3:56 PM Hulk #111-115 The title "Shanghaied in Space" was taken from a Justice Society story from 1942's 'All-Star Comics': http://allstarcomics.blogspot.com/2012/05/all-star-comics-13-shanghaied-in-space.html fnord12December 6, 2014 3:23 PM Hulk #111-115 Thanks, TTB. I've added them as characters, and more importantly, added a scan of Ka-Zar riding Zabu like a pony. Time Traveling BunnyDecember 6, 2014 1:51 PM Hulk #111-115 Ka-Zar and Zabu appear at the beginning of issue #111 Erik BeckDecember 6, 2014 8:45 AM Fantastic Four #15 Aside from all the problems you pointed out, there's another one. I think what kept happening in the early years was that Stan would create almost unbeatable villains (case in point, the Awesome Android - who is probably far more awesome than anything Reed ever created - in fact, since Doom created the time machine, what exactly has Reed invented that was cool?) and then figure out ridiculous ways they could be beaten. That's probably why the Android hasn't been used that much over the years (your checklist proves that) - not that he's not Awesome, but because it's difficult to think of ways to beat him. Erik BeckDecember 6, 2014 8:38 AM Strange Tales #116 (Dr. Strange) I was never really a big fan of Ditko's Spider-man art, but man, there might not have been another artist alive at the time more suited to Dr. Strange. I was never big on Dr. Strange but the art here is just perfect for the story. Erik BeckDecember 6, 2014 8:33 AM Amazing Spider-Man #2 I think you have to give a lot of credit to the Vulture. His only real power is flight, which only about 5000 other people in the Marvel Universe have and he was an old guy to begin with and has only gotten older. In spite of that, he has had remarkable staying power. Luis DantasDecember 6, 2014 3:49 AM Captain Marvel #54 Was it called Danger Room? Iron Fist's was. It even had pre-programmed sequences. RyanDecember 6, 2014 1:36 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #134-136 Loved the scene with Electro surfing on the third rail in the Subway station. MichaelDecember 5, 2014 11:47 PM Captain Marvel #54 They had a training room in issue 66 that Ultron tampered with in an attempt to kill Tony. Luis DantasDecember 5, 2014 8:31 PM Captain Marvel #54 Iron Fist #12 (of all places) is the first appearance of the Avengers Mansion Danger Room that I am aware of. It was published a few months prior, I think. Erik BeckDecember 5, 2014 8:11 PM Tales Of Suspense #40 (Iron Man) Are we really supposed to believe that tux is hiding his enormous breastplate? That's always annoyed me about the older Iron Man armors. Erik BeckDecember 5, 2014 8:08 PM Wolverine/Cable: Guts and Glory Since so many people (rather deservedly) blame Rob Leifeld for bad 90's art, can we blame John Romita Jr for artists wanting to draw Wolverine as ridiculous as he looks in that first panel? Erik BeckDecember 5, 2014 8:06 PM Fantastic Four #13 Seriously, except for What If, where he's just telling us what happened, has there ever been an appearance of the Watcher in which he didn't get involved? Except for watching poor Phoenix die? BillDecember 5, 2014 6:13 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Even Doom likes to take in some ice skating among the unwashed masses from time to time. No one judges Doom! fnord12December 5, 2014 5:09 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Doombot. Hans JosefsonDecember 5, 2014 4:03 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 In that first splash page, you can see Dr Doom skating in the background. Probably not enough to count as an appearance though. Erik BeckDecember 5, 2014 3:57 PM Cable #-1 I think Michael deserves a no-prize for explaining the ward aspect. Could the writers not have just looked at Rahne's earlier appearances? Or do people like us just have better memories for such things than the people who actually write books like these? The disadvantage (and this was a problem with Marvel Saga as well) of doing this, is that you go from old-style art like Ditko and Kirby to horrible 90's art like this and it's just jarring. Erik BeckDecember 5, 2014 3:51 PM Tales Of Suspense #39 I've always thought this was a fairly effective origin story, though a cartoonish villain even for 1963 - looking back at all the Communist villains is so painful. But who would have thought that an Iron Man movie would take so long that things would come around and they could go with a completely different conflict that worked so well for the same origin story? I remember reading this in Son of Origins, for a long time the only early Iron Man story I had read. Erik BeckDecember 5, 2014 3:46 PM Hulk #6 I always forget that the original Hulk series only ran 6 issues. Growing up in the 80's, I thought of it like Thor and Captain America, as one of the long-running series, not knowing until later that all three of those were earlier series that had changed names, which is why they all had numbers much higher than FF. But to think that The Hulk, one of the most iconic Marvel heroes, who's had multiple tv shows and multiple films could have died in sales so quickly. As for the mask thing - even in Mission: Impossible where they have new technology, it always seems silly. Especially when it's someone like Captain America under a mask (did the wings just push back against his head?). The, hiding under a mask trick, has always been one of my least favorite conceits (DC did it worse, when they would have Batman do it - do those horns just fold flat and pop back up?). RyanDecember 5, 2014 9:57 AM Fantastic Four #261-262 fnord12, This scene from Crimson Tide reminds me of you of you having to occasionally referee on this site. Enjoy. RyanDecember 5, 2014 9:25 AM Daredevil #250 I tried reading Ann Nocenti's run from the start but gave up and thought I'd make a second attempt with JRJR joining as the artist. I don't have a problem with a writer or artist having their own political opinions but Nocenti is force feeding us her views in a comic I really enjoyed under Frank Miller and Brian Michael Bendis. Let's recap - 1.) A guest speaker has school children drawing pictures of a nuclear holocaust while denouncing USA's nuclear activities in WWII. 2.) Our hero Matt Murdock as a social worker in a non-profit legal advice clinic that a rich, arrogant aristocrat is trying to shut down. 3.) A military general trying to blow up the office of environmental rights group called Save the Planet to help out free enterprise capitalism. 4.) Foggie Nelson playing Erin Brockovich and citing environmental regulations while surveying a landfill. I'm not saying any of these are bad by themselves (well I find #3 a slightly offensive being active duty myself) but it's tough reading them back-to-back. It's like every scene is a chance for Nocenti to go after the typical liberal targets. It's forced as was her storyline of the Caviar Killer. But as fnord12 said, you can't take it literally. Maybe I'll give it a few more issues. fnord12December 5, 2014 8:02 AM Spider-Woman #50 Yes and Shanna the She-Devil and also Night Nurse if you count it. I guess the word "regular" in Mark Gruenwald's quote takes into account the fact that those series were short lived, although Nocenti's Spider-Woman run turned out to be the same length. fnord12December 5, 2014 7:59 AM Fantastic Four #261-262 Please avoid ad hominem attacks. It's of course ok to robustly disagree with someone's opinion, but i'd like conversations on this site to be civil and not get personal. fnord12December 5, 2014 7:51 AM X-Men Origins: Iceman #1 I really ought to put the origin back-ups here, but i haven't wanted to cut up those comics. I do have them covered as bonus features on the entries beginning with X-Men #38 but yeah, they should be separated and placed in this era. Basically right now i'm cheating and treating them as flashbacks. fnord12December 5, 2014 7:50 AM Hero For Hire #14-16 Thank you, Erik (and Silverbird!). I've updated the entry here and on the #10-11 entry, but i think i still need to go through the issues at some point in case i missed a Christmas that i didn't include as a scan. A.LloydDecember 5, 2014 1:30 AM Spider-Woman #50 Wasn't The Cat written by a female writer for Marvel? A.LloydDecember 5, 2014 1:14 AM Fantastic Four #261-262 Dan--- Get help. BTW Dan...the person to give "props" for the decency or courage to print an anti-Bryne letter is Byrne himself as he was the person who selected what letters to print during his run on the FF. Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 8:22 PM Fantastic Four #12 I wonder if, back then 20 years before the Marvel Universe Handbook, they had a list posted somewhere where they had decided who was stronger than who. I mean, in theory, The Hulk is always the strongest, but with The Thing and Thor (and soon, Iron Man), did Stan Lee actually think about that much and have an idea in the back of his mind? Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 8:19 PM X-Men Origins: Iceman #1 I'm a little surprised you didn't cover all of these appearances from the 1968 X-Men in this stretch. I first stumbled across them in Marvel Saga (I'm pretty certain one issue of Marvel Saga ended with Bobby freezing Rocky). I rather enjoyed all those issues and finding out how they came to the school and Marvel Saga did a nice job of putting them all in order. One thing about the 68 version though - Bobby looks way too old, especially since there still has to be some time built in to get Warren and then Hank before X-Men #1. Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 7:54 PM Strange Tales #102 (Human Torch) That final panel was one of the best thing about Marvel Saga - to actually get reprints of how the characters looked in early appearances and think, wow, Kirby really drew some interesting stuff. Not accurate to humans, but interesting stuff. Since I no longer have Marvel Saga (or, actually 99% of my old comics collection - to relive it all is how I found this site in the first place), this site is great for remembering how fun it was to collect Marvel Saga and watch the history of the Marvel Universe. Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 7:51 PM Tales To Astonish #36 (Ant-Man) I found the revelations of all of Hank's early villains fascinating in that WCA run, but I've read through all the years and know I'm much more of a Pym fan than fnord12 is. Although reading all about Hank's villains in the late 80's as a teenager and having wearied of Communist villains, it did all seem very outdated and all his villains were very strange. One thing I find odd is the point of emphasis on the unstable molecules in Hank's outfit (Stan Lee's emphasis on it is the odd part - not fnord's). I understand for someone like Reed or Johnny where you do something to the outfit, you need to have it snap back. But in Hank's case, since it was gas that was making him small, I always assumed that the gas would make his clothes shrink as well. It wouldn't be until he and Jan actually had the power to grow or shrink and not rely on some sort of outside influence that it would be important to have those unstable molecule outfit. But, as much as I actually like the character of Hank Pym, these early issues are rather painful to look at. Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 7:46 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 I suppose I'm really comparing later Gwen and MJ to how Ditko drew females here in Amazing Fantasy #15. Jay GallardoDecember 4, 2014 4:23 PM Marvel Comics Presents #27 (American Eagle) Why the heck does this story have an almost four star rating? Ataru320December 4, 2014 3:17 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 I didn't think Ditko's Gwen Stacey was that bad. It was very preppy and different compared to Betty Brant and such. Honestly I sort of wished she stayed that way as opposed to be "blonde Mary Jane with a hairband" I admit. As for Mary Jane...she had a flower for a head under Ditko so no real point of reference. Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 1:21 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 I look at the way that Ditko draws the females and I wonder to myself "Did Gwen and Mary Jane seem so hot later on because they weren't drawn so oddly the first time we see them?" Ataru320December 4, 2014 12:48 PM Journey Into Mystery #83 Its tough to say Doom was that impressive; switch "monster" with "overlord" and you've got Doctor Doom on day 1. The only notable thing is that for once they finally are getting away from their Monster Age sensibilities when they create Doom. I'm not sure if Lee/Kirby fully knew what they were getting themselves into when they decide to make Thor a Marvel superhero. As was mentioned, all that was on their mind was "we want someone stronger than the Hulk...who isn't a monster like him and Thing". Thor is just a matter of lucking out, though, since by bringing Thor in, they end up getting the entire Norse pantheon to play with...and while it took time for Kirby to get that epic, I guess it was a blessing in disguise to get "Thorr" on their side. Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 11:55 AM Journey Into Mystery #83 It's interesting how of the first few heroes of the Marvel Age, so many fought the kind of monsters that Marvel had been specializing in. First the FF, then Hulk, then Thor. It's like, well, we're good at that, so we'll keep the monsters. It's what makes the creation of Dr. Doom all the more impressive considering the other villains at the time. Erik BeckDecember 4, 2014 11:49 AM Fantastic Four #1-10 The Lee/Kirby early stories in Marvel for the most part, I don't think stand up to the test of time. This is the exception though, and I think more so, because I've always been less of an FF fan than the Avengers or X-Men. In response to the JLA, rather than just make modern versions of the old Timely heroes (with one exception), Lee actually creates new heroes and bring them with actual personalities. So much great stuff came out of these first 10 issues (Byrne would come back to them precisely because they had so much good stuff). You have the revival of the Sub-Mariner, the creation of Dr. Doom, all the fights, even the first self-referential scene with Doom's return. I even like the old way that Kirby used to draw The Human Torch and The Thing. Two things stand out as questions. 1 - Should this come all as a series if The Hulk obviously came out? In theory shouldn't that be a chronology consideration? 2 - Since JLA #4 came out a year before FF#4, does the importance of issue #4 in a series really come from DC? Erik RobbinsDecember 3, 2014 9:01 PM Hero For Hire #14-16 Based on what he said, I looked at the page for #10-11, and yes in the scan where Senor Suerte dies, Luke exclaims Christmas two panels in a row. JSfanDecember 3, 2014 2:11 PM Daredevil #192 Fair enough. I'lls see if I can pick that one up sometime. Erik BeckDecember 3, 2014 1:18 PM Giant-Size Invaders #1 Forgot to add, I love the character of Baron Blood, but that's more, I think, because of how he would be used in Byrne's run on CA. Erik BeckDecember 3, 2014 1:16 PM Giant-Size Invaders #1 I remember having a couple of these issues, which I also came to, like ChrisKafka, after reading All-Star Squadron. Like Thomas, I have always had a fascination for the Golden Age characters, though A-SS works better, mainly because there's so much a larger range of characters to choose from, and also because Thomas had more time to work it all out. Thomas would also come up with a brilliant idea in that series as to why the heroes couldn't just rush in an win the war as well. fnord12December 3, 2014 11:20 AM Hero For Hire #14-16 Just to close the loop, yeah, i actually meant that this was the first time that i saw Luke say "Christmas" (not just "Sweet Christmas") as an epithet. But it is possible that i'm wrong. One day i'll give these issues another read-through and try to find the ones i missed. fnord12December 3, 2014 11:05 AM Daredevil #192 It's a quiet story. Not very splashy or action oriented. I wanted to include a few scans to demonstrate Klaus Janson's art and layouting, but didn't want to include lots of scans of people just talking. Erik BeckDecember 3, 2014 10:55 AM Tales of Suspense #66-68 (Captain America) This may be the first Red Skull story I ever read because it was reprinted in Bring on the Bad Guys - my first introduction to a lot of classic villains, and especially their early classic stories. I always loved the casual way the Skull sits down and talks to Cap. JSfanDecember 3, 2014 8:08 AM Daredevil #192 How come you only scanned so few panels for what you describe as a 'classic'? BTW this is not a dig I'm genuinely interested. BobDecember 3, 2014 12:48 AM Hulk #349 That is one great-looking Dr. Doom by Purves SidDecember 2, 2014 6:49 PM Savage Tales #1 (Man-Thing) Nothing in this story that suggests that it takes place in the Marvel Universe? I respectfully disagree. Super-Soldier Serum is a pretty big clue. :) david banesDecember 2, 2014 2:35 PM Fantastic Four #1-10 There have been two quadrupedic Ghidorahs actually. One called Death Ghidorah from the crappy Rebirth of Mothra and Keiser Ghidorah from Final Wars. Nathan AdlerDecember 2, 2014 8:09 AM Punisher: Assassin's Guild Thanks for the reminder Thanos6. My favourite run on Star Wars was Jo's run from #92-107 with Cynthia Martin:) And yep was waiting for her to introduce a race called the Kobayashi;) SilverbirdDecember 1, 2014 10:39 PM Man-Thing #2 I'm trying to read this and the only thing I can focus on is... Oh my gosh, The doctors going to slap the wrong side of the baby! SilverbirdDecember 1, 2014 10:17 PM Hero For Hire #14-16 I didn't notice any sweet christmas's either. I'm sorry if you miss understood me or I you, but you made it sound as though this was the first time Christmas was spoken at all, sweet or unsweet. ArchieDecember 1, 2014 9:05 PM Fantastic Four #1-10 I wonder where Reed got those photos of the missing nuclear plants in issue #1. The government? Thanos6December 1, 2014 6:12 PM Punisher: Assassin's Guild She was a huge anime fan. Some of the alien races introduced in her run at the end of Marvel Star Wars are named after manga authors; the Hiromi and the Nagai come to mind. fnord12December 1, 2014 3:25 PM Hero For Hire #14-16 If you saw it, i'm happy to accept that i missed something. I did notice instances of Sweet *Sister* in issues #4, #10-11, and #12, and i remember very carefully reading issue #7 since it was a Christmas issue. But it's possible a Sweet Christmas (or several) slipped past me since it's such a "natural" thing for Luke to say. fnord12December 1, 2014 3:17 PM Red Raven Comics #1 (Mercury) I appreciate the info, BI! SilverbirdNovember 30, 2014 10:58 PM Hero For Hire #14-16 You surprised me there by saying this issue featured the first "Christmas!". You must have missed something. I don't own any of these early Luke Cage issues but I noticed in just the pictures you put up that he started to say it a while ago. Even twice in two consecutive panels, from issue 11 I believe. Bursten InfoNovember 30, 2014 10:57 PM Red Raven Comics #1 (Mercury) Here is a better quality copy of the photo: http://thecomicsvault.tumblr.com/post/30407471427/jack-kirby-far-right-joe-simon-far-left-and Bursten Info November 30, 2014 10:54 PM Red Raven Comics #1 (Mercury) Here is the link to the photo: http://bdzoom.com/8356/comic-books/le-coin-du-patrimoine-us-jack-kirby/ Bursten InfoNovember 30, 2014 10:52 PM Red Raven Comics #1 (Mercury) http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/1685 Martin A. Burstein ("Bursten") most certainly did exist, and wrote "Mercury" and was also a writer for Captain America comics 1-10. Kirby knew exactly what he was doing when he tried to steal credit, he also testified in court against artists' interests that his work for Marvel was all "for hire" and that the artists retained no expectation of ownership over their work or characters. There is a photo on this page of Bursten with Simon and Kirby (he is in the middle, wearing a suit and holding the scripts for Blue Bolt --- also for which he was denied proper credit). There is a nice chapter about some of his contributions in Joe Simon's first autobiography "The Comic Book Makers." Hope that helps! MortificatorNovember 30, 2014 2:48 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) "Eeee! We are blinded! The light -- we cannot see!" Apparently the writer thought people resort to repeating vowels and the royal we when exposed to bright illumination. doomsdayNovember 30, 2014 10:44 AM Hulk #314 Byrne would have turned Banner into the gray hulk persona minus the grey. Nathan AdlerNovember 30, 2014 2:57 AM Punisher: Assassin's Guild Jo Duffy scripted the English dialogue for Akira so it's no surprise she knew of Lupin III:) DaveNovember 30, 2014 2:32 AM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 Really liked Ross' art here. he drew a beautiful Dagger. EHHNovember 30, 2014 1:24 AM Punisher: Assassin's Guild At one point, Punisher guns down 4 thieves. They are stand ins for Lupin III and his gang. I'm surprised Mary Jo Duffy knew of the anime icon since he would have been obscure in 1988 America. david banesNovember 30, 2014 12:25 AM Avengers #213 I should clarify the 'accidentally' hit Jane comment. I meant to add that one story had the artist making it look more deliberate when the script called for a 'dramatic open armed gesture' with one hand accidentally hitting Janet. But again could be revisionist memory there. ChrisWNovember 29, 2014 7:25 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Nathan, I've tried emailing again. No luck. I think Loki's interfering somehow. Or Ozymandias. Meet me at the news stand at midnight to compare notes. Or perhaps you can get through to me to establish a link. show underscore me 68508 at yahoo dot com. ChrisWNovember 29, 2014 7:21 PM Avengers #213 Jon, I'm sure you're right, it's just that he's such a great example of the Marvel 'superheroes with problems' stereotype, and not from the positive side of things. I completely understand why Marvel movies will never play this up, I just think they're missing a great opportunity. Someone's missing it anyway, if they wanted to rip-off the basic idea. Hell, I've ripped off the basic idea. Years ago, I did a 200-page graphic novel about a Hank Pym/Tony Stark-type superhero. [I can write and lay out a page, I understand the mechanics of comics storytelling, but my art isn't remotely publishable and my lettering is garbage.] Early Silver Age hero who'd messed his life up about as badly as he could and still walk around loose. Gets some respect for being around so long and for what little effectiveness he has, but that's about it. But he keeps plugging away, poor bastard. fnord12November 29, 2014 1:56 PM Marvel Super Heroes #387-388 (UK) Thanks, Tazirai. The Marvel Chronology Project's entry for Psylocke is split up kind of weirdly and i missed that she had appearances earlier than these. I'll be getting to the earlier Captain Britain issues soon and i'll adjust my notes here accordingly when i do. TaziraiNovember 28, 2014 6:47 PM Marvel Super Heroes #387-388 (UK) Psylocke/Betsy actually appeared in the first Captain Britain Series as a blonde. She was kidnapped by Dr. Ramsey under orders from Dr. Synne Mark DrummondNovember 28, 2014 6:18 PM Wolverine #1-3 In Comics Journal #122, it was reported that at Marvel's sales conference in Tampa in 2/88, this book was promoted as having 75 people dead in the first 5 pages and an average of 125 dead bodies in each issue thereafter. It wasn't specified if this was done in a joking manner or if it was intended as a serious selling point. Nathan AdlerNovember 28, 2014 12:39 AM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Dazzler obviously wouldn't have heard Master Mold's internal dialogue about suiciding and assumed it had gone through and not realised it had set it's own self-destruct! MichaelNovember 27, 2014 7:37 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Nathan- the problem is that Ali says she must have blown both Rogue and Master Mold through the Siege. ChrisWNovember 27, 2014 4:41 PM Howard the Duck #9 "Slowly he turns" is a reference to the old Vaudeville "Niagara Falls" sketch, best known from the Three Stooges short "Gents Without Cents." MortificatorNovember 27, 2014 3:43 PM Strange Tales #150-168 (Nick Fury) Regarding that Sean Howe quote, wasn't Jack Kirby credited for script and layouts in #148? fnord12November 27, 2014 1:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Thanks, Cullen. Added her. Nathan AdlerNovember 27, 2014 1:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Despite appearances in Uncanny X-Men #247, Chris Claremont revealed on the old racmx site that he had never intended for the Master Mold configuration to get sucked through the Siege Perilous with Rogue after it had merged with Nimrod. cullenNovember 27, 2014 1:10 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Psylocke missing as a character appearing. SilverbirdNovember 26, 2014 11:09 PM Daredevil #104-107 BERWYN!!!! Sorry, as a Svengooli fan I couldn't resist. ChrisWNovember 26, 2014 10:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 That makes as much sense as anything I can come up with. I'm right, you're right, we're both right, we're both wrong, or it's something else entirely. Let's just enjoy the comics as much as we can. Walter LawsonNovember 26, 2014 9:09 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 In #246, page 4, panel 3 you can see a bottle of "Aussie Tan" in Dazzler's purse as she reaches for her U2 tape. I'd venture two guesses as to the tan's significance: 1.) some letter writer or editor might well have asked how everyone avoids getting tanned or sunburned in the Outback, and Ckaremont & crew respond with an over-the-top bottle tan for Dazz, or 2.) Claremint liked to change the looks of his heroines every so often--Storm's punk look and Psylocke's armor and later nimbo look are radical examples--and maybe the tan Dazzler was just a more modest alteration. Havok gets somewhat tan in a few issues, or am I misremembering? Pete adopts designer stubble as Peter Nicholas, so maybe Claremont wanted to refresh the appearances of the whole cast for however long they'd remain around. ChrisWNovember 26, 2014 8:12 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Nathan, I've tried emailing, but yahoo tells me it's undeliverable as an attachment. I would see if it work as cut-and-paste, but I've actually been inspired to edit the work, since the first essay was written back in early 2001 and my writing has changed since then. When I finish the editing, I'll try sending it to you as a straight email, and if that doesn't work, I'll let you know here and we can try to figure out some other way. And, having re-read the synopsis of this issue, I have two or three comments. One, M-Squad is more specifically a parody of (or at least reference to) the Ghostbusters. They're doing the mutant hunting thing, but the guns, the backpacks, the goofy attitudes, and instead of a little box for a containment unit, they have a giant device which of course malfunctions. Two, I didn't notice it when the issues were new, but Ali keeps this new skin color for pretty much the rest of her time in the series, doesn't she. It skips the next few issues, but after that, she was consistently... dark bronzish-grey? Whatever, I've just checked the pages leading up through #251, and except for the Liefeld issue and the Master Mold fight, it's consistent. Comment about the post-Inferno X-Men? A detail intended to lead up to Ali going through the Seige Perilous but extended when Rogue wound up going through instead? No idea, but it was (mostly) consistent. Three, I think Ali's 'when do we get to have fun?' speech was either Claremont's realization that this Australian adventure had taken the team far away from where they were supposed to be, or (my suspicion) that he knew they would reach this point in advance, and this was an intended plot point - dramatic or otherwise - to signify that the story would start changing, which it did. BerendNovember 26, 2014 12:52 AM Hulk #351-352 In the recent Death of Wolverine mini professor Cornelius is gathering up all the adamantium on the planet, and a statue of the Hulk is mentioned. So presumably there were two such statues made! fnord12November 26, 2014 12:22 AM Avengers #213 Thanks, Jon. I have seen it but it seems kind of like a revisionist memory to me considering how important it is to the story later on. SilverbirdNovember 25, 2014 7:42 PM Amazing Spider-Man #123 I originally thought this book was odd for jumping right back into an action story, but after Amazing Spider-man 2 (where Peter had... what? Six months of down time?!!!) I appreciate it a lot more. Jon DubyaNovember 25, 2014 3:27 PM Avengers #213 Ironically, Chris, those are the basic reasons why he ISN'T included in any MCU movie (including the one that is supposedly about his namesake.) Incidentally, fnord, have you ever read Shooter's account of this issue that states that Hank backhanding Pym was not suppose to be in the script and was "accidentally" included? If you haven't it's here: Enchlore♠November 25, 2014 10:26 AM Amazing Spider-Man #12 But they're still two super-powered beings about to fight each other to the death. If I saw Godzilla and Optimus Prime about to fight right before my eyes, I'd expect them to trash the city as they tried to kill each other and would be fairly surprised if one of them was taken out as easily as Spidey here. TCPNovember 25, 2014 10:16 AM Amazing Spider-Man #12 The issue with the above is that the "traditional Spidey/Ock fight" you describe had not been seen yet. This was only their third encounter, and was actually the first to take place on the city streets. Thanos6November 24, 2014 10:44 PM Amazing Spider-Man #12 I think their skepticism is justified by how easy Spidey got beaten. If this had been a traditional Spidey/Ock fight, with them tearing up half the amusement park, and at the end of a long, hard battle, Octopus rips off Spider-Man's mask, then yes, they would be idiots to assume anything but "Peter Parker is Spider-Man!" But with his performance here? An impostor is very easy to swallow. MichaelNovember 24, 2014 8:12 PM Doctor Strange #10 Those one shots show why it wouldn't be a good idea to reprint Panther's Quest in a trade- the cliffhanger-every-eight-pages is very awkward in a oneshot. Walter LawsonNovember 24, 2014 6:04 PM Doctor Strange #10 It became an Eternals one-shot around 1991. Around the time Nicieza's Soviet-Super Soldiers one-shot appeared: I assume it too was originally intended for MCP circa '89 or '90. SilverbirdNovember 24, 2014 6:00 PM Marvel Team-Up #9-11 After taking recently taking a biology class I can't help but wonder if the "negative zone" is almost like an antibiotics zone of inhibition. ClutchNovember 24, 2014 12:22 PM Punisher #26-27 Russ is one of my heroes, that's for sure. I've always considered Russ more of a Silver Age artist due to his extensive work on the DC war and adventure comics, which, when you compare the two, aren't that far apart in style from a character like the Punisher, so this books suits him far better than superhero fare such as Moon Knight, (which I still enjoy as well) or other similar titles. Mark DrummondNovember 24, 2014 11:02 AM Doctor Strange #10 Amazing Heroes #141(mid-May 1988) announced an Eternals story by Roy & Dann Thomas for Marvel Comics Presents, but I don't know if it ever happened. CecilNovember 24, 2014 6:31 AM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) Nathan Adler?!? Ah, holy time slide! It is GREAT to see you roving the Internet, re-considering and re-phrasing the Marvel Universe!!! Nathan AdlerNovember 24, 2014 12:14 AM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) Michael I'd suggest McGregor's placement of the story at this time is to suggest it was this event that lead to the SoE being declared for 4 years. fnord12November 23, 2014 10:45 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) Maybe it's less about what did happen and more about what might have happened. In other words, to prevent this story from becoming an Unintentional Period Piece, in case something (good or bad) changed the situation in South Africa, McGregor made it a deliberate one. Or maybe it was to avoid Marvel universe changes instead of real ones, since Byrne was using Black Panther in Avengers. Regardless of why, i wonder if i should allow it to affect placement. With the sliding timescale the actual year becomes irrelevant anyway, but listing that year (and month) does seem to signal that McGregor intended for it to take place in the past. Walter LawsonNovember 23, 2014 10:44 PM Excalibur #9-11 Hanks, Michael: I'd forgotten Logan even turns up in the last, present-day scene of that book, which occurs at a party that takes place on the Scots parliament's opening day (meaning 1999, but given the sliding timescale, who knows). I guess True a Friends should be placed sometime between the Muir Island Saga and Alysande's death in Excalibur 55. MichaelNovember 23, 2014 9:14 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) Nathan, maybe I should have worded my question a bit more clearly. McGregor placed this story in June of 1986. Is there any reason in South Africa's history that he would have done that? Nathan AdlerNovember 23, 2014 8:05 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) Michael, there had been a build-up of resistance to security crackdowns that had been occurring since the late 1970s, culminating in an initial riot in early 1985 which led to a number of deaths and hundreds injured. Police then forcibly removed over 50,000 people from their homes at Crossroads between May and June which lead to further riots and the SoE then being declared. If you look online for the history of Crossroads you should find out more:) MichaelNovember 23, 2014 12:28 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) Yeah, but on the other hand, he says that he just working on the first pages of the script when he heard that Michael Higgins was off Marvel Comics Presents, and he called Tom Defalco, who was Editor in Chief at the time. Higgins' firing was announced in 1988 and DeFalco became Editor-in-Chief in April of 1987. fnord12November 23, 2014 10:54 AM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) Oh yeah. I initially wondered if we were starting with a flashback, and then i forgot about it. And the MCP place this after the 1988 West Coast Avengers annual. As far as i know, the series isn't referenced until Panther's Prey in 1990. Could it have been in production that long? In the article you linked to, McGregor does say that Higgins first contacted him in the mid-1980s. MichaelNovember 23, 2014 9:04 AM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) One more weird thing- why does the first page say "June 1986" when this was published in 1989? Nathan AdlerNovember 23, 2014 3:49 AM Uncanny X-Men #244 No luck. nathan dot adler at fastmail dot com ChrisWNovember 23, 2014 2:23 AM Uncanny X-Men #244 I've tried again, on your 24 May "X-Men Forever" post. If that doesn't work, let me know, and send me an email address or something that I can just send a Word Document to. Nathan AdlerNovember 23, 2014 12:53 AM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Walter, message emailed already. Thanks so much:) Nathan AdlerNovember 23, 2014 12:47 AM Uncanny X-Men #244 Unfortunately nothing has come up on my comments ChrisW!? ChrisWNovember 22, 2014 10:27 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 I've read that article before. As soon as I saw the links to your website, I hung my head in shame as someone who doesn't care about this stuff nearly as much as you do. As soon as possible, I'll email you the Word Document containing all my essays. It's just that, since this website is about Marvel Comics, I don't want to pollute it with references to DC, or EC, or Image, or Joe Snuffy's run on "Mucous Man," which is what my essays are about. I think I've just posted my essays on your website. Let me know if it didn't work, and I'll email them or something. Walter LawsonNovember 22, 2014 10:03 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Good to see you back, Nathan. You can reach me at wallylawson at outlook dot com. I'm kinda slow with email, tho. cullenNovember 22, 2014 7:06 PM Marvel Team-Up #46 Fnord currently has a policy of not tracking future, historical, or alternate-universe characters when they are in their own time/dimension. I was recently reminded of this due to the Deathlok/Coldblood discussion. RobertNovember 22, 2014 6:00 PM Marvel Team-Up #45 Killraven not listed as a character appearing. RobertNovember 22, 2014 5:46 PM Marvel Team-Up #46 Shouldn't Deathlok be listed as a character appearing? Mark DrummondNovember 22, 2014 3:47 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) The Panther/roof sequence="Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" reference? MichaelNovember 22, 2014 3:44 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) You're right, Mark. I found an article that might shed some light on this: Mark DrummondNovember 22, 2014 3:21 PM New Mutants #81 Amazing Heroes #139(mid-April 1988) announced this story for New Mutants #67, but with no mention of Shoemaker. Evidently the story got bumped(I'm guessing that the pre-Spyder story was running long), so that pretty much confirms the status as inventory story. Mark DrummondNovember 22, 2014 3:00 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) I don't think this was written in early 1988--when MCPresents was previewed in Amazing Heroes #140, Moench's first serial after MOKF was listed as an 8-part Moon Knight story with art by Kevin Nowlan(I have no idea if that ever happened). Other future serials mentioned were Tomb of Dracula by Wolfman/Colan(which I think became the prestige format miniseries) and a "pulp" Copperhead story by Len Kaminski. Enchlore♠November 22, 2014 12:08 PM Spider-Man vs. Wolverine #1 I got a German friend to translate the text from the guys who show up at the hotel room when Ned is dead and they're actually asking Peter if he's responsible for the murder, so they weren't really intended to be the guys who killed Ned. Though it could be a change in dialogue from the Brazillian publishers (if there was one thing the at-the-time publisher did, it was slightly changing dialogue to better accomodate upcoming storylines they didn't get to). Nathan AdlerNovember 22, 2014 2:06 AM Uncanny X-Men #244 Thanks ChrisW. You might like to read through my comments after the article on my blog here about the X-gestalt from that period: http://fanfix.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/%E2%80%A6the-third-summers-brother-plot If you have your own digital or paper copies can you scan and email? MichaelNovember 21, 2014 10:48 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) I realize that I'm looking at this from a different perspective from you, fnord, since I never tried reading Panther's Quest in one reading but I felt Panther's Quest was perhaps the worst paced story that Marvel ever published. And it can't just be blamed on the format. It seemed like McGregor couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to tell a story illustrating the horrors of apartheid or a story about a guy trying to rescue his mom. The major conflict should be between T'Challa and Pretorius's agent Gore but we get plenty of detours where the Panther fights soldiers, black vigilantes, etc. ChrisWNovember 21, 2014 8:07 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Nathan, sorry, I cannot. I posted it (and similar essays) for a few years on Rick Veitch's comicon.com message boards. As near as I can tell, that site is now down. I just tried to locate it with my computer and my phone, and neither worked. Fortunately I still have my own copies (digital and on paper.) If you can find anywhere, it has the title "Metaphys-X." Of the links TCP provided, the first really has nothing to do with my essay, and the second is conducted by far better Kabbalist scholars than myself. My knowledge of Kabbala extends (maybe) a little further than Alan Moore's "Promethea" and the Alan Moore/Dave Sim dialogue about "From Hell," printed around the year 1998 in the back of "Cerebus." I'm using elaborate mystic scholarship as a convenient point to make about Claremont's "X-Men" as a format for comics to follow for the next couple of decades, across years and publishing houses. A subsequent essay would follow the use of the word "Marvel" in comics, as in Captain Marvel (Fawcett) Marvelman (English comics) Marvel Comics #1 (first appearance of Namor and the Human Torch) Marvel Comics, Marvel Girl, the "Captain Marvel" title (M.F. Enterprises,) the black female that Marvel gave her own title, Ms. Marvel, and then-recent examples of "Marvel" in "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" Marvel's own title "Marville" and Peter David's run on "Captain Marvel." Another essay looks for specific similarities between Steve Gerber's "Howard the Duck" and Dave Sim's "Cerebus," which concludes with an enormous amount of John Byrne-bashing. Another essay tells the history of DC Comics and the multiple universes therein, pinning it all on Jerry Siegel's "Death of Superman" in Superman #149, and "Flash of Two Worlds" in Flash #123. Based on the cover date, "Fantastic Four" #1 came out in between those issues. In some ways, it's right up your alley, and in others, I'd say don't waste your time. Luis DantasNovember 21, 2014 5:43 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13-37 (Black Panther) You know, you make this feel like a very worthwhile story. TCPNovember 21, 2014 12:57 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Not sure if this is what was being referred to above, but Kabbalah and the Tree of Life as they relate to the X-Men are discussed here (http://www.therealgentlemenofleisure.com/2011/05/x-amining-x-men-108.html) and here (http://www.barbelith.com/topic.php?id=11457). Nathan AdlerNovember 21, 2014 3:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #244 ChrisW, which essay can you provide a link? Walter LawsonNovember 21, 2014 2:02 AM Uncanny X-Men #244 This issue marks the end of the longest run of consecutive issues Silvestri would produce on the title, six issues from 239-244. Most of the rest of his 1987-1990 tenure is punctuated by breaks after three or four consecutive issues. This may be significant when we get to the end of Silvestri's run with #261-- that was a third Silvestri issue, and he would have been due for a break just as the title was about to go biweekly. Jim Lee had replaced Leonardi as the official fill-in artist, but his Lady Mandarin arc had been so well received that Harras perhaps took the opportunity afforded by Silvestri's regular pause to assign Lee as regular artist and transfer Wolverine to Silvestri. More on this as we get to 1990. cullenNovember 20, 2014 6:45 PM Marvel Team-Up #45 Toffler is highly-esteemed in China - his follow-up, The Third Wave, was circulated among China's political leadership in the 80s. (It was also formally banned for some time): Newt Gingrich is also a Toffler acolyte, despite the fact that they have pretty disparate political views: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/newt-gingrich-new-age-love-gurus-alvin-toffler Max_SpiderNovember 20, 2014 5:54 PM Marvel Two-In-One #16-17 Yo dog, we heard you liked Team-Up books, so we're teaming up your Team-Up book with another Team-Up book! That said, it makes sense to team up Team-Up books if you wanted to team up the protagonists of separate Team-Up books. Yeah, I don't know why I made this comment, peace. fnord12November 20, 2014 4:44 PM Marvel Team-Up #140 This is right when Al Milgrom takes over for Bill Mantlo on Spectacular too. Cool info, thanks TCP. Ataru320November 20, 2014 4:40 PM Marvel Two-In-One #16-17 If MJ just told Peter she knew then that scene with him on the phone wouldn't have been so awkward. TCPNovember 20, 2014 1:49 PM Marvel Team-Up #140 I heard in a podcast recently that DeFalco took over writing this and the next issue because Mantlo didn't want to be associated with the the black costume, which apparently a lot of people in Marvel expected to be a disaster. fnord12November 20, 2014 1:36 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) The running dialogue between person and computer is what makes Coldblood and Deathlok seem so much more similar to me than the other examples. Jay DemetrickNovember 20, 2014 12:57 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) cullen wrote: "I see your point about duplication of concepts with Deathlok, but it did seem like popular culture was developing an appetite for cyborgs. 1987's Robocop would see a sequel )and a Marvel series) in 1990. Terminator 2 soon followed. It's possible this is what Moench and Gulacy wanted to work on, and maybe McDuffie had already claimed Deathlok. But with public interest in human-machine boundaries on the rise, why not double-down?" Also the Jean-Claude van Damme movie "Cyborg" came out in 1989. ;) ChrisNovember 20, 2014 11:06 AM Marvel Comics Presents #36 (Hellcat) Hellcat is a great character name, and I like the design of the costume. The red hair is a great color combination improvement from Greer's black hair as the Cat. However, Patsy Walker is just an uninteresting character, and the baggage from her Archie-like original series weighs her down. In addition, her association with Daimon Hellstrom is just distracting. There is simply nothing to do with the character that makes sense as a street level superhero. Englehart and her little time witht he Defenders really saddled her with a backstory that prevents the characters from being able to break out. Brigman's work is very nice here. She has good craft and an appealing style, but her style usually doesn't work well for superheroes. It does here for some reason. fnord12November 20, 2014 10:42 AM Marvel Comics Presents #37 (Devil-Slayer) Thanks, Jay. I had forgotten about that reference in Doctor Strange #3, and i agree that the sword seems more generic prior to that. By itself the sword could have just been an art choice (or lack thereof) but coupled with the reference it does make sense to place this before Doctor Strange #3. MichaelNovember 20, 2014 7:47 AM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) @Cullen- it might have been in the works when this story was RELEASED but we have no way of knowing when this story was written. If it was written in early 1988, then it's possible the Deathlok series hadn't been approved yet. Nathan AdlerNovember 20, 2014 3:30 AM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Walter we really have to talk re: the Shadow King!!! Walter LawsonNovember 20, 2014 3:06 AM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 The fact that Pierce knows the X-Men were fighting Master Mold, even though Lady D notes that the cameras couldn't see them, may be another non-clue clue that Pierce was a pawn of the Shadow King. I always assumed Pierce was just confident about deducing who was involved in the fight, since he knew from Bonebreaker's crew that the X-Men were alive. But these instances of Pierce exhibiting secret knowledge--here and his understanding of the Siege Perilous in upcoming issues--would fit with idea of a guy like the Shadow King feeding him info. Walter LawsonNovember 20, 2014 1:29 AM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) The similarity was conspicuous to Deathlok readers right from the start of his 1991 ongoing: the letters page had lots of requests for a Coldblood appearance. I think some of those letters even came from the 1990 limited series. Jay DemetrickNovember 20, 2014 1:07 AM Marvel Comics Presents #37 (Devil-Slayer) I believe the sword Valkyrie has pre-Doctor Strange #3 (1989) is a generic sword, if you look closely, and does not have Dragonfang's distinctive dragon head pommel. Since there is a dialogue reference to her just getting Dragonfang in Dr. Strange #3, the sword seen in her appearances before that must just be a spirit weapon she manifested, similar to Andromeda's trident and Manslaughter's knives and not actually Dragonfang. I'd place this issue immediately before Dr. Strange #3. cullenNovember 20, 2014 12:09 AM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) You know Erik, I started going that way with my comment, but then decided to look it up and got so confused by all the time-traveling and multiple versions, I wasn't sure where 'original' Deathlok was at this point. Considering that 1990's Deathlok was a prestige limited series with a high page-count that launched in the spring of 1990, it must've already been in the works while this story was being released. Erik RobbinsNovember 19, 2014 11:00 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) Up until now, we had only seen the Deathlok from the future, right? And with his last appearance, he had been returned to his future, and hadn't shown up again for years. Now with the 90s actually upon them, maybe this was an attempt by the creators to make a Deathlok for the modern era, not knowing that soon Marvel would be making a literal Deathlok for the modern era. Jon DubyaNovember 19, 2014 3:54 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 One thing I always find noticeable is that Freedom Force is the "heroic" here. It's weird because when you read there exploits in other places they seem like outright villains who happen to be in a favorable place (think Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts/Dark Avengers.) Yet when Claremont gets his hands on FF they come across as downright decent sorts. It makes me wonder now "heroic" we the audience was suppose to see the group. For instance, I can see other heroes trusting THIS version of the team with the care of the Inferno babies. Of course they'll be right back to threatening kids and picking fights right after. No scans here, but this is also the storyline where Destiny suggested that Forge and Mystique would get together. And while I don't have any actual proof for it, I always got that feeling that Matsuo is what Jim Lee looked like in the 80s. Jon DubyaNovember 19, 2014 3:31 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) "Do we really need another futuristic cyborg with a gun?" The 90s will answer you with a resounding, "Yes we need them in all their shoulder-padded, leather-pouched, anatomically-implausible, phallic-shaped gun glory!" kveto from pragueNovember 19, 2014 8:28 AM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) I remember you once said Guenwald was a DC writer at heart, fnord. You really are right. I think thats why he was attracted to bland, straight arrow heroes like Quasar. He got to write the green lantern this way. What normal hero would shout "Unhand her at once!"? That's comicbook dialouge 101. I was wondering why you'd bother to bring a character from one universe to another like he did with Quagmire here. I think it was because he was hoping to set Quag up as a regular foe of Quasar. I remember Guenwald writing at the time about a lack of villains who would be a good challenge for Quasar's powers (same problem with Captain Monica Marvel). He was probably trying to add Quag to Quasar's extremely limited rogue's gallery. Nathan AdlerNovember 19, 2014 6:55 AM Uncanny X-Men annual #10 I've always wondered whether Mojo would also be revealed as an alternate incarnation of the Shadow King, particularly when one considers "mojo" means black magick, something the immortal mutant claimed to be adept in. In addition, mention was made of Mojo having extensive knowledge of the dark arts of magic, and it was he who trained Spiral in their use. Mojo is a slaver who rules the "Mojoverse", a dimension where all beings are addicted to his gladiator-like television programmes. You'll recall the Spineless Ones were a primitive society until a mutant, called Arize, was born who went on to build artificial spines for this society. Given Mojo had no spine, and his legs were mostly atrophied, he was very obese, much like Farouk, Karma and Tullamore Voge, hosts of the creature known as the Shadow King. It seemed to me that Tullamore Voge was a stand-in for Mojo, and his Slavers were introduced in Excalibur #17 as substitutes for the Spineless Ones. Then recall it was Ann Nocenti who created Alexander Flynn and the Gladiators, so did she and Chris originally intend for Mojo, and not Farouk, to end up ruling the Gladiators!? I'd posit that Chris and Ann initially intended for Mojo to usurp leadership of the Gladiators so he could broadcast their battles back to the Mojoverse to boost his flagging ratings. It is interesting to note that the Dazzler is one of the arena's prize combatants, when she goes on to become Longshot's girlfriend. And while it was pretty much implied that the Shadow King had possessed Mastermind, which makes a certain amount of sense when you consider Wyngarde's seduction of Jean Grey in light of Uncanny #273, could Harry Leland likewise have been given his gluttony of food is in keeping with Farouk's M.O.? MortificatorNovember 18, 2014 10:20 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) Mako's mech looks like it was inspired by the Officer's Battlepod from Robotech (or the Glaug from Macross, if you prefer the Japanese version). cullenNovember 18, 2014 8:24 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) Maybe that's the same robot Hulk from the Eternals series! I see your point about duplication of concepts with Deathlok, but it did seem like popular culture was developing an appetite for cyborgs. 1987's Robocop would see a sequel )and a Marvel series) in 1990. Terminator 2 soon followed. It's possible this is what Moench and Gulacy wanted to work on, and maybe McDuffie had already claimed Deathlok. But with public interest in human-machine boundaries on the rise, why not double-down? This was my first "real-time" exposure to Gulacy, slightly predating the Legends of the Dark Knight run. I definitely immediately considered the art of a Higher Order than most of what was around. But I couldn't tell you shit about this story, and never considered revisiting it... didn't even remember that it was Moench and Gulacy! PB210November 18, 2014 8:23 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) "In all fairness, I think the idea is supposed to be that Alex didn't suspect Leila was related to the Living Pharaoh because she was white and had a non-Egyptian last name and it never occurred to him that one of the Living Pharaoh's relatives might have married a white dude. Not sure what that says about Alex, though. ========================================================= The US Office of Management and Budget lists Egyptians (in this instance, roughly Shemites and Stygians) as Caucasians. Aside from that, the Living Pharaoh and his followers usually had a flesh tone that would allow them to pass as "black Irish" or Cimmerian, bronzed in complexion the way Conan looked. The Cimmerians's progeny the Gales resembled this phenotype until admixture with the Danes introduced red hair-which brings an intriguing connection. Aside from that, I think I may have another reason why the Living Pharoah's group may have took an interest in red-haired women such as Leila O'Toole. When the Hyborian Age started to end, one finds that "Meanwhile also, red-haired Vanir adventurers came into Stygia, where they overthrew the reigning class and built up a vast southern empire which they call Egypt. From these red-hared conquerors the early pharaohs were to boast descent". Remember how I said that the Danes introduced red hair to the Gaels? It turns out "while the later sea-roving Danes were the descendants of the Vanir". The Vanir in these sentence refer to the people of Ulysses Bloodstone and perhaps the Maha Yogi. MichaelNovember 18, 2014 7:58 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) Gina never appears again, even though Coldblood does, and we never find out what happened to her. kvetoNovember 18, 2014 4:02 PM Marvel Comics Presents #26-35 (Coldblood) Agreed that Deathlok makes Coldblood feel pointless. Do we really need another futuristic cyborg with a gun? Around this time marvel will pick up the rights to Robocop just to make Coldblood doubly redundant. kvetoNovember 18, 2014 11:49 AM Marvel Comics Presents #21 (Thing) Good thing Ben met this guy when we was wearing a shirt. Otherwise his only unstable moloculed garment would have been his shorts. And nobody wants to see the "Thing" like that. Erik RobbinsNovember 18, 2014 10:35 AM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) Well, being born out of the Man-Thing would break MY brain, so it's as good a theory as any. clydeNovember 18, 2014 8:36 AM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) From the Wiki entry - "Quagmire's body passed through the body of a seemingly pregnant Man-Thing. This passage apparently reversed the effects of the behavior modification, restoring his old criminal, renegade personality, and he battled Quasar and Jennifer Kale." I know that's not very clear, but at least it's something. Nathan AdlerNovember 18, 2014 1:10 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Michael and Walter, is Pierce's hatred for Wolverine unmotivated? We know very little about Donald's background so there is nothing to say Claremont didn't plan to reveal he had come a cropper of Wolvie's claws. Recall he was cyborgised so was this out of necessity due to a previous encounter with a mutant that left him an amputee. Most likely suspect... Wolverine! So the remaining question now is how a mining magnate ended up on the pointy end of Wolvie's claws? And where? TenzilNovember 18, 2014 12:44 AM Marvel Comics Presents #33 (Sub-Mariner) The story is unusual in that it was only six pages instead of the normal eight. The Black Panther chapter ran long which might be why MacGregor wrote this as well. MichaelNovember 17, 2014 11:29 PM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) There isn't a clear explanation of how Quagmire's behavior modification got reversed. MichaelNovember 17, 2014 11:05 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) Years later, Alan Davis would retcon that the bond between the Pharaoh and Alex only existed because Sinister spliced some of Alex's DNA into the Pharaoh. That doesn't explain Leila. MichaelNovember 17, 2014 10:09 PM Marvel Comics Presents #35 (Her) Clyde, he was clearly recommended to the planet's populace by the same person who recommended Sinestro to the Guardians of the Universe- I thought that was obvious. Luis DantasNovember 17, 2014 10:07 PM Marvel Comics Presents #27 (American Eagle) Unfortunate implications? Yeah, I suppose MCP #104's complete divorce from suspension of disbelief counts as an unfortunate implication... fnord12November 17, 2014 10:04 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) Even better. Maybe i'll jump ahead and do the Wolverine stories from #38-53, or maybe i'll just defer them all until later because they exhaust me. fnord12November 17, 2014 9:59 PM Marvel Comics Presents #27 (American Eagle) Added the Peace Monger; thanks. MichaelNovember 17, 2014 9:57 PM Marvel Comics Presents #34 (Captain America) This story did a good job of challenging Cap's morals- the ending where he admits he doesn't know who he would have helped if he would have thought about it is great. MichaelNovember 17, 2014 9:48 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) Fnord, you're doing the Excalibur story this year? I thought you'd hold off until 1990-1991. The Excalibur story features the Train Dragon, and Excalibur is on Earth, so it has to take place after the Cross Time Caper. MichaelNovember 17, 2014 9:45 PM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) More evidence of Gruenwald's questionable attitude towards women- Jennifer Kale is basically a damsel-in-distress in this story. Then again, it seems like she's a damsel-in-distress in half her appearances. clydeNovember 17, 2014 9:39 PM Marvel Comics Presents #35 (Her) Gee, I wonder how that guy got in power - U'sr'pr - Usurper. MichaelNovember 17, 2014 9:27 PM Marvel Comics Presents #28 (Triton) Strangely, in a later New Warriors story, Stane International will be dumping toxic waste on the moon in an attempt to get rid of the Inhunmans. Maybe they stole the idea from Roxxon? MichaelNovember 17, 2014 9:25 PM Marvel Comics Presents #27 (American Eagle) The Peace Monger has another appearance, in which he fights US Agent, which has more Unfortunate Implications. So he should probably get a character tag. fnord12November 17, 2014 8:58 PM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) I was just adding info, not correcting you, Clyde! :-) clydeNovember 17, 2014 8:45 PM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) I should have been more specific - MichaelNovember 17, 2014 8:45 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) Fnord, regarding Alex's stupidity in this story, I think that Mackie interpreted the "Alex-didn't-notice-that-Maddie's-dress-is-changing" scene as "Alex is an idiot when he's trying to get into a woman's pants", not "Maddie is influencing Alex". Incidentally, this issue is another argument for the "Alex was acting of his free will before X-Men 241" school. SNovember 17, 2014 8:27 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) If I had to guess I think the text panels are Lobdell going for a "dubbed Japanese movie" thing. The stiltedness of some of the dialogue would point towards that as well. PB210November 17, 2014 7:35 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) It turns out that she was originally indoctrinated into the cult and then tried to flee, but when she did, she was immediately captured and told information that intrigued her enough to agree to work with them, specifically that she's the niece of the original Living Pharaoh........... ======================================================== That seems an unanticipated relationship. fnord12November 17, 2014 7:07 PM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) I don't think he ever runs into his fellow Squadron-versers again, though. clydeNovember 17, 2014 6:34 PM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) The answer is yes - clydeNovember 17, 2014 6:25 PM X-Factor #43-50 No comparison, Ship can run rings around Friday. BerendNovember 17, 2014 6:14 PM Marvel Comics Presents #25 (Ursa Major) That's a terrible Ursa Major. It looks like the artist needed reference material on bears, but could only find a picture of the Lion from the Wizard of Oz! BillNovember 17, 2014 5:39 PM Marvel Comics Presents #29 (Quasar) Is Quagmire still on Earth-616? Has he been seen since this story? I'd assume the Squadron Supreme would have at least looked in on him when they were stranded at Project: PEGASUS for a couple of years. Luis DantasNovember 17, 2014 5:31 PM Marvel Comics Presents #21 (Thing) Kevin VanHook, I just learned, contributed to comics mostly as a writer. I can't help but feel he has a talent for, aham, adult comics going by these pencils. Luis DantasNovember 17, 2014 5:29 PM X-Factor #43-50 Ship reminds me a lot of Power Pack's smartship Friday in these issues. I wonder if any character ever brought up the similarities. clydeNovember 17, 2014 4:24 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) Ok. Thanks for the explanation. I see MCP presents a unique challenge in regards to the overlapping storylines across multiple issues. fnord12November 17, 2014 4:17 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) What i do on any given day is pretty much just based on how much time i have. My goal for the day was to get through all the single-issue stories that overlap with the Coldblood 10-parter and the Black Panther 25 parter that Kveto mentions. Didn't quite finish but i may squeeze them in later. Then i'll go back and do the Coldblood story, and then the Black Panther (which may take a couple days!), and then i'll come back to the Excalibur story. clydeNovember 17, 2014 4:02 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) FNORD - Just curious - is there some reason you did a synopsis on this backup of #32 before having done the main storyline for #32? clydeNovember 17, 2014 3:57 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) Just from looking at the covers back then, I always thought that MCP was primarily X-Men related stories and some smaller stories were reserved for non X-men characters. kvetoNovember 17, 2014 3:52 PM Marvel Comics Presents #27 (American Eagle) "What the?" did a fun send up of all these 4th stringers from MCP joining up and founding team "the Obscurity legion" http://marvel.wikia.com/Obscurity_Legion_(Earth-9047) Sadly I'd have loved to have had that in the real MU. kvetoNovember 17, 2014 3:41 PM Marvel Comics Presents #32 (Sunfire) you know, the amazing thing about MCP is it sounds like it should be a lot of fun. Obscure characters who wouldn't get any exposure anywhere else fighting obscure villains. Lots of different writers and artists. And short stories for short attention spans (like mine). But most of the stories focus on overexposed individual x-men and have the obscure characters have boring adventures, so it sucks. can't wait for the 700 parts of the panther story smashed into one entry. I remember having an issue where for 8 pages the panther has his leg trapped in a tin roof. and that's the whole story. clydeNovember 17, 2014 3:05 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24-31 (Havok) "For that one, i'm not really sure when he really accepted that there was something wrong with her so i'll link to her death in X-Factor #38." I would say dying is a pretty good example of something going wrong with every girl he falls in love with. ;) Jay DemetrickNovember 17, 2014 2:03 PM Marvel Comics Presents #15 (Jean Grey & Red Wolf) It's possible this could take place shortly after they free Ship's consciousness from Apocalypse's control but the other placement clue is Jean's re-awakening telepathy post-Inferno. We saw a hint of that in X-Factor Annual #3 but combined with the Phoenix manifestation, points more to this placement. I always thought of this story as her first night after Inferno. fnord12November 17, 2014 1:46 PM Marvel Comics Presents #15 (Jean Grey & Red Wolf) Well, she seems shocked and unsure to see her Phoenix manifestation, and we've seen similar questionable manifestations earlier in the X-Factor series, so i wouldn't say that's a definitive clue, but i'm fine with that placement. Jay DemetrickNovember 17, 2014 12:31 PM Marvel Comics Presents #15 (Jean Grey & Red Wolf) Jean's story fits well shortly after Inferno because she just absorbed that bit of the Phoenix Force from Madelyne there which manifests itself in this story. fnord12November 17, 2014 11:49 AM Marvel Comics Presents #22 (Starfox) I think we see a pink one in Thor #335, so i guess there's a lot of diversity. Mark DrummondNovember 17, 2014 11:12 AM Marvel Comics Presents #22 (Starfox) Aren't the Aakon normally yellow? Jay DemetrickNovember 17, 2014 1:31 AM Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) That could be Rogue while Carol is in the driving seat as she often seemed to manage around this time... Erik RobbinsNovember 17, 2014 12:50 AM Marvel Comics Presents #24 (Shamrock) If only more MCP showcases of obscure characters were like this. Unfortunately they tend to be along the lines of the Paladin story you just covered, or the Captain Ultra and American Eagle stories still to come. Walter LawsonNovember 16, 2014 10:13 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Somewhat contrary to my post above, in #149 Pierce is interested in all the X-Men, in contrast to Lady D's fixation only on Wolvie. In 252 the Hellfire mercs talk about the Siege Perilous, which Pierce has explained to them, and they wonder how Pierce could have known about it. I took this to be Claremont just glossing over a plot hole--one not much bigger than when the Muir Island X-Men know all the Reavers' names in 255--but maybe Pierce knew all about the Siege because the Shadow King told him. It's not really a strong enough signal to count as a clue, though. MichaelNovember 16, 2014 8:24 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24 (Shamrock) "Grant my child the power to strike down thine enemies". Why doesn't anyone in the MU learn to be specific when making a magical wish? kvetoNovember 16, 2014 7:51 PM Marvel Comics Presents #24 (Shamrock) I like your maths. A good story. How did this get into MCP? Shamrock nearly had another four parter in MCP with Peregrine by JM Leofficer. Its a pity it never was done because it would have been a great continuity clean-up on the Frankenstein family. http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/jmlshamrockperegrinemcpstory.htm Walter LawsonNovember 16, 2014 6:44 PM Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) I suppose it makes sense that if Master Mold can rebuild himself even from fragments that the MM who fights Scott here is the main body of the one from Power a Pack and X-Factor, and has evidently got his programming and strategy in order, while some part blown off in the Poer Pack fight is what infects Nimrod in X-Men 246. Luis DantasNovember 16, 2014 5:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #148 Personally, I found Warren's perspectiv just about perfect in this scene - unusually good characterization for Claremont, even. Claremont may have developed a taste for Wolverine later on - I certainly never did - but at this point he seens to like the character as a foil more than for himself. MichaelNovember 16, 2014 5:34 PM Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) I also wonder if Harras knew about Moira's appearances in Excalibur, because Sean doesn't mention Moira being trapped in a Nazi dimension or discuss Kurt's, Kitty's and Rachel's disappearance with Scott. MichaelNovember 16, 2014 5:05 PM Marvel Comics Presents #20 (Clea) I never understood why Clea referenced Corazon Aquino, of all leaders that took power after a dictatorship. clydeNovember 16, 2014 4:56 PM Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) Michael - Re: Sean and Moira - I'm sure they took an example of how to be friends from Scott who ignored his wife and kid for a long period of time. MichaelNovember 16, 2014 4:53 PM Marvel Comics Presents #19-20 (Dr. Strange) I always liked this story. Nicieza's scripting was excellent. But I don't think Strange's decision to kill the husband was THAT morally ambiguous. The husband was trying to kill Strange. Plus the point was there was nothing human left in him- so killing him was arguably no more ambiguous then a hero killing a demon. MichaelNovember 16, 2014 4:43 PM Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) @Walter- I think the idea in X-Men 253 was that Banshee's powers were restored as a result of Marvel Comics Presents 24. It's just Marvel had a no-footnotes policy at the time. I also think the idea was there was one Master Mold- hence, the reference to Summers having destroyed him twice. ChrisWNovember 16, 2014 4:18 PM Uncanny X-Men #148 As Paul says, Claremont approached his characters as a method actor, and I suspect that's the basis for the Warren/Logan antipathy. He just knew that the two characters didn't like each other, even if he had no idea why. Since Warren left the team immediately after Claremont took over, and a dozen or so issues later, Byrne gave Claremont a reason to find Wolvie interesting, he went quite a while without even having to think about it. Then, when Warren came back is when Claremont really learned they didn't like each other. The "Classic X-Men" story is retroactively showing this, while trying to keep the characters true to the way they were at the time and writing with a decade+ worth of foreknowledge of what would happen to them. I've been fascinated for the longest time of how Claremont wrote those "Classic X-Men" stories, and never more so than in #1, where he has to return to Wolvie the psycho roughneck. I think the attraction to Jean is forced and so is her reciprocation. Wolverine did have some sort of interest - he bought Jean flowers when she was in the hospital and the second person narration tells us that he's never had any friends so he doesn't know how people treat friends, he definitely felt something in the "Dark Phoenix Saga," ready to kill her but suddenly Jean regains control - so I think the "Classic X-Men" story was just a way to set Warren/Logan/Jean's relationships in stone, as it were. And Warren is just flirting with Ororo. If she says 'yes,' great. If she says 'no,' it's still a pleasure to have someone to share the sky with. Luis DantasNovember 16, 2014 4:17 PM Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) While Ron Lim has effective enough storytelling, his pencils are so unpleasant in a 1990s way... Walter LawsonNovember 16, 2014 4:13 PM Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) I've always been unclear about whether at this stage there's meant to be only one Master Mold or several and whether the Lang MM is meant to be a reprogrammed Trask MM or not. The way MM talks about Cyke here, it seems like he has memories of X-Factor 14. But maybe his hatred of Cyclops is based on Lang's encounters with the X-Men in Uncanny 100. It's weird how this story redundantly duplicates plot points coming up in Uncanny: a Master Mold rematch, restoration of Banshee's powers, and Moira getting mind controlled. Were Harras and Claremont fighting over how to do the same story right? cullenNovember 16, 2014 4:03 PM Marvel Fanfare #49 In that Dum-Dum "Irish" panel, Dugan also appears to be sharing a few word balloons with Fury. I do agree the art is pretty high-quality for an unknown, though this should never have seen print. Also this reminds me of the Silver Age 'Origin of the Batcave' which also features heroes traveling back in time to be on the wrong side of history: http://comicsalliance.com/bizarro-back-issues-batman-in-the-worst-thanksgiving-ever/ ChrisWNovember 16, 2014 3:07 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #10 I love the way Karma, a naked Wolverine charging directly at her in a terrifying image that is surely imprinted on her mind for the rest of her life, has to pretend that she's fooled by a stupid eyepatch in Madripoor. Poor Shan. She's had a rough life. ChrisWNovember 16, 2014 2:58 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #8 She's also Steve Leialoha's wife. ChrisWNovember 16, 2014 2:53 PM Uncanny X-Men #174-175 I'm not saying the blond guy is the Angel, but I could easily see Warren covering up his wings at parties and weddings, just to avoid taking up space and inconveniencing other guests. I do wish JRjr had included more of the supporting cast in the wedding pictures. We have only one caption indicating the New Mutants are there at all, no Lorna, only the Beast and Banshee as clearly-identifiable former X-Men. Apparently when he left the title, Paul Smith gave a fairly-scathing account to The Comics Journal about an argument he had with Claremont. I didn't read that article, but after it was printed, he sent a retraction of sorts, explaining that he had spoken in the heat of the moment. Although the argument was real, it didn't contribute to his leaving the title, because he had already intended to leave with #175. ChrisWNovember 16, 2014 2:21 PM New Mutants #8-12 I see famed editor Diana Schutz is listed as "consultant" on #10. I wonder what her role was. According to Wikipedia, Claremont recommended her to become Ann Nocenti's assistant editor, which she lasted four days, but Nocenti didn't start editing "New Mutants" until #16. fnord12November 16, 2014 1:49 PM Marvel Fanfare #49 Michael, looking at ROM #54 Fury does recognize Dr. Strange, although you're right that he only mentions meeting him at the Richardses wedding and from conversations with the Avengers. That seems to ignore Doctor Strange #50 although that was a long time ago from Fury's perspective and who knows if Strange messed with his mind or not. In any event, i agree with pushing this after ROM #54. And of course the story wasn't *meant* to be offensive, but whenever you have as the villain of your story someone that is trying to prevent a historical tragedy, you're on shaky ground, and i don't think the writing here or art here has the right level of sensitivity to handle that with the right level of nuance. clydeNovember 16, 2014 12:19 PM Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 (Cyclops) Perhaps this is why Moira was the top person asked to look into the Legacy Virus. BUNovember 16, 2014 11:14 AM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Yeah - Redstone being Geo-Force is all I got in that sock. The Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman and the Parasite were never in the Outsiders, afaik, and I could never figure out who any of the others were supposed to be. Of course Batman and a team of junior heroes, plus Green Arrow, DID work with Lex Luthor in Kingdom Come... Luis DantasNovember 16, 2014 6:15 AM New Mutants #8-12 That he is. On that matter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Kulan_Gath Walter LawsonNovember 16, 2014 2:29 AM New Mutants #8-12 Thanks, I erroneously thought Red Sonja LLC represented Thomas. I think there some legal thickets surrounding Gath that Marvel's 1998 use of him don't resolve, though. Gath has lately been appearing in Red Sonja comics and not Marvel Comics, and my guess is that Red Sonja LLC (or maybe Conan Properties?) has staked a claim to him. He's definitely treated as a Red Sonja character nowadays. Luis DantasNovember 16, 2014 1:32 AM New Mutants #8-12 @Walter Lawson: to the best of my understanding, while Roy Thomas did create Red Sonja, he overemphasized the inspiration from REH's Red Sonya and never actually had the rights to the character. Check http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/12/16/comic-book-legends-revealed-345/ Kulan Gath, however, was used by Kurt Busiek in Avengers at a time when Marvel no longer had the rights to any REH properties, so I assume it is a Marvel-owned character much like Shang Chi or most of the Galador Spaceknights. Walter LawsonNovember 16, 2014 12:21 AM New Mutants #8-12 (She-wolf that suckled Romulus, that is. That one letter makes a difference.) Walter LawsonNovember 16, 2014 12:18 AM New Mutants #8-12 A lot of Selene's schtick in these issues--her talk about blood when she's slashes Dani, her remark that she can't be killed by mortal weapons--is reminiscent of what we'll hear from Bloodscream a few years from now. Selene's psychic vampirism also seems to be transmissible and may not be a mutant power but something else. Ok, so where was Claremont going with Nova Roma, a concept he invests quite a lot in here, one the Hellfire Club will talk about without ever acting upon for ages, and some Claremont returns to in X-Treme X-Men and New Mutants Forever? I think he planned a tie-in with his Marada the She-Wolf mythos and maybe the N'Garai and whatnot. Domitius remarks that Rahne's red hair suggests she's a descendant of Julius Caesar, and her wolf metamorphism indicates she's connected to the she-wolf that sucked Rome's founder, Romulus. Well, Marada is Caesar's actual illegitimate daughter, according to Claremont's lore, and her epithet is "she-wolf." Her hair is white (like Storm's), though, rather than red because if it were red it would be even more clear that Marada is a stand-in for Red Sonja. Like Sonja, Marada battles a priest if the N'Garai who is pretty clearly Kulan Gath, although for copyright reasons (Marada is owned by Claremont/Holton and Sonja is owned by Roy Thomas) the evil sorcerer Marada fights is called something else. The master demon he serves, though, is the same Y'Garon that Clatemont created for Tomb of Dracula. Maybe Marada is actually the founder of Nova Roma, or perhaps there's magic stuff there that can aid or defeat the N'Garai. But I think this is a bit of the backstory Claremont had in mind. ChrisWNovember 15, 2014 8:54 PM New Mutants #48-50 Oooh, good call. They're also both from Brazil. StephenNovember 15, 2014 6:32 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 I see that fnord caught my deliberate mistake in the title of said miniseries. MortificatorNovember 15, 2014 5:52 PM Tales Of Suspense #60 Nice how the proton gun is almost teased here. It's described as a new anti-armor weapon Tony designed, and Tony himself will use a proton gun several issues later against Titanium Man. It might be one of the inspirations for the proton cannon that Iron Man uses in Capcom's fighting games. fnord12November 15, 2014 1:43 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Behind the scenes there was another Fallen Angels (Runaways) series in the works but it never got published. StephenNovember 15, 2014 1:42 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Jon Dubya, I think Siryn and Madrox were last seen in the Runaways series, where they decided to stay a while longer. The simplest explanation of where they are would be that they got back from there shortly after this arc. Mark DrummondNovember 15, 2014 1:31 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe I agree that the white destructive force is a nod to the antimatter wave in Crisis, but if the Redeemers are really supposed to be Batman's Outsiders, then the analogues are really weak. I can kinda see a link between Geo-Force and Redstone, but nobody else on either team seems to match up. BUNovember 15, 2014 1:18 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe No, I really do think Gru was deliberately doing Crisis w/o the Infinite Earths - that pointing it out would bug you was just gravy. If I was only trying to get your goat I would assert that the limited series was ripping off Kingdom Come ten years before Kingdom Come. Nighthawk's Redeemers was Batman and the Outsiders, BTW. Luis DantasNovember 15, 2014 2:39 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Sorry, I mean to link to http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix6/sundermorl.htm Luis DantasNovember 15, 2014 2:38 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Yes, in New Mutants #46. It was a characterization scene for Karma, who felt bad about falling short of easing his pain. No, I don't think an actual explanation for his apparent full recovery was ever offered. It has been proposed that Sunder may have a regeneration power, or been helped by the Morlock healer, or be using some sort of effective prostetics. But the truth is that we just do not know whether or how he recovered. Walter LawsonNovember 15, 2014 12:18 AM New Mutants #48-50 Coincidentally or not, the two evil mutant leaders, Sunspot and Magma, happen to be the same two who were kidnapped by Farouk and enlisted in the Gladiators. They're also the two who have Hellfire Club/Nova Roma connections. Walter LawsonNovember 15, 2014 12:14 AM New Mutants #5-7 I wonder if the energy mutant idea got translated into Malice, a bodyless mutant who seemed to be energy-based enough to fuse with Polaris. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 11:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Wasn't Sunder supposed to have a leg amputated during the Mutant Massacre? Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 11:47 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Notice how Storm gets her Dave Cockrum cat's eyes back upon being de-aged? Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 11:23 PM X-Factor #43-50 Nice to see Greg Wright shares my taste in music(and considering how poorly Total Devo sold when released, he'd have to be a fanatic). MichaelNovember 14, 2014 11:17 PM Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) I assumed that the Lemurians were all in the bubble with M'rin. But yeah, there's an entire ARMY of Lemurians and an army of Swamp People. Could they all fit in the bubble? Claremont tried to suggest that time passed quicker in the bubble but that's not enough to explain a huge population increase since Nereel's son was conceived before she entered the bubble and is still a kid. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 11:02 PM Rick Mason, the Agent John Ridgway's career at this point was indeed mostly doing b&w art for Marvel UK's Dr. Who Monthly and other British mags. fnord12November 14, 2014 10:58 PM Punisher: Return to Big Nothing That was a weird image that i almost included. The villain was wearing his boxers at the time. The prostitute ends up shooting the guy dead, shocking the Punisher. I've added it now. fnord12November 14, 2014 10:53 PM Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) Thanks, Faborst. I see he shows up again in the Van Lente & Pak's Hercules. I've tagged him as a character appearing. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 10:51 PM Punisher: Intruder After having his head immersed in pee, the Punisher then utilizes against his torturer the strategic move of...swearing at him. In comic book symbol swearing, no less. That unintentionally funny point make me laugh so hard back then that I couldn't possibly take this book seriously. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 10:30 PM Punisher: Return to Big Nothing One scene in this was extremely bizarre to me when I first read it back then: a minor villain rides a prostitute like a horse, and that is presented as unbelievably degrading to the prostitute. Considering the sort of things routinely seen on cable TV(such as HBO's "Cathouse") I've gotta say that if THAT is considered to be horrendous degradation, then that had to be one orthodox vanilla brothel. FaborstNovember 14, 2014 10:26 PM Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) The green chicken-baboon is Altjira, the god of Dreamtime and chief god in Australian Aboriginal mythology, who is described as a large green bird with "emu's feet." He has a few later appearances as part of the Council of Godheads. If you Google Image search Altjira, the panel with Longshot throwing things at him is the first thing to pop up. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 10:23 PM Excalibur #12-13 Was that Liefeld Cap drawing around in mid-1989 though? Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 10:17 PM Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) "Born on a battlefield" is a Conan reference. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 10:12 PM Marvel Comics Presents #13 (FF & Shanna) Bruce Jones' Frazetta-inspired art has been appearing since 1968, but not much for Marvel outside of the non-MU b&w Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction(primarily fanzines, Warren, Skywald, Pacific, Eclipse, National Lampoon, etc.) Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 10:06 PM Marvel Comics Presents #10-17 (Colossus) Somebody really should have told Nocenti that if you're going to put an anti-porno rant into a story, you'll severly blunt your point by putting "Eating Pie" into the title... fnord12November 14, 2014 10:04 PM Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) Yeah, i wasn't sure either, and the "I'll dance with you, Dazzler" didn't seem to be a good clue, but i figured based on placement they both must be around so i also tagged them both. I'd like to know how she came out of her coma and how she and the Lemurians survived the destruction of the Savage Land. Were they all in the bubble with M'rin? fnord12November 14, 2014 10:01 PM Marvel Fanfare #47 Thanks, S. I actually did mean Team-Up the second time. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 9:56 PM Marvel Fanfare #49 Fury's first time travel costume is better known as Jonah Hex's outfit. Mark DrummondNovember 14, 2014 9:49 PM Marvel Fanfare #43 DC provided a rather bad postscript to the Greg Brooks saga in an Xmas Special, which received severe drubbing from fanzine critics. Why? Because the Special featured a fake ad selling a "Greg Brooks Memorial Hammer". BillNovember 14, 2014 9:46 PM Marvel Fanfare #47 I've always LOVED this issue! I got it off the stands in real time and my mind was blown by the artwork. It may essentially be an inventory story, but it's fun and remains a favorite of mine. Also, Michael Golden really shines when he pencils, inks and colors his work! SNovember 14, 2014 9:34 PM Marvel Fanfare #47 Twice you refer to Marvel Team-Up when I think you mean Marvel Fanfare... cullenNovember 14, 2014 8:48 PM Marvel Comics Presents #15 (Jean Grey & Red Wolf) In terms of cultural context for the Red Wolf stuff (which I recognize was an extension of an earlier plot point), I think it's worth mentioning that the film adaptation of 'Born on the Fourth of July' came out in 1989 : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096969/ ClutchNovember 14, 2014 8:23 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Issue #175 was my first and #251 the last one I truly enjoyed. So I can safely say that #251 was the final "classic" issue for me. I continued to collect Uncanny off and on until the Red/Blue split, Claremont's departure, and the aborted Byrne/Lee run, but after the X-Tinction Agenda saga (which nicely brought everyone together while wrapping up several story arcs) the X-Books became the franchise that ruled the 90's scene and my interest in the characters died with its ascent. MichaelNovember 14, 2014 8:04 PM Marvel Comics Presents #16 (Longshot & Ka-zar) A note about the character listings- Rogue and Madelyne Pryor don't both appear in this story. At the MCP, we couldn't agree on whether the redhead in those scans was supposed to be Rogue or Maddie, so we listed both of them. (It doesn't look like either of them, although there's no accent, so it arguably is closer to Maddie than Rogue.) MichaelNovember 14, 2014 7:38 PM Marvel Comics Presents #15 (Jean Grey & Red Wolf) I don't think the Red Wolf story was that bad- Fabian did a good job conveying Red Wolf's guilt. (But then again, I hadn't yet read Daredevil 258, so the boy being the Bengal was a surprise to me.) MichaelNovember 14, 2014 7:32 PM Marvel Comics Presents #14 (Speedball & Nomad) Umberto Safilios has a couple more appearances and this is the start of a plot that continues in a backup in Captain America Annual 9. MichaelNovember 14, 2014 7:30 PM Marvel Comics Presents #10-17 (Colossus) This story was originally planned before the X-Men faked their deaths. This is evidenced by the fact that Peter has no problem changing from armored form to human and back. Although it's interesting to note that we never got an explanation as to why Peter's problem changing disappeared. After Peter emerged from the Siege Perilous, he was amenesiac and in human form. Then in issue 263, Masque uses his power to transform Peter's flesh but Peter reverses the transformation by turning from human to armored and back. Claremont was never clear about why Peter's problem disappeared- did the Siege heal him, did Masque's stunt fix him or had he simply healed naturally by issues 250-251? cullenNovember 14, 2014 5:16 PM Punisher: Return to Big Nothing The concept of servicemen smuggling drugs via coffins/cadavers is based on the case of "American Gangster" Frank Lucas and his associate Ike Atkinson. There's lots of he-said/she-said regarding whether this actually happened, but it's certainly a well-known legend: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ike_Atkinson (tried to copy & paste the relevant bits, but it keeps giving me an error message. Check the section under 'The Cadaver Connection' for further details) fnord12November 14, 2014 4:51 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe BU, you're just trying to get my goat and i'm not falling for it. :-) fnord12November 14, 2014 4:50 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Jon, if your first comment is meant as a correction for me, i do say "This will be continued in the next arc's Acts of Vengeance contribution." in the description. In the Consideration section i say it doesn't continue directly, meaning that time passes and it's ok to split it off into a separate entry. Jon DubyaNovember 14, 2014 4:46 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Um...the Psylocke portion of the plot DOES directly continue next issue. It's the main focus, in fact. Notice the scan from #255 that has a British Psylocke in it? Well then obviously you're NOT Fabian Nicieza! "The really disturbing part is that Moira is a rape victim and Claremont has her turned into an evil slut/dominatrix by mind control, with the implication that it's what she *really wants*." It's weird Michael, but ever since you said that about Madelyne, I now cannot UNsee it! That was probably a bit of naivete on my part, but I always assumed such vague "talk" was just exaggerations from a nit-picky public prone to exacerbating perceived flaws. But now that the issue has been brought up, I never realized how blatant and common it was around this time. The upcoming Psylocke storyline will follow that template too. One thing: where are Siryn and Jamie Maddrox? Storylines set after this shows that they still live on Muir Island. MattNovember 14, 2014 4:05 PM X-Factor #43-50 I read these issues in two sittings and really enjoyed them, they are probably the most memorable issues in the series for me. The big title's like fall of the mutants and inferno always are under the pressure of all the advertising and both fall flat in the end. This series came out of the blue for me, so I had no expectations and I was more than pleasantly surprised. Of the 4 series at the time with New Mutants, Uncanny X-men, Excalibur and X-Factor, I think X-factor is my least favorite, I don't like the art and most of the storylines, these characters are great in and of themselves, but do not flow well as a team, there is a reason that the original X-men were canceled for 5 years. On the plus note, I always liked Artie and Leech. clydeNovember 14, 2014 2:12 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe I suppose Moonglow could have gone on the "Karma Diet" - be shunted backwards in time and put in a desert so you lose weight naturally over a couple of months. BUNovember 14, 2014 1:14 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe fnord, you'll love this part even more: Death of a Universe is the Squadron's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Luis DantasNovember 14, 2014 4:55 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 It must have been hell to coordinate the books, particularly when most or all of them seem to be more than a bit directionless. Seeing how Acts of Vengeance happens more or less at the same time as Atlantis Attacks, that could not have helped. Isolated scenes such as showing the X-Men in Wolverine's Byrne issues or Magneto in the X-Men issues prior to these only lampshade how much they are struggling. My gut feeling is that the writers and editors felt the need to give themselves a break to catch up with each other and perhaps attempt some understanding on controversial matters, so scenes that acknowledge the existence of other books and teams can be inserted without too much trouble. A commendable decision, IMO. But probably not enough. Walter LawsonNovember 14, 2014 3:13 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 As Michael says, Pierce's hatred for Wolverine seems undermotivated. But depending on how far ahead Claremont had plotted--and the saloon dream does seem to hint at Gateway already being in the Shadow King's hands, just as he's in the Reavers'--the answer to Pierce's obsession might lie with the Shadow King. And what does he have to do with Wolverine? Wolverine thwarted him on the eve of WWII, as shown in the X-Men:True Friends LS. Not only that, but Wolverine's experiences in that story make him more aware than anyone else but perhaps Xavier of just who and what SK is. Claremont has said in subsequent interviews that Wolverine prompted Xavier to find Kitty Pryde, based on his time-travel encounter with her in True Friends, and that Kitty's role in thwarting Days of Future Past was thus no accident. I don't altogether like this retconning and over complication of his own stories that Claremont seemed to be planning, but if this is the backstory he was working with in 1989/90, it helps account for a few oddities such as Pierce's Wolverine obsession. (In fact, Lady D's obsession never made any sense either, nor does her change of personality tom her Daredevil appearances to Alpha Flight and X-Men.) Walter LawsonNovember 14, 2014 2:48 AM Marvel Fanfare #43 The Greg Brooks story, which sounds like something from a pre-Code EC crime book, is related a couple of posts down here, http://marvelmasterworksfansite.yuku.com/topic/1720/Greg-Brooks#.VGWzD2K9KK0 cullenNovember 14, 2014 1:11 AM Marvel Fanfare #43 Featuring the art of a murderer is a little bit historically significant. cullenNovember 14, 2014 12:37 AM Marvel Fanfare #48 I had a (mail) subscription to Marvel Fanfare. The story behind that: I had a subscription to another comic, which got canceled. When a book is canceled, they allowed you to pick any other book - regardless of format - for the remainder of your subscription term. So I thought the best "value" would be to get one of these "high end" books. How wrong I was! The best material in Fanfare was probably pin-ups. david banesNovember 13, 2014 11:58 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 The brown costume is the best Wolverine costume. Simplier and I just like the more muted colors. fnord12November 13, 2014 10:19 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe According to the MCP this is her last appearance, and yeah, knowing that this was the last we ever see of her probably influenced my opinion. ChrisWNovember 13, 2014 9:57 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 I never thought this line-up was legit as a team of X-Men that, say, the Beyonder would call for the next Secret Wars, but this was one of the stories that reinforced for me the importance of long-running continuity. Especially with the cover, where it's just minor characters populating the X-verse, but they're wearing the outfits and in the classic poses... "Here we go again." Without Xavier, the X-men and New Mutants fell apart, and titles like "X-Factor" were kinda pointless to begin with. At least "New Mutants" #50 brought Xavier back, just to mark the anniversary. I think the intent to reunite the teams began years before it actually happened. Maybe from Bob Harras, maybe from Claremont, but half-way between #200 and #300, the X-Men are going through a state of death and rebirth, and one more meaningful than the "Fall of the Mutants" arc. By now, they've died *and* gone to hell, and are in such dire straits that Wolverine (of all people) gets crucified. [Notice that as he broke free, fierce storms were raging, and this was approximately the same time that Ororo was escaping from Nanny and showing up in Cairo, Illinois.] Meanwhile, the remaining X-Men, rudderless, choose voluntary self-destruction and walk away from everything they've been fighting for all these years. Meanwhile, on the other side of this Russian novel tapestry, minor characters who were basically unimportant still held true to one of the series' fundamental concepts, that of Xavier's dream, and put on the tights to defend Muir Isle against invaders. Legion and the Warpies had never appeared in "X-Men" before. Magneto's hopelessness as a headmaster was addressed directly by the writer who made him headmaster. The "Australian adventure" had officially ended. As usual, further storylines were set up, which mostly never came to pass under Claremont. But this is the core title, and I think the original intention was to give X-Factor, the New Mutants and Excalibur something else to do for the better part of a year so that the next scheduled crossover could be set up. Wolverine is still stuck holding down a solo title, for some of the most deadly boring adventures in that title over its first five or six years. After this point, "X-Men" becomes aimless as a series until it's clearly about reuniting the old and new X-Men. I think it's partially about Claremont battling with editorial and other writers using his characters, and partially it was a deliberate choice as the end of the second act of a three act play ["X-Men" #200-300.] Whatever his other faults, Claremont was trying to move the story forward, and hated Jim Lee and Bob Harras (or John Byrne, for that matter) trying to move the clock back. Claremont knew where he wanted the characters to go, Harras knew what status quo he wanted to maintain, Jim Lee wanted to go back to what he loved, just as John Byrne wanted to bring back the original X-Men during his run. I love the story Byrne tells of talking to Lee, who says he finally got Wolverine out of that stupid brown costume and back into his classic yellow/blue one, completely unaware that he's talking to the guy who designed a brown costume that works for camouflaging a deadly killer beast much better than that stupid yellow-blue thing. BillNovember 13, 2014 9:50 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Okay, I see your point, fnord. Personally, I felt like maybe Gruenwald was benching Moonglow for future appearances. She's essentially a dangling plotline, the type of continuity bit that Gru seemed to love using later on down the road in stories. Unfortunately, his death prevented anything like that from happening. Gru seemed like a guy whose heart was in the right place, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this (which I wouldn't be so willing to do with some other writers of the 90's). On a side note, has Moonglow appeared anymore since this story? I know she wasn't in the "New World Order" trade from the late 90's. With the Squadrons sporadic appearances, it's hard for me to keep track. fnord12November 13, 2014 9:27 PM What's Missing I believe that takes place after Armor Wars but also after Doom is back in Latveria, so i will have to sit on it for a while. fnord12November 13, 2014 9:26 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Bill, obviously your mileage may vary. I just find Moonglow's depiction as part of a cumulative problem with Gruenwald's writing of women in both this series and the maxi. It's definitely accidental and it's because he thinks he's thought of cool twists and some deliberately problematical scenarios (Archer's brainwashing of Lark). But the cumulative effect is there's a lot of effective rape and cases of women using illusions to hide their non-perfect bodies (Arcana did it in the maxi to hide her pregnancy). And this is on top of the industry's general increased exploitation of females as we approach the 90s. So here we have this character Moonglow and she's actually "schlumpy" but she was using illusions to make herself appear sexy. Fine twist, but Gruenwald did that in the maxi. Now he brings her back and... does the exact same thing. No further examination of that. It was really a good opportunity for a female character to say "You know what? I have super-powers! I don't need to be sexy to be a valuable member of the team. If they know what's good for them, they should accept me!". But he passes on that and so her scene just looks like a "Ha, ha, she's fat! Well that's what she gets for being vain!". Again, definitely not Gruenwald's intent. He included that scene to remind us of Moonglow so Arcana could replace her, because that was the cool twist he wanted. Understandable. But it's annoying to me as part of what i see as the large picture. MichaelNovember 13, 2014 9:19 PM Wolverine #17-18 Am I the only person that thinks Wolverine sleeping with Tyger Tiger raises troublesome ethical issues? Tyger Tiger's real personality is that of a banker, not a crimelord. Wolverine has never made much of an effort to restore her to normal- he never went to Reed Richards or Hank Pym or asked Betsy or Rachel if they could restore her mind to "normal". I guess he figured "If she goes back to being a banker, she might not want to have sex with me." fnord12November 13, 2014 9:18 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Yeah, Clyde's solution is what i was thinking. Lightner's magic for whatever reason also pushes them forward in time. MichaelNovember 13, 2014 9:09 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 @Tabe8- I have no problem with Moira on the cover with guns. She's been shown to be proficient with guns before and many of Claremont's women have a "frontier women" vibe. The really disturbing part is that Moira is a rape victim and Claremont has her turned into an evil slut/dominatrix by mind control, with the implication that it's what she *really wants*. ChrisWNovember 13, 2014 9:05 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 I don't think Gateway moved Alex, wrote the note and left flowers. Note, this is entirely different from saying I don't think Gateway was involved in moving Alex, etc. Gateway probably did have some connection to what happened in this scene. Dreamtime, connection to the land the town and computers were built on, Sy'm and N'astirh drew on his power when corrupting Maddy, a reincarnated time-traveling Xavier clone from an alternate universe that Claremont was hoping to set up by #500, who knows? Given the X-Men's relationships to the computer and Gateway, I think the computer was much more primarily responsible for getting Alex to bed. [Look at the sympathetic note and flowers left. 'Poor boy, look at the way he lashed out at me. Tsk tsk tsk.'] I see Gateway as more of a 'sit on his hilltop and watch events pass, not intervening until he has a reason' character. Although that may explain why I've never cared for Gateway anyway. Why exactly is he doing all this stuff to help the X-Men? The Reavers had a specific threat of violence against [something he cared about; I can't look up the issue right now] to hold over him. Once he's free of that, why would he serve the X-Men? And although there are exceptions, he is effectively a tool for the X-Men's unquestioned use. Once or twice he shows up at dramatic junctures. There's a very nice-if-condescending end to the Christmas issue when Rogue brings him a piece of cake and a flute because she doesn't want him to be left out. But otherwise he's just a tool the X-Men use to accomplish their latest mission, and hardly give him any thought. BillNovember 13, 2014 8:34 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Yeah, I always assumed they were shunted thru time and space (dimensions). That's the quick and easy explanation. MichaelNovember 13, 2014 8:32 PM Marvel Fanfare #49 I have to wonder if this is supposed to take place after ROM 54-55, since Fury doesn't even recognize Strange's voice in that issue (and might not even recognize Strange). Walter LawsonNovember 13, 2014 8:17 PM Marvel Fanfare #48 This book defies all reason. Marvel has other titles that have gone off the rails (Power Pack), and Marvel Comics Presents is mostly mediocre, but Fanfare continues year after year to produce irrelevant stories with barely professional art, and its whole reason for being is that it's supposed to be a premium book. It's not as if Marvel wa incapable of canceling anything: halfway decent books got culled to make way for the New U, which itself got cancelled. But somehow this survives until 1991. Sorry for the meta commentary, but this book persistently defies my ability to think rationally. clydeNovember 13, 2014 8:06 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Couldn't the simplest solution be that they were shifted through a portal in time and space? This way the ending stays the same. The beginning of Quasar 13 is where they catch up to us. MichaelNovember 13, 2014 7:58 PM What's Missing Fnord, Marvel Fanfare 44 is missing. MichaelNovember 13, 2014 7:56 PM Marvel Fanfare #48 The third story definitely takes place some time after Vision joined the West Coast Avengers- Vision says "joining the West Coast Avengers required some period of readjustment". MichaelNovember 13, 2014 7:38 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe Fnord, the problem with placing this issue in 1986 is that Quasar 13 takes place a few minutes after this story ends. That's why it's sometimes said that this book takes the Squadron to the mainstream Marvel Universe- for all we know Lightner had already shifted them to the main Marvel Universe by the end of this story. Luis DantasNovember 13, 2014 7:35 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Hooky (Marvel Graphic Novel #22) I loved this graphic novel. Susan Putney did wonderful characterization. BillNovember 13, 2014 7:12 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe I love the Squadron Supreme! fnord, I'm not sure why you think Moonglow should have some redemptive moment here. Some people simply get themselves into a rut and take a LONG time to get themselves straightened out, emotionally. Moonglow may simply be that type of person. She built herself up around illusion and tricks, she wasn't very sincere. I wouldn't expect any big change of character from her. At least that's my view of her. Walter LawsonNovember 13, 2014 6:23 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Note that we now get a third Carol Danvers: after Binary and the one in Rogue's head, we now get Wolverine's hallucination. I assume Claremont would have tied the Wolvie Carol in with the resolution to Rogue Carol somehow. Also, while Carol and Nick may be just hallucinations, they might also have something to do with Dreamtime. I'm not suggesting their time-travelers, but some kind of semi-real dream selves of the people Wolvie knew. Amid all the other mysteries and dropped plots, I regret we never do get to see what Pretty Boy's revenge on Pierce would have looked like. clydeNovember 13, 2014 3:51 PM Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe I actually liked the Squadron's future appearances in Quasar. I had not read any of their earlier stories in real-time. But, I was fascinated with the alternate universe aspect of their history. Jon DubyaNovember 13, 2014 10:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Note the "appears to be Black" line in the Dr Shen, scan. This issue offers a much-welcomed explanation for Storm's look (that she's deliberately made to have various other ethinic features to look "exotic" and not just a case of inadvertent "Black Barbie Doll Syndrome.") Doesn't THIS Callisto look like her Nazi doppelganger from Excalibur? (Also just like her eventual protege, Callisto is now officially pretty, even BEFORE her transformation.) clydeNovember 13, 2014 9:17 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 This was just part of a continuing trend of breaking up and then reforming super-hero teams. Stability wasn't at the top of the list. fnord12November 13, 2014 7:58 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 The art in the panels Michael cites is particularly unexciting, so i don't think i'll post those scans, but i confirm that Michael's quotes are right. fnord12November 13, 2014 7:56 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 The reason i broke up the story is because it seems like some time passes and it's a good place to break up the narrative as the Asgard story finishes and the Vulture story takes center stage. Enough time passes that the Vulture makes it from the prison to the Tinkerer's place, and it seems like it's gone from day to night between issues. On the other hand, i concede that Rusty and Skids are still in the prison yard, but who knows how long they stood there under Skid's forcefield trying to decide what to do and/or convince the prison guards that the Vulture had escaped and was the bigger threat. In any event, it just seemed like a good way to break up a very lengthy entry, especially when we're in Acts of Vengeance and there's a lot of concurrent stuff going on. MichaelNovember 13, 2014 7:55 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 Jon, maybe fnord can post the relevant panels so we can look at it more clearly but the problem is that Skids tells the other New Mutants "Go on! Get Dani to the Ship--save her! And then you tell X-Factor that Freedom Force still has the babies and that they're planning to exploit them." and Sam replies "You got it, Skids!" and the New Mutants take off. Then Mystique sends Avalanche and Crimson Commando after the kids because she doesn't want X-Factor to learn the information yet. The obvious interpretation of that sequence is that the New Mutants know. Tabe8November 13, 2014 12:58 AM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Count me in as one who believed this new x-team was legit. I remember first seeing this cover in an issue of Marvel Age. I was NOT happy. The biggest problem i think was Moira on the cover with guns. These issues bothered me so much, I quit the x-men (and comics in general) for a few years. Jon DubyaNovember 13, 2014 12:43 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 I'll comment more on this when those relevant issues come up, but since that subplot begins here, I start talking about it now. Michael are we sure that the New Mutants even KNOW about the Inferno kids? I mean the only people who seem to react to Blob's confession are Rusty and Skids. This then plays heavily into their subsequent Acts of Vengeance storyline (part of the reason for chasing after Vulture is so they use the heroic publicity to tell the media about the babies. In fact I suspect that this is the only reason this revelation is even here is so Simonson can give R&S something to do. Of course Freedom Force distorts the story so that it looks like an escaped convict commuting terrorist acts.) No one else seems to talk about the babies. This makes me wonder if any of the other New Mutants maybe didn't hear or pay attention to what Blob was saying. Since Rusty and Skids separate from everyone with this story, that would account for everyone not dealing with a problem they don't really know about. To me the BIGGER problem is the lack of hustle in dealing with Rusty and Skids on the part of the X-Factor or Whatshisname. Also, note that we get the beginning of Cannonball/Boom-Boom relationship. Speaking of Acts of Vengeance, I'm curious as to why NM #86 isn't included in this bunch of issues since it the ending part of the AoV mentioned here. Is it that the cameo appearance of you-know-who (drawn by you-know-who) deserves it's own post? MichaelNovember 12, 2014 9:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 A lot of fans thought it was hilarious that Moira claimed that the High Evolutionary's device couldn't have switched Lorna's powers with Zaladane unless they were related without examining the device. fnord12November 12, 2014 9:49 PM Shogun Warriors #12-14 Poor A. Lloyd was just making a joke and we're all jumping down his throat. You struck a nerve, A. Lloyd! ;-) fnord12November 12, 2014 9:28 PM Rick Mason, the Agent Thanks, Michael. I've pushed this forward and i'll adjust it further when i get to that issue. fnord12November 12, 2014 9:27 PM Punisher: Intruder Fair enough. Increased the rating. MichaelNovember 12, 2014 9:26 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Claremont has said in interviews that the Shadow King's presence in the saloon was supposed to indicate that the Shadow King was telepathically manipulating Pierce. I don't know anyone who understood that when reading it in real time. Enchlore♠November 12, 2014 9:13 PM Rick Mason, the Agent Didn't the Tinkerer reference his grandchildren in Spider-Man: Dead Man's Hand, too, before Civil War? I'm not sure. MichaelNovember 12, 2014 8:11 PM Punisher: Intruder I think this story should have a 2 historical significance rating, as the Punisher's almost becoming a priest is mentioned several times after this story. MichaelNovember 12, 2014 7:59 PM Rick Mason, the Agent Fnord, in Alpha Flight 79, the Tinkerer mentions his son leaving for Costa Brava, so this takes place concurrently with Alpha Flight 79. PB210November 12, 2014 7:53 PM Shogun Warriors #12-14 ========================================================== Max Allan Collins in Amazing Heroes#119 said he did not think so. He encouraged people to try conventional thrillers in comic books without long underwear and capes. Collins also notes the influence of the Shadow, Zorro, the Green Hornet and the Lone Ranger (all properties started in radio and/or pulp prose magazines, and none of whom wear long underwear) on his work, particularly Wild Dog. Oddly, in other media in recent years, none of the films based on these properties has grossed $100 million domestically. Max_SpiderNovember 12, 2014 6:31 PM Rick Mason, the Agent Civil War will eventually reveal that the Tinkerer has grandchildren at least. Dunno how much relevance that'd have for Rick, but it seems worth noting. Walter LawsonNovember 12, 2014 4:43 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Callisto's ridiculous outfit probably isn't related to the s&m outfits next ish, as the latter are, I think, a result of Lorna's presence. Callisto has never had a real costume, so maybe this was just the firm improvisation took. With Claremont, it's almost to be expected. Gateway's presence in Forge's vision seems significant--if he's a living index, he could be facilitating both Forge and the Shadow King (and Reisz) finding Storm via Dreamtime, which, if my theory is right, is a realm that SK could access from the astral plane and others might access from sleep (Reisz?) or meditation (Forge). Maybe Dreamtime itself is the "index." fnord12November 12, 2014 4:42 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Magneto was called White Bishop in New Mutants #61. Chris noted in the comments that it seemed like a common mistake. Matt, i don't display covers just because, as i've badly joked before, the internet already that covered. I'd rather devote my time and server bandwidth to interior scans that aren't readily available elsewhere. Thanks for your other feedback. I'll fill in the rest of Acts of Vengeance when i come back to this point in a few months. TCPNovember 12, 2014 4:39 PM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #8 I first read this issue when the 90s Clone Saga had just ended, so I was left thinking that Warren was both capable of cloning and of altering human DNA. The Daydreamer scene at the end really is the hardest thing to reconcile with the future retcon of this retcon. Conway's views on the difficulties of cloning had evolved, and so he wanted to expand on his past stories to match that. But, in the context of the comics, I was perfectly fine with believing Warren had made actual clones; there really was no need to muddy things further. Walter LawsonNovember 12, 2014 4:30 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Pierce is referred to as the renegade White King in #245, I believe. Claremont may have misremembered his original rank or retcon promoted him. I used to wonder about Jubilee's invisibility to the computer's sensors, but now I think I get it: the computer was deliberately concealing her. Deathstrike was said to be unlike the Hellfire mercy in terms of her Spiral-granted upgrades in #205 or whatever the issue was when she first got cyberized. I think Pierce is interested that her upgrades are more impressive than the mercs', so even if he knows the "Body Shoppe" worked on them all, her enhancements might be the only ones that lead him to wonder just what the Body Shoppe really was. Not only do we never learn how Lady D connected with the mercy and when she first met Pierce--who was already under house arrest in #205, so I doubt they would have met then--but how did she and the mercs get connected with Spiral? And what's the connection between the "original" Reavers and Pierce? He says at one point, I think in 253, that he thought he made the Reavers out of sterner stuff, and it's softly implied that he did indeed create them. But why? Luis DantasNovember 12, 2014 4:25 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Yes, Bishop, not King. Magneto was (mis?)named White Bishop as opposed to White King once, sometime around Inferno, as well. Is there some story I missed, or maybe it is just a confusion of titles? Dan H.November 12, 2014 3:43 PM Uncanny X-Men #151-152 The future Reavers thing really is annoying. Wolverine confronts four Hellfire goons in #133. Prior to this, they're starting to think he might have been killed, so it's not like he's running around slaughtering other mercs. The four are all named. Angelo (Macon), Murry (Reese), and (Wade) Cole are the three who show up alive in #152 and Wolverine clearly slashes all three of them, even saying explicitly that he's killing Cole as he strikes him. The fourth is Rosen, and Wolverine specifically promises not to kill him (nor is there any reason to assume he does). The only other merc that Wolverine confronts is a guy he doesn't even pop his claws to deal with. He just judo tosses him into a crowded room. However, I think if one were really so inclined, one could fanwank that between dealing with Rosen and the next time we see him, Wolverine could have met up with another group of mercs and actually killed them. But it's still really out there that Wolverine clearly was doing his best to kill these guys and failed with all three. It's not like he was going for "slow, lingering death" with any of them. clydeNovember 12, 2014 3:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 Luis - here's the information from his wiki entry: "Donald Pierce was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pierce first appears as a high-ranking member of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, where he holds the position of White Bishop." clyde November 12, 2014 3:34 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 The site for covers is: http://www.comics.org/issue/46988/cover/4/ That's just an example. But, this is the site that FNORD uses. Luis DantasNovember 12, 2014 3:33 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 This is not the first time Donald Pierce is presented as a former White King, but I'm not sure this is accurate. What evidence do we have one way or the other? MattNovember 12, 2014 3:29 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 I actually think of UXM 249-250 and Wolv 19-23 as occurring near the beginning of AoV, with UXM 251-255 occurring shortly thereafter, so references to freedom force casualties make sense. Magneto is explains to Moira how he got mixed up with the other villains, essentially. But I'd put UXM 256-258 somewhat later, definitely after all other AoV issues and aftermath. The Wolvie/Jubilee/Psylocke story with the Mandarin really has no relationship to anything in the crossover, just a shared theme (revenge) and the cover stamp. TCPNovember 12, 2014 3:10 PM Amazing Spider-Man #303 I guess the shadowy figures at the end are supposed to be the book executives from the next issue, though I don't think it's ever made explicit. MattNovember 12, 2014 2:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #251-253 I agree about issue 251 being the last classic x-men issue. When I read as a teenager around this time, it was shortly after this issue that I stopped reading comics all together. Until now being 39, I started reading them (all the x-books) all a year ago and have since collected all the issues and side books up until 2000. I am a couple years ahead of this site but love reading these summaries so I can recall any past events that I may have forgotten. One question, why don't you show the covers of each issue that you review, I find it easier to remember covers over numbers. Thank you for this site, it truly is amazing. Mark BlackNovember 12, 2014 2:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 @clyde - Totally feel the same way. Loved this lineup of X-Men Dan H.November 12, 2014 2:55 PM What If? #9 I hadn't realized you put any "Thor on Earth" stories prior to the end of the Korvac saga. His dialog in #170 really makes it sound like he hasn't visited the mansion or seen the other Avengers in quite a while, though. Walter LawsonNovember 12, 2014 2:27 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Marvel had a policy at this point of not referencing Marvel UK publications, which is why in the handbooks Captain Britain's first appearance is listed as Marvel Team-Up (or did it say "First U.S. appearance"?) so the lack of footnote to the Warpies may be related to that. It's a bizarre policy, since Captain Britain's stories are obviously canon, but it seems still to be in effect. Americans would have seen the Warpies for the first time in the Captain Britain tpb that was published the year this issue came out. We need a fan fix for Avalanche, who goes back into combat in Acts of Vengeance surprising soon after being disembowled in this story. It's an easy one: the Morlock Healer must have treated him immediately after #255. I believe his injuries are sporadically referenced in a few of his appearances in the next couple of months: Avengers, New Mutants, and Hulk will be the places to look. fnord12November 12, 2014 2:24 PM What If? #9 I have this between Thor #266-267 along with a few other appearances where Thor is actually on Earth. So there shouldn't be a need for the Collector's trick. clydeNovember 12, 2014 1:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 They did go to the effort of wearing X-Men uniforms. I think that makes them at the very least "honorary" members of the X-Men. Plus, Banshee is a retired member already. As far as their official status, I don't know. I actually enjoyed this lineup weather it was considered official or not. BillNovember 12, 2014 1:58 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 It is sad that this is the last we see of the REAL Betsy Braddock; I was never a fan of turning her Asian. Nothing wrong with a telepath who isn't a physical butt-kicker. TCPNovember 12, 2014 1:53 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #138 I appreciate Tombstone for being intimidating without being super-powered (yet). He was depicted very effectively in these early stories as a psychologically threatening villain, and so was dangerous even without being able to hang with Spidey on a level playing field. Mark BlackNovember 12, 2014 1:46 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Just curious if people consider the Muir Island X-Men from the Reavers storyline an actual X-Men lineup. Do they consider themselves X-Men? Do the writers/editors? Dan H.November 12, 2014 1:09 PM What If? #9 I hate to go here, but to be consistent shouldn't this be "pulled out of time by the Collector" Thor and not "real-time" Thor? clydeNovember 12, 2014 12:58 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 I don't see why it was such a shock that Zaladane was Lorna's sister - Zala Dane & Lorna Dane. Also, in regards to Tom and Sharon not having a reaction to the uniforms, the X-Men probably mind-wiped them of that experience. They do that, you know. I was glad when they finally got rid of Destiny. IMO, she was a useless character. Almost every time she looked into the future, there was "something" preventing her from seeing it clearly. They should have just got Tristam Micawber from Captain America's book. fnord12November 12, 2014 12:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 Thanks, Ataru. Fixed the images. Dan H.November 12, 2014 12:35 PM Hulk #173-174 Ah, here I was thinking that 3-D Man wasn't covered by your project since it took place in the past. Should have known better. On further review, I am now thinking that Roy would have been leaning more toward Zirkbu being "replacement Nixon" and Number One would have been the real deal. For all the crap he gets, deserved and otherwise, I think overturning that Number One revelation would have been too much, whereas his need to fill continuity gaps would have drawn him to address the subsequent question of "well, who was the Richard Nixon that resigned, then?" Ataru320November 12, 2014 12:32 PM Uncanny X-Men #254-255 I think you screwed up a couple panels, since the Legion pic was the one with the Reavers and vice-versa. Sigh...farewell cute Psylocke, sister of Captain Britain...cause next we see you, you're going to be everyone's favorite "purple-haired super ninja". fnord12November 12, 2014 12:23 PM Hulk #173-174 Thanks Dan. I actually did call out the end line from Marvel Premiere #37 but i never would have made the connection to "Secret Empire Agent Number One". Someone needs to bring back Zirkbu and show us what he's been up to. Dan H.November 12, 2014 11:57 AM Hulk #173-174 Hey fnord, submitted for your consideration: Roy Thomas (of course) introduced another potential explanation for one or the other of these Nixons. In his 3-D Man series from 1977, he had the titular hero facing off against a Skrull agent called "Zirkbu." In the final issue of 3-D Man's series (Marvel Premiere #15-17), Zirkbu impersonates the Vice President, one Richard Milhous Nixon. At the end of the story (which of course takes place in the 1950s), Zirkbu is thwarted and assumes that he'll "never again have use for the features of the man I was today! At least... probably never.") That is how the 3-D Man's series ends, with Zirkbu on the loose. Knowing how Roy Thomas' mind works, with his constant need to answer continuity quirks, I suspect he was setting up Zirkbu as a potential candidate for "Secret Empire Agent Number One." That of course would have meant Cap's entire crisis and tenure as Nomad was built on a false premise, but I don't know if Thomas would have let that stop him. Maybe it's something he was planning to do or maybe it's something he just wanted to set up and leave it to the readers to interpret for themselves. Reading that issue and knowing Roy's approach, I can't believe he wasn't insinuating an eventual payoff for that statement. There are a couple problems with this idea, of course: don't Skrulls revert to their original form when killed? If so, obviously Cap would have seen that Number One wasn't really Nixon. Also, at what point would Thomas have figured on the real Nixon being found and revealed? It seems like it would have had to wait until after the entire Nomad saga was over and even after that I believe Cap thought back to the "Number One" revelation multiple times in a way that wouldn't work if he knew it had actually been a Skrull agent. There's also the fact that OHOMTMU subsequently made it sound official that Number One was who he appeared to be and not an impersonator. Who knows, maybe they had Zirkbu in custody by then and actually made a deal with him to impersonate Nixon long enough to resign. It's even possible that THAT was Thomas' intention, even though this was years before OHOTMU mentioned the "double" who was used to cover up the "Number One" business (although that wouldn't account for his appearance here). Anyway, just another wrinkle I thought you might enjoy if you haven't read those issues. TCPNovember 12, 2014 10:21 AM Amazing Spider-Man #36 I have kind of a soft-spot for the Looter. I liked his gimmick in the late-90s of using the gimmicks of other villains (Stilt Man's stilts, Shocker's wristbands, etc.). clydeNovember 12, 2014 9:38 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 Michael - this is the same team that didn't bother to follow up on Scott's wife and daughter for a long time. IMO, I don't think it's a stretch to believe they don't really have it in them to solve problems like these. MichaelNovember 12, 2014 7:48 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 Walter, Nicieza said in an interview that Cable was intended as a shot in the arm for the New Mutants when he was introduced. fnord12November 12, 2014 7:43 AM Excalibur #16-17 Matt, for what it's worth, Kitty Pryde is doing her storytelling from what appears to be a space port in this story. I've added a scan of that (right after "from a different world"). Now maybe it's just an alternate Earth that had developed space travel and is full of alien creatures. But it does seem possible that they wound up off planet at some point. They did have to leave Earth when they were on the Acts of Vengeance world because Galactus was going to eat it, and this John Carter world doesn't seem like the typical alternate earth with analogue Captain Britains and the like. I agree it's unclear, but the scene at the end with the Starjammers just doesn't make any sense if they're just alternate versions; as Walter says the only meaning of that scene seems to show that Excalibur were in their home dimension but didn't realize it (or i guess it could just be a dropped plot). I agree it definitely shouldn't be the case that the Starjammers are traveling interdimensionally; we've never seen evidence of that. I don't really have a strong opinion about it but in lieu of any contradictory evidence i'm going to keep the character tags so people can at least see the possibility. MichaelNovember 12, 2014 7:40 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 Walter, he also left his hill in issue 233-234 and went to the computer room, right after the computer showed Maddie a scan of Scott and Jean together, so he might indeed have been the person that moved Alex. Jay DemetrickNovember 12, 2014 3:16 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 Michael wrote: "Fnord, even though the story states that X-Factor's still in England for X-Factor 41-42, you have Beast's and Jean's appearances in Atlantis Attacks in between those issues and this story." Since it doesn't say where Jean & Beast were when they were kidnapped in Atlantis Attacks, they could easily have been kidnapped from England (while Cyclops went to Muir Island to battle Master Mold, leaving Iceman & Archangel to watch the baby.) which is what the MCP decided with that placement. Walter LawsonNovember 12, 2014 2:15 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 My guess is that Harras put the kibosh on the direction Matt spells out, a direction that would have made a lot of sense with Louise Simonson writing both books, and she was already introducing a lot of young mutants in X-Factor, such as the Lost Boys and Girls. The Inferno babies might have factored into this direction as well. It's notable that X-Factor has no direction at all even after the return to earth: we get another overlong, irrelevant storyline e, this time about pseudo-vampires. Louise was capable of better plotting, so I suspect she had no choice but to write filler adventures. New Mutants only stumbles into a direction by chance, it seems, when Cable becomes a breakout character. Or did editorial always have confidence in that direction? The book does commit to it very quickly, with Cable-centric stories right after he's introduced. MattNovember 12, 2014 1:59 AM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 There was a lot not to like here. But I remember being most disappointed by the fact that we didn't get a chance to see X-Factor take the baton from Professor X and becomes teachers for the next generation of mutants. That's what NM 76 and XF 41 seemed to be setting up. I'd hoped that maybe, just maybe, there'd be a little less darkness than in FoM and Inferno. Instead, I got a couple mediocre (at best) off-world epics that pretty much nixed that just as it was getting started, and played havoc with continuity to boot. Major bummer. MattNovember 12, 2014 12:57 AM Excalibur #16-17 If these are the "home" Starjammers, what are they doing on earth? I mean, as far as I recall, Excalibur isn't traveling across the universe, they're traveling between alternate earths. And wherever the team is in the framing sequences, it sure doesn't seem like anyplace on the home earth. Ergo, I'd say that they're on an alternate earth that has spaceports or is a spaceport. That means either (a) these aren't the home Starjammers, or (b) the home Starjammers are also traveling interdimensionally, and just coincidentally, despite being a zillion light-years from earth in the home universe nearly all the time, they wound up visiting an alternate earth, which coincidentally also happened to be the one alternate earth out of virtually infinite possibilities that Excalibur were visiting at just the same time. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking option (a) is a bit more likely. Walter LawsonNovember 12, 2014 12:51 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 The voice that speaks to Lorna asks if he/she/it can take a message, and thereafter the note says the computer took the message. That, together with the immediate segue from the computer's self-repair and ringing phone to someone/thing speaking to Lorna is what makes me confident the computer was what spoke to Lorna. I like the theory that Gateway left the note and moved Alex, though. Despite Alex's dialogue raising that very possibility, I'd never considered it until ChrisW suggested it. That makes more sense to me than Jubilee getting involved at this stage. But there's no definitive evidence either way, and so far we've never seen Gateway leave his hill, so that may argue for Jubilee. (We did, I guess, see Gateway move around a bit in the X-Men annual where he shows Jubilee the crater that leads to the Reavers' treasure room. And come to think of it, his brief dialogue to a Jubilee in that story was about as goofy as the "Gee" voice that answers Lorna's call. So...who knows.) A.LloydNovember 11, 2014 11:02 PM Shogun Warriors #12-14 I forgot to add a :) to my comment. I know what you mean. Shogun Warriors is in the mold of GI Joe, Transformers or Power Pack. ChrisWNovember 11, 2014 11:00 PM New Mutants #81 I think I'm mixing up a couple of points, mostly that it had been announced long before, and the name "Louise Williams" whom I've never heard of anywhere else, so I'm thinking of another generic name, "Louise Jones" and filling that in wherever it seems appropriate, because she's much more familiar. If that means someone is saying Louise Simonsen wrote the framing sequences, then dammit, that's what they're saying and I'll fight anyone who says such a thing!!!!! Seriously, I think I'm more irritated/intrigued by the fact that this story worked much better as a fill-in than almost any other I've read, in-line with current continuity yet it had been announced so much earlier, that I'm more focused on the merits (or lack thereof) of the story than anything else. Why couldn't Claremont have written #63, which was horrible, and served the same purpose as this story. Lousy scripting, lousy framing sequence, long-promised yet totally unfulfilling when we actually saw it. fnord12November 11, 2014 10:41 PM New Mutants #81 ChrisW, you keep saying Claremont wrote the whole issue, but i'm not sure what you mean. I don't think anyone disagrees with that. What's i've said is that Claremont wrote the plot to the main story some time in the past, then he plotted the framing sequence and scripted the whole thing when the story was pulled in for the fill in. That's generally how it works (it's also possible Claremont scripted the main story in the past, but i think less likely). What you seem to be arguing against is that someone else wrote the framing sequence or something, and no one's saying that. ChrisWNovember 11, 2014 10:31 PM New Mutants #81 I say Claremont wrote the whole issue (whether he plotted it earlier or not) mostly based on the pacing of that first scan, which is clearly intended to lead up to Amara's triumphant "I've met mine" rejoinder. The dialogue rings truer to the characters than anything Weezie had written [especially between these two] and there's a lot of it, all Claremont hallmarks. Maybe the basic plot was written earlier and Claremont wrote the framing sequence, maybe Claremont plotted the framing sequence when he was told this issue was happening whether he took part or not. Sudden thought: It's possible Marvel was paying advances for plots, and as the self-proclaimed "god-emperor of the mutants," it wouldn't be surprising in the least if Claremont was supplying as many plots as he could. (And with that title, how could he not turn his thoughts towards the actual dieties?) Neil Gaiman mentions in the "Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader" introduction that DC had paid him an advance long ago for a Batman story that never happened, and when they called him up to write this particular story, he asked if they were just calling in their advance. Marvel surely worked differently, but the same principle would still apply. Claremont turned in a plot ages ago, and when Marvel decided to use it, didn't let them do to this story what they had done to that 'where Illyana went the night Warlock showed up' fill-in issue that had been printed a year or so earlier, and wrote the framing sequence to make it a better story. And I would say the placement of the main story is closer to #35, where Doug suddenly gets a look at the newly-skinny Shan. Even though that's still weird. fnord12November 11, 2014 10:06 PM Shogun Warriors #12-14 Well, i wouldn't agree with that, and i don't think Stan Lee would have either, since he deliberately started targeting older (at least college aged) readers. Certainly "mature" and many indie comics deliberately target adults. But in any event, these Shogun Warrior books seem to have been specifically targeting a younger demographic than Marvel's typical book. ChrisWNovember 11, 2014 9:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 Given the ultimate plans Claremont had for Gateway [replacing Xavier] maybe Havok's comment as they depart for South America is more meaningful if Gateway was relevant to putting Havok to bed and leaving a note. Obviously this is all speculation, but I'm positive Jubilee had nothing to do with it, and mostly-positive the computer itself did. ChrisWNovember 11, 2014 9:55 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 Or it wants to help the X-Men as much as possible without their knowledge. Jubilee is actively trying to stay hidden. She's barely willing to help Wolvie when he's busy dying in front of her, I don't think she's going to lift an adult male back to his house and leave a note with flowers for him when she has no idea what happened. [I'd also add that the odds aren't good that she knows where Alex lives. She's certainly rooted through his rooms, and it's possible she's paid enough attention to know where each X-Man lives - I bet she could easily find Ali's home again - but Alex is leaving so little to mark his presence. Peter has his sketches, Storm may still keep plants, Ali has her dresses, records and a bike, Rogue remodels her place on a regular basis, Wolverine has Japanese stuff. It's certainly possible that Jubilee is tracking where everybody lives, but I wouldn't bet on it with regards to Alex.] Frankly, leaving flowers and a sympathetic note sounds like exactly the thing a Claremont-written computer would do to extend the plotline and the mystery. It was (ostensibly) the only computer on Earth capable of detecting the X-Men after all. fnord12November 11, 2014 9:44 PM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 I'm not so sure the X-Factor #41-42 placement matters. I mean, i could move it since there's no dependencies in the other direction. But since we don't know where Beast and Jean were whisked away from in Atlantis Attacks, it's entirely possible that X-Factor was still in England and Beast and Jean returned there to meet up with everyone else after Atlantis Attacks. That might even explain why Cyclops, Iceman, and Archangel weren't around to help out. Regarding Hela, she didn't steal the souls, right? Malekith did. I can definitely see Hela being the sort that wouldn't want to give something back once she had it. I don't want to try to place this while the Orb of Agamotto was destroyed, so let's just pretend that Dr. Strange means that the Eye is temporarily on the fritz for some reason. A.LloydNovember 11, 2014 9:41 PM Shogun Warriors #12-14 Technically, aren't all comics just for kids? MichaelNovember 11, 2014 9:21 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 But the note refers to the computer, which means whoever left the note and flowers probably wasn't the computer, unless it's in the habit of speaking of itself in the third person. TCPNovember 11, 2014 9:11 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives This strikes me as another potential "jumping off" point for anyone who wants a happy ending for Peter and MJ, and that works a little better for me if the MCP's placement is accurate. MichaelNovember 11, 2014 9:07 PM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 Strange states the Eye of Agamotto has been destroyed but there's no story around this time where that was the case. Maybe Simonson was thinking of the ORB of Agamotto, which was destroyed in Dr. Strange 81? fnord12November 11, 2014 8:53 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives Thanks TCP and Michael. I missed MJ's invitation and focused on Peter talking about getting "home". I've moved this after WOSM #58 to be more in line with the MCP. @Michael, i don't really have a strong opinion about that. The point of the original (Tom DeFalco) retcon was to show that MJ wasn't as dumb as she would have to be to never know that Peter was Spider-Man. This retcon just puts some timing to that. And i wouldn't say that MJ had "fallen in love" with anyone until well after she met Peter in person, and when she did fall in love, she fell in love with Peter who is Spider-Man. So i don't see the problem. @Cullen, i'm legally obligated to include a certain percentage of low quality scans to qualify for Fair User protection. ;-) Jon DubyaNovember 11, 2014 8:27 PM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 The sad part is that Liefeld will be an IMPROVEMENT. On both the art and the writing (I suspect that may be because Liefeld and Simonson together ended up tempering each other's flaws) Oh yeah, This story: crap. The Rusty/Skids stuff wasn't too bad though. Especially since Rusty barely gets the spotlight as it is. MichaelNovember 11, 2014 7:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives Most of MJ's background comes from Amazing Spider-Man 259, not Amazing Spider-Man 290-292. RobertNovember 11, 2014 7:53 PM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 I'm ready for Liefeld as well at this point. Good or bad at least it wasn't boring. Louise stayed on the book too long. I'll wait until we get to her last issue before commenting on the politics and all the behind-the-scenes drama but I am perplexed she was allowed to stay on the title as long as she did. Claremont stayed too long, as well, but the two aren't comparable beyond that. Claremont WAS the X-Men, for all intents & purposes. Louise was just a writer and not a great one. So I'm baffled as to her being allowed to stay on a popular (still?) X-title when she was clearly out of ideas. TCPNovember 11, 2014 7:43 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives Regarding the placement of this one -- at one point during the non-flashback story MJ invites May over to "their place" for dinner, so I'm not so sure that this takes place pre-loft. cullenNovember 11, 2014 7:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives Sorry to be A Complainer - but in case there's anything you can do about it, these scans are really blurry. Luis DantasNovember 11, 2014 6:47 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives @Clyde: those films happened considerably later, though. Jon DubyaNovember 11, 2014 6:21 PM X-Factor #36 This issue makes the later storyline of Trish dumping Beast for his looks very bizarre and out-of-character. Trish made for an interesting supporting character, and it's too bad she was effectively dumped from the books after 2001. ChrisWNovember 11, 2014 6:05 PM Excalibur #12-13 This is clearly an alternate universe. Prince William would never marry a woman named Kate! clydeNovember 11, 2014 6:05 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Parallel Lives FNORD - In regards to Mary Jane living next door to Peter - the series of movies starring Tobey Maguire did have him living next door to Mary Jane. Perhaps that had an influence on this book. clydeNovember 11, 2014 5:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth Spider-Man was just recently overseas, so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility for him to get out of the states. ChrisWNovember 11, 2014 5:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 I'd always assumed the computer was the one that took the message, carried Alex back to bed and left the note and flowers. How it did any of this is obviously a question that will never be answered, but there's no doubt in my mind that the computer was taking on sentience of its own (rebuilding itself, building new tunnels that the Reavers don't recognize.) Possibly influenced by Sy'm/N'astirh/Maddy, possibly on its own, but that's how I always read it. Ataru320November 11, 2014 3:45 PM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 This is insane madness of the worst kind. I can't see how this can get... (sees Liefeld in the "next issue cover") NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! clydeNovember 11, 2014 3:34 PM New Mutants #77-80,82-85 Horrible storyline, "Nuff Said". cullenNovember 11, 2014 12:14 PM Excalibur #14 If there's more than one Galactus, does that mean there's more than one X-Men Adventures universe that died and spawned him? fnord12November 11, 2014 8:05 AM Mighty World of Marvel #14-16 Hmmm. Since it's a "cybiote" i took it to be infecting/possessing Sid and not just transferring powers to it (why would it do that?). In any event, the "real" Fury appears in recent enough flashback that i think i'll leave the tag, since at the rate it's progressing, Sid's infection must have begun during the course of this entry. fnord12November 11, 2014 7:49 AM Excalibur #14 Maybe he's just visiting. He's always wanted to eat an Earth, so he popped over to this dimension for some lunch. Based on his dialogue it sure seems like it's supposed to be the real one, so i'm keeping the tag. MichaelNovember 11, 2014 7:48 AM Mighty World of Marvel #14-16 Fnord, as I understand it, Sid WASN'T the Fury- he was an unlucky schmoe that got infected with the Fury's power of mutation and couldn't control it. So the Fury doesn't get listed as a character appearing, anymore than Lorna Dane gets a character appearance every time Zaladane uses her stolen powers. fnord12November 11, 2014 7:44 AM Excalibur #16-17 If the only reason not to tag the Starjammers is that they don't mention it in a later appearance, then i think i am going to include them. They might just have not noticed who was on the train. The appearance doesn't make much sense if it's not supposed to be the real Starjammers. fnord12November 11, 2014 7:39 AM Mighty World of Marvel #14-16 I did have Fury (Cybiote) tagged on the previous Captain Britain entry, but not for his return here. I was probably just following the MCP which doesn't list him here either. But as far as i can tell, it's the same Fury, so i've now tagged him. I could be confused about the alternate dimension stuff, though. fnord12November 11, 2014 7:37 AM Excalibur #15 Thanks Michael. Fixed the spelling of Jamie. Luis DantasNovember 11, 2014 12:28 AM Excalibur #14 I agree. Galactus does not really work as a pan-dimensional character. His very origin demands that he must be tied to his own universe instead of shared by several. Luis DantasNovember 11, 2014 12:26 AM X-Factor #43-50 It can't be just luck of the draw that X-Factor and New Mutants (and even Excalibur) simultaneously engaged in half a year or more of storylines that brought them all apart from each other, the X-Men and Earth-616. Particularly when, as noted, dramatic sense would instead demand bringing them all together to sort out the X-Men status if nothing else. Uncanny X-Men #249-250's story of attempted rescue of Lorna Dane lead me to believe that this was not only deliberate and intentional, but done to the benefit of Chris Claremont's storyline. It was difficult enough to explain why X-Men and X-Factor would simply split apart again with no attempts at negotiation after the end of Inferno, but even Lorna herself has to point out that X-Factor was involved in her situation as well - and had more of a personal connection to her. Yet the already under-manned X-Men go attempt to rescue her without calling for X-Factor's help. That would make them appear irresponsibly proud or just foolish unless X-Factor without some good excuse. Unfortunately, that is still not really enough, particularly after the odd decision to have people just refusing to admit that they recognize Ororo in Atlantis Attacks. Particularly jarring because Beast was there as well and he knew for a fact that Ororo was indeed Ororo. There was so little in the way of an in-story justification that I think they just gave up and asked us to go by the meta justifications alone. Dan H.November 11, 2014 12:15 AM Excalibur #14 Wow - I don't think Galactus works as a pan-dimensional character at all. Especially since we've seen what had to be alternate versions of him (one of them was "nullified" in that same issue of What If where the Tribunal asserted his own pan-dimensionalism). Isn't Galactus' whole (revised) origin that he comes from the UNIVERSE before this one and not the MULTIVERSE before this one? Plus how does that square with the whole Watcher's guilt thing over not killing him when he had the chance? That seems to be the case with Watchers throughout the Multiverse, yet it would have only occurred in one if he were pan-dimensional. And Galactus keeps being referred to as part of the Eternity-Death-Galactus trinity, yet Eternity and Death are absolutely tied to their individual universes. Again, the Eternity in What If #32 died when Korvac used the Nullifier (and it was his spirit, not some interdimensional walkie-talkie, that later spoke to that universe's Doctor Strange, Phoenix, and Silver Surfer). Wait, did I just says "that universe's Phoenix?" So much for THE Phoenix-avatar... cullenNovember 10, 2014 11:47 PM X-Factor #43-50 Totally missed "Slack-Os" the first time around! Bob was still pretty underground at this point. A.LloydNovember 10, 2014 11:20 PM Avengers #183-187 It was John Byrne's idea to make Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch the children of Magneto. It was suppose to be a secret but in one of the Avengers letters forum (some issue in the 190's), it states that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are the children of *agn*to with some of the letters of Magneto starred out. It's discussed here on his forum: http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=47781&PN=1&totPosts=64 cullenNovember 10, 2014 11:18 PM Mighty World of Marvel #14-16 Should The Fury be a character appearing? They've been all up in the Marvel U of late. (But I don't know if it's a different reality-designation version) MichaelNovember 10, 2014 11:02 PM Excalibur #15 By the way, fnord, Jamie's name is spelled JAMIE, not JAIME. I'd just like to nip it in the bud so we don't have another ROM problem. MichaelNovember 10, 2014 11:00 PM X-Factor #43-50 Yeah, Scott, you really loved Maddie "truly"- especially since you just admitted five issues earlier that you didn't love her. MichaelNovember 10, 2014 10:33 PM Excalibur #16-17 @gfsdf gfbd- especially since Davis didn't draw Kitty flat chested in these stories. MichaelNovember 10, 2014 9:56 PM Excalibur #15 I think that Gatecrasher might have had second thoughts if she knew what Jamie was- otherwise, why did Nigel lie to her? Luis DantasNovember 10, 2014 9:55 PM Excalibur #16-17 I haven't really read that Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series, although I am peripherically aware of it. But it sure sounds like a bad idea from seeing Kitty resume it like that. Walter LawsonNovember 10, 2014 9:38 PM Excalibur #16-17 Yeah, Claremont wrote much of Marvel's John Carter series, so he's sort of homaging himself. Issue 16 is reputed to be one of his personal favorites, btw. The fat purple Smurf guy is one of the race that includes Tullamore Voge, a later x-foe. Possibly this slaver is Voge. And there does seem to be a connection between his slave pack and Rachel's Hound experience. Fat Smurf Man is a bit like the Shadow King, too. Where Claremont was going with all these overlaps isn't clear. I think those are the real Starjammers, and the joke is that Excalibur are careless enough to get to the right universe only to let it slip away. PB210November 10, 2014 9:26 PM Excalibur #16-17 This tale obviously paid homage to John Carter of Barsoom. http://everycomicbooks.blogspot.com/2010/05/cover-swipe- Walter LawsonNovember 10, 2014 9:13 PM X-Factor #43-50 Chris says just what I was thinking. This story reads ok in one sitting, but over seven months it was just dull, and all these new characters and factions were too much to care anything about. The Apocalypse vs. Loki backup, though, is brilliant. Chris is right about the contrast to Inferno, too. This was a pretty exciting book for a while, with the looming threat of Apocalypse, the angst ful search for baby Christopher, and Archangel's blood feud with Hodge. The Legion of Space Nobodies was a comedown after that and left the point completely lacking in definition. Maybe that was the point, though. Had Harras already decided he wanted the original team to merge with the X-Men, but decided to give Claremont six months or a year to get rid of the Aussie team? The fact that all the mutant books are forcibly kept apart and driven throughout oriels that can't possibly give X-Factor or New Mutants a viable direction suggests the fix was in. Robert November 10, 2014 8:57 PM Excalibur #14 This was the only issue I had from this arc and I was completely lost. Liked the art, though. MichaelNovember 10, 2014 8:52 PM Excalibur #12-13 The idea that Brian and Meggan lose their powers whenever they leave the British Isles doesn't really work- they didn't lose their powers in X-Men Annual 11 or when they went to Africa to rescue Jamie. ChrisNovember 10, 2014 8:42 PM X-Factor #43-50 My problem with the Judgment War was 1) story was too long for its importance, and 2) after Inferno we really needed X-Factor to ground itself in the new status quo, not go off on a tangent. If it was a 4-5 issue story arc that happened 1-2 years later, it would have been fine. After a great built up to X-Factor #24, the title was treading water for the next year until Inferno, and now this diversion. I wanted to see what it meant that X-Factor were the "accepted" mutant heroes among the public. I wanted to see them fight some of their old foes. I wanted to see how the mutant angle played out in X-Factor differently than it did in X-Men. I was woefully disappointed on all levels. MichaelNovember 10, 2014 8:41 PM Excalibur #14 Rachel's lashing out at the guy for thinking naughty thoughts IN HIS OWN MIND bothered me, even though we know his counterpart is a horrible person. Especially since a lot of guys' minds will go there when they see an attractive young woman dressed the way Rachel dresses. Ataru320November 10, 2014 8:01 PM X-Factor #43-50 Good old Apocalypse, above petty things such as corporate crossovers. clydeNovember 10, 2014 7:34 PM X-Factor #43-50 I thought it was cool that both Excalibur and X-Factor each passed by versions of the "Starjammers" during their respective crossovers. fnord12November 10, 2014 7:00 PM Excalibur #14 I assume everyone has alternate selves in other dimensions unless we explicitly know otherwise, like as Dan recently pointed out about the Living Tribunal and Immortus and as Galactus seems to reveal about himself here. Any reason why Impossible Man would be included in that category? The MCP doesn't list Impy but they do list Galactus for this issue, for what it's worth. TCPNovember 10, 2014 6:46 PM Web of Spider-Man #18 I like the way Michelinie wrote Joy Mercado. It's a shame her role in the Spider-Books didn't last. I enjoy the chemistry between her and Peter, and more stories could have been done contrasting their different approaches to journalism. cullenNovember 10, 2014 6:45 PM Excalibur #14 Do you consider Impossible Man to be a pan-dimensional character, or does he have multiversal duplicates? (Has someone else issued a verdict on this being the "real" Impy or not?) BerendNovember 10, 2014 6:29 PM Excalibur #12-13 That scan where Joyboy turns Frobisher into a muscle man/sexy lady hybrid, second panel... that exaggerated muscle man looks pretty much exactly like that infamous Rob Liefeld drawing of Captain America! gfsdf gfbdNovember 10, 2014 6:01 PM Excalibur #16-17 Try convincing your non-comics friends this isn't porn. I sort of enjoyed this two-parter but the Logan's run style bondage gear on non-yet-15 Kitty was just too much Mark BlackNovember 10, 2014 4:04 PM Excalibur #14 I know you're not a big fan of the Cross-Time Caper, but gosh I loved this issue. It was just so ridiculous and full of all sorts of ridiculous continuity references. It felt like an issue of What The!? I also really love that scene with Excalibur holding Brian back from thrashing Nigel. Dan H.November 10, 2014 3:16 PM Marvel Super-Heroes #20 That "Starhawk" promo is so bizarre, making him look like just a daredevil pilot... and this was just after they'd already done the Phantom Eagle in the pages of this same title. Were they going to hedge their bets and do WWI-era flying ace and futuristic flying ace? Did this particular character just split into Starhawk and Star-Lord? They both look influenced by this design and Star-Lord actually seems a little more of a direct evolution. Mark DrummondNovember 10, 2014 10:52 AM Classic Punisher #1 So Frank refers to the kite vandal as a "perp"? I wonder what he'd have done if he found a snotty grade school kid on the end of the line. Dan H.November 10, 2014 10:46 AM Marvel Two-In-One #35-36 Has anyone ever compiled a list of the cancelled series that were wrapped up in the pages of Two-in-One? TCPNovember 10, 2014 10:19 AM Web of Spider-Man #8-9 One of my all-time favorite Spider-Man stories. The fact that Michelinie could turn out great plots like these makes the majority of his later run on Amazing that much more disappointing for me. kveto from pragueNovember 10, 2014 7:51 AM Alpha Flight #78 Gotcha. I thought the jersey foul was him wearing a Calgary kit when heading for Edmonton. Jay PatrickNovember 10, 2014 5:49 AM X-Factor #4 Please, please, PLEASE add a tag for Chilly Dog. Maybe some future writer will take notice and bring him back. ChrisWNovember 10, 2014 2:21 AM New Mutants #81 I agree that this was an inventory story. It's purely my speculation that one of the reasons Claremont became such an important Marvel writer was that he actively came up with ideas for stories that could be done later, and this issue became a story that he was actually called upon to write. 'Weezie or Blevins are running late, how about finishing that Amara-meets-Hercules story that you were interested in writing years ago'? Like killing Rogue instead of Dazzler, this is probably one of those things we'll never get a proper answer for, but I'm going to stick with the theory that Claremont wrote this story on the spot as a fill-in issue. The art looks quite different from page-to-page, but it's all as exploitationist as the latest stuff from Silvestri, or (saints preserve us) Jim Lee. I think many people helped to rush the art out by the deadline, and Claremont helped Bob Harras out by writing a story he'd wanted to do for years. And at least Claremont had enough experience to know what a fill-in issue should look like. At least Amara found her faith in Hercules. Claremont and Marvel, not so much. fnord12November 9, 2014 9:28 PM Micronauts #30-35 Thanks for pointing this out, Dan. As you probably saw on the Rocket Raccoon entry, i do have a couple scans up of the Sword and the Star story here. But yeah, i didn't actually make the connection to the story here. TCPNovember 9, 2014 7:49 PM Amazing Spider-Man #269-270 "...but asking Peter to take on a career that he doesn't want to is a bit much, and just doesn't feel like a realistic thing that Nathan would say." DeFalco turning Nathan into an unreasonable curmudgeon was one of the major things I didn't like about his run. I prefer his happy-go-lucky personality under Roger Stern. Dan H.November 9, 2014 7:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man #268 The "sergeant" in charge of the operation to dismantle and prep the gold building for transport is very obviously modeled on Duke, from G.I. Joe. I believe this is the only appearance of a Joe character in an actual Marvel Universe title. Dan H.November 9, 2014 7:24 PM Micronauts #30-35 I didn't see a mention of this in the article, but Prince Wayfinder had appeared in two stories in Marvel Preview before this (#4 and #7). That series, titled "The Sword in the Star," was originally planned as a 10 or 12 chapter backup for a Star-Lord magazine, but when that book was cancelled before launch, the existing chapters of "Sword in the Star" were eventually published in Marvel Preview and the series put on the shelf. As with your note regarding Rocket Raccoon (who appears in the second chapter), it's debatable that these are the same characters. However, there is dialog in #31 that attempts to leave that door open (references to "haamins" and that his father's realm was a different place). Then in #35 there seems to be even more attempt to link the two stories, including completely getting rid of Wayfinder's blindness and his Hindu garb from #31 so that he looked like an older version of the character from Marvel Preview (and it can easily be inferred that they had travelled back in time from the far future setting of "The Sword in the Star"). For something as important as "the origin of the microverse," it was pretty clunky to just plug Wayfinder and the Sword in for just this arc, especially in conjunction with his cast of "Lord of Light" ripoffs in issue #31. It's like Mantlo just had to scramble to meet a deadline in #31 and then decided to attempt to do justice to the idea in #35, but was still constrained by what he'd set up in the earlier issue. Ataru320November 9, 2014 4:16 PM Alpha Flight #78 I do wonder though if Lil would approve, considering she seems to be from Edmonton and probably is an Oilers fan for life. I'd want her on my team support staff. Ataru320November 9, 2014 4:14 PM Amazing Spider-Man #139-140 Having looked over his "final" appearance, I actually don't mind seeing villains (or heroes per se) like the Grizzly who can think they can get into this whole never-ending war, fail and then move on with their lives. It sort of is a good story element to show not everyone can make it. (sort of a bit like the Big Man was back in the 60s) Mark BlackNovember 9, 2014 3:39 PM Alpha Flight #78 @kveto from prague a jersey foul is when you wear an NHL jersey with your name/a nickname/a joke/etc. I was being tongue in cheek referring to Madison having the nickname 'Jef' on his jersey, not commenting on the relevance of having a Flames jersey in the comic book (even if I am a Habs fan and that 89 final was heartbreaking). kveto from pragueNovember 9, 2014 3:26 PM Alpha Flight #78 Flames won the cup in 89, Mark. Mark BlackNovember 9, 2014 2:46 PM Alpha Flight #78 Totally jersey foul by Madison here. kveto from pragueNovember 9, 2014 2:33 PM Web of Spider-Man #58 yeah, that final scene in the cafe is just so well written. kveto from pragueNovember 9, 2014 2:32 PM Wolverine #19-23 Agreed. La Bandera had a bit of potential to be a future guest star. deserved better than to make up a body count. There are few enough Latin superheros as is. In fact, she could have made a good story about her father, a Cuban exile, not exactly being better off for escaping (considering he died from drugs). twas not to be. but sorry, Tiger Shark beats Wolverine 9 out of ten times (and Tigra and Hellcat). Dan H.November 9, 2014 11:54 AM ROM #40-46 Depending on whether you subscribe to the argument that there is only one Living Tribunal throughout the multiverse, then the Tribunal has another appearance between his first and this one: What If #32. I know all the What Ifs are basically flashbacks told by the Watcher, but I believe I read somewhere that unless the framing narration actually contains some story development, you consider the body of the story as the "present day." That issue also makes it look like there is only one Immortus and that he makes an appearance there as well, although it's less explicit in his case and would be more easily retconned. The Tribunal's "there is only one" is made very clear, not to say that it couldn't also have been retconned away at some point. fnord12November 9, 2014 11:39 AM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Thanks Dermie (and Michael). I didn't track Arabella originally and when i googled her i got a country singer. I've added her tags and a scan of her at her first appearance. MichaelNovember 9, 2014 10:19 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 I agree with Luis- the computers and Gateway both seem to do whatever the plot requires to advance the plot. The idea that the computer merely reflects the subconscious states of whoever's around it doesn't explain a lot- it doesn't explain why it set the dingos on Jubilee in the Annual or why it wouldn't let Bonebreaker search for Jubilee and Wolverine in issue 252. Does Alex secretly want to kill Jubilee? Does Bonebreaker secretly like Wolverine? Moreover, the dialogue in X-Factor 37 makes it clear S'ym was following out N'astirh's plan for Maddie, not taking advantage of an opportunity that presented itself. The plan depended on Maddie being tormented by Scott's leaving her. If the computer merely reflected Maddie's subconscious, and Maddie had been subconsciously fantasizing about kinky sex with Alex, for example, the entire plan would have fallen apart. Jay GallardoNovember 9, 2014 9:08 AM Alpha Flight #78 Jeffries looks here like he is twenty years younger MichaelNovember 9, 2014 8:59 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 @Walter- the note says the computer took the message. I always assumed that meant that Jubilee answered the phone and the computer recorded the conversation. MichaelNovember 9, 2014 8:52 AM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Yeah, Dermie is right- she appears in Ms.Marvel 15-17 and 22. Luis DantasNovember 9, 2014 4:37 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 @Walter Lawson: that sure makes sense. I will note also that the X-Men were directed towards the Gateway and the computers by Roma, which indicates that she is at least aware of both and may well hint of some connection to the Otherworld. Come to think of it, the computers and Gateway are both given to fairly random behavior in order to advance the plot. In that respect they resemble Excalibur's dimensional jumping antics that are happening symultaneously. Is it just me, or is Gateway not so much a character as a plot device? I can't in good faith say that the computers have less volition than him. Walter LawsonNovember 9, 2014 3:19 AM Wolverine #19-23 I believe Gruenwald eventually adds la Bandera to the list of Latin Americans supers slain by Zeitgeist, when he revisits that dangling Alpha Flight plot in Captain America. She's not the character sensation of 1989, but she deserved better than an off-panel death at the hands of a lame-o. Walter LawsonNovember 9, 2014 3:01 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 Worm's mind-control-by-body-control is thematically similar to the skinsuits that control the Genoshan mutates, which in turn are thematically similar to the gimp suits worn by hounds like Rachel. Body/mind control is also a theme of Malice and her choker. And we'll soon see the flip side of all this, mind control that changes bodies/dress, when mind-controlled Moira designs what are supposed to be sexy new blue-and-yellow costumes for the Muir Island X-Men. At this point, Claremont is no longer sublimating his own dark subconscious. Walter LawsonNovember 9, 2014 2:53 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 A few clarifications. It's not Jubilee who answers Lorna's call but the computer, as the note (which presumably is from Jubilee) says. I've never seen Claremont explain the computer, but from what I can peace together it and Gateway, who have some mysterious connection, both access Claremont's idea of Dreamtime, which is both a real of dreams and introspection and perhaps an inter dimensional nexus connecting to Limbo and who knows what else. Gateway and/or the computer is a living index of knowledge, and one or both seem to reflect the subconscious states of those around them. I disagree with Michael's interpretation of Gateway as having an ulterior motive; I think he's at the mercy of Dreamtime, which I shaped by collective subconsciousness and maybe by nasty realms bordering it. Claremont intended the Shadow King to take control of Dreamtime through Gateway, using the Reavers as pawns. We get a condensed version of that story in the 2001 X-Trene X-Men Annual. Claremont has been more clear about what's up with Lorna. After Zaladane messes with her powers, Lorna becomes a psychic battery for negative emotion. But she also generates that negative emotion, unwillingly, in everyone around her. That's why they all become lustful, murderous, or both, and when the negative emotions are string enough, Lorna gets She-Hulky. Keep this explanation in mind as we go forward because it makes sense of a lot of otherwise unexplained Muir Island and Shadow King stuff. Claremont loses control of the book before he can see to fruition the plots and concepts he's seeding here. Walter LawsonNovember 9, 2014 2:30 AM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 The two-degrees-of-viewscreens thing at the end is an echo of Uncanny 97 or whatever, where D'Ken is watching Stephen Lang watching a monitor. It's possible that Danvers is semi-visible to Master Mold even before the living Nimrod consciousness has been assimilated to the point where he can hazily see all the X-Men. One of Claremont's tics in this period is a lot f subtle overlapping plotting. You kind of see that in the semi-ironic twist here where Nimrod destroys Master Mold just as Dazzler is blasting them through the Siege--Rogue's sacrifice is unnecessary--and we'll see it again soon in the triple mind-control Claremont arranges with Lorna, Legion, and Farouk. So there may have been a Danvers point blended in with the Master Mold/living Nimrod point. Although the Danvers plot line goes nowhere as Harras and Lee redirect the book after Silvestri's departure, I suspect from all this setup that Claremont had something more in mind than what we eventually get in #269. Note that when we see the Starjammers in #275-277, Binary makes only the most fleeting of appearances. If Claremont had wanted to bring her into the Rogue/Danvers problem, he might have tied in the Starhammers story. Again, I think Lee and Harras redirected things considerably. Vincent ValentiNovember 9, 2014 12:29 AM Wolverine #17-18 Some of you may find interesting that Al Williamson was originally supposed to be the finisher instead of Klaus Janson, but left the project after inking only one panel - the one of Wolverine feasting on the boar he just killed. DermieNovember 8, 2014 11:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 fnord, Arabella Jones was seen before this--she was a supporting character in the later issues of Claremont's MS. MARVEL run. She only made a couple of appearances, but she was there. Vincent ValentiNovember 8, 2014 10:45 PM Punisher War Journal #11 Wow, I never knew that Klaus Janson inked Jim Lee before. I still can't decide whether or not I like the collaboration, though (I did not like him over Byrne on Wolverine). fnord12November 8, 2014 10:36 PM New Mutants #81 I'm pretty sure this was an inventory story. The main story is by Louis Williams with a framing sequence by Terry Shoemaker. Almost whenever you see an out of continuity story with a framing sequence, the main story is an inventory story and the frame is designed to fit it into the present day. That doesn't mean Claremont didn't script the whole thing, and maybe even all at the same time when it was determined that this was going to production. But i think it was plotted and given to the artist a while earlier, and if the Dreaded Deadline of Doom didn't show up we would have seen this in Marvel Fanfare or something. It also seems odd to me that they'd go to their star writer for a rush fill-in at this point in his career. I'd imagine that if Bret Blevins was running late but there was time enough for another penciler (or two) to draw an entire issue, they'd get Louise Simonson to crank out a plot over Claremont, if only just so for consistency since she's the regular writer. Add to this the fact that Mark points out this story was announced much earlier. Another possible clue is that if you look at Terry Shoemaker's output for Marvel, a lot of it is fill-in work (with Spellbound being one major exception, and with much better looking art than his other work). He seems to have been a go-to guy for fill-ins. Louis William's output for Marvel, on the other hand, seems to stop in early 1988 with the exception of this story and (another?) inventory story published in Marvel Fanfare around this time. All speculation on my part, of course, and ChrisW may just as well be right. ChrisWNovember 8, 2014 10:11 PM Uncanny X-Men #248 This is still well-paced. One can disapprove of the pictures of Betsy in a swimsuit (or Ali in spandex) but think it still serves the story. The panel where Nanny's arms come out at the reader and Jubilee is dodging is very well done. It's the closest Nanny's ever come to being a serious villain. It also says something about what the X-Men are reduced to that the ultra-sexy Havoc and Dazzler are made robotic puppets, just so they will kill Storm. Even when I read this issue in realtime, I didn't see the point. The X-Men themselves were the ones who taught me, you kill a major character for real, it needs to be dramatic. Making Storm collateral damage after a generic (and stupid) fight? It's the least-dramatic way of handling things, a good example of why the X-Men-in-Australia move was the wrong way to go, but a decent introduction for the long "Shattered Star" storyline. ChrisWNovember 8, 2014 9:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 This was a good return to form after "Inferno," but marred by basic idea that Senator Kelly, having pushed for further development of the Sentinel program, sees his wife killed by exactly the sort of Sentinel he's approving, and ends the story mourning his wife and vowing support for exactly what killed his wife. He might as well support the creation of more mutants, if that's all he cares about. ChrisWNovember 8, 2014 9:46 PM Wolverine #19-23 Or Dazzler in her only proper costume. :D ChrisWNovember 8, 2014 9:02 PM New Mutants #81 I don't think the framing sequence was added later. The scripting reads like Claremont, and it's very well done, building to the "I've met mine" punchline. And the vagueness of the closing sequence (which I only have memories of, because fnord didn't include it, proof that he is evil!!!!!!!!!) This is complete speculation, but I think Claremont wrote a fill-in issue, I think he did so knowing how fill-in issues worked, and had enough respect for the New Mutants to make it fit into their current continuity. Further, I think one of the reasons that he was so supported and protected as a Marvel writer was that he had so many potential stories ready to go. Weren't we promised miniseries about Storm, Rachel, Kitty and so on, which never happened? It's an obvious idea for a story, especially for someone who takes his characters as seriously as Claremont did. Amara worships Roman gods, so how does she react to Hercules? She's already met Asgardian gods, so it's a "Mad Libs" plot at that point. Claremont had the idea years ago, but I think this was a fill-in, aware that it was a fill-in, going back to the period when he actually wrote the title, and doing the best he could with the results. "The kids are in Asgard and I'm asked to come up with a quick story, what do I do? Oh, there was that Amara vs. Hercules idea I always wanted." The Phoenix miniseries is the only thing that comes to mind right now, but Claremont planned a lot of spin-offs that never happened. The Magik, Wolverine, Wolvie/Kitty miniseries are things he actually finished. Coming from the freelancer 'I've got a real job lined up so I'll be gone in six months' approach [Claremont intended to be a serious actor] it wouldn't surprise me if he was bombarding his editors with ideas for stories, especially since the Marvel Method encouraged it. I think he deliberately wrote a normal "fill-in" issue, he pulled the most obvious idea off the shelf, and wrote the framing sequence to accommodate the current continuity. PB210November 8, 2014 7:44 PM Cloak and Dagger #3 Mike Vosburg's art reminds me of some of then contemporary work on the Shadow from other publishers, so a Shadow homage stands appropriate. PB210November 8, 2014 7:34 PM Punisher War Journal #8-9 "The high tech Sunrise assassins and the equally high tech equipment in the Punisher's van seem to be taking him away from what he's supposed to be about". Nick Fury once won the title of Best Normal Adventure Hero, so such technology may not disqualify one from that category. This serves as a sort of follow-up to an earlier comment I made. http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/punisher_war_journal_4-5.shtml Best Normal Adventure Hero: Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD (26) - See more at: http://www.cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-fan-awards-1961-1970#sthash.X0Sf9r7i.dpuf MichaelNovember 8, 2014 6:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 @Clyde- The Master Mold was able to see the entire team at the end, not just Rogue. clydeNovember 8, 2014 6:24 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 FNORD - in regards to Master Mold being able to see Rogue, could it be that the Carol Danvers personality is somewhat negating the spell? It was intended for "Rogue", not an amalgam of Rogue and Carol. Robert - I have to disagree with your assessment of the non-team. I thought it was a cool idea to create a team because there was a need for the X-Men. They were the heroes who were willing to go where they were needed and didn't worry about public sentiment. Dan H.November 8, 2014 6:04 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 If that's supposed to be Claremont (which it probably is) then all of the "background" characters in the foreground of that splash page are meant to be represent specific actual (or fictional) people... as I assume the woman with Claremont is meant to either be his real-life significant other or be an homage to someone else. Also, not germane to the "characters appearing" section, but Clark and Lois show up on page two, along with someone who I assume is supposed to be Julie Schwartz. MichaelNovember 8, 2014 5:36 PM New Mutants #81 Yeah, it looks like the framing sequence was added later- that happened a lot in those days. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 5:36 PM Punisher War Journal #11 The "Boot Camp" programs certainly did exist in some states; I'm not sure how they were supposed to prevent recidivism though(exactly how do things like learning to ride a horse stop one from committing crimes in, say, an inner city slum?). I suspect the main supporters were folks who actually believed all the stuff they saw in John Wayne movies. One program in Florida came under heavy fire in the mid-1990s after one teen died after being forced to literally eat dirt and then being denied medical care. I think the program got shut down after that; I have no idea if anything similar still exists today. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 5:28 PM New Mutants #81 I suspect this was a long-unused script rather than a real-time fill-in. A NM letter column during the original Claremont run mentions an upcoming "Magma meets Hercules" story, but the artist named was Mark Beachum. Rahne's "no clothes on" doesn't refer to actual nudity--given her conservative background, a string bikini probably qualifies as "no clothes" to her. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 5:16 PM She-Hulk #9 She-Hulk's costume in the first panel is taken from Daisy Mae Yokum in Li'l Abner. Richard Starkings is better known as a letterer and is also British(I think). I wonder if all the Side Boob here is to compensate for excessive butts in other books. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 5:09 PM Web of Spider-Man #57 He's called "Skinhead", but no boots, suspenders, or Slade lp? (Original model Skinheads. Never mind...) Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 5:06 PM New Warriors #1 Having had no interest in skateboarding back then(any high school kid who tried to skate in my college dorm tended to be literally tossed out the door) or in keeping up with kids' slang, I asked myself then and ask again today: Why the hell would the word "thrash" get associated with skateboards to begin with? Seriously, who would thrash around while on a skateboard? You'd fall off and break your teeth on the sidewalk. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:51 PM Power Pack #50-52 The Galactus-Matic is better known as the Berserker/Destroyer from the original Star Trek(albeit in blue). Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:42 PM Uncanny X-Men #232-234 Claremont confirmed in Comics Interview #56 that these issues took place over 1 night. MichaelNovember 8, 2014 4:41 PM Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 (Wolverine) It almost certainly was, since Madripoor has had its spelling since New Mutants 32. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #136-137 Claremont confirmed in Comics Interview #56 that issues #134-137 took place over a two day period. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:37 PM Wolverine #10 In Fantagraphics' "X-Men Companion 2", John Byrne stated outright that Sabretooth was Wolverine's father, had the same healing power, and was over 120 years old. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:34 PM Marvel Comics Presents #1-10 (Wolverine) In Comics Interview #56, Claremont calls the country "Majipoor", but that may have been a transcription error. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:31 PM X-Terminators #1 When Claremont was interviewed in Amazing Heroes #134 in early 1988, he referred to Inferno as "Hell On Earth". I wonder if that was indeed the first title, but later changed due to DC's SF graphic novel of the same name. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #141-142 Claremont stated in Amazing Heroes #134 that he wanted to do Nightcrawler's origin around this time, but decided it was a "dud" and skipped it. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:26 PM Captain Britain #1-2 Claremont later admitted in Amazing Heroes #134 that he quit this title, but he was butting heads with the editor so much he felt he was on the verge of being fired anyway. Mark DrummondNovember 8, 2014 4:24 PM Excalibur Special Edition The cover of Amazing Heroes #134(early February 1988) showed an earlier design for Widget. According to Claremont in the interview in the issue, Colossus was supposed to be a member but got bumped when it was decided that two big strong guys weren't needed. Rachel's whereabouts between X-Men #209 and this Special were supposed to be revealed in a 1988 Longshot miniseries by Claremont/?, but the mini didn't happen. fnord12November 8, 2014 4:17 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 Thanks, Dan. I don't know how i put in a tag for Val but not Fury. I've added him and Daredevil, and also added that scan and, for fun, a scan of Lee and Kirby's cameo. fnord12November 8, 2014 4:05 PM New Mutants #81 Ok, we are way off topic. Let's shut this conversation down, please. Sorry i didn't do so earlier. david banesNovember 8, 2014 3:24 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 I know those Sentinels were weak but damn it was a lot of fun watching the X-Men trash them. Cockrum's art makes the smashing catharthic. Dan H.November 8, 2014 3:22 PM Uncanny X-Men #145-147 One of the scans you have included here confirms that the blindfold is keeping Scott's eyes "sealed shut." MichaelNovember 8, 2014 3:14 PM New Mutants #81 Oh, so I see- a "bad religion" being persecuted, with some of its adherents dying, is fortuitous but a "good religion", like Shintoism, being persecuted is a tragedy. Do you have any idea how destructive that attitude is? Dan H.November 8, 2014 2:51 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 d'oh... now that I re-check the "characters appearing" section, I see that you already have Valentina listed. I just checked for Nick before I wrote my previous comment. Dan H.November 8, 2014 2:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #98-101 I believe that's supposed to be Matt Murdock at the bottom of the very first page. Even if that's not conclusive, the characters to the far right are even more clearly supposed to be Nick Fury and Valentina. Not sure about the other civilians. PB210November 8, 2014 2:18 PM New Mutants #81 "PB210, the executions of the Spaniards was part of a larger campaign of religious persecution against Christians. I realize that you might have meant it this way but the idea that religious persecution is sometimes acceptable has Unfortunate Implications." Well, if not acceptable at least fortuitous; think of it if you know of this either way; did the Japanese shoguns or other authoritarian or harsher governments target homosexuals for death? Travel west of the Urals mountains and consider how many Moses style governments have. "My point is that Japan good, Spain bad is just as simplistic as Spain good, Japan bad. All humans are capable of good and evil". Some thought systems, less absolutist, end up causing less overall destruction. Japan, for example, stayed isolated for hundreds of years while Spanish speakers spread intolerance. Luis DantasNovember 8, 2014 12:32 PM Alpha Flight #78 Captain "Forsa" is not a spelling anyone in Brazil would use (nor is "Senor"), but the characterization is spot on for a hypothetical Brazilian superhero. MichaelNovember 8, 2014 11:37 AM Alpha Flight #78 Annoyingly, Zeitgeist never shows up in this book, and eventually Gruenwald uses him in Captain America. The Master eventually encounters Alpha Flight again, but it has nothing to do with Llan. Marrina's kids next appear in a Quasar story. And the line about Marrina being alive is forgotten about for a LONG time. (If they wanted to keep Namor single, they could have just said that under Atlantean law, being declared dead ends a marriage, since several countries have a similar law.) Vincent ValentiNovember 8, 2014 10:36 AM Wolverine #19-23 Worth noting that those 2 panels are the only time that Byrne has ever drawn Psylocke. MichaelNovember 8, 2014 10:23 AM New Mutants #81 Sorry, pb210, I mean "might not have meant it this way". MichaelNovember 8, 2014 10:23 AM New Mutants #81 PB210, the executions of the Spaniards was part of a larger campaign of religious persecution against Christians. I realize that you might have meant it this way but the idea that religious persecution is sometimes acceptable has Unfortunate Implications. Luis DantasNovember 8, 2014 10:08 AM Wolverine #19-23 I don't know whether Spore was mainly defined by Byrne or by Archie Goodwin, but one can't help but notice that less than one year ahead Byrne would create the very similar Sluj in Namor #6-8. Luis DantasNovember 8, 2014 6:33 AM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 The outbacks phase of the X-Men is very indicative of Claremont's main traits as a writer. One of them is his strong emphasis on multi-issue plots, often at the expense of characterization. There is a reason why mind control of one kind or another is such a recurrent theme in his stories. Vincent ValentiNovember 8, 2014 1:04 AM Wolverine #19-23 I own the original art of the page with Sister Salvation's burning hands. I asked John Byrne about the different look of his inks on the final issue and he said that Klaus Janson was supposed to finish it but couldn't at the last moment, so he inked it himself, but tried to maintain continuity with Janson's inking style. That was a 20-year mystery solved for me! MichaelNovember 7, 2014 11:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 Another problem with this issue- Claremont has the X-Men claim that Gateway can only teleport them back from the spot where they arrived. But in Inferno, they go to rescue Lorna, who's being mind-controlled in MANHATTAN, and they teleport back from WESTCHESTER. I guess the X-Men figured Lorna always gets mind controlled, so they decided to go see a play in Westchester before going to rescue Lorna. MichaelNovember 7, 2014 11:01 PM Wolverine #19-23 Some people at the MCP argued it wasn't Arishem since he was missing the thingie on his head. (I thought it was Arishem.) PB210November 7, 2014 10:59 PM New Mutants #81 Update; tell Empath that the Japanese shoguns had the Spanish in their country executed and that prevented perhaps Japan from ending up as in the same state as the Spanish-speaking countries. MichaelNovember 7, 2014 10:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 Note that the computers replaying the scene of Alex killing Storm is similar to the computers playing the scene of Scott with Jean to Maddie in issue 232. That would seem to contradict your idea that Maddie subconsciously pulled up the image herself. RobertNovember 7, 2014 9:51 PM Wolverine #19-23 Another awesome Byrne cover on #23. Robert November 7, 2014 9:46 PM Uncanny X-Men #248 Ahh the price-gouging 90s collectors market. I'm both anticipating and dreading you getting into that decade. As for this issue, I was still at an age where I thought the changes and deaths were going to stick. I was sad that Storm was dead until my older brother gave me the comic equivalent of the "facts of life" talk. I especially enjoyed the Tootie part. RobertNovember 7, 2014 9:39 PM Wolverine #17-18 Liked this run a lot. The cover to #17 is simple but awesome. PB210November 7, 2014 9:35 PM New Mutants #81 Somebody tell Empath the dashing Spaniards who went into South America left it as we have it today or as it stood in the late 1980's; full of unstable regimes and narcotics dealers, with plenty of discontent for the Shining Path to exploit. Meanwhile, the people of Nova Roma lived peacefully for millennia, causing little problem for the Aztecs, Incas, etc. Also, explain to Empath that not only does Spain stand outside of the G-8, no Spanish speaking country has membership in the G-8 or ever has; yet oddly Japan has stood as a member since inception as the G-7. The Japansese, you may recall, mostly adhered well into the 20th century to their indigenous pantheon. Also, the Japanese had their Izanagi Boom, from 1965 to 1970, named after said member of their pantheon. In addition, it may stand that Japanese researchers contribute more to science including medicine than Hispanic researchers. Further, sex crimes in Japan stand as rather low despite abundant pornography. http://www.goodsearch.com/search-web?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=Japan+Izanagi+boom Latinos, I know this does not represent your fault. RobertNovember 7, 2014 9:33 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 I really liked this 'disassembling' arc real-time. But it would lead to my walking away from the X books for awhile about a year or so from now because the lack of a solid team in a team book became frustrating to teenage me. MichaelNovember 7, 2014 9:32 PM Uncanny X-Men #248 Note that Gateway enters Longshot's dream, just like he did with Maddie, and it ends badly again- Longshot might have been able to help fight off Nanny. That would seem to suggest that Gateway had some ulterior motive for entering Maddie's mind and not telling the X-Men. ChrisNovember 7, 2014 9:21 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 Also, The Dane Curse is a reference to a Dashiel Hammet novel, the Dain Curse. ChrisNovember 7, 2014 9:19 PM Uncanny X-Men #249-250 I thought the Lorna Dane / Zala Dane tie in was ridiculous. The dissolution issues didn't make much sense to me, and I started to detest the title in this period. Silvestri's artwork also appears to degrade during this time for unknown reasons, but I suspect he was just burning out with the biweekly summer issues. Does Claremont really need yet another method of mind control? The only thing I liked was the rebuild of the Reavers. I thought they had potential. Cybernetic humans built to defeat mutants is an interesting concept. MichaelNovember 7, 2014 9:11 PM Wolverine #17-18 I always assumed it was Wolverine who had Corrigan track the ship, just in case he ran into trouble. MichaelNovember 7, 2014 8:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 Claremont originally intended for Dazzler to die in this story but he changed his mind after the first few pages of issue 246 were already drawn, so the death vision makes no sense. Luis DantasNovember 7, 2014 7:34 PM Uncanny X-Men #246-247 This Carol in Rogue's head is no aberration, just an accidental duplicate - a psychic clone of sorts. That Binary is also running around makes her not a bit less real. cullenNovember 7, 2014 7:13 PM She-Hulk #10-11 I was already geeked on Hitch from his work on the UK Transformers and Death's Head. I was glad to see him getting US work, though I was a bit disappointed by his aping of Davis, which had been much less pronounced in his earlier work. (And he'd eventually move away from it). I was definitely let down by the "Lexington Loopner" thing. It seemed like Cracked Magazine-level "parody." Byrne dissed Gerber's run pretty hard. (Probably not surprising!) JSfanNovember 7, 2014 8:40 AM She-Hulk #10-11 This comic started off sooo well then it went HTD and I'm totally lost to what's really going on. It's the reason I couldn't ever get into HTD in the 1st place as it went totally over my head. I feel sorry for some poor kid picking the book up expecting a super-hero adventure. Even with some of the adult type themes like The Punisher at least a kid could take it at base level and just enjoy the A-Team, The Equaliser style stories. fnord12November 7, 2014 8:03 AM Uncanny X-Men #22-23 Thanks, Craig. There is comiXology if you are looking for a site to read entire comics. But i'm glad you enjoy this site. craigNovember 6, 2014 10:32 PM Uncanny X-Men #22-23 I don't know if you will get/read this,but if you do,I would not mind a reply at all,and actually look forward to it. Your site reminds me of the good days.And while it may not be entire books,it is plenty for any true marvel fan to love and drool over.thank you,craig MichaelNovember 6, 2014 8:05 PM She-Hulk #10-11 In Avengers Annual 19, Cap says that Jen was unable to help in the battle to save Hydrobase from Doom's robots because she was battling Pseudo-Man. So this story takes place at the same time as Avengers 311, and therefore at roughly the same time as Quasar 4. MichaelNovember 6, 2014 7:57 PM Silver Surfer #32 And worse, the scripting makes Mephisto look like he's incompetent at tempting people. Take the scene where the Aedians offer to let him kill them. Another writer would have Mephisto say, "It's their choice. And besides, think about how much the cosmos needs you to right wrongs." Instead, we get "They're weak! The universe is better off without them!" ,which is not going to work on the Surfer, or on anyone that's not already evil. fnord12November 6, 2014 6:42 PM Punisher #26-27 #26 was more set-up, but i did skip over the action of Punisher and Wiese bluffing their way through the naval base and getting on the mini-sub. fnord12November 6, 2014 6:41 PM Thor #409-410 Der. Thanks, Robert. I totally missed that tank on the first page. It didn't look like a tank to me. I've updated the entry and added a scan of that. Thanks to everyone else for playing my pointless guessing game! Wanyas the Self-ProclaimedNovember 6, 2014 6:15 PM Daredevil #274 Even though they're shoe-horned into this comic, it's worth it to see the Inhumans drawn by Romita, Jr. MikeCheyneNovember 6, 2014 5:39 PM Silver Surfer #32 As a kid, I was 100% certain this was a reprint of some 1960's or 1970's storyline because it seemed so old school both in plot and art. RobertNovember 6, 2014 5:07 PM Thor #409-410 Also it's the screen directly in front of Doom (the one he's looking at) and he's talking about how one of his teams has made contact with Thor. Seems like it's Thor to me. RobertNovember 6, 2014 5:04 PM Thor #409-410 I'm pretty sure that's Thor. The tank in the shot with the caped guy is identical to the tank Thor destroys on the opening page of 409. Mark BlackNovember 6, 2014 4:40 PM Quasar #4 Is that Stephanie and Charlene from DP7 jogging that Quasar asks about aliens? JSfanNovember 6, 2014 4:09 PM Punisher #26-27 Issue 27 was and is my only punisher book and one that I bought in realtime. I enjoyed it and thought all punisher books were bond/spy/espionage/political like this one. I guess there wasn't much to issue 26 as you've pretty much covered #27 more. BillNovember 6, 2014 2:24 PM She-Hulk #10-11 I wish Hitch would have kept this art style; it's very clean and perfectly professional looking. david banesNovember 6, 2014 1:55 PM Punisher War Journal #11 Should have gotten Chuck Dixon, he's a big gun guy. I was more in rough terms asking, lookins like an M4 with some kind of shotgun beneath. clydeNovember 6, 2014 1:38 PM Silver Surfer #32 The next issue Of Silver Surfer is just "impossible" to read.:) Thankfully, after that we get to Thanos. BillNovember 6, 2014 12:16 PM Thor #409-410 Well, Hyperion (and the rest of the Squadron Supreme) were sent to Earth-616 around this time, at the conclusion of their graphic novel. Most likely there wasn't anyone particular in mind. fnord12November 6, 2014 11:37 AM Thor #409-410 Maybe. He's supposed to be blind at this point, and it would be weird for him to appear on our Earth just for this, but who knows? Not sure if DeFalco or Frenz really had anyone specific in mind. clydeNovember 6, 2014 10:34 AM Thor #409-410 FNORD - Could it be Hyperion? fnord12November 6, 2014 7:55 AM Marvels: Eye of the Camera #5 Thanks, Jay. Added him. fnord12November 6, 2014 7:53 AM Thor #409-410 I considered it since he's one of the few active heroes that wears a cape. But he looked too beefy to me. But it could be him. fnord12November 6, 2014 7:52 AM Punisher War Journal #11 All i can say is i'm sure it's a real gun of some kind. Because the lettercols are always full of people complaining about nitpicky details of the guns shown. So i'm sure they wouldn't just make up something from scratch; they seem to try to be as realistic as possible to avoid the criticism. Also in nearly every issue, we have dialogue like, "This new H&K G-11 is really sweet, Microchip. Accurate three round burst with light caseless ammo. I can carry a lot more rounds with no additional weight." That's from this issue, but about a different gun. Jay DemetrickNovember 6, 2014 2:41 AM Marvels: Eye of the Camera #5 I noticed you've got all of the members of X-Factor except for Iceman linked in the "Characters Appearing" section. He's there in the X-Factor pic to the right of Angel (the tongs are covering his head). Jay DemetrickNovember 6, 2014 2:31 AM Thor #409-410 You wrote "Meanwhile, we find out that Dr. Doom is behind all the generic criminals in town getting high tech weaponry, and it seems to be a scheme specifically designed to attract Thor's attention, although he seems to also be monitoring other heroes (from what we can see, i'd guess She-Hulk, Spider-Man, USAgent, Captain America, and i'm not sure who the caped guy is; it's not Thor)." Possibly Quasar? david banesNovember 6, 2014 1:15 AM Punisher War Journal #11 What kind of gun is Frank using anyway? I thought he was carrying a rifle in each hand but looks like he put two guns together. Has someone been watching Aliens? ChrisWNovember 6, 2014 12:07 AM Amazing Spider-Man #10 The Enforcers were decent novelty villains. I can't really accept that they give Spidey any real trouble, but they do make better-than-average mugs, and were probably the template for the countless superhero stories that resulted for potentially-threatening mugs who were just the front men for the real villain in the background. And they appeared in better-than-average stories early on, so good for them. ChrisWNovember 5, 2014 11:55 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Because the editor is a week away from a deadline and needs a new issue now? Because the editor wants a fill-in issue in case he's ever a week away from a deadline and wants a new issue ready to go? Because the editor wants a fill-in story about how Peter Parker is totally in love with Gwen Stacey and this Mary Jane chick is just bad news? Because the current writer that you're filling in for is breaking up Peter and Gwen, and giving MJ more attention, even if it's just livening up the supporting cast, giving Harry or Flash a few interesting scenes? These are just top-of-my-head examples, and limited to fill-in writers. This is a good example of how Spider-Man, Wolverine, Batman and Archie become interchangeable. Writing a single Batman story will be a lot easier if all the editor wants is a decent fight against the Joker, without reading decades of comics to prepare. A decent teen romance comic will be a lot easier to write if you don't know everything about who Archie is and how he came to be, never mind Betty and Veronica. And don't get me started on Uncle Scrooge. The editor will provide all the guidance you need. Even with a long-term writer taking over an established character, there are going to be differences. Did people complain that Frank Miller never mentioned Mike Murdock? [I only know who that character is because Miller specifically said in a TCJ interview that he wasn't interested in referring to Mike.] No, they were enjoying an interesting take on a character that didn't heavily rely on his previous 170-some issues. If you believe John Byrne, Claremont didn't know much about the early X-Men, but he managed to do well with the old characters as much as the new. Alan Moore started writing "Captain Britain" in the middle of a storyline he didn't understand, and made it work for him, which carried over into "Swamp Thing" and his other work. And these are the greats. The less-then-greats will have their own views on how specific characters should be treated and write their comics accordingly. Great or not, there's a lot of truth to the saying that the Golden Age of Comics is whenever you were seven years old. That's who the characters are to you, and who they will be forever As much as it hurts to say this, forcing someone to read decades of comic books just so they can qualify to write the characters is downright cruel. It has nothing to do with doing a bad job, it's making a good writer who isn't interested in continuity do extra work, or a good writer who cares about continuity to see things differently ["Jean Grey didn't actually die on the Moon, it was a clone!"] or the editor had his own point-of-view. Or other writers had a point-of-view. You're only going to get good character continuity with a singular creative entity. The more Steve, Jack and Stan retreated from the basic Marvel Universe, the less cohesive it became. Roy Thomas had to look for ways to make it cohesive, which became its own problem, and left difficulties for later editors and writers. The more Claremont retreated from the mutant titles, the less cohesive they became, and he is personally the one who made the mutant titles what they were. And everybody's going to have a different approach, that's what makes us individuals. I don't need Elmer Fudd's history to know why he's hunting wabbits, I just need to make him funny when hunting wabbits. And this doesn't distinguish between kids and adults. It's the type of story you're telling, and much to the medium's misfortune, comics in general have focused for far too long on the character's history. When it works, it works (early Marvel, Claremont's X-titles) but it does detract from the overall experience in the long run. david banesNovember 5, 2014 11:19 PM Amazing Spider-Man #10 That's what I really liked about the Enforcers, three pretty normal guys using teamwork to give a superhero trouble. At least a young up and coming hero. ChrisWNovember 5, 2014 11:04 PM New Mutants #81 Further commenting on the placement of the flashback story, it must take place between #35 (when they returned from Asgard with a thin Shan) and #46 when they embarked on a multi-issue time-and-space adventure that lasted through #51. Magneto grounded them in #52, and in #53, released them from being grounded long enough to attend a party at the Hellfire Club, which ended in #54 with Shan leaving. It probably didn't occur during the period when they were recovering from being killed by the Beyonder, a period which, it should be noted, involved Dani receiving her own crisis of faith and being saved by a short visit from the Frog of Thunder. For someone who takes his characters as seriously as Claremont, I think it was at least somewhat on his mind, at least with these characters. Rhane had been having similar problems too, even before Xavier left, as was Nightcrawler after meeting the Beyonder face-to-face. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I have to wonder if this somehow colored his ideas for Storm, an African goddess [Kenya is mostly Christian - Lutheran, Catholic and Quaker - and Muslim.] She's part of a long line of matriarchal priestesses. An alternate version of her became a sorceress in Limbo. She's apparently part of a fictional Cheyenne mythology, if her relationship to Forge is any example (not to mention Otherworld.) And she was almost the Asgardian goddess of thunder too. And I can't help thinking that, although it's not specifically religious, one of the most important turning points in her life (as written by Claremont) is when she realized she was hosting a Brood embryo and questioned whether or not it was right to kill it, even at the cost of her own life. Then she killed it at the cost of her own life. She was then saved by becoming effectively an embryo of a giant benevolent purple space-faring sperm cell that nurtured her back to life and a physical body. I know I keep saying it, but this site is increasingly proving that if Claremont's subtext isn't disgusting you on a fundamental level, he's not doing his job. ChrisWNovember 5, 2014 10:17 PM New Mutants #81 Empath is from Spain, and since Claremont usually tied his characters to religious beliefs from their native homelands, it makes sense that he'd be Catholic. The basic concept of this sort of personal differences between people isn't easy to communicate, and I won't say this story succeeded [indeed, I'd forgotten this issue even existed] but it's a decent attempt and is, what, only the third or fourth time Amara's ever actually gotten something to do? And that's including her introductory "New Mutants" issues. I think the point about Hercules vs. Thor (coming soon to a theater near you!) is the "I've been to Asgard" line. In Roman (and Greek) mythology, you could run into gods anywhere, and they could do anything. Asgardians turned Amara into a dwarf. It doesn't affect her faith, which is the (vague) point the story is about. "I know Hercules. I worship Hercules, and you sir, are no Hercules." My problem is, never mind his Avengers affiliation, isn't that the same costume he was wearing when he beat up Magneto right in front of the X-Babies? Doug's still alive and sharing popcorn with Shan, so this adventure didn't happen all that long after they were rescued from the Massachusetts Academy. How quickly they forget. I hardly have a trained eye for these things, but there look like several different art styles in these scans by the way. Definitely a fill-in issue, although the scripting in the first framing sequence definitely reads like Claremont (in a good way) I could speculate that Weezie or Blevins or whoever had fallen behind, and Claremont was asked to throw together a fill-in story. Given that the kids were already in Asgard, he did his best to make it fit thematically, set it in current continuity with the framing story, then take us back to when he was writing it [except for that Doug and Shan thing. Huh???] Then the story was drawn by whoever Marvel had available at the moment. This is just speculation. fnord12November 5, 2014 9:42 PM Quasar #4 Argh, why was Marvel giving up on footnotes at this point?! Thanks, Michael. MichaelNovember 5, 2014 8:21 PM Quasar #4 The "mudslinging extradimensional" is Quagmire, from Marvel Comics Presents 29. That's what you get for saving Marvel Comics Presents for last. But who can blame you for putting off slogging through Panther's Quest? MichaelNovember 5, 2014 8:10 PM New Mutants #81 I think the idea is that Amara doesn't want to believe this is Hercules because she's idealized him in the stories she's heard about him and the reality is a disappointment. That doesn't explain the attitude of the other New Mutants, though- we've met *Loki* but this can't possibly be the real Hercules. Luis DantasNovember 5, 2014 8:05 PM New Mutants #81 Uh, of course Empath believes in God. It is nearly a prerequisite for self-important people. Jon DubyaNovember 5, 2014 4:25 PM New Mutants #81 I thought I saw a listing somewhere that the main story took place between New Mutants 44-45 (it had to have taken place before Mutant Massacre which is just before Under Siege in Avengers so the Herc appearance would match up there as well.) That would also account for Dani and Rahne's appearance as well. Ataru, I suspect Herc's movie would have been produced in the 80s, since Rahne mentions nudity, something that wasn't that common in 60s flicks (but was was put "full-frontal" in the type of cheesy Italian B-movie rip-offs this flicks seems to be emulating.) Indeed, this might be a send-up of the critically-derided Hercules movies that appeared in the early 80s. OUR Hercules does bare a resemblance to Lou Ferrigno. Ataru320November 5, 2014 3:18 PM New Mutants #81 Considering it was probably a low-budget Hercules movie from the "1960s", its lucky that it is getting a re-release for the New Mutants to see in the first place. clydeNovember 5, 2014 2:06 PM New Mutants #81 The problem is that Acts Of Vengeance takes place during that period. It makes it cumbersome to split it up. Jay DemetrickNovember 5, 2014 1:51 PM New Mutants #81 New Mutants #87 is when the Asgard storyline ends and they return to Earth. clydeNovember 5, 2014 12:34 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #3-6 Michael, IMO, the Dum-Dum LMD retcon hadn't happened yet. So, as far as everyone was concerned, all the "Howling Commandos" were live people. JSfanNovember 5, 2014 6:35 AM Punisher #24-25 "My favorite scene, though, is when Manzo uses a grenade launcher to just blast all the color off the page." Ha ha. Brilliant! I did notice the colorist started colouring a hand, though. JSfanNovember 5, 2014 6:21 AM She-Hulk #9 The funniest bit of that book was the last panel. It wasn't that funny but better than the rest. JoshuaNovember 5, 2014 5:24 AM Thor #154-157 To wake the mangog is coming out in February starting with this story all the way up to issue 174 MichaelNovember 4, 2014 10:52 PM Punisher #24-25 Rikichi does appear after this in Punisher War Journal 17-20. MichaelNovember 4, 2014 9:39 PM Punisher War Journal #10 This is what TV Tropes calls an Unintentional Period Piece, since East Germany's Communist government collapsed a few months after this story was published. MichaelNovember 4, 2014 9:32 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #3-6 Note that Nick thinks of the Gnobians as Dum Dum's "killers". That's weird if Dum Dum was an LMD. fnord12November 4, 2014 9:26 PM She-Hulk #9 The first Madcap scan where he's holding the comic book is Walt Simonson. It gets a little confusing after that because the listing of page numbers crediting the inkers doesn't count ads, while the actual printed page numbers do. But if i counted right, that's the only scan from one of the Simonson pages that i included. Vincent ValentiNovember 4, 2014 9:13 PM She-Hulk #9 Are any of the pages above inked by Simonson? His inks are usually so distinctive that I'd be curious to see him over Hitch. Vincent ValentiNovember 4, 2014 8:59 PM Punisher War Journal #10 I believe this is the beginning of the long collaboration of Jim Lee and Scott Williams. I do like Williams but think that Lee looks even better when he inks himself. fnord12November 4, 2014 8:51 PM New Warriors #1 Thanks, Jon. I wanted to make sure i wasn't aware of something that was coming up soon that rendered my musings obsolete. Jon DubyaNovember 4, 2014 8:30 PM New Warriors #1 I meant that currently we have the Young Avengers and Avengers Academy, who both have connections with the "parent" team. So the Avengers DO develop the ideas you suggest, Fnord, (ironically enough, for the same reasons you stated too), it just take them a couple of decades (and a few different EICs) to do it. Too be fair, we should also remember that kids didn't go to the X-Men to be superheroes (they did anyway, because it's comics), but to control and handle their oft-out-of-control powers. The Avengers don't really do that sort of thing and it's a bit different from being merely inexperienced. Also, since the Avengers are the "establishment" super-team, with rules and regulations and everything, maybe they couldn't legally have any underaged people around in any capacity (something that actually becomes established the NEXT time the New Warriors meet the Avengers.) I really liked New Warriors and this was a great debut that firmly establishes the personalities and character beats that would be followed throughout this series and beyond. Finally, as a Black man I always had mixed feelings about Night Trasher. HaywerthNovember 4, 2014 7:56 PM Web of Spider-Man #58 "I had my shot, and that's all any guy can ask." Loved reading that as a kid. I've carried that little golden nugget with me all my life. Mark BlackNovember 4, 2014 7:17 PM Punisher #24-25 The first issue (24) is inked by Scott Williams (and it's obvious), probably helps in keeping it with the style of Lee and Portacio. fnord12November 4, 2014 6:55 PM New Warriors #1 @Jon, do you mean beginning with the Initiative and later Avengers Academy? Or is there something earlier? I know that Justice and Firestar later become Avengers-in-training during Busiek's run, but if there's something earlier than that i'm not aware of it. Gary HimesNovember 4, 2014 6:33 PM Web of Spider-Man #58 I heard the Grizzly later returned to crime and was eventually busted for stealing picnic baskets. Thanos6November 4, 2014 6:15 PM New Warriors #1 I like Night Thrasher. He's a little 90's but not too much. cullenNovember 4, 2014 5:42 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #92 Yes he did, and no it didn't. cullenNovember 4, 2014 5:26 PM Punisher #24-25 Either Larsen has catered his penciling to the title, or the inker has done a wonderful job of keeping the art in sync with Portacio's style. kveto from pragueNovember 4, 2014 5:23 PM Web of Spider-Man #57 Amazing that Conway could fart out this nonsense and then turn round and deliver a great next issue. It must be interesting to try to read these issues interspaced with ASM. spidey must seem really flighty the way he bounces back an forth between problems/storylines. TCPNovember 4, 2014 5:03 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #92 I'm not a big fan of Supes, but I do remember reading that John Byrne did a lot to "de-power" him during the 80s reboot. Not sure if that stuff stuck, though. kveto from pragueNovember 4, 2014 4:59 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #92 Kinda like Superman? kveto from pragueNovember 4, 2014 4:57 PM New Warriors #1 Ugh. Night Thrasher. Pretty much everything thats wrong with "Kewl" 90 characters can be summed up in him. Jerk personality, bad ass poses, "youth" skateboarding culture, pointless bandanna, doing stuff like risking peoples lives for no reason. Without him, I might have tried this book, but two pages of him in marvel age told me to stay the hell away. Just another death knell for good comics. Jon DubyaNovember 4, 2014 4:50 PM New Warriors #1 You know that the Avengers have a "junior team" (several of them in fact), right? It just took a few years. And the New Warriors do get hitched to a franchise (The Spider-man franchise, oddly enough) later on. Also given that this issue (and the series as a whole) is drenched in 90s style MTV-esque "youth rebellion," they wouldn't have worked as a offshoot of the more "Establishment" Avengers in any case TCPNovember 4, 2014 4:41 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #92 The Answer is probably my least-favorite Spider-Man villain ever. He's like the kid you'd play superheroes with who'd invent powers whenever he needed them. TCPNovember 4, 2014 4:39 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #94-95 I much prefer Mantlo's Spectacular to Milgrom's. Milgrom's run felt especially like a low-point in Spider-Man history, what with the drab art, terrible villains like the Answer, and the character assassination of the Black Cat that he continued (technically, I think Mantlo started it, but just barely before he was off the book). kveto from pragueNovember 4, 2014 4:37 PM Web of Spider-Man #58 "I don't care if nobody else knows it. I know I'm the guy that did it! I'm the guy who beat Spider-man!" Gets me every time. kveto from pragueNovember 4, 2014 4:34 PM Web of Spider-Man #58 this is by far my favourite comic ever written by Conway, and one of my favourites ever. As I was reading it i felt sorry for Grizzly and wanted him to win. When Spidey threw the fight I was so proud of him.The pure, primal scream of victory the Grizzly gives is poetic. The ending in the cafe is so quaint, when the Griz figures it out. More villains should get a great send-off like this. kveto from pragueNovember 4, 2014 4:27 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #157 A supervillain fight can be fun. you have to feel sorry for electro. he won the fight but was the one who got caught. TCPNovember 4, 2014 4:12 PM Amazing Spider-Man #254 Agreed about hating the Aunt May sub-plot. This is the 2nd time Spider-Man has fought Jack-O-Lantern, and both issues ended with May being mad at Peter. Maybe Macendale is just bad luck for the two of them. BillNovember 4, 2014 3:19 PM She-Hulk #9 I wish Hitch had stayed with this style of art as opposed to his ultra realistic photographic style he would use later on (that seemed to prevent him for working within deadlines). This is better looking and cleaner in a stylistic sense. cullenNovember 4, 2014 2:25 PM She-Hulk #9 Get ready for when Byrne picks it back up in a few years, where not only will the meta-fiction return, but it will CONSTANTLY be paired with cheesecake and libido-pandering. clydeNovember 4, 2014 12:32 PM She-Hulk #9 I can't decide which series was worse - this one or Speedball. At least Speedball had some impact later on with the New Warriors. But, She-Hulk - UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! clydeNovember 4, 2014 9:39 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) ChrisW - My problem is with this paragraph - "So what if a new writer had a different take on a character than the previous writer? So what if a later writer reversed (or retconned, whatever you want to call it) a storyline about a main character's death? Undoing Xavier's death isn't fundamentally different from undoing Jean Grey's death." I believe if you're going to use an established character, you should take the time to research the history of that character up to the point that you're using him or her. It just makes sense to look at all aspects of the character - previous history, mannerisms, the "look" of the character. etc. Why do a half-%$% job in the first place? fnord12November 4, 2014 8:05 AM She-Hulk #9-12 I think in terms of reaching the comics audience at the time, the biggest obstacle was the fact that this character was (correctly) seen as a derivative of the Hulk. Most fans didn't want Marvel to go down the path of Supergirl, Krypto, etc.., and readers looking for strong female characters didn't want to see characters that were just pale imitations of male characters. I think the book was already struggling sales-wise and that's why we see so much thrashing and experimentation in this series, trying to find something that would click with an audience and distinguish the character from the Hulk. It's also worth noting that the standard status quo for the Hulk was getting stale enough at this time that we're not too far off from Bill Mantlo giving the Hulk Bruce Banner's intelligence for an extended number of years, followed by the mindless/crossroads period, followed by the separation of Hulk and Banner, followed by the grey Hulk, and then again an intelligent green Hulk. We don't see a "classic" Hulk again for decades. In retrospect maybe that does mean that there would have been room for a "Savage" She-Hulk, but it definitely seems like a status quo that Marvel had lost faith in for both characters. Personally i think it worked out because where David Anthony Kraft lands with this series is pretty much where Roger Stern and John Byrne pick the character up, to great long term success. But of course your mileage may vary. fnord12November 4, 2014 7:50 AM New Warriors #1 It's a standard length book. ~23 pages. I'd say the latest New Warriors book was very much in the spirit of this issue. You're right about the pacing, though. fnord12November 4, 2014 7:47 AM Web of Spider-Man #56 Skinhead appears again in a 1994 Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) one-shot. He reconciles with his dad in that story. JSfanNovember 4, 2014 7:13 AM New Warriors #1 At least this book didn't take four issues just to get the team together and it had action from the get go. What is the page length of this book? JSfanNovember 4, 2014 7:07 AM New Warriors #1 Alien Nation. Now that was a good TV show. Fnord, or anyone else. How does this series compare to the latest New Warriors book? JSfanNovember 4, 2014 6:25 AM Web of Spider-Man #56 I can't understand Spider-Man's actions, either. I get the point that violence doesn't necessarily solve problems but he came across very unsympathetic to RR's anger especially when the Afro Studies building was bombed. I thought he'd snap then but he didn't. Weird. I felt the story could have been dealt with a little bit more delicately. Does Skinhead The White Reedemer appear further down the years? I JSfanNovember 4, 2014 6:09 AM Web of Spider-Man #56 Spidey does have an enlightened view of Skinheads. He's right that the original skinheads did have an appreciation of West Indian music though some were still racist towards Pakistanis. Eddie The Cross's mob are more 'boneheads' TiffNovember 4, 2014 3:56 AM She-Hulk #9-12 I'm going to have to disagree here. I think giving the she-hulk the ability to control her transformations led to the cancellation of the series and ultimately turning the character into a semi-serious character. When Jen had her "anger problem", her greatest enemy was her own temper. As she pointed out in issue 4, she is swept along by her rage and is ready to lash out at anything and everything. It was this internal struggle with herself that would have kept the character interesting in much the same way that the Hulk character endured all of these decades. In issue 7 we saw that she was ruining away from the cops because she was trying to protect them from her own temper. She stated that she was afraid of what she might do to them if she lost her temper. If they continued with that concept, I think the character would have worked. RobertNovember 4, 2014 2:20 AM Web of Spider-Man #57 Saviuk's MJ cheesecake looks positively wholesome compared to McFarlane's. StevenNovember 4, 2014 12:12 AM New Warriors #1 Here is how old the characters are. Kid Nova and Namorita are 19, Marvel Boy is 18, Night Thrasher is 17, Firestar is 16, and Speedball is 14. ChrisNovember 3, 2014 11:06 PM New Warriors #1 Their first appearance in Thor was awful, but I thought their solo book was actually very good for the first two years or so. Very impressed with the work done with these characters by Nicieza and Bagley. One of the few problems was the discontinuity between Namorita as she was in this book and Byrne's Namor, but that was addressed subtly later on. MichaelNovember 3, 2014 10:33 PM New Mutants annual #2 Betsy was stated to be 28 in Captain Britain 1 (the second series). fnord12November 3, 2014 10:21 PM New Warriors #1 @Michael - thanks regarding the first appearance of Tia and Chord; removed that. I'll sort out placement relative to Acts of Vengeance when i start filling that in. ChrisWNovember 3, 2014 10:09 PM New Mutants annual #2 If Claremont's subtext doesn't disgust you on a personal level, then he's not doing his job. He's the best there is at what he does, and what he does isn't very nice. BillNovember 3, 2014 10:07 PM New Warriors #1 I loved the first 50 issues of the New Warriors; a fun series! It may have helped that I was a teenager at the time this came out. I practically fell in love with Firestar, she was like the awesome girl-next door (who happened to be a superhero). ChrisWNovember 3, 2014 9:53 PM Silver Surfer #29-31 I think I remember that, now that you mention it. Not saying Clumsy deserved better, but at least they cared enough about continuity to rub him out on-panel, instead of just pretending he never happened. "Infinity Gauntlet" is where I really gave up on following Marvel. [And, because God has a sense of humor, is why I am so looking forward to future "Avengers" movies. A villain I've never cared about, with a stupid weapon, and he's facing the Avengers? Dude, I am so there!!!] MichaelNovember 3, 2014 9:40 PM New Warriors #1 A letter writer in the New Warriors 4 tries to No-Prize the Avengers Mansion problem by claiming that the Avengers are in Avengers Park following the events of Avengers 311 and the Mansion is a holographic projection. The letters page humorously claims that's what they intended all along. ChrisWNovember 3, 2014 9:40 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) And scratch that comment about the "Star Wars" prequels. The characters did change in each movie, and arguably more than the characters in the originals changed. The audience wasn't particularly invested in them the way we were in Luke, Han, Leia, Vader, etc. but they did change. ChrisWNovember 3, 2014 9:34 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) I didn't say Marvel was immune from keeping the characters the same from story-to-story. And of the examples you list, "Marvel Team-Up" and "Marvel Two-in-One" would really the be the only ones that qualified as resets. And even there, Claremont/Byrne's run kept Spidey on such a rollercoaster that, when I read the collection, I had to go back and actively look for the scenes or captions that indicated Spidey took a break and went home to get some sleep. Did he grow and change as a character, no, not really, but each issue smoothly transitioned into the next, usually with a cliff-hanger. For a series that existed to give Spidey-fans more Spidey, and showcase other characters too, that's pretty good, whether or not other issues of "MTU" or "MTIO" do that. Marvel was built on character development. Marvel at its best has interesting characters who grow and change over time. The many many Marvel comics and series that fail to do this (even when they're entertaining - "Groo" was designed to be this way, although it was published through Epic) don't change that. So the Hulk never learned anything or kept anything from his previous adventures? Wile E. Coyote still hasn't found the part of the Acme catalogue where they sell "Canned Roadrunner," but we can enjoy those cartoons anyway. So what if a new writer had a different take on a character than the previous writer? So what if a later writer reversed (or retconned, whatever you want to call it) a storyline about a main character's death? Undoing Xavier's death isn't fundamentally different from undoing Jean Grey's death. The loss of the licensed titles was a contractual reason. Superman and Batman never referred to meeting Pat Boone and Jerry Lewis. [Admittedly those stories didn't impact them in any meaningful way.] If you'll scroll up, you'll see that my original point was that everybody had to be "reset," to treat Inferno as just another forgettable day in the life. Claremont's X-Men themselves stopped mentioning Inferno or its effects within an issue or two, making them a better example of "resetting" after a storyline he'd spent 80 issues building up (not to mention "New Mutants," etc.) Folks in Denver were hardly traumatized by that week or two they spent on the other side of the universe with no idea what was going on. The only people who remember or care that Galactus landed on Earth are the invading aliens who Google how many times he's visited, and yet the planet's still here... I don't know where you're getting the idea that I think Marvel's immune to doing stories that don't mean anything to their characters, or that I think they're superior to DC for that reason. I'm not even sure where you get the idea that I think a comic book story *needs* to refer to previous issues. I think comics need more series like this. "Groo" is my go-to example when I'm talking to adults, but "Archie" and "Richie Rich" make the same point. Other than running jokes and bringing back characters from earlier issues, Groo is the same at the end of a story as he is in the beginning, and rarely references previous stories. Even the multi-parters work very well if you only read one issue and never look back. Especially "The Amulet," Sergio and Mark's favorite story from their epic run and reprinted in (wait for it) "The Groo Inferno." Read one issue, it's great. Read two or more issues, out of order, it's still great. Read it as a complete storyline and "Awesome" becomes too small of a word to describe the magnificence. ["It sounds like warthogs being tortured, but never mind that."] I am a Marvel Fan. I do prefer them to DC, but only when they have Stan/Jack/Steve at their best, or later surrogates like Miller, Claremont, Byrne, etc. Marvel gave the creators credit, which gives the audience a way to judge the results that we don't have when it's all anonymous lines on paper. The Daredevil Frank Miller took over was very different from the DD Miller left. Did Denny O'Neill do a good job of continuing it? Your mileage may vary [I liked it, but it was my first exposure to DD.] The Daredevil O'Neill left was different, and the Daredevil Miller started "Born Again" with was vastly different than the DD he ended it with. I'm not saying this is a superior way of telling comic book stories [although I probably am saying it's a way of telling superior comic book stories, because with few exceptions, an interesting character that goes through changes and you want to know what happens next to him/her will beat an interesting character that doesn't change. The original Star Wars trilogy vs. the prequels, for example.] If someone doesn't live up to Stan/Jack/Steve/Miller/Claremont/Byrne/etc's greatness, that's not a failure, just like running a mile in 4:02 isn't a failure. fnord12November 3, 2014 8:54 PM Thor #409-410 Thanks Michael. Looking at the scene in #403 again, it doesn't really seem like there's anything to argue about. That guy is called Detective Stone and he's got the same hat and mustache. I've added him as a Character Appearing there and made a note in that entry's Historical Significance remarks. MichaelNovember 3, 2014 8:21 PM Thor #409-410 This is Marcus Stone's first appearance- you might want to note that, since he has many more appearances over the years. (Although I've heard fans argue that he was one of the cops that arrested fake Executioner in issue 404.) Enchlore♠November 3, 2014 8:08 PM Amazing Spider-Man #88-90 This was the first "important" Spider-Man issue I read as a kid, and I was immediately hooked. I had a recent issue from that time that referenced this story and I remember taking the two comics and comparing panels (something I do even today with that kind of stuff). MichaelNovember 3, 2014 8:07 PM Alpha Flight #77 The microwave tower thing raises another question. Remember the Vindicator armor doesn't teleport- it uses the Earth's rotation to travel at fantastic speeds. It never passed by a microwave tower by doing that before? BillNovember 3, 2014 7:55 PM New Mutants annual #2 I was never comfortable with the Psylocke/Cypher "pairing". She seems several years older than him (not to mention the rest of the New Mutants), so it gave me the creepy vibes. I mean, she's an adult, right? MichaelNovember 3, 2014 7:53 PM Silver Surfer #29-31 He was killed in his next appearance after this, in the Infinity Gauntlet crossover. ChrisWNovember 3, 2014 7:43 PM Silver Surfer #29-31 I liked the Clumsy Foulup storyline. He was annoying in the earlier issues, but grew more interesting later on, and it was very interesting to see him as a puppet who out-maneuvered his puppet masters into a position he's way out of his league for. I assume he's long since been removed. By the way, I'm not familiar with the Legion of Superheroes, but aren't some of the pinks in that last Clumsy scene wearing LSH outfits? Definite Jim Shooter reference, even though it doesn't really make sense of whatever metaphor Englehart was trying. [Shooter wrote LSH, then moved over to Marvel and became Mort Weisinger? I would even agree with that metaphor, but considering Defalco was EiC starting with "Silver Surfer" #7, it seems far-fetched.] gfsdf gfbdNovember 3, 2014 7:25 PM Thor #409-410 Ah, gotcha. gfsdf gfbdNovember 3, 2014 7:15 PM Excalibur #20 @ Michael:For what it's worth, Excalibur 26 clydeNovember 3, 2014 7:10 PM Thor #409-410 As FNORD says above - "The MCP have Loki's appearance here as the first of the recruitment scenes leading up to Acts of Vengeance,". This is the prequel to AOV. gfsdf gfbdNovember 3, 2014 7:04 PM Thor #409-410 Acts of Vengeance crossover tag? RobertNovember 3, 2014 6:52 PM Alpha Flight #77 This is really not up to Alpha Flight's usual low standards. Luis DantasNovember 3, 2014 6:03 PM New Warriors #1 After all these years, it is just now that I realize they called Rich "Kid Nova" in order to distinguish him from Frankie Raye. Go figure. Good thing it did not stick. MikeCheyneNovember 3, 2014 5:14 PM New Warriors #1 This is a good idea for a team and a nice way to use a bunch of likeable peripheral characters. I was never really a fan of the comic, though, as the plots to me seemed to contrast with what should have been the more enjoyable retro, fun style seen here. clydeNovember 3, 2014 12:50 PM Alpha Flight #77 This artist sure likes to show people smiling with a full set of teeth showing. Apparently, they're always very, very happy. Mark DrummondNovember 3, 2014 11:25 AM Iron Man #233 According to Amazing Heroes #133, the shoulder pads were deliberately shrunk to make the armor look less Transformer-ish. Michelinie and Layton also considered making the new armor red and black, but other Marvel people said that would look too villainous. TCPNovember 3, 2014 6:56 AM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 I shake my head at the scene in #324 where Spidey turns away without remorse from a blood-dripping web-net filled with men he just saw killed by his "ally." I thought some of his Punisher team-ups were bad, but that is one of the most disgusting things I've seen in Spider-Man comics. Walter LawsonNovember 3, 2014 1:47 AM New Mutants annual #5 Thanks, Michael. I saw the Marvel Age item before my post, my thinking was that they may have been uncertain about Simonson writing because they already had a Simonson-scripted issue they didn't want to use and were hoping for a re-do. Pure speculation on my part, but something clearly went very wrong with this annual, and even the set-up issue in the regular NM series seems odd. (Why bother with that? In New Mutants, of all places.) I agree with Matt: I'd like to exclude this annual. We'll get to a point later on where annuals sometimes fail to count as canon, like that Hulk annual where John Byrne adds Skrulls to his origin. Maybe this Liefeld-drawn scramble of an issue should be taken as a sign if things to come in more ways than just the obvious. BerendNovember 2, 2014 5:39 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #156 Hurray, we've reached the Spidey issues I actually own! Years ago, on the Superdickery forums, we had some fun with the idea that people in the Marvel Universe were more susceptible to mutations. I designed a guy who could control fungi because he once ate some moldy bread, and a girl who could summon meteors from the sky because she had that glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling as a kid. MattNovember 2, 2014 4:58 PM New Mutants annual #5 Alternatively -- and I realize it's against the rules of the project, but: Alternatively, one can simply pretend that this continuity wreck of an annual never happened. Omitting it altogether does not damage anything in the crossover or the main title. And it fixes the continuity. Regardless, I too am surprised at how badly continuity was handled here. Between Atlantis Attacks and Acts of Vengeance, calendar year 1989 was a colossal continuity debacle. An embarrassing final year to an otherwise very good and at times even great decade for Marvel. (In fairness, Secret Wars II was also a mess a few years before this. But even that seems less problematic by comparison. And the general quality of the whole line was higher at that time.) clydeNovember 2, 2014 3:27 PM Uncanny X-Men #212 Jon, I have the trade too. It was cut from there. I'm sure there were other scenes that were changed or cut as well. MichaelNovember 2, 2014 2:22 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #156 Several letters criticized the depiction of the "hicks". Mark DrummondNovember 2, 2014 2:16 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) ChrisW, my usage of "reset" is the same as broader comic fandom in general--specifically, wiping out past continuity and starting fresh, as in "Crisis" and "New 52"(also interchangeably known as "reboot" or "restart"). And as I've said to Cullen, the problem is that your terms for resets certainly do apply to big hunks of the MU. For example, during Gerry Conway's last several issues of Amazing Spider-Man during the mid-1970s, Mary Jane's character did grow to becoming more committed to Peter and more mature in her handling of intimate relationships--but a few issues into Len Wein's run, she goes right back to "You ran out on me during a date! I hate you now! Waaaahhhh!!" as if that growth never happened. Under your terms, that's a reset. Mark DrummondNovember 2, 2014 1:48 PM Fantastic Four #309-311 Here's an interesting quote from Amazing Heroes #133(1/15/88):"In the midst of mounting fandom apprehension, Englehart wishes to assure his audience that he does have a firm goal in mind with all these events, and to ask everyone to please bear with him. Despite how it looks, he has not lost his mind. We think...the "new" Ms. Marvel will come to terms with her appearance, which is good since she's going to look that way for quite a while before finally reverting to her human appearance." Mark DrummondNovember 2, 2014 1:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #212 It was at Xmas of 1986 that Claremont was approached at a party by a DC staffer with the offer to take over "New Teen Titans" due to DC's annoyance with Marv Wolfman over his involvement in protesting DC's cover labeling plans. He refused immediately. Mark DrummondNovember 2, 2014 1:35 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #22 Amazing Heroes #133 confirmed that Michelinie couldn't write the main story by himself due to him being tied up on biweekly issues. MichaelNovember 2, 2014 1:26 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #155 Note that Flash says that he's SINGLE- we never do get a clear explanation of why he and Betty broke up. (I initially missed this issue as a kid, and thought I missed the big Flash-Betty breakup- only to find out years later that I only missed that one line.) MichaelNovember 2, 2014 1:17 PM Punisher War Journal #8-9 "Kind of odd storytelling choice to just repeat a scene from the last issue." fnord12November 2, 2014 10:26 AM Iron Man #130 Thanks, EHH. It must have been the reference to Raideen that got me mixed up. EHHNovember 2, 2014 12:41 AM Iron Man #130 It's Hong Kong, not Japan. StevenOctober 31, 2014 8:04 AM Silver Surfer #29-31 This is the first issue of Silver Surfer that I ever bought, and I was automatically hooked. Having Clumsy Foulup become emperor was a lousy conclusion to an otherwise great story. fnord12October 31, 2014 7:29 AM ROM #34-35 Thanks Gary. david banesOctober 31, 2014 3:19 AM Fantastic Four #55 I thought it was great to bring the Surfer back, give him a fight all to foreshadow Doom getting his powers. Gary HimesOctober 30, 2014 11:50 PM ROM #34-35 The panels with Sybil being placed in the Bubble Fish are repeated twice. (Y'know, weird fish are sort of Namor's utility belt. He has one for every occasion.) david banesOctober 30, 2014 11:40 PM Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (Marvel Graphic Novel #38) I haven't read much of Galactus past the 70s,yet, put god damn him threatening Mephisto to eat Hell sounds amazing. fnord12October 30, 2014 9:01 PM Silver Surfer #29-31 The Cotati do acknowledge that they can't actually kill the Contemplator. They say "death is not part of your destruction" and then "He is a creature of the mind - it is the mind which must go", so i assume that they do drive him insane or comatose or something. MichaelOctober 30, 2014 8:10 PM Captain America #357-364 @clyde- only the MAIN stories in Rampaging Hulk were Bereet's work. The backup stories still "happened" in the MU- and the Bloodstone stories were backup stories. MichaelOctober 30, 2014 8:09 PM Captain America #357-364 @kveto- Rachel's earnestness IS fun but she's doesn't come across as very competent. It would be fine if she were a normal person trying to help Cap but she's a super-villain. clydeOctober 30, 2014 8:03 PM Captain America #357-364 FNORD - how could the Bloodstone Hunt have happened since the earlier appearances of Bloodstone were considered metafiction? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rampaging_Hulk "Although Rampaging Hulk / The Hulk! was intended to feature stand-alone stories, some characters (such as the extraterrestrial Bereet) crossed over into The Incredible Hulk title. Bereet appeared in issue #269 (March 1982) of the regular series to explain away the Rampaging series as fictions she created for the entertainment of her homeworld's residents.[6] This rendered the Rampaging Hulk stories into metafiction." MichaelOctober 30, 2014 7:54 PM Silver Surfer #29-31 If the martial arts Mantis learned were Kree, then why do they need an Earth martial artist? Jay DemetrickOctober 30, 2014 7:19 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Aw! You're the best! BerendOctober 30, 2014 7:18 PM Captain America #357-364 So were these Bloodstone fragments part of the crystaline thing that killed Ulysses or from the original gem? And in the latter case, how did they end up in pyramids and the like? kveto from pragueOctober 30, 2014 5:23 PM Captain America #357-364 The Bloodstone hunt. Probably the last issues I read in realtime that I acutually enjoyed. Kind of a last hurrah for the great comics of the 80s. it made me a regular reader of cap where i hadnt been before. fnord12October 30, 2014 5:14 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Belatedly added a scan of M-Squad for Jay. ;-) fnord12October 30, 2014 5:10 PM Captain America #357-364 I've added a scan of that corner box per Jon's comment. david banesOctober 30, 2014 3:48 PM Daredevil #266 I mean sure it's Daredevil but New York, 80's, dingy bar, alcohol and no one tries to assault him for suddenly having the gay disease? This is a comic book! Luis DantasOctober 30, 2014 3:40 PM Captain America #357-364 Pretty much my thoughts as well, Clyde. I would much rather trust, say, Pyro or Diamondback than this self-important fool USAgent. clydeOctober 30, 2014 9:24 AM Captain America #357-364 Michael - I have more of a problem with USAgent's attitude than Diamondback's. USAgent thought of himself as "heroic" even going so far as trying to take over for Captain America (even staging a fight to make himself look good). Diamondback never claimed she was a "good guy". She was just attracted to Captain America. They both did horrible things in their past. However, ignoring a mugging because it's "not important enough" is more deplorable than a member of a "Serpent Squad" being evil. MichaelOctober 30, 2014 7:50 AM Captain America #357-364 I guess it's particularly creepy that Emma and Rachel get free passes for their crimes though. In Emma's case, her treatment of Angelica and Jimmy constitutes abuse by any sane definition of the term and the X-Men let her teach young children. In Rachel's case, it's problematic because of the Rape is OK When It's Female on Male trope. Moreover, both Emma and Rachel are problematic because they raise the question of a double standard. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a fan claim that Hank shouldn't be dating Jan because he hit her but Emma should be teaching children or Rachel should be dating Steve. And if Rachel's crimes are forgivable, then why not USAgent's? Jon DubyaOctober 30, 2014 2:01 AM Captain America #357-364 Mention must be made to the really odd thing about this arc: the...er...interesting corner box on the cover. To be fair, Michael, that sort of thing has always been problematic with the "dating Catwoman" trope this relationship embodies. (Hell I think the trope is being used NOW in cotemparary issue of Captain America.) Despite that, I always enjoyed the Cap/Diamondback relationship, oddly enough. There's something rather intriguing about Diamondback's attempts to bring Cap out of his shell (also, in my minor defense, this was about the moment I started reading Captain America in real-time, so I missed some of Diamondback's more...questionable attributes the first time around.) Plus she does become a stronger character once she starts actually dating Cap as opose to merely pinning for him. I guess by then she feels she has less to "prove." DermieOctober 30, 2014 1:22 AM Captain America #357-364 I think you may be too harsh on the "look at that tushie move" line. After all, the super soldier serum has given Cap the 'perfect' male physique. If one is a fan of man butts, Cap's would undoubtedly be an impressive one. MikeCheyneOctober 29, 2014 11:59 PM Captain America #357-364 I loved Crossbones; he had such an unpretentious sadist quality about him. The readers at the time if I recall were convinced he was some older character in disguise; I remember one letter in particular focusing on his "speech patterns" (which to be fair were fairly distinctive). I agree that Gruenwald's scripting can seem weird. I felt he nailed Cap himself, as a calmly rational, kinda square dude, who would tend to talk and think in the way that Gruenwald wrote everybody...but this made everyone else seem stilted too. ChrisOctober 29, 2014 11:58 PM Captain America #357-364 This is the highlight of the Gruenwald era for Cap, and I don't it is a coincidence that Kieron Dwyer has co-plotting credits here. I would have loved to see him more involved in the stories here. Dwyer's art looks very good under Danny Bulandi's inks. The thinner line works much better than the heavier inks Milgrom used or Dwyer uses himself. I was surprised about the reveal about the Skull, although in retrospect Skull & Crossbones is painfully obvious. Mea culpa. The addition of Crossbones gives the Skull a great henchmen who can fight Cap as a near equal and allow the Skull to serve more as a mastermind villain. Gruenwald does a good job building up a "Team Skull" from this point forward. However, this unfortunately begins a prolonged subplot with Diamondback, and I never believed this romance angle worked. Gruenwald would have one or two more years of fairly good quality work (but not at this level), but afterwards the rot set in and stayed. BillOctober 29, 2014 11:12 PM Captain America #357-364 I like Scourge being in black in this story. It makes him seem more menacing. It would definitely be easier for him to hide in the shadows rather than his all white zoot suit! MichaelOctober 29, 2014 9:47 PM Captain America #357-364 The Conspiracy died in the cave where Bloodstone got his powers, not in their lair under Central Park. ChrisWOctober 29, 2014 9:26 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) I'm not sure what you mean by "reset" (other than your references to "Crisis" and "New 52," which are very heavily influenced by the concept of a cohesive fictional universe, or at least "Crisis" was, I haven't read "New 52.") What I mean by "reset" is that the characters at the end of the story were no different from the way they ended a previous story, or began it for that matter. The Legion of Superheroes was created in 1958, Jim Shooter started writing them in 1966, and when he returned in the mid-70s, they were still the characters he knew them as. This is closer to Ronald McDonald and Cap'n Crunch, who are not believable characters that undergo changes with each adventure or serialized installment. [Does the Cap'n even fight the Soggies anymore, much less get kidnapped by them, leaving the world to search for him?] Meanwhile, let's compare a random X-Men storyline, and not the one you'd expect either. In the first issue, Magneto forms an alliance with the Stranger, who winds up taking him and the other evil muties back to his home planet [and freeing Quicksilver and the Scarlett Witch to find new employment.] Xavier congratulates the X-Men for ridding the world of villains that they will never ever under any circumstances have to face again, but then Cerebro starts beeping about the brand-new threat headed directly towards them. "To be continued." This alone is character development from issue-to-issue. Then what happens the following issue? Xavier gives us part of his origin, while the Juggernaut closes in, relentless and unstoppable, until the two finally come face-to-face. Again, "To be continued." Jugs trashes the X-Men, and Xavier is forced to call in the Human Torch for help. Johnny is worried that this will affect Reed and Sue's upcoming wedding. This isn't the same Johnny Storm that made cameos in various issues of "Spider-Man." Or rather, it is the same Johnny, but he's grown and matured [as Reed pointed out a time or two in earlier issues of FF; Johnny may still be a girl-chasing hot-rodder, but he is not the kid from early issues of "FF."] At the end of the issue, the X-Men are all injured (except Charley and Jean) and at the beginning of the next issue, they're still recovering from those injuries. Good thing too, because they run into the Sentinels, another multi-issue story that leads to the X-Men being injured, and just when they return home, they wind up being captured by Magneto for yet another two-part story. When I say that the DC characters (or Harvey, or Archie) were reset for each new story, I mean that they rarely-if-ever acknowledged that they had had legs broken or parents kidnapped or villains taken away forever, while expositing an origin as the Juggernaut pounds ever nearer. The X-Men were different at the end of each issue than they were when they started, and the following issue began by taking that into account. I'm not talking about resetting decades of continuity, I'm saying that this story was so important to the characters that they remembered in the following issue, and the story built from there. clydeOctober 29, 2014 7:40 PM Captain America #357-364 I loved this summer event. It was my first real experience with Captain America. (I've since gotten all the issues from #250 on.) I especially was impressed with Crossbones. I had a feeling he would be a great recurring character. fnord12October 29, 2014 7:14 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #12-15 Thanks, Gary. I forgot to check his dog tag that time. Gary HimesOctober 29, 2014 7:08 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #12-15 I noticed at one point you refer to the Man-Beast as "Man-Wolf". Though they both use the same brand of flea powder, they're still 2 different guys. Despite his inherent silliness, I kind of like Razorback. The idea of a truck-driving superhero fighting crime along the highways and truck stops of America has a certain rustic charm. clydeOctober 29, 2014 12:36 PM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 JSfan - Spider-Man absolutely does not fit well in a group. Look at the time when he hung around with the Avengers. It was disastrous. He's not used to following orders or thinking with a group mentality. Mark DrummondOctober 29, 2014 10:14 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Cullen, the problem with ChrisW's rather strict terms for "resets" is that they would necessarily have to include big hunks of the MU during the 1970s and 1980s, and especially licensed characters used in the MU. Marvel legally can't refer in any way to Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, or the Human Fly these days, so have their stories been "reset" into non-existence? And how many times did Len Wein or Bill Mantlo reverse events or character developments in Hulk, Spider-Man, et al, effectively making them as if they never happened? Under ChrisW's criteria, those would be "resets" also. MichaelOctober 29, 2014 7:51 AM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 To be fair, JSFan, I think that Sabretooth could have easily guessed what Sable was trying to do.(But Sable should have known how his powers work.) JSfanOctober 29, 2014 6:47 AM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 323 is the only issue I have of this storyline and it was my intro to Todd's art. I didn't like it as it was too cartoony for my likening. It also looks like warm up sketch work. Does anyone else think that Spider-Man doesn't fit well in a group? To me he comes across as a joke character or someone not to be taken seriously. The stuff with Sable and Capt. America discussing a strategy plan and not including Spidey appears as if he's being left out of "grown up" discussions. Sabretooth: "My senses are as sharp as an animals, girly." He can mind read, too. fnord12October 28, 2014 10:29 PM New Mutants annual #5 Thanks, Cullen. cullenOctober 28, 2014 10:24 PM New Mutants annual #5 "...written by Judith Bogdanove and written by Jon Bogdanove..." MichaelOctober 28, 2014 9:33 PM New Mutants annual #5 Walter, a couple pages of Marvel Age 78 were recently posted: fnord12October 28, 2014 9:18 PM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 Thanks, Cullen. Fixed the event title. Michael, when there's no footnote it's really my discretion if i'm going to put in a Reference and the "Sabretooth? But I thought he was dead!" comment was vague enough especially for these characters that i didn't think it merited one. MichaelOctober 28, 2014 8:47 PM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 Shouldn't there be a "Sabretooth is believed to be dead as a result of X-Factor 39" reference? cullenOctober 28, 2014 8:18 PM Amazing Spider-Man #322-325 Sorry for not including this in the 'Thread of Shame' as is proper, but I'm having login issues with the forum: In the second paragraph, you refer to the storyline as "Assassination Nation" rather than "The Assassin Nation Plot." cullenOctober 28, 2014 7:25 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) (*because I might've been a bit unclear: I wasn't saying there is overwhelming evidence of aliens and gods in our world. But our world *does* have MK-Ultra and Project Paperclip, the Gulf of Tonkin, the Tuskegee Experiment, etc..!) cullenOctober 28, 2014 7:05 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Although the extent to which the Marvel U "bounces back" to "normalcy" strains suspension of belief pretty hardcore, I'll also offer this: the "real world" we all live in amply demonstrates the extent to which people will buy bogus or incredible explanations for phenomenon that they refuse to believe because it is incompatible with their world view. In fact I'd say people's willingness to disbelieve the existence of aliens, gods, and incredibly powerful secret organizations - despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary - functions as a metacommentary on how our 'comfortable' worldview blinds so many to things like: structural racism and institutionalized privilege, the daily degradations of patriarchal culture, an imperialistic military that is considered a global aggressor by large swaths of the world's population... and on and on. We'd rather have our worldview undisturbed than confront the unsettling reality - as would denizens of Earth-616. Maybe Zizek will let me ghostwrite an essay about it. Jon DubyaOctober 28, 2014 5:44 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) "One more thing- this issue went with the "the effects of Inferno vanished rapidly" explanation from New Mutants 74 and not the "dozens of people needed to be hospitalized" status quo from Power Pack 44 in order to make the hallucination explanation work." But Michael, that happened in THIS story as well. That's pretty much the explanation that M-Squad gives to why they're not elevator chow. For the most part I really don't get why they needed to do a "cover story" for this. Given that the inhabitants of Marvel comics live in a society where NYC is destroyed every other week by something ot other, I can't see how Inferno would be considered beyond the realm of plausibility. On the other hand though, Jean's explanation does give me pause. Note that she's says it's more about preserving preexisting belief systems more than anything else. I know that some of the books WERE getting some accusatory letters about Inferno around this time. Jon DubyaOctober 28, 2014 5:18 PM Uncanny X-Men #215-216 I know this is late, fnord, but part of your complaint about these people do get addressed much later on. For instance, it's established that part of Crimson Commando's power INCLUDE longevety, and once he became an M-Day victim he began growing into his age horribly (being fitted with cybernetic parts didn't help either.) david banesOctober 28, 2014 4:06 PM General Comments Welp Marvel has announced the lineup for Phase 3...Lots of 'yes' to be heard! cullenOctober 28, 2014 3:19 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Mark, while Chris might be overstating his case, I think he is referring to the general narrative principle of "Status Quo Is God" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StatusQuoIsGod) whereby successive stories featuring the same fictional characters depict little growth or building on previous ones. Lex Luthor "reforms" and it's all a trick... then it happens 10 issues later and everyone falls for it again. The mythology might introduce new elements which are carried over, but ultimately the characters don't change or grow. clydeOctober 28, 2014 2:52 PM Secret Wars II #6 BU - I don't think it's so strange that the Gardener shows up so frequently. The rest of the Elders are usually too busy plotting and scheming to take over the universe. They can't be bothered to show up to these regular meetings. :) fnord12October 28, 2014 2:20 PM Secret Wars II #6 Thanks, Dan. The MCP doesn't list him, but it does look like a partially miscolored One Above All, so i've added him. I originally thought he was just a "generic" Celestial. I do have trouble telling them apart. By the way, he is a *Celestial*, not an Eternal, right? Dan H.October 28, 2014 1:59 PM Secret Wars II #6 The Eternal called the One Above All is also shown with the rest of the cosmic gang, but isn't listed as a character appearing. Mark DrummondOctober 28, 2014 10:32 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) I'm not sure why you insist on declaring any non-Marvel story a "reset" simply because of lack of complexity or absence of references to past events. "Crisis on Infinite Earths" or this "New 52" stuff--now those were resets. Archie and Harvey were directed at small children; DC was aimed at older, late-grade school kids, and Marvel in the 1960s was increasingly aimed at older adolescents up to college students. Calling Archie's and Harvey's outputs constant "resets" because their content didn't match Marvel's complexity is like criticizing grapes for not being oranges. Shooter's statement about the Legion doesn't really prove your point--the Legion wasn't seen on a regular basis from 1971-73, and the perception that they hadn't changed would indicate that they HADN'T been reset. TCPOctober 28, 2014 9:42 AM Amazing Spider-Man #320 I can appreciate the attempt at a continuing storyline by Michelinie, but this turned into one of my least-favorite Spidey storylines ever. McFarlane's art has lost all of its charm at this point, and the kind of bloodshed that Spidey has to look the other way for in the course of this plot is just ridiculous. Ataru320October 28, 2014 9:22 AM Journey Into Mystery #114-119 Yeah, somehow got Eel and Cobra mixed up in my little comments. DermieOctober 28, 2014 12:12 AM She-Hulk #8 I've always really liked this issue. I re-read it every Christmas Eve. :) ChrisWOctober 27, 2014 11:22 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) So yeah, the characters were reset for each story. The Superman in the second story wouldn't have any reference to the first story, or the third. "Spider-Man" #2 is about as close as Marvel ever got to that kind of approach, where the first story was actively building the character Stan and Steve had created, and the second story was this weird anomaly that had much more in common with the short mystery/adventure/monster stories Marvel was already producing and moving away from. Even without fifty years of hindsight, the second story is a generic tale that could probably be done with any other superhero protagonist. The first story changes Peter (he gets a camera, he gets a job selling photos, he demonstrates previously-unmentioned scientific capabilities) and Spidey (mostly the same way, but he's also defeated by the Vulture in a foreshadowing of the way Doc Ock would beat him down the following issue) and Aunt May (remembering her dead husband, providing Petey with the means to help pay the bills) and introducing important characters(JJJ, the Vulture.) At the end of "Spider-Man" #2, he's already grown and changed from the character he was at the start of the issue, which is different than he was in "Spider-Man" #1, "Amazing Fantasy" #15 or "Spider-Man #3. Any random issue of "Superman" or "Action Comics" would have given the reader none of that, without even the acknowledgement that something important had happened until the nascent fandom recognized it. Archie and Harvey were aimed at kids. So were Superman and Spider-Man, and comic books in general. References to something important in Superman's life were handled in flashbacks because that's how these things were done at the time. "We're showing you this flashback to Superman's past because we say this has meaning to Superman's life, and Superman wipes a tear away from his eye so you know it's genuine." There is no sense of drama to compare to Spidey fighting the Master Planner to save Aunt May's life. Superman stays in the same place every issue and his life changes like glaciers, 90% below the surface. I always liked Jim Shooter's comment about returning to Marvel in the mid-70s and he didn't have a clue who any of these characters were or why they did what they did, so he went over to DC and found the Legion of Superheroes exactly where he'd left them. fnord12October 27, 2014 10:54 PM Hulk #362 Now i want a Tor Johnson vs. Hulk battle. Walter LawsonOctober 27, 2014 10:07 PM Hulk #362 The significance of the Yucca Flats location where the nuclear plant is located is that the Hulk was sometimes rumored to be based on the one-star 1961 horror movie "The Beast of Yucca Flats," http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_of_Yucca_Flats Uncanny MichaelOctober 27, 2014 8:34 PM She-Hulk #8 David Letterman's not real. Sorry, bud. fnord12October 27, 2014 7:56 PM She-Hulk #8 You know, the MCP does track Santa Claus, but i decided not to. I mean, i don't track other real people like presidents and David Letterman. I hope no one has anything really disappointing to tell me. Gary HimesOctober 27, 2014 7:43 PM She-Hulk #8 Soooo...no Nick St. Christopher in "Characters Appearing"? MichaelOctober 27, 2014 7:11 PM Journey Into Mystery #114-119 Eel- Ataru, you mean Cobra right? George GordonOctober 27, 2014 7:03 PM Hulk #362 These were such good issues. It's amazing how utterly horrible P.David's writing declined after the Pantheneon stuff and it seemed like he had no direction. George GordonOctober 27, 2014 6:58 PM Hulk #361 was reading this in real-time as a 10 year old kid and just loved it.. the grey Hulk was "my Hulk" and I remember loving that splash page. Marie Severin inking Jeff Purves did wonders for Purve's art, I think. kveto from pragueOctober 27, 2014 5:41 PM Iron Man #248 Not cost effective? So for the rich only? Arg, between half of Spider-man's problems stemming from not being able to afford medicine for his aunt and Tony Stark being able to buy cures that aren't for the unwashed masses, comics can be depressing when it comes to health care. they were actually making TS sympathetic by crippling him. He was no longer the rich guy that everything goes right for. Interesting for the 6 or so issues he was disabled for. Tony Stark sure is hard to like. Ataru320October 27, 2014 4:53 PM Power Pack #50-52 And then...Cosmic Whoopi Goldberg. Considering Ghost Rider met Jesus, I'm more shocked at this. MichaelOctober 27, 2014 3:50 PM She-Hulk #8 Note than in Marvel Fanfare 48, Morris Walters says that Jen hasn't called him since before she joined the Fantastic Four. It's ambiguous whether his call this issue should take place before or after that story. MichaelOctober 27, 2014 3:40 PM Power Pack #50-52 Now that Englehart is gone, poor Franklin is back to being four again. MichaelOctober 27, 2014 3:24 PM Iron Man #248 We'll get an explanation in issue 251 that the cure is not cost-effective for general use yet. fnord12October 27, 2014 3:17 PM Hulk #362 I hesitated with that reference since i wasn't sure what it's really referring to. But i've added it now. Jon DubyaOctober 27, 2014 2:46 PM Iron Man #248 Given how many people in comics are "miraculously" healed from paralysis (Oh hi, Professor X), I don't think Iron Man needs to distribute the cure in any case. JSfanOctober 27, 2014 2:38 PM Iron Man #248 Yep. When I saw he was cured I thought what a selfish git how could he not share this wonder cure with the rest of the world? I agree that physical therapy would have been a better answer. What a cop out MichaelOctober 27, 2014 2:29 PM Hulk #362 In Solo Avengers 3, Jack was using Dansen Macabre to control his werewolf side. Why couldn't he use her this issue? MichaelOctober 27, 2014 2:22 PM Iron Man #248 I agree that Tony was reckless in sleeping with a woman that he hardly knew and that Rhodey didn't trust but I don't think that it's fair to say that he took advantage of her or led her on. Tony was upfront with her that he didn't want anything more than casual sex. MichaelOctober 27, 2014 1:56 PM Moon Knight #6-7 At least they finally put some clothes on Chloe. MichaelOctober 27, 2014 1:55 PM Hulk #361 This issue confirms that the Maggia had Cloot on call whenever they needed him. This raises the question of why they never used him against the heroes before Vegas arc. It's irrelevant, since later writers ignored the idea that there was a supernatural aspect to the Maggia, which was probably for the best. MegaSpiderManOctober 27, 2014 11:29 AM Captain America #256 Wow, take out the narration box in that last panel and you've got yourself a rather awkward looking situation. Mark DrummondOctober 27, 2014 11:23 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Magneto) The Comics Code was getting extremely mushy when it came to violence at this time. Not too long after this, an issue of Alpha Flight supposedly showed someone's spine getting ripped out(or vomited up), causing comic critic Don Thompson to moan "If the CCA doesn't object to things like this, what on earth is it for?" Mark DrummondOctober 27, 2014 11:15 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) I'm not denying that the pre-Bronze age stories for Superman, Batman, et al. were far simpler and less complex than the Marvel Universe; your statement was that those characters were regularly "reset" and that wasn't the case. Weisinger's Superman certainly did have referrals to past events; they simply tended to show up as flashback panels rather than footnotes with issue numbers, as well as showing up less frequently than Marvel would use them. The Archie and Harvey titles were directed toward much younger child readers; continuity and universe-building are irrelevant concerns toward the aims of those books. It's exceedingly rare that even their covers would have any relation to what went on inside them. david banesOctober 27, 2014 3:41 AM Avengers #202 I don't know then, maybe I was thinking of a different robot villain. I'll re-check AVengers 66 but I do clearly remember the platform body. ChrisWOctober 26, 2014 9:55 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Richie Rich never has to consider his endless wealth. Neither does Uncle Scrooge. Archie never has more than temporary difficulties with Reggie, Moose, Principal Weatherbee, Miss Grundee, Betty or Veronica. Sad Sack is always Sad Sack. Hell, Beetle Bailey's been in the Army for 70 years and he's still a Private. Mort Weisinger did add to the Superman mythologies, but he just turned the dial up to 10 and made ten louder. Stan, Jack and Steve turned the dial up to 11. ChrisWOctober 26, 2014 9:49 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) But the mythology Weisinger built around Superman never really depended on anybody learning anything from a given story, or even referring to previous stories. Superman spent his first decade never even knowing about Krypton's existence, and then it became an inescapable part of the Man of Steel's mythos. Spider-Man, the FF and the X-Men eventually learned about events, they remembered what had happened to them in previous issue ("When Uncle Ben was killed") and it built them up, as characters and storylines. Batman's had a dinosaur and a giant penny in the Batcave almost as long as he's had a sidekick, and very few readers know where they came from. Like the different colors of kryptonite, they simply are. There's no awareness of what happened last month. Betty Brant occasionally suspected something about Peter, and she even saw Spidey unmasked by Dr. Octopus, but it all made sense from her perspective and she didn't dwell on it. Try dating Betty and Veronica for a few months and see how far that gets you. [Beyond a few high fives; dude, you made it with Betty *and* Veronica??? Way cool!] fnord12October 26, 2014 9:22 PM Avengers #202 David, not sure what you're thinking of. Ultron-6 in Avengers #66-67 had a machinery platform for the lower half of his body. Then there's Ultron's appearance in Marvel Two-In-One #92 which follows this story and has him controlling Jocasta while he's still under the adamantium slag. Neither really sound like what you're looking for, though. fnord12October 26, 2014 9:09 PM Iron Man #247 Michael, i think it's more that the guy recognized the Hulk, whether or not he knew that he was supposed to be dead or alive (and of course it was really just a jokey introduction for readers). ChrisOctober 26, 2014 9:07 PM Iron Man #248 I know Layton's original plans for Armor Wars II were going to address the "paralysis cure", but I don't know if this was to be the set up, or if this was considered only after the fact (regardless, Layton's departure ended his original idea). At the time, as a fan I was really upset by this cheat. The entire storyline of the paralysis was poorly done (the shooting was OK). If they were just going to run a paralysis storyline for several months and move on, it would have been better to just have him get shot, be paralyzed, but have the damage be something that physical therapy might help given enough time. It would have allowed them to do everything they wanted, but not need to resort to this kind of gimmick. ChrisOctober 26, 2014 9:01 PM Iron Man #247 JSFan,this can be a common problem for Iron Man, as lazy writing creates new gizmos whenever a new challenge happens. The Michelenie/Layton team likes to come up with nifty new things for Iron Man, but usually they put some effort in introducing them so it is not out of the blue. Not always, but usually. The best Iron Man runs have a status quo, and keep Iron Man's powers set, and if they introduce anything new, it's low key and only after a long period. But it is easy to screw this up. MichaelOctober 26, 2014 7:46 PM Iron Man #247 The guy at the airport seems to know the Hulk is alive but at the end of Hulk 359, only Cloot and Berengetti knew that. JSfanOctober 26, 2014 4:49 PM Iron Man #247 I believe this has been mentioned before by fans but iron man seems to have gadgets for every occasion a bit like batman. It's a bit too much david banesOctober 26, 2014 4:45 PM Avengers #202 I might have missed a scan but after seeing the Avengers 2 trailer I started re-reading not just Shooter Avengers but also any Ultron issue. I didn't track down his 60s issues but I could have sworn one of his 70s appearances featured Ultron having half his body be in a partial state of melt for most of the issue. I thought it was this one but maybe not. Gabe Torrence October 26, 2014 12:05 PM Iron Man #93-94 I do love all comics including this one but it is not the Kraken I'm looking for. Mark DrummondOctober 26, 2014 2:28 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Just a quick clarification: Weisinger never reset Superman in the contemporary sense of it. He did slowly build a mythology around Superman during his editorship; he simply didn't make a lot of references to past stories. His "resets" tended to be specifically labelled Dreams or Imaginary Stories. MichaelOctober 25, 2014 8:04 PM Power Pack #50-52 They WERE replaced but circa issue 55, so that doesn't invalidate the brainwashed parents thingie. MichaelOctober 25, 2014 7:52 PM Iron Man #246 Another clue- note that Rae's thoughts make it seem like she doesn't want to go to Whitney's funeral. SteveROctober 25, 2014 7:49 PM Captain America #192 Seeing Karla's navel makes me think Frank Robbins only dressed her with ammo straps and guns. I guess the colorist was asked to "make as if she's dressed". Jay DemetrickOctober 24, 2014 11:01 PM Moon Knight #6-7 And Devil Slayer. He's still around. Rob GOctober 24, 2014 10:53 PM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) but it isn't slightest critiscm at all its nonstop its like he cant give one roy Thomas written issue even a pleasant reading experience and you can tell when he makes joke comments fnord is really enjoying tearing the guy to pieces its like he enjoys pushing him down. thank god he isn't reviewing the dc stuff roy Thomas wrote and he also doesn't give dann Thomas any credit ChrisOctober 24, 2014 9:44 PM Moon Knight #6-7 I agree, fun issues. I was really hoping this is more the direction we'd beheading for this title, but alas it wasn't so. Midnight is such a boring character. The Brother Voodoo appearance, however, was awesome. I thought it was a cool use of a character that otherwise seemed lame. I wanted him to show up again. I also wanted some of Marvel's other minor league "horror heroes" and "horror villains" pop up - something like a street level occult genre. We'd see Black Talon, Werewolf by Night, Blade, the Living Mummy and ; not Mephisto, Damion Hellstrom, Baron Mordo, or Jennifer Kale. It didn't need to be a dominant focus of the book, but I think a monster hunting hero would have been a good hook for the character in addition to his pulpish villains. AndrewOctober 24, 2014 8:55 PM Avengers #291-294 I don't think we can give Shooter that much credit, PO. He did a great job of helping Marvel mature, for example by reacting the way he did to the abysmal Avengers 150. On the other hand, he also empowered editors over creators, and you could argue that this led to Roger Stern's firing as much as anything. And it's not as if Shooter knew what good writing looked like -- after all the money Secret Wars made, he seemed to think he knew something about writing, but then he did Secret Wars 2, not to mention the New Universe, plus some of Avengers low points (ie the rape of Ms. Marvel). And there's no reason to believe that Shooter wouldn't have gone after the money in the post Spider-Man #1 bubble era. I think the mid-80s were just the ideal time for comics. The goofiness of the 60s and the experimentation of the 70s were in the rear view, and creators basically knew what worked, and you couldn't yet print money just by coming up with a cover gimmick. Print comics are dying for a lot of reasons -- so are all print media. I don't think Shooter could have done much to stop that. JSfanOctober 24, 2014 7:25 PM Iron Man #246 UM, he can count my mistake. :) Vincent ValentiOctober 24, 2014 4:50 PM Moon Knight #6-7 Those are some nice early Mark Farmer inks. Ataru320October 24, 2014 4:45 PM Journey Into Mystery #114-119 Looking through the evolution of Thor through this site again, I think the reason this is the point the comic becomes so epic is simply this is the point where they fully go through with figuring out Thor's position as a "God" instead of merely a man who can become a god. Prior to this arc, Thor was just a super-hero and the fact he was a Norse god was just background material. Sure you had access to characters like Odin and Loki and Balder and occasional aspects like his battle with Hercules, but Thor mostly fought the same weird stuff like Communists, super villains, criminals and the like. He was basically Donald Blake who happened to become Thor the God, keeping a doctors practice and pining for Jane Foster. Sure he did have notable villains that emerged early on like Eel, Mr. Hyde or the Grey Gargoyle, but obviously the god threats like Loki and later Amora and the Executioner or matters like fighting Hercules were more interesting, let alone Kirby was allowed to get wild with the Tales of Asgard setting up this fantastic world...which was locked away and only seen in flashback due to Donald Blake being Thor. But this is the point where it finally reverses: the Norse matters are just so much more interesting and the gods are so engrained in the series now that this is what makes the series, not Donald Blake pining for Jane Foster and running around as a Norse thunder god on the side. People want to see the craziness that Kirby can come up with in this landscape and Kirby wants to really unleash here as he is doing with the Fantastic Four. And thus, from this point with the Absorbing Man, the Trial of the Gods and the Destroyer (which more or less is Kirby's own admiration or acknowledgement of "Chariot of the Gods"), Thor is the dominant one, so dominant that eventually we get the "Donald Blake was a construct all along" retcon. It was all for the better as Kirby finally was able to unleash the golden age of this comic in full. (even if the humanizing aspects of why Donald Blake exists gets lost in the process) fnord12October 24, 2014 3:39 PM Doctor Strange #10 Dr. Strange rushed out of the house when he heard the message from Victor; that's why he's shirtless. dermieOctober 24, 2014 3:26 PM Doctor Strange #10 Any particular reason why Dr. Strange is going out in public half-naked to fight vampires? Also, what is up with Rintrah's pose in that ass-shot panel? He looks like he's doing squats or something. david banesOctober 24, 2014 2:49 PM Avengers #164-166 There was a little too much action for me when Nefaria got super powers. I normally like it when after a span of less super-strength punchers we get a nice long chunk of it but this was a little too much action over two issues. It was very much 'we need to see how this heavy hitter fights him. Didn't work...maybe this heavy hitter-no good. Uh maybe Vision AND Thor?' It was enjoyable but maybe if Nefaria left there was a break issue with a smaller issue then he came back to finish it and by then Thor can pop in and Vision recovered. david banesOctober 24, 2014 2:43 PM Iron Man #246 "Maybe I should have fired you to another planet!" I didn't realize Tony's quip organ was also damaged. Uncanny MichaelOctober 24, 2014 1:39 PM Iron Man #246 Hmm... I'm pretty sure fnord can count. :) JSfanOctober 24, 2014 1:06 PM Iron Man #246 Yeah, I'm doing a fnord.:) clydeOctober 24, 2014 12:26 PM Iron Man #246 JSfan - don't you mean three titles? JSfanOctober 24, 2014 12:13 PM Iron Man #246 Iron Man, Spider-Man and Cap America are the only two titles I'm enjoying at the moment. RobertOctober 24, 2014 7:36 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Rob, the worst thing fnord says about Thomas in this review is that his style since returning to Marvel is "overly flippant." That's a fair point. I don't get what all the fuss is about. Because Thomas is a legend in the industry he should be exempt from even the slightest criticism? I've read some of the other entries where you made these complaints and, again, it seems much ado about nothing. I haven't seen fnord (or anyone else) call into question Thomas' legacy. Even the best writers have written some stinkers and, let's face it, this annual is not making Roy's highlight reel. fnord12October 24, 2014 7:34 AM Power Pack #50-52 I thought it was revealed that the parents had been replaced. I read that issue without (mercifully) having read all of these, so i may have not connected all the details correctly. I'll hedge my comment here for now and revise when i get to that issue. JSfanOctober 24, 2014 7:18 AM Daredevil #271-273 I actually enjoyed this issue. I'm not a fan of Nocenti, sometimes I find her writing pretentious but this one was good although, I'm not sure how we ended up from the genetic engineering of chickens to genetic engineering of humans. Rob GOctober 24, 2014 12:31 AM Doctor Strange #10 Again unfair standards on Roy Thomas. I never read this series but based on the scans you show here it shows Roy can write anything even Vertigo type stories Rob GOctober 24, 2014 12:27 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) i know its your site your rules but i thought we had the right to speak out. its almost like you run an anti-Roy Thomas site at times Rob GOctober 24, 2014 12:25 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Bro I am not trying to troll or make it personal so you trying to throw me under the bus makes no sense. I am not selling art so your comment make no sense the point is that I stuck up for you fnord and I simply notice a pattern where you go out of your way to bury Roy Thomas who is a legend in the comics and I feel at this point its just your own personal issue with him and it shows in your review of every single thing the dude ever wrote so it means i cant enjoy it when i know you go out of your way to trash the guy MichaelOctober 23, 2014 11:32 PM Power Pack #50-52 Also, fnord, I don't think this arc was the catalyst for Simonson returning- the parents thing was not clearly retconned away in the Power Pack Holiday Special- it was more, "Yrik's sorry": davidbanesOctober 23, 2014 10:35 PM Daredevil #271-273 From these scans Number 9 kind of reminds me of 60s Sue Storm...and Janet...and Marvel Girl...and... ChrisOctober 23, 2014 9:46 PM Daredevil #271-273 Just imagine how awful this would be if the artists was Al Milgrom. It'd be unreadable, but because JRJr is drawing it it is passable. I really have to admit that a quality artists is much more important than a quality writer. A bad writer can't ruin great art. A bad artist can ruin a great writer. MichaelOctober 23, 2014 9:41 PM Doctor Strange #10 This isn't the last time something like this happens with Roy Thomas- Bobbi and Clint wind up on the outs again because Roy didn't read Avengers Spotlight 25- but at least Roy comes up with an explanation for the discrepancy in issue 15. MichaelOctober 23, 2014 9:29 PM Power Pack #50-52 Fnord, I think the idea is supposed to be if the Powers find out their kids are Power Pack, their minds will collapse- it doesn't matter what the kids say after that, the collapse can't be reversed as long as they believe the kids are Power Pack. I can see how Bogdanove thought this was consistent with the parents' strange behavior after Yrik healed them and Margaret thinking that kids couldn't have powers, except Franklin- I don't know what Simonson was thinking when she wrote those things. But this was stil a bad idea. fnord12October 23, 2014 9:17 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 I honestly don't think Austin thought about it at all. I was just making a joke. MichaelOctober 23, 2014 8:43 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Fnord.I don't think Austin necessarily figured Jip's magic was stronger than Roma's, just than S'ym's. Remember, in issue 232, S'ym was able to have a two-way conversation in the dreamscape with Maddie despite Roma's spell. It was never explained how- it's possible Austin thought it was S'ym's dark magic, although another possible theory could be S'ym monitoring the computer which was monitoring Maddie. This really should have been explained during Inferno. Fnord, you defended Simonson not explaining inconsistencies like this during Inferno but this is the problem- what explanation you come up with affects whether Jip should be able to do something similar. If S'ym was able to use the computer to bypass Roma's spell, then maybe Jip did something similar. Thanos6October 23, 2014 8:02 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) They could just do the events and let the natural repercussions happen, but they're too skittish of real change to do that. Jon DubyaOctober 23, 2014 7:30 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 There's an obvious parallel to Uncanny #143 for the Jubilee back-up. This was a poor showing of both the Serpent Society and the X-Men.Diamondback comes off especially odd, "seducing" Wolverine since she's generally portrayed as pining only for Cap. clydeOctober 23, 2014 6:38 PM Power Pack #50-52 Was Cosmic Whoopi's power able to affect her skin color? she went from dark-skinned to pink. david banesOctober 23, 2014 4:46 PM Daredevil #4 He'll want stuff from across the planet! He doesn't want to just fly over to the west coast to get that package from Amazon for free! Gary HimesOctober 23, 2014 4:38 PM Daredevil #4 Why does the Purple Man even need money to begin with? If he wants anything he just has to ask for it. Why bother paying? clydeOctober 23, 2014 4:25 PM Doctor Strange #10 FNORD - Regarding that first scan, I guess you haven't heard about the "Popeye" diet. But, clearly Morgana has. fnord12October 23, 2014 4:16 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Claremont only wrote the Jubilee back-up. The main story was written by Terry Austin, who obviously had a high opinion of his Mr. Jip character from his Cloak & Dagger run and must have figured his dark magic was stronger than Roma's. Jay DemetrickOctober 23, 2014 4:08 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 And here is another example of their "invisible to detection" spell not working as Mr. Jip seems to be able to spy on them rather easily. Does that Mean Mr. Jip is more powerful than Roma?And Claremont actually wrote this you say? clydeOctober 23, 2014 4:03 PM Web of Spider-Man #55 The problem with that is that he would make a deal with Mephisto when he goes to his final resting place down below and be reincarnated. kveto from pragueOctober 23, 2014 3:57 PM Web of Spider-Man #55 Well, if they had killed him I doubt they'd have needed to worry about his wrath. you know, him being dead and all. Much more likely to incur his wrath by doing what they did, shooting at him and missing. Jay DemetrickOctober 23, 2014 3:46 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) If you've placed this before Judgement War, the explanation could be that Cyclops is on Muir Island dealing with Master Mold and Archangel & Iceman are watching the baby in England. If we do the tricky placement after Judgement War, then who knows? Untold story. clydeOctober 23, 2014 3:28 PM Web of Spider-Man #55 kveto - obviously they missed on purpose. Even they're not foolish enough to incur the Kingpin's wrath. kveto from pragueOctober 23, 2014 3:13 PM Web of Spider-Man #55 Hammerhead needs to hire better gunmen. How can they miss the kingpin when he is 3 times the size of everybody else and makes no effort to take cover? kveto from pragueOctober 23, 2014 3:05 PM Amazing Spider-Man #320 The Assassination plot was the first real attempt at a decent story by Michelnie in ASM. It shows that he could write well when he wanted to. Although each issue feels more like a MTU issue. Its not a great plot for Spider-man (I think it might have worked better in IM or somewhere) but its a good story that somehow snuck into ASM. The usual Macfarlane comments apply. (Isnt it interesting how the size of Paladin's goggles change from panel to panel. It must be nice not to give a sh*t about proportions. Art lessons are for sissies.) But with a multi-part story Todd has extra pages to get his rocks off. clydeOctober 23, 2014 10:38 AM Web of Spider-Man #55 I suppose she could have tried Jack Russell. But, they don't live in the same city. JSfanOctober 23, 2014 9:41 AM Web of Spider-Man #55 Clyde, I agree but there are better werewolves out there. Why did she have to choose him? :) clydeOctober 23, 2014 9:40 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) ChrisW - It's Marvel Team-Up Annual #5. clydeOctober 23, 2014 9:36 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) I always got the impression that Ghaur was looking for women with super-powers. If that was the case, the heroes are in the spotlight a lot more than "regular" women with powers. clydeOctober 23, 2014 9:28 AM Web of Spider-Man #55 JSfan - Werewolves need to be loved just like the rest of us ;) fnord12October 23, 2014 7:58 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) There isn't an explanation given for why Jean was taken. As for Andromeda, when Jean is initially out of the tracker beam, you have Ghaur yelling at his servant about not having gotten her back already, and the servant's excuse is that there are a lot of life forms in the area now, including another lady. And Ghaur is like, another lady?! Grab her too! So maybe Ghaur just didn't get out much to meet a lot of women. I assume the fact that the rest of X-Factor isn't involved would have been explained by the tie-in to this issue that never happened. fnord12October 23, 2014 7:52 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) We at least did see Dagger and She-Hulk receive the Mark of Set. I originally assumed that somehow all the Brides got the Mark of Set and then got whisked away on tractor beams when the time came, like we saw with Jean Grey. But then in the next issue we saw Ghaur personally show up to collect the Invisible Woman. So yeah, seems like inconsistency due to lack of coordination. fnord12October 23, 2014 7:47 AM Punisher War Journal #8-9 Yep, coming soon. JSfanOctober 23, 2014 6:07 AM Punisher War Journal #8-9 Hey, Fnord. Will you be reviewing the Shadow Masters limited series? JSfanOctober 23, 2014 5:31 AM Web of Spider-Man #55 Man, I feel sorry for Glory she obviously has some mental problems if she's looking for love with a criminal werewolf. JSfanOctober 23, 2014 5:13 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #154 I love Sal's art. I also like the way he doesn't have to resort to cheesecake shots when showing MJ workout like Todd. Different generation of artist with different sensiblities. JSfanOctober 23, 2014 4:47 AM Amazing Spider-Man #320 I've noticed you don't have much to review on this book. The book is turning into just pages of pin-ups. We're entering the age of artists becoming stars and storytelling gets thrown at the wayside. I must admit, that the book in terms of story and art is going downhill since Todd took over art duties. Luis DantasOctober 23, 2014 4:14 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) So we never get to see how Ghaur captured Ororo, Dagger or even She-Hulk (despite her prominent appearances in no less than three of the previous annuals)? This looks like all Annuals were made at the same time with very loose supervision. david banesOctober 23, 2014 3:00 AM Avengers #127 Not Maximus? Okay...time to panic. david banesOctober 23, 2014 2:59 AM Avengers #66-68 I just realized that this is the third time they've used Ultron in about a year. Ultron the Venom of the 60s' for the Avengers? Erik RobbinsOctober 23, 2014 2:09 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) What was Ghaur's criteria for choosing brides? They were all superheroes, which was not wise in hindsight. ("How do I ensure that every active superhero team is interested in opposing my plans? I know - I will kidnap a member from each one. I'll even take Dagger to represent unaffiliated heroes. And Andromeda because, eh, why not?")* Looking at it, though, it seems he was just kind of lazy about it for the most part. Five of them drew his attention to them while interfering with his plans. ("Yep, she'll do.") Only Jean and the Scarlet Witch were specifically sought after. Wanda was chosen because of past association with the Serpent Crown. Is it said why he went after Jean? david banesOctober 23, 2014 12:32 AM Avengers #157-159 Super-telekinesis and gravity manipulation are practically the same thing! Just ask the Red Ghost's Orangutan. Hm, re-reading it Graviton and the woman he loves seems like a rough draft of the coming Korvac story. ChrisWOctober 23, 2014 12:07 AM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) And that diminishes the reading experience. Even worse, the writers, artists and editors have to ignore it, or work around it, which diminishes their work, and in turn affects the readership. The Death of Phoenix couldn't happen under these circumstances (or Elektra) much less the next decade of X-titles that became the industry standard. Marvel wasn't built by telling the audience to ignore what had happened before. The alternative is "Archie," or Mort Weisinger's "Superman" which reset the characters to their default position every single story, even if it takes place within the same issue. The genius of the Marvel Universe is that the characters are different by the end of their 20+ page adventure than they were when they started, and began the next adventure from that state. So there's a build-up that neither the writers, readers or characters can avoid, and only the editor can say "never mind," which would sink the sales right away. Not saying there's a good solution, only that there was a brewing problem, and God help us, McFarlane, Liefeld and Lee pointed a way out. MikeCheyneOctober 22, 2014 11:52 PM Cloak and Dagger #6-8 Do you think Sandman's retirement plays a role? Seems like a lot of his gigs (Frightful Four, villain muscle) would have been obvious Sandman appearances in the past. Uncanny MichaelOctober 22, 2014 10:57 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #154 I think it's hilarious that the goons think their "fortune is made" because he's an "excellent lover." What a creepy gang. ChrisOctober 22, 2014 10:55 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) There are lot more examples of points of no return when the cumulative effect of these super-hero stories would massively change the world so it is very different than our own. However, a shared universe which a new reader expects to be similar to the real world when he picks up his first comic can't reflect that. So we have lots of stories that accumulate over the years which should have caused massive changes, but don't. The only real solution is to keep such stories very tightly under lid and make it very clear to the editors and writers that such things can't be done. But that doesn't happen. So instead, we readers just have to learn to ignore it. MichaelOctober 22, 2014 10:13 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) To be fair, in Inferno's case, New Mutants 74 suggests that a side effect of the spell being broken was people's wounds were healed and their memories were blurred. The problem is Power Pack 44 contradicts that. MichaelOctober 22, 2014 9:56 PM Cloak and Dagger #6-8 What was it about Hydro-Man? He kept appearing in plenty of comics around this time even though he'd only appeared sparingly in his first several years as a villain. People even wrote in to the letters page about it. ChrisWOctober 22, 2014 9:50 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) That part is very stupid and the sort of thing that drives kids who are getting older (or even adults) out of comic book superheroes. "Inferno" alone would have physically or mentally traumatized thousands of people, minimum. People having heat stroke from the intense heat prior to the demon attacks. People having their hands bit off by mailboxes. J. Jonah Jameson would be the first one to admit that Spider-Man and people like him saved the day, and the Daily Bugle staff would walk out if he tried to do one more of his headlines that have always proven false in the past. These people saw X-Factor's giant ship nearly smash the city less than a year ago. Stan Lee chuckling "Superheroes? In New York? Give me a break" is very funny and works perfectly, but come on. A suburb of Denver vanished for a week to become part of Battleworld, and no one even mentions this? The Rocky mountains were nearly destroyed and no one mentions this? Dr. Strange even gets killed by the Beyonder - the video's still on Youtube! - and no one asks who this Beyonder is, and these are just the first major events that come to mind that citizens of the overall Marvel Universe have to glide past. Remember when that Galactus guy showed up and said he'd eat the planet? That video's on Youtube too. ChrisWOctober 22, 2014 9:32 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) I'd never noticed the 'editorially-driven' style of the crossover until fnord pointed it out in the review of the first installment, but I wonder if it was also driven by Roy Thomas and John Byrne's recent return to Marvel. The Thor annual and this one as well, both written by Thomas, dug deep into continuity for stuff like Atum and the Demiurge, whom I know nothing about to this day. The West Coast Avengers annual was written and drawn by Byrne, and seems intended to fit in the disparate characters and plotlines as much as possible (the Seven Brides) and is possibly the best annual in the bunch. Granted, I barely remember any of them other than from the recaps here, but you know what I mean. Other than the Silver Surfer annual (which gave it a vaguely-cosmic feel) and Iron Man (which had a big fight and set up the Namor-is-dead plotline) the start mostly featured the street-level characters (Punisher, Spider-Man, Daredevil) or those who were otherwise engaged (the X-Men and New Mutants) to build up the "Save Our Society" program, even if it didn't lead to anything. By the end, they bring together all the heavy hitters (including Thomas and Byrne) for a big team-up across multiple installments. One envisions the editorial staff (plus Thomas, Gruenwald, etc.) sitting down to hammer out the overall plot and deciding which characters should deal with which part. "What do we with the X-Men?" "Oh, Claremont will work something out. And we'll have a female or two become one of the brides at the end." This story was about as deep as I ever got as a follower of Marvel continuity and - especially with the back-up recaps of the Serpent Crown's history - felt more like a sequel to the "Evolutionary War" than anything else. Which I enjoyed at the time, less so now. Oddly, I preferred the "Evolutionary War," despite it being an inferior story, more haphazard and not building to any real conclusion. I'd never heard of the High Evolutionary or any of the stuff in the back-ups, but here I knew Ghaur from the "Eternals" miniseries and the Serpent Crown from "Marvel Team-Up" Annual I-don't-remember-but-I've-found-it-on-this-site-before. MichaelOctober 22, 2014 9:17 PM Web of Spider-Man #55 Interesting comments about Peter's immaturity- Slott has been criticized for writing Peter as too immature but apparently other writers occasionally did that too. fnord12October 22, 2014 9:11 PM Punisher War Journal #8-9 I've added Damage as a character appearing. Thanks, Mike. david banesOctober 22, 2014 9:11 PM Amazing Spider-Man #320 I was an idiot when I first read these four or five years ago so I figured Aunt May was once again approaching death's door. Naturally Peter was going to save her without having to resort to a demon just yet. I remember they collected McFarlene's stuff in trades amongst this were the six issues of the Assination, sorry FIVE issues. They left out the penultimate issue because it was drawn by someone else. Jack asses! JeffOctober 22, 2014 8:46 PM Amazing Spider-Man #267 This is a great issue but something about it has perplexed me for years. Why did Peter David (who was writer of PPTSSM at the time) skip issue 104 and instead write ASM 266 and 267? Either this issue or last could have easily fit as SSM 104 ... if DeFalco was going to miss an issue or two, why didn't the Mantlo story that appeared in 104 instead appear here. Has Peter David ever publicly commented on this? MichaelOctober 22, 2014 8:44 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #154 I never understood what the point of Eduardo's goons watching him and Glory make out was. MichaelOctober 22, 2014 8:43 PM Amazing Spider-Man #320 When I first read the cliffhanger, I thought they were making it too obvious that Nathan was dying and not May. Anyone else feel that way? MichaelOctober 22, 2014 8:35 PM Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (Marvel Graphic Novel #38) Nova's growing reluctance to feed inhabited planets was a theme throughout the early years of Ron Marz's Silver Surfer run. In one of his first issues, we see a flashback that it started with an encounter with the Surfer, which maybe we can say took place shortly before this. BillOctober 22, 2014 7:49 PM Amazing Spider-Man #320 "Mary Jane wanking material"...what's wrong with that? She doesn't seem the type to mind. *rimshot* BillOctober 22, 2014 7:43 PM Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (Marvel Graphic Novel #38) Galactus vs. Mephisto?? How did I never see such a matchup before? Talk about a cool fight! MikeCheyneOctober 22, 2014 7:34 PM Punisher War Journal #8-9 "Damage," the gang leader, pops up again in the Punisher/Wolverine miniseries as a cyborg assassin. fnord12October 22, 2014 6:42 PM Hulk #353 Man, that sliding timescale is something else. I swear it said six months the last time i looked at this issue. It probably said three years when i read it in realtime. Thanks, gfsdf! gfsdf gfbdOctober 22, 2014 6:37 PM Hulk #353 "...where he finally learns that he's been out of commission for six months." Three months, actually. BillOctober 22, 2014 10:51 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Dermie, your explanation made me spit up my coke I was drinking. Good one! DermieOctober 22, 2014 10:20 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) I'll say that shortpants Thor was a side-effect of the magic Dr. Strange used to phase the heroes through the roof of his building. Thor's pants were just slightly out of phase with the rest of him and had not yet rematerialized. :) MichaelOctober 22, 2014 8:01 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) I have to wonder if problems like this contributed to Harras ordering Claremont to end the Australian period early. But yeah, there was really no reason for the X-Men not to reveal they were alive after Inferno. fnord12October 22, 2014 7:52 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Rob, i find it odd that you've stood up for my site (somewhere? not actually on my site) when i've criticized Thomas' generally well regarded Silver Age works but it's a bridge too far when i criticize his part of a crass crossover event where he was just fulfilling an editor's plot outline. To each his own, of course. I do suspect your choice of username means this is all some kind of performance art, in which case it's pretty good. But just in case you are being sincere, i refer you to my previous response to your complaints. Uncanny MichaelOctober 22, 2014 5:27 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) When reading my above comment, please replace "the second" with "the former" so it reads at least a little like a coherent thought. :) Uncanny MichaelOctober 22, 2014 5:27 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Michael: yes, I think that the Storm thing is much sillier than destroying Atlantis twice. The latter was clearly just an editorial mix-up. The second was a bunch of creators and editors deciding to shoehorn in the X-Men by giving it the least amount of thought possible. I wonder if part of this is Claremont's fault for a) not participating in the crossover and b) not letting anyone else play with his toys. Given that the X-Men's return from the dead would be handled with such a thud anyway, maybe this would indeed have been a good time to reveal their return to the other heroes before shunting them off through the Siege Perilous as planned. Once X-Factor knows they're alive, what kind of drama is left in the reveal anyway? Rob GranitoOctober 22, 2014 5:00 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) once again fnord launches his assault on the work and writing of roy thomas a true hall of famer if there ever was one. fnord in my time i have defended your site i have supported your site i have stood up for your site but you are about to lose my endorsement with this constant criticism of roy thomnas and his work and how he doenst do enough for you. i dont know if he rejected your submision to Marvel back in the day or what the issue is but i am over it. roy thomas is a living legend but every entry you tear him to pieces the guy has 60 years in the comic industrys i think he knows what hes doing StevenOctober 22, 2014 3:17 AM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) This is the first comic that I ever bought. ChrisOctober 22, 2014 1:41 AM Avengers annual #18 (Quasar) A cute little segment, but it has a Mary Sue stink all over it. I think the Quasar actually had some nifty things in it, but Byrne was forced by Gruenwald to include Quasar in the Avengers simply because Gruenwald wanted his character to be in the Avengers. I never liked it when some brand new character (OK, Quasar isn't new, but he's been a cipher that has only appeared in a few issues - he may as well be new) was let into the Avengers. I always thought Earth's Mightiest Heroes should only induct heroes who have already proven their worth. Quasar has a similar power set that Stern's Captain Marvel had which Gruenwald got rid of. But at least Captain Marvel had a better costume, added some diversity, and slowly proved her worth over 50 issues or so. cullenOctober 22, 2014 1:05 AM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) A real downside of this style of line-wide crossover is it invites you to make direct comparisons between artists, because everyone is more or less drawing the same characters. What is up with the *conclusion* of this Epic Storyline having such devastatingly weak art? Did inker DeZuniga really infect the work? Buckler isn't normally this bad. Was it a total rush-job? Would like insight if anyone has any. MichaelOctober 21, 2014 9:36 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) One more thing- this issue went with the "the effects of Inferno vanished rapidly" explanation from New Mutants 74 and not the "dozens of people needed to be hospitalized" status quo from Power Pack 44 in order to make the hallucination explanation work. fnord12October 21, 2014 9:25 PM Amazing Spider-Man #70 Thanks, Enchlore. Added him. Ataru320October 21, 2014 9:15 PM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) Meh, if Doctor Doom can use time travel to go to the Secret Wars and Medusa can briefly escape captivity to see the original Captain Marvel die, then I'm sure there's a better explanation for that orange striped catgirl that happens to be in this mini-series than whatever Byrne says. Enchlore♠October 21, 2014 9:15 PM Amazing Spider-Man #70 JJJ isn't listed as a character appearing. MichaelOctober 21, 2014 9:10 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Forget Monica's hairstyle- in this issue she's using her original powers, not the new powers she got in the McDuffie oneshot. SOctober 21, 2014 9:08 PM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Shortpants Thor makes me laugh every time. ChrisWOctober 21, 2014 8:51 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) But that's the whole problem, ordinary people would figure it out and then the entire status quo that the shared universe depends upon is gone. Perhaps the greatest thing about "Secret Wars II" was the effect that the Beyonder's existence on the devout Christian Nightcrawler. The Catholic Karma and Sunspot, Baptist Cannonball and Scots-Presbyterian Wolfsbane would have had similar issues if they didn't have bigger problems at the time, and all of them had dealt with Asgardian gods. But at least they're superheroes. My go-to example for this stuff does not stem from the Marvel Universe, but instead, the Ghostbusters, who had scientifically proven the existence of the soul, the supernatural and the afterlife, and it's purely about establishing a status quo that the entire world completely ignores all of this. [I do love the internet meme following The Avengers' movie: "Captain America - met two gods, still a Christian. Iron Man - met two gods, still an atheist. Hulk - met two gods, kicked the crap out of both of them."] In a shared fictional universe driven by serialized stories, it undermines everything to ruin that. The way it's done here is stupid - though I personally like the Blues Brothers' appearance, and I didn't even know who they were when this story was published [and remembered it as being written by Peter David anyhow] - but it represented a very real problem for Marvel editorial and continuity experts. It's intrinsic to the nature of the superhero genre. If these characters and their adventures are to have any real weight, they have to impinge upon real people and their lives. Unless a writer treats those people as anything other than the most generic stereotypes - damsels in distress, pining girlfriends, slack-jawed spectators - the effects a story would have on them is going to influence their writing. That's why this story is so important, and the creators aren't telling some other story instead, right? My personal favorite use of Thor anywhere comes from Neil Gaiman's "1602" series, where Don Blake's walking stick turns out to be the true secret of the Knights Templar. In a story where most-if-not-all of the main Marvel characters are devout Catholics [the Church of England not having separated yet; Gaiman knows his history] the hammer of Thor itself could destroy the church simply by proving there are other gods, and thus must be kept secret. Vincent ValentiOctober 21, 2014 8:49 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Byrne got rid of Wonder Man's mullet, and I was at the time disappointed, because I was sporting one then....eep. Thanos6October 21, 2014 8:43 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) I enjoy Atlantis Attacks despite its missteps. It's a fun breezy read that makes for an enjoyable afternoon. MichaelOctober 21, 2014 8:05 PM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Fnord,Ben appears in Avengers West Coast Annual 4 and it's not mentioned he's wearing an exoskeleton. SharOctober 21, 2014 7:15 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Fnord, re Buckler: yes, there are many "recalls" here, from various artists/sources. I'll eventually get to 1989 on my blog, but a couple of examples besides Monica are Cap punching his opponent "Whomp!", it's Cap from Tales of Suspense #85 (Kirby--Buckler used it in FF #147 too, for Namor) and Natasha is from Amazing Adventures #5, the original is by Gene Colan. Luis DantasOctober 21, 2014 7:04 PM Thor annual #10 Oh, Yama is definitely not a demon-figure in Buddhism. I'm not sure what his exact role is, but it seems to relate to some kind of afterlife. I am fairly certain that he is not in any way evil in Hindu lore, either. Basically he is a judger of the dead, a role that isn't really associated with punishment or evil in non-Abrahamic religions far as I know. BerendOctober 21, 2014 6:57 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) I hate stories like this. There is so much weird stuff in the Marvel universe, it's pretty silly to think ordinary people aren't going to recognize this eventually. And it's especially stupid to do a "Demonic invasions can't possibly happen" story as a back-up to a story about an invasion from Atlantis. BerendOctober 21, 2014 6:53 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Watcher) There is something seriously wonky about Sue's pose in that last scan. BillOctober 21, 2014 5:56 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Despite being one of the brides of Set, Dagger found the time to get a haircut. You go, girl! fnord12October 21, 2014 5:56 PM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Bill, that would work if the Thing's dialogue wasn't "Gotta see about having Stretcho build me a new set of weights. These ones are getting too ea--" (he's then cut off when the wave from the serpent crown hits). Uncanny MichaelOctober 21, 2014 5:55 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Watcher) Boy, there sure are a lot of short stories around this time that are solely intended to patch continuity, huh? I'm pretty torn on whether I like them or not: on the one hand, they are completely artless, but on the other, I could definitely use some continuity patches on today's stuff! Uncanny MichaelOctober 21, 2014 5:52 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) I know that no one's pointing to Atlantis Attacks as some kind of classic, but I really find it hard to believe that today's comics are so bad continuity-wise when the usage of Storm in this "good old days" story is the silliest thing I ever heard. BillOctober 21, 2014 5:47 PM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) Why would Ben Grimm work out in his Thing exo-skeleton? My guess is to test it out and make sure it's operating at max capacity. That's a No-Prize explanation right there! :) BillOctober 21, 2014 5:32 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 kveto, that would start a riot! :) fnord12October 21, 2014 5:20 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Jim Fern is a real person. At Marvel he had been doing mostly inks on scattered Spider-Man titles prior to this. Luis DantasOctober 21, 2014 4:50 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Is Jim Fern a pseudonimun? These pencils have more than a fair touch of Ernie Colon, with a bit of Carmine Infantino for flavor. kveto from pragueOctober 21, 2014 4:27 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 I hope, in the interests of equality, they had some of the male Avengers objectify and rate their female co-workers in the next issue:-) kveto from pragueOctober 21, 2014 4:12 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Chris, Bryne didn't intend to put the vision back to his old self. Why would he after all the crap he put him through? In the letter columns of the day, readers called out JB for writing the whole entire storyline to making Wonderman and the Scarlet Witch a couple. That's the whole point of everything that's going on (even without the editors admitting it, its clear thats the way the storyline was headed). Look at the evidence: her husband is erased, her children are erased, and it's stated repeatedly that she feel in love with the "personality" inside the vision, i.e. Simon, and he admits to being in love with her. There would therefore never be any reason to restore the Vision to his old self. The whole point was to make him completely unsuitable as a husband to Wanda. It's obvious all of these changes were intended to be permanent (well as permanent as comicbook changes can be). I'm not really passing judgement on the story, I just think its kind of insulting to JB to just assume that he was making all of these sweeping changes with the plan to just put things back the way they were when he started. Why would he bother? fnord12October 21, 2014 4:05 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) Clyde, i don't think it's wrong at all that Namor chose those characters, but the contrivance of having a group split off was definitely because this is the FF annual. I think it's worth pointing out how the structure of a crossover influences the plot. If this were a story told in a Secret Wars or Infinity Gauntlet format, it could have been something else entirely. It was a perfect opportunity for a mini Invaders reunion, for example. Again, it's not a flaw the way it was done; i just like pointing stuff like that out. clydeOctober 21, 2014 3:51 PM Fantastic Four annual #22 (Atlantis Attacks) FNORD - I think it makes perfect sense that Namor would ask the FF to follow him. He knows the way they operate better than the other heroes, even the Avengers. Plus, he still loves Sue and would do anything for her. Also, in regards to the scan of Capt. Marvel, didn't she redo her hairstyle? Or did it revert to the old hairstyle magically (or with a wig)? gfsdf gfbdOctober 21, 2014 3:28 PM Alpha Flight #66 @ cullen and Robert: +1 fnord12October 21, 2014 3:22 PM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) It wasn't mentioned in his first Atlantis Attacks appearance in Avengers annual #18, where by all appearances he was just supposed to be the Thing (why would he be working out with weights in his exoskeleteon?). And then in his second appearance they had him back as Ben Grimm and talking about how his exoskeleton got broken (even though we never saw that happen). Then after that he started appearing as the Thing again and they always made sure to mention that it was the exoskeleton. So i do think they realized they made a boo-boo but then covered for it. I also suspect the original plan was for Englehart to have restored the Thing to his classic rocky form when reverting him from the mutated pineapple, not to change him back to Ben Grimm, which is how the mistake happened in Avengers annual #18. RobertOctober 21, 2014 3:14 PM Thor annual #14 (Atlantis Attacks) I wonder if the Thing exo-skeleton used in these annuals was planned or was it something they added at the last minute to explain his appearances during Atlantis Attacks. RobertOctober 21, 2014 1:51 PM Alpha Flight #66 It's almost like they knew a movie coming out with one of his creations might garner some unwanted negative publicity. At any rate, better late than never...but still late. George GordonOctober 21, 2014 11:48 AM Avengers West Coast annual #4 It's Byrne because he drew himself in She-Hulk and the ponytail was evident :( BillOctober 21, 2014 10:30 AM Avengers West Coast annual #4 Was that supposed to be Byrne? Did he have a hipster ponytail back then? I guess that kind of stuff never bothered me since I never really knew what the creators looked like until the mid-90's or so. And if I were Set, I'd definitely want Marvel Girl and the Scarlet Witch front and center in my harem ;) George GordonOctober 21, 2014 10:17 AM Avengers West Coast annual #4 Did anyone notice that's John Byrne himself getting ko'd by the Invisible Woman? In all seriousness why is this a recurring thing with JB? He's constantly adding himself into stories- I only take issue with it because it kind of dilutes the escapism and the sense of disbelief needed to enjoy these stories. fnord12October 21, 2014 7:49 AM Avengers West Coast annual #4 Michael, thanks for the correction on the heir apparent line. I shouldn't have asked Ann Raymond which issue he was talking about. Steven, if i were Set, i assume i'd want my brides to be Echidna, Stheno, Euryale, Medusa, Lamia, Madame White Snake, and maybe Princess Python. Thanos6October 21, 2014 3:52 AM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Reincarnated in the past. *rubs temples* cullenOctober 21, 2014 2:59 AM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Byrne's art isn't bad in the sense that what he draws is good, but the abandonment of backgrounds isn't negligible. The more I think about it, and the more I look at these scans, the more bothersome it is. But I think if we tabulated all of Byrne's credits in 89, we'd see he was genuinely producing far more in terms of script, pencils, and inks than he was in any previous year. *Byrne's* shortcuts have an excuse... cullenOctober 21, 2014 2:51 AM Alpha Flight #66 There have been a number of updates and changes since that article - while I can't vouch or say everything is 100, it's important to note that Marvel has given a great deal of credit and attention to Mantlo in the years since the reporting was done on that piece: http://toylab.blogspot.com/2014/08/bill-mantlo-creator-of-rocket-raccoon.html StevenOctober 21, 2014 2:43 AM Avengers West Coast #50-52 This is not the end of Thomas and William. Their souls reincarnate, and they end up being Wiccan and Speed of the Young Avengers. StevenOctober 21, 2014 2:33 AM Avengers West Coast annual #4 If you were Set, who would you want your seven brides to be? cullenOctober 21, 2014 2:30 AM New Mutants annual #5 Add the Boom Boom backup to the "metafiction is a thing" list for 1989. cullenOctober 21, 2014 2:09 AM She-Hulk #5 Another example of the channel-flipping motif I spoke of above: 1989's "UHF" featuring Weird Al Yankovic: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098546/ I'd love to do some cultural analysis on why this premise surfaced across multiple genres and media in 1989... Jay DemetrickOctober 21, 2014 12:55 AM Web of Spider-Man annual #5 "Trish Fox"? How odd. She looks like Trish Tilby in that one scan... Hm... gfsdf gfbdOctober 21, 2014 12:15 AM Alpha Flight #66 Poor Bill Mantlo. Have you ever read through this? http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2011/11/07/tragic-tale?t=ltci&page=1 I had never been aware that Mantlo had initially made early recoveries after his accident. Truly sad. MichaelOctober 20, 2014 11:56 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Magneto) Also note that Magneto's THOUGHT BALLOONS confirmed that he could use it to wipe prejudice from the human race in X-Men vs. Avengers- the idea that he was bluffing doesn't work. Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 11:53 PM New Mutants annual #5 Michael, you wrote: "The dialogue in this issue implies that it takes place during New Mutants 87 but New Mutants 86 references X-Men 255, by which time Storm's already a kid. But an adult Storm appears in the finale of Atlantis Attacks. Plus, Wolverine 19-20, which feature the Acts of Vengeance cabal, take place before X-Men 255." You must have missed the section of the breakdown on my Wiki page Michael because I do address that. The reference in New Mutants #86 to X-Men #255 takes place during the secondary plotline with Rusty & Skids, not with the group of New Mutants you see here in this Annual. You have to ignore the "Meanwhile" captions that connect the two stories (Asgard/Rusty & Skids and Judgement War/Apocalypse vs Loki) of both books. The references to X-Factor "just landing" in The New Mutants #88 (Rusty, Skids, Cable, Freedom Force) and X-Factor #51 (Apocalypse & Caliban) are a problem but again, if you rearrange pages/panels it can be worked. It's incredibly awkward, I agree but with some explanations, it can just be made to work. Barely. But that rearrangement preserves the intent of this Annual's placement during the final pages of The New Mutants #87 (and the conclusion of Atlantis Attacks during The New Mutants #88 after X-Factor appear there). You're correct, the conclusion of Atlantis Attacks has to take place before Storm is turned into a child by Nanny in The Uncanny X-Men #248. I did go over that that in my break-down. ChrisOctober 20, 2014 11:43 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 I like these issues because the USAGent's comment is about the only reference to Iron Man not being the "original" because of Armor Wars. I have no problems with Byrne's art in these issues. Yes, the retroactive continuity is keeping my head spinning, but I still thought this was a fun arc at the time. Kveto, I would say that Byrne didn't intend to fix "everything." I think the Vision would have been restored to his old self. The children were likely gone forever - although I don't think that was a big loss. Introducing babies and children just seems to cause trouble - see all the issues Franklin caused in FF - if you don't intend to keep advancing the timeline. As for the relationship between Vision and Scarlet Witch, I think it is more up in the air, but I think it would be very easy to restore that once the Vision was repaired with his personality downloaded back from Titan. MichaelOctober 20, 2014 11:32 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 Also, note that this storyline basically turns some of the stronger female characters into damsels in distress. And it's yet another horrible thing to happen to Wanda to drive her crazy. Walter LawsonOctober 20, 2014 11:30 PM New Mutants annual #5 If the ASM contribution to Atlantis Attacks was Liefeld's first Marvel work, even before X-Factor 40, maybe this issue was also done very early in the Atlantis Attacks planning stages and Liefeld wasn't able to draw a replacement in time for the finalized overplot, leaving Marvel to publish the ghost of a previous idea of the crossover (maybe before Gru got involved?). Clearly there was a plan for a different annual, and with Liefeld involved, I can believe that a screwup wouldn't have allowed time for a fix. It's interesting that the New Mutants' Asgardian adventure and X-Factor's Judgment War seem to have been planned to be shorter. We know that the across-Time Caper got stretched, though even it's original dimensions were going to be about as long as Judgment War and the Asgard saga were. But maybe the caper was conceived later. MichaelOctober 20, 2014 11:14 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 According to Marvel Age 76, Gillis intended it to be pronounced "gore". MichaelOctober 20, 2014 10:50 PM Web of Spider-Man annual #5 Annoyingly, Peter promises to help find Sue in this issue but he doesn't play any role in later chapters. MichaelOctober 20, 2014 10:47 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) But Jay, Jean DOES recognize Wipeout right away during the X-Tinction Agenda. However she doesn't recognize Rachel during days of Future Present. Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 10:30 PM Doctor Strange #3-4 I know Genevieve Cross for sure appears on-panel in an upcoming Andromeda story in Namor's book. Not sure about the others though. Possibly Sian Bowen & Valkyrie. I'll have to do more research. Vincent ValentiOctober 20, 2014 10:23 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 It was also nice to see Beast and Wonder Man interacting as friends again. MichaelOctober 20, 2014 10:22 PM New Mutants annual #5 I think the idea is that the monitor is displaying stuff that occured a while ago, so you don't have to worry about when New Mutants 76 took place. DermieOctober 20, 2014 10:17 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 The "Rate The Hunks" feature was a fun idea, and Gruenwald did a nice job with it for the most part...but completely bungled the Starfox entry. Both Jan and Jen should have rated him far higher than they did--after all, both of them were highly attracted to him (and Jen even slept with him). Jan very briefly was creeped out by Eros' powers...but that was resolved back in Stern's run when she talked to him about it. So that sequence came across like Gruenwald himself having issues about Eros and his powers, and projecting it onto the characters. Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 10:16 PM New Mutants annual #5 It's worse than that. Ghaur says: "Were that Atlantean fool Attuma less trusting, he would never have heeded our urgings and attacked the surface dwellers leaving his own kingdom unguarded and ripe for destruction." Which seems to be talking about Avengers Annual #18 which would mean weeks of time took place between then and the rest of this story. But then Ghaur says, as they're looking at the footage of New Mutants #76, "Still, I am well aware of Namor's abilities, but he cannot guard the horn forever, and he will soon be dead." He then orders Spike, Coal and String to follow and spy on the Sub-Mariner which to me only makes sense before Iron Man Annual #10, so Attuma couldn't possibly have already launched his attack, only agreed to do so (as talked about in Iron Man Annual #10?). So the footage of New Mutants #76 has to be a recording and not concurrent with this flashback section. Vincent ValentiOctober 20, 2014 10:01 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) I really enjoyed the Byrne/Simonson teaming - a rare combo that only happened 2 other times - the World of Krypton covers and a single Orion pinup around 8 years after this. BillOctober 20, 2014 9:31 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 This was my favorite annual of the event. It's hard not to enjoy the artwork of Byrne and Austin. This and the X-Factor annual were probably the sharpest issues of the overall story. fnord12October 20, 2014 8:43 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) I think your parenthetical is right and i've added him. fnord12October 20, 2014 8:40 PM New Mutants annual #5 My first thought when i saw the references to Namor being alive and then dead was that someone realized the problem but didn't go back and fix all the dialogue. Maybe that happened and they added the "weeks ago" part thinking it meant they wouldn't have to revise all of Ghaur's opening speech, forgetting they referenced Ghaur's urging of Attuma, which would have to be in Iron Man annual #10. I don't think i can squeeze New Mutants #76 (and therefore X-Factor #41-42) after Iron Man annual #10 since NM #76 has the New Mutants basically running on fumes directly from Inferno, so for my purposes i'll just have to ignore more dialogue after all. MichaelOctober 20, 2014 8:31 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) There was some question at the MCP about whether or not to include Mr. Fantastic as a character appearing behind-the-scenes- Beast suggests they ask Reed for advice and later Scott gives the FBI guys a story that he obviously didn't come up with himself- technically, that's not confirmation they spoke to Reed (although we're obviously meant to believe they did). Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 8:26 PM New Mutants annual #5 I just re-read the opening pages of this and noticed that Ghaur mentions that he urged Attuma to attack the "surface dwellers" leaving his kingdom unguarded, as if it just happened. That throws a monkey wrench in the works again. I'm guessing that's meant to be a reference to Avengers Annual #18? That implies that "weeks" have taken place between then and "The Present..." section of this story. Aargh! Thanos6October 20, 2014 8:24 PM Avengers West Coast annual #4 The Firebird story is hilarious. I love it. Thanos6October 20, 2014 8:10 PM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 It's always pissed me off that we never got closure on that Prowler story. Thanos6October 20, 2014 8:02 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 The worst part is, the narration or dialogue says that the worker Ghaur punished is Lemurian, not Deviant! MichaelOctober 20, 2014 7:56 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Magneto) The "child" is confirmed to be a robot in the X-Factor letters page. I never understood why people thought it was supposed to be a real dead kid- it always looked like a robot to me. Ataru320October 20, 2014 7:31 PM New Mutants annual #5 Yeah but this is the first which feels like classic Liefeld; the others at least had some stuff that didn't feel like he reached his "potential" yet :p Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 7:07 PM New Mutants annual #5 Don't forget Ataru320 (as much as we wish we could) Liefeld also did X-Factor #40 (May 1989) & The Uncanny X-Men #245 (June 1989) too. Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 7:01 PM New Mutants annual #5 I just added my breakdown of how Atlantis Attacks could possibly fit for The New Mutants & X-Factor after the Asgard & Judgement War stories (but before Acts of Vengeance) to the end of my Inferno crossover analysis on my wiki. It's... tricky but possible. http://jade-dragon.wikidot.com/marvel-s-inferno-crossover Ataru320October 20, 2014 6:54 PM New Mutants annual #5 Characters standing on tiptoes, generic character designs, making an even more disturbing Birdbrain than ever thought possible...yep, this is classic Liefeld. I'm shocked they got him to do another Annual considering he already did the Spider-Man one with Shulkie. fnord12October 20, 2014 6:46 PM New Mutants annual #5 Oh, thanks Jay. That's one oddity to cross off the list. Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 6:42 PM New Mutants annual #5 I guess you missed the "Weeks Ago" caption at the top of page 2 and the "The Present..." caption on the top of page 6. The opening section with Ghaur & Llyra must therefore be a flashback that takes place between Silver Surfer Annual #2 and Iron Man Annual #10. BillOctober 20, 2014 5:52 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) It always bothered me, as someone who read X-Factor, that despite the promise of the editors note, we never saw the kidnapping of Marvel Girl and the Beasts attempt to save her. I always wonder where were the others? Why didn't Archangel simply fly after them? Byrne and Simonson did a great job on this all the way around! If the other annuals looked and read so sharp, Atlantis Attacks would be remembered as one of the great crossover stories. Also, a bit of unfortunate implications: who changed Jean from her X-Factor uniform into her Atlantis hottie wear? Would Attuma have stooped to do it himself? Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 5:44 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Inferno) Aw, you didn't scan the appearance of M-Squad? Sadness. :( fnord12October 20, 2014 5:18 PM New Mutants annual #5 Whoops, thanks on the "Judgement Day" correction! Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 5:15 PM New Mutants annual #5 Yea, it was pretty involved. I always thought of scanning the comics and separating the panels of the two storylines to show how it would read but it's a lot of work. Maybe I'll compile it and post it on my Jade Dragon wiki. lol! Oh, and it should be the "Judgement War" storyline, not "Judgement Day". That's a different movie all together. ;) Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 5:12 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) If this took place after Judgment War like Louise Simonson intended, Jean purged most of the Maddie & Phoenix personalities that were fighting for supremacy since Maddie's death during that. She says something along the lines of that she still has their memories but they've faded and it's not like she lived through them anymore. Which goes further towards her not recognizing Attuma right away too. fnord12October 20, 2014 5:11 PM New Mutants annual #5 If it requires splitting out subplot scenes into separate entries i would have to rule it out too just due to the nature of my site, Jay. But i will keep it in mind as i read through the issues. Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 4:58 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) Byrne & Simonson make gorgeous art together. I adored this annual after the scratchiness of Inferno and the horror of Rob Liefeld. Jay DemetrickOctober 20, 2014 4:53 PM New Mutants annual #5 If you go through the discussion forum on the MCP, I have written extensively on how it is possible for the Atlantis Attacks conclusion to fit after the Judgement War and Asgard stories for X-Factor & New Mutants but it can only do so with extensive unpicking of the secondary story threads (Apocalypse & Caliban vs Loki & Rusty & Skids vs Freedom Force) from the main ones in both books. The MCP concluded it was too unwieldy therefore they chose to ignore certain dialogue and situation for the easier placement. Nick BowlerOctober 20, 2014 4:12 PM General Comments Mark, you mentioned that Bev was originally going to be called Mercedes Bent from a preview in FOOM #10. I'd be very interested to see a scan of that preview if it was at all possible. I checked eBay and that issue is ridiculously expensive. I think because of Wolverine. clydeOctober 20, 2014 3:37 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Magneto) I meant to say recently. Obviously, this being the original group of X-Men, they fought him in the past. However, the "new" group of X-Men have been allied with him recently. clydeOctober 20, 2014 3:16 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Magneto) This seems like a weird place to have a Magneto story. X-Factor has very little to do with Magneto or Dr. Doom. clydeOctober 20, 2014 3:05 PM X-Factor annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) FNORD - you say Attuma recognizes Jean, but she doesn't recognize him. That is entirely plausible. Think about it in terms of a memory download. She has all the memories, but who says she has actually gone through all of them in her head? It's like being given a manual with a lot of information. Just because you have it doesn't mean you've read all of it. RobertOctober 20, 2014 2:52 PM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) I only bought three Atlantis Attacks annuals real-time and this was one. Another one with a John Byrne cover and crap art inside. This time from the normally reliable Ron Wilson, who was apparently suffering from the same affliction that affected Paul Smith around this time. fnord12October 20, 2014 12:24 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 If you say so! ;-) Mark DrummondOctober 20, 2014 12:07 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 MJ doesn't have both boobs under her left arm; the lower one is actually an ineptly drawn ribcage. Mark DrummondOctober 20, 2014 11:40 AM Cloak and Dagger #6-8 Barb Rausch actually did work on quite a few romance-style comics. Mark DrummondOctober 20, 2014 11:36 AM She-Hulk #6-7 On the bottom right side of the "Skrull" page, there's a Wally Wood creature from his "Sally Forth" comic strip. Ataru320October 20, 2014 10:56 AM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 Am I the only one who thinks its funny that the guy noted for his overblown muscularity can't even get She-Hulk right? JSfanOctober 20, 2014 7:25 AM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 She-Hulk looks a bit gaunt. I know that readers were thinking that she was getting slimmer so it's a bit worrying! Man, I'd love to see Jim Shooter's notes to Liefeld if he was still EiC. I bet there'd be blue pencil marking all over the page. JSfanOctober 20, 2014 6:35 AM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Wasp: "Hey now don't get all macho on us now, torch, this is the 80s! men are allowed to show their emotions now." Er, no they're not. That won't happen until 'Quantum Leap' comes out.:) Having the original Human Torch in AWC is confusing. I mean as a kid I hadn't realised that John Walker was Captain America. If I'd randomly picked this issue up I would have thought Torchy was in both FF and AWC. kveto from pragueOctober 20, 2014 4:44 AM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) I remember wasting money on this issue. They'll do the whole Atlantis attacks thing better in the future (the submarine plot). An interesting note with Sersi flirting so obviously with cap. Its pretty consistant with his personality. Woman have to throw themselves at him to get his attention. So in a way, it makes sense that the more forward ones are after him. It did feel like at the time, the Avengers was setting Sersi up as a love interest for cap while in his own book it was Diamondback. kveto from pragueOctober 20, 2014 4:20 AM Avengers West Coast #50-52 JB never intended to "fix" everything. Why would he have done all of this stuff if he intended to hit reset at the end? His intention was to eliminate the vision as a husband and Wanda's children (in the cruelest way possible) as those were the two barriers keeping Wanda and Simon apart. Now the aborted storyline seems somewhat cool, but JB was never going to put things back to the way he found them. HaydnOctober 20, 2014 12:05 AM Tales To Astonish #61 (Giant-Man/Wasp) As per the Grand Comics Database: "Joe Orlando originally drew this story but refused to make changes demanded by Stan Lee so Steve Ditko came in and did extensive changes to the original art. Info from Mark Evanier via Fred Hembeck." (Hembeck's original post about this issue did credit Rockwell, but Evanier corresponded with Hembeck to guide him to Orlando as the original uncredited penciller.) HaydnOctober 19, 2014 11:52 PM Tales To Astonish #53 Actually, Bernstein worked for Marvel as "R. Berns," a flimsy pseudonym, to be certain, but an assumed name nonetheless! MichaelOctober 19, 2014 10:49 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 The synopsis is here: BillOctober 19, 2014 10:34 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Oh boy....it's somewhere on his site. I thought it was in the FAQ, but looking over it, it's not there. His general rule of thumb is to not discuss a plot he was going to use, but this was one he made an exception for. Just going by memory, it was going to involve history having been rewritten with Kang defeating the Avengers back in his first appearance. The Black Knight would emerge from the dimensional vortex thing that Thor placed him in during Inferno, which would have kept his memories of "normal" reality intact. The Knight and the Scarlet Witch would have to save the day. Again, just going by memory, there was more to it. Sounds much cooler than what we ended up getting. DermieOctober 19, 2014 9:37 PM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) Luckily, even though Higgins wrote the wrong power set, the way Monica was used here at least looked somewhat consistent with her new powers--since it looks like she's flying at them as some sort of human battering ram. That makes more sense with her super-strength powers rather than her energy powers...where if written properly, she'd have dehydrated the entire force of Atlanteans by herself as soon as she arrived, rather than letting Iron Man and Vision do it. fnord12October 19, 2014 9:14 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Bill, is the synopsis online? There isn't much about Byrne's WCA run on his FAQ. BillOctober 19, 2014 7:08 PM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) Ron Wilson drew this? Yikes! I expect much better from him. fnord12October 19, 2014 6:45 PM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) Clyde, here's the Secret Wars tease along with some of the commentary i refer to. Marvel has now also announced other recycled crossovers, so i think all is not what it seems; i just brought it up because i thought the Secret Wars commentary was a good compare/contrast for Atlantis Attacks. MichaelOctober 19, 2014 6:38 PM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) Note that Monica seems to have her classic powers in this story, not the new powers she got in the McDuffie oneshot. The McDuffie oneshot came out after this Annual and apparently Higgins hadn't been told about her power change. Unfortunately, this started a trend over the next several years of Monica either having her original powers or her McDuffie powers depending on the writer. clydeOctober 19, 2014 6:37 PM Avengers annual #18 (Atlantis Attacks) FNORD - when you wrote "At the time i'm writing this, Marvel recently had put out a teaser image for a new Secret Wars", do you have a scan of that ad? I don't remember seeing it anywhere. BillOctober 19, 2014 6:30 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 As someone who is a fan of both John Byrne and the Scarlet Witch, even I think this story is a needlessly complex cluster*beep*. Many moons later when reading Avengers Forever, I was happy with the comments made about this stuff. Of course, I'm sure JB would have fixed everything if his run on the title had continued as planned. Reading his synopsis of his planned oncoming storyline robbed us readers from an entertaining adventure AND left several characters damaged goods. cullenOctober 19, 2014 5:47 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Byrne was clearly overextending himself at this point, as he seems to have completely abandoned drawing backgrounds in these issues. (Tons of talking-head soap-opera stuff, too!) fnord12October 19, 2014 5:09 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 Thanks for pointing out that Namor's appearance here should affect placement. I've pushed it back directly after Silver Surfer annual #10. The MCP have Ghaur here after later parts of the crossover but i guess they are treating that end scene as taking place later than the rest of the story. I meant to comment directly on the "hysterical pregnancy" line. Really awful. MichaelOctober 19, 2014 4:18 PM Avengers West Coast #50-52 The claim that the Vision can't be the Human Torch because of the Torch's funeral is due to an interesting chronology problem related to the funeral. Avengers 57 takes place before Sub-Mariner 14. In Sub-Mariner 14, Toro makes it sound like the funeral took place a long time ago. But the dialogue in the Egghead-Mad Thinker-Puppet Master crossover makes it sound like the Thinker just escaped from jail. So where was Toro when the Thinker was in jail? Note this is a problem with the original story, not with Englehart's Vision retcon. Byrne solves this problem by suggesting that the Thinker grabbed Toro less than a day before his battle with Namor, which also eliminates the possiblity of the Torch being the Vision. ToddOctober 19, 2014 11:06 AM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Had I been reading that story in "real time," I would have *hoped* Sally Pashkow was a Claremont pseudonym. With all due to respect to him -- and a lot is due -- the thought of a woman who wrote that much like him (look at all that narrative clutter) starting a career at Marvel would have stricken terror into my heart. No thanks on the Savage She-Chris. Dan H.October 19, 2014 5:40 AM Hulk #173-174 You're welcome, and by the way I checked my copy of the original OHOTMU and it does indeed state that "the government has covered up his guilt and suicide with the help of a double" (not "an actor" as I'd thought). This info comes from the Secret Empire entry in the appendix (issue #10). Luis DantasOctober 19, 2014 2:29 AM Daredevil annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) Stephen's comment about respecting Matt's pain is interesting. I did not expect Gerry Conway to be this good at characterization. Granted, it is not a particularly clear comment. But Conway is not writing the regular book and he must work within the parameters of Matt being in a purposeless walk for the time being. So he has Stephen conclude (right or wrong) that meddling with his emotional state and/or his memories would be dangerous for his painful contemplation and put the hard-earned healing at risk. Actually very clever and insightful... although it does not explain why Stephen can't at least try to actually help in less invasive ways. Respect does not rule out keeping in touch. david banesOctober 18, 2014 9:51 PM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 Oh yeah Gargan's tail powers being his trump card is lambshaded by The Symbiote during Mark Millar's Marvel Knight's Spider-Man run. "So what? This tail hits slightly harder than the last one is going to beat Spider-Man this time?" or something like that. clydeOctober 18, 2014 8:18 PM Captain Marvel #1 Chris - She gets back her original powers in the "Starblast" crossover in 1994. BillOctober 18, 2014 7:11 PM Daredevil annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) Man, 13 years between annuals? That kind of stretches the definition of the word "annual"! fnord12October 18, 2014 6:54 PM Hulk #173-174 That's perfect, thanks Dan. I've updated the Considerations and removed Secret Empire Agent Number One as a Character Appearing. I do hope everyone recognizes this is all just tongue in cheek and i wouldn't make any actual placement decisions based on Nixon cameos. Dan H.October 18, 2014 5:49 PM Hulk #173-174 As far as Nixon, I believe the OHOTMU mentioned, without naming him, that the "high ranking official" was replaced by an actor after his death. This would mean that on Earth-616, Watergate was actually invented as a means to explain the resignation of Nixon. Or Watergate actually happened, but they'd been doing a better job of covering it up but when they needed a reason for fake Nixon to resign, they allowed the story to slip out. Then again, if there aren't any stories actually referencing it, Watergate may not have happened at all and "fake Nixon" simply resigned citing health reasons or something (we know he still left office since they switched to depictions of Ford as president). In any case, if this chronology is correct, then this may be an appearance of "fake Nixon" and not the one who headed the Secret Empire. MichaelOctober 18, 2014 5:14 PM Daredevil annual #4 (Back-ups) Starting with this issue, the Fatboys appear exclusively in the Annuals, then after Annual 8, they disappear and only show up in Karen's funeral. MichaelOctober 18, 2014 4:24 PM Daredevil annual #4 (Atlantis Attacks) The fact that they couldn't even remember which issue number was supposed to be on the Daredevil Annual reflects the editorial quality of this crossover. MichaelOctober 18, 2014 8:55 AM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 I'd agree with you, except that Caesar has continued to harass MJ no matter WHAT she does. If MJ thinks that Caesar will go after her no matter what, then she has no reason NOT to send him the picture. I can't stand the "Don't provoke the bully" argument when the bully CONTINUES to harass the victim, as opposed to "Don't get the bully angry now that he's leaving you alone", which makes sense. The "Don't get the bully mad while he's making your life hell" argument places the onus on the victim. Erik RobbinsOctober 18, 2014 12:51 AM Captain Marvel #1 From what I've seen, it's trademark that is the issue, rather than copyright. http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2005/08/18/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-12/ ChrisOctober 18, 2014 12:37 AM Punisher annual #2 Luis, I agree that one must be very careful about using the Punisher with other characters. However, I think he works well with "street level" heroes. I also agree that MK has not been written consistently, however, I like the balance here: someone who may not use the Punisher's methods himself, but someone he sees as a potential ally in certain circumstances. Both are pulpish characters as opposed to the traditional 4-color kind. I think they work well together. But to each their own. fnord12October 18, 2014 12:26 AM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 That's exactly what i meant, Erik. It might be human to want to taunt the psychopath that is obsessed with you, but it's not smart. Erik RobbinsOctober 18, 2014 12:18 AM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 I don't think fnord was saying she should be forgiving, merely that it might not be advisable to poke the caged tiger with a stick. fnord12October 18, 2014 12:15 AM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Thanks everybody for the confirmation that Sally Pashkow is a pseudonym for Chris Claremont. I've updated the credits. Luis DantasOctober 17, 2014 11:30 PM Punisher annual #2 That is true, I suppose. But he is not usually written in that way, and I understand that by this point he had last been presented that way back in the Hulk Magazine back-ups. In any case, I think presenting him as a bridge that should not exist weakens the character further - and makes it that much more difficult to decide what to expect from him. A curious case, Moon Knight is. He will end up having more variations than even Batman. Luis DantasOctober 17, 2014 11:26 PM Captain Marvel #1 Impressive McDuffie writing, and nice Bright pencils. People talk so much about Chris Claremont, but he can't hold a candle to Dwayne McDuffie in the characterization department. The power change situation is a two-edged sword. It is a bit distracting, mainly because it makes the character so better a fit for the usual superhero fare. Still, to think that the awful "Ms. Marvel" series from 2006 lasted a whooping 47 issues without even introducing its own main concepts or having the protagonist be the main character of the piece, while this one-shot was very much an one-shot... MichaelOctober 17, 2014 11:19 PM Punisher annual #2 Luis- Marc is not the average hero. He's got considerable blood on his hands as a result of being a mercenary. Luis DantasOctober 17, 2014 11:19 PM Punisher annual #2 For good or worse, this third Moon Knight series made a point of presenting Marc as something of a middle ground between Punisher (who "goes too far" according to Moon Knight) and Spider-Man ("who does not go far enough"). I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time. But it falls flat once one realizes that the Punisher has no business being at large in a world with Spider-Man. Luis DantasOctober 17, 2014 11:17 PM Punisher annual #2 Their mutual attitude was certainly unusual. But it felt just so wrong to me. Punisher is not someone the average Marvel hero would not put in jail. Once the decision to give him his own book was made, Marvel should have kept him outside the main continuity. This scene just marked Moon Knight as a character not to get too attached to when I read this annual. ChrisOctober 17, 2014 11:09 PM Captain Marvel #1 Lots of good things to recommend it, but they made a mistake changing her powers. It made her too generic. Would have been better to create a new villain, or use an existing villain that presented a challenge to her existing power set. ChrisOctober 17, 2014 11:04 PM Punisher annual #2 This is my favorite of the Atlantic Attack annuals. Good writing and art. Plus I just love the camaraderie of the Punisher and Moon Knight. No misunderstanding fight. Mutual respect. I really wanted to see these two team up on an ongoing, but irregular basis. Makes me wonder if Mike Baron would have been a good choice for regular series writer for MK. DermieOctober 17, 2014 10:59 PM Captain Marvel #1 As a big Monica Rambeau fan I am biased, but this is one of my all-time favourite comic books. ChrisOctober 17, 2014 10:58 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Gentleman of Leisure confirmed "Sally Pashkow" is a pseudonym for Chris Claremont. The Serpent Society comes off so bad here, I'm surprised Gruenwald let them be used. Unfortunately, this begins a phase where the concept becomes increasingly downgraded. Very often the Zodiac Cartel was used only because a writer needed a large group of villains the good guys could defeat with little thought as to how to present them as credible threats. The Serpent Society now seems to fill that roll. Terrible use of the team. MichaelOctober 17, 2014 10:32 PM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 Regarding the backup story, we see the globe with Set's life force in the Avengers West Coast Annual. And that Annual was written by John Byrne. So probably Byrne handed in the plot for that issue and then Sanderson wrote the backup to explain where the globe came from. RobertOctober 17, 2014 9:58 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 This is included in the Claremont/Lee Omnibus. Obviously Lee had nothing to do with it, so does that mean Sally Pashkow is really Claremont? MichaelOctober 17, 2014 9:45 PM Punisher annual #2 The dialogue implies Leona Hiss was a real person. One has to wonder how many people Viper's goons went through before they found a sufficiently snakelike name. MichaelOctober 17, 2014 9:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 During this issue, Ghaur uses his powers to force a Deviant who was careless into a molten vat. When I first read the issue, I assumed he was using his Celestial powers. It wasn't until after I read the FF Annual that I realized he was supposed to be using his powers to control the Deviant and force him to jump into the vat. It doesn't help that Liefeld's art made it look the guy was being telekinetically thrown, not mind-controlled into jumping in. BillOctober 17, 2014 9:16 PM Captain Marvel #1 I always liked the character of Captain Marvel/Monica Rambeau. I knew this issue came out but I never picked it up; it looks really interesting, so I'll have to make it a point to grab it! I wish she would have been put back onto the Avengers after this story since she got her powers back. MegaSpiderManOctober 17, 2014 9:12 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 I'm looking at this issue on GCD, and according to it Michael is right, Pashkow is indeed a Claremont pseudonym. Link here: http://www.comics.org/issue/45632/ MichaelOctober 17, 2014 9:07 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 This issue is an example of one of my least favorite plot devices- the villain tries to force the heroes to do something that they'd do anyway if he just explained the situation to them. If Jip just explained to the X-Men he wants the artifacts to keep Dagger and Storm from becoming snake-brides, then they'd help him voluntarily. And he's never encountered the X-Men before, so they don't know he's a villain. Jip also doesn't try to tell Diamondback and Sidewinder what Llyra and Ghaur have planned for the planet. CullenOctober 17, 2014 8:31 PM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 Noticing the extent to which other Spidey artists were adopting / resistant to McFarlane's new template (bigger eyes, underarm webbing, knotty strands, "Spidery" poses). ChrisWOctober 17, 2014 8:21 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 The Doom appearance was just for the joke that went 'you can't really be a major superhero if Dr. Doom isn't in your list of top ten villains.' ChrisWOctober 17, 2014 8:14 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Jubilee is Chinese. The Mandarin made that clear. Why is she calling herself 'chica'? Even if she's from L.A. I doubt she has that little self-awareness. fnord12October 17, 2014 6:16 PM Captain Marvel #1 It's a 42 pager. Mark DrummondOctober 17, 2014 6:09 PM General Comments It's been a while since I looked at my FOOMs, but the vast majority of Howard mentions are strictly upcoming issues in the news section. The big Howard issue is the one with the wraparound Election cover. JSfanOctober 17, 2014 6:07 PM Captain Marvel #1 Hi fnord12, I realise this is a random question but how many pages are in this book? It appears that there's a lot of content and I wanted to find out how many pages it was done in. fnord12October 17, 2014 5:57 PM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 You're probably right about the John Byrne credit, Bill, but all the other parts of the Saga have similar credits to other writers that i know refer to existing comics, so i'm waiting to see if anyone knows if there's a specific comic that they're referring to here. Namor definitely surfaces in the final part of Atlantis Attacks but i don't remember anything confirming that he was the armored guy in the other parts. I'll look more closely when i add the entry. The MCP does list him as appearing in the other issues where the armored guy appears, so i assume it is him and it's just a miss that he's not included here. I've added him as a character appearing. BillOctober 17, 2014 5:47 PM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 The "inspired by a story by John Byrne" may refer to a plot JB gave them to tie up some events and they were giving him a shout out for it. I thought the mysterious armored man was revealed to be Namor in the concluding chapter of Atlantic Attacks? It's been over a decade since I read it, so maybe I'm remembering wrong... RobertOctober 17, 2014 5:33 PM Spectacular Spider-Man annual #9 David Ross is clearly a Steve Ditko fan, judging by the way he draws Spidey in some of those panels. Either that or we have another Rich Buckler situation. Walter LawsonOctober 17, 2014 5:19 PM Punisher annual #2 Viper--ssssorry, Madame Viper--has a way with Elder Gods. She's had the Serpent Crown before, then there was whatever Cththon connection Claremont established, so in a way I'm ok with her making random allusions to Set. As a former Crown wearer, she might even be indirectly under his influence. david banesOctober 17, 2014 4:48 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 Didn't Dr. Doom appear a lot in the 80s Spider-Man cartoon? Could be why he took a such a rank up. I mean if there was a poll in the 90s I think Kingpin would be really high up due to being the big bad of that cartoon. Well, Venom and Carnage would be #1 and 2 for sure. kveto from pragueOctober 17, 2014 4:38 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 I'm sure I'm not the first to say this, but holy crap that art is bad. While I'm no Macfarlane fan, at least his art has a sense of proportion. I didnt expect to see art this bad till the mid 90s and thereafter. BillOctober 17, 2014 4:34 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 I really liked the cover, drawn by John Byrne and was disappointed to find Rob Liefeld did the interior art. However, it is interesting to see his take on non-mutant characters, since he seemed confined to the mutant corner of the Marvel U from this point onwards. I do find it funny that the She-Hulk's skirt changed length from panel to panel. Unstable molecules, I guess? ;) kveto from pragueOctober 17, 2014 4:26 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Its a good thing comics couldn't sue each other cause Captain America comics could've sued the x-men for such a poor use of the serpent society. fnord12October 17, 2014 4:26 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Oops, i meant Dagger again. I have to stop doing that. I think i at least avoided calling Diamondback "Diamond Lil" this whole entry. BillOctober 17, 2014 4:22 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 Storm and Dazzler were chosen to be Brides of Set? Storm made the cut, but I guess Dazzler didn't make it? TCPOctober 17, 2014 3:57 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 I get the feeling Liefeld just wanted to throw in a random panel of a morbidly obese Kingpin. Kind of similar to how McFarlane had been putting his own spin on the established Spidey rogues in ASM. RobertOctober 17, 2014 3:47 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 Green Goblin & Hobgoblin are joint #1's. Doc Ock is #2. Venom #8. Oddly, Dr. Doom is #4. david banesOctober 17, 2014 3:39 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 Is Venom #1 on that Spidey villain list? Or Doc Ock or Green Goblin? As someone said at Spidey fan it's always neat whenever Mysterio or some other villain makes illusions of Peter's enemies show up. Usual it's the most popular ones/recently used with a few odd ones thrown in. So I'm thinking of that poll in context of the time period. RobertOctober 17, 2014 3:07 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 This is another of the Atlantis Attacks books I bought and the only one I liked. This is despite my disappointment that John Byrne didn't draw the interiors (he did the cover). RobertOctober 17, 2014 3:03 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 One of the only three Atlantis Attacks annuals I bothered to buy. The cover was terrible but I was a sucker for team fights. Even lames ones. Walter LawsonOctober 17, 2014 1:50 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 The bondage themes are so pronounced here I'd almost think it was parodying Claremont, except we've just seen some over-the-top stuff with Ecstacy and the Disciplinarian in Cloak and Dagger. Note that when Wolverine rescues Dazz, he strikes a match on her backside while she's tied up. MikeCheyneOctober 17, 2014 1:08 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #13 You wonder if perhaps Cobra's leadership plus the lack of cohesion with all the new recruits (some of which are pretty darn limited) has made the Serpent Society much weaker than they should be. That said, I do think the X-Men represent a much stronger group as a whole than what they're used to--taking on Rogue or Colossus seem improbable--particularly when, and I think is key--the Serpents don't have any real idea who the X-Men are and thus aren't properly prepared. Ataru320October 17, 2014 12:22 PM Alpha Flight #76 My guess: if it isn't broke...besides Gamma is probably the only other active group outside Alpha in these comics with how they keep being used. fnord12October 17, 2014 11:47 AM Alpha Flight #76 Chris means that it doesn't make sense as a public super-hero team name. Alpha Flight barely does, but calling these guys the equivalent of Tertiary Tier Heroes isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. Ataru320October 17, 2014 11:15 AM Alpha Flight #76 Chris: Gamma Flight was already established by Byrne from the get-go with the Canadians having three levels of teams: Alpha Flight (top-tier), Beta Flight, then Gamma Flight. Wanyas the Self-ProclaimedOctober 17, 2014 9:45 AM Iron Man annual #10 I was going to comment that the "No wire hangers" title was probably more of a reference to an infamous scene in the movie Mommy Dearest which is about an abusive celebrity mother. But reading the summary and some of these panels makes me think they were trying for both connotations. fnord12October 17, 2014 7:27 AM Iron Man annual #10 Thanks Jay. Just to close the loop, as i said on another entry, i'll only tag the host bodies of the resurrected New Defenders when they actively manifest in some way. fnord12October 17, 2014 7:25 AM Doctor Strange #3-4 I think i'll track them the way i've tracked characters like Zarathos and only include them when they actively show themselves or do something. Jay DemetrickOctober 17, 2014 4:53 AM Iron Man annual #10 Er... Dr Strange #3-4 (1989) I meant to say...! Jay DemetrickOctober 17, 2014 4:50 AM Iron Man annual #10 Andromeda is bonded with Genevieve Cross as seen in Dr. Strange # so Genevieve should probably get a "behind the scenes" appearance credit here. Jay DemetrickOctober 17, 2014 4:50 AM Doctor Strange #3-4 I wonder if you shouldn't be tracking at Sian Bowen, Genevieve Cross, Roger Loomis, and Will Fanshawe as they make further appearances as the hosts of Valkyrie, Andromeda, Manslaughter, and Interloper. MichaelOctober 16, 2014 11:28 PM Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure Interestingly, Marvel Age 76 described this as the 1989 Wolverine Annual. ChrisOctober 16, 2014 10:54 PM Alpha Flight #76 It's a stretch to have called a team Alpha Flight to begin with, but makes sense as a code name a top secret semi-military government operation would have used which carried out once the public reveal happened. But to name a team Gamma Flight? It's hard to understand what Marvel was thinking of this title at the time. I think Marvel just gave up and simply used whatever writer was willing to take it in the hope he could develop for later work elsewhere. MichaelOctober 16, 2014 8:06 PM Iron Man annual #10 Note that Ghaur didn't need gear to survive underwater in the Silver Surfer Annual but at the start of this Annual, he does. In fact, it's not clear until the Fantastic Four Annual that Ghaur has lost his Celestial powers completely. I remember as a kid wondering how the heroes will stop Ghaur with his Celestial powers and being disappointed to find out that they'd vanished in the FF Annual. MichaelOctober 16, 2014 7:50 PM Silver Surfer annual #2 The reason why Llyra is Set's prime agent is because the Lemurians were ruled by Set's servant Naga for centuries, and Llyra is the most cunning and evil Lemurian. This is something that Englehart COULD have shown us in flashbacks. MichaelOctober 16, 2014 7:46 PM Alpha Flight #76 To be fair, the lady has a point- even a slight delay could result in people being killed or maimed by the Sorcerer's conjurings. BerendOctober 16, 2014 6:43 PM Iron Man annual #10 "There are no wire hangers underwater!" ? That's genuinely the name of that story? That may be the most offensive thing I've ever seen in a Marvel comic. RobertOctober 16, 2014 6:03 PM Iron Man annual #10 Man, Paul Smith really fell far by this time. That's not professional-level work, IMO. They must have really been trying to help a brother out by giving him jobs at this point when he had so clearly lost 'it.' Jay DemetrickOctober 16, 2014 5:04 PM Silver Surfer annual #2 Or Strange could be finding the new eye disorienting after not having one for so long and is using the patch whenever he has to go into action...? gfsdf gfbdOctober 16, 2014 11:28 AM Wolverine #10 Excellent reference for the current status of Wolverine's history. I think they have just about all the major points compiled. It makes an awful story, but what can you do.. DermieOctober 16, 2014 12:08 AM Marvel Super Heroes #10 (Ms. Marvel) Based on Carol's comments earlier in the series, Mike was her friend and boyfriend first, and she only started using his professional services after she became Ms. Marvel and needed his help dealing with the stress caused by the dual identity (back when it was a strange split personality situation). The problem is that we never saw that pre-existing relationship before Carol started needed his professional help--Barnett's introductory scene is when Carol bursts into his office needing help. So in terms of what the reader saw on-panel he was both her therapist and her lover right from day one. But the way Carol introduced him or described him in the early issues does suggest they had a social relationship first. ChrisWOctober 15, 2014 9:56 PM She-Hulk #5 JSfan, that's probably what happened. There's also a menstruation joke in the "Marvel Comics Presents" entry. ChrisWOctober 15, 2014 9:44 PM Silver Surfer #28 This is Englehart trying to write a serious long-form comic book. Other than Reptyl and Clumsy who first appeared in this series, I don't have enough knowledge of the characters to say how well they're being treated, but it is a consistent development from issue to issue, with Englehart making whatever points he thinks he's making about evolution, from reptiles to Neanderthals. He's coming up with what he wants to say/do first, and then fitting the characters in as best he can. Notice that the Surfer has become just one character among many. The obvious protagonist sure, but he's not effecting many events, just observing and commenting. There are many problems with this arc, but it is still the same story Englehart set out to tell from #1. I understand if people disagree, but I remain impressed. ChrisWOctober 15, 2014 9:34 PM She-Hulk #6-7 Does anyone else think that panel of Shulkie's pert buns directly facing the reader alongside the giant fat guy's buns directly facing the reader was Byrne's reaction to the exploitation trend that was gaining steam at this point? fnord12October 15, 2014 12:29 PM Fantastic Four #1-10 I removed the duplicate image. Thanks. A couple of notes on "Ghidorah", whose name is apparently Tricephalous. First, King Ghidorah's first film was in 1964, so i guess he's the clone. I don't think i've ever seen anything attributing the design of one to the other, though. Second, Tricephalous seems to have a two headed cousin (Duocephalous?) who appears in Fantastic Four #329. ClutchOctober 15, 2014 8:59 AM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 I remember getting this issue in real time to support a Nick Fury/SHIELD ongoing (I think I bought 2 copies) despite knowing that this was the post-mini cast, not the classic one which Harras did away with. Although I am a fan of both Hall and DeMulder, I just couldn't get through the first issue due to Harras' writing. And yeah, Original Sin and its reveals regarding Fury and Dugan only make this story read worse. Way worse. Luis DantasOctober 15, 2014 12:55 AM Marvel Super Heroes #10 (Ms. Marvel) "Psychiatrist and boyfriend"? Hopefully not at the same time... Gary HimesOctober 14, 2014 8:30 PM She-Hulk #6-7 I give up. Where do I turn my Merry Marvel Marching Society badge in to? david banesOctober 14, 2014 7:53 PM Fantastic Four #1-10 I like these early issue since Reed is on the verge of being a supervillain and Ben is nearly a thug. I wouldn't mind seeing an alternate universe though evil Reed is pretty common with Ultimate Reed and Venture Bros of course. I also like the series had less of a 'we got ot stop this bad guy' and kind of have a more Twilight Zone feel to them. I mean yes there was always a bad guy but in a few years there will be more fighting but many creative ideas, more 50 50 there. Been years since I read these though. I do remember really liking Namor and wished he got to pop up more but at least Dr. Doom got ironed out after a while. MegaSpiderManOctober 14, 2014 7:35 PM Fantastic Four #1-10 You've got the pic of Johnny getting his car fixed twice (Third and tenth scans). Although I do chuckle a little of the thought of a broken down car being included in the same group as a giant underground creature and a King Ghidorah clone. clydeOctober 14, 2014 7:18 PM She-Hulk #6-7 Well then Gary, get ready to hurl - The GOTG reappear in the "present day" during Infinity War in GOTG #27. It does take place on "our" earth. Gary HimesOctober 14, 2014 7:03 PM She-Hulk #6-7 Oops. (in my defense, it's hard to keep track of the dating of the various GotG comics when they take place outside current continuity). It was actually after the cancellation of the 90s series that they disappeared for a decade. But this was their last appearance in the present day until then. (Time travel makes me nauseous) fnord12October 14, 2014 6:58 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 Added Lyja. Thanks! fnord12October 14, 2014 6:57 PM She-Hulk #6-7 Gary, 10 years? There's a Guardians of the Galaxy series that runs from 1990-1995. Maybe you mean outside of their own book? BerendOctober 14, 2014 6:55 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 This just hit me: Englehart rails against the "back to the Silver Age" attitude of the editors, but the story he'd much rather tell involves setting the Thing/Torch/Alicia/Crystal relationships back to the Silver Age? How odd. Oh, and I think you missed tagging Alicia/Lyja under characters appearing. fnord12October 14, 2014 6:51 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 You're right, Midnighter. Thanks. Gary HimesOctober 14, 2014 6:37 PM Fantastic Four #54 Another Abominable Snowman sighting! The Himalayas must be lousy with those guys in the Marvel Universe! (And I have to suspect Steven Spielberg ripped off this story in "Last Crusade") Midnighter October 14, 2014 6:37 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 UHNMCC day that the penciler of this issue was Bob Hall fnord12October 14, 2014 6:12 PM Daredevil #26 Thanks. It should be there now. Gary HimesOctober 14, 2014 6:12 PM She-Hulk #6-7 This cameo would be the last appearance of the Guardians for 10 years. Who would've believed back then that they (or at least the brand name) would go onto fame and fortune 25 years later? MegaSpiderManOctober 14, 2014 5:37 PM Daredevil #26 The last scan isn't showing. Jon DubyaOctober 14, 2014 4:49 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 According to this website, the reason why this was "allowed" may have been simply because the hire-ups didn't exactly "get it" in the first place: http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2012/12/1989-engleharts-new-but-not-too.html There HAVE been plenty of times in the comics industry were something that was MEANT to be a parody then becomes un-ironically embraced by upper-management and the suits, so it would surprised me if that really was the case here. (that might also explain why the Sue-Crystal catfight scene is being reused in the letter pages. About Franklin manipulating people's love lives: yeah that would have been an awful subplot. X-Men scribe Chuck Austen apparently didn't think so though, so that would be a good place to look if you wanted to see what the idea would look like if it had been published. minOctober 14, 2014 4:21 PM Fantastic Four #54 that gyro-cruiser has to be the least efficient mode of transportation. the Black Panther didn't have a spare plane laying around? instead he gives them a giant hamster ball? TCPOctober 14, 2014 4:14 PM Amazing Spider-Man #233 Stern/Spidey literally burying the Tarantula in garbage is one of my favorite moments in this run of ASM. I do have to wonder what Gerry Conway thought of this. Once he was back on the Spider-books, one of Conway's first moves was to make a new Tarantula, who he then gave a hideout in a garbage barge just like the one above. Hmmm... SOctober 14, 2014 4:12 PM She-Hulk #6-7 Xemnu's not lame, but he is the original "Hulk" - I assume that's why Byrne used him. fnord12October 14, 2014 10:40 AM Daredevil #270 Blackheart first shows up and attacks Daredevil unprovoked in his "true" form. Then later Daredevil considers trying to kill Blackheart but Spider-Man stops him. So DD never does anything "wrong" in this story. JSfanOctober 14, 2014 5:54 AM Daredevil #270 I originally 1st knew about Blackheart from the Video Game, too. Sorry, I'm not sure if it's because you've may have missed out a few scans or my misreading but did DD attack Blackheart unprovoked? JSfanOctober 14, 2014 5:16 AM She-Hulk #6-7 I noticed she was looking less muscular, too and I also think she should have a bodybuilder physique. I think if she were to be anymore muscular than that she'd look too manly. I always thought of her as being 'Amazonian' in stature. MichaelOctober 13, 2014 8:28 PM She-Hulk #6-7 This story is an example of Byrne's tendency to reuse names. There's a female Doctor Dewitt in this story- a male Doctor Dewitt is one of the main antagonists in Byrne's Iron Man run. MichaelOctober 13, 2014 8:26 PM Silver Surfer #28 You're not the only person who didn't like the Super-Skrull's defeat- in Fantastic Four Annual 24, it's revealed that the Super-Skrull faked his defeat at S'Byll's orders. He complains about having to feign defeat at the hands of a loser like Reptyl and easily defeats Reptyl in their next encounter. MichaelOctober 13, 2014 8:06 PM Hulk #360 The editors demanded that Betty lose the baby because having a child made Bruce and Betty look too old. That never made sense to me- Bruce was the scientist in charge of a major weapons development program when we met him- that's not a job for a very young man. MichaelOctober 13, 2014 7:56 PM Excalibur #20 Regarding Brian's out-of-character behavior, in Excalibur 26, also by Michael Higgins and Ron Lim, the team fights Mastermind and he reveals that he's been walking among them in Brian's guise for some time. I have to wonder if the Brian in this story was intended to be Mastermind. Unfortunately, that's impossible, since Excalibur 26 features Widget and a non-Nazi Moira, so it has to take place after the Cross Time Caper. Jay DemetrickOctober 13, 2014 6:28 PM Excalibur #20 Besides Courtney Ross, there's also the problem of Captain Britain's outfit here. It got destroyed during Inferno. I'm sure wiser heads than mine have determined this is the only spot it can go (because of Widget). davidbanesOctober 13, 2014 5:45 PM Daredevil #270 I haven't read this but geez do Mephisto and Blackheart look really creepy. fnord12October 13, 2014 5:13 PM She-Hulk #6-7 Thanks Stephen. I caught myself doing that one time and said i should check again at the end to make sure i didn't do it anywhere else, and then i forgot. StephenOctober 13, 2014 5:08 PM She-Hulk #6-7 There are a couple of points where you refer to Razorback as Razorfist. Nick BowlerOctober 13, 2014 4:44 PM General Comments I have only recently found this site while researching Howard the Duck. I am interested in identifying any references to Howard in issues of FOOM. I have copies of #15, 17, 18 & 19. I notice that Mark Drummond has made mention of issues 10 & 21. Can Mark or anybody else help out? fnord12October 13, 2014 4:31 PM Excalibur #20 Thanks, Clyde. It still seems that scene is just an in joke, though, especially with that line about "that freaky writer". clydeOctober 13, 2014 4:11 PM Excalibur #20 FNORD - it's a real castle - clydeOctober 13, 2014 2:54 PM Daredevil #270 Spider-Man was letting his emotions get the better of him with the Sin-Eater. It seemed like he cared very much for Jean Dewolff. TCPOctober 13, 2014 2:37 PM Daredevil #270 It definitely is interesting to see the roles reversed from the Sin-Eater story. Peter David clearly had his reasons, but I always thought Spidey was behaving very un-Spidey-like in that arc, and his morals in this issue give weight to that. I was glad to see Spidey and DD fighting together again, though, and not bickering like they had been in their most recent encounters. clydeOctober 13, 2014 12:52 PM Daredevil #270 It's funny seeing Spider-Man holding back Daredevil. During the Sin-Eater arc, the situations were reversed. cullenOctober 13, 2014 12:47 PM Uncanny X-Men #14-18 Master Mold is highly reminiscent of Ruler of Earth, a Kirby sci-fi/horror character who has since been brought into continuity (?): CullenOctober 13, 2014 11:35 AM She-Hulk #5 I enjoyed this issue of She-Hulk, despite/because of the fact that it resonated with/was derivative of this episode of Bakshi's 'Mighty Mouse' series, "Don't Touch That Dial": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVKE-etrHFA (Byrne wasn't *necessarily* directly inspired by this, of course... the channel-flipping motif abounded in the mid/late 80s. See also 1989's 'What's Alan Watching?' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169511/) JSfanOctober 13, 2014 4:42 AM She-Hulk #5 ChrisW, I was wondering how the Weed joke got past the comic code. Maybe the people 'upstairs' couldn't be bothered to read it. david banesOctober 13, 2014 4:26 AM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 Or Xorn pretending to be a Skrull pretending to be an LMD. Walter LawsonOctober 12, 2014 11:11 PM Silver Surfer #27 The Stranger's reference to his people is a deliberate tease by Engelhart and presumably misdirection on the Dtranger's part. In a couple of issues Engelhart gives us a revised origin for the Stranger. Walter LawsonOctober 12, 2014 11:08 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 Maybe Dum-Dum LMD's wife is also an LMD. Or a Skrull. Or Master Khan in disguise. ChrisOctober 12, 2014 10:33 PM Moon Knight #4-5 Midnight as a sidekick is what derails the entirety of Dixon's run. Dixon obviously had a plan for all of this, but it detracts from the key things about Moon Knight. Everyone's personalities don't always trace back to their depiction by Moench either. There are a lot of good elements here, but there are a few critical missteps. Luis DantasOctober 12, 2014 8:47 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 Are we to believe Nick hid from Val since SHIELD disbanded? Luis DantasOctober 12, 2014 8:29 PM Moon Knight #4-5 Why would Marlene even care about a blond hair when he is just coming back from a mission as Moon Knight? Is he expected to avoid punching blond people or something? Luis DantasOctober 12, 2014 8:17 PM She-Hulk #5 Razorback addresses Taryn by name there, so I figure that is as good as saying that she is Taryn O'Connell (how many other Taryns would seek US Archer?) Razorback is also named "Buford" and shown to be enormous in size. Among that, the mention of the driving ability in this issue and the CB lingo and profile view with a recognizable mane in #4 he is a fairly easy guess as well. There is a bit of foreshadowing in that Taryn seems not to mind being seen by Razorback wearing only a couple of towels even while he calls her "darlin'". MichaelOctober 12, 2014 7:58 PM Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #1 This issue highlights the creepy aspect of the Dugan LMD retcon. Was the Dugan LMD having sex with Dugan's wife? I suppose Nick could have programmed it to claim it was impotent but if Nick was really evil enough to let his best friend's wife have sex with an LMD than he deserves a lot worse than what happened to him at the end of Original Sin. Luis DantasOctober 12, 2014 7:56 PM Silver Surfer #27 It makes sense that S'Byll would take pains to spread the power ASAP even if other means in a larger scale exist or can be developed given enough time. Perhaps other Skrulls can transmit the power as well. Perhaps just the females, as implied by #25, or just those who go through some unspecified additional steps. Or perhaps it is possible to build some sort of gadget to make the transfer more quickly, but they never had such a need before and therefore don't have a working model ready. In any case, the one thing S'Byll will not do is wait needlessly before healing at least a few other Skrulls. Not putting all of one's eggs in the same basket and all that. Luis DantasOctober 12, 2014 7:44 PM Silver Surfer #27 One of the Handbooks (published after Atlantis Attacks) has an entry on the Stranger that says that the FF #116 origin was false. ChrisWOctober 12, 2014 7:15 PM She-Hulk #5 That two-page spread is great. The "Iron Man" and "Star Brand" entries are my favorite, but did every catch the drug joke for "The 'Nam"? Obviously the Comics Code didn't. fnord12October 12, 2014 7:12 PM She-Hulk #5 @Michael, thanks. I'll be covering that when i get to my next back issue add. StevenOctober 12, 2014 6:54 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 I think that Wanda's kids are real. Immortus kidnapped them and replaced them with Space Phantoms. That is why they keep blinking in and out of reality. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 6:48 PM Moon Knight #4-5 "Moon Knight wonders if the fact that the hair remained on him is related to Felicia's bad luck powers" James MOctober 12, 2014 6:21 PM She-Hulk #5 Curious little tidbit: Byrne accurately guesses the amount of issues Excalibur would get in the Back Issues ad. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 5:59 PM She-Hulk #5 Fnord, the Bong quintuplets were first seen in Howard the Duck 31 and they were created by Beverly Switzler. fnord12October 12, 2014 5:53 PM Silver Surfer #27 Man, did Englehart script any of his own dialogue or just exclusively reference older comics? It's still a weird line to use since after that issue it was revealed that he was the last of / gestalt of his people. Maybe Englehart had a plan to reconcile that line if he stayed on the book. @Clyde, i think you are half right. It's said that only females can pass on the shape-shifting cure. I'm not sure if that meant that only a female could have gained the ability to restore the shape-shifting ability, or if any female, once she had the power back, could cure others, but at a minimum your explanation would make for a good No Prize explanation. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 5:45 PM Silver Surfer #27 Fnord, the Stranger's "my people are interested in mutation" line comes from his first appearance in X-Men 11. Luis DantasOctober 12, 2014 5:37 PM Daredevil #269 Ann Nocenti is indeed something of an acquired taste. Her scripts swim effortlessly in the seas of depression and despair. Come to think of it, that might explain Longshot, and perhaps even why she never wrote the character after the original six-issue miniseries. Longshot is ultimately a very tragic character, and the people around him even more so. But he is a logical reaction and even progression to the typical Nocenti character: skilfully handled madness and selective amnesia in order to overcome crippling depression. You can sort of see Matt becoming Longshot in personality if Nocenti retained the character long enough. This issue (and your review) are particularly revealing. You can almost touch the sheer loneliness coming from Blob and how deeply it taxes his sanity. Amanda is an interesting parallel. While the issue seems to go no further than hinting of it, she feels directionless and, much like Blob, Matt himself or Karen Page, is instinctively seeking a relatioship in order to lend her security and purpose. She is not really suited to live a normal life, nor can she even trust her own government to leave her alone, nor is she is a position to seek a future with the X-Men or the Avengers with such limited powers. That is pure Nocenti. The writer of characters that are so darned easy to relate to, and whose deep horror is that much scary because it is rooted in such familiar dilemmas. clydeOctober 12, 2014 5:34 PM She-Hulk #5 IMO, I thought it fit with the theme of this book as the whole series was a joke. I can't believe this went on as long as it did. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 5:23 PM She-Hulk #5 I did not like that Byrne was actually using the fourth wall breaking to get She-Hulk out of a trap, instead of just as a joke for the readers. clydeOctober 12, 2014 5:16 PM Silver Surfer #27 Michael, I assumed once a skrull got it back, he or she could pass it on as well. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 4:57 PM Silver Surfer #27 This issue implies that S'Byll needs to touch Skrulls to restore their powers to them but annoyingly, within a year and a half, all of the Skrulls are written as having their shape-changing back. fnord12October 12, 2014 4:21 PM Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem I think it had been published at this point. According to DC indexes this came out at the end of 1989 while Atlantis Attacks started in June. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 4:21 PM Inhumans: The Untold Saga #1 (Inhumans Special) Here's one thing I've never understood about Lockjaw's powers- can he teleport directly to anyone he's met before or does he need to know their location? Because in Thing 3 when Crystal wants help he's able to teleport her directly to the hospital where Ben is at and in Avengers West Coast 60 when Quicksilver wants help he's able to teleport him directly to Ocean World where the Avengers are. There doesn't seem to be any reason to teleport to those locations unless he knew there would be superheroes there. But in this story, he's unable to teleport directly to Medusa, and there are other occasions when that's happened as well- e.g. when she was captured by the Enclave. BerendOctober 12, 2014 4:14 PM Inhumans: The Untold Saga #1 (Inhumans Special) Loads of one-shots and mini's all of a sudden! clydeOctober 12, 2014 4:12 PM Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem FNORD - when you said "building made up of past comic book crossovers.", were you talking tongue-in-cheek? Because Atlantis attacks is plastered right up on top of the building with lights around it. That hasn't happened yet, or has it? MichaelOctober 12, 2014 4:10 PM Inhumans: The Untold Saga #1 (Inhumans Special) That scene with Crystal is a complete ripoff of Wanda's origin. And it makes no sense, since Crystal has never had any problems controlling her powers, unlike Wanda. I know some writers have suggested Crystal reminds Pietro of Wanda but this is ridiculous. ChrisOctober 12, 2014 2:42 PM Daredevil #269 This is just another example of the frequent changes in relative power that happens when villains who fight powerful characters (Mr Hyde in Thor, Electro and Scorpion in ASM) show up in titles with less powerful characters (Mr Hyde and Electro in Daredevil, Scorpion in Captain America). There are plenty of other examples. All of a sudden that don't seem anywhere near as strong or tough, and are constantly taken out by lucky shots or just act stupidly. Sometimes they are within plausibility even if the fight could have been done better; other times not. fnord12October 12, 2014 2:14 PM Daredevil #269 According to a 1990s Marvel Roleplaying game book, Blob has "Unearthly (100)" body armor against physical attacks. Colossus has "Amazing (50)" for the same. I only cite the RPG stats for the approximate thinking at the time; i'm sure they're not considered canon. Personally i'd think that his protection is weaker around his head, which might help explain why he can get thrown across a city and land ok but not take a heavy hit to the head like that as easily. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 2:12 PM Daredevil #269 Several writers have established that his eyes,mouth, inner ears, etc. aren't as invulnerable as the rest of him. But usually it takes someone like Wonder Man or Colossus or Rogue to knock him out. entzauberungOctober 12, 2014 1:53 PM Daredevil #269 Has it ever been made clear just how tough the Blob is supposed to be? It seems like stories tend to peg him as functionally invulnerable until he needs to lose the fight, then he's not. clydeOctober 12, 2014 1:43 PM Daredevil #269 Love the "Three Stooges" eye-poke that Daredevil gives the Blob. MichaelOctober 12, 2014 1:22 PM Daredevil #269 I'm not buying the idea that a falling bell tower could knock out the Blob but Rogue tossing him halfway across San Francisco in X-Men 206 couldn't. fnord12October 12, 2014 11:26 AM Avengers #13-14 Thanks, Luke. I've added that scene to the entry for X-Men #9. fnord12October 12, 2014 11:10 AM Fantastic Four #330-333 That's definitely how i saw Fantastic Four #329, Cullen. But three of the issues here are just characters dreaming rejected plotlines that themselves have nothing meta to say. CullenOctober 12, 2014 2:33 AM Fantastic Four #330-333 On one hand, I see why you hate this. On another, I see it as running parallel to a lot of the 'deconstructionist superhero' stories that were circulating at the time (in DC and independents). Parodying tropes, highlighting values dissonance, etc. She-Hulk should also be seen in this light; it was more lighthearted but no less hamfisted. gfsdf gfbdOctober 12, 2014 2:14 AM Avengers #291-294 In a similar vein to Captain Marvel being brought home to "Atlanta," Mr. Rambeau is mistakenly identified as a former cop instead of a fireman. Minor mistakes, but it's funny they happen to Captain Marvel of all people on top of all the disrespect she receives in this arc. Ataru320October 11, 2014 11:02 PM Uncanny X-Men #9 Have to say this but the device Xavier is cave-trawling in is just awesome. Its a super-wheelchair-tank! Luke BlanchardOctober 11, 2014 10:54 PM Avengers #13-14 There's an earlier use of "Avengers Assemble" in X-Men #9, at the end of Avengers/X-Men fight. (I first posted this comment in that issue's thread by mistake.) MichaelOctober 11, 2014 10:52 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 @Jon- Ann Raymond was real. Luke BlanchardOctober 11, 2014 10:49 PM Uncanny X-Men #9 There's an earlier use of "Avengers Assemble" in X-Men #9, at the end of the Avengers/X-Men fight. Jon DubyaOctober 11, 2014 10:38 PM Avengers #305-310 I was a bit confused when I read issue 310 because Sersi was already in the cover corner box, even though I found put later on that she didn't officially join until later. The big difference between the "everyone's a Avenger" concept here and from Hickman's run is that Hickman tends to utelize the ENTIRE team for "epic" stories, while Byrne just uses a few members while the rest are on "Standby" (i.e. character limbo). The sad part is that all those past depictions of Tigra aren't even the worse of the abuse that would be heaped upon her (although she was portrayed rather well on Avengers Academy.) david banesOctober 11, 2014 10:34 PM Daredevil #8 I like Stilt Man, he's got a very classic 'Martian' design to him. Jon DubyaOctober 11, 2014 10:12 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 Steven, I think it was established that "Ann Raymond" here was a space phantom too. These set of issues already demonstrate that the "rotating roster" idea was a bad one. When I first read this I was disappointed to see people usually associated with the East Coast suddenly clog the majority of the book. It lead to a genericization of the line (Something similar would pollute the X-books too. That Tigra scene is going to cause SO many headaches for so many people...including the person who wrote it! clydeOctober 11, 2014 9:24 PM Iron Man #245 Tony should be careful about his hover-wheelchair. I think Prof. X had a patent on them. Mark BlackOctober 11, 2014 9:15 PM Punisher War Journal #4-5 Re-reading this, I remember how much I liked Levin's togs. It looked like a low-rent SHIELD uniform, but I liked it - even the totally 80s hair. Mark DrummondOctober 11, 2014 7:43 PM Power Pack #47 The pupil-missing characters are Jiggs & Maggie from the "Bringing Up Father" comic strip by George McManus(the "king"). The mustache guys are Mutt & Jeff from the same-titled strip(and a long-running DC comic). Mark DrummondOctober 11, 2014 7:38 PM Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4 All distorted anatomy is courtesy of Kent Williams; Jon J. Muth did everybody with realistic proportions. Mark DrummondOctober 11, 2014 7:29 PM Avengers Spotlight #22-25 Lou Mougin was actually one of the better fanzine contributors who did meticulously researched historical articles. Union Jack I stated in Invaders #7 that all the people he knew in WW1 were "all gone now", implying that the Crimson Cavalier was dead(the Phantom Eagle certainly was). Mark DrummondOctober 11, 2014 7:12 PM West Coast Avengers #46 Mr. Immortal's costume design seems a bit like the Steve Ditko Blue Beetle's. Mark DrummondOctober 11, 2014 7:05 PM She-Hulk #2-3 The "It's only canvas" panel appears to be a reference to the poster for the 1981 werewolf movie "The Howling". The title to #3 refers to the "Aunt May marries Doc Ock" Spider-Man issue. Enchlore♠October 11, 2014 6:25 PM Fantastic Four #57-60 This was adapted into the 90s cartoon, too - there's even the scene with Ben reading the ghost story and the Silver Surfer's dialogue in that scan where he's imprisoned is recited word by word. kveto from pragueOctober 11, 2014 4:45 PM Web of Spider-Man #54 as a teenager, this is where I learnt what bulimia was. I've never liked how the Spider sense was portrayed. It should warn him of a direct threat to himself. It should not just warn him if a bad guy (who isnt directly about to attack) is nearby. In other words, if aunt may is about to hit him on the head, it buzzes. If Peter walks past, say Mark Scarlotti, in a crowd, it should not warn him of anything. He is not intending to attack anyone at that time. So unless the chameleon is about to attack him, it should not buzz. Otherwise his spidey sense is making judgement calls on the morality of people who aren't directly attacking him. I'd hate the idea that that spider in the corner of my ceiling is getting a warning about me or not by its spider-sense making a judgement call as to whether i represent a danger or not. Mark DrummondOctober 11, 2014 4:16 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #152 Conway had been having trouble with the Spider-Sense ever since Aunt May whacked Spider-Man over the head at Doc Ock's place. Luis DantasOctober 11, 2014 11:01 AM Fantastic Four #330-333 I assume Simonson did not quite know which direction to give the team and therefore it was decided to give him some breathing space by keeping Englehart until right before the Acts of Vengeance issues, which follow immediately and are mainly humor and very light on plot, direction and characterization. All things told, this is nearly a whole year of directionless Fantastic Four. A harbinger of things to come. Luis DantasOctober 11, 2014 10:57 AM She-Hulk: Ceremony #1-2 The DeFalco era seems to play very fast-and-loose with chronology, at least around 1989. I suspect the one panel with Monica was made in order to be easily customizable. Mavis and Monica look sufficiently alike that the art of future issues could be adjusted for either to fulfill the same supporting character role, depending on the fortunes of the day. It is interesting how uncertain both She-Hulk and Wyatt are about what they feel about each other. In a sense it is refreshingly realistic, and reminds me of Daredevil and Black Widow. It was probably intentional, since even Jennifer herself later acknowledges that it was quite a blunder, but her choice of words towards Wyatt was inconsiderate on the extreme. Asking anyone to be a surrogate father just like that, with no context, is in essence telling that your feelings about him are all over the place and more than a bit contradictory. Jennifer comes out of this looking a lot more insecure than what we expect from past portrayals. Likewise, Wyatt has never been anywhere near this uncertain or immature. MichaelOctober 11, 2014 10:11 AM Fantastic Four #330-333 James- Sandman's in the background. fnord12October 11, 2014 12:43 AM She-Hulk: Ceremony #1-2 Well, i'd say there's a difference. There's no doubt that Byrne deliberately crafted his WCA story specifically for the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, with thought put into how he saw the histories of the characters. You and i both don't agree with his interpretations, so i agree it's "shoehorning" in the sense that he's forcing the characters to fit those interpretations and disregarding what he doesn't like. But what Byrne means here by a shoehorn story is taking a generic plot and stuffing any character into it. Aside from the fact that she has a Native American boyfriend, there's nothing about the plot that made it specific to She-Hulk. It arguably could have been any female character. Thanks for the correction on when it's revealed the exoskeleton is being used in Atlantis Attacks. I kind of suspect the reason the Thing is his classic rocky self both here and there is because the original directive for Englehart included resetting the Thing in addition to bringing Reed and Sue back, but it didn't work out that way as Englehart subverted the stories. MichaelOctober 10, 2014 8:48 PM She-Hulk: Ceremony #1-2 The irony is Byrne himself had a tendency to shoehorn characters into plots that made no sense, as evidenced by his WCA run. MichaelOctober 10, 2014 7:49 PM She-Hulk: Ceremony #1-2 Mickey Souris is later the main antagonist in the second Damage Control series. He's an allusion to Mickey Mouse in the Sorcerer's Apprentice- Souris means mouse. TCPOctober 10, 2014 4:15 PM Amazing Spider-Man #210 I agree with the comment above (though I was never that down on Madame Web). O'Neil's run was a total disappointment, especially compared to Wolfman's run before it and Roger Stern's concurrent run on Spectacular. ChrisWOctober 10, 2014 3:01 PM Amazing Spider-Man #283 Disregard what I said above, I'd clearly missed the part about Crusher faking his defeat, and wasn't paying close enough attention to the actual transition - i.e. Titania hadn't actually lost before the splash panel. Totally my bad. TCPOctober 10, 2014 9:49 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #44-45 I think this is the first time we learn the Vulture's surname is "Toomes." Stern would give him a first name during his run on Amazing. TCPOctober 10, 2014 9:15 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #43 For me, Roger Stern's run on Spectacular was the first time the B Spider-title consistently exceeded the A title in quality. fnord12October 10, 2014 7:24 AM Punisher #21 Thanks JSfan and Michael who pointed this out in the forum. And no, i wasn't trying to extort anyone into giving me their issues. JSfanOctober 10, 2014 6:51 AM Punisher #21 Hey, fnord, I think you mean Erik Larsen's run will only last five issues not "give". JSfanOctober 10, 2014 6:18 AM Iron Man #245 Hey, Tony, who needs that girl anyway. She's only after your money. :) A.LloydOctober 10, 2014 3:28 AM Thing #35-36 Has there ever been any issues of anything where Ben sits with a psychiatrist? The way he talks in that last panel suggests he really needs one. James MOctober 10, 2014 3:01 AM Fantastic Four #330-333 I haven't read these issues, so I don't know if it's just something in the background or if a big deal is made out of it, but could the Sandman have been included as a villain because it was DeFalco who reformed him in the first place? Maybe Englehart was trying to prove a point that DeFalco wouldn't like it if a contribution he'd made was wiped out for no especially good reason? Of course, if he'd wanted to prove that point all he'd have to have done was waited a few more years... Erik RobbinsOctober 10, 2014 1:47 AM Fantastic Four #330-333 Wow, I had the issues leading up to where Aron shows up with the fake-FF, and then the last part of this arc. It looks like I really dodged a bullet skipping all the dream issues. I probably assumed the focus was on the evil FF for all those issues. MichaelOctober 9, 2014 11:56 PM Excalibur #9-11 But during True Friends, Kitty knows Logan is alive, which would suggest True Friends takes place after X-Tinction Agenda. The reference during Cross-Time Caper could have been referring to something else. Walter LawsonOctober 9, 2014 11:46 PM Excalibur #9-11 I suspect what we saw of Illyana in X-Men Forever is a clue to Claremont's intentions: she was going to try to drag Kitty to the dark side. But in 616, maybe Kitty would have pulled Illyana back. X-Men: True Friends has to take place sometime before this. During the Cross-Time Caper, Rachel refers to meeting the Shadow King in that mini ( which was originally intended as two 1990 Excalibur specials). Luis DantasOctober 9, 2014 11:32 PM Excalibur #9-11 Claremont is not very subtle far as sexual behavior goes, but I think he did fine this time. The joke worked - and I am not even generally approving of Claremont's characterization, mind you. I'm bothered by his ambiguous and IMO unsolvable handling of the Illyana - Kitty connection. It is raised far too often, given way too much significance and way too little in the way of an explanation or meaning. Now it is resistant to the freaking Phoenix Force? Really? MichaelOctober 9, 2014 11:26 PM Excalibur #9-11 Also, there's a scene you didn't post where alternate Kurt tries to rape Brigadier Stuart, which is odd because Alpha Flight does the same thing with alternate Spider-Man and Lil a few issues later. MichaelOctober 9, 2014 10:53 PM Excalibur #9-11 The fact that Claremont is trying to make humor out of an adult seeing a 15-year old naked is just creepy. ChrisOctober 9, 2014 10:34 PM Punisher #22-23 A lot of the early nineties art superstars seemed to get their Marvel start in Punisher - Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, and now Erik Larsen. fnord12October 9, 2014 10:14 PM Amazing Spider-Man #315 I think that'll just be a Reference when we get there, but thanks MegaSpiderMan. MegaSpiderManOctober 9, 2014 10:04 PM Amazing Spider-Man #315 A few years down the line, the father of the guard Venom kills at the beginning of this issue would fund the creation of The Jury. Whether that effects the historical significance or not is up to you, though. Luis DantasOctober 9, 2014 9:34 PM Punisher #21 Erik Larsen's style is very cartoony indeed, and Iris is the most Larken-like of his characters in these panels. At this point he was still trying to be slightly photo-realistic, as well as more influenced by McFarlanne. I assume he just associates his own cartoony style with sexyness, at least for women. MichaelOctober 9, 2014 9:09 PM Punisher #21 Punisher using the name Frank Castle when he's undercover makes no sense since it's got to be in some official records. RobertOctober 9, 2014 8:56 PM Punisher #22-23 Yes you're right. I missed that before. Weird. Walter LawsonOctober 9, 2014 8:45 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 Strange is just wearing an eyepatch in Atlantis Attacks so he can pretend to be a pirate. That's my no-prize theory. Aron's manipulations standing in for the editors and his use of the FF like action figures are something we 've seen before: this was what Claremont did with Mr. Sinister. So I'll dock Engelhart points for up originality, as well as for producing about a half year's worth of the worst comics Marvel produced before the 1990s. Walter LawsonOctober 9, 2014 8:40 PM Iron Man #245 All of Smith's pencils from his time look worse than his X-Men work. Maybe it's the inkers: he has Wiacek on X-Men, I believe. He'll soon have Milgrom on X-Factor. I'm not familiar with this issue's inker. It is possible this was a rush job: I get the impression Layton couldn't meet deadlines, which will lead to an amazing awful period on this title about a year from now. MichaelOctober 9, 2014 8:37 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 "Dr. Strange does not have an eyepatch so this should take place after Doctor Strange #9" Walter LawsonOctober 9, 2014 8:30 PM Punisher #22-23 Looks like he does have a scar across his lips in the scene where Scully's about to sic his dog on him, though. BerendOctober 9, 2014 7:30 PM Fantastic Four #330-333 Good lord. This might just be the worst comics on this site so far! How on earth was this allowed to be published? Perhaps DeFalco thought that since it was criticizing him he would look bad if he nixed it? fnord12October 9, 2014 6:37 PM Fantastic Four #329 Very likely. It helps that this issue doesn't require realistic scripting. But i think Englehart had a lot to draw on for doing some strong and mean satire; it's not his usual type of story. RobertOctober 9, 2014 6:35 PM Iron Man #245 I would never have guessed this was Paul Smith. Far cry from his X-Men days. I wonder if this was a rush job to meet a deadline or something. RobertOctober 9, 2014 5:27 PM Punisher #22-23 When Punisher shows up during Larsen's ASM run, I remember he had these weird lines around his mouth that disturbed me. I couldn't tell if they were supposed to be scars or some sign of a venereal disease or what. They're absent in these issues, thankfully. RobertOctober 9, 2014 5:19 PM Fantastic Four #329 Is this the highest grade you've ever given an Englehart comic? RobertOctober 9, 2014 5:17 PM Punisher #20 Those first few panels I was really confused as to (a) why Wonder Man was wearing his safari jacket again and (b) why he had turned to crime. SharOctober 9, 2014 1:16 PM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #6 LOL, that's what I get for trying to sneak in visits to this site during work ;) -- I rushed through it and focused on your bulleted note about Avg #53. Your commentary is indeed fabulous and is what separates this site from other purportedly similar sites. A.LloydOctober 9, 2014 12:37 PM Avengers #256-257 Being the leader of The Avengers should be like being the CEO of Apple, not just anybody can do it. Hawkeye whining and complaining about being better than Captain America just shows how immature he was. (But I like that about his character BTW. It was a contrast to Thor, Iron Man and Cap and it works.) I believe issues with both Hawkeye and the Wasp arose later in WCA and The Avengers. Still, this era of The Avengers is great no matter who is leading it and I do agree that Hawkeye and the Wasp showed much more depth after they were named chair people. I just didn't agree with it. fnord12October 9, 2014 11:37 AM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #6 Oh i thought you just meant she *preferred* to think about the other issue. If you hadn't said anything i would have never known you weren't reading my fabulous commentary. Thanks for pointing out the Magneto dialogue, by the way. Interesting in light of Englehart's re-use of old FF dialogue at the end of his FF run (e.g. Fantastic Four #329), and maybe shows that he didn't only do it for satirical reasons. SharOctober 9, 2014 10:41 AM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #6 Ah, I now see you'd already mentioned the Wasp-Mags Secret Wars connection in your commentary, fnord. Sorry! TCPOctober 9, 2014 9:39 AM Uncanny X-Men #123-124 This is probably the story that provided the inspiration for the "Spider-Man & X-Men in Arcade's Revenge" video game, but I'll try not to hold that against the comic. fnord12October 9, 2014 7:29 AM Avengers #256-257 It may not convince you of anything, A.Lloyd, but just to answer the historical question: Jim Shooter had the Wasp take on the role of Avengers chairperson in Avengers #217 as a way of showing her mature out of her flighty persona after enduring the trouble with her husband Hank. So her taking that role during the Stern run was her second turn at leadership. Hawkeye had been jockeying for leadership of the Avengers since the Kooky Quartet days, and putting him in that position was a way for him to evolve and realize what an ass he had been in those days, now that the weight of responsibility was on his shoulders. I like the way both changes allowed for character development, but of course your mileage may vary. fnord12October 9, 2014 7:17 AM Uncanny X-Men #208-209 Captain Britain. RyanOctober 9, 2014 6:31 AM Uncanny X-Men #208-209 "If Claremont's plan had come off, Excalibur might have had a reason to exist and the merging of X-Men and the CB my this wouldn't have seemed so arbitrary. " Walter - who is CB? I'm not at the Inferno storyline yet. Jay DemetrickOctober 9, 2014 3:41 AM Defenders #135 Yea, they wanted to put the original X-Men back together in X-Factor. ;) A.LloydOctober 9, 2014 2:45 AM Amazing Spider-Man #269-270 Firelord has the POWER COSMIC and should never have been defeated by Spider-Man. Think about it. He's a former herald of GALACTUS. That being said, going thorough the 80's comic timeline has been much more fun than the 70's timeline. I agree with your assessment that Shooter brought some stability to the Marvel line. A.LloydOctober 9, 2014 2:25 AM Fantastic Four #280-281 The Torch is good friends with Spider-Man who could of told him about the shape shifter in The New Mutants. It's not that big of a deal. A.LloydOctober 9, 2014 2:11 AM Daredevil #221 David Mazzucchelli is damn good. A.LloydOctober 9, 2014 2:06 AM Avengers #256-257 If Hercules objected to the Wasp's leadership position (which he didn't) why would it be because of his "chauvinistic attitude?" Where in the Wasp's past has she shown any position of leadership? She flirts with nearly all of the male Avengers, tricked her husband into marrying her and obsesses over her looks. She's a great character but not a leader. I had objections about Hawkeye becoming the leader of the WCA. Nothing in his past suggested leadership either. A.LloydOctober 9, 2014 1:39 AM Uncanny X-Men #196 I guess using the word kaffir (like Andrea Strucker does) is less controversial because many comic book readers don't know what it means. It probably didn't get a peep of protest back in the day. ChrisWOctober 8, 2014 11:51 PM Uncanny X-Men #158 No, that's just crazy talk. ChrisWOctober 8, 2014 11:49 PM Uncanny X-Men #158 I thought the Brood appearance in early issues of "New Mutants" were where Xavier was implanted with an egg. How does this work in the timeline, because the eggs were implanted in the X-Men far later, and came to gestation far earlier than the one in Xavier, if he's actually been implanted. This would also make Wolverine's assumption that Xavier is hosting a Queen egg at the end of #166 more sensible [if only because he has a subscription to other Marvel comics and gets his books weeks earlier than the newsstand readers; otherwise how does he know Tony Stark isn't hosting a Queen egg after all the time the X-Men spent off-planet? Or Bill Fischman, that guy down the street who runs a 7/11?] I don't specifically recall any other Queen eggs implanted (and am too lazy to look it up) but, well, even they took less time to gestate than the one Xavier supposedly has here. He goes into a coma for [Marvel time] ages. I agree the implication here is that he's implanted with a Brood egg - and how's that for a disgusting Claremontism, the female implants her egg in an other-species male and, based on evidence, it takes different amounts of time for it to gestate - but when did it happen, and why did all the other eggs gestate in much less time? I'm beginning to think superhero comics aren't actually true-to-life. A.LloydOctober 8, 2014 11:34 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #101 The greatest thing about this issue is the cover. MichaelOctober 8, 2014 9:24 PM She-Hulk #4 Hercules used the Mr. Powers name in Avengers 39- it's clearly intended to be him. MichaelOctober 8, 2014 9:09 PM Web of Spider-Man #54 The problem with the Chameleon is that Peter's Spider-Sense should always warn him no matter how the Chameleon disguises himself. Conway's solution was to have Peter ignore his Spider-Sense. Unfortunately, Conway made Peter look extra stupid, since he still doesn't realize the truth after "Jonah" attacked him. In a 1990 story, Micheline "solved" the problem by having Peter's Spider-Sense not go off until the Chameleon turned on his trap. Which is fine, except for the fact that Peter's Spider-Sense is supposed to give him ADVANCE warning. Luis DantasOctober 8, 2014 8:47 PM She-Hulk #4 Considering the Mr. L introduction, could Mr. Powers be Superman? Is the number "579" of any meaning? MichaelOctober 8, 2014 8:41 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #152 The larger point is that Eduardo was more reluctant than Carlos to be a predator. When he finally decides to completely embrace that side of him, it will seal his doom in an ironic fashion. fnord12October 8, 2014 8:40 PM She-Hulk #4 Added Lex, thanks. A.LloydOctober 8, 2014 8:26 PM Hulk #304-305 I wonder if it ever occurred to have the Hulk go through the Crossroads and end up on Battleworld and meet the Thing during this time? A.LloydOctober 8, 2014 8:15 PM Defenders #135 The book was cancelled for a reason and not officially revived until 2001. I don't count the Secret Defenders either. BerendOctober 8, 2014 8:15 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #153 Hurray, we're into another long stretch of comics I actually own! Can't wait till we get to the mid 90's and I actually own quite a lot of the X-Men and Spiderman stuff you'll be covering! MichaelOctober 8, 2014 8:11 PM She-Hulk #4 We're clearly meant to think Mr. Powers is Hercules- hence the 99-year lease and the description of him as adventurer. However, Hercules is using "Harry Cleese" as an alias at this time, and although Jen daydreams and eventually runs into Herc later, it's never explained who Mr.Powers is. Vincent ValentiOctober 8, 2014 6:36 PM She-Hulk #4 Byrne has stated in an old interview that the Blonde Phantom did indeed break the fourth wall once (maybe in her final issue?) and that cemented his decision to use her here...he was researching obscure Golden Age Timely characters to include in #4. fnord12October 8, 2014 6:20 PM Avengers #295-297 Thanks, Jay! fnord12October 8, 2014 6:19 PM Avengers #305-310 Kveto mentions that a few comments up, but that would have been published after this issue was released so it still would have come across kind of odd to readers. clydeOctober 8, 2014 5:39 PM Web of Spider-Man #53 The "Endless Crossover" was used in the Superman titles at DC during the revamp at this time. Jay DemetrickOctober 8, 2014 5:36 PM Defenders #135 Actually, yes you did. Quite a bit in fact. Blowtorch Brand was a throwaway villain designed as such. The story here isn't really about going up against a villain but instead to remind us that regular people can be true heroes and attain Valhalla, of who Valkyrie really is, and about furthering an ongoing plot involving Moondragon's attempts to manipulate people into removing Odin's headband for her. There were some pretty darn good stories in the run after this point that you missed out on. Just maybe not ones with the sort of villain battles you were looking for. Jay DemetrickOctober 8, 2014 5:19 PM Avengers #305-310 Isn't Quasar's induction into the Avengers shown in one of the secondary stories in Avengers Annual #18? Jay DemetrickOctober 8, 2014 5:16 PM Avengers #295-297 Fnord, you wrote: "The two remaining Kangs also get tossed of the Quinjet during the fight." You might want to add an "F" to "OF" so they are tossed "OFF" the Quinjet. TCPOctober 8, 2014 3:10 PM Web of Spider-Man #53 I agree. I've been reading through this storyline for the first time and I'm finding it really compelling, especially compared to the lackluster stories in Amazing at the time. This is how a "Gang War" saga should be done! MikeCheyneOctober 8, 2014 2:50 PM Web of Spider-Man #53 Obviously Sal was on Spectacular, sorry. MikeCheyneOctober 8, 2014 2:50 PM Web of Spider-Man #53 Conway's run on these two Spider-Man series is really good in my opinion--I think it's not overly fondly remembered because there isn't like a "THE" moment or payoff storyline, but it reads very well on a monthly, issue by issue basis (especially when compared with what was happening in Amazing at the time). The always very solid Sal Buscema artwork is a plus, although Sal tended to make everyone's faces very sad. Ataru320October 8, 2014 12:21 PM Avengers #305-310 Grey Shulkie with blonde hair...no it makes no sense but it isn't that bad a look. My problem in regards to Tigra is that really she never really got the writer or someone to let her become a lasting legacy character, even the likes of someone who found their writer later like Starlin and the cosmics (Captain Marvel, Warlock) or Claremont and...nearly anyone he touched. The Cat was groundbreaking even if it didn't have the sales to last more than 4 issues; and her becoming Tigra at least allowed her to remain relevant beyond that even if riding on the horror fad at the time. But then the writers in the 80s, from Shooter to Englehart to now Byrne, ended up adding to problems rather intentionally or unintentionally that made her all the tougher to use from then on out. MikeCheyneOctober 8, 2014 11:59 AM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 Scorpion's mask is one of those things that seems really cool but I have no idea how it works. IF someone touches Scorpion's face, would their hand be vaporized? Does Scorpion have to push a button to make it work (Rhino will later have the exact same feature on his mask)? Does it only work on inorganic material? Weird. BillOctober 8, 2014 11:16 AM Avengers West Coast #47-49 To be fair, kveto, many writers do that...especially nowadays! MichaelOctober 8, 2014 7:43 AM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 Fnord, as we'll see later, Harry really IS planning on becoming a heroic Green Goblin. JSfanOctober 8, 2014 7:37 AM Avengers #305-310 The art looks very early 80s, if that makes sense, I like it. I used to like Tigra but I'm beginning to realise that she's either used as a sex-kitten or she's catty. I get the fact she's a feline but come on, there's got to be more to her than that. fnord12October 8, 2014 7:36 AM X-Factor #41-42 Ok, thanks, Jay. I've pushed this past Avengers #305, but as i say in the Temporary Note in the Considerations, i'll adjust further when i get to the relevant issues. kveto from pragueOctober 8, 2014 4:28 AM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 Berend, I think you're right. ASM of this era really ushered in the cheesecake era in my mind. Reading the letter colunms, all they do is gush about how hot and sexy MJ is. It really made the comics feel like poor grade wanking material. kveto from pragueOctober 8, 2014 4:14 AM Avengers West Coast #47-49 I think "that which endures" is kinda screwed up in its thinking. It took "that" about 160 million years to figure out that the dinosaurs were not worth helping, but it only took "that" less than a million to dump us humans for mutants? That's kind of insulting to us humans. Reading your commentary, Fnord, its interesting to see how Bryne just ignores whatever came before if it doesn't fit into the narrative he's trying to tell. kveto from pragueOctober 8, 2014 3:57 AM Avengers #305-310 I always got the feeling that Byrne didnt really want to write the main book, we all know he just wrote AWC so he could get the Scarlet Witch and Wonderman together (he even gets called out on this by letter writers of the day and the editors can't deny it). I was hot and cold on the rotating membership concept. It stats to feel a bit too much like GI joe with a team so unwieldy that it doesn't feel like a team. Getting rid of Gilgamesh was probably a good idea. I can't imagine what they had planned for him. Quasar will get a back story in an annual that shows Cap recruiting him after the Supernova story. They make a joke about forgetting to mention it in 305. Cut the panther some slack, fnord:-). His idea of going after the leader was probably a better idea than throwing hammers at the statue guy. And "Surrender you staff of power, Jinku!" That's some serious comicbook dialouge there. When those lava men form a spaceship, I wonder who gets to be the engine? A.LloydOctober 8, 2014 2:45 AM Defenders #135 Neblulon, The Six Fingered Hand, Omegatron have been replaced by Blowtorch Brand. I cancelled the New Defenders with the previous issue. Looks like I missed nothing. A.LloydOctober 8, 2014 2:37 AM Uncanny X-Men #185 The seeds of the X-Men becoming a big convoluted mess begin to be sown here. Cyclops marries a look alike of Jean Grey, Racheal Summers is his daughter from the future, The New Mutants are running around the mansion, Lila Cheney and Warlock appear. Right now, things are confusing but easy to follow. Claremont imho should of shed some of these subplots and get the X-Men back to simpler times. But we know how that turned out. Jay DemetrickOctober 8, 2014 2:34 AM X-Factor #41-42 Like Michael mentioned, this ties in with The New Mutants #77 (where Ship tells the New Mutants X-Factor hasn't returned from England yet) and the opening pages of X-Factor #43 are directly connected to the closing pages of The New Mutants #78. That means there are really only 2 appearances of X-Factor that could possibly fit between X-Factor #42 & 43 and those are Cyclops's visit to Scotland in Marvel Comics Presents #17-24 and possibly Beast's & Marvel Girl's appearance in the Atlantis Attacks crossover (which will be much discussed when you get around to those I'm sure!). All other appearances (like Beast's appearance in Avengers #305 and his appearances in Marvel Comics Presents #39-44 and possibly Marvel Comics Presents #85-92 as well) that take place before X-Factor return from space and start crossing over madly with the New Mutants & X-Men need to go before X-Factor #41. A.LloydOctober 8, 2014 2:08 AM Alpha Flight #13 Well Heather, you still get free health care. So you got that going for you. Jay DemetrickOctober 8, 2014 2:04 AM Avengers #305-310 Beast should probably appear here before X-Factor #41 because in New Mutants #77 Ship informs the kids that X-Factor is still in England and NM 77 continues directly into #78 where they see Ship pulled off into space with X-Factor on board at the end (as shown at the beginning of XF #43). Not sure if it makes sense for him to have returned from England, attended this Avengers gathering and then gotten swept off into space without being made aware of the big battle the New Mutants were having with possessed Dani and Freedom Force occurring at that time. In fact, if this occurs before Atlantis Attacks and you go with the placement of that crossover for Beast (and Marvel Girl) between X-Factor #42 & 43 as has been suggested by the MCP, then his appearance here would have to go before his appearance in XF #41. gfsdf gfbdOctober 8, 2014 1:44 AM Hulk #341-345 @Cullen: yeah, I think it might be. I distinctly remembered Egghead and friends causing some mass destruction, but upon looking at fnord's Avengers 64 scan, it seems the town was evacuated. The recent Four Horsemen battle in X-Factor apparently wrecked much of NYC, which is, of course, totally ridiculous. Anyways, PAD's brought so much class to this title, it's not even funny. I think the difference in quality between this and everything else going on in '88 is comparable to when Claremont began his X-Men run amidst all the late Bronze Age dreck that was going on at the time. StevenOctober 8, 2014 1:36 AM Avengers West Coast #47-49 The Nebula in the time bubble story is actually Ravonna in disguise. Since Phineas Horton turned out to be a Space Phantom, do you think there are other characters in these stories who are actually Space Phantoms? StevenOctober 8, 2014 1:18 AM Avengers #305-310 Avengers #309 was my first issue of this series. I now have almost every one of them. david banesOctober 8, 2014 12:10 AM Avengers #181-182 The Wonderman and Beast friendship becomes a favorite element of the next volume. Wonderman has become a favorite of my 'rotation' Avengers. david banesOctober 8, 2014 12:08 AM Avengers #179-180 Yeah I remember The Beast had near current Wolverine level healing. He took a few bullets to the chest and was fine two panels later. MichaelOctober 7, 2014 11:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 Note that Man-Killer is listed as deceased but Busiek would later bring her back in Thunderbolts claiming her death was never confirmed. MichaelOctober 7, 2014 11:22 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 You're thinking of a later retcon. RobertOctober 7, 2014 11:20 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 WCA #42-50 are reprinted in "Vision Quest" TPB. RobertOctober 7, 2014 11:14 PM Avengers #305-310 @Michael - I'm sure some readers did feel that way. But, speaking for myself, I agree with fnord and Bill that the quality in the series drops sharply after Byrne leaves and doesn't recover until Busiek (I'll save my thoughts on that run until we get to it). The series was speeding downhill after losing Stern. Byrne managed to slow the descent a little. After he goes, it plummets to almost Alpha Flight levels of terrible. BillOctober 7, 2014 11:11 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 I was always under the impression that the two Nebulas were two separate women. Am I misremembering something? Or am I thinking of a later retcon? Also, I said it before and I'll say it again, JB draws a hot Scarlet Witch. BillOctober 7, 2014 10:53 PM Avengers #305-310 As soon as Byrne left the writers position, this series tanked hard. Harras would go on to turn it into a quasi X-Men book, which never worked for me. It was a great day when it was announced that Busiek and Perez would be taking over the Avengers (and that was a decade after these issues!) ChrisWOctober 7, 2014 9:34 PM Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure Claremont can be unreliable about things like whether or not Wolvie should have a real origin, and the era this book was published is unreliable anyway. A note in a letter column during Larry Hama's run of "Wolverine" noted that everybody important during this period had gotten together for a meeting to hammer out Wolverine's true origin, and I'm pretty sure it was while Claremont was still there. He might have been feeling the heat at the time, and there's no telling what he actively set forth as a good company guy versus what he actually thought about the character. From what I've learned on sites like this, I believe him that he intended things like Apocalypse to be behind the adamantium implantation. Briefly, before Bob Harras used his authority, other writers knew about this and were willing to work within established continuity as they knew it. Walt Simonson and BWS understood how continuity worked. They were still serving the Marvel Universe as they had always understood it, a generally-collaborative shared experience, with undefined rules giving making certain people more equal [Miller on "Daredevil," Claremont on "X-Men," Roy Thomas on whatever.] With the introduction of Sabretooth as a long-time tormenter of Wolverine on his birthday in "Wolverine" #10, the Madripoor tintypes [which is a great name for a series] and other elements of fairly recent vintage, I'm pretty sure Claremont had been working out Wolverine's origin. Maybe he changed his mind in places, maybe he was overridden by editorial, maybe he never knew what he was trying to do and thought 'I'll figure it out later,' maybe he had stuff in mind that would always remain vague. I don't think Claremont is lying, just that his statements are unreliable, as are everyone else's. We're nearing the edge of the cliff in the darkest era in Marvel's history, and [your mileage may vary] I see no indication it's ever changed. MichaelOctober 7, 2014 9:31 PM Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure The reason the MCP placed this issue so early wasn't the lighter but Wolverine 23. This story is mentioned in Wolverine 23, and Wolverine 23 leads into X-Men 251. So this story has to take place before X-Men 251. david banesOctober 7, 2014 9:31 PM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 I too wish the Spidey vs. Blacklast and Rhino vs. Scorpion fights were longer. Heck I wish Scorpion could have laid at least one hit on Spidey. Guy had an amazing intro back in the 60s and he looks really great here! david banesOctober 7, 2014 9:26 PM Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure My thought process while reading this: "A corny Apocalypse? Relax just call it an Apoca-bo...oh." I agree with Claremont, I prefer Wolverine having no clear past or at least revealed past. MichaelOctober 7, 2014 9:19 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 Horton describes a synthezoid as a mixture of artificial organs and mechanical parts. This contradicts Hank's definition in issue 57 as something "every inch a human being... except this all his bodily organs are composed of synthetic materials." Max_SpiderOctober 7, 2014 9:19 PM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 I see Justin has his monitors set up Days of Future Past style. Max_SpiderOctober 7, 2014 9:09 PM Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure In your page for Fantastic Four #293-295, I noted the following: "Having read some of Uncanny X-Force, Fantomex comments that some technology the Celestials use operate similar enough to devices found in the World that he is able to operate them. This would imply that either technology within the hyper-evolution atmosphere of the world advances into a state that could rival the Celestials or that Celestial technology was used in the World's creation. The principle behind the place IS pretty high-end. BUT, this might actually somewhat validate the hints seen through the chronology project that Apocalypse had an involvement with Weapon Plus (as per the original writer's intentions), considering that Apocalypse is an agent of sorts to the Celestials. Heck, his successor in Uncanny X-Force even attempts to use the World to further evolution!" Makes me wonder if Rick Remender had a similar intention to Barry Winsor-Smith, what with Rick's ongoing useage of Weapon Plus and Apocalypse. BerendOctober 7, 2014 8:54 PM Amazing Spider-Man #318-319 How on earth does Scorpion's mask work? You can so clearly see his nose and lips that at first I thought it might be painted on, but then later you see him putting on the mask, which later even becomes a plot point! Regarding MJ in her night things... is it me, or is the cheesecake art very suddenly becoming a lot more prevalent? I mean, there have always been sexy ladies in comics, but between the Goblin Queen, MJ's recent portrayals and other random stuff like that girl in the latest review of Moon Knight, 1988/1989 seems to be a watershed moment in the sexualization of women in comics. BerendOctober 7, 2014 8:30 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 I wonder if That Which Endures has any connection with Sublime, from Grant Morrison's run on X-Men. MichaelOctober 7, 2014 8:16 PM Avengers #305-310 Regarding She-Hulk's mental problems, I came across an interesting article about how Dwayne McDuffie was gotten a romantic comedy She-Hulk series approved a couple of days after Damage Control was: clydeOctober 7, 2014 7:59 PM Iron Man #244 Maybe the fact that he had a fiance who dumped him led to his "playboy" status. He never wanted to go through the emotional pain of falling in love with someone again. MichaelOctober 7, 2014 7:44 PM Iron Man #244 This retcon never bothered me as much as Claremont's retcon that Jean had mental problems as a kid- I always found it easier to picture pre-Tales of Suspense Tony as having a fiancee than pre-X-Men 1 Jean as having mental problems. clydeOctober 7, 2014 6:17 PM Avengers West Coast #47-49 Nice to see the writers helping She-Hulk get over her mind-control from her earlier Avengers run ;) Also, in regards to the WCA leaving USAgent alone, I'm sure that was on purpose. He's a real pain in the a@%. JeffOctober 7, 2014 4:32 PM Daredevil #258 This is one of those Marvel fill-ins that I really wish were non-canonical, because it's jarring and out-of-place. See also: Cleopatra and the Chariot of time; cross-reference with: alien Frankenstein robot. Although it's still more believable than "Red 9 and Red Tape." clydeOctober 7, 2014 4:01 PM Avengers #305-310 She-Hulk got over it because her writers told her to get over it. She does break the fourth wall all the time in her book. Quasar isn't used to working with a team of other heroes. That may account for his inexperience in this situation. SharOctober 7, 2014 3:29 PM Vision and the Scarlet Witch #6 Hmmm, I guess the Wasp would prefer to think about events from Avengers #53 and not about the quality time she and Magneto shared in Secret Wars. ;) Regarding the first panel here "Men call me--Magneto!", this is Englehart and Howell's tribute to the last page of X-Men #17. Check out fnord12's entry for that issue: Enchlore♠October 7, 2014 2:53 PM Fantastic Four #249-250 The explanation for Gladiator's powers is very similar to the Hitesh theory about mutant powers. fnord12October 7, 2014 2:39 PM Fantastic Four #82-83 I flip those two a lot. Thanks, TCP. TCPOctober 7, 2014 2:20 PM Fantastic Four #82-83 "Lockheed appears" As interesting as that would be for Marvel history, I think you mean Lockjaw :-) A.LloydOctober 7, 2014 1:17 PM Marvel Team-Up #141 Thanks! I think marking up the price of Secret Wars #8 is a gimmick. By the time it was released, the black costume had been published in several books. fnord12October 7, 2014 12:45 PM Marvel Team-Up #141 I have a ready answer for you: http://www.supermegamonkey.net/2014/04/nerdchaeology.shtml A.LloydOctober 7, 2014 12:42 PM Marvel Team-Up #141 If this issue was published in May of 84 and Amazing Spiderman 252 was published in May of 84, why is ASM 252 considered the first app. of the black costume? A.LloydOctober 7, 2014 12:29 PM Avengers #243 Stern is a good writer but there is no way Hawkeye is qualified to lead any group of Avengers if we are to believe his characterization over the years. MidnighterOctober 7, 2014 11:47 AM Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4 Meltdown in seen again in a Wolverine fill-in about two o three years ago. Gary HimesOctober 7, 2014 11:40 AM Defenders #120-125 Valkyrie doesn't seem particularly happy to hear that Patsy is getting married. Then again, if my best friend was marrying the Son of Satan I might have a few reservations too... A.LloydOctober 7, 2014 11:23 AM Defenders #120-125 It would have been more realistic to have the BIG FOUR/A-listers have some sort of a fallout than this Elf/Tribunal story. This was a disappointing end to story that was building up for almost a year. JSfanOctober 7, 2014 9:10 AM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) Cheers, Cullen cullenOctober 7, 2014 8:40 AM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) That's Charo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charo JSfanOctober 7, 2014 6:30 AM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) I get the male guest is Pee-Wee Herman but who's the female guest? JSfanOctober 7, 2014 6:24 AM Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4 Havok makes a pretty good James Dean. The art can look good at times and then really really awful. I don't know if it's trying too hard to be 'grown up' but it fails miserably. Steven October 7, 2014 12:40 AM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) This story is fun only if you believe that a man who has had a lobotomy is funny. Luis DantasOctober 6, 2014 10:29 PM Avengers Spotlight #22-25 Really sad. The stories are eminently forgettable and even the continuity is weak (Wonder Man, who knows so much better, claims that Swordsman was the first Avenger to die in action). MichaelOctober 6, 2014 9:57 PM Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown #1-4 One thing never made sense to me- if the bad guys couldn't find Alex on their scanners and Alex had never been to this part of Mexico before, how did they know he was there? MichaelOctober 6, 2014 8:44 PM Avengers Spotlight #22-25 We've also seen Sin-Cong before in Avengers 18. fnord12October 6, 2014 8:00 PM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) We can compare it to Pym's conversation with the Black Panther in AWC #47, which i'll get to pretty soon. MichaelOctober 6, 2014 7:45 PM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) Fnord, Wanda's reaction is unusual but throughout Byrne's run, the other Avengers don't seem too broken up over what happened to the Vision. Enchlore♠October 6, 2014 7:36 PM Marvels #2 Non-mutant superheroes do get a lot of distrust from the population. Actually, in the Avengers/JLA crossover, the Avengers are warped to the DC universe and Captain America thinks the JLA is a group of overlords because of the amount of publicity they get, contrasting the mistreated superheroes of the Marvel universe. gfsdf gfbdOctober 6, 2014 7:33 PM Power Pack #47 ... I don't think that would fly today... Kind of surprised it did then RobertOctober 6, 2014 7:24 PM kveto from pragueOctober 6, 2014 6:35 PM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) My point is that he needn't announce it. OBviously, his programming tells him everything. Who would create a program that constantly does that? Does your computer tell you "My programming tells me..." before each function it performs for you? Why would you program a computer to announce everything that goes through it's thought process? Clyde,There's a reason your computer screen isn't displaying binary to you right now. Ultimately, it's just bad writing. A cheap way to play up the emotionlessness of the new Vision. A.LloydOctober 6, 2014 6:06 PM Daredevil #202 When Aaron Hernandez, the former football player for The New England Patriots, was arrested for murder and had his mugshot posted, several women on Twitter and Facebook made comments much like the women in this comic. It's no different than men who don't think of attractive female teachers who have sex with underage boys as sexual predators. Both are wrong but many people do feel that way. Too many. I think O'Neil's writing is on point. Link to Hernandez story James MOctober 6, 2014 5:33 PM Avengers Spotlight #22-25 Between the Firebird and Rick Jones stories, I'm going to guess there was a pretty well-thumbed copy of the OHOTMU issue with all the alien races marked 'reference'. Jay GallardoOctober 6, 2014 4:48 PM West Coast Avengers #46 This Hawkeye is the character i fell in love with when i was a kid. He has to be arrogant, hot-headed, that is who he is, not some generic archer, chairman or not. He is a special character. And for me, The best there is. clydeOctober 6, 2014 3:47 PM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) kveto - that's what makes a human different from a computer program. We have the ability to realize things and censor ourselves. Computers are programmed with rules. The Vision has to say everything that goes into his thought process. kveto from pragueOctober 6, 2014 3:12 PM Avengers Spotlight #22-25 The previous plantman story was a sad little last hurrah for this title. This bunch of stories would seem to be the low point but it gets worse when Gerber gets his hands on Hawk-eye and tries to make him "topical." Series should have ended last issue. By the way, I think the Wong Chu in the Swordsman story is supposed to be the same Wong Chu from Iron Man's origin, a neat little shared uni nugget that they never footnote. kveto from pragueOctober 6, 2014 3:07 PM Avengers Spotlight #23 (Vision) I found it a bit annoying the way the Vision always states "My programming tells me..." Of course his programming tells him everything. Otherwise he'd be walking about randomly. My brain tells me things too. I don't feel the need to articulate it with "My brain tells me..." before every sentence. TCPOctober 6, 2014 8:56 AM Amazing Spider-Man annual #19 The 90s Spider-Man cartoon is one of the main reasons I am such a Spidey fanboy. I used to run home from the bus stop every day to watch it. I've never seen Spectacular Spider-Man, but I've heard good things. Jay PatrickOctober 5, 2014 8:50 PM She-Hulk #2-3 By the way, Byrne has said that he was attempting to draw Spider-Man in the above splash "on-model" for the time period. In 1989,"on-model" meant "McFarlane". davidbanesOctober 5, 2014 8:22 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #19 I was a little kid when the Spider-Man cartoon came on and it was our religion at the time. Pretty flawed these days and I think Spectacular is the best Spidey cartoon but boy they did Venom right in that show too. George GordonOctober 5, 2014 7:23 PM ROM #73-75 Ditko inked by Sinnott is fantastic. George GordonOctober 5, 2014 7:11 PM Amazing Spider-Man annual #19 A bunch of very blatant Romita Sr redrawn faces in this issue. RobertOctober 5, 2014 6:59 PM Thor #406-408 IIRC the Tales backups do become more relevant later in the run, with the backup stories eventually paying off in the main stories. clydeOctober 5, 2014 6:53 PM Thor #406-408 I never got the impression that those helmets were there the whole time. I figured they were brought there at this point in time to start the birthing process. fnord12October 5, 2014 6:17 PM Thor #406-408 Clyde, your interpretation could be correct too, but i'd wonder why there were so many other Celestial helmets in so many different sizes sitting around. Perhaps the Black Galaxy Saga circa Thor #419 will offer some clarification that you already know; it seems pretty undefined at this point. Jay PatrickOctober 5, 2014 6:06 PM She-Hulk #2-3 Jesus, this stuff isn't funny. MichaelOctober 5, 2014 5:47 PM Thor #406-408 You'd think the Evolutionary could be bothered to destroy the tech he left with the Savage Land Mutates, since that will cause problems in future X-Men issues. clydeOctober 5, 2014 5:46 PM Thor #406-408 FNORD - I'm not sure why you think this Bio-Verse was used previously for birthing Celestials. I assumed it was a new place that they decided to use for this next Celestial birth because of the arrival of the High Evolutionary and Hercules. I thought that was what drew them to it in the first place. George GordonOctober 5, 2014 5:19 PM Captain America #311 fnord, this is a classic and profound sentence!!! hahahaha. we've got to use this more often. MichaelOctober 5, 2014 3:43 PM X-Factor #41-42 See, Scott set a bad example for Cable. :) Jon DubyaOctober 5, 2014 3:26 PM X-Factor #41-42 To be fair, Michael, I think Weezie was still dealing with the fallout of Cyclops looking like a deadbeat dad and this was her way of overcompensating do that ("See THIS Scott isn't abandoning his child! Look how he's not leaving Christopher! Look! Look! No 'bad father' here!") It's like he's become the superhero equivalent of a "helicopter parent." It should also be mentioned that Cyclops isn't the only parent that has brought his child into the field. Ironically, a recent Cable series has him do in the same thing. Fantastic 4 does it regularly too. ChrisOctober 5, 2014 3:19 PM West Coast Avengers #46 I think Byrne's portrayal of Hawkeye is easy to understand. Hawkeye was traditionally the hot head of the Avengers. It's what made him a fan favorite. However, ever since he became Chairman of the WCA, he hasn't been. To many fans, this wasn't a problem since Hawkeye so obviously loved being an Avenger, actually being Chairman was a dream job, and he had some excellent tutors. Byrne wanted him restored to that more familiar role so he started writing him back that way. I don't think there's any conspiracy, hidden agenda, or hatred of the character. I think it was done clumsily. I think Byrne could have gotten Hawkeye back in that role without abandoning the maturity Hawkeye showed while as chairman (especially if it was because of the presence of someone he did not respect or objected to). So it's a failing. But I don't think it was a major one, and something easy to correct in the future if needed. George GordonOctober 5, 2014 3:10 PM Iron Man #197 I remember seeing ads for West Coast Avengers in either Marvels of the time, or Marvel Age or maybe even Amazing Heroes- and those ads had the grey armored Iron Man as Tony appears in these issues which makes me think possibly a plan was to keep him in that armor for a little while..? Has anyone else ever seen that ad? MichaelOctober 5, 2014 2:53 PM West Coast Avengers #46 In Avengers 309, Mr. Immortal falls into Doorman and he's freezing when he gets out. That seems more like Cloak than Gateway. fnord12October 5, 2014 2:47 PM West Coast Avengers #46 Going back to Walter's idea that the GLA characters might be parodies, i originally almost wrote that Mr. Immortal, especially with the rage that he shows here, is kind of like the ultimate version of Wolverine once his healing power started getting out of control. And that Doorman is kind of like a super limited version of Gateway, the ultimate plot device character. I don't know that Byrne was really going for parody, but Walter's comment connected with those thoughts that i left out of my entry, so i thought i'd share. fnord12October 5, 2014 2:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #7 Just a link to the GCD for cover Tabe8 refers to (and you can click back to issue #3). The "cut and paste" would have been much more literal back then. fnord12October 5, 2014 2:35 PM Captain America #231-236 I've added the scans of the mystery man that Dan refers to on this entry and on #237. But i don't know who he was supposed to be. Dropped plot, i guess? Mark BlackOctober 5, 2014 1:13 PM West Coast Avengers #46 I always viewed Wanda, and to a lesser extent Maddie, as being victims of mass manipulation by a number of beings and forces in their lives. I never viewed them as the root cause of the problems in their lives and certainly not as "psycho-bitches". Look at Wanda's case - she loses her husband to the machinations of the security forces of the G-8 (I am assuming Canada was involved) and, unwittingly, Mockingbird, she loses her children to Mephisto and Master Pandemonium, she's manipulated by That Which Endures, then her father, Magneto, and then finally Immortus who is revealed to be behind everything. I think it's perception - I don't think Wanda and Maddie are terrible and crazy, I think they've been put through the wringers and been victimized in ways that their male counterparts aren't or at least in vastly different ways. That's entirely a different set of problems. While I don't think Byrne or Claremont ever intended to make these women into objects/sources of derision, I think it's widely perceived that these women are the cause of their own personal hell. MichaelOctober 5, 2014 12:37 PM West Coast Avengers #46 But Byrne's plans couldn't help but leave Viz and Wanda permanently damaged anyway. In Wanda's case, the "imaginary kids" thing made her seem like she had been nuts even before Viz was disassembled. In Vision's case, the problem was that Byrne's writing left the impression that he was just a machine, which completely invalidated the basic premise of the character and made Wanda look nuts for being attracted to him. Walter LawsonOctober 5, 2014 12:18 PM West Coast Avengers #46 I dunno: it seems to me several of the WCA had become stagnant as characters. Vision has been an excruciatingly boring, well-adjusted guy, and he and his wife had no character arcs to develop after they got married. Byrne's solution was terrible, but I can see what he was trying to do. Hawkeye under Engelhart was pretty boring too, and Byrne seems to be trying to take the character back to the attitude that made him popular, or at least interesting, in the first place. WCA, or AWC I guess, is a lot more compelling under Byrne than it was in its last 40-odd issues. He's telling good stories, though his long-term plans will get shipwrecked and leave characters like Viz, Wanda, and Tigra's permanently damaged. And ironically with Pym and the Wasp Byrne is actually making the most troubled Avenger under Engelhart boringly domestic again. I guess Byrne couldn't resist that reset button. ClutchOctober 5, 2014 11:22 AM West Coast Avengers #46 I have theory about Byrne's regression of Hawkeye. Byrne had been friends with Roger Stern for years and likely wanted payback from Mark Gruenwald for firing Stern off Avengers over the Captain Marvel/Captain America difference of opinion as to whom should lead the Avengers. What better way to screw Gru over than by undoing all the character maturation Gru had Hawkeye undergo during his mini's four issues. We know that Byrne didn't much care for Hawkeye, so undoing Gru's work on the mini and turning Clint back into a loudmouth jerk were Byrne's means of giving Gru the middle finger. I liked Hawkeye's tenure as Wackos leader alongside Bobbi, but this Great Lakes Avengers thing Byrne came up with and Hawk's later stint leading the Thunderbolts, (and hooking up with Moonstone) not so much at all. Tabe8October 5, 2014 10:22 AM Uncanny X-Men #7 I just discovered this. There's a printing error on the cover. If you look, you will see some feathers on the bottom left of the "X" in the title. This looks suspiciously like the wing tip of angel from the cover of x-men #3. I think this is a botched cut and paste job. Jay GallardoOctober 5, 2014 7:02 AM She-Hulk #2-3 Blake Tower is bald during The Winter Soldier trial gfsdf gfbdOctober 5, 2014 1:17 AM Hulk #340 A much deserved A. One of the best comics I've read in a while. Dan H.October 4, 2014 8:16 PM Captain America #231-236 Was it ever revealed who the mystery man in #232-233 was (or who he was intended to be?) It's apparently meant to be the same character in #237 who the Falcon speaks (in what seems to be just a means of throwing that plot out the window). Dan H.October 4, 2014 8:05 PM Dazzler #26-28 I think the "self-absorbed" Allison-cutting-off-Lois is a misunderstanding. I believe that panel of Lois recounting the incident was supposed to be read as a thought balloon. Thus, Alison isn't cutting her off, she's just unknowingly interrupting her train of thought. BillOctober 4, 2014 6:54 PM Moon Knight #1-3 I agree that I also like Marlene. I mean, she can bench 300 lbs., she's ticklish, she can engineer her own escape, shoot guns and rock a bikini. What's not to like? Whatever happened to her? cullenOctober 4, 2014 2:23 PM Web of Spider-Man #52 That's what I got from it, TCP. Btw JJJ as someone whose opposition to Spidey stems from distaste for undue force doesn't square with more recent depictions. Not sure if there were other stories that corroborated the motivation here. ClutchOctober 4, 2014 1:13 PM Daredevil #266 I've always assumed that the folks who pick up DD at the end are the romantic old lady and the guy who was fed up with his wife. A classic Christmas issue. This was the story that fully cemented Nocenti's writing for me. I had loved all the earlier ones, but this issue brought it home. I loved and prefer JR JR's take on Mephisto. The way he allows for the brothers' confrontation to end in tragedy while distracting Daredevil is heartbreaking. I also got a laugh at the nonchalant way that the onlookers dismissed DD's germ swap with some random dude after years of having their butts saved by the red man of Hell's Kitchen. In New York, when one guy is down, everyone is depressed as well. You gotta love it. ClutchOctober 4, 2014 1:00 PM Daredevil #267 I love this issue. It was time for a change again and this one had "new beginning" written all over it. ClutchOctober 4, 2014 12:39 PM Moon Knight #1-3 I love Marlene. Easily my favorite character in the book. And since I'm a guy, I fully welcome the bikini. This series wasn't up to par with Moench's 1980 ongoing, but it's Chuck Dixon on scripts plus Sal Velluto and Mark Farmer on art. Lots of action to boot. I prefer Moench's characterization and his supporting cast, but at least we have Marlene back. BerendOctober 4, 2014 11:59 AM Captain America #246 Apparently he turns up a couple of times more, including a ret-conned appearance between his first appearance and this one. TCPOctober 4, 2014 11:14 AM Web of Spider-Man #52 I wonder if Jonah's red-headed sidekick was intended as a Jimmy Olsen pastiche? Ataru320October 4, 2014 6:43 AM West Coast Avengers #46 Eh, I like having a more comedic team out there so these guys are alright as is. (though they seem rather incomplete without Squirrel Girl...yeah not for a couple more years but somehow she fits with them) ToddOctober 4, 2014 6:25 AM She-Hulk #2-3 I was going to say, I always loved Byrne's occasional Spider-Man. It was so dynamic, and I liked the way he did the wide eyes on the costume as well as the faintly Ditkoesque leanness of his overall build. Some artists had Peter looking as bulky as any old Marvel male. It seemed pretty consistent to me over the years (c.f. FF #250); maybe the Byrne/McFarlane influence ran the other way? I had liked Byrne's characterization of She-Hulk in FF (for example, the issue where she's photographed sunbathing nude), and he really had sold me on her by the time of this series. It was just great fun, and it did a lot to give a distinctive and inviting personality to a character who originally had been a pretty lazy creation by Lee. Claremont's letter was very nice, and it's interesting that he and Byrne both had newish "lighter" titles around this time (Excalibur), after their years of sturm und drang elsewhere, together and separately. TenzilOctober 4, 2014 3:25 AM West Coast Avengers #46 Something that has been lost over the years is that the intended storyline was that they started off silly but weren't intended to remain that way. They were going to be trained, mature, and turn into serious heroes with new code names. A.LloydOctober 4, 2014 1:53 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #12-15 Books like this (and other in the 70's) make me wonder why Kirby got so much flak after his return. ChrisOctober 4, 2014 12:50 AM Captain America #350 Is this the issue where the Red Skull "switches" from Nazism to Nihilism? If not, it's made explicit somewhere else. I think Gruenwald did it to update the Skull because WWII was so long ago that Nazism wasn't a credible threat. It just seemed too dated. However, being a nihilist actually didn't make the Skull any more contemporary. I think a simply more updated portrayal of the Skull's plans were all that were necessary. Say what you will about National Socialism. At least it's an ethos. StevenOctober 4, 2014 12:24 AM West Coast Avengers #46 John Byrne thinks that Hawkeye is a cheesy character like the ones he creates here. RobertOctober 3, 2014 11:20 PM Captain America #355-357 The retro cover was by Ron Frenz; the last of his retro covers for Cap. He stopped doing FF covers around this same time. That left his retro-Kirby style of the time exclusively to Thor. This is interesting because you mentioned in a recent Thor entry that they were getting letters about the style and responded there would be changes soon. While those changes were slow in coming on Thor, it's likely these complaints are why they stopped having Frenz do the covers for other books. Walter LawsonOctober 3, 2014 10:07 PM Captain America #355-357 Jennifer the runaway's death was clearly set up as a fake out, I think, given that Hoodwink happens to be the one who carries out the murder. Gru had the reveal planned. Gru's use of old continuity--Suprema, the Sisters of Sin, even ultra-obscure Ulysses Bloodstone--is one of his strengths: the stories seem plausible for a place like the MU where characters like this should bump into one another. On the other hand, the pointlessness of the youth camp plot shows us a major and persistent weakness of Gru's run: he elevates the Red Skull to a mastermind, rather rthan a doomsday-device-of-the-week villain, but Gru can never figure out what the master plan is supposed to be or how individual schemes fit into it. The other thing going on here is Gru continuing to explore topical '80s America theme, in this case cults. (We saw PAD address this in Web a year or so ago.) PB210October 3, 2014 9:13 PM Punisher War Journal #4-5 Doc Savage Double #18 featured the Gerry Conway quote. Conway seemed familiar with the pulps such as the Shadow (homaging him with Larry Cranston perhaps) and Doc Savage. (He of course knew about paperback original novel heroes such as Mack Bolan.) PB210October 3, 2014 8:50 PM Punisher War Journal #4-5 style weaponry. We've already seen the Punisher's little skateboard thing, but here it is again, and we've also got oilslicks... ========================================================== http://terencebowmanblog.blogspot.com/ *(The author also had the hero endure genital torture with a carpet beater and express disdain for homosexuals.) JSfanOctober 3, 2014 6:50 PM Captain America #355-357 Do the Avengers get people to pose for them before puttin them on their files :) Luis DantasOctober 3, 2014 5:54 PM Captain America #355-357 I did not remember that Steve failed to state a clear stance about the USAgent fiasco. That ambiguity was very frustrating. kveto from pragueOctober 3, 2014 5:47 PM Captain America #355-357 Ahh, the bloodstone hunt. It was what got me back to reading Cap and introduced me to Diamondback. It features an extremely competent Batroc and Brigade, Baron Zemo, and is just such a retro type fun. In a lot of ways, it was the last fun issues I would ever read. MikeCheyneOctober 3, 2014 5:43 PM Captain America #355-357 The Sisters of Sin plot is a potentially cool idea abruptly and unsatisfactorily ended. However, the Bloodstone Hunt is one of my favorite plots from childhood comics reading; I never got the first part though, so I kinda had to make up the story's background myself...which, well, is obviously impossible. Mark BlackOctober 3, 2014 5:38 PM West Coast Avengers #46 I always liked the GLA and thought there was potential. Mr. I would have been a great Suicide Squad character if the GLA populated the DC universe. Certainly not the best characters Byrne has ever created, but definitely not the worst. While Hawkeye regresses somewhat under Byrne, I like the fact that Mockingbird lays him out verbally here. I never understood why Hawkeye was such a clod after the Phantom Rider rape. He had been show previously to be a supportive and understanding partner with the Phantom Rider situation he became an absolute ass - at least in regards to Bobbi. I never expected Clint to be the one following the letter of the law and making no exceptions for anyone. Byrne cuts to the heart of that frustration here. The art here is quite good which gave this story all kinds of replay value for a ten year old me. kveto from pragueOctober 3, 2014 5:18 PM West Coast Avengers #46 let's see, Flatman = Reed Richards Such junk to create these crap heroes and have nothing to do with them. At one point Mr Immoral says "The real Hawk-eye would have blocked my attack easily." That's true, the real Hawk-eye would have, not the crappy parody of Hawk-eye that Byrne writes. Gone are all the fighting skills learnt from Captain America simply because Byrne doesn't like Hawk-eye. MichaelOctober 3, 2014 5:17 PM West Coast Avengers #46 Note that the second story in Avengers Spotlight 23 takes place before this issue but the first stories in Avengers Spotlight 22-25 take place after this issue, since they feature Clint and Mockingbird and this is the first time Clint's seen Bobbi since he quit the West Coast Avengers. MichaelOctober 3, 2014 5:14 PM Captain America #355-357 Fnord, Diamondback and the Serpent Society probably appear in X-Men Annual 13 in between the main story and the second story in Cap 357. Here's why- X-Men Annual 13 is the third part of Atlantis Attacks. Iron Man Annual 10, part 2 of Atlantis Attacks, takes place after Avengers 310. In addition, the new Serpents' attack on Falcon is theorized to be an "initiation" in this issue but the new Serpents seem to be full members of the Society in X-Men Annual 13. Sorry, I should have warned you in advance. Walter LawsonOctober 3, 2014 4:40 PM West Coast Avengers #46 Not only Pink Pearl, but "can't die" is Deadly Earnest, though he has his death touch, too. It's like Byrne is parodying his Alpha Flight work. Maybe Flatman is a parody of Reed Richards as a nod to Byrne's FF run, too. Anyone have theories about Dinah or Doorman? fnord12October 3, 2014 4:23 PM West Coast Avengers #46 Thank you, George! George GordonOctober 3, 2014 3:54 PM West Coast Avengers #46 I appreciate the frequency in which you're putting up entries my good man! Just a few minor edits, I realize you just overlooked these but you call Mr. Immortal 'Mr. Impossible' a couple of times as the entry goes on... and, 'to more things' should be 'two'. As always, great work and Mucho Gracias. Jay PatrickOctober 3, 2014 3:45 PM Fantastic Four #261-262 Dan, Byrne was definitely grinding axes on West Coast Avengers, but they were about previous creators and his own personal obsessions about how robots should be portrayed in fiction, not interracial marriage. Byrne's abrasive personality and tendency let personal views color his work make people tag him with any number of faults, some of which are real, some of which are not. I can't agree that racism is one of the real ones. Despite all his quirks, Byrne has always been on the right side of history with that issue. TCPOctober 3, 2014 3:36 PM Marvel Team-Up #48-51 I always thought Phillip DeWolff was a much more engaging villain when he was just Jean's disapproving father. All of the Wraith stuff, coupled with making Phillip a typical raving supervillain by the end, really killed a lot of the drama and tension of this story. MikeCheyneOctober 3, 2014 12:24 PM Daredevil #268 Oh man, I ended up with a number of these Nocenti Daredevils as a kid; they scared the shit out of me and I had no idea what was going on. Gary HimesOctober 3, 2014 12:11 PM Fantastic Four #261-262 Why wouldn't Marinna know about "earth customs"? She was raised from birth by a human family on Earth. You'd think "don't slip the tongue to people who are married to someone else" would've come up at some point. clydeOctober 3, 2014 11:32 AM Fantastic Four #261-262 Dan, this takes place before Sue loses her child. That still doesn't justify Sue accepting the kiss. Namor on the other hand, never let Sue's marriage interfere with his attraction to her. As far as Marinna, IMO, she doesn't know enough about earth customs to see anything wrong with that. Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 8:58 AM Fantastic Four #261-262 Oh and I don't know what the hell is up with that opening page (which I'd also forgotten) but I hope Reed filed for divorce when he got home, given that Sue just lets Namor slip her the tongue like that. That's just ridiculous. Didn't she just lose their second child? (Or is that still to come?) In any event, the idea that Namor's masher act gets absolutely zero resistance or condemnation from Sue is pretty damn obscene. Where's the force-column knocking him back 30 feet, for pete's sake? (And Marinna is just standing there and giggling? Is she enamored of Namor yet? Maybe they do things differently in her part of the ocean, but Lady Dorma sure as hell wouldn't have stood for that!) Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 8:52 AM Fantastic Four #261-262 Two issues that may well be my most-loathed Marvels of all time. Basically a giant ass-pull by Byrne to cover for his past casual genocides (and his ongoing racism) and (as you note) win a pissing contest with Claremont/Shooter. Defies every bit of Marvel continuity to that point, and ruined Reed Richards, who had been my favorite character up until then. But hey, I forgot that Byrne's self-insertion was part of Assistant Editors' Month, so I can't put it all on him, I guess. Although the idea that "planetary slaughter is a test from God, and besides, they were only Skrulls anyway" is supposed to be FUNNY just makes me even sicker. And I'd completely forgotten the Xxan Xxar "weak people deserve to die" pro-fascism bit, too. Gee, I can't wait for JB to move on to ruining West Coast Avengers and Wanda/Vision because he thinks racial intermarriage is gross. There is ONE letter on a subsequent letters page (265? I don't know, and I didn't keep these issues when my brother and I split the collection) amongst all the hosannas that calls Byrne out on his garbage here, so props to whomever it was that had the courage/decency to print that. But hardly enough to wipe the taste from my mouth. Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 8:29 AM Fantastic Four #249-250 Heh, love Cockrum's comment. Had I known of it at the time, I would gladly have volunteered to do the sitting. (I know it's an unpopular position, but Byrne's run just fills me with frothing rage. But I'm not in a page-long rant mood, so I'll skip it. But I have to "love" how JB uses the pseudo-science to deconstruct Gladiator/Superman here [and thus mock those of us who've enjoyed either character's previous appearances] and half a year later, he'll pull that "the Negative Zone changed the colors of our costumes" inanity right out of his you-know-where. And we haven't even gotten to the pro-genocide #261 yet, have we? Okay, stopping now.) Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 7:58 AM Master of Kung Fu #61 Ha! Laughing at your note about the " sub-plots that are relatively impenetrable to readers popping in for a random issue." And, naturally, this was my jumping-back-in point, having not read the title since #42 befuddled my teenage brain two years before. Still didn't hook me (I didn't start collecting the series properly until I found 29-31 in a back-issue box), but not off-putting in and of itself. The Skull-Crusher fight is very cool, and even the Fleetwood Mac discussion didn't hurt the issue. Of course, I had no idea of the romantic back-story, so that was a pain. Looking at the whole run as a piece, Leiko's decision here to go back to Clive seems artificial, just a way to keep her and Shang-Chi apart for the length of this Juliette story. And of course Clive is an idiot to turn her down, but he's so glad to have the shoe on the other foot, for once. Jim Craig is no Gulacy, but overall the art works. He was horrible with making deadlines, so I hardly mind the shift to Mike Zeck in mid-story, but I think this is Craig's best issue. fnord12October 3, 2014 7:57 AM X-Factor #41-42 @JSFan, i can only find more recent pictures of Art Adams where he's bald with a red beard. I suspect the character design for Alchemy was based on the winner of the contest, who was from the UK. @Jay, maybe they're boggled because aside from Phy, they look nothing like "trolls". fnord12October 3, 2014 7:49 AM Master of Kung Fu #38-39 Thanks, Dan. I've added Juliette as a character appearing. I still don't have a lot of the MOKF series, including issue #69, so i missed her significance and i don't always track characters that don't have a last name. Plus, neither the MCP or Marvel Appendix track her, so let me give a kudos to CMRO. Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 7:35 AM Master of Kung Fu #48-51 Just masterful; the central event of #49 still puts a lump in my throat. And #50 brings the cycle home again, to Shang-Chi and his insane father, face to face for the first time in almost two years. The incongruity of Shang-Chi with a gun works so perfectly here. And one last look at the Gulacy/Adkins pairing. JSfanOctober 3, 2014 7:33 AM Daredevil #267 Jay, I was thinking the same thing. I even actually doubted myself for a second. :) Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 7:23 AM Master of Kung Fu #47 The character of Ward Sarsfield is a homage to Arthur Sarsfield Ward, which was the real name of "Sax Rohmer". JSfanOctober 3, 2014 7:20 AM She-Hulk #2-3 The fourth wall stuff is good when there's not too much of it. Possibly one or two but when it's on almost every page it diminishes its effect. The talking heads joke page wasn't very funny. On the other hand the "I can't, I must" was. Also, referring to other comics makes all the other comics part of not being in the 'real world.' Should Alpha Flight now be referencing other comics or maybe their unaware they're in a comic? I think I don't mind it but I'm in the finding it a bit alarming category. Still, there's always time to change my mind. Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 7:14 AM Master of Kung Fu #42 This and Defenders #34 were some of the earliest comics I ever read. Between the flash-forward fight here and Gerber's Headmen madness in full bloom there, I had no idea what was going on. (Eventually I got the nice, straightforward Fantastic Four #170 and was able to acclimate to Marvel, but for a hot second I was like "I understood the Batman issue that I read that time, but I don't get this".) Oh, and Dr. Strange #16, with Doc fighting Satan in Hell and Colan's paneling going completely hallucinogenic. 1976 was a tough time to hop on, but I treasure all of these issues, now. And yeah, Sutton is definitely not the best choice to replace Adkins. Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 7:05 AM Master of Kung Fu #38-39 Juliette (the British agent) should surely be tracked as well; she's a motor for future stories. I'm always of two minds about this one: the art remains brilliant and two key characters are introduced (at some point there's a letter about the symmetry and the significance of Shang-Chi and Shen Kuei's names), but Cat always seem more of a storytelling device than an actual character, IMO, and it's a little weird seeing Shang-Chi fall so completely under Juliette's spell when he just met Leiko in what was (essentially) the previous arc. But...without Juliette, there is no issue #69. And that's one of my favorites of the whole series, so... Dan SpectorOctober 3, 2014 6:48 AM Master of Kung Fu #29-31 An easy A. Moench puts Fu Manchu and Fah Lo Suee on the shelf for over a year to let the series breathe and develop a wider range of characters, Gulacy's action and image-making are superb, and Adkins brings out Gulacy's best. (Dapper Dan was the underrated part of the trio, as the inker usually is. The issues with Abel or Marcos inking Gulacy are fine, but Adkins's blacks make the pencils pop.) Oh, and then there's Pavane's bikini bottom, which is cut so low you can tell about her grooming habits "down there". Hubba-hubba. (My teenage self thanks you, Paul.) MattOctober 2, 2014 10:59 PM X-Factor #41-42 The worst is that later in 92' when the X-men finally reunite with Excalibur they have to fight these goofballs and the story revolves around Alchemy, such a disappointment for me. Excalibur seemed to be the one X title unchanged by the 90's so far and this was underwhelming. Was there some sort of deal that Alchemy had to appear in more issues? BillOctober 2, 2014 10:07 PM She-Hulk #2-3 A typo. Jay DemetrickOctober 2, 2014 9:59 PM Daredevil #267 The guy writes on a business card and hands it to a blind man. What, is Matt supposed to find someone to read it for him or something? Weird. clydeOctober 2, 2014 9:53 PM She-Hulk #2-3 In the panel where Weezie breaks the fourth wall, Weezie says "G'night, Mr. Towers - plural. How can that be Blake Tower - singular? Jay DemetrickOctober 2, 2014 9:37 PM X-Factor #41-42 Beast, Iceman & Angel encountered Asgardian trolls back in the New Defenders. Why are they boggled by these ones? MikeCheyneOctober 2, 2014 7:43 PM She-Hulk #2-3 "Where's the rest of me?" is a reference to the movie Kings Row with Ronald Reagan. BillOctober 2, 2014 7:32 PM She-Hulk #2-3 Man, I loved this series! Gary HimesOctober 2, 2014 6:35 PM She-Hulk #2-3 Funny stuff, but to be honest the whole "breaking the fourth wall" stuff did get old. Eventually it just started to feel like a lazy way to a joke instead of Byrne coming up with anything creative. (Speaking of creative, Byrne re-used that "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" bit with the phoney detached head in a future issue of the Sub-Mariner he did). RobertOctober 2, 2014 6:27 PM She-Hulk #2-3 Blake Tower must be Steve Rogers' long lost twin brother. Fun issues. Really liked this series and its irreverent humor even though I never really cared for Deadpool or many other attempts at the same shtick. kveto from pragueOctober 2, 2014 3:13 PM Moon Knight #1-3 Hey JSfan, I've read Priest's Conan and found it very unHowardian. Better than Bruce Jones, who was the worst of the Conan comics writers, but Priest threw in too many fantasy elements for my taste. Sorry for discussing this in a Moon Knight thread, fnord:-) JSfanOctober 2, 2014 11:04 AM X-Factor #41-42 Can some one help me with this: is Art Adams drawing himself as Alchemy? A.LloydOctober 2, 2014 10:52 AM Defenders #30 How hard is it to plot a decent fill-in? Dr. Strange and the Hulk have plenty of enemies that could have been used. Tapping Tommy? Why? JSfanOctober 2, 2014 7:33 AM Moon Knight #1-3 Just some observations: 1) A Gil Kane shot in panel 2. 2) "Marlene,oh my Lord, Marlene." Noooooo! Very cliche Hey, Fnord, I think Spidey knew Moon Knight wasn't in any real trouble so why step in and complicate things, give him a break will you, Jeez,:P kveto from prague: Have you read Christopher Priest's (Jim Owsley) Conan. I'd say it's up there with the best of 'em. A.LloydOctober 2, 2014 2:24 AM Classic X-Men #1 (2nd story) After decades, I'm still waiting for a writer/artist combo to show how truly powerful Iceman can be. A.LloydOctober 2, 2014 2:20 AM Giant-Size X-Men #3 Horrible. EVERYONE is completely out of character. Erik RobbinsOctober 2, 2014 1:02 AM Solo Avengers #19-20 I don't know why, but I liked Sundragon, and I was looking forward to seeing more appearances of her and her little group. But that was not to be. MichaelOctober 1, 2014 11:09 PM Solo Avengers #19-20 The fact that Isaac's new body can change back to human is mostly forgotten about and it's mostly written as the same as his old body. fnord12October 1, 2014 10:13 PM Silver Surfer #25 I know how it ends. ;-) MichaelOctober 1, 2014 10:07 PM Silver Surfer #25 "Most of all, Clumsy Foulup is a joke that has already gone on for too long." davidbanesOctober 1, 2014 10:07 PM Moon Knight #1-3 Oh Chuck Dixon, I really like his 90s Batman and Robin books. fnord12October 1, 2014 10:05 PM Moon Knight #1-3 @Michael - Thanks, i'll remove Morpheus and add him back if i see evidence of him. ChrisOctober 1, 2014 10:03 PM Moon Knight #1-3 Dixon made Moon Knight an above quality book. Not quite as good as Moench at his best, but far better than Moench at his worst. Quality was very consistent. The only stumble I recall is the sidekick angle. My only complaint is that Dixon didn't really develop the occult angle of the character. I didn't like the overt Egyptian mythology angle of the last series, but a more subdued involvement - especially with supernatural horror elements - would have added the one thing Dixon's run lacked. I think an upcoming story arc has Brother Voodoo and I hoped there'd be more in that vein, but it becomes fairly routine after that. MichaelOctober 1, 2014 10:00 PM Moon Knight #1-3 Re: Morpheus- he appeared in Moon Knight, Fist of Khonshu 3 so that might be a mistake in the MCP. MichaelOctober 1, 2014 9:59 PM Moon Knight #1-3 The idea that Spector never shot anyone that wasn't pointing a gun at him seems like a retcon. Spector talked about all the blood on his hands in Moon Knight 29- that didn't seem like he was talking about people he killed in self-defense. fnord12October 1, 2014 9:57 PM Doctor Strange #9 I wouldn't count JJ's essay as an appearance. Depending on the lead time of the Now publication, it could have been written a month ago. It's not like the newspaper. MichaelOctober 1, 2014 9:47 PM Doctor Strange #9 Jonah's appearance probably takes place after he was rescued in Web of Spider-Man 54- he appears in the Atlantis Attack Amazing Spider-Man Annual after Web 54 and Strange has his eyepatch in the concluding issues of Atlantis Attacks. MichaelOctober 1, 2014 9:23 PM Solo Avengers #19-20 I get what they were going for with the Black Panther story- they wanted to make it ambiguous whether the guy that died for T'Challa was a hero or a fool that wanted adventure or both. It didn't work but they were trying. Thanos6October 1, 2014 8:41 PM Doctor Strange #5-8 Personally, I love the sense of humor displayed in this run. This to me is my perfect voice for Dr. Strange. MichaelOctober 1, 2014 8:12 PM X-Factor #41-42 The sheer stupidity of X-Factor taking a baby into battle with them is beyond belief. Jean's logic makes no sense- it's too dangerous to leave Nathan with the New Mutants but it's okay to leave Illyana with them? Between this and X-Factor's handing the Inferno babies over to Mystique and Blob last issue, X-Factor clearly has no clue how to take care of children. More evidence Scott hasn't changed- he's still a horrible parent. RobertOctober 1, 2014 6:40 PM Solo Avengers #19-20 I was not a devoted follower of Solo Avengers but I did pick up issues here and there. I'm not sure why but when the title changes to Avengers Spotlight, my local drugstore (which was the only place in the small town where I grew up that carried comics) stopped selling this title. RobertOctober 1, 2014 6:34 PM Moon Knight #1-3 Never cared that much for Moon Knight but I do like Chuck Dixon's work, especially over at DC. I liked his Punisher War Zone with John Romita Jr., too. As for Moon Knight, seeing this series here just reminds me the '90s are about to begin and -- cue the dramatic music -- nothing will ever be the same again. Ataru320October 1, 2014 4:49 PM Tales To Astonish #63 (Hulk) Looking things over, I think the reason he got stuck with "The Leader" was probably just to make things all the easier after merely being called "the leader" by Chameleon the previous issue. Since the name wasn't taken for a character yet, they probably went: why the heck not? As for "gamma mustache", someone once said that many times gamma radiation tends to turn you into some sort of mental image of the self. With Bruce, obviously its probably to do with just a lot of his own inner turmoils, while obviously Samson and Jen reflect it with more "positive" changes. My guess is Sterns probably had his own aspiration for power and thus he grew the "villain mustache" to go with his new oversized head...it just fits his role. kveto from pragueOctober 1, 2014 2:52 PM Moon Knight #1-3 Havent read these issues, but I do like the idea of bringing back Bushman. He is a scary, realistic villain (face that skull tatoo would look scary) however he might not be the best foil for MK. Kveto from PragueOctober 1, 2014 2:38 PM Solo Avengers #19-20 I gotta like the Hawk-eye 3-parter. the first issue is a bit silly but the next two are Silver age type fun, what this title was going for. i even started to like the orb and Hawk-eye buddy routine. Plus the Orb had a great death "I could die laughing" and the plant creatures cam as a surprise to me. The others were meh. Sundragon was completely redundant with Moondragon back. A.LloydOctober 1, 2014 1:03 PM Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 Moses Magnum is one of my favorite comic book names. fnord12October 1, 2014 9:18 AM General Comments Thanks, A.Lloyd. Appreciate all your comments. A.LloydOctober 1, 2014 3:26 AM General Comments Didn't know there was a general comments section! This is a great site! Keep up the good work. Make mine marvel. Luis DantasOctober 1, 2014 2:01 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #151 It is an interesting use of misdirection, IMO. Bruiser may well turn out ok, but Robbie is still at his mercy. That he has nothing to fear from him (far as we can tell) does not make the fragility of his situation and the very reasonable fears any less real. Walter LawsonOctober 1, 2014 1:41 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #151 Forget Bruiser... its almost time for BANJ-O. david banesOctober 1, 2014 1:01 AM Thor #354 An here I was just kidding about that. One hand: I'd like to think if Walt got to stay longer on the title he'd have given an awesome reason for Odin's disappearance. MichaelOctober 1, 2014 12:11 AM Thor #354 Egyptian deities again: MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 11:33 PM Doctor Strange #5-8 Here's another problem- how did the Darkhold wind up in Agamotto's realm? Urthona escaped with it. david banesSeptember 30, 2014 11:17 PM Thor #354 So what is the fate of Odin this time anyway? Is it those Egyptian deities again? Or did someone get the Odin Power to fuel their civilization? Or just a vacation for Odin? MikeCheyneSeptember 30, 2014 10:27 PM Web of Spider-Man #52 I like seeing what makes Jonah tick, but I wonder if it's much ado about nothing. My favorite explanation is just that Jonah is a blowhard who doesn't like Spider-Man; he doesn't really have any other problems with superheroes. MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 9:37 PM Web of Spider-Man #52 Conway demonstrates how as a young man, Jonah's arrogance and cowardice contributed to the boy's death. Jonah changed somewhat but not completely. MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 9:19 PM Doctor Strange #5-8 Things get complicated with respect to Strange's eyepatch. In Fantastic Four 333, he's eyepatchless. In Atlantis Attacks, he's wearing his eyepatch. The problem is that Atlantis Attacks takes place after Fantastic Four 333. Doc's also got an eyepatch in New Mutants 77 but don't get me started on the confusion about when that issue takes place. Luis DantasSeptember 30, 2014 9:13 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Now I don't know if I'd go so far as to call USAgent a psycho. It is not like there is any reason not to. He's certainly an abrasive jerk, but in a world where Wolverine and Punisher exist (and Cable and Liefeldian brand of "heroism" is right around the corner) USAgent looks like a boy scout (albeit, a boy scout that drinks and gives the finger to old ladies as oppose o helping them across the street.) Plus ironically enough, he kind of fits in with the...darker direction that Byrne seems to be pushing the team though. That he does. Luis DantasSeptember 30, 2014 9:11 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 "Luis, I meant that in Avengers West Coast 53 Byrne has the Avengers decide not to copy Simon's brainwave patterns and use them to recreate the Vision because they realize the copy wouldn't be the original Vision." Of course it wouldn't. It would not have had the Vision's memories and experiences. That in no way implies that souls even exist, much less that the Vision (or Simon) have any. We can never have objective proof of the existence of souls except in fantasy works - which, granted, VSW #9 arguably is. In any case, even there Enchantress is hardly beyond using figurative language. TCPSeptember 30, 2014 9:03 PM Web of Spider-Man #49 I was really taken by this issue. At first, it seemed to be another drug PSA, but I think it really shows the depths of these characters and the cynicism of its time very well. MJ acts naively about the solution to her friend's drug problem, while at the same time criticizing Peter at the end for his "pollyanna" attitude. Meanwhile, Spidey's actions get a man he doesn't even know killed, and Peter actually ends up profiting from this. It's especially poignant to compare Peter's actions at the end of this story with the ending of Web #9. Deep stuff, and a great note for PAD to go out on. Jon DubyaSeptember 30, 2014 8:25 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 "I was wondering whether it was Byrne's, Gruenwald's or DeFalco's decision to use the psycho in WCA." Now I don't know if I'd go so far as to call USAgent a psycho. He's certainly an abrasive jerk, but in a world where Wolverine and Punisher exist (and Cable and Liefeldian brand of "heroism" is right around the corner) USAgent looks like a boy scout (albeit, a boy scout that drinks and gives the finger to old ladies as oppose o helping them across the street.) Plus ironically enough, he kind of fits in with the...darker direction that Byrne seems to be pushing the team though. Ugh. That mockingbird panel really bothers me. It's just so contrived. It reminds me of the worse traits of the x-books of the 90s, when the plot would be twisted like a pretzel to have a "dramatic reveal" on the last page that would inevitably be deflated by the next issue. RobertSeptember 30, 2014 8:06 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #151 My guess would be that this scene was just meant as a misdirect to make you think it was the obvious then have it turn out to be something else. Also possible he intended to do an attempted prison rape scene later, was vetoed, and had to change it. Or maybe there was a more disturbing element to Bruiser's relationship with his brother. RobertSeptember 30, 2014 8:01 PM Doctor Strange #5-8 "So I...notice." So gross, Roy. MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 8:00 PM Hulk #357-359 I don't think that the Hulk's motives were purely self-serving, as he tries to keep Cloot away from Vegas. As we'll see in issue 362, Banner and the Hulk have more influence of each other than either of them wants to admit. MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 7:57 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #151 As we'll see later, Bruiser wants to protect Robbie because he reminds him of his brother, so the rapey scene is odd. MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 7:55 PM Hulk #356 It's more that just pride- the larger point as Cloot says in issue 359, Glorian doesn't understand that pure intentions mean nothing- ACTIONS mean everything, as shown by the fact that he was basically trying to bully the Hulk into becoming a better person even before Cloot got there. clydeSeptember 30, 2014 7:50 PM Web of Spider-Man #52 I always loved how Chameleon morphed into the upc symbol (on the cover I had it was the upc symbol). MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 7:49 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Luis, I meant that in Avengers West Coast 53 Byrne has the Avengers decide not to copy Simon's brainwave patterns and use them to recreate the Vision because they realize the copy wouldn't be the original Vision. Enchlore♠September 30, 2014 7:26 PM Amazing Spider-Man #16 That's interesting. My reprint is from a regular Brazillian issue of Mark Waid's Daredevil (Brazillian publications are kinda weird - the first few issues of Daredevil were more like trade paperbacks, and the second issue had the crossover with Amazing Spider-Man and a reprint of this classic issue), and Matt's hair is the same color as Karen Page's. cullenSeptember 30, 2014 6:31 PM Punisher #19 That letter is all types of messed up - but also kind of hilarious, with at least three different variations on how to censor d**m blanking bleeping curse words. Luis DantasSeptember 30, 2014 5:18 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 @Michael: "That's also ignoring the fact that Vision HAS NEVER BEEN copied and duplicated, and Byrne even admits that a copy of the Vision wouldn't be the genuine article." I'm not disputing that, but would you have a source for the Byrne admission? "Oh, and the Vision OBJECTIVELY has a soul, unlike Data." Why do you say that? fnord12September 30, 2014 4:46 PM Amazing Spider-Man #16 Hi Enchlore. The scans are from PDFs of the originals that were put out by a company called GIT. They are direct scans of the originals. I've just now added an additional scan from my Marvel Tales reprint. You'll see that Matt Murdock's hair is a lighter orange, but still not blond. Enchlore♠September 30, 2014 4:15 PM Amazing Spider-Man #16 The reprint I have of this issue has Matt Murdock with blond hair. Is that a scan of the original issue? Matt's hair has shifted from blond to redhead to blond again a lot. fnord12September 30, 2014 2:49 PM Astonishing Tales #16 I can see why you say that, but the credits do say Buckler, and i haven't found any corrections or additions online (both UHBMCC and GCD list Buckler). Buckler is known to have been a bit of a chameleon, and most of the art really does look like it's his. A.LloydSeptember 30, 2014 1:45 PM Astonishing Tales #16 This artwork looks like Sal Buscema not Rich Buckler. MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 8:05 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Luis, I have to wonder if Byrne was thinking about the Vision projecting his consciousness into Earth's computers at the climax of Stern's story. But that proves the OPPOSITE of what Byrne was suggesting- everyone was worried that Vision would be lost forever if they couldn't get his mind out of the computer systems. They weren't thinking, "No big deal. The Vision is backed up anyway." It's the same problem with Tigra- Byrne was arguing the Cat People would have made her cat soul dominant but that ignores the fact that that's what they TRIED to do. Byrne's "logic" only works if you don't interpret the comics the way a REASONABLE person would, but if we ignore reasonable interpretations, then we could conclude that Peter raped MJ. MichaelSeptember 30, 2014 7:51 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Roy Thomas took over writing Avengers WEST COAST. Byrne had already moved Vision to the main title, which went from an 8-issue Nicieza run to an 8-issue Hama run before finally settling on Harras, who took 3 years to bring back the Vision. And yes, Harras does deserve some blame for taking so long to restore the Vision but he inherited Byrne's mess. More to the point, Byrne's story had convinced many readers that Vision wasn't human. That's also ignoring the fact that Vision HAS NEVER BEEN copied and duplicated, and Byrne even admits that a copy of the Vision wouldn't be the genuine article. Oh, and the Vision OBJECTIVELY has a soul, unlike Data. MikeCheyneSeptember 30, 2014 12:35 AM Punisher War Journal #4-5 How many people in Castle's old squad became a supervillain? There's Sniper, the Hitman... CullenSeptember 29, 2014 11:49 PM She-Hulk #1 Speaking of Byrne bugouts, Fnord, please be sure to include the controversial "pile of shaving razors" scene when you get to the She-Hulk: Ceremony limited series ;) Luis DantasSeptember 29, 2014 11:43 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Doing "significant" changes just to undo them immediately after is not particularly good writing, nor good editorial direction. Also, Byrne is being a bit more flippant than I expected there (which is saying something): Vision did communicate with Isaac in Titan during Stern's run, but he did not actually create a substitute body or anything. He just got increased senses, the power of holographic projection, and perhaps additional storage and processing power. A major plot point of his arc in Stern's run was that he would lose his body when he took over the world's security systems. Yet Byrne admits a "blur" in his memory even while presenting his supposedly solid out and misrepresenting it as a complete download into something he thinks involved Titan. Jim Shooter, you should demand half of the payment Byrne received when you worked together. It is rather obvious that he badly needed your supervision, although he is unlikely to ever admit it. Luis DantasSeptember 29, 2014 11:34 PM Wolverine #11-16 With Wolverine's distinctive height, haircut and personality, one wonders why he even bothers with using any mask. MichaelSeptember 29, 2014 11:32 PM Wolverine #11-16 Jessica saw Logan with his helmet off in X-Men 203, and Lindsay was implied to have since he was staying with both of them. And Karma also saw him with his helment off. It was really those three that were the problem. If Claremont had just used characters that hadn't seen Wolverine with his helmet off, there would have been no problem. ChrisSeptember 29, 2014 11:06 PM Wolverine #11-16 Unless someone has seen Wolverine with his mask off and that weird haricut, why would anyone think Wolverine was Patch? If they did, yes, it won't full anyone. If not, it's a good enough disguise as another alter ego. Has Jessica Drew ever seen Logan with his helmet off? If so, she would be the only person who would know. ChrisSeptember 29, 2014 10:58 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Michael, yes Byrne walked away when his story was vetoed in mid-progression. I don't think it matters whether he was fired or quit. We don't know how he intended to wind up the story although we do have clues. I always thought it would be very easy to repair the Vision. If people are upset that the Vision didn't go back to what he was before, why not blame the writers who came AFTER Byrne? I think it was Roy Thomas. It would have been very easy for Roy to return the Vision, but for some reason it didn't happen until a very long time after. I agree that there ended up being damage to the Vision long term, but it didn't have to be that way even with the VisionQuest storyline. There were lots of ways to set things back - certainly no more than a year if that is what Marvel wanted. Let's go back to an actual quote where Byrne did describe the Vision as a toaster: "The question becomes, I suppose, one of value. Knowing that the Vision's complete personality/memory/intelligence was downloaded into a computer in Titan (was it Titan? Memory blurs) allowed me to scrape his brain in my VisionQuest story, since everything could be restored with a literal flip of a switch. Should something that can be so easily copied and retrieved be treated as having the same intrinsic value as a human being? Should any of the human Avengers, for instance, ever risk their lives on behalf of the Vision? My vote would be no (as some of you have probably already guessed) -- but I would say that even if it were not possible to restore or "save" the Vision in any other way. He is a "toaster"." Byrne is saying that as someone not truly biologically alive and can be copied and duplicated, that the Vision is disposable. You can disagree with that. It's fine. It's the old Data debate in ST: TNG, which I bet is the origin of "toaster". However, Byrne clearly stated that there was already planned a way to restore the Vision entirely to what was done prior. To me, this is pretty good evidence Byrne intended to do just that. Why none of the writers after him did that is a question for them. Nor do I think there is much water in the argument about Wonder Man. That was established long before Byrne, and much was made by multiple writers of Wonder Man and Vision being "brothers". Even if Vision never acted like Wonder Man in the comics (and I never saw it either), Byrne was just riffing on that long established point. davidbanesSeptember 29, 2014 10:47 PM Punisher War Journal #6-7 Oh yeah I think I saw Roy Mackal in an old special called More Dinosaurs and they talked about Mokele-Mbembe. I got that on DVD the moment it came out. ChrisWSeptember 29, 2014 9:48 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110 Spidey tearing up the city looking for information was indeed reminiscent of what he did when searching for the Master Planner. Luckily for us newbies, that story had just been reprinted in "Marvel Tales," so we knew what Unnamed Goon was referring to, and faithful readers had learned about his relationship with Betty as well. Had Peter David left sales yet, because these references were exactly the sort of thing Marvel would care about in terms of reprints and new books? ChrisWSeptember 29, 2014 9:24 PM Wolverine #11-16 This was my first exposure to Peter David's writing [well, other than the "Fall of the Mutants" crossover with "Hulk," and I didn't care for that because I didn't like McFarlane's art, and the Hulk was so far away from the character I knew. Oh, and the "Death of Jean DeWolff" which I loved. And its sequel, which I liked. And he contributed to "What The..." too. "Blasters"? The previous issue of "Wolverine" that he wrote? Look, maybe it wasn't my first exposure to Peter David's writing after all. Stop judging me! WAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!] The writing is better than the story. It involves all of Wolvie's supporting cast, it gives Wolvie interesting non-X-related things to do in his solo noir setting - the "Indiana Jones" references themselves are enough to make that point - and it addresses the difficulties of Logan pretending to be dead when nobody could miss the hair and attitude. He's not much of a secret agent. In a genre founded by where Clark Kent wearing glasses for a disguise, it's understandable, but more and more unbelievable as time goes on. At least Clark is a total geek while Superman is inspiring and wonderful. Patch is a badass who knows everything that's going on and leaves a lot of claw marks in his wake. Peter David chose the best way out of this problem, 'when someone with claws and a temper wants to believe he's fooling people...' And we'll never have a good answer for why he even tried, or thought anyone would believe him. PAD does a good job of covering. And the story is fun enough in itself, with humorous bits and character development. This is Peter David doing his best with the series Claremont left, and fitting it into the Marvel Universe whenever possible. I would say these are not true vampires, because vampires no longer exist. But it's also a good enough signal to the editors that - similar to when the Comics Code relaxed its standards - vampires are too good as villains to simply declare them all dead. They need to come back, and a future "Dr. Strange" story will make that happen. I also don't like the Buscema/Sienkiewicz collaboration but that's mostly due to the awesome Buscema/Williamson art of the first several issues. Buscema wasn't meant to be a minimalist, and Sienkiewicz isn't either. Together it just looks poorly drawn, which is the worst way to describe two such incredible artists. TCPSeptember 29, 2014 8:12 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 Eduardo's "animal magnetism" may have something to do with how quickly Glory was seduced. Luis DantasSeptember 29, 2014 7:55 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 I was wondering whether it was Byrne's, Gruenwald's or DeFalco's decision to use the psycho in WCA. According to Byrne, it was Gruenwalds: http://images.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=42334&TPN=4 MichaelSeptember 29, 2014 7:49 PM Punisher War Journal #6-7 Note that the Shadowmasters think the landlords won't try to harass them again because Daredevil is watching over them and the Punisher thinks about how Daredevil doesn't leave New York. In Daredevil 267, Matt leaves New York and doesn't return until Streets of Poison. Now obviously Matt didn't publicly announce "I'm leaving New York. Criminals of Hell's Kitchen, feel free to rape and rob and kill as you see fit." but this should take place before anyone notices Daredevil is absent from New York. TCPSeptember 29, 2014 4:35 PM Amazing Spider-Man #82 It's always bothered me that Captain Stacy (and to some extent Robbie) didn't take any measures against Jonah for his actions here. How many lives does the man have to endanger before someone sees that maybe Jameson is the real menace? fnord12September 29, 2014 3:17 PM Amazing Spider-Man #66-67 Heh, thanks TCP. Added him. RobertSeptember 29, 2014 3:08 PM Punisher War Journal #6-7 Roy Mackal was the premiere "expert" on Mokele-Mbembe. He appeared on various cryptozoology shows & specials on television the last few decades before his death. You can still catch some of these airing on cable from time to time. Seemed like a nice guy. Worse ways to spend your life than looking for dinosaurs in the jungle. This was probably the highlight of the entire War Journal series. Certainly the most notable. That says something considering the series goes on for many more years. I think the next time I paid attention to this series was during the "Over the Edge" storyline, or whatever it was called, where they had him kill Fury. TCPSeptember 29, 2014 3:01 PM Amazing Spider-Man #66-67 Fnord: Spider-Man is not listed as a character appearing in these issues. ToddSeptember 29, 2014 2:38 PM She-Hulk #1 If you were a fan of Byrne in the '80s, and he had many of them, you were always waiting for the other shoe to drop. His departures from titles (and whole companies) tended to be abrupt. In those days we didn't know as much about what was going on behind the scenes. We'd just pick up the Comics Buyer's Guide and get the news as a fait accompli: he's gone from this, his last issue will be this, he'll be moving to that. He had a mystique about him -- he could create excitement around a new project and revive interest in an existing character or title, and when he left, the book never was as good, at least in the short term. His departure from the Superman titles at DC, just weeks after his TIME cover had been on the newsstands for the character's anniversary, was quite a bombshell. This She-Hulk title was the best consolation prize I had at the time. I hear what Jay is saying, but I never minded the irreverent asides to readers. I accepted the book as in-continuity yet different in tone from the general run of Marvel books. There was fourth-wall breaking going on on some popular TV shows at the time; this old device was enjoying a brief vogue. I never took the humor here as mean to comic-book fans, although Byrne definitely was capable of that elsewhere, as seen in his characterization of the comic-book fan in Fearbook. TCPSeptember 29, 2014 2:25 PM Amazing Spider-Man #63-65 I read recently that MJ's awful hairstyle and callous attitude were put in place by Stan after he got sick of MJ fan mail (Gwen being his preferred choice, after all). TCPSeptember 29, 2014 1:47 PM Amazing Spider-Man #147-150 I have mixed feelings about Conway's ASM run, but these issues are notable to me because they provide what is probably the closest thing to an "ending" to Peter' story in the mainstream universe (not that it needs to end, but things seemed pretty well wrapped-up at this point). Peter is able to put Gwen behind him, literally, by allowing her clone to leave without him looking back. This leaves him free to begin a life with Mary Jane, symbolized by the famous "click" of the door at the end of #149 (which, as noted above, echoes the probably-more-famous "click" that ended #122, thus bringing things full circle). The passing of Miles Warren also ends the threat of the Jackal, and thus all of Spidey's arch-enemies are neutralized at this point; his crusade as a superhero would obviously continue, but on a slightly-smaller scale. In this scenario, ASM #150 would be the "epilogue," affirming Spidey's continued sense of duty and love for MJ. The only real dangling threads would be a) the fate of the clone's body, which in the context of the story is a question the reader does not necessarily need an answer for; and b) the question of whether or not Peter is really the clone; however, as the reader would have no real evidence with which to doubt Peter's reasoning, we would most likely be led to take his word for it (and I question whether Gerry Conway intended for Peter's authenticity to be doubted in the first place). Obviously, there are other points in Peter's life where this same logic could be applied. But this is the one that stands out to me, even though most of my favorite Spidey stories come after this point. RobertSeptember 29, 2014 12:38 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 "In 2014, I still think he has no soul and is still inferior to what he was." Just like Marvel. StevenSeptember 29, 2014 12:05 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 I believe that The Vision had a soul, but he was murdered in this story. The reconstructed Vision has no soul. In 2014, I still think he has no soul and is still inferior to what he was. fnord12September 29, 2014 11:48 AM What's Missing Thanks for looking into that, Ataru. I was originally hoping that my two new Captain Britain trades would cover everything i was missing. But it turns out that Marvel Super Heroes #377-386 are the first part of the story that Berend references and they're not in those trades or the Alan Moore trade. They were reprinted in the first issue and a half of "X-Men Archives featuring Captain Britain", though, so i'll try to track those down, and i'll definitely list them here on the What's Missing page in the meantime. Thanks for raising this, Berend. Ataru320September 29, 2014 10:56 AM What's Missing Just did a bit of research, this is what the Wiki says for "Captain Britain": Chris Claremont left the series after just ten issues, midway through the "Doctor Synne" storyline, and has since stated that this was because his view of the character and series was very different from that of the editor.[3] In 1978, though, Chris Claremont revisited the character and introduced him to an international audience, fully integrating him into the Marvel Universe via a story that starred Captain Britain and Spider-Man in Marvel's long-running Marvel Team-Up series.[4] During this run, the series moved from Marvel Superheroes[9] into a new monthly comic, The Daredevils. When The Daredevils was canceled after eleven issues Captain Britain was continued in The Mighty World of Marvel[10] - and then, after the end of the run of Alan Moore,[11] who left because of a dispute over unpaid invoices,[8] it continued for a few more issues with different writers (Steve Craddock, Alan Davis, and Mike Collins) until the comics ended [12] and the story moved to a new monthly Captain Britain title with Jamie Delano taking over writing duties[13] on the recommendation of Moore and with the agreement of Davis.[8] With that said, my guess is the "Marvel Super Heroes" anthology book doesn't really matter outside the "Jasper's Warp" stuff and he already has all the Captain Britain that he needs to get us between the character introduction and Alan Moore's period. BerendSeptember 29, 2014 9:03 AM What's Missing Maybe I've missed it, but I don't see the UK series Marvel Super Heroes prior to #386 on here, even though you mention in your review of Marvel Super Heroes #387-388 (UK)//Daredevils #1-11//Mighty World of Marvel #7-13 that your trade starts with the story already in progress. Or was there some sort of renaming/renumbering done and is the series on this list under a different name? MichaelSeptember 29, 2014 7:55 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Chris, Byrne wasn't fired off WCA- he was just told that he couldn't redefine Wanda's powers as changing the past. Then he quit. So if he was planning on fixing Vision and Wanda, then he could have found another way to do so before he quit. Luis DantasSeptember 29, 2014 6:10 AM Wolverine/Cable: Guts and Glory I just can't see Frank Thomes as anything but a shout-out to Jim Rhodes. Maybe this was what passed in the 1990s for a subtle hint of a future Cable / War Machine team-up? PHSeptember 29, 2014 4:54 AM New Mutants #56 I was never a fan of Magik being "boy-crazy". It made her seem shallow. ChrisSeptember 29, 2014 12:18 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 I enjoyed JB's run on West Coast Avengers. I think most of the criticism is misplaced. At the time when JB left the title, there were major changes for the Vision and Scarlet Witch. However, I think it is important to note that he was in the middle of his storyline. If JB had been allowed to complete it, I think we would have seen a return to the status quo to the Vision and Scarlet Witch (except for one thing which I won't mention until the relevant issue). It's fairly common for a long term creative stint (which was clearly the intention) to include temporary changes. I don't see why anyone should think the Vision's state at the end of this to be permanent. JB had the Thing revert to his lumpy form for 7 issues or so. This state of the Vision might have lasted longer, but by the time JB wrapped things up, I'm sure the Vision would be back to where he was. Perhaps not perfectly so. Instead of the more human Vision since his removal of the Control Crystal in Avg # 254, perhaps it would be the yellow word balloon version. I think there are some mis-steps. JB wanted Hawkeye back to his roots as the resident malcontent of the Avengers, so he removed him from leadership. I think he did it very clumsily, and Hawkeye doesn't seem like the guy we've known for the past six years. I think it would have been better for Hawkeye to step down as chairman for personal reasons, but stay on as an Avenger (until he quits in protest later). Without the responsibilities of chairman, and with his mind troubled over his relationship with Mockingbird, him slipping into his old habits would have made more sense. Since essentially Henry Pym had been rehabilitated by this point, Hawkeye stepping down so Hank could step up would have been a nice arc going back to WCA #1 when Hank offered to help Hawkeye out. With the multiple stories under Englehart about Tigra, I agree that another one is probably not the best. She'd been through enough. Still, I think it would have been fine in and of itself. I don't agree with how JB envisioned Scarlet Witch's powers. "Control probabilities" doesn't mean retroactive changes in time. I think the Uncertainty Principle is easier to invoke. However, it was all leading up the JB's Immortus storyline, so once again I think we would need to see how it played out. I do like JB's use of USAgent even if it was forced on him. I think it added a lot of interpersonality conflict. My only complaint is that too often, he looks like JB's depiction of Steve Rogers. Kieron Dwyer did a much better job of distinguishing between the two. MegaSpiderManSeptember 28, 2014 8:55 PM Wolverine/Cable: Guts and Glory D'von, huh? He would have fared better if he'd just taken a moment to get the tables. fnord12September 28, 2014 8:20 PM Wolverine #11-16 Thanks Michael. I guess it's just too comfortable and stylish to give up. MichaelSeptember 28, 2014 7:41 PM Wolverine #11-16 Wolverine still wears his patch in Madripoor in several issues (including next issue) between this arc and the X-Tinction Agenda, so that shouldn't be a factor in placement. EnchloreSeptember 28, 2014 6:20 PM Amazing Spider-Man #9 I don't think there should be explanation to Electro knowing JJ, since he really is a public figure. JJ just thought that was a clue because he's paranoid and wanted to connect Electro to Spider-Man. clydeSeptember 28, 2014 5:54 PM Captain America #354 Michael - Re: "I'm curious as to your distinctions between redeemable and between hoping the readers forget how the character started out." Luis DantasSeptember 28, 2014 5:32 PM Captain America #354 One of the many reasons why USAgent should never have existed at all is the plot difficulty that will probably be addressed in the review of, IIRC, #355. Just a few issues ago Steve refused to submit to the Commission and thought of his autonomy as more important than the blue costume. Being asked after the fact whether he has any problem with their appropriation of the black one makes him appear both naive and weak. Gruenwald glossed over that as much as he could, giving Steve the least possible information and making his answer a reflex, but I'm not sure that helps at all. It ends up making his relationship with the government that much more unbelievable and ambiguous, not that those were convincing in the first place. Ataru320September 28, 2014 3:39 PM General Comments Eh, I'm going to miss talking about the comics themselves on the pages. JSfanSeptember 28, 2014 2:41 PM General Comments Yay. Finally I can ask general questions about comics unrelated to the comics you're reviewing. fnord12September 28, 2014 2:22 PM General Comments I've finally gotten around to installing a message board forum to phase out this page. I'm going to leave this page active for now, but if the forum works out i will probably close comments here. MichaelSeptember 28, 2014 12:44 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 In Marvel Team-Up 130, Wanda told Vision that the reason that he was able to resist Necrodamus was that he has a soul. In Vision and the Scarlet Witch 9, the Enchantress says that "One of my kisses will enslave any man-- even a synthetic man, if his soul is human!" Luis DantasSeptember 28, 2014 12:19 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 MTU #130 showed that the Vision isn't "erased" when he is possessed by a ghost, and VSW V2 #9 showed that he has humanlike drives. None of that demonstrates souls - although to be fair, nothing in real life does, either. Jay DemetrickSeptember 28, 2014 1:57 AM Wolverine #10 You've got the pic where Wolverine is carrying Silver Fox's body up there twice. cullenSeptember 28, 2014 1:10 AM Uncanny X-Men #245 Did any of these alien races pop up later in the Marvel U? fnord12September 27, 2014 11:56 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 At this point there's no explanation for the Scarlet Witch's babies disappearing. But we'll soon see that they disappear when she's not focusing on them, which is why they never disappeared in front of her. fnord12September 27, 2014 11:52 PM Out of scope Thanks Robert. I suppose i should technically include it when i get to 2008 if there's a present day framing sequence. Most likely i'll just list it on the What's Missing page at that point, unless for some reason it becomes relevant and i feel compelled to pick it up and cover it. fnord12September 27, 2014 11:50 PM Fantastic Four #326-328 Your question about their Avengers membership will be answered when i cover Avengers #305. clydeSeptember 27, 2014 8:49 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Why did it take so long for the babies to disappear? Did this also happen when Wanda was taking care of them? clydeSeptember 27, 2014 8:07 PM Fantastic Four #326-328 FNORD, you have Reed and Susan joining here as part of the FF. Did they ever officially leave the Avengers? RobertSeptember 27, 2014 7:12 PM Out of scope Thor: The Truth of History, a one-shot by Alan Davis released in 2008, takes place mostly during the time of ancient Egypt. The framing sequence takes place in the present day but only features a couple of characters that I don't believe appear again in the MU. I assume something like that is out of scope, right? RobertSeptember 27, 2014 6:43 PM Speedball #9 "There were several unpublished Speedball stories from this series and some of them appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes." There are also Speedball stories by Ditko & Duffy in a couple of issues of Marvel Comics Presents . Whether that was a leftover from this series or something new, I don't know, but I would assume leftover. MichaelSeptember 27, 2014 6:38 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Thanks to the sliding timeline that wasn't Nixon that killed himself but a "high ranking government official". (And Byrne is a big fan of the sliding timeline.) Mark DrummondSeptember 27, 2014 6:35 PM Speedball #10 The title refers to "Charlotte's Web". cullenSeptember 27, 2014 6:29 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 It was a very definitive resignation. Tricky Dick wasn't known for half-measures. Mark DrummondSeptember 27, 2014 6:25 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 That "Nixon Resigns" headline around Sikorski's desk is strange; he committed suicide in Captain America #175. RobertSeptember 27, 2014 5:33 PM New Mutants #76 For what it's worth, Marvel Saga #3 describes the horn (called the Horn of Proteus) as such: "Far beneath the sea, Namor finds the means of his vengeance: the mystical Horn of Proteus, with which he can command monsters of the deep whose existence humanity does not even suspect." This came out in 1986 so I might cut Louise some slack here since it seems someone (Peter Sanderson?) had already altered the horn's purpose as being specific for Giganto. Doesn't explain Namor's ridiculous comparison of the two creatures, though. Mark DrummondSeptember 27, 2014 5:25 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 On the M-Squad poster, "Stray Toasters" refers to Bill Sienkiewicz' Epic miniseries. Mark DrummondSeptember 27, 2014 4:47 PM Hulk #355 The guy with the really big tie was a Pee-Wee Herman parody. Mark DrummondSeptember 27, 2014 4:41 PM She-Hulk #1 The "meatball" line is taken from an early 1970s Alka-Seltzer TV ad. Ironically, it was taken off the air because it was perceived to be insulting to Italian-Americans. MichaelSeptember 27, 2014 2:22 PM Journey Into Mystery annual #1 Never, mind- I get the joke now. That will teach me to respond before reading carefully. ChrisSeptember 27, 2014 2:12 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #150 Interesting you should say comics writers should watch more legal TV to know how to show trials. The writer of this comic, Gerry Conway, would later become a writer and producer on Law & Order. StevenSeptember 27, 2014 2:01 PM Uncanny X-Men #43-45 Was this crossover supposed to help the fading X-Men? Jay DemetrickSeptember 27, 2014 1:44 PM Defenders #15-16 We see later when Eric the Red re-ages Magneto, they also reverted too. It's revealed in The Champions #17 where they appear next. david banesSeptember 27, 2014 12:39 PM Defenders #15-16 Wait they all were turned into babies not just Magneto? How the heck did Blob and Mastermind be restored in time for the Days of Future Past and Dark Phoneix storylines in time? david banesSeptember 27, 2014 12:35 PM Uncanny X-Men #14-18 I like these early generation Sentinels, these suckers were tough enough to give even the Avengers a hard run. Though the cheap ones that popped up in the New X-Men were kind of theraputic since they were so easy to trash. Ataru320September 27, 2014 7:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #66 I think that the only significant this has is it leads to the "break" for the X-Men leading to their stuff in the early 70s where they were no big deal and just part of the universe at large as what happens to characters with no success on their own: Beast's solo series and joining the Avengers, the Secret Empire, Magneto's solo appearances up to and including turning into a baby...that sort of stuff. (oh and just giving enough space for Claremont to do stuff once the X-Men do return in a few years) A.LloydSeptember 27, 2014 5:17 AM Uncanny X-Men #66 Historical Significance 1? A,LloydSeptember 27, 2014 3:03 AM Amazing Spider-Man #68-69 This is a great website. You can tell the passion that went into it. I love Marvel Tales as a kid (in the late 70's/early 80's) because I couldn't find the original Amazings because my city didn't have a comic book shop at the time. Mark DrummondSeptember 27, 2014 2:25 AM Wolverine #4-8 Archie Corrigan is a reference to Archie Goodwin and the comic strip he wrote for a long time, Secret Agent Corrigan. "Baran" could be a Flash Gordon reference. Bloodsport's name may have been changed because John Byrne had already created a Superman villain with that name(it wouldn't surprise me if Byrne was the one who complained to Marvel about it). cullenSeptember 27, 2014 1:59 AM Wolverine #4-8 That would fall under what Fredric Jameson calls "blank parody." Erik RobbinsSeptember 27, 2014 1:50 AM Wolverine #4-8 Hardcase and the Harriers might be intended as some sort of commentary on G.I.Joe, with all the codenames. Battleaxe even looks like Roadblock. If so, what that commentary is trying to say is beyond me. davidbanesSeptember 26, 2014 11:50 PM Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 Hey I didn't say it didn't have parts of that were messed up. I mean having to be a prostitute in a civil war just to learn humanity is way more messed up than the wedding the Cotati bit. By liberties I meant the Golden Age Human Torch bit. I had no idea of that character's fate short of a FF annual so to a casual on Golden Age Marvel it worked for me. ChrisSeptember 26, 2014 10:55 PM Iron Man #241-243 This is one of the few missteps of Michelenie/Layton. I was very shocked and admit I was very interested in what would happen next. However, I was disappointed in its resolution and felt technology was being employed like magic. If a writer can't come up with a new status quo that works and essentially handwaves away the problem he specifically created, it just fails. There's a lot of things I deride as "fake drama" = very contrived situations that are seemingly high stakes that are resolved with little effort and seems like deus ex machina. On a lesser note, I never saw the need for a revised Mandarin. It doesn't add anything to the character. Once again we have a chance for an old villain of Iron Man to react to the "replacement"; in fact the one foe closest to being his archenemy. Great opportunity to showcase the "changes" since the Armor Wars. But nope, nothing. I was really getting upset about this at the time even though I still enjoyed the title. ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 10:01 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Not that the 'needing money' part would apply to Claremont by this point, but the rest of it... If you asked him now, you'd have to have the issue handy before he had the slightest clue what you were talking about, and *MAYBE* he'd have an idea what he was thinking decades ago. ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 9:45 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 With no precedent or foreshadowing beyond the previous issue or two ["Been noticing that lately... Hope that doesn't turn out as ominous as it sounds"]? As with the Warren Ellis anecdote quoted later, it's too far removed from primary sources and the resulting finished work to seriously believe in. This is a fanboy speculating on third-person retellings, this is a child at prayer. Pathetic!!! [/Loki by Tom Hiddleston] Claremont had just been through "Inferno" which changed his characters and storylines in ways he never wanted. He was still trying to plot out future developments and had no reason to expect he wouldn't be writing them. Killing Dazzler was intended, switching her for Rogue at the last moment just happened because of the demands of the characters and storyline [which I think definitely worked better, by the way] but until we hear from Claremont, Silvestri or Bob Harras, I'm not going to take anyone else's views on how this happened any more seriously than my own, and I think it was just supposed to be a convenient parody of Dark Phoenix a hundred issues after Claremont had repeatedly retold the Phoenix Saga. Maybe the characters took over [Rogue is wearing Ms. Marvel's outfit, how could he resist that?] maybe he was struck with the story potential of sending all the X-Men through the Siege and eventually bringing them back together and Rogue's a more significant loss than Dazzler, maybe Bob Harras made the decision. Or Marc Silvestri loved drawing Ali and begged so eloquently on the phone that the story was changed. Unfortunately, we'll never know until Claremont fulfills my "Misery" fantasy, where he has to answer all my questions. [Talk about horrifying, at least the villain in "Misery" understandably wanted further adventures of her favorite character. How much worse would the situation be if you don't want further adventures, you just want good answers about thirty year old stories, when the writer's most likely response would be "I dunno, I was really drunk/stoned/tripping and had to get ten pages scripted in two days because I needed the money"?] MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 9:43 PM Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 David, the creepy part was that the Priests felt Mantis needed more experience with humanity, so they erased her memory, dumped her in the middle of a civil war and left her to become a hooker. And after that, she still married the Cotati. davidbanesSeptember 26, 2014 9:23 PM Avengers #129-135, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4 I thought this story was pretty alright, I appreciated that they tried to tell an epic comic book tale. Even though a lot of the history takes some liberties it was neat learning some more about the Vision and how he feels like he has a past at long last. I'd say the Kree and Skrull history lesson was the best part. MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 7:02 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 i think that Dazzler's power increase, though, was supposed to play a role in her death. My googling could only turn up this site: MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 6:56 PM Journey Into Mystery annual #1 You're thanking yourself? Are you suffering from MPD? ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 6:52 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Another reason I'm interested in this is because after "Inferno" and two down-time issues, the X-Men collapsed entirely, leading to the long storyline I call "The Shattered Star." This is based on the title for #250, and the fact that #249's splash page says it's "Part 1 of the Prelude to The Shattered Star, starring the Uncanny X-Men." "Part 1 of the Prelude"??? My theory is that Claremont was trying to do a 50-issue storyline leading up to #300, smash the X-Men and then rebuild them. ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 6:29 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 #247 certainly looks like it could have been intended for Ali to die-die. The title of the issue is "The Light That Failed," although that could applied just as well to her going through the Siege. The scene where Ali hugs Longshot and comforts him could easily have been scripted as a 'last moment together,' and Ali was still several pages away from even noticing she was carrying the Siege, so that could have been a last-minute change on Claremont's part, depending on how far ahead of Silvestri he was working. I definitely think the Siege was intended from the start. If nothing else, it's quite prominent on the cover of #247. Covers had to be produced months in advance, and this one is a perfectly good example of what happened in the comic, summarizing page 18-20, Rogue in the Ms. Marvel costume and all. Not to mention Part One of this two-parter opens with Ali staring into the Siege to see all the facets of her life with obvious foreshadowing. Maybe that was the original point, that whoever goes through the Siege is effectively dead forever, as in, we'll never see Ali ever again, which would explain why all the Reavers who went through it didn't start showing up again. Silvestri's contribution might well have been pointing out that Roma explicitly told the X-Men that whoever went through it was reborn. I'm skeptical that Ali was supposed to die-die, but maybe that's one of the things that makes this whole last-minute change so frustrating to me. I'm a writer, I'm familiar with characters taking on their own lives and introducing things that I never expected, story elements where it feels at least slightly-dishonest for me to claim full credit. I can accept the last-minute switch of Ali and Rogue, it's just that something about how it was done doesn't smell right. While writing this post, I actually went to Chris Claremont's website in hopes there would be some "Ask Claremont" function-or-other, but no such luck. fnord12September 26, 2014 6:11 PM Journey Into Mystery annual #1 Fixed it. Thanks, fnord! ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 5:49 PM Wolverine #10 Like the New Mutants? Ataru320September 26, 2014 4:46 PM Journey Into Mystery annual #1 So then Thor goes through to meet...himself in Olympus? I think you mean Herc. (or is Thor confused too cause of meeting weird "clean-shaven guy" that Immortus made him face that was called Hercules too? Heh...not brazen enough like this Herc) fnord12September 26, 2014 4:45 PM Wolverine #4-8 I saw that Path of the Warlord issue and assumed (hoped?) it took place before World War II so i wouldn't have to get it. I forget i already had it on the What's Missing page. Listed Chang as a character. And yeah, i'll add a qualifier to Tai's tag at some point. Getting soft or maybe just worn down. MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 4:01 PM Wolverine #10 This flashback has gone from real to memory implant to real so many times I lost track. (I think it's currently real.) MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 3:55 PM Wolverine #9 Note that the point is that Wolverine is after them not because they raped the nun but because what they did destroyed her capacity for love and forgiveness, which Wolverine considers worse then killing or raping her. MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 3:52 PM Wolverine #4-8 It's fairly clear that BOTH Roughhouse and Bloodsport were intended to be Asgardians- Wolverine notes something alien about both their scents that he finds familiar. Interestingly, it's stated that neither can be killed by mortal steel but later it's suggested that only Bloodscream is immune to mortal steel. CullenSeptember 26, 2014 3:16 PM Avengers #299-300 @Mark Drummond that reminds me of a hilarious supervillain from Ralph Bakshi's 'Mighty Mouse' cartoon - contemporaneous to these stories, in fact! (See him here, in battle with Bat-Bat: fnord12September 26, 2014 3:08 PM Avengers #299-300 @Jay, I don't like to do that. This way if someone writes a continuity insert featuring Gosamyr having tea with Typhoid Mary during Infero while the rest of the New Mutants are meeting the Captain, i won't think it's a conflict. CullenSeptember 26, 2014 2:58 PM Avengers #299-300 @Robert, another user (Walter Lawson) speaks on that in the comments here: RobertSeptember 26, 2014 2:42 PM Avengers #299-300 I remember reading on John Byrne's site once about his original plans for his Immortus story on Avengers West Coast. IIRC, it was a post-apocalyptic future story, sort of a 'Days of Future Past' for the Avengers. Black Knight's being placed in the time vortex here wound up playing a significant role in that story. He's basically the hero of it. Sadly, we never got that story due to, as Chris mentioned above, Tom DeFalco mucking things up after a writer had already started a storyline. RobertSeptember 26, 2014 2:29 PM Daredevil #264 Nice nard-kick in that last panel. I know the Owl's a bad guy but come on, Daredevil. That's just not cool. Jay DemetrickSeptember 26, 2014 2:27 PM Avengers #299-300 Even though she's not shown on panel, Gosamyr would be with the New Mutants here. Would that be enough to add her to the Characters Appearing? BillSeptember 26, 2014 11:08 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Steven, the better question to ask would be if Byrne (or anyone) thinks a man should go back to a woman who took advantage of his mental unstability to marry him. Yeah, let's not all pretend Jan's hands are perfectly clean in all that... In all seriousness though, I've always been bothered by the coloring of the Wasp's gloves and boots in these issues. It looks like they've been left uncolored to my eyes. StevenSeptember 26, 2014 9:13 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Does John Byrne think that Hank hitting Jan was okay? MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 9:10 AM Uncanny X-Men #245 @ChrisW- I found it mentioned here: MichaelSeptember 26, 2014 8:58 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 @Cullen- I think the way it's supposed to work is USAgent has been brainwashed into thinking his parents are alive, so his mind creates "phone conversations",etc. with them to fill in the gaps in the illusion. USAgent doesn't have any more hallucinations after the brainwashing is removed. fnord12September 26, 2014 8:42 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Oh, der. Thanks, Luis. Good thing i wasn't in charge of putting those slides in order. Luis DantasSeptember 26, 2014 8:29 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Yes, the USAgent role is the Guy Gardner Role, which is almost the Punisher role in my eyes. Nuff said. Or to be clear, it is not something that works IMO. Infectia fits alphabetically, between Iceman and Legion. So does Karma. fnord12September 26, 2014 8:06 AM Uncanny X-Men #245 Oh, and guys, don't sweat how i'm going to handle my temporary cut-off for 1989. I'll figure it out, and whatever i skip now will just get inserted where it belongs after the backissue add. fnord12September 26, 2014 7:58 AM Uncanny X-Men #245 Robert, thank you! I can't say i've ever read any Normalman related stuff, so i don't know why those two characters look so familiar to me. fnord12September 26, 2014 7:54 AM Power Pack #42-43 I agree. Added Gosamyr. Thanks. fnord12September 26, 2014 7:52 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Tigra said she was going to rejoin the main WCA team in West Coast Avengers #41. Henry Pym seems to have remained with Hawkeye after Solo Avengers #16 which makes sense since he left to take care of "Maria". Both Tigra and Pym are shown with the WCA in Avengers #302-303 which i assume takes place prior to this arc (it was published at the same time). I'll bet Byrne was told that Wasp similarly was getting added back to the team in one of the editorial clean-up arcs and that's why he didn't explicitly show her returning, but i've added her to the "Join" category for this issue. Cullen, i did mention that Tigra observed Wasp leaving Pym's bungalow during the early morning "Ultron" attack but you're right that i didn't follow up with the very familiar and flirty dialogue from the Wasp. Michael pointed out that the grid of mutants is in alphabetical order so A3 probably isn't Infectia. Karma seems like the best guess so far. I think Madrox's superhero name is Madrox the Multiple Man which is why he's before Magik. Jon DubyaSeptember 26, 2014 5:15 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 On the listing to these issue, fnord, you have Hawkeye as "QUIT" and USAgent and Mockingbird as "JOINED." There are a couple of problems with that listing (which in turn points out some the problems with Byrne's run in general.) For one, this is where Mockingbird QUITS the WCA so she can engage in an "estranged wife" subplot. Bobbi then spends just about the remainder of the book's run as a grouchy supporting character who only pops up when Hawkeye needs someone to yell at. (Actually there relationship is even worse than that and they become one of those obnoxious make-up-break-up couples.) Secondly, no where is it mentioned that Wasp, Dr. Pym and Tigra rejoined the team as of these issues (of course Byrne doesn't mention that little fact either, so I can't blame anyone else for not pointing that out.) There is NO explanation for why all these people rejoined the WCA, especially since Mockingbird is still "estranged" from the team (outside of pure IITS reasons.) Again keep in mind that Tigra and Mockingbird left the team for ethical reasons and Jan was all "Divorced means divorced" just an arc ago. Now everyone's back without any of these issues being resolved or even refered too (except Mockingbird's split from Clint.) It's all erratic and inconsistent. I think the "A3" woman could also be a miscolored Infectia. Also, this is what I'm talking about when I wonder about writers "redeeming" USAgent. He clearly isn't presented as all that heroic here, and instead occupies what I would call the "Guy Gardner role" of the team. I think that kind of archetype can work for a team in certain doses, especially when contrast with someone as Hawkeye. George GordonSeptember 26, 2014 5:11 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 It's possible Byrne was riffing on and was inspired by the Next Generation character Data? The yellowish complexion, the pattern of repeating words like a thesaurus, and so forth. Possibly Byrne thought he could do something with a character like that. I always found the disassembled Vision disturbing. I remember Byrne did a similar thing to Dorma's corpse in the Namor series. I don't know what his deal is. I don't think John Byrne gets laid much. JSfanSeptember 26, 2014 4:48 AM Uncanny X-Men #245 I honestly don't think his work is that bad. Theirs some things that need work on but if he was told to redo them, something a proper editor would do, then he'd have been alright. I actually prefer his style than McFarlanes messy, cartoony, sketchy work. Anyway by now the Artists were running the show and drawing whatever they wanted. Luis DantasSeptember 26, 2014 3:49 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 @Steven: Roy Thomas has however written some of the worst issues ever when it comes to treatment of USAgent. I don't know how much choice he had, but it was cringeworthy. I fear the WCA were permanently sullied by the association with the... gent. It gets especially bad with Spider-Woman (circa #75) and Hawkeye himself. Luis DantasSeptember 26, 2014 3:20 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Oh, the problem isn't so much with USAgent's portrayal here (although it gets very, so very worse further on) as with his presence. While it may be realistic to have the government push him in, it is unrealistic to see the WCAers so accepting of him. Yes, I know they tell him to get lost. It is still way too little. Of course, it is worse still that Captain America accepted to have his identity usurped by the psycho a second time. StevenSeptember 26, 2014 2:18 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 I have very mixed feelings about these issues. I love them and also hate them. ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 2:03 AM Uncanny X-Men #245 Or #251. They all blur together anyway. Go for it, Ali! ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 2:01 AM General Comments I don't think "X-men/Teen Titans" impacts Marvel continuity, and it's been awhile since I've read it, but it was definitely of a specific X-Men era. Storm had long hair, Kitty was still a newbie, flirting with Peter and nothing more, Scott was still around. I have no idea when it would have happened - fortunately I'm not insane enough to put Marvel comics into chronological order; pity those poor suckers - but at the time, Claremont was very good about knowing when a given event happened to his characters relative to every other event. I don't care when it fits into continuity, but I think it really does fit into continuity, and I'll leave it up to those poor suckers to figure out when, how and why. CullenSeptember 26, 2014 1:53 AM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Coupla things: Which brings me to Jan and Hank. Pym catches himself using a pet-name, but Wasp is all "lover" this and "sure you don't wanna hang out?" that. I guess she's always been a flirt, but there's more going on, right? Didn't see you discuss that. Some of Byrne's work here is pretty amazing. I was also really drawn to him during my formative years of fandom (ages 9-15 or so) and was very stoked at this run. But I also think this series was where I first really noticed Byrne was increasingly foregoing backgrounds. It gets worse. USAgent's portrayal here isn't anything approaching sympathetic; I greatly dislike Walker, but don't really see the problem with him here. It's not like he's being played as a Gets Results wimp-buster. He's an arrogant jock hardhead who loves giving (AND taking) orders. ChrisWSeptember 26, 2014 1:48 AM Uncanny X-Men #245 Is there any actual citation for that? Because Ali could have done the 'movie storyline' just as easily by going through the Siege Perilous in #247 as she did in #252. Not saying you're wrong or anything, just that it was definitely established that Dazzler was miraculously more powerful, and worried about that, and she was supposed to die in the fight with Master Mold, yet Rogue wound up dying in her place. That much, Claremont has admitted to. Even if it all comes down to a suggestion from Silvestri, that isn't convincing, because Ali still went through the Siege Perilous and Silvestri still got to draw the 'movie storyline.' Is this the most pointless change by the artist on a title that was regularly influenced by artists and had the most important writer in mainstream comics? Is it Bob Harras' fault? Something is wrong about this whole situation. CullenSeptember 26, 2014 12:40 AM General Comments ChrisW, in what way does the X-Men/Teen Titans story impact 616 continuity? I know it had relevance to DC (first appearance of the Source Wall), but I've never heard about its significance for Marvel. (Not challenging you, just interested). (Hopefully by the time fnord gets to Avengers/JLA, he will have seen the light ;)) Jay DemetrickSeptember 26, 2014 12:32 AM Power Pack #42-43 Whoops, I mean Gosamyr. Jay DemetrickSeptember 26, 2014 12:28 AM Power Pack #42-43 It's not the clearest drawing but I think that may be Gossamer grabbing the demon that's clinging to Wolfsbane's back in the panel with the New Mutants. You don't have her in the "Characters Appearing" list. MichaelSeptember 25, 2014 11:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 @ChrisW- supposedly, Silvestri suggested the movie storyline in issues 259-260 to Claremont and that convinced him to change it. Jay DemetrickSeptember 25, 2014 11:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Sorry, my post was in reference to Michael's post where he wrote: "I have to wonder if the problem was that the original outline for X-Factor 38 involved the computer corrupting Maddie but Simonson couldn't follow the outline. As we'll see when you get to the New Mutants Atlantis Attack issue, Simonson's inability to follow the outline caused problems for that crossover." Jay DemetrickSeptember 25, 2014 11:53 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Actually, The Uncanny X-Men Annual #13 has to take place before Rogue is sucked into the Siege Perilous in The Uncanny X-Men #246-247 and the rest of Atlantis Attacks where Storm appears has to take place before Storm gets turned into a child by Nanny in #248. I believe the problem wasn't that Louise Simonson couldn't follow an "outline", it was that she had plotted out two long story arcs (that must have gotten approved!) where the main group of the New Mutants were meant to be in Asgard and X-Factor was on an alien planet and they were meant to take part in Atlantis Attacks and Acts of Vengeance when both teams returned to Earth. The main problem was that the ongoing plots overran the months when the bulk of Acts of Vengeance were to take place so she was probably required to include the secondary stories with Rusty & Skids in New Mutants and Loki approaching Apocalypse in X-Factor to tie in with the Acts of Vengeance crossover... But that discussion must wait until those issues roll around. ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 11:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 The Jean Bomb was only a reference to Maddie only insofar as Maddie was now established as a Jean-clone, with Phoenix power, who turned brother-against-brother, etc. It's a clever joke for a one-off story, nothing more. Logan asked Alex about the computers because (a) that was the part of the story used for character development (b) Claremont had plans for Gateway and (presumably) the town left by the Reavers (c) Logan suspects people whether or not he has a reason. I'll have to wait for the "Atlantis Attacks" issues to get what you're talking about there, but I think this is as good as late-era Claremont gets, histrionic arguments about subjects that don't make much sense to the reader, setting up future storylines which never came to pass. I would very much like to know what changed - from Claremont, editorial or otherwise - that averted Ali's "death" to Rogue. I know that it changed, I just have never heard any reason from anyone involved about why. It's almost like a parody retelling of Phoenix, from a writer who's retold Phoenix countless times. "Whoops, my powers have suddenly increased. Gosh, there's no reason why. Gee, it seems like I'm fated to die here. Wow, someone else died instead. The Life, Death and Rebirth of Jean Grey!" ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 11:24 PM General Comments "Because skipping company crossovers doesn't make you a vampire." It does so!!! Now that I have fit the Universal Thing-a-majig into the Cosmic Doo-dad, anyone caught skipping company crossovers will become a vampire, just so long as some guy in tights and a cape doesn't try to stop me. Especially once we reach the "Dr. Strange" storyline. This I Command!!! ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 11:20 PM General Comments Chichester's sequel to "Born Again" was very good, I forgot about that one. I'm only mildly curious about the rest of his run, but the four issues leading up to DD #300 made a very good story. MichaelSeptember 25, 2014 11:13 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 The Jean Bomb was a reference to both Jean and Maddie. Jay DemetrickSeptember 25, 2014 11:10 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Interesting to note who's missing: the Hellfire Club members & the Hellions, the Mutant Force members... and Mirage. Hm... CullenSeptember 25, 2014 11:02 PM General Comments I am so mad at your antipathy towards intercompany crossovers!! Luis DantasSeptember 25, 2014 10:59 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Interesting... Jammie Madrox, unlike most, is positioned by his surname instead of by his codename. In fact, I think he is the only one not placed by codename. Luis DantasSeptember 25, 2014 10:55 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Mandrill, Nekra's partner. RobertSeptember 25, 2014 10:53 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 fnord, I believe those are a couple of characters from an indie series back then called Normalman. The frog is Max the Magnificent. No idea about the chick's name but it sure looks like her on this cover: Jay DemetrickSeptember 25, 2014 10:51 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Who's the weird baboon faced creature between Malice & Marvel Girl?! Jay DemetrickSeptember 25, 2014 10:50 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Quicksilver. Luis DantasSeptember 25, 2014 10:46 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Thanks. It must be Karma indeed. But then who is between Pyro and Rogue? MichaelSeptember 25, 2014 10:35 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 @Walter- Wanda doesn't wipe out entire realities under Byrne- Immortus does. BillSeptember 25, 2014 10:10 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Blast! Walter beat me to it. LOL Jay DemetrickSeptember 25, 2014 10:10 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Ugh, those horrible gaping mouths. Liefeld sucks so bad. BillSeptember 25, 2014 10:09 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 I didn't realize the mutants they are looking thru is alphabetical. Duh! In that case, flipping thru the Marvel Universe Handbook from back then, the only character who would make sense, being between Iceman and Legion, would be Karma. Is it possible that's Karma up there with mis-colored hair? fnord12September 25, 2014 10:08 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 I was hoping someone would identify the frogman talking about toothpaste in the alien group shot, and the woman next to him. I seem to remember them from something but can't remember what. fnord12September 25, 2014 10:07 PM General Comments I will be doing Heroes Reborn, although not the 13th issues. Because skipping company crossovers doesn't make you a vampire. Walter LawsonSeptember 25, 2014 10:03 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 I'm going to guess it's Karma, suffering the usual comics heroine fate of having her hair miscolored. ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 9:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 I don't even see the potential. He had some talent for comic book storytelling, and some talent for character design, and the undefinable ability to look "cool," and that's about it. Me and my friends in grade school had more talent for coming up with ideas, characters and stories when we played superhero in the backyard. His character designs quickly became dull and repetitive, his storytelling went out the window, and he was never good enough at either that I really don't know what any editor could have done with him. At least McFarlane started off working in the "Marvel style," doing the journeyman's work in the trenches. Liefeld was getting these high-profile X-assignments as soon as he left DC, and Lee was treated like a star from the start. Even Silvestri became a distant fourth place, fired from "X-Men to make room for Lee, and given "Wolverine" in compensation, and I have to wonder what the hell Bob Harras was thinking? It obviously worked for him, but really, I cannot picture myself as a Marvel editor looking at Liefeld's work and thinking I have anything to teach him. He's never going to learn, and he still hasn't learned anything twenty years later. I can't complain too much, because it was obviously the direction comics were heading, and who am I to deny Liefeld his place in the spotlight, but I remain baffled by how this happened. Still, "X-Men" #245, best Liefeld comic ever. Walter LawsonSeptember 25, 2014 9:56 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Ah, so that's Sabra next to Sabretooth. Dunno who's between Iceman and Legion. Walter LawsonSeptember 25, 2014 9:48 PM General Comments Quasar's "Cosmos in Collision" storyline is something to look for ward to, and a couple of '90s crossovers like Galactic Storm and Age of Apocalypse are fun on their own terms. PAD's Hulk is good for a few years, and DeFalco's Thor ( and even Thunderstrike) ain't bad. In fact, Len Kaminski's run on Iron Man and Harras's Avengers are better than most people think; IM, especially, has had worse runs. I have a soft spot for Chichester's Daredevil, too, though bringing back Elektra certainly sucks. Larry Hama's Wolverine has its moments. ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 9:42 PM General Comments Ok, scanning this page, I see you specifically state you won't be covering the crossovers. That's cool. So is silver. And garlic. And the mid-morning sun. But I respect your decision. MichaelSeptember 25, 2014 9:41 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 "There's no way this story (with a Mar-Jun cover date) could have been intended to take place after the return of SHIELD (Nick Fury #1 has a Sep cover date)" ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 9:39 PM General Comments Fnord, what are your thoughts on the company crossovers? They did fit into Marvel continuity - especially "JLA/Avengers" and "X-Men/Teen Titans" - and I'll completely understand if you have a reason for not including them, but if you don't, good luck on withstanding the holy water and crucifixes. ;) RobertSeptember 25, 2014 9:37 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Walter I believe that's Sabra from Contest of Champions and Hulk 'fame.' CullenSeptember 25, 2014 9:32 PM General Comments Mentioning Heroes Reborn brings up a question, fnord, and maybe you've addressed it already - will you actually be covering the Heroes Reborn stories, since they take place in a pocket universe? I know you answered a similar question about Age of Apocalypse, but they're not *quite* the same... Walter LawsonSeptember 25, 2014 9:22 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Who's the "unverified" woman next to Sabertooth? The Vision's "memory backup" involves the same philosophical question as the Carol Danvers/Rogue situation. Rogue possesses the only "copy" of Carol's mind, and it could arguably be the original. In each case, there's a "living" body that loses its old mind and gets a new one. Carol's is an attempted reconstruction of her original mind, but Claremont makes a point of telling us its like a xerox, the emotional resonances aren't there. But they very much are there for the Carol Danvers who exists in Rogue's mind, as we know from when she attacked the Helicarrier and rescued Rossi. So which is the "real" Carol--the body or the mind, both of which are in some sense alive? The Vizh, there's the added twist that his mind is supposedly a copy of Simon's to begin with. I think Byrne really is revisiting "Dark Phoenix" here and doing the story his way, maybe to prove he can do it better than Claremont, or just better the second time. Wanda will become uber-powerful, even if Byrne argues she should have been uber-powerful all along: heck, she one-ups Phoenix not by consuming a star but by wiping out whole realities. And she's nuts and evil. She's being manipulated by Immortus, who is also a step up from Mastermind. From what Byrne has said about his aborted second half of his run, it would have been a riff on DoFP, with Wanda creating an alternate present in which the heroes were on the run from a victorious, world-conquering Kang, and only the time-displaced Black Knight--shielded in that dimensional vortex Thor placed him in--would have known that history had been changed. Note that while this is thematically similar to DoFP--dystopian world where the heroes' old enemy has won--it's even more similar in the particulars to Age of Apocalypse, but with Apocalypse in Kang's role and Bishop in the Black Knight's. I don't think its a coincidence. fnord12September 25, 2014 8:51 PM General Comments Robert, Chapter One is not considered canon, at least by the MCP, which i'll happily follow. Gary HimesSeptember 25, 2014 8:27 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 When the Vision was introduced in '68 he showed some influence from the relatively new Mr. Spock in his character -- cool and logical, but capable of feeling. Here Byrne decides to remake him to be like Data - completely devoid of emotion. Its a derivative and ultimately unsuccessful approach; various future writers will be compelled to undo this change by various means because removing *all* emotion from Viz undermines everything that defined him up to now. ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 8:18 PM General Comments Something like the Spider-Clone Saga I'd be willing to read out of sheer curiosity - same reason I enjoy reading "The Life of Reilly," if anyone's familiar with that - but after McFarlane/Liefeld/Lee and Peter David leave their respective titles, there's only Alan Davis' return to "Excalibur" to look forward to (for me, don't think I'm denying anyone else the right to comics they love, or hate, or love to hate.) I read the first collection of "Thunderbolts," one or two Busiek/Perez "Avengers" collections, and some of PAD's 21st Century return to "X-Factor." I'm aware that "Damage Control" had a third miniseries which I never got around to reading. There are no other Marvel storylines I have more than vague familiarity with. "Age of Apocalypse," "One More Day," these might be interesting the way a car wreck is interesting, but that's about it. What else do I have to look forward to? "Marvels"? It's already on this site. "Illuminati" #2? Already on this site. "1602"? Not on this site (I don't think, checks, nope) and it's already chronologically happened. Claremont's return to Marvel and the X-titles? Maybe, possibly, in that 'car wreck' sense. "JLA/Avengers"? Probably not going to be on this site. RobertSeptember 25, 2014 8:01 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Bill, agree 100% about Byrne's Scarlet Witch. His Mockingbird is nice, too. JSfanSeptember 25, 2014 7:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Oh, I can see a lot of Art Adams' influence in Liefeld's work. I've seen some decent work he did when he was 16 there was a lot of potential but like Robert and ChrisW say, he didn't have a good editor to set him straight. Shame, I guess. ChrisWSeptember 25, 2014 7:22 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 I would definitely credit Dan Green for this as well (and I was thinking the same thing when looking at the scan of Ali putting make-up on Peter, that she has a somewhat well-drawn face, sorta resembling a Marc Silvestri picture. Peter looks horrible, as do most of the other characters. One thing that probably helps is that most characters in this story are generic monsters (and rip-offs of DC characters) which Liefeld spun into a career. I also think the "Jean Bomb" is more of an in-joke by Claremont, parodying "Invasion," the difficulties added to Jean's backstory, and making fun of his own quirks. I once played a hand of poker with someone who knew about this story and only had a pair of twos, so he wagered his life. I didn't even get the joke until after I'd won. BillSeptember 25, 2014 6:53 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 The mystery redhead at A3 is Maddy Pryor, I had always assumed, due to the hair style. I was really getting into collecting comics hardcore at the time of these issues coming out and I devoured them! Lots of interesting things going on here and it's a shame Byrne wouldn't get the chance to finish off his run on the title, as his "long game" would have put most of the toys back on the shelf when he was done. Also, it was a fun sounding storyline he had worked out! And JB draws a beautiful Scarlet Witch. fnord12September 25, 2014 6:48 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Fixed the date. Thanks. RobertSeptember 25, 2014 6:44 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 JSfan, Dan Green probably deserves a lot of credit here. Rob's still in Art Adams imitator mode at this point. After his popularity surges with New Mutants, Bob Harras let him do whatever he wanted and what he wanted was to be as lazy as possible and just draw cool pin-up shots with no concern for proper anatomy or storytelling. JSfanSeptember 25, 2014 6:23 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 Published: June 86??? JSfanSeptember 25, 2014 6:22 PM Uncanny X-Men #245 How did Liefeld get so bad? He could have been a contender! fnord12September 25, 2014 5:12 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 D3 is Magik, "no longer viable" because she's been regressed to childhood. Luis DantasSeptember 25, 2014 5:03 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Who is at D3? Also, why would anyone assume the Vision has a soul? Luis DantasSeptember 25, 2014 4:48 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 "some people don't like USAgent in any capacity" Here! That was pretty much the end of the WCA far as I am concerned. Ataru320September 25, 2014 4:44 PM Avengers #9 Considering he's Tony Stark's rival and nearly killed them after getting super-powers, why the heck would anyone even take his brainwave patterns? My only guess: Pym was having one of his "episodes" and decides to get Simon's information in case he needs it for...stuff. Then Ultron happened and it just ended up being used by Pym's evil killer robot for Vision because Simon was evil mostly until the turnaround for the tragic ending and Ultron probably figured "well, he'd make a good herald". Its really the only explanation I can think of. Jay PatrickSeptember 25, 2014 4:38 PM She-Hulk #1 The art here looks great, which is typical of Byrne's nfrom this period, but the self-indulgent asides to the audience really drag this title down. Sure, the whole series is supposed to have a light-hearted tone and I applaud that but the unfunny in-jokes and meta-criticism of the very fans that had Byrne rich got pretty tiresome. It's also a technique that should have been allowed in a shar universe. When She-Hulk admits that all of her adventures are just a big fake joke, what does that say about the rest of the Marvel Universe? RobertSeptember 25, 2014 4:00 PM General Comments Is Spider-Man: Chapter One considered in continuity? RobertSeptember 25, 2014 3:47 PM General Comments I stuck with Marvel through most of the 90s til the combined tragedies of Clone Saga and Heroes Reborn finally chased me away. I'm looking forward to revisiting these comics (most of which are awful in retrospect) and getting fnord's take on them. Should be more fun coming up than it was going down ;) RobertSeptember 25, 2014 3:41 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 I enjoyed this story and run. I get the complaints people have but I guess I just don't feel as passionately about them. Kind of like the complaints with the Madeline Pryor stuff the last few years. I liked Walker here for the first time and felt Byrne did a great job giving the character a reason to be there. This, along with She-Hulk, was the beginning of the last era that I was exited to see Byrne's work. kveto from pragueSeptember 25, 2014 3:32 PM General Comments Actually makes me realize I'll only be around for another couple of years, till 93 or so when I noticed comics really started to suck (and I discovered girls:-) kveto from pragueSeptember 25, 2014 3:23 PM West Coast Avengers #42-45 Oh boy, i was waiting for you to get to these. the bad: Where to start? Ok, Bryne doesn't like Hawk-eye so he turns him into an incompetent leader, in spite of all of the evidence to the contrary. Even the scene where the Agent tosses him to the ground is moronic. Its been clearly shown repeatedly and in the handbooks that Hawk-eyes arrows are secured in his quiver, not to fall out if he's knocked over. But since Bryne doesn't like him all that goes out the window. The sad thing is, the only reason JB came to WCA was to mess with the Scarlet Witch and get her together with Wonder man. He just doesnt like the idea of beautiful women with "odd" men. Exact same reason he put Alicia with the Torch. He's rather the hot Witch is with the hunky Wonder man. So he undoes one of the stablest marriages at Marvel. I know marvel hates marriage but its annoying the lengths JB goes to. the Tigra thing has been done before and is boring. And the idea of erasing the Witch's children. Any parent hates the idea of harm to their children. but to erase them, even in fiction, is just awful. the treatment and reinterpretation of established characters according to JB is the biggest sin. My only consolation is that JB leaves before he gets Wanda and Simon together and nobody else thought it was a good idea (or remotely interesting) fnord12September 25, 2014 12:19 PM She-Hulk #1 Just to close the loop on Vincent's comment, i did indeed decide to keep this placed prior to West Coast Avengers #42 despite that issue's publication date being earlier (March cover date). WCA #42-45 are a single story and issue #44 takes place after Captain America #354 (June cover date), so i've pushed that whole arc forward in publication time. BerendSeptember 25, 2014 11:59 AM General Comments I'm very much looking forward to the 90's. That was the time I regularly started buying comics. Oh, the hours I spend hunting down every single issue of the Clone Saga or the Age of Apocalypse. Fun times, fun times... cullenSeptember 25, 2014 11:34 AM General Comments I, too am looking forward to the 90s, because I largely peaced-out on comics from '93-'97 and when I returned it was almost exclusively DC and Vertigo. So I want to see the recaps of what I missed, not to mention the few gems and early appearances of characters and creators who later gained prominence. Ataru320September 25, 2014 8:51 AM General Comments Don't worry, I can't wait for the 90s. I love when you rip the weird and bizarre concepts or ideas(Silver Age insanity, things that just made no sense or were just dumb, and of course those two words: Mike Murdoch) so seeing your take on Liefeld, the Clone Saga and all the never-ending mish-mash that happens from here on out is just going to make this page way more entertaining. fnord12September 25, 2014 7:21 AM General Comments Andrew, thank you! To the rest of you: pthhhhllllltt!! Nice to know you're going to abandon me to face the 90s alone! ;-) A,LloydSeptember 25, 2014 5:07 AM Uncanny X-Men #148 Everything wasn't Claremont's idea. Bryne and Cockrum were co-plotters during this time. The Brood, for instance, were created by Cockrum. Alpha Flight was wholly created by Bryne. The Imperial Guard was created by Cockrum. A.LloydSeptember 25, 2014 5:00 AM Uncanny X-Men #148 It was John Bryne's idea to bring the Angel into the group. He wanted all of the original members back as they were his favorites. He got to work on the originals in the series X-Men Hidden Years. Walter LawsonSeptember 25, 2014 3:43 AM Excalibur #9-11 Another problem with Nazi Excalibur--the tone clash is still the biggest one--is that we've already seen a fascist Captain Britain, namely Kapitan Briton from Sat-Yr-9's world. He's dead, and he and Sat-Yr-9 weren't working with Hitler, but the point was the same, only without the overtones of cartoonizing real-world horrors. JSfanSeptember 25, 2014 3:18 AM General Comments I'm actually now looking forward to the 90s even though I've noticed that the quality of the stories have been declining (I've only enjoyed Captain American & Iron Man). I'm very interested to read Fnord's review on the works of Liefeld and McFarlane -- especially when McFarlane has his own Spider-Man book. To be fair, I might drop out around the late 90s as I don't think there's anything there to remotely interest me but I can't wait to read his take on The Clone Saga and Maximum Carnage. ChrisWSeptember 24, 2014 11:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #243 Don't see that. Sure, Bobby had some history with her, but Alex is *obviously* her true love, and he's the one interrogating her. At moments like that, you just step back, cross your arms, look cool [!] with the rest of your buddies, and reinforce that she can do the right thing or the wrong thing. Scott, Warren, Jean (reeling from the Maddie/Phoenix mind-meld) would all agree that sometimes people have to die, and with the rest of the (demonic) X-Men right there, no, I don't think it was a bluff. At best, Bobby told himself it was a bluff. Maybe Peter did too. But no, Storm wasn't bluffing, Alex wasn't bluffing, Wolvie and Betsy weren't bluffing, and more than any supervillain's master plan, that's why the X-Mansion had to get destroyed on the spot. The X-Men were no longer the X-Men, the founding students were no longer former X-Men, they were doing the wrong thing, even if for the right reasons. Much as I despise Longshot, I think his best scene is after the explosion where he's facing Sinister alone (other than Hank) and essentially helpless. This is what "Inferno" reduced the X-Men to. ChrisWSeptember 24, 2014 11:16 PM General Comments I quite agree. My interest in comics left the Marvel Universe a long time ago, but fnord's interest and passion for the Marvel Universe makes the site worth checking regularly. I've enjoyed looking up books I barely cared about as a kid, and I've gone through numerous mental hoops to argue about comics I didn't care about when I was older and defended comics I still love to this day. When I want to waste time, this is my favorite site to visit, just to re-read an account of a Spidey story (or whatever) that I didn't really care about in the first place. Major kudos, and I'm sorry that I'll be leaving the site (except when I want some nostalgia) once you reach the '90s. But can you blame me? EWWWWWWWW!!! MichaelSeptember 24, 2014 11:14 PM Uncanny X-Men #145-147 In Loki: Agent of Asgard 6, Doom suggests to Loki that it might have been the real Doom that Arcade struck with a match. MichaelSeptember 24, 2014 11:05 PM Uncanny X-Men #243 I think they were bluffing- Bobby was there and non-demonized and he didn't seem to have a problem with killing Lorna, which he presumably would have if it wasn't a bluff. ChrisWSeptember 24, 2014 10:51 PM Uncanny X-Men #243 I always liked the pacing and storytelling of the final scene, where the X-Men/Factor confront Polaris, and she begs Alex for help, and he demands that she talk. For all the equivocating during Claremont's run so far, this was really the point where the (demonic) X-Men would throw their values aside, and willingly kill a potentially-innocent person (Lorna) who was also a valued member of the X-Men, just in case they might learn something about the enemy. In other words, this was bringing together characters and storylines that pre-dated Claremont, in one of the 'return to the mansion' issues, and in this case, the climax resulted in the mansion being blown up. As wonderful as Marc Silvestri's work was here, I would give the win to Claremont as creating the (depending on your perspective) last moment of importance in the mutant titles. It doesn't help that he'd destroyed the mansion before, but still, this was a return to the X-Mansion like we haven't seen since "Annual" #10 or unimportant issues of "New Mutants." But now the only character-building moments are Storm noticing that her flowers are safe. No one asks about Magneto or the New Mutants. Or the connection to the Morlock tunnels. Or Lockheed. [Or Brightwind! Won't someone think of the Asgardian winged steeds???] Seriously, the mansion blowing up is my personal favorite moment in all of Claremont's X-writing, and it's done so well. AndrewSeptember 24, 2014 10:40 PM General Comments Hey man, Anyway, I just wanted to drop you a line to tell you that your recaps and continuity explanations have been not only informative and helpful, but often (especially lately) more entertaining than the comics themselves. Thanks for your awesome work. ChrisWSeptember 24, 2014 10:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Luis, that's kinda my point, that the degeneration of the X-Men was well-established through Claremont's last several years. Somewhere on the internet, I have an essay citing "X-Men" #108 (or the "Classic X-Men" equivalent) where Colossus is specifically the base of the Kabballistic "Tree of Life" Phoenix formed while saving the universe, and Peter remained the rock of the mutant titles [Catholic reference] and literally, the page where Claremont left "X-Men" after 15 years was when Xavier freed Peter from the Shadow King's control. I don't expect people to believe me or agree with me - I only offer it as an interesting idea that I don't even agree with, but find interesting anyway - but from a certain point of view ["Star Wars" reference] it makes perfect sense. Rogue, Carol, mutants, Phoenix, Binary, throw those terms together with the right magic spell, and you've got yourself an epic comic book series. Like issues of "Dr. Strange" haven't been built on less. ChrisWSeptember 24, 2014 10:13 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 The X-Men died and were reborn according to the magic laws of Otherworld, as summarized by Roma who brought the X-Men back to life and gave them the Siege Perilous (also subject to the magic laws of Otherworld) in case it would be useful on further missions. Omniversal rules, not mine. Anyway, they probably did go through the Siege Perilous, it just wasn't caught on camera. Why are you trying to deny me a No-Prize? Haters gotta hate, I guess. :P Luis DantasSeptember 24, 2014 10:02 PM Excalibur #9-11 One of the very few weaknesses of Excalibur was its fashion sense. Just about all of the team members used to have better costumes (except for Nightcrawler). Luis DantasSeptember 24, 2014 9:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 While I was never the greatest Claremont fan, and certainly not of his Australian outbacks phase, this shattered personality plot is one of his most interesting ideas IMO. Sure it is a variation of his overused mind control trope, but this has more promise than most. There is real doubt about whether Rogue can ever even have a whole psyche ever. While it has been a while since her psyche had fractured quite this much, it did happen before; that was implicitly part of her reason for joining the X-Men in the first place, and Carol had taken over when she rescued Carol's former boyfriend Michael Rossi right after Secret Wars. I assume this latest fracture is one of several manifestations of the emotional degeneration of the X-Men. In the last few years they lost quite a lot of their emotional safeguards, after all, and it shows. fnord12September 24, 2014 8:53 PM What's Missing Thanks, Max_Spider. I see that issue has an 8 page story and a 22 page story. If it's just the 8 page story, i generally don't list short stories here until/unless i get to the year it was published. Otherwise the list will get insanely long with back-ups from annuals, Marvel Comics Presents, Marvel Super Heroes specials, Marvel Fanfares, etc.. Also i'm sure you know if it's got a framing sequence or if it's a time travel sequence i'll place it in the current year, but i assume that's not the case for this one. MichaelSeptember 24, 2014 8:51 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 The X-Men never went through the Siege in Fall of the Mutants. That was a mistaken explanation by Nicieza in X-Men 32. fnord12September 24, 2014 8:46 PM Excalibur #9-11 Thanks guys. I've trimmed down the Considerations section a bit removing the idea that the re-activated self-repair feature might have helped with the mansion's eventual return. ChrisWSeptember 24, 2014 8:40 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 To me, the main problem - besides the obvious 'why is Carol still walking and talking if Rogue absorbed her permanently?' - is that there's never been any real sense of Carol as a persona in Rogue's mind. To the extent it was ever remotely defined, I do think the point was that Rogue stole Carol's "soul" Carol existed as a shadow in the back of her mind and could *SOMETIMES* overwhelm Rogue. But put it down to the histrionics of Claremont and/or a young woman incapable of feeling personal contact with another human being, there's no way for the blurring of personalities to be so blatant. Rogue was pretty good at maintaining her personality and memories, and Carol is explicit in this issue that the two of them have completely different tastes in everything. ["Ah'm drinkin' a cappuccino without cinnamon! Ah always need cinnamon in my cappuccino!!!"] Carol never worried about Rogue interfering when she (they?) and Wolverine were escaping Genosha. Where it gets ridiculous is here, where Carol starts unilaterally taking control of Rogue's body. As Storm points out, what Rogue did was the next best thing to murder, so if Carol was capable of making Rogue the subordinate personality, wouldn't she do so as much as possible? Superhero or not, she'd be justified, and Rogue certainly never objected to using strength, flight or invulnerability that she hadn't earned. And here she just up and redecorates Rogue's room, knowing that Rogue's going to see it. What's the point in that? [Sudden thought! I'm going for a No-Prize with this one. The Siege Perilous could have given Carol her own body back the first time Rogue went through it, at least if it worked like a technological creation. Flip a light switch and, if everything works, the light turns on. But the Siege was a creation of magic as established throughout the Omniverse, so in response to future events - perhaps knowing about Gateway, Nimrod and "Inferno" - it kept the two of them in one body after "Fall of the Mutants." Carol started showing up regularly after all the X-Men died the first time, right? The Siege knew that Rogue would go through it again, and that would be the event where Rogue and Carol get permanently separated. Magic wasn't reflecting anyone's deepest desires so much as it was connecting this circuit to that power source and 'turning on a mystical light switch.'] I always enjoyed this issue by the way, being this was about it for the well-drawn 'character' stories for Claremont's run. [The following issue is probably my favorite Rob Liefeld comic ever, not exactly a high bar.] And I did like Jubilee. I was young enough that she wasn't as irritating as older readers probably found her, I never understood why she didn't just walk up to the X-Men and introduce herself, but I thought she made a very good sidekick for Wolverine, especially once she started wearing the Robin costume. ChrisWSeptember 24, 2014 8:09 PM Excalibur #9-11 It's not explicitly stated, but in "X-Men" #1, Cyclops asks Forge "How are *YOUR* defensive systems" (emphasis mine) and give that he's a builder and still hanging around the X-Men, it's pretty well implied that the newest X-Mansion is his creation. At the time #10 and the next few issues came out, I was learning that people actually drew comic books, and eventually put it together that I liked work from Marshall Rogers ("Silver Surfer," for instance) and Terry Austin (that stuff with John Byrne) but they totally sucked when working together. Of course later I found their classic run on "Detective Comics" with Englehart. Now, I think he was probably trying too hard to work with Alan Davis' characters. MichaelSeptember 24, 2014 8:00 PM Excalibur #9-11 "Agility means, in part, the ability to get out of the way when something comes straight at you." Max_SpiderSeptember 24, 2014 6:59 PM What's Missing Amazing Spider-Man #692 has a story set during Amazing Spider-Man #50. fnord12September 24, 2014 4:12 PM Excalibur #9-11 Well, he's wearing his old costume, which is for the moment his new costume, because his old new costume was destroyed, making it his new old costume. No? Ok, i fixed it. Clyde, thanks for the link. I'm not sure that X-Men #1 actually mentions Forge rebuilding the mansion or if that was a plot point leading up to that issue? Or if that's just snark on the part of writers of that post. Max_SpiderSeptember 24, 2014 4:07 PM Excalibur #9-11 "He's wearing his old costume, which was on display at the Tower, because his old costume had been destroyed" So Brian was so torn up about his old costume getting destroyed that he wore it in memorium? clydeSeptember 24, 2014 3:22 PM Excalibur #9-11 FNORD - in regards to the rebuilt mansion, this was stated on uncannyxmen.net - http://uncannyxmen.net/x-marks-the-spot/xavier-institute - Matthew BradleySeptember 24, 2014 2:11 PM Giant-Size Man-Thing #5 Mark, the names "Tragg," "Garvey's Carnival," and "Darrel the Clown" on the splash page all come from the suicidal clown story in MAN-THING #5-6. Tragg was the strong man. AdamSeptember 24, 2014 10:51 AM Marvels Project #1-8 Red cape guy isn't the Thunderer, it's the Black Avenger. His one and only story was printed in All-Winners Comics #6, and was one of Goodman's multiple attempts at creating new and popular heroes by slightly altering unpublished inventory stories of older heroes that didn't stick, hoping that a new name and a (somewhat) new costume would make kids respond better to them (see: Mercury/Hurricane). In this case, the Black Avenger story was just a Thunderer story with the character's alias changed and his costume recolored, though a narration box in the first panel talks him up as an all-new exciting hero you've never seen before, so they're clearly trying to tell kids this isn't that old boring character they didn't like. AdamSeptember 24, 2014 10:14 AM Human Torch #5A While Human Torch #2-5A were indeed referred to by these numbers in their indica, it should be noted that they're completely unnumbered on their front covers (instead just being labeled "Fall Number", Winter Number", "Spring Number" and "Summer Number"), while ads for them in other titles referred to them as issue 1-4 (generally worded in ways like "third great issue", etc). It's somewhat likely Goodman just changed the numbering system because he wanted to print the actual issue number on the front cover rather than because the post office started meddling. CullenSeptember 24, 2014 9:52 AM Daredevil #230-233 This kind of stuff is what weirded me out about Miller's lurch to the Right in the 2000s. I know there was always an underlying machismo and disdain for 'scum' and other conservative values, but there also seemed to be an understanding of how false and twisted American patriotism is. Nuke is a product of the US military, and the allusion to his participation in the dirty war in Nicaragua is an implicit condemnation of Reaganite foreign policy. Kind of jarring to go from this to a "Kill 'em all" mentality; these days he'd introduce Nuke as a hero. Sad! CullenSeptember 24, 2014 8:44 AM Howard the Duck #33 A highlight of post-Byrne 'She-Hulk' will be the return of Gerber to Howard, not that far away in the chronology now... CullenSeptember 24, 2014 8:42 AM Howard the Duck #33 That last sequence is really overkill, huh? Ugh. Pretty disgusting! Gotta say I enjoy the MAD-style art here, but I really can't believe that Marvel was hitching their fortunes on this. Did they even believe it themselves? RyanSeptember 24, 2014 7:50 AM Daredevil #230-233 What a great write up to summarize this fantastic run. I've been reading selected runs in chronological order and noted that the Silver Age comics usually received a C or B- tops. I thought the grades were harsh but I never got to stories like Born Again or Don McGregor's Black Panther. Now I see what you're talking about when you mention an A comic. It's fantastic reading it now but I wish I was able to read it in 'real time' to see what the comic community was saying at the time. This had to be groundbreaking. Also it makes me wonder how other creators would be without editorial interference. It's clear Miller was able to write a story exactly how he wanted. For the most part, Walt Simonson's Thor and Miller's DD are self contained storylines. It makes me appreciate it more - I don't have to worry about their stories being forced in another crossover or their characters messed with *cough* X-Factor *cough*. What would've happened to runs like Claremont's X-Men (Madeline Pryor in Inferno) or Straczynski's Spider-Man (Gwen Stacy sleeping with Norman Osborn, One More Day) if they were able to write and develop characters the way they wanted? JSfanSeptember 24, 2014 6:52 AM Captain America #354 Sonavagun! I thought the USAgent I was reading in WCA was Steve Rogers. Arrrgh! JSfanSeptember 24, 2014 6:46 AM Captain America #354 Who's writing the comics for Captain America in Cap's world? I have an issue where Cap is a comic book artist but I don't think he's still doing it now. When does he have the time and how many comics come out a year? So many questions... Erik RobbinsSeptember 24, 2014 1:31 AM Speedball #9 Between me and my brother, we had most of the Speedball issues, but I think we missed #4 and #9, so I only got hints of this over-arching murder storyline. Luis DantasSeptember 24, 2014 12:49 AM Uncanny X-Men #244 Rogue's situation was the ultimate legitimate conflict IMO. Sure, Carol Danvers existed independently at that time. But that is poor consolation for her aspect in Rogue, who had no voice in the whole situation and can't at all attempt to merge with the original Carol or anything. She has in essence been comatose for at least a few months, and suffered the terrible loss of being denied even the hope of returning to her true body. It is too bad that she and Rogue can only exist at each other's expense, but it is also clear that Carol both drew the short stick and played no role in creating that situation. As for the other Carol, the one in the original body, by this point she is a completely different person. It has even been established that they have distinct emotional responses, making them less than, say, twins. Even the powers are assymetric; whatever remnant of Miss Marvel's Seventh Sense still exists has clearly remained with Rogue. StrejdaSeptember 24, 2014 12:43 AM Howard the Duck #33 @Dermie Let's not forget that DeMatties already had a gay character in his CAPTAIN AMERICA run potrayed positively and even made (not very subtle) point about how homophobia is wrong. So I don't really buy this excuse either. Vincent ValentiSeptember 23, 2014 11:44 PM Captain America #354 John Byrne had both USAgent and Quasar forced upon him by Mark Gruenwald, just so you know. And I think the idea of swapping costumes between Rogers and Walker is just stupid. Granted, I thought the Captain costume was pretty cool, but this was the wrong way to preserve it. MichaelSeptember 23, 2014 11:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Except that the Siege was able to give Carol's persona its own body. My opinion in this matter is the same as with Maddie and the Vision- if magic affects it, reflects its deepest desires, then it's real. cullenSeptember 23, 2014 11:27 PM Captain America #352-353 Thor bashed his share of Evil Commies in his day: Interestingly, the Ultimate Universe Thor *does* seem to consider himself above/in opposition to the US government, though someone more familiar can give more detail on that... MichaelSeptember 23, 2014 11:05 PM Captain America #354 Fnord, Luis, clyde- I'm curious as to your distinctions between redeemable and between hoping the readers forget how the character started out. Because Gruenwald's work with Diamondback, and most writers' work with Emma Frost, both involved forgetting a lot of the horrible, unforgivable things they did in their early appearances. In Rachel's case, her role in Porcupine's death and her trying to force Steve to have sex with her were forgotten about so she could date Steve. In Emma's case, her crimes against Firestar were ignored because no one in their right mind would accept her as a teacher otherwise. ChrisSeptember 23, 2014 11:02 PM Captain America #354 Gruenwald continues with his professionalization of being a superhero for Cap. His supporting cast are now people who work with superheroes full time. This is my biggest complaint of the Gruenwald era although I like many of the stories individually. I find Kieron Dwyer's tenure of the book to be a creative high point for the Gruenwald era. It is just a lot better than what had gone on before. Still not a fan of Milgrom's inks, but things look more clean once Danny Bulanadi becomes inker. I didn't like the idea of Machinesmith coming back, so my fan idea is that Starr Saxon is truly dead, his soul in whatever passes for Marvel heaven and hell, and that the personality inhabiting him is merely a sophisticated computer program constructed from whatever recorded memories of Saxon remained. I happen to like these early appearances of USAgent, but he works best as a flawed man trying to do good, but undone by major flaws. He works as super powered foil, like JJJ, not a hero or an outright villain. ChrisSeptember 23, 2014 10:50 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Claremont's on panel debates on topics like erasing the memory of Carol Danver's personality leads to the same sense of being infuriated I felt at similarly debates on the Prime Directive on Star Trek: the Next Generation. They were often so forced or weighted to lead to only one acceptable conclusion, and the arguments against self-serving or ham handed. Seldom were points brought up that I would have made or believed. Carol Danvers is alive and totally independent of Rogue. What happens to Rogue won't affect her at all. The "persona" of Carol is simply a leftover experience and isn't a real person at all. In many ways, it can be seen as a form of psychological illness in Rogue, a kind of multiple personality disorder in the same way a traumatic experience can flair up in someone with PTSD. If Carol Danvers was dead or comatose, AND there was some idea that the persona inside Rogue was the only thing left of a real "soul" of Carol stolen from her "stuck" in Rogue, I can see some moral dilemma. Not in this situation. Never care for Jubilee either. Max_SpiderSeptember 23, 2014 10:36 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 I dunno, as unethical as removing some recent memories might be, I think its a completely different ballgame to removing an entire persona. clydeSeptember 23, 2014 10:32 PM Captain America #354 Luis - totally agree with you on USAgent. I never liked him. But I don't think he was meant to be a "good" guy from the beginning. david banesSeptember 23, 2014 10:26 PM Speedball #9 You can't spell 'hate' without 'ate'. Luis DantasSeptember 23, 2014 10:02 PM Captain America #354 No, USAgent is not redeemable in any way. Next. Walter LawsonSeptember 23, 2014 9:32 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Should get a higher historical significance for first appearance of the Grey Dazzler. MichaelSeptember 23, 2014 9:10 PM Speedball #9 When I first read this issue, I was like "Who the heck is Nathan Boder?" It wasn't until years later that I realized that he was the unnamed guy we saw in the crowd in previous issues, which is what Ditko supposedly intended to do with Norman Osborn. MichaelSeptember 23, 2014 8:33 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Note that Betsy fails to detect Jubilee at the end of this issue and in issue 249 for some reason. Thanos6September 23, 2014 8:00 PM Captain America #354 Yes, Barry (Windsor) Smith has said Saxon was supposed to be gay. I don't know if that was his idea or Stan's or both. MichaelSeptember 23, 2014 7:58 PM Captain America #354 Note that Cap says "with SHIELD gone" in this issue- that means SHIELD still hasn't been revived at the time of this issue. I think this issue is intended to take place relatively shortly before West Coast Avengers 43-44, making Bobbi look even dumber in those issues. MichaelSeptember 23, 2014 7:52 PM Captain America #352-353 Thor might work for the US government, but you'd never see him acting as an assassin like Perun was portrayed as. fnord12September 23, 2014 7:45 PM Captain America #354 I think that's exactly the line that we'll see get blurred as we go on for the character. So far he's fallen into the "interesting character that can be viable to read about" category and that will continue with John Byrne's West Coast Avengers run. And i have no problem with him existing as that type of a character. I think he works well as a type that can play off of other characters, be it Steve Rogers here or the other Avengers in WCA. But it's harder to keep the audience remembering that they're not supposed to sympathize with the character when he's in solo stories, so my recollection is that eventually we just sort of forget that he started off letting old ladies get mugged and letting his sidekicks terrorize foreign exchange students. And eventually he just becomes a hard ass and maybe a more right wing or authoritarian version of Captain America, but basically a still hero. But i see that the first issue of his 1993 solo series is titled "Road to redemption" so i'm looking to see if he really does "redeem" himself along the way or if his roots were just forgotten. RobertSeptember 23, 2014 7:34 PM Speedball #9 Speedball may be the best example of a "so bad it's good" comic. I mean this is pretty terrible stuff but I have to admit I got some laughs out of it. That's gotta be worth something, right? Jon DubyaSeptember 23, 2014 7:22 PM Captain America #354 "The question of what the do with USAgent (i.e. whether or not he's a redeemable character) is really not addressed here..." When you mention USAgent being a "redeemable character", fnord, do you means in terms of being :heroic" or in terms of being "an interesting character that can be viable to read about?" (note that those attributes don't have to overlap. Or maybe they do, which is why I'm interested in what you meant by "redeemable.") fnord12September 23, 2014 7:16 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Thanks on both corrections, Jon. Jon DubyaSeptember 23, 2014 7:07 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 Fnord, you don't have Rogue appearing as a character (maybe it's more of that "invisibility to cameras" stuff?) Also Jubilee isn't a runaway. She's an orphan. And apparently Dazzler is a big fan of both meta-commentary (her big speech has been interpreted as Claremont's lament about the ever-incresing crossover schedule getting in the way of characterization arcs) and Jersey Shore (her skin is almost the same shade as Ororo's! Ease up on the bronzer there, Dazz!) MikeCheyneSeptember 23, 2014 7:03 PM Captain America #354 Prior to "dying," Starr Saxon seemed kind of flamboyant and I thought I heard he was intended to be obliquely gay. That said, Machinesmith in Captain America is way, way over the top (to the point where when Machinesmith poses as Magneto, Cap correctly points out that Magneto doesn't say things like "Cappy, old sport"). clydeSeptember 23, 2014 6:49 PM Uncanny X-Men #244 So Storm has no problem mind-wiping Havok (a heroic x-man), but won't condone helping out Rogue (a rehabilitated current x-man)? david banesSeptember 23, 2014 6:39 PM Amazing Spider-Man #15 Yeah even when he gets werewolf powers or laser guns he tended to get beaten quickly. TCPSeptember 23, 2014 4:21 PM Amazing Spider-Man #20 This is definitely one of my favorite Ditko-era issues. The Scorpion was really sold as a genuine threat, and it's a shame that he ended up becoming one of the lesser villains in Spidey's rogue's gallery. I also like how Jameson's line at the end about power corrupting a person adds yet another reason for his feud with Spider-Man (though he clearly misses the irony of how he himself might embody or enable that corruption). kveto from pragueSeptember 23, 2014 4:20 PM Captain America #352-353 I forgot to comment on the story. I did see some parallels with Cap's recent government troubles. It was nice to see Guenwald trying to differentiate between the Super soldiers as representatives of the people and the Supreme Soviets as agents of the regime. A nice idea to try to show that characters could see the difference between a government and its people. They could even clearly believe in an economic system like socialism (Ursa Major at least clearly does), just not agree with the government that was trying to carry it out. kveto from pragueSeptember 23, 2014 4:06 PM Amazing Spider-Man #316-317 It might surprise you to hear me say anything positive about Macfarlane, but he was always better drawing his own characters like Venom, rather than putting his own odd spin on existing characters. TCPSeptember 23, 2014 4:00 PM Amazing Spider-Man #16 "My will is your will" seems to be Stan's go-to hypnotic phrase, as Xandu uses the same line to mesmerize his henchmen in ASM Annual #2. TCPSeptember 23, 2014 3:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #15 "The way Kraven is introduced as a celebrity, once could expect a contemporary portrayal would have him be a star in his own reality TV series." This is exactly what Bendis decided to do in Ultimate Spider-Man. Kraven is pretty much all talk in that universe, though. clydeSeptember 23, 2014 3:56 PM New Mutants #74 Jon, I always thought that Gosamyr was supposed to be a gentle soul. Starfire was a trained warrior. I didn't see the similarity. Jon DubyaSeptember 23, 2014 3:50 PM New Mutants #74 There's a weird continuity error here, by the way. Boom-Boom is shown taking care of the Inferno babies in this issue. But she was with Dani's team during Cloak & Dagger 4! They were in outer space at the end of that issue, so I doubt if Tabitha just hitchhiked back. Also has anyone else noticed how Gosamyr kinda resembles DC's Starfire in both looks and backstory? kveto from pragueSeptember 23, 2014 3:44 PM Captain America #352-353 Speaking as a citizen of a former Warsaw pact country, I can very much state that our opinion of Reagan is extremely low. I'm always surprised how often people in the West are very happy to tell us all about life behind the Iron Curtain. Would you like me to tell you what life is like in your neck of the woods? Arg, I don't wanna get more political than that. Perun is a Slavic god, very often used in the old regime to build national pride. The same way that a Christian country might study pagan gods out of pride or interest. And his full name is Perun-Thor. As early Slavic history is closely tied with Norse history, Thor and Perun no doubt descended from the same source. So its no wonder he's derivative. JSfanSeptember 23, 2014 3:43 PM Thor #385 I feel sorry for whoever rang that number then. :P clydeSeptember 23, 2014 2:48 PM Captain America #354 I always thought that the "stories written in comic book form in the Marvel Universe were not the actual events word-for-word. Also, Captain America probably brought Stankowitz along because Stankowitz does say he's really good with robots. It could have come up that Cap would have had to disable the Sleeper using Stankowitz's skills. As far as Machinesmith, he could just be getting crazier every time he changes bodies. Imagine transferring yourself again and again. I'm sure it would play havoc with your "saaaaaanity". James MSeptember 23, 2014 1:48 PM Captain America #354 Gruenwald was definitely writing Machinesmith as a stereotypically 'flaming' character. He later uses him in an Avengers fill-in where he's spying on the Avengers and spends half the time either cattily chewing out the mansion's interior decorating or ogling the Vision. It sure ain't nuanced, that's for sure. fnord12September 23, 2014 1:41 PM Thor #385 They (jokingly) refuse to divulge that info in the lettercol response. Something like, "Maybe it was the Hulk hotline? We're not saying." EnchloreSeptember 23, 2014 1:31 PM Wolverine/Cable: Guts and Glory I think Vulture's "advanced technology" was supposed to be a reference to John Byrne's Chapter One series, which retconned Toomes as having been receiving equipment from the Tinkerer. JSfanSeptember 23, 2014 12:39 PM Thor #385 Whose number does it belong to? ;) Ataru320September 23, 2014 12:24 PM Daredevil #25 Wait a minute: ridiculous glasses; plaid jacket...Matt Murdock isn't trying to be a hipster with Mike Murdock, he's just jealous of Scott Summers' old blind-man wardrobe! JSfanSeptember 23, 2014 6:31 AM Amazing Spider-Man #316-317 'The problem is Todd McFarlane's non-existent storytelling' I think I've mentioned it before but David's scripting isn't that great and I believe he's one of the top writers. I wonder if this is due to Todd's very poor story-telling forcing him to adjust his script accordingly? CullenSeptember 23, 2014 12:29 AM Captain America #352-353 We've seen lots of evidence of the oppressive nature of the 616 US Government throughout the 70s and 80s, Chris, so the question "why would a heroic god work for an oppressive government?" indeed would apply to Thor (Hercules, etc.) as well. Luis DantasSeptember 23, 2014 12:09 AM Captain America #352-353 It is hard enough to believe Americans had stomach for Reagan. Let alone Soviets, even defectors. Running away from Communist repression is one thing; having sympathy for Reagan is quite decisively on the other extreme. Major's attitude was one of the best pieces of characterization I saw in Gru's Cap. Granted, that is faint praise. I'm not sure what the problem is with Perun either. He is a nationalistic symbol, simple as that. Soviets are nothing if not nationalistic. Even if he is a true God, give him a convincing story about the need to defeat the enemies of the country and send the traitors back for punishment and you are good to go. Nationalism is like that, folks. But sure, originality is not a virtue these characters show. ChrisSeptember 22, 2014 11:45 PM Captain America #352-353 Walter, yes the Soviets in the MU had super science just like the US and other countries had super science. However, the Soviet super science was usually subpar compared to the American. Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man are actually a case in point. The armor of both was both bigger and heavier than Iron Man's (in the same way a vacuum tube radio was bigger and heavier than a transistor one), and usually much more limited. I always took it that they were technologically inferior to the American super science in the same way real Soviet aircraft and weapons in the Cold War were generally inferior. That isn't to say they were bad, but not as good technology or quality as the Western armaments. Luise, I think if you are using the word "suffer", you might be using your own personal opinion about Reagan than the likely attitude defectors would have. In my experience, defectors or dissidents behind the Iron Curtain generally have a high opinion about Reagan. Not all defectors need to be, but Ursa Major's behavior I think presents a problem. Of course, one way of addressing it is that Ursa Major really didn't want to defect, but Vanguard and Darkstar did. Ursa Major might have felt trapped that he had no choice because without them he'd have problems in the USSR with no allies. That is probably the real explanation; but if so it would have been better for Gruenwald to build on that in the story. You are certainly right that perhaps Perun is not an actual Marvel deity ala Thor, but then you have the problem of explaining why the Soviets would use the name for their own super team? Everything about the Communists were ideological - this is not contemporary Russia. If it is a god, I think it creates problems in a superhero universe concept. Thor has no problem joining the Avengers because he is the defender of Midgard and works with other heroes to protect people. if Perun is the same, why is he working for an OPPRESSIVE government? That's not heroic at all. So if he's actually villainous - and his actions here seem like that - then what does that say about Perun in the Marvel Universe as opposed to the god in myth? Ares could be a villain because the Greek myths were not favorable to him; but Perun was not depicted that way. His involvement here just seems incongruous to me. Regardless of the origins of Perun and Vostok, I still find them as derivative characters. It'd have been better to have them be more original characters in keeping with how the Soviets might have fielded a new team. Walter LawsonSeptember 22, 2014 10:43 PM Captain America #352-353 Chris, it's revealed later -- or maybe in passing in this story -- that Sputnik/Vostok is an alien android, discovered rather than invented by the Soviets. In any case, Marvel's Soviets have had super-science before: presumably if you can build a Crimson Dynamo, you can build androids. Or buy them from AIM. Luis DantasSeptember 22, 2014 10:05 PM Captain America #352-353 Defecting to the West is hardly a reason to suffer Reagan, nor is Perun any less likely to side with Soviet authorities than Thor is to side with the USA (as opposed to, say, Norway). And that is assuming that he is in some sense the pagan deity as opposed to a homage. Non-Abrahamic Gods rarely have that hard a time with disbelievers. Personally, I have more trouble with the idea that Steve would keep the blue costume after his recent troubles. MichaelSeptember 22, 2014 9:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #316-317 Brock's wording "when the Cold War went away" is odd considering the Cold War was just ending when this story came out. I guess they meant during the '70's detente. ChrisSeptember 22, 2014 9:49 PM Captain America #352-353 Like a lot of Gruenwald's writing, there are some seeds of interest here and good writing, but a lot of mediocre stuff as well. I think you summed the points I'd make already. One additional comment is that the new Soviet team is mostly made up of analogs to the Avengers. There is very little creativity or logic to some of this. Red Guardian never had a shield before, so why now? The original had stun disks instead; it would have been better to continue with that. While the Crimson Dynamo is an existing character and appropriate, the new character of Sputnik/Vostok and Perun don't make sense. In real life and in established Marvel canon, the Soviet Union was far behind the West in electronics and computers. Therefore, an android doesn't make sense. Perun is an actual pagan deity, and seems incongruous why he would serve an officially atheist government. Both are derivative and unoriginal characters. It would have been far better if more creative characters were used and proper motivations given. Fantasia/Fantasma seems only to exist to conceal the identities of the others, and perhaps is a Scarlet Witch analogue. At a certain point, derivatives of the Avengers and Justice League get very old. How many versions can there possibly be? Ursa Majors attitude is very strange for a defector. Unless he is a Solzhenitzyn type enamored of Russia's "spiritual" past, his rants against capitalism seems misplaced. The freedom and wealth of the West was a prime factor in most defections. The misunderstanding fight is also groan worthy. Excusable in the Silver Age, but more is expected now. There are numerous ways the SSS could have defected that would have reduced the chance of panic or fighting. It adds nothing to the story and simply pads the comic with fluff. MichaelSeptember 22, 2014 9:37 PM Captain America #352-353 And this is the third of Marvel's Cold War stories in 1988 that didn't work because the Cold War was coming to an end. In fact, that's the reason for the lack of followup. Fabian Nicieza created the new Soviet Super Soldiers- that's why he's listed under "special thanks". This was planned as a prelude to a Marvel Comics Presents series with the Soviet Super Soldiers but then Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the Marvel Comics Presents series was shelved until 1992, when it appeared as the Soviet Super-Soldiers oneshot. That causes chronological complications but for now, note that Vanguard, Darkstar and Ursa Major are in a coma at the beginning of the oneshot following the events of this story, so any appearances, such as Ursa Major's appearance in Marvel Comics Presents 25, should NOT take place between this issue and the Soviet Super Soldiers oneshot. fnord12September 22, 2014 8:51 PM Captain America #352-353 Fantasia changes her name to Fantasma the same time Sputnik becomes Vostok. The names are so similar i didn't mention the name change but i've added that in now. Thanks Luis. fnord12September 22, 2014 8:47 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #150 Aha! But the verdict wasn't due to the trial! It was due to the Kingpin! Thanks, Michael, fixed it. Luis DantasSeptember 22, 2014 8:43 PM Captain America #352-353 The Soviet's name seems to be "Fantasia", not "Fantasma". Walter LawsonSeptember 22, 2014 8:38 PM Captain America #352-353 That 1992 Super-Soldiers one-shot was originally meant to be published around the time of, or a little before, the "People's Protectorate" storyline in Avengers in 1990, which is why there's confusion about Airstrike/Crimson Dynamo's armor and the group's name. I think it was originally going to be a Marvel Comics Presents serial in '89 or '90. MichaelSeptember 22, 2014 7:58 PM Web of Spider-Man #51 To be fair to MJ, she just lost her condo because of a psycho stalker- it's understandable that she's lashing out. MichaelSeptember 22, 2014 7:56 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #150 This issue has one of the most awkward recaps I've ever seen. MJ asks how Robbie could be going to jail and Peter proceeds to recap for MJ events that she was there for, like he thinks that her question means she forgot them. RobertSeptember 22, 2014 7:11 PM Captain America #338 Ron Frenz starts doing the covers for Captain America this issue. He'll do them up until 349 and then his final one is 355. Gary HimesSeptember 22, 2014 6:49 PM Fantastic Four #57-60 Maybe you need to start adding a category for stories that were adapted into movies? david banesSeptember 22, 2014 2:25 PM Amazing Spider-Man #316-317 I thought it was a good fight, love the tendril under the ground trick too. I think this is the perfect Venom look, it is scary, especially when just the teeth and 'eyes' are leering out from the dark, scary on another level since he knows Peter identiy and hangs around his family. So there's much potential for Venom and Brock but they kind of screw with it and I always hated the huge tongue, slime and brains thing. What's great is that all adaptions of Venom, or almost all, try to fix his introduction problems like making Brock a character first. Spectacular Spider-Man had a great Brock and Venom storyline too. JSfanSeptember 22, 2014 1:10 PM Alpha Flight #26-27 I drew all over issue 26 as a kid...Why???!!!!!! I do remember reading it in real-time and being absolutely terrified of Wild Child. I was also in shock that a super-hero team could get their arses handed to them...memories. clydeSeptember 22, 2014 1:03 PM Web of Spider-Man #51 FNORD - I just noticed you said in the Chronological Placement Considerations: "Spectacular Spider-Man #150 happened "last night". Amazing Spider-Man #315-316 takes place next." You already have an entry for Amazing Spider-Man #315. Did you mean #316-317? fnord12September 22, 2014 11:31 AM Fantastic Four #57-60 Thanks, Shar. SharSeptember 22, 2014 11:12 AM Fantastic Four #57-60 Hi fnord12, Crystal should be added to the "Characters Appearing" section here. RobertSeptember 22, 2014 9:29 AM Fantastic Four #54 It's truly amazing how far Jack's style developed in just a few short years. Look back at those early FF and Thor issues and, while the art's still good, it's nowhere near the level of the work he's doing on those two titles at this point. kveto from pragueSeptember 22, 2014 3:41 AM Iron Man #241-243 Before I got old and jaded, seeing Tony blown away (clearly a kill shot) was a bit shocking, especially as i didnt see it coming. However, adding another health problem to Stark is overkill. I remember him being described in "What the?" as "a heart-transplanted, alcoholic, paraplegic with a hangnail." Vincent ValentiSeptember 22, 2014 1:07 AM She-Hulk #1 Got it. Just wanted to add that I find Bob Wiacek to be doing a much better job on inks than the Alpha Flight days. RobertSeptember 21, 2014 11:17 PM Avengers #9 Juan Doe??? That has to be a pseudonym. fnord12September 21, 2014 9:10 PM General Comments My plan is to do a back issue add after i finish 1989 (or mostly finish 1989; i'll be stopping somewhere before Acts of Vengeance starts). With the back issue add i'll be covering all the issues in orange on the What's Missing page. fnord12September 21, 2014 9:09 PM Hulk #355 Thanks Michael. It makes me feel better about the space i've put between this and last issue. fnord12September 21, 2014 9:08 PM She-Hulk #1 The order i add books isn't necessarily the final order that they'll be listed in (it almost never is, actually). Sometimes it's a matter of what i've had time to read or review, or sometimes i'll pull something forward to look at or hold back on reviewing something until i read some other issues that i think might affect it. fnord12September 21, 2014 9:06 PM Longshot #1-6 Edited the sentence about Mojo getting sent back. Thanks, Walter. clydeSeptember 21, 2014 8:59 PM General Comments FNORD - I noticed you have Hulk Annual #13 in your What's Missing Section. You indicate you have it but haven't added it to the project. MYCOMICSHOP has it taking place between #301 & #302 - https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?SeriesID=5621 Are you planning to cover it at some point? Ataru320September 21, 2014 7:42 PM Iron Man #241-243 I second the Mandarin's change here. Seeing how ridiculous he was in the 60s as "Fu Manchu with magic rings", seeing him here as more a businessman with a tech armor and the rings really feels more like a Mandarin who is a threat than some excuse for Tony to fight an Asian stereotype that represented the worst of Red China. MichaelSeptember 21, 2014 7:23 PM Hulk #355 The Hulk's appearance in Wolverine 4-8 has to take place between issues 354 and 355 because the Hulk is changing from Hulk to Banner and back and the Hulk still works for Berengetti. However, the Hulk flies to Madripoor and changes from Hulk to Banner to Hulk to Banner to Hulk and flies back to Vegas, so there's no way the "other day" reference can mean two days ago. Vincent ValentiSeptember 21, 2014 6:59 PM She-Hulk #1 I'm surprised to see this issue turn up before West Coast Avengers #42, which debuted 2 months earlier in 1988, if I remember correctly. BillSeptember 21, 2014 6:57 PM She-Hulk #1 Count me as another fan of this series! I absolutely loved the way She-Hulk would talk with the readers or even yell at John Byrne about lame villains and such. It was such a breath of fresh air compared to the ultra series stuff, like the X-Men. Walter LasonSeptember 21, 2014 6:21 PM Longshot #1-6 Quark doesn't have a special ability to dissolve when attacked, that just a function of him being trapped between dimensions, like the rest of the hunters sent after Longshot. Mojo doesn't retreat at the end, he's kicked by Longshot through a portal opened by Dr. Strange. Longshot's luck power has a twist that gets forgotten in subsequent appearances: his good luck shifts bad luck onto somebody else. Also, it's not a natural power of his own, apparently, but one he acquired from robed rebels, and Quark has the "lucky" eye but seemingly not as much (if any) of the power. It's a bit hard to guess where Nocenti was going with all this, and with the question of to what extent Mojo is an absolute, godlike ruler or else just the mightiest of the Spineless Ones in general. He seems different from the others, but how/why? There wasn't meant to be any mystery about Spiral's origin, as opposed to her relationship with Longshot: she's another bioengineered slave, but with extra arms. Walter LawsonSeptember 21, 2014 6:06 PM Longshot #1-6 "Based on what i know best (Marvel), i can't trace a line from any existing artist to Adams." I can see a bit of Walt Simonson plus P. Craig Russell plus Michael Golden, plus manga. But even with those glimmers, this art is as powerfully new as Sienkiewicz's abstract style. Great daring art from Marvel. MichaelSeptember 21, 2014 5:30 PM Iron Man #241-243 I remember scratching my head when issue 243 came out trying to remember when Greer had been in love with Tony. The only thing I could think of was West Coast Avengers 12, where Greer is not in her right mind and throws herself at Tony. Unfortunately, the idea that Greer was in love with Tony doesn't go away- it was repeated in Avengers West Coast 72. RobertSeptember 21, 2014 5:03 PM Iron Man #241-243 I really liked Mandarin's new look. It didn't last long, as I recall. In an entry with an earlier Mandarin appearance, you said you thought part of why he never broke through to the top tier of villains was because he lacked an iconic look. I agree with that and I think this blue armor look, had it been introduced sooner, might have given him a distinct look instead of just looking like a Fu Manchu-wannabe in a long robe or a guy in a business suit. RobertSeptember 21, 2014 4:33 PM She-Hulk #1 I second doomsday's "yay." I loved this series. It was actually my first #1 that I ever bought with my own money, instead of my parents buying it for me. It was a lot of fun and unlike anything else Marvel was putting out at the time. Too bad it would be so short-lived. When Byrne left/was fired from the title I was so pissed I never bought another issue off the newsstand. I picked the whole series up years later off ebay for $12. MichaelSeptember 21, 2014 4:22 PM She-Hulk #1 A week before this issue came out there was an 8-page story in Marvel Comics Presents 18 that was a tease for Jen's new series and showcased the 4th wall breaking aspect. ChrisSeptember 21, 2014 4:18 PM She-Hulk #1 I did like this series when Byrne was on it, but I was very conflicted whether an in continuity book should be like this because there's the question whether Jen's actions in breaking the fourth wall are actually in character, or should just be ignored like topical references are. There's also the issue of saddling the character with a ridiculous rogues gallery. However, overall there seems to have been little damage to the character, perhaps because she would often appear in other titles as a serious character. doomadaySeptember 21, 2014 4:05 PM She-Hulk #1 Yay, John Byrne is back!!!!! Luis DantasSeptember 21, 2014 12:42 PM Hulk #319 "Mobile Organism Designed Only for Donkey Kong. A precursor to the Game Boy." I smell an Untold Origin to be told sometime. They probably missed the exact shade of color, though. fnord12September 21, 2014 12:40 PM Hulk #319 Thanks, Ryan. The number of comics i read or review on a given days varies, but this (real life) year, if all goes well, i'll have finished three years of comics. Next year might go a little slower since i'm also doing a back-issue add and since, as we approach the glut years of the 90s, the years keep getting bigger. But then things might speed up as we get to the bankruptcy period. So at 2-3 years per real year, as long as i live forever i'll eventually catch up to the current year. ;-) RyanSeptember 21, 2014 7:57 AM Hulk #319 Fnord, I love this site. I've been reading some runs in chronological order and it's nice to read your take on it as I go along (currently on Millers's Born Again - freaking amazing). I find myself reading about 2-3 comics a day (about 30 min each comic). Luckily I have no kids, just the wife and I. But I wonder how many comics do you read a day for this project? Do you think you'll ever be up to date? fnord12September 21, 2014 12:41 AM Hulk #319 Mobile Organism Designed Only for Donkey Kong. A precursor to the Game Boy. clydeSeptember 20, 2014 10:14 PM Hulk #319 FNORD - typo alert: RyanSeptember 20, 2014 9:43 PM Hulk #319 I was disappointed with this story arc after hearing so much about John Byrne's short run on the Hulk. Most of it was a lot of action scenes without much storyline in between. The wedding scene especially feels forced - not like Byrne's setup between Johnny Storm and Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four. One issue Bruce Banner proposes to Betty and two issues later they marry with no one at the wedding. And patched or not patched - I can't see how anyone would be continuing with a wedding after his friend Rick Jones has a gunshot and is in need of hospital treatment. Seeing that panel where Bruce and Betty have their first kiss while Rick was on the floor seemed wrong. Betty could have stood up to her father in any other way. I don't think it should take him to shoot her groom's best man for it to happen. I think Byrne did great things in FF and in Alpha Flight. And maybe it is unfair to criticize him because his Hulk run was meant to last longer but a shortened run doesn't excuse him from this issue. david banesSeptember 20, 2014 9:34 PM Speedball #3 Tony Stark!? MegaSpiderManSeptember 20, 2014 9:03 PM Speedball #3 @Mark The multitude of Venom's limited series' in the 90's had a lot of "Hoo-Hah Action" as well, if I remember correctly. Walter LawsonSeptember 20, 2014 8:36 PM X-Factor #40 From the Statement if Ownership, X-Factor has been outselling early McFarlane ASM by about 40K over the last year, though their nearest-issue numbers are roughly the same. But Uncanny X-Men blows them both away, with an average 432,000 copies average, according to the statement in Uncanny 246. That seems like a big gap. These had to be just about Marvel's top-selling titles, unless some lousy Avengers stories were selling phenomenally well. Does anyone know how other companies top contenders stacked up? Batman might be big, but DC didn't have any other powerhouses at this time, afaik. (Now that I think of it, GI Joe might have been a top a Marvel title around this time as well.) My guess is that all the titles are losing about 40K readers over the year because of declining newsstand sales. david banesSeptember 20, 2014 8:22 PM Amazing Spider-Man #160 Okay it wasn't all Len Wein for sure but I'm glad he dusted Tinkerer off so that eventually he'd be one of the service people for super villains and such. david banesSeptember 20, 2014 8:20 PM Amazing Spider-Man #157-159 It seems being homeless ended up helping Ock quite a bit, guy really slimmed down! MegaSpiderManSeptember 20, 2014 7:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #182-183 Big Wheel would later show up as a boss in Spider-Man: Mysterio's Menace for the Game Boy Advance for some reason. MichaelSeptember 20, 2014 6:43 PM Dazzler: The Movie (Marvel Graphic Novel #12) The Graphic Novel takes place after Dazzler 32, which takes place after Avengers 238. Avengers 238 ends with the Avengers going to California to save Jessica Drew from Morgan Le Fey. They get back in Avengers 242, throw a party to celebrate Clint and Bobbi's wedding and go directly from there to Secret Wars. IOW, Avengers 238 takes place very shortly before Secret Wars, when Scott and Maddie would have been honeymooning. SilverbirdSeptember 20, 2014 6:21 PM Untold Tales of Spider-Man #3 I think the inker makes a huge difference in Olliffe's art, I always preferred his art when he worked with Milgrom. Jon DubyaSeptember 20, 2014 6:15 PM Dazzler: The Movie (Marvel Graphic Novel #12) So it's The Lonely Lady with superpowers. What makes this issues take place after Uncanny #181? Uncannyxmen.net hypothesizes that this took place somewhere between the end of Uncanny #173 and Uncanny #175. That sounds like a that would be s good place for this since it gives a more plausible explanation for Cyclops. MichaelSeptember 20, 2014 5:06 PM Untold Tales of Spider-Man #3 No, it started before the '90's. In Amazing Spider-Man 275, Peter tells MJ "When I first became Spider-Man, I used patter to cover up my uneasiness! My fear!" david banesSeptember 20, 2014 4:51 PM Untold Tales of Spider-Man #3 Was it the 90s that started giving a reason for why Peter wisecracks when he fights? I think it's a neat little thing that gives a little extra depth. I remember Ultimate Spider-Man comic had Peter mocking the Green Goblin while his inner thoughts were 'why am I joking so much? Is it to keep me from wetting my pants?' And some think it's due to Spider-Man perceiving time different and, with comic book allowing talking to be a free action, he's filling up the time while dodging the Rhino's charge. RobertSeptember 20, 2014 1:38 PM Untold Tales of Spider-Man #3 I was not a fan of Pat Olliffe's Thor issues but I really liked his work on this series. Not sure if the inkers made a difference or what. IIRC Milgrom inked him on Thor. MichaelSeptember 20, 2014 12:00 PM X-Factor #40 That is weird, then. As per dcindexes, X-Factor 40 came out on January 24th and Amazing Spider-Man Annual 23 came out on May 2nd. It's unusual that they'd be working on the Annual before comics that came out three months earlier. fnord12September 20, 2014 11:45 AM X-Factor #40 Michael, thanks for confirming the publication order of Liefeld's early Marvel stuff. Wikipedia cites "The Comic Book Greats Episode 2: Rob Liefeld. 1991. Starbur Home Video." as saying that Amazing Spider-Man annual #23 was his first assignment at Marvel, but based on what you're saying it just wasn't published first. Erik RobbinsSeptember 20, 2014 11:43 AM X-Factor #40 Orphan-Maker was not a Liefeld-design, but seeing him here makes me see that he easily could have been. O-M here reminds me of Shogun ( http://www.comicvine.com/shogun/4005-42504/ ). fnord12September 20, 2014 11:42 AM Amazing Spider-Man #315 A letter to Alpha Flight reacting to AF #66 reminded me that the television show Moonlighting was breaking the fourth wall a lot, which is why the device may have been popping up elsewhere. It was also happening in Grant Morrison's Animal Man around this time. fnord12September 20, 2014 11:40 AM Daredevil #243-244 As far as i can see, they're not related, Jeff. I haven't read the Tales of Zombie issues yet (they're in the pile for the next back-issue add). But i think "mambo" is just a title for a female voodoo priest, so there isn't meant to be a relationship. fnord12September 20, 2014 11:38 AM Tales Of Suspense #43 Thanks, Robert. One of the weirder scan mistakes i've made. fnord12September 20, 2014 11:37 AM Avengers #219-220 Thanks, MegaSpiderMan. I was disappointed with myself when i linked to this entry from Solo Avengers #16 with a reference to Moondragon's spaceship and i saw that i didn't have a scan of it here. Turns out i had taken the scan but linked to the wrong image. Ataru320September 20, 2014 10:16 AM Amazing Spider-Man #315 Wasn't saying anything particular about Deadpool. I was just making jokes about how Deadpool sort of was the standard-bearer but he isn't around yet and yet here in '89 we have all these other examples, particularly and most notably Sensational Shulkie starting this year. MichaelSeptember 20, 2014 10:01 AM Amazing Spider-Man #315 Deadpool's fourth-wall breaking didn't really start until after DeFalco was fired as Editor-In-Chief in 1994, though. You're right about the others. MegaSpiderManSeptember 20, 2014 9:55 AM Avengers #219-220 The first and fourth scans are the same. Ataru320September 20, 2014 7:27 AM X-Factor #40 I'm shocked Liefeld even drew feet here...I guess since Beast was used, he just wanted to emphasize claws...and you can't do that with a tiny diagonal. Jay GallardoSeptember 20, 2014 5:38 AM Speedball #7 What the heck is Coach Putnam wearing in his head? JSfanSeptember 20, 2014 4:45 AM X-Factor #40 Liefeld could have been genuninely a cracking artist if he had not rested on his laurels. There's potential in there but no one pushed him to iron out his faults. When he got all the fame he must have thought that was it he'd made it, no need for him to get any better. RobertSeptember 20, 2014 12:56 AM Tales Of Suspense #43 That first scan is from Tales of Suspense #42. Luis DantasSeptember 19, 2014 10:17 PM X-Factor #40 Never mind, #14 is indeed indexed. It is just that the character search isn't very reliable. Luis DantasSeptember 19, 2014 10:09 PM X-Factor #40 This is the first "regular" appearance of Scott in costume without a full cap, isn't it? Unless you count X-Factor #14, which I just noticed you have not indexed. RobertSeptember 19, 2014 9:33 PM Tales Of Suspense #40 (Iron Man) That 'soldiers with roller skates' idea is genius. The enemy would die from laughter. MichaelSeptember 19, 2014 8:54 PM Alpha Flight #74-75 "A Spider-Man who taunts with rape threats instead of lame jokes is definitely an evil twist." MichaelSeptember 19, 2014 8:50 PM X-Factor #40 I think that Jean's reaction might be more a reaction to fan reaction to the scene in X-Factor 38 where Jean accuses Maddie of not having Roma send her to the baby. That was suggested by a letter writer published this issue and Simonson apparently put it in without realizing that it raises the question of why the X-Men didn't ask to be sent to Nate and Lorna. We'll see something similar when you get to Streets of Poison in 1990- a writer implementing a fan suggestion and then backpedaling when other fans complained it makes no sense. Ataru320September 19, 2014 7:46 PM Amazing Spider-Man #315 I'm starting to wonder if there was some sort of factor of the tongue and cheekness of DeFalco's direction at this point considering how the 4th wall was starting to break down so rapidly in '89, from Mannikin's little breakdown in Alpha Flight to Venom on this cover to ultimately the start of Shulkie opening the door in Sentational (and that's before a certain Merc with a Mouth blows the door from ever being repaired in a couple more years) The fact its happening all now doesn't just seem coincidence. JeffSeptember 19, 2014 7:33 PM Daredevil #243-244 Is this the Mambo Layla from Marvel's Tales of the Zombie magazine? fnord12September 19, 2014 7:09 PM Iron Man #239-240 No, you're definitely right. No comment like that from Hammer. When the Ghost first sees Iron Man, he says "We've both changed since our last encounter" and then "I see the changes in your armor are more than cosmetic!". And then no special comments from Blacklash or the other villains. Nothing that specifically contradicts the idea (especially if you assume that Ghost is a whack job not keeping up with the news) but as you say, it was a missed opportunity. ChrisSeptember 19, 2014 6:38 PM Iron Man #239-240 Another fun set of issues. However, if I remember correct, once again there is a lost opportunity for villains who fought the "original" Iron Man to make comments on the "new" one. It would have been better if Ghost had remarked, "The original Iron Man would never have fallen for this" or gotten some kind of remark from Blacklash (an old, old foe) comparing "this" Iron Man to the "old" one. Or even a comment from Hammer giving Tony his regrets and implying Tony needs to get better help. I don't remember any such comments, but since I don't have the issues with me, if I am wrong, please let me know. TCPSeptember 19, 2014 6:27 PM Amazing Spider-Man #307-309 Also, I was disheartened to see Nathan Lubensky continuing to belittle Peter in these issues after the two seemingly made peace with each other in Web #39. I much prefer the happy-go-lucky Nathan of the Roger Stern era to the jaded old man he became once DeFalco took over, and was hoping for a return of that attitude. fnord12September 19, 2014 6:12 PM Amazing Spider-Man #315 Yeah, it's not the existence of the word balloons, it's the kind of breaking of the fourth wall and making fun of the main villain of the story on the cover that i find unusual. david banesSeptember 19, 2014 5:33 PM Amazing Spider-Man #315 Yes! Venom is back and he's the best villain ever next to Carnage! Anyway isn't it pretty common to have word balloons on the cover? "If I do not re-take my hammer I shall become mortal Donald Blake in five seconds and I will be easy pickings for the Executioner!" Or is it just the snark itself? Well it fits for Venom one thing I do like is his sense of humor. I really Hydro-Man and prefer he looks more like a beach jerk than a thick muscle type. RobertSeptember 19, 2014 4:27 PM Tales To Astonish #41 (Ant-Man) Don Heck is one of those much-respected classic artists I just can't get into. Carmine Infantino is another. It's not that Heck's art is bad, it's just that I find his storytelling pretty stiff compared to Kirby and Ditko. Anyway, the best parts of these early Ant-Man stories (aside from the sheer silliness) are the cool Kirby drawings of ants and other insects. Take that style away and you're left with facing what a lame character Ant-Man is and how boring his adventures are. I think the same thing might be happening with the upcoming movie with Edgar Wright out of the picture. But we'll see. JSfanSeptember 19, 2014 1:45 PM Alpha Flight #74-75 Why is it that when a female is in some sort of peril it's because she's about to be raped? Can't she be about to be killed like the male super-heroes? It's poor writing and it makes the female super-heroes seem really like damsels in distress. Ataru320September 19, 2014 10:54 AM Alpha Flight #74-75 Considering that awesome panel where Diamond Lil punches Shulkie, I'm surprised and upset that doesn't just make its way into a T-shirt or something. (I'd say obscurity unfortunately; though I do have more respect for Lil thanks to this page) fnord12September 19, 2014 9:04 AM Uncanny X-Men #66 I've been reading it in realtime and i'll probably add it with my next back issue add. fnord12September 19, 2014 9:03 AM Alpha Flight #67-70 To follow up on Luis' point and illustrate the different business models and economic realities, the 2014 New Warriors series was selling under 20,000* when the cancellation was announced. Alpha Flight's horrible sales of 96,900 for the issue closest to filing date would have put it in the Top 5 of the same sales chart. Luis DantasSeptember 19, 2014 7:15 AM Alpha Flight #67-70 @JSfan: The owners and editors changed quite a few times in these 25 years, so I'm not sure the comparison holds. I'm not sure why Alpha Flight soldiered on despite such an obvious lack of both purpose and sales, either. Maybe it was feared that cancelling it might cause a backlash among Canadian readers? JSfanSeptember 19, 2014 4:51 AM Alpha Flight #67-70 From Hudnall's interview. It doesn't sound like Calimee did improve. JSfanSeptember 19, 2014 4:32 AM Alpha Flight #67-70 Marvel keep producing a book like this but drop New Warriors (2014) as soon as sales drop. Odd, to say the least. The art is decent but very stiff and the poses are weird. Sort of poses that I'd draw as a teen. To be fair to him, the sales aren't good so the editors can afford to have guys learn their trade on it. Anyone: does the quality in terms of art improve on this book from either John Calimee? CullenSeptember 19, 2014 1:17 AM Alpha Flight #67-70 Just wanted to chime in and say I saw the Allred affinities too, before reading the commentary or the comments, Jay DemetrickSeptember 19, 2014 12:22 AM Uncanny X-Men #66 There is a brand new continuity insert that takes place shortly after the end of this issue: Savage Hulk #1-4 (2014). MichaelSeptember 18, 2014 11:19 PM Alpha Flight #71-73 Alpha Flight's being trapped in another dimension causes complications for the placement of Marvel Comics Presents 51-53 which features Wild Child, Heather and Wolverine. Wild Child's appearance takes place "a year" before Alpha Flight 90, where it's referenced. But Wild Child is a member of Gamma Flight from issue 76 onward, and Heather is trapped in another dimension from issues 71-76. Walter LawsonSeptember 18, 2014 10:36 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 The John Calimee interview is worth reading, too, http://alphaflight.net/content.php?137-John-Calimee-Interview . He's a humble guy, and it's clear that some of what Hudnall wanted him to draw was technically impossible: Hudnall made the neophyte mistake of asking for too much in too few panels and failing to understand the trade off between distance and detail. The editors perhaps deserve more blame than Hudnall, though, since they're supposed to know things about art and its limitations that a writer wouldn't know. Some of this is basic professional knowledge. Ataru320September 18, 2014 9:30 PM Alpha Flight #71-73 Guess Diamond Lil is yet another victim of the "what is my hair color again?" curse that tends to happen with female superheroes. RobertSeptember 18, 2014 8:31 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 That's a good interview, Michael. Sheds some light on some things, such as the question fnord raises in the 71-73 entry about why they have Alpha Flight facing supernatural threats. Jon DubyaSeptember 18, 2014 8:28 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 Clyde, Clyde I think that can be the motto of the Tom Defalco era in general. X-Men subverts this for a bit, but eventually they they succumb to "status quo mania." The other Defalco trademark around this time is releasing TONS of books flooding the market. That aspect may be why Alpha Flight sticks around for a bit (it certainly isn't the first poorly-recieved Marvel book that continues long past it's sell-by date.) clydeSeptember 18, 2014 8:06 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 Was this the year of things returning to "status quo"? Avengers gets back core members, FF gets back core members, & Alpha Flight gets back core members. Thank goodness the "events" this year were so awesome, IMO. Acts Of Vengeance rocked & even Atlantis Attacks was a cool storyline. MichaelSeptember 18, 2014 7:43 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 Fnord. there's an interview here where Hudnall attempts to explain why he had problems with his Alpha Flight run- for example he claims that the editors forced him to turn Sasquatch back into a man a couple issues sooner than he liked: clydeSeptember 18, 2014 7:20 PM General Comments Does anyone know if there's a web site that shows scans of all the house ads that Marvel ran over the years for the various storylines and other important events that they had? DermieSeptember 18, 2014 6:57 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 Wow, the Dream Queen must have a rather intense libido if she needs to keep FOUR sex-slaves on hand at a time... RobertSeptember 18, 2014 6:41 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 Well there we go. A terrible drop of over 100,000 in two years yet they soldier on for another five years. These aren't marketable characters that have successful merchandising. It's not a critically acclaimed book with a respected creative team (that includes Mantlo). If it was the Canadian angle and Marvel was getting some kind of incentive there, why weren't they making more Canadian titles? There's a missing piece of the puzzle somewhere. fnord12September 18, 2014 6:25 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 It definitely wasn't that sales were good. You can see the Statement of Ownership numbers here, and that's compared to Average of Past 12 months = 239,584 listed in issue #43. Jay PatrickSeptember 18, 2014 6:12 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 Regarding the art: A lot of that just looks like Mike Allred to me, not necessarily a bad thing. RobertSeptember 18, 2014 6:03 PM Alpha Flight #67-70 That art is strictly amateur hour. I know I've brought this up before, probably more than once, but I can't believe this book was still going and would continue to go into the '90s. Were sales really that good or, as someone else here suggested before, was it the Canadian thing? I mean it's obvious to me Marvel didn't care enough about the title to put quality talent on it yet they kept publishing it for nearly a decade after Byrne left. It boggles my mind. Boggles, I tell you! fnord12September 18, 2014 8:07 AM Fantastic Four #326-328 Dermie, you're right about the Fra-ank comment. I've revised my comments about that. This is all leading to the abandoned plot about Frank manipulating people's relationships that we'll see in a dream sequence pretty soon. As for the FF's belongings, i thought it was just significant artifacts and i thought they were all returned in that issue, not secretly inserted beforehand, but we'll be getting to Fantastic Four annual #22 soon. Update: Oh wait, on the second point i see that the story takes place right after FF #299. DermieSeptember 17, 2014 11:58 PM Fantastic Four #326-328 The question of how Ben's clothes survived the destruction of the Baxter Building is probably resolved by a back-up story in one of the FF Annuals, which reveals how several of the FF's belongings survived... As for the "Fra-ank" conversation, I didn't see that as Franklin not accepting the Ben/Alicia split--I saw that as Franklin hoping that Ben and Shary had gotten together. After all, the last time Franklin saw Ben (back in #307) he had basically blurted out that Ben didn't have to be sad about Alicia and Johnny anymore, because now he could love Shary. Jon DubyaSeptember 17, 2014 11:45 PM West Coast Avengers #12-13 Um...this is one of those "porn parodies" I've heard so much about, right? Actually this Tigra arc seems thematically similar to a rather notorious Red Hood and the Outlaws issue... Mark DrummondSeptember 17, 2014 10:55 PM Avengers #141-144,147-149 Figured out why the Western Ghost Rider got renamed Night Rider: In 1974 when Marvel was really expanding its reprints, apparently the reprint Outlaw Kid Atlas stories by Doug Wildey did really well. Marvel chose to capitalize by speeding up more Western reprints, including the 1967 Ghost Rider. Back then Marvel didn't want to utterly confuse buyers with two books under the same name(unlike now) so the reprint book got called "Night Rider" due to the Johnny Blaze book. Either Englehart didn't know this or just plain forgot it, as one panel in #142 is clearly relettered to say "...the original Night Rider."(Nobody bothered to realize that leaving "original" in that sentence didn't make sense, as the other Night/Phantom Riders didn't exist in 1975). Jay PatrickSeptember 17, 2014 10:32 PM Avengers #304 Buckler catches so much flack for being a notorious swipe artist that it's easy to forget how good he actually was. Bring in Tom Palmer on inks and you've got an Avengers story that can sit right next to Buscema's run on the title. MichaelSeptember 17, 2014 10:19 PM Fantastic Four #326-328 I meant "Cap should know Hercules is alive". MichaelSeptember 17, 2014 9:55 PM Fantastic Four #326-328 "Some time passes between this arc and the next one, but no generic FF appearances should appear in between." fnord12September 17, 2014 9:12 PM Daredevil #227-229 That makes sense, Jeff. For placement purposes i'd still keep these issues together, since the end of #227 leads into #228. And there are still some "weeks" that pass during #228, even. But the parts in #227 before Daredevil is shown can certainly take place further back in time, maybe even into my 1985 category page depending on how much you want to adjust those "months" and "weeks" for the sliding timescale. fnord12September 17, 2014 9:08 PM X-Factor #37 Thanks, Michael. I just put that on the wrong entry. MichaelSeptember 17, 2014 8:01 PM X-Factor #37 You have this issue listed as the death of Madelyne Pryor on the 1989 page. Then who is the woman in X-Men 242 and X-Factor 38? TCPSeptember 17, 2014 6:32 PM Amazing Spider-Man #307-309 Much like The Prowler from ASM#305 looked like a proto-Spawn, Caesar in these issues looks a bit like a proto-Jason Wynn. fnord12September 17, 2014 5:57 PM Thor annual #2 Volstagg appeared in Thor #128, but that's otherwise correct, Ataru. JeffSeptember 17, 2014 5:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #66 Cool, thanks for the response! JeffSeptember 17, 2014 5:39 PM Daredevil #227-229 The weeks that pass after Karen gets her fix ... The Karen portion could take place parallel to one of the previous few issues of O'Neill's run, since it's context free, and then everything else could take place after issue 226. Just a thought. SharSeptember 17, 2014 5:09 PM Uncanny X-Men #66 That great close-up shot of telepath Jean's eyes seems based on Neal Adams's panel of the same back in X-Men #56. Sal hadn't drawn the X-Men before so it makes sense he would refer to Neal's X-Men work as a guide. Ataru320September 17, 2014 3:24 PM Thor annual #2 Just looking over the chronology; is this the first Warriors Three appearance outside the Tales of Asgard? fnord12September 17, 2014 1:03 PM Captain America #240 Thanks for linking to that, JSFan. I find it instructive. MikeCheyneSeptember 17, 2014 11:53 AM Speedball #3 This is one of those comics I randomly acquired as a kid (don't know how). I had no idea who Speedball was. I mean it's no great shakes or anything but it's pretty understandable and enjoyable in an undemanding way. I don't pretend that comics were 100% better then, but I do find it interesting that comics of this genre and style are far rarer now. ClutchSeptember 17, 2014 10:45 AM Avengers #304 Nice fill-in with cool art by Buckler and Palmer. And yeah, it's also neat to see Puma and the U-Foes tackle the Avengers. JSfanSeptember 17, 2014 10:44 AM Captain America #240 Some of Jim Shooter's notes on Alan's artwork can be found on this site: fnord12September 17, 2014 8:58 AM Uncanny X-Men #66 Hi Jeff, see some of the comments on "Uncanny" X-Men #1 and She-Hulk #2-5. I'll put this in the Q&A. fnord12September 17, 2014 7:55 AM Thor #402-405 Actually i take it back about the opening page. The narration says that Avengers #300 happened "recently", not necessarily immediately prior to this. So it could take place after Cap #350-351 and still be before the Avengers' second mission as this group. fnord12September 17, 2014 7:50 AM Thor #402-405 @Michael, there's no reference to Annihilus' previous appearance. Maybe his unusual behavior of putting the Asgardians in pods and draining their life force has something to do with his recovery from his previous injuries. Maybe that opening page is really a dream. JSfanSeptember 17, 2014 4:26 AM Thor #402-405 Wow!This looks completely retro. In fact, I think David Metz's summary is perfect. JeffSeptember 17, 2014 1:43 AM Uncanny X-Men #66 Not to come off as mean-spirited (as it can be hard to tell with the typed word) but why do you have "X-Men" 1-141 listed as "Uncanny X-Men" (it wouldn't officially go by that name until issue 142)? Similarly, I notice you list all issues of "The Incredible Hulk" as just "Hulk." Reasons? kveto from pragueSeptember 17, 2014 12:52 AM Thor #402-405 as the avengers didnt reform until the end of 300, technically you could say that 301-303 was his first adventure with the reformed avengers. however, Gilgamesh is pictured with his silly helmet, that he lost in 301. Thanos6September 17, 2014 12:01 AM Speedball #7 *snort* Yes. Science. Just like that one fellow Stan helped to create, the one who lives in Greenwich Village. That nice doctor. Nothing fantasy there! Walter LawsonSeptember 16, 2014 11:20 PM Speedball #7 In DeFalco's defense, some of the New U money might have gone toward developing Kickers, Inc. as well, based on what Frenz says here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickers,_Inc.#Publication_history . DeFalco tried to pull Kickers out of the New U lineup, but Shooter insisted on repurposing it as a title courting sports fans. It looks to me like there may have been three attempts--three strikes?--at creating the New U, which would explain the odd fact, noted during its launch, that titles like Kickers and Justice didn't obey the New U's fundamental rule: no aliens, magic, super science, everything beyond the real world had to be explained by the White Event. So in Kickers and Speedball, which have the DeFalco retro feel, super science machines are responsible for superpowers, like radiation zapping the spider that bit Peter Parker. My guess is that Archie Goodwin got second turn at the bat, which would make sense as he was already running a Marvel editorial division, Epic. He created Psi-Force, Nightmask, Merc, and Justice, the latter two of which are also notable for no White Event connection, and all three ideas seem vaguely like rejected Epic ideas. The Eliot Brown-created Spitfire feels like it probably came out of Goodwin's ideas shop, too. Then we get the Shooter or Shooter-Gruenwald approach, with DP7 and Starbrand, the two titles that really depend on the White Event. (Assuming any explanation or none would work fine for the ESP-themed Psi-Force and Nightmask.) Incidentally, Shooter's remarks here http://www.manwithoutfear.com/daredevil-interviews/Shooter lead me to double down on my idea that he wanted to get rid of fantasy elements in the MU, like the vampires and Savage Land. Shooter liked hard sci-fi, and he evidently thought the MU had not followed Stan's original dream: "Shooter: The New Universe was dead long before it saw the light of day. Two years before the Marvel 25th Anniversary, when pressed by the president and executive staff for a "publishing event" for the anniversary, I suggested that we might want to commemorate the birth of one universe with the birth of another. Everybody liked the idea. I was given a substantial budget and told to proceed. My assistant, Tom DeFalco asked to be given responsibility for the project. He saw it as a career opportunity -- to have a second Marvel line that he could be editor in chief of. I let him take a try at it. After almost a year, he hadn't come up with much -- no general concept, and only a few lame characters like "Speedball". Because time was getting critical, I got involved, and came up with the science fiction/super hero idea. It was, in fact, what Stan wanted to do back in '61, but he didn't have the science background. Also, anytime you're working with Kirby, you're headed toward fantasy (repulsor rays, Blue Areas on the moon, lost civilizations, etc.) in a hurry." Jay GallardoSeptember 16, 2014 11:02 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 Great story, great execution, fantastic storytellling. MichaelSeptember 16, 2014 10:58 PM Speedball #8 I remember reading this issue as a kid and realizing from Robbie's encounter with Bonehead that Robbie must be potentially VERY powerful. Unfortunately, DITKO didn't seem to realize it and that's not explored until New Warriors. MichaelSeptember 16, 2014 10:35 PM Thor #402-405 The first page is completely nonsensical- Cap was still the Captain, not Captain America, in Avengers 300. PB210September 16, 2014 8:13 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/scans18/SOLOA14_SheHulk_Changing.jpg Anyone who homages the phone booth change should realize that back in the 1940's, phone booths had mostly wooden sides, so that they resembled outhouses. http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/scans18/SOLOA14_SheHulk_Changing.jpg MichaelSeptember 16, 2014 7:58 PM Speedball #8 Note that Nathan Boder is thinking about the murders. RobertSeptember 16, 2014 7:55 PM Thor #402-405 The retro style never really goes away during this run, though it does become less upfront when Masterson takes over as Thor, nearly 30 issues from this point. I guess by "a change in direction is in the works" they meant a couple of years away. I happened to enjoy the style as a kid (and now) but if you weren't a fan of it, Thor was not the book for you for the foreseeable future. clydeSeptember 16, 2014 7:30 PM Thor #402-405 Odin's "Odinsleep" gets interrupted so many times from this point forward. I wonder why it was necessary to have it be so prolonged. clydeSeptember 16, 2014 7:24 PM Hulk #353 Here's a link to the cover, in case anyone's interested - fnord12September 16, 2014 7:21 PM General Comments Clyde, i guess it's subjective but there are usually clues or sometimes they outright tell us. For example, for the recent Avengers issues i covered, it's announced in the lettercol for issue #300 that Walt Simonson was leaving (and we know it was abruptly) and that John Byrne will be replacing him. Gruenwald then says that Ralph Macchio is "pitching in script-wise for the next three issues". The fourth, by Danny Fingeroth, isn't even mentioned, which could indicate that it took an extra issue for Byrne to come on board. In general, in the eras i've covered so far at least, writers having multiple issue runs on the title are the norm. Some counter-examples involve star creators, like Daredevil #219 (although that was actually a fill-in too) or Avengers #88. clydeSeptember 16, 2014 7:13 PM Thor #402-405 Odin turns out to not be wrong in this matter - Thor comes back in time to battle Annihilus. clydeSeptember 16, 2014 6:43 PM General Comments FNORD - just curious, how do you determine what issues are fill-ins versus a one issue storyline? david banesSeptember 16, 2014 6:35 PM General Comments That's what I saw too, alright adding to the list. fnord12September 16, 2014 6:18 PM General Comments No problem on clutter. This is the Surfer trade i was talking about that includes Thanos Quest. RobertSeptember 16, 2014 6:08 PM Avengers #304 Even though I had given up on Avengers, I had to buy this issue because Puma was in it (I was a big fan) and I was dying to know why Puma was teamed up with the U-Foes, as the cover implied. david banesSeptember 16, 2014 6:06 PM General Comments Hoo boy over 1,000 pages. I think I'd rather get a bunch of smaller trades, it's hard holding a 1,000 page book that isn't paperback size. Don't see a trade for Rebith of Thanos just the Silver Surfer one, overlap isn't a big deal. Sorry to clutter the comments but I want to do this homework before class starts again. fnord12September 16, 2014 5:58 PM General Comments The Thanos-copter is from the non-canon Spidey Super Stories, sadly. ;-) fnord12September 16, 2014 5:57 PM General Comments If you're getting the Infinity Gauntlet Omnibus it looks like it's included in there. Otherwise i see there's a Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos trade that includes it as well as, well, the rebirth of Thanos. You're definitely getting some overlap with all these trades but i guess you're accepting that as inevitable. david banesSeptember 16, 2014 5:56 PM General Comments Oops, I thought that was a sequel. Oh! I gotta get the issue with the Thanos-copter! I hope that's in one of the trades. fnord12September 16, 2014 5:54 PM General Comments Thanos Quest is a direct prelude to Infinity Gauntlet. david banesSeptember 16, 2014 5:42 PM General Comments Alright looks like I'm getting Avengers vs. Thanos, Death of Captain Marvel, Starlin Adam Warlock, Infinity Gauntlet, Essential Captain Marvel 1 and...the last three O'Neil Question books. Maybe I'll snag Essential Adam Warlock just to be safe. There isn't anything else I should read before Infinity Gauntlet is there? CullenSeptember 16, 2014 4:33 PM Speedball #7 Perhaps if he went to the couch a little more, he wouldn't have (Spoiler!) become Captain Dark Emo 20 years later. RobertSeptember 16, 2014 3:52 PM Speedball #7 I didn't even realize that was a typo. I thought "go to the couch" was like "going to the mattresses" from the Godfather. fnord12September 16, 2014 2:08 PM Speedball #7 Thanks Clyde! clydeSeptember 16, 2014 1:55 PM Speedball #7 FNORD - "He almost goes to the couch but, much like Hamlet, can't bring himself to act.". Having him go to the "couch" wouldn't help anyone. Sitting around never gets you anywhere. However, having him go to the "coach" might. fnord12September 16, 2014 7:41 AM Captain America #325 That could be it, Jeff. I've added it to the References. Thanks. Kids, just to be clear, this doesn't meant that heroin will give you super-strength. ClutchSeptember 16, 2014 6:14 AM Avengers #301-303 Say, these issues read a lot better than I first thought back in the day! You get a ton of diverse characters, spot on interactions, and some great work by Tom Palmer on the inks. Lots of stuff for continuity buffs to love here. These three comics combined would have made a cool annual or giant-size special. I remember Cap being pissed off at Reed for not being a team player. Much as I love, Cap, he was way out of his league here. Reed resolves the whole affair in his usual stoic manner, much to nobody's surprise but Cap's. I would have liked to have seen more of their "scientist versus strategist" moments (Secret Wars also featured a few) but Reed will be gone once Byrne arrives, which is kinda ironic. ClutchSeptember 16, 2014 5:12 AM Iron Man #239-240 I enjoyed these issues in real time. We got some cool villains, (I still miss Blacklash) an escalation of the Kathy Dare situation, and a neat cliffhanger in between. Those were the days. JSfanSeptember 16, 2014 4:44 AM Avengers #301-303 In regard to the question about the other members not questioning Reed was the same question I asked myself when Reed came back with the time machine to give to Super-Nova. I do love the art. It's quite realistic without being an too realistic that I'm looking more at the art than the reading the story. Erik RobbinsSeptember 16, 2014 2:05 AM Avengers #301-303 It's interesting that you start off talking about continuity loving, because I wrote a letter complaining to Marvel about the lack of continuity - e.g. the Human Torch problem. My complaint was not helped with the hyperbole of threatening to boycott Marvel over the issue. My brother had convinced me that if I did so, they might send me some free stuff, because that's what had happened with sunglasses in the film Summer School. And so I did (threaten), and they didn't (send anything). No surprise there. gfsdf gfbdSeptember 16, 2014 1:19 AM New Mutants #45 definitely teared up with this one. Truthfully, a lot of New Mutants as been garbage, but this might be the most affecting story I've read by Claremont. Poor kid. JeffSeptember 16, 2014 12:30 AM Daredevil #220 Ah yes. I was aware of the latter, having recently read Iron Man 171. Thanks. JeffSeptember 16, 2014 12:27 AM Captain America #325 Perhaps the similar situation was when Cap was injected with the first Viper's poison back in the Englehart run? fnord12September 15, 2014 9:15 PM Avengers #301-303 Thanks Luis, fixed the images. Thanks, Michael. It's clear that from the sheet in Avengers #300 that it turns out to be Kincaid but there's nothing in this issue that says so. The way the scene is set up, without actually showing Kincaid or mentioning his name, it almost seems like they were teasing the possibility that Thor tended to Starfox himself with his old Donald Blake knowledge. Starfox's use of the staff was questionable to me (but it could have been imbued with power by Firelord before Starfox went for help). Reed using it right in front of Firelord didn't seem like a problem at all. MichaelSeptember 15, 2014 8:57 PM Cloak and Dagger #5 "Two that really stand out are 1) a black reader who sees this as part of a trend along with the sidelining of Luke Cage, James Rhodes, and Battlestar as well as some changes in New Universe, titles but is particularly upset to see the disappearance of a male black character with unique super-powers" MichaelSeptember 15, 2014 8:55 PM Avengers #301-303 Fnord, the reason why the MCP assumes it's Kincaid that Thor took Starfox to is because Thor refers to him as "my physician friend" and Cap tells Thor to ask his "doctor buddy" if he wants to be the Avengers' medic. In Captain America 352-353, we see that Kincaid has become the Avengers' physician. BTW, that means this arc has to take place before Captain America 352-353. Luis DantasSeptember 15, 2014 8:25 PM Avengers #301-303 I take it that the last picture was supposed to go two places earlier on? fnord12September 15, 2014 7:56 PM Avengers #301-303 Dammit, i tried so hard to avoid typing Firefox and Starlord that i missed the Firestorm. RobertSeptember 15, 2014 7:18 PM Avengers #301-303 "...fly into space to get to where Super-Nova is holding Firestorm." I got excited for a sec then I realized you meant Firelord. No crossover this time :/ fnord12September 15, 2014 4:39 PM Daredevil #220 I think the first time she's seen having been drinking excessively is DD #189, after she's resigned herself to marrying Matt. That's still part of Miller's run. Then there's the scene shared between Iron Man #171 and Daredevil #195 (both by Denny O'Neil). JeffSeptember 15, 2014 4:22 PM Daredevil #220 At one point (issue#) did Heather become an alcoholic? A LOT happens in this title between the end of McKenzie and Miller's runs through now, and I tend to forget. kveto from pragueSeptember 15, 2014 4:17 PM Iron Man #239-240 The Ghost is still wicked cool. His powers and his anti-corporate attitude make him big fun. even his dialogue, forgoing the drama of a countdown. and like you say, a cool deathtrap and solution. Rhodey beats Boomerang with his gun. I really don't understand why he bothers with boomerangs if he can't use them to beat guns. kveto from pragueSeptember 15, 2014 4:06 PM Avengers #301-303 I liked these issues. I had no idea at the time that this wasn't going to be the future avengers team. I liked the friction between Cap and Reed and the lack of teamwork with the others. It felt like a good starting point. I love the way Hawk-eye is written in these issues. It helps show the more mellow attitude of his team and how he will endanger himself to keep Cap from stealing his thunder. I wished he'd been written like this in his solo series or AWC. His "teleporting in yoga class" joke captures his attitude perfectly. (his character will soon be mangled mercilessly in Byrne's upcoming AWC run so its good to see what a fun character he could be here) kveto from pragueSeptember 15, 2014 3:44 PM Solo Avengers #18 No idea why they created Sundragon then did absolutely nothing with her (she's pretty pointless anyway when Moondragon comes back) It seems a lot different from the old days of Shooter, disposing disposable characters. Lately, they just create new characters, Sundragon, new Phantom Rider, etc. and have no plans for them. kveto from pragueSeptember 15, 2014 3:39 PM Solo Avengers #17 Fun Hawk-eye team up with Sandman. This should have been a regular thing. I love them arguing into the sunset. The Namor story is a fun bit of continuity clear-up. It's also fun to see a powerful hero against a weaker villain for a change. The Goldbug really gets around. I know he started as a Cage villain but its really hard to judge who his actually nemisis is. He's one of those villains who feels like hes had a go at everybody. A true shared universe villain. kveto from pragueSeptember 15, 2014 3:28 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 I didn't mind the retro feel of the Hawk-eye story. I do wonder how SODAM got past the editors. And Mockingbird kicks a lot of butt this issue. Without her behind the scenes, the heroes wouldn't have made it. I HATE the she-hulk story with a passion. Secret Wars clearly establishes that Titania was way too powerful for she-hulk. this is the main reason I wish Titania had NEVER appeared outside of secret wars. JSfanSeptember 15, 2014 10:10 AM Solo Avengers #14-16 Those pages could have been better used to promote lesser known characters. Still, it's interesting to see the way She-Hulk's story is written as a comedy of sorts. I wonder if Byrne noticed it and thought he'd use it for his run. fnord12September 15, 2014 8:16 AM Solo Avengers #14-16 Dermie, after i reviewed these, when i got to Solo Avengers #18, which opens with a shirtless Hawkeye, i almost pointed it out as a counter-balance. But i didn't want to perpetuate the zombie argument (and i don't think this is what you're doing either) that comics "idealize" male and female super-characters equally (for those not familiar with this, it's laid out very nicely here, especially in the first point. And actually the Hawkeye Initiative makes the point as well by showing that it's the poses as much as anything). In the end i decided not to get into any of that because the "cheesecake" in these issues is comparatively harmless and done for comedy. I still like to point it out to show the "development" of it especially as we head into the 90s. Walter, thanks for pointing that out. I've added a scan here that is a direct homage of one of the panels there. Jay, i re-noticed your comment when i was linking to that entry. Thanks for not spoiling it for me (although that would have been ok too)! fnord12September 15, 2014 7:41 AM Captain America #350 Ok, thanks Michael. I think where this issue is placed now it is at a day after Inferno (pretty close to Excalibur #8), and i'll keep this in mind for placement of the X-Factor annual back-up and X-Factor #40. Jay DemetrickSeptember 15, 2014 2:49 AM Solo Avengers #14-16 I told you that gem in Defenders #147 was important! Check the comments. ;) MichaelSeptember 14, 2014 10:59 PM Captain America #350 Fnord, I just looked through my copy of X-Factor Annual 4. The back-up story takes place the day after Inferno. X-Factor is preparing for Maddie's funeral in X-Factor 40, and they tell two FBI agents the cover story about AIM. "Two days" after Inferno, the Bugle reports the cover story. So this takes place the day after Inferno and X-Factor 40 takes place slightly after. Walter LawsonSeptember 14, 2014 10:21 PM Solo Avengers #17 We learn in the upcoming Namor series, near the end of its run, that as a hybrid Namor is sterile, and he knows it. So he probably assumes he couldn't be father to Marrina's children. But then, since Plodex reproduction is nothing like human reproduction, he could be wrong about that and may be the genetic pattern Marrina was transcribing onto her offspring. But i doubt Marvel editorial intended any of that at the time, and the facts about Namor's kid-free philandering won't see print for about five years. Walter LawsonSeptember 14, 2014 10:00 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 The Attackoid is based on the AIM androids in Tales of Suspense 78, http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/tales_of_suspense_78_cap_85_ir.shtml . More of DeFalco's nostalgia, but I approve. DermieSeptember 14, 2014 8:53 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 Visiting "the Hawkeye Initiative" is always entertaining, but its worth noting that although these particular issues didn't provide any Hawkeye beefcake, the SOLO AVENGERS series in general has gotten Clint out of his clothes on several occasions. In the first arc he spent one whole issue topless while running from Silver Sable's men, and the next issue he was in his underwear for the entire story. So Clint's already doing his part to try and balance out the cheesecake with beefcake. ;) david banesSeptember 14, 2014 8:38 PM Iron Man #239-240 Tony is also dealing with an awful problem with some awful white pants. Yech! DermieSeptember 14, 2014 8:37 PM Solo Avengers #18 The Dance also return in a QUASAR storyline, I believe. Erik RobbinsSeptember 14, 2014 8:19 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 I loved this She-Hulk story at the time, and in retrospect I think it helped solidify Jen as one of my favorite characters and Alan Davis as one of my favorite artists. I had no idea that Chris Claremont wrote it until just now, though. Luis DantasSeptember 14, 2014 7:49 PM Iron Man #239-240 Intangibility is hard to delimit. We don't know how Tony commanded this armor; maybe he has a neural interface of some kind. But even if he has to touch some part of the armor to command it, the plain fact is that he can still do so - he is not slipping out of it, after all. I have more of a problem with the Ghost's hand being both solid enough to pull Boomerang's head and intangible enough to pass through a wall at the same time. fnord12September 14, 2014 7:23 PM General Comments I mention somewhere above on this page that i only own the reprints in Incomplete Death's Head. The good news about that is it means that i'll be able to cover all the alternate future stuff because of the framing sequence. The bad news is i won't be getting to it until 1993. clydeSeptember 14, 2014 7:06 PM General Comments FNORD - also I know someone suggested this above me, but what about Death's Head 8 - 10? fnord12September 14, 2014 7:03 PM General Comments Yep, it'll be part of 1989. clydeSeptember 14, 2014 6:53 PM General Comments FNORD - Are you planning on covering Havok & Wolverine-- Meltdown? fnord12September 14, 2014 6:48 PM Iron Man #239-240 He had a device that made stuff intangible. He put it on Iron Man, and it made him intangible. But if both Stark and his armor were intangible, they were still "in phase" enough for him to be able to control his armor mentally. It made sense to me! ;-) clydeSeptember 14, 2014 6:44 PM Iron Man #239-240 So the Ghost knew enough about the armor to disable it, but didn't know about the cybernetic link? it seems awfully convenient. clydeSeptember 14, 2014 6:42 PM Hulk #353 I love the cover's classic take on the Hulk transformation being shown in reverse as he transforms from the Hulk to "puny banner". fnord12September 14, 2014 6:39 PM Iron Man #239-240 Michael, i took it that the device made everything about Iron Man intangible, so he couldn't remove his armor. The fact that he can still trigger his powers cybernetically is what saves him. clydeSeptember 14, 2014 6:30 PM Iron Man #239-240 Yet another scene of Tony's desire to be half-naked in front of other men. He seems a bit too comfortable about that in front of Rhodes. Maybe, that's why all his relationships with girls don't work. MichaelSeptember 14, 2014 5:54 PM Iron Man #239-240 The Ghost's trap always bothered me- why can't Tony just take off the chestplate? fnord12September 14, 2014 5:49 PM Amazing Spider-Man #314 Since Robert mentions seasons, i should have mentioned that Fantastic Four #325, at least by the story title, is also meant to be a Christmas issue, but i haven't bothered to line it up with this issue (even though it wouldn't be hard; we'd just have to make Johnny Storm float in space a little longer). As Robert implies, with the Sliding Timescale you never know when a Christmas may pop up in the Marvel universe. RobertSeptember 14, 2014 5:38 PM Amazing Spider-Man #314 Yeah this one. I remember how disappointed I was to pick this up following the cool Lizard issue. This is also the issue I brought up to you last year (or 1988 lol) regarding how the sliding timescale works with seasonal issues. RobertSeptember 14, 2014 5:35 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 I agree with you about how it was nice that Marvel was providing more traditional alternatives at the time for Spidey fans while Todd was doing his thing over at ASM. I was a kid at the time but was much more into Web & Spectacular than Amazing. Part of that was the art but mostly it was because everytime I picked up Amazing it was something like Mary Jane has a stalker or the Christmas eviction issue. Not exactly superhero action-heavy stuff that would appeal to kids. RobertSeptember 14, 2014 5:30 PM Web of Spider-Man #50 As a kid this issue was a favorite of mine. I loved all the guest stars. This is the first comic I had where I started thinking about things from a collector perspective. I was sure this issue would be worth money someday so I made sure to take extra care of it. I'm not sure why I thought that. Maybe the gold lettering on the cover. You can imagine how my little heart broke when I got my hands on a price guide. MichaelSeptember 14, 2014 4:32 PM Fantastic Four #249-250 Claremont retconned that in later. Jay PatrickSeptember 14, 2014 4:26 PM Fantastic Four #249-250 I haven't read this one in years. Does Gladiator actually find out about Reed saving Galactus on-panel or did Claremont retcon that in later? fnord12September 14, 2014 4:26 PM Fantastic Four #257 I've already submitted something. Don't know if Ian will use it, of course. But many of you who comment here have great ideas for continuity fixes, so i encourage you to write something up and send it along. fnord12September 14, 2014 4:18 PM Solo Avengers #18 The Dance will return in a back-up story in Cosmic Powers Unlimited #2, but i don't see Michael Flatley listed as a character appearing. Mark DrummondSeptember 14, 2014 4:11 PM Solo Avengers #18 Did the Dance have a Lord? Mark DrummondSeptember 14, 2014 4:05 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 The Attackoid(what was the 2nd choice? "Punchoid"?) looks too much like a modified AIM Dreadnought. "PotomIc"? Mark DrummondSeptember 14, 2014 3:55 PM Avengers annual #6 This issue is referred to as Giant-Size Avengers #6 in both Avengers #153 and(weirdly)#154. I'm guessing Gerry Conway didn't know that 1)the Giant-Size books were discontinued in 1975, and 2)there was no Giant-Size Avengers #5 regardless. CecilSeptember 14, 2014 3:45 PM Fantastic Four #257 Ah, HERE we get A-Grade Fantastic Four! I bought myself this one for Christmas as a teen :-D I have half of the issues from Byrne's first two years on FF...deserving of acclaim as distinctive, well-made and even rather different superhero comics. 1983 always seemed like it had been a cool year to read Marvel...just a little before my time though! The moving of Tarnax IV is the sort of "How would you fix..." item Nathan Adler specialized in before he got sick. I mention this because if any of you out there have some piece of particularly Marvel history you would like to suggest a "fix" for, his friend Ian is trying to assemble essays of that sort as a tribute to Nathan, who has gotten very ill and, as a former social worker, now has medical bills beyond his ability to pay. I only mention this because the assembled book of essays, if finished, is meant to help him (James is his actual name; we corresponded for about three years). Please write Ian Watson at iw@fastmail.co.uk for more information. Perhaps you can use Fnord's chronology project as a jumping-off point for an essay...or offer to buy one of the books if we can get it done. Thank you. Cecil CecilSeptember 14, 2014 3:24 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 Kinda cool to bring the new Carrion to life (under Conway's pen, at that) in #149, like a call-back to the death of Miles Warren in ASM #149. I dropped comic books for the most part around this time...no longer available in my neighborhood. I keep buying Hulk after a year or so like that. The McFarlane Spider-Man issues are some of my last comics in high school the next year, as well as some JLI back issues. I'd never read the origin of Carrion II, and it's cool to see this evolved Sal Buscema work, too. By the time of the Clone Saga of '94 I'm coming back to some Marvels, and Sal's hitting on all cylinders by then! MichaelSeptember 14, 2014 3:09 PM Solo Avengers #18 Yet another example of Solo Avengers wrapping up danglers the main books couldn't be bothered with. fnord12September 14, 2014 2:52 PM Solo Avengers #17 Michael, maybe Namor is deceiving himself. MichaelSeptember 14, 2014 2:38 PM Solo Avengers #17 "Namor is still searching for Marrina's children, who he now confirms are not his children." MichaelSeptember 14, 2014 2:12 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 The Hawkeye story was done because Byrne wanted Jan and Hank together in Solo Avengers. This is another example of Solo Avengers being used to clear up dangling plots that the main books didn't want to deal with. The weird thing is, if this was done to pave the way for Hank and Jan, you'd think they'd be more definitive that SODAM wasn't Maria. Because if SODAM is a mind-controlled Maria, then Hank looks like Havok sleeping with any bad girl he can get his hands on while Lorna is possessed by Malice. Ataru320September 14, 2014 1:46 PM Solo Avengers #14-16 Though amazingly its not too long after this we get the Sensational Shulkie book...so at least she gets some usage beyond this one. (and again: Claremont to Byrne...then again I'm surprised that it took this long for Claremont to write Jen since he did do some work before with Ms. Marvel and Spider-Woman during their initial runs) david banesSeptember 14, 2014 3:07 AM Strange Tales #178-181 I read this about a year ago, the Avengers Annual and Two and One Annual and sadly I did not realize the significance of it. I mean more for Adam Warlock but I had no idea Thanos actually said dead for over a good decade and figured he was going to pop up again some time. Now that I'm trying to prep myself for Infinity stories maybe I'll like these old Starlin stories more. Also in my last comment I meant Adam Warlock not Quasar. See I really do need to read some of both to stop mixing them up. david banesSeptember 14, 2014 3:02 AM Iron Man #55 About the one strike I can give against my precious Marvel Essentials is that typically they're super good about throwing in sibling issues of a storyline but sadly not so with the original Thanos storyline. Damn thing kept getting cut up between Iron Man and Avengers books and so on so I always felt like I needed to read further back. Since I plan on getting several trades of Captain Marvel, Thanos and Quasar maybe I'll finally appreciate this. There just better be some Blood Brothers in a future Marvel movie! david banesSeptember 14, 2014 2:42 AM General Comments Sounds good to me. Maybe I'll get Captain Marvel Essentials too just for fun. Seems like those are the big three 'chapters' concerning Thanos. Maybe I should read some Quasar since I keep getting him mixed up with Adam Warlock/Him. david banesSeptember 14, 2014 2:35 AM Contest of Champions #1-3 Geez someone even remembered Red Wolf. Mark DrummondSeptember 14, 2014 12:26 AM Avengers #152 There's no actual viewscreen panel here, but there is one weird looking panel with Cap in the Quinjet that kinda sorta resembles one, Luis DantasSeptember 13, 2014 11:30 PM New Mutants #75 I have been very critical of Inferno, but I don't think it had much of a choice. Solving the Illyana and Maddie/Jean conundrums would have to disappoint in some way - and I think Claremont knew that. What could he possibly do with Illyana once he had established her unlikely concept? MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 11:15 PM New Mutants #75 Abe, I was being sarcastic with the MPD comment about how Magneto's dialogue this issue contradicts his thought balloons in previous issues. ChrisWSeptember 13, 2014 11:14 PM New Mutants #75 During the brief period where the X-Men were officially dead, I have no real objection to how they kept that status. I think Betsy mind-wiping people is a bad idea, but that's where the team was at and that's where they were going, and it works on that level. Illyana assumed Peter was a zombie. She never told her teammates about him because she's got so many secrets already, so what's one more? Michael, by "real time" I mean that the issue takes place in roughly the same amount of time as it takes to read. There are no "Meanwhile" captions, or "Later..." or anything to break the flow. The wonders of the comics medium make the only reasons why this issue doesn't take any more time from its characters than it does to read. I may be forgetting a scene change to Asgard, Nova Roma or something like that, but otherwise, this issue takes place entirely within the (destroyed) X-Mansion, and there are no "An hour later" captions to spread it out. The entire comic book took place within the same amount of time that it took you to read it. That's "real time." An hour per page doesn't figure into it, especially since that doesn't happen in this comic. This was maybe a half-hour of the New Mutants' lives. The amount of time it took you to read Dani, Sam, Roberto or Magneto's dialogue, that's the amount of time this issue lasted. fnord12September 13, 2014 9:51 PM Cloak and Dagger and Power Pack: Shelter From the Storm Thanks, Luis. I did of course mean Dagger. david banesSeptember 13, 2014 8:49 PM Avengers #150-151 I knew this was coming when I read it but I really liked it with the typical recap issue suddenly ending in what I'd like to think was a pretty big twist. david banesSeptember 13, 2014 8:45 PM Cloak and Dagger and Power Pack: Shelter From the Storm Man I remember being given this graphic novel as a kid and it freaked me out. Luis DantasSeptember 13, 2014 8:38 PM Cloak and Dagger and Power Pack: Shelter From the Storm A couple of references to Dazzler. Did you mean Dagger? Mark DrummondSeptember 13, 2014 8:14 PM Avengers #150-151 Steve Englehart has probably covered this on his site, but I think #150 and #151 were supposed to be one issue. Englehart was running really late with turning the story in, resulting in only 6 new pages in #150 and the partial reprint from #16 tossed in to fill the book. I'm guessing that Englehart only did 12 pages of #151, with Conway & Shooter scripting the rest(for example. p. 3 picks up directly from the last new page in #150, so Conway & Shooter most likely did p. 1-2). Max_SpiderSeptember 13, 2014 7:49 PM Fantastic Four #293-295 Having read some of Uncanny X-Force, Fantomex comments that some technology the Celestials use operate similar enough to devices found in the World that he is able to operate them. This would imply that either technology within the hyper-evolution atmosphere of the world advances into a state that could rival the Celestials or that Celestial technology was used in the World's creation. The principle behind the place IS pretty high-end. BUT, this might actually somewhat validate the hints seen through the chronology project that Apocalypse had an involvement with Weapon Plus (as per the original writer's intentions), considering that Apocalypse is an agent of sorts to the Celestials. Heck, his successor in Uncanny X-Force even attempts to use the World to further evolution! MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 7:43 PM Cloak and Dagger and Power Pack: Shelter From the Storm Cloak says he can't go to the New Mutants because the distance is too great. What's supposed to be the maximum distance Cloak can teleport? Westchester is only about 30 miles from New York. AbeLincoln1865September 13, 2014 6:57 PM New Mutants #75 How did I forget about that? To be fair they only saw Colossus and not the rest of the X-Men. Illyana might have told them about encountering Colossus before when she thought he was a zombie back in Uncanny X-Men #231. Now that I think of it, if the NM had told Magneto that the X-Men were alive while he was making his speech things might have turned out differently. I'm also sure Michael, that Simonson was intending for Magneto to suffer from bipolar disorder not MPD. In fact thats how he kinda ended up when Claremont was forced off the book. MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 6:20 PM New Mutants #75 Sorry if I posted to much but the reason why the New Mutants didn't tell him any secrets about the X-Men is that he was launching into a big speech about how he was always evil. After that, it's understandable that they didn't trust him. AbeLincoln1865September 13, 2014 6:01 PM New Mutants #75 What really confuses me besides that huge wall of text Michael posted is why the New Mutants didn't tell Magneto that the X-Men were alive. I mean doesn't that basically mean it took him until he encountered Rogue to learn the truth? I can understand that the NM were mad at him but this is pertinent information. Unless he found out during Inferno and I'm missing something. Mark DrummondSeptember 13, 2014 5:53 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 There are actually a few lines in ASM#149 that strongly sound like Warren was in love with Gwen. But yes, there are other lines in the very same issue that declare it to be "fatherly". That issue was a horrible mess. MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 5:15 PM Web of Spider-Man #50 "His son Randy yells at him, although it's not quite clear from what. Originally Joe was going to plead guilty, but his family convinced him to go to trial and fight. So now he's fighting. From anything we've seen so far, it's not his fault the trial isn't going well." MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 4:11 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 I think the idea is that the original Carrion had been awake for weeks when he came after Spidey, so he had plenty of time to find out Warren was dead. This one was only awake for a few hours. kveto from pragueSeptember 13, 2014 4:05 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 the original Carrion knew that Warren was dead when he came after Spidey, why wouldn't this one? (Rhetorical question, of course). Plus this Carrion was much wimpier, getting beaten in a single issue. It does make more sense to have Warren in love with Gwen. Makes him seem more nuts. fnord12September 13, 2014 3:49 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 Thanks Michael. Wonder why the MCP doesn't track her. MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 3:43 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #149 Cynthia Bernhammer should be listed as a character appearing. MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 2:53 PM New Mutants #75 I think that fnord's and my reactions to X-Factor 38 and New Mutants 75 illustrate something- a contradiction that not's explicitly explained is objective but whether or not the reader will accept the story is subjective. Fnord writes "the explanations given here aren't all that convincing or don't jive so much with what we seemed to see at the time" and " it's harder to square the things Magneto is saying with what we've actually seen". But I felt the same way about Maddie- that it was impossible to square what Simonson was saying with how Maddie had been portrayed. Fnord disagreed, but fnord WASN'T arguing that there weren't seeming contradictions or that I missed a line that explicitly explained them. Rather, he was arguing that the reader could infer or invent explanations from what we'd been told on the page. Erik RobbinsSeptember 13, 2014 12:31 PM Speedball #6 "There's nothing to tie it to the MU in the series itself, or is there?" During one of his parents' arguments in the first issue, Captain America is brought up (in regards to his wearing a mask), which COULD have been excused as a pop-culture reference if Speedball ended up being non-MU (but works better as part of the MU, Cap being fairly obscure until recently). That's the only tie I remember in the series itself and it's a really weak one. MichaelSeptember 13, 2014 11:22 AM Fantastic Four annual #13 Kurt Busiek had Wanda comment on that in Avengers 10 and attribute it to the magic of Wanda's house. Jake AmidonSeptember 13, 2014 10:47 AM Fantastic Four annual #13 I was also bothered in this about references to Agatha Harkness coming down from Whisper Hill. That was destroyed in (I believe) 184. fnord12September 13, 2014 1:36 AM Speedball #6 And thanks, Michael. I've added Nathan Boder as a character appearing. fnord12September 13, 2014 1:33 AM Speedball #6 Cross-posted with Walter's second comment. That makes a lot of sense, Walter, even regardless of when the scripting took place. fnord12September 13, 2014 1:31 AM Speedball #6 JSFan, i don't have any behind the scenes info on this book except what Walter says, that the character was an initially developed for the New Universe. It does feel like a backdoor pension project for Ditko, though. Walter, nothing in the series itself so far. Obviously the character debuted in the Amazing Spider-Man annual, but there haven't been any references back to that or anything else. Walter LawsonSeptember 13, 2014 1:30 AM Speedball #6 I wonder if there weren't however many issues of Speedball more or less drawn, scripted, and complete as of 1986, before the New Universe's launch. Shooter has said DeFalco blew a big budget and Speedball was all he developed. Maybe the money went into getting all these issues done in advance, only for Shooter to take the line in a different direction. It would slain why Roger Stern is here at a time when he wasn't doing any other Marvel work. Walter LawsonSeptember 13, 2014 1:23 AM Speedball #6 Is the absence of real villains down to this having been planned as a New U title? There's nothing to tie it to the MU in the series itself, or is there? fnord12September 13, 2014 1:19 AM General Comments David, seems like The Life & Death of Captain Marvel* TPB and (per a recent recommendation by Instantiation) Warlock by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection would be exactly what you're looking for. I think the stories will be so different from how it plays out in the movies that it won't spoil anything but still give you some extra background. *It may be cheaper to get the older "Life of Captain Marvel". The "Death" story takes place much later and just taking a quick look on Amazon it looks like it might be cheaper to buy the "Life" and "Death" books separately. On this site, those stories are mostly covered here, here, and here. david banesSeptember 12, 2014 11:36 PM Punisher #15-18 Don't know how I missed 'Mr. Lem...gets killed himself' even though I went looking for the fate of the Triads. TenzilSeptember 12, 2014 11:29 PM Speedball #6 When I met Mark Bagely about seven or so years ago we discussed Sppedball and he said that Steve Ditko wanted to call him The Blue Bomber. I don't recall, or didn't ask, who came up with Speedball. It may have been his co-creator Tom DeFalco. ClutchSeptember 12, 2014 11:21 PM Punisher #15-18 Yeah, I love how the Kingpin leaves the Triad hanging after they hauled his cookies out of the fire. I was hoping the gas would be lethal, though. I love these issues, but they're the last truly great ones from this series until Final Days begins. This arc reads like a good Schwarzenegger movie. High body count, a hero who leads with his head rather than actually use it, and an unflappable villain. Also, key supporting characters are nonchalantly killed off just when you're starting to like them, almost to drive home the point that Frank's war is a losing cause, especially when he reprises his scheme of taking down the Kingpin. I always thought that Vernon ("what do you mean Reese is dead?") Brooks was badass for being one of the few players to survive in the end, (his hesitation at taking out George nicely contrasts with Frank's unhinged nature) but he scores even more points with me for knowing when to quit after facing down the Kingpin in order to save Frank's sorry hide. The death of Conchita is unexpected, as are those of the young Reese and the teenaged Board. Frank is indeed culpable for Reese's death since he practically hustles Reese into joining up. Mike Baron does not kid around in these stories. And young George will indeed be back to stir up more mayhem during the Final Days arc. MichaelSeptember 12, 2014 11:20 PM Speedball #6 As we'll see when fnord reviews Captain America 352 soon, he's called Speedball in that issue. SSeptember 12, 2014 11:13 PM Speedball #6 It is kinda interesting that the comic is called Speedball, but the character never is, he's always The Masked Marvel. It's certainly an odd choice. Maybe Ditko hated the name? When does he actually get called Speedball, is it when The New Warriors starts? david banesSeptember 12, 2014 10:25 PM General Comments I've been wanting to read up on cosmic Marvel or really Captain Marvel and Thanos since it seems like Starlin was able to weave something of a completed story through out the late 60s and 70s. Then of course Thanos came back and we got the The Infinity Gauntlet from 1991. Still I worry if I read a story before the movies I'll be watching the movies and complaining the whole time while going the other way around works out better. Anyway, any book recomendations? david banesSeptember 12, 2014 8:52 PM Amazing Spider-Man #121-122 Also I believe Peter snapped Gwen's neck but truly it is the Goblin's fault for all this. Still, Goblin killing Gwen first then pretending she is alive just to sadistically mess with Peter certainly fits very well with modern Norman. Mark DrummondSeptember 12, 2014 8:39 PM Hulk #351-352 "Whully" and "Booly" are references to the 1965 song by Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs. MichaelSeptember 12, 2014 8:17 PM Speedball #6 Clyde also claims to be behind the Bug Eyed Voice, despite his lack of powers. MichaelSeptember 12, 2014 8:09 PM Amazing Spider-Man #314 Why is Flash alone and homeless in this story? One would think he'd be staying with Betty, considering that she destroyed his apartment. MichaelSeptember 12, 2014 8:04 PM Doctor Strange #3-4 I always thought it was anticlimactic to have Strange and Clea "married" just by donning some rings. MichaelSeptember 12, 2014 7:42 PM Fantastic Four #325 Kang says that for all the Surfer's power, he cannot travel through time. Actually he can, as evidenced in Silver Surfer 6. MichaelSeptember 12, 2014 7:32 PM New Mutants #75 Chris, what do you mean by "real time"? Because when we say that 24 takes place in real time, we mean that for every hour that passes for the readers, an hour passes for the characters. There's no set amount of time that it takes to read a comic. ChrisWSeptember 12, 2014 7:21 PM New Mutants #75 In addition to taking place entirely within the X-Mansion, this issue also takes place entirely in real time. That's an innovation I can't recall any other comic book (Marvel or otherwise) doing before. Not saying there weren't any, but I don't know about them. ChrisWSeptember 12, 2014 7:17 PM New Mutants #75 I know the Asgard storyline is coming up and obviously Brightwind plays a role there, but given how abandoned the X-Mansion had become, it's weird that nobody gave any thought to Brightwind once the X-Babies ran off to rescue Sam at the Lila Cheney concert. Magneto did create 'widgets' to tend the grounds (as seen in #48) and perhaps they fed Brightwind, but he's obviously devoting much less time to the X-Mansion these days. [And what's up with that? Illyana was most likely to serve the Hellfire Club's goals, but possessing one of the Valkyries' winged stallions is nothing? If Shaw knew enough about Illyana to complain that she was suddenly an easily-corruptible child, he would have known enough to ask where the Asgardian horse was and how it was doing. I'm blanking on where, but he'd compared himself to Thor at one point. How does Shaw keep track of his other industries?] ChrisWSeptember 12, 2014 6:47 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 It was never explicitly called "Battleworld" during "Secret Wars," but it otherwise makes sense as the sort of name the characters would have come up with off-panel, for the reason you give; it was a world specifically created for them to battle on. They could have arguably come up with a better name, but "Battleworld" would have made sense for both heroes and villains. "Battle" and "world" are both simple enough and accurate enough that most of them could have conceived of the idea. "I, Doctor Octopus, shall lead us to victory on this planet that has been created for the express purpose of fighting upon! (as soon as I get rid of Doom and reprogram Ultron.)" "Um, Doctor, sir, me and Marsha were wondering if you had any plans to get us out of the battle and off of this world? Just curious." "Hey Crusher, this geek wants to get offa Battleworld instead of smashing skulls like we should be doin'!" "Yeah, Battleworld rules! C'mon, Titania, let's do some non-Code-approved activities." Sorry, "Battleworld" makes more sense than "Secret Wars" (and actually sounds good as a title too.) If you disagree, I'll have to send Ultron to discuss things with you. ;) JSfanSeptember 12, 2014 5:55 PM Speedball #6 Why is this comic still going? I may have missed this during your reviews or one of the comments but is this comic done as a favour for Ditko? Maybe to help him pay rent or something. JSfanSeptember 12, 2014 5:48 PM Amazing Spider-Man #314 What's with all the insert panels, Todd? At least make them intersting or add to the storytelling. david banesSeptember 12, 2014 5:18 PM Avengers #3 It does look like a pretty good back up, adding some stuff that would come decades later, Pym being insecure and Tony's got a thing for drinks. Clyde September 12, 2014 5:14 PM Fantastic Four #325 You know Kang's weapon is powerful when it causes a "Kratz" sound effect. david banesSeptember 12, 2014 5:10 PM Avengers #1 There's something I like and dislike with these baby years of the Marvel universe. One hand: I kind of like this silliness like Hulk disguising himself as a clown. Other hand: action was less direct for the first year or two. Instead of Iron Man trying to hit the Hulk with lasers missiles or restraining him with brought strength he crafts a weird fork thing and tosses it. Then again Spidey's fights involved more melee with just Ock Ock and Sandman, Vulture and Chameleon were more crafty villains then that had to be caught. TCPSeptember 12, 2014 4:07 PM Marvel Team-Up #82-85 This is my favorite story from the original Marvel Team-Up -- tons of action and intrigue! It's a shame that Spidey and the Widow's relationship hasn't gotten much attention, and it'd be cool to see them looking back on this story someday, even if it's just in passing. clydeSeptember 12, 2014 3:59 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 Calling it "Battleworld" is just as big a problem as calling the event "Secret Wars". I don't recall it ever being labeled as "Battleworld". It was a world brought together specifically for them to do battle on. However, it was made up of numerous parts of different planets, including Earth. JeffSeptember 12, 2014 1:38 PM Uncanny X-Men #192 Yes, certainly don't ignore the time gap at the end of this issue. The X-Men Alpha Flight Mini does indeed occur between those panels. However, when it says "months" ... take that with a grain of salt, because while time does pass (more likely "weeks" or "a few weeks"), it may not be months. Because of Secret Wars I and II, The time passed between Uncanny X-Men 182-195 have to be roughly the same as the corresponding issues of the other SW I/II participants -- Avengers, ASM, FF, Iron Man, Thor, Cap, Hulk and PPTSSM. On the plus side of that argument, you have a title like Thor where a 12-issue story arc might take place over a weekend ... but then the next issue they don't tell you how much time has passed and you can use that gap to shove a year's worth of Thor appearances in. On the negative side of that is a title like ASM, where Peter's every movement is plotted carefully by every Marvel editor so there may not be room for down time, especially as he appears in 3 titles a month at this point. fnord12September 12, 2014 1:11 PM New Mutants #75 ChrisW, responding to the least substantial portion of your comments, Brightwind was shown in Excalibur #8, which i've placed before this issue, and i surmise that Dani sent him away before the start of this issue. Next issue we'll see Dani say "At least Brightwind wasn't hurt in the explosion. I'm so glad I found him." and then Cannonball says, "He found you, Dani." I appreciate your other insights; i just wanted to respond to the direct question! fnord12September 12, 2014 1:05 PM Punisher #15-18 Lem was the bigger Triad guy that the Punisher killed after he killed Conchita. George and the (unnamed, i think) other guy were knocked out by the gas that Punisher and Micro open their final attack on the Punisher with. George has a number of additional appearances. The Kingpin is kind of a jerk to the Triads when the gas is pouring in. They ask what they're going to do about it and the Kingpin says, "I shall don a gas mask I keep for such emergencies. I don't know about you.". david banesSeptember 12, 2014 12:45 PM Punisher #15-18 Hey what about Lem and George anyway? Are they taken out during the final assault? fnord12September 12, 2014 7:32 AM Silver Surfer #19-20 Thanks, Michael. The MCP doesn't list him here. I've added him. JSfanSeptember 12, 2014 5:22 AM Punisher #15-18 The art is a little stiff. On another note, I'm having trouble sympathising with The Punisher. When he recruited McDowell, a young kid, it makes me think he's a selfish SOB The Punisher makes it seem cool by telling him he'll be taking down Fat Cats and will have thousands of dollars in untracebale cash. He sounds like a drug dealer and he's putting him in extremely dangerous situations where he is likely to be killed, which is exactly what happens to him. At least Brooks and Ortiz are adults and know what they're getting into. I can't put my finger on why that particular part of the story sort of bothered me. It's not as if I'm fussed about Robin being a super-hero given his age. Maybe it's because McDowell had no physical training before joining The Punisher... gfsdf gfbdSeptember 11, 2014 11:27 PM Uncanny X-Men #206 I mean- I know the sexualization of Kitty is nothing new and all, but Mr. Ishima (judging by his Spider-Woman) appearances) is clearly 18 +. Was statutory just not a big deal in 1986? MichaelSeptember 11, 2014 10:51 PM Silver Surfer #19-20 The voice in the cave is eventually revealed to be the Contemplator Impostor, so shouldn't he be listed as a character appearing? Thanos6September 11, 2014 10:42 PM Fallen Angels #1-8 There's always been something disturbing about Gomi's backstory to me. His "friends" seem too abusive, in some vaguely disquieting way I can't quite put my finger on. MichaelSeptember 11, 2014 10:32 PM General Comments Dorrie looking middle-aged was weird- she last saw Johnny 8 years ago real time and she was 20 at the most then. So she still have looked like a young woman, unless she didn't take good care of herself. MichaelSeptember 11, 2014 10:30 PM West Coast Avengers #1 There's a difference between having horrible things HAPPEN to you and being crazy or evil. Wanda wasn't crazy or evil until Byrne. Thanos6September 11, 2014 10:29 PM Marvels: Eye of the Camera #6 Somehow it seems very appropriate for Phil to pass on just before Venom's debut. Thanos6September 11, 2014 10:17 PM Silver Surfer #19-20 Funny how you think of Reptyl as goofy; he's always struck me as rather creepy. ChrisWSeptember 11, 2014 9:43 PM Silver Surfer #19-20 Englehart was writing a long-form graphic novel here. Even at #20, the long-running plot about the Elders of the Universe from the first year is still going, and even Galactus is taking on different aspects with his (creepy) interest in keeping Nova and the Surfer apart. Nenora's plotline continues, Clumsy Foulup's is only getting started, and we haven't even gotten to the second Kree-Skrull War yet. The soap opera aspect [Surfer, Mantis, Nova, Shalla-Bal, the unfortunate appearance of Reed and Sue] helps the story thematically, and helps it make coherent authorial points, even if they're stupid [Nova 're-igniting' Firelord, with her buns fully drawn as we see here.] I'm not saying it's better than second-rate, but this is a far deeper story than most comics of the era could manage. ChrisWSeptember 11, 2014 9:22 PM New Mutants #75 I'm not being facetious about that 'artistically necessary' thing, by the way. The entire issue takes place within (what used to be) the walls of the X-Mansion. It's not like he can add buildings in the background, and I can't blame him for not throwing Brightwind's stable in somewhere. [Where was Brightwind during all this, by the way? Did further issues of "New Mutants" ever explain that? He must be hungry, since no one has been around to feed him after the mansion was abandoned.] He draws the destruction, he draws trees out in the distance, he draws the sky that most of the characters are looking up into, what else could he draw for a background? A flock of birds? johnSeptember 11, 2014 9:12 PM Alpha Flight #31 Maybe i'm a deadhead nerd but "Box" is an abbreviation that tapers use for the Dead song "Box of Rain" also the primary lyric writer for the Dead was Robert HUNTER..not sure if that was intentional ChrisWSeptember 11, 2014 9:07 PM New Mutants #75 I've never heard Harras was involved in the "mutant factions" aspect, but it's clearly an interest of Claremont's, who'd been suggesting the dangers of wars between mutants, and nations who utilized their mutants, for quite some time. Genosha is really the only place he explored this idea, but with this issue, it actually makes sense. Shaw's motivations make perfect sense, as one of the leaders of the mutant-industrial complex. He doesn't want war. He doesn't even want to rule the world. Profit is his motivation and that is best served by Peace. He's got his fingers in every pie. He got Magneto in the Hellfire Club (and by extension, the X-Men, the New Mutants, and Illyana, the one "potentially most likely to serve our interests,") the same people Magneto wanted to use to serve as *his* power base. But Shaw sees that Magneto's path leads to economic disaster for mutants as well as humans. His "racist zeal" blinds him to the "profit potential humans have to offer." Let them go their own way, and all of us be richer. Shaw still sees the big picture, that X-Factor, Apocalypse, Alpha Flight, the Marauders, Alpha Flight will grow in power, as will Genosha where he has major investments. Not to mention Project Wideawake, where he has major investments. Then there's that interest in Nova Roma too... He may be asking "Where is the danger to us in that?" and you could point out 'dude, right there' but it's not because he doesn't see the bigger picture. As poorly handled as Magneto's return to villainy is - I too prefer the era where he was genuinely trying to do the right thing after spending so many years doing the wrong thing - but this issue does a better job of setting up the different mutant factions than any part of Claremont's run. The weird part is, it successfully explains Magneto's transformation into Dean Wormer since Simonsen began writing. He *is* doing this for the New Mutants' benefit, both in this issue and for the overall "Cause He Serves." He wants them to learn from the experience and become better mutants [er, people.] It's also weird to see John Byrne drawing (post) Claremont characters in a story dealing almost entirely with post-Byrne Claremont X-titles. I doubt there's a connection, but the scans included certainly fit into the 'Byrne doesn't draw backgrounds' stereotype. Maybe he was rushed, maybe he wasn't that interested, maybe it wasn't artistically necessary, I don't know or much care. The worst I can say is it's a refreshing return to normality after Bret Blevins, but it's a shame Warlock is so minimized. You'd think Byrne could have thought of fun things to do with him. MichaelSeptember 11, 2014 8:53 PM Silver Surfer #19-20 Englehart has said that he planned to bring Thanos back in issue 23, which is probably the reason for the Starfox appearance. As it is, this arc appears pointless. david banesSeptember 11, 2014 8:20 PM Amazing Spider-Man #289 Oh man I love Spidey Kicks Butt. I think I'm glad I had the identiy of the Hobgoblin identiy spoiler years before I started reading his introduction. I think it's better to read the long essay on it than reading the issues since it became a mess. As for the blame game, well, I do like Defalco and I can understand why he'd dislike the twins thing but Stern was clearly not going for 'oh yeah he has a twin.' I believe Stern was going to leave clues and knew from the start there were brothers. It's a shame, I started reading of the Hobgoblin a few years ago, introdution and having one of his thugs pretend to be him, and they were great and showed a clear idea of plotting. At least Stern got the chance to set all things right years later. cullenSeptember 11, 2014 8:09 PM Punisher #15-18 Almost as bad as being persuaded by the Influencer, an entrepeneurial villain inspired by the works of Malcolm Gladwell. fnord12September 11, 2014 7:18 PM Punisher #15-18 As far as you know. Thanks, JSFan, fixed it. Seems i flipped the Punisher and Kingpin's names multiple times. Maybe i have been influenced by the Persuader. JSfanSeptember 11, 2014 7:14 PM Punisher #15-18 The Arranger had the Punisher under mind control not the Kingpin. TCPSeptember 11, 2014 6:41 PM Amazing Spider-Man #189-190 Not only is there implied infidelity in this issue, but there's also a mummy that is actually a werewolf in disguise. Awesome. Jay PatrickSeptember 11, 2014 6:07 PM Inhumans Graphic Novel Maximus is giving off a major Sam Keith/Kelly Jones vibe in those prison cell panels. TCPSeptember 11, 2014 5:14 PM Amazing Spider-Man #191-192 I definitely consider #192 to be one of the better post-Stan Lee issues, along with most of Wolfman's run. It's one of my favorite Jonah stories, and J.J. lamenting his cowardice in the face of death while also acknowledging Spidey's courage is a great moment of character development, something we don't see enough of with Jonah (though it also gives him yet another reason for continuing his irrational campaign). TCPSeptember 11, 2014 5:06 PM Amazing Spider-Man #196-200 Wolfman's ASM run is one of my favorite Spider-Man runs ever. After the stagnant Len Wein era, Wolfman comes out of the gate running, having Peter propose to Mary Jane, graduate college, and get cleared of his criminal record all in the span of 5 issues! But issues 189-200 are the ones I love the most. Spider-Man goes through a gauntlet of personal trauma and professional failures in these issues. Pathos runs high due to all of his suffering, and things come to a beautiful head in ASM#200, with the catharsis of Spidey getting a level of closure on the failure that started it all. The act of a powerless Spider-Man taking selfless action to save his Aunt when a fully-powered Spidey failed to save his Uncle due to selfishness helps to show just how far he's come in 200+ issues. fnord12September 11, 2014 5:01 PM Punisher #15-18 I flipped the names. "...if the Kingpin died...". Thanks for pointing it out; fixed it. Max_SpiderSeptember 11, 2014 4:56 PM Punisher #15-18 So the Punisher can at least console himself knowing that if the Punisher died a gang war would have broken out right? Can we get an explanation for that? JeffSeptember 11, 2014 3:40 PM West Coast Avengers #1 Not to get too off-topic, but to continue with the theme of the posts ... I often get annoyed with the "Englehart/Byrne/Benids ruined Wanda" argument because I whole-heartedly disagree. There are seeds of her eventual undoing in as far back as Stan Lee's and Roy Thomas' issues of Avengers. The mob that tried to kill her, the slavery at the hands of Magneto, the overbearingness of Pietro, the loss of her powers, the near rape by Arkon, the disappearance of Pietro in the Sentinel mound, followed by his rejection of her after her love for Vision is made clear ... that's a lot for a young woman to take, and all that happened before Englehart got his hands on her the first time. Then don't forget Englehart had her learn ACTUAL witchcraft to enhance her powers, and the "Knights of Wundagore" story where she was possessed ... I'm actually amazed the breakdown didn't happen sooner. Point being, she's always been depicted as a hurt/scared broken character, going back to X-Men #4, and that's why she's always been my favorite. StephenSeptember 11, 2014 12:52 PM General Comments Cullen, any MU appearance of Death's Head that shows him at Transformer size takes place before his interactions with the Transformers - he was shrunk down to human size immediately after his final encounter with them. Any appearance that shows him at human size takes place afterwards. Yes, fnord should cover Death's Head #8 & 9 (easiest way to get hold of them is probably volume 2 of the Death's Head graphic novel). But #10 takes place in an alternative future (the Machine Man / Iron Man 2020 one), so is clearly out of scope by this site's rules. Ataru320September 11, 2014 12:23 PM General Comments Clyde: Ultimately its no-win though: you want characters to remain relevant but rebooting universes takes away what made some of them so important or relevant in the first place; let alone places the emphasis on the factors of writers, the company, the fans, etc and who knows who will remain standing aside from those so strong in people's minds that they just will never go away. Having a shared universe is fine and it works in some respects but not others, thus leading to stuff like this. clydeSeptember 11, 2014 11:10 AM General Comments Ataru320 - the only other option is to do what DC did - restart their universe from scratch. Ataru320September 11, 2014 9:01 AM General Comments I was going to do this in Captain America 351's entry, but I think that's getting clogged with too much about current comic events so I'll just say it here: I think the most pathetic thing about this thinking over the ridiculous events of modern comics like "Original Sin" is that this is just an attempt to address realism and yet it doesn't address the sliding timescale at all. You can try to eliminate the original Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan just because of their ties to WWII (and because everyone wants Samuel Jackson Nick Fury like the Ultimate universe or the MCU), and yet other characters who fought in WWII or who have associations with specific events (the Punisher and Vietnam) can continue to slide along with new origins devised every few years or so (like, you know, Reed Richards and Ben Grimm). Likewise if a minor character is important enough, they can slide too while those who aren't can age normally (thinking of how Dorrie Evans can have children and be middle aged while Johnny Storm can keep reverting back in time). Honestly, you can't have it both ways, trying to address things that require specific moments of impact while letting anyone without said moments of impact keep going along with the sliding timescale. I get Marvel is a business and one where characters have to keep remaining relevant for them to make money, but to throw some characters aside and not others does feel more or less like it cheats us out from ideas that one person may like a character but they don't get to live or matter or be relevant because another writer wants to do something shocking to "change the status quo". It just shows how hard it is to associate with comics if there is a massive back history and a consistancy to be relevant to a modern reader. You can have it both ways but it cheats when they pull stuff like this. DamianoSeptember 11, 2014 3:12 AM Captain America #351 Thanks for posting this link. So Dugan was a suicidal robot all along! david banesSeptember 11, 2014 1:56 AM Captain America #351 I was just gonna say that after hearing some stuff about this Original Sin stuff kind of makes it weird looking at all these old Shield characters and stuff. david banesSeptember 11, 2014 1:55 AM Iron Man #238 I was joking and didn't mean to imply Tony was a rapist or something. Still...maybe all of his unbalanced or two-faced girlfriends should team up and make their own Sinister Six or something. fnord12September 10, 2014 9:22 PM Captain America #351 I think enough time has passed at this point that it's ok to talk about it in the comments. I'm sure it'll come up somehow when i get to the Nick Fury series later in 1989. TCPSeptember 10, 2014 9:17 PM Web of Spider-Man #40-43 "...it occurs to me that the Teacher is probably meant to be Middle-Eastern, not simply the victim of a coloring mishap or perhaps secretly the Purple Man." In one of these issues, Spidey calls Teacher a "reject from The Karate Kid," so I think Teacher is meant to be Asian and was the victim of a coloring mishap after all. Thanos6September 10, 2014 8:44 PM Iron Man #238 Well, by my own admission, I'm not really an Iron Man, I'm just spitballing here. :) Gary HimesSeptember 10, 2014 8:30 PM She-Hulk #1 Taking another look at this issue, it occurs to me it actually would fit better in the continuity of the INCREDIBE HULK tv series that was airing at this time rather than with the comics storyline. Not only was David Banner of the show an actual medical doctor (and not a nuclear physicist) but it would also explain Banner's line about being a "wanted man" with the police after him -- the tv Hulk was wanted in connection with the (supposed) death of David Banner and (actual, but not his fault) of Dr. Elaine Marks. The comics Banner was more the target of the Army than local law enforcement. My guess is this story actually started life as a spec script for the INCREDIBLE HULK tv series and then got adapted to comic form. Jon DubyaSeptember 10, 2014 8:23 PM New Mutants #75 "Magneto's moral ambiguity is summed up pretty well by the title given to him in this issue -- "The Grey King"" Yet that's another odd thing about this issue. Despite his new title promising "big" things to come, I think this the LAST time Magneto is part of the Hellfire club (which ironically enough became a plot point in a future issue of Captain America.) Kinda weird to set up a big status quo change for the Hellfire Club, and then let it fizzle almost immediately. MichaelSeptember 10, 2014 7:54 PM Iron Man #238 That might work for Kathy, who everyone tried to warn Tony about, but everyone liked Cly and Rae. And besides, Cly wasn't unstable when they first met- there's no way Tony's subconscious could have known that Cly's brother would die and she would go nuts. MichaelSeptember 10, 2014 7:47 PM Captain America #351 Here's a link to a scans daily post that shows what they did to Dugan. Beware- SPOILERS: Luis DantasSeptember 10, 2014 6:02 PM Captain America #351 It is spoilerish to the utmost. If you really want to know, google for "dugan original sin", that shall be enough. It does look a lot like something that will be reverted sooner rather than later, though. Jay PatrickSeptember 10, 2014 5:53 PM Captain America #351 Michael, dare I ask? What did they reveal about Dum Dum? Luis DantasSeptember 10, 2014 4:59 PM Captain America #351 That is true. In many senses, the continued use of John Walker is a sad portent of things to come. Jon DubyaSeptember 10, 2014 4:02 PM Captain America #351 I don't recall them ever really "redeeming" USAgent though. When he's transfered to the WCA, he's forced on the team and settles in nicely in his role as "the team rable-rouser and jerk". While his "heroic" qualities have a dollop of depending-on-the-writer, many recent books still play up Walker's antagonizing "ugly American" disposition. And of course, these days many "heroes" have committed as many atrocious acts as USAgent (Guess which overexposed ill-tempered ball of Adamantium rage is currently part of the team?) CullenSeptember 10, 2014 3:22 PM General Comments Don't do Death's Head like that! I hope you at least do issues 8-9-10 of his series (the Doctor leaves DH on top of Four Freedoms Plaza / he fights the FF for the first time / battles Arno Stark). If I understand correctly, Death's Head's recent appearances (in SWORD and Iron Man, at least) take place earlier in his own personal timeline than the DH series does. They may even take place before he interacts with the Transformers. JeffSeptember 10, 2014 2:24 PM Amazing Fantasy #15 Expanding on min's comment, Johnny and Peter are meant to be the same age, about 16/17, as are Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Angel ... Iceman, the youngest X-Man, was 16, while Beast was 18 (Xavier recruited him during his first year of college) ... Of the other youngish characters, Wasp is meant to be about 21, and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are approximately 20/21 as well (they are older than the X-Men but still young adults). Sue I believe is meant to be somewhere in her twenties, because a later flashback I believe establishes she was a young adolescent when Reed, Ben and Doom were in college. fnord12September 10, 2014 1:51 PM General Comments I'll definitely cover Age of Apocalypse. That's really just like the Kulan Gath saga in Uncanny X-Men #190-191 but on a larger scale, and it has real impact on the Marvel universe (e.g. Sugar-Man and Dark Beast). I will probably be brief in those reviews since it won't be important to cover all the ins and outs of the individual plots, but i'll definitely include them. I won't be including cross-company crossovers. Malibu's potentially a special case because Marvel owned them for a while, but i think legally they can't do anything with those concepts and there was never any impact on the main Marvel universe (e.g. the "Ego Gem" has pretty much been ignored). In any event i don't own those books and i most likely wouldn't make it a priority to include them even if someone convinced me that it was canon. As for the crossovers between Marvel's publishing lines where the intention was originally that they were entirely unrelated, my plan is to just cover where they overlap. So i'll of course cover the Starblast event but i haven't covered any the New Universe books. And i'll almost definitely cover Spider-Men (which has impact on Mysterio) and probably Hunger, but nothing else from the Ultimate line. And even stuff like Death's Head coming to the Marvel universe from Transformers, i'll probably just cover his actual MU appearances. This is different than, say, Squadron Supreme, which was introduced in Marvel universe books and frequently intersects. My goal is really to get as much of the proper Marvel universe documented as possible, and then i can go back and look for edge cases if i want. BerendSeptember 10, 2014 12:24 PM General Comments I was wondering what your plans are (If you already have any) for certain crossover with alternate universes. Like when the Juggernaut and a couple of nobodies ended up in the Malibu Ultraverse, or 616-Galactus's recent sojourn into the Ultimate Universe. And what about the Age of Apocalypse? Will you ignore it as an alternate universe, or not? And what about the specials that feature the history of the Age of Apocalypse universe? And, dare I ask, what about Avengers vs. JLA? SSeptember 10, 2014 10:39 AM Captain America #328-331 I like the comedy in the villain thinking "that does it. Now I've got to kill Cap" and then in the very next panel getting knocked out. Thanos6September 10, 2014 9:56 AM Iron Man #238 Alternatively, Tony's subconscious self-destructive tendencies kept leading him to mentally unbalanced girlfriends. TCPSeptember 10, 2014 9:15 AM New Mutants #75 Magneto's moral ambiguity is summed up pretty well by the title given to him in this issue -- "The Grey King" HarrySeptember 10, 2014 7:52 AM New Mutants #75 I agree with fnord here. I have a soft spot for Magneto's attempt at redemption, and it's not so much that it fails that irks me, but more this mess of a retcon that tries to say that he was evil all along, and the whole thing was one big trick (though, even then, there are some strange lines at odds with this here, such as Magneto's dialogue in the second panel of the tenth scan above, where he expressed hope that he could walk the path of peace, which squares with thought bubbles the character had a few years earlier during the start of his redemption phase). Much better to have it that recent events, coupled by his own growing sense of failure to his charges, could have had him reconsider his stance, and, again, some of the dialogue in this issue could be read that way...it really is a most schizophrenic work in ways! Plus he just lets the New Mutants go, and tells them they are always welcome at his side, which is a world away from ranty old Silver Age Magneto, who would either have bound their wills to his via Emma, or been all 'bah! Magneto has no need for such weak-willed followers!". Claremont sort of salvages his motivation later on, but, unfortunately, as the 90s go on he just becomes the Big Bad for the sake of being bad again, perhaps due to editorial mandate. Far better to have even a fully antagonistic Magneto be at least somewhat sympathetic to the X-Men, and be willing to work with them now and then against a common enemy, than have him want to crush them underfoot: likewise, Charles Xavier basically wiping him to a clean slate didn't seem in character at all, but probably fit the 'grim and gritty' 90s ethos. He even did it while wearing that God-awful suit that allowed him to walk which, I think, we never saw again afterwards? MichaelSeptember 10, 2014 7:39 AM Iron Man #238 David, have you ever met a man that had THREE of his girlfriends try to kill him in the space of a couple of years? It's just not plausible unless the guy is a rapist, which Tony clearly isn't intended to be. Thanos6September 10, 2014 1:58 AM General Comments Can't wait till you get to ATLANTIS ATTACKS. On the one hand, it's a fun, breezy story, perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon. One of ny favorite crossovers. On the other, some of the in-story continuity is awful (they can't keep the genocide of Atlantis straight). david banesSeptember 10, 2014 1:37 AM Iron Man #238 Oh c'mon being a playboy it wouldn't be that weird to have a bunch of former romances out for Tony's blood. JSfanSeptember 10, 2014 12:51 AM General Comments Fair enough. I have an idea on which writer you're not a fan of. :) Walter LawsonSeptember 9, 2014 11:32 PM Iron Man #238 Thanks, Michael, that actually exactly what I had in mind: Kathy, Cly, and now Rae, next thing you'd know Bethany Cabe would turn out to be Dr. Doom. There are clues in Rae's dialogue, but her affection for Tony seems genuine. Which means it would be something of a replay of older Madam Masque/Iron Man affairs. It's a retread in too many ways. Walter LawsonSeptember 9, 2014 11:21 PM New Mutants #75 Claremont gives Mags a few lines of dialogue with Moira in Uncanny 253 that kind of retcon what Magneto says here and does during Acts of Vengeance. Claremont also, in the 1990 X-Men Annual, has Wolverine tell Jubilee that Xavier trained the X-Men like soldiers, and I wonder now if Claremont wasn't responding to this issue. I actually like best the Magneto Claremont presents in reaction to his re-vilification. He's like a one-man reverse Thunderbolts: an ex-villain who has noble motives but present himself as a villain to do what the heroes can't and keep the hounds off their scent. The "mutant factions" thing was a big theme Harras wanted to develop for a couple of years. The Marvel Age Preview one-shot next year refers to it quite often, and you get scattered references throughout the X-books, such as in Uncanny when Alexei Vazhin catalogs the evil mutant factions to Val Cooper. He names Sinister, Apocalypse, the MLF, and the Shadow King. The Marvel Age Preview included both the Hellfire Club and a "renegade" branch if the Club led by Shaw. Jon DubyaSeptember 9, 2014 11:20 PM New Mutants #75 A bigger motivation might be that Byrne will use Magneto in his Acts of Vengence storyline (especially during his WCA run.) So I suspect that editorial influence played a bigger part in this than any misgivings Simonson had about Magneto. But even with all that, Weezie overreaches wildly with these revelations, once again complicating things with unnecessary retcons so a character is Evil All Along instead of just merely having an attitude/motivation change. I don't like just plain throwing intricate character arcs down the garbage (something that, ironically, continues with other Byrne issues down the road.) But this isn't as bad as the Madelyne retcons since Magneto WAS a villain before so this issue just disregards Clatemont's work on the charactet and restores Magneto's former status (with Ms Pryor, Weezie invented a NEW evil characteristic that then superimposed over previous portrayals.) Luis DantasSeptember 9, 2014 11:05 PM New Mutants #75 I'm not trying to defend Louise Simonson's writing, but there is something to be said for the convenience and wisdom of giving some of those dangling plot threads even a rushed resolution as opposed to keep dangling them. For good or worse, Claremont seems to have written himself and other X-Writers into something of a corner ever since he began to introduce so many ideas without properly handling them: Illyana as a master of demons, Madelyne as someone who just happened to be a dead ringer for Jean, Magneto as a face turn of sorts. And from all appearances, he simply wasn't willing and able of handling the situation after he lost control of the X-Factor crew and the New Mutants. I don't think the resolution was particularly succesfull, but it was probably far better than a later resolution would turn out to be. MichaelSeptember 9, 2014 10:59 PM Iron Man #238 Walter, I don't see how Rae-as-Madame-Masque would have been that bad. The clues are obvious in retrospect. The problem is that Dave and Bob tried to do THREE Tony's love-interest tries to kill him stories in less than 3 years (Cly, Kathy, Rae). It looks ridiculous. (Not as idiotic as Micheline's Spider-Man story where 2 unrelated people that have been stalking MJ at the same time wind up in the same room but...) MikeCheyneSeptember 9, 2014 10:54 PM Alpha Flight #66 I liked Razorback, really. Yeah, it's a goofy, goofy idea built mainly to capitalize on the CB angle, but I'm a sucker for heroes that are just sort of likeable goofballs. Walter LawsonSeptember 9, 2014 10:53 PM New Mutants #74 What's more, I think Harras is trying to differentiate mutant factions and missions now that Inferno has cleared the decks. We'll see the concept of Magneto as mutant messiah throughout Harras's editorial tenure, and the idea that Shaw is only interested in survival and power (through manipulation) is being restated. He thinks Magneto's mutant-rights overreach will jeopardize the Club's survival. I believe Harras, about the time he became editor, referred to the Hellfire Club as the most evil organization in the world that never does anything. It's certainly apt. MichaelSeptember 9, 2014 10:49 PM Captain America #351 Interestingly, in West Coast Avengers 42-43, Bobbi doesn't seem to know that SHIELD has been disbanded either and Hank talks about a virus jumping from their computer to SHIELD's. MichaelSeptember 9, 2014 10:45 PM Damage Control #4 I know that you don't track flashbacks fnord but there was a great debate at the MCP about when the flashback in this issue takes place. The problem is that Doug seems to know about the X-Men and Storm seems to have her powers but Kitty is present. Doug didn't learn about the X-Men until New Mutants 21, and by that time Kitty had left for the Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series. By the time she got back, Storm had lost her powers. MichaelSeptember 9, 2014 10:34 PM New Mutants #75 But fnord, there's an obvious explanation- Magneto is suffering from MPD. That's obviously what Simonson intended. How could you possibly miss it? fnord12September 9, 2014 9:18 PM Iron Man #238 Deadly Foes was definitely published after this. 1991. Luis DantasSeptember 9, 2014 9:16 PM Captain America #351 This _SO_ should have been Walker's final issue. If for no other reason, because it is so obvious that he hasn't really learned anywhere near enough to begin redemption. Although I would rather have Steve remain "The Captain" indefinitely. More striking visuals, and a nice permanent reminder of the dangers of unquestioned authority. Which goes to make the silly revelations of the next few issues that much more unpalatable. Thanos6September 9, 2014 8:53 PM Amazing Spider-Man #289 Call me crazy, but I think that in the long term, the whole Leeds fiasco actually benefited Kingsley's character. Once HOBGOBLIN LIVES cleared everything up, it established him as one of comics' most pragmatic and careful villains, a master manipulator who was intelligently cautious but by no means cowardly. I think that's responsible for his recent resurgence in popularity, both in the comics themselves and in fandom. This doesn't excuse what happened as it was happening, but it's funny how things can work out. MichaelSeptember 9, 2014 8:51 PM Excalibur #8 Walter, that's not the only problem. Walter hears Jean talking about how Nate is the son of a clone of hers. So she MUST realize that the woman she encountered was Maddie. Does she wonder if the other X-Men are alive? Did she read Jean's mind and find out they're alive? Is she keeping the truth from the rest of Excalibur? Luis DantasSeptember 9, 2014 8:50 PM New Mutants #75 This certainly looks like a rushed job, with obvious shortcuts like the triple headshot of Magneto at the end. Byrne's style in this issue, even considering Bob McLeod's inks, shows to be well halfway between his odd Starbrand pencils (he really drove that book to the ground at full throttle) and his somewhat new standard style, best realized in Next Men. The storytelling choices, particularly, are very much post-Superman and proto-Next Men. As for Byrne's motivations here, I dunno... did he ever give a hint of feeling that strongly about Magneto or his motivations? I seem to recall that he disagreed with making Magneto a half-hero, maybe he wanted to get back at Claremont by undoing that and at Shooter by being the one to participate in such a major turn? Considering the petty shots at Shooter that Byrne kept writing in this time period, that may well have been his motivation. RobertSeptember 9, 2014 7:49 PM New Mutants #75 Oh and I didn't like what I read so I didn't bother to continue with the title. I returned during the Cable/Liefeld era out of curiosity. RobertSeptember 9, 2014 7:45 PM New Mutants #75 McLeod's inks explain why this looks slightly different for Byrne, particularly the faces. Regardless, Byrne's art style had started to change at DC and would continue with his return to Marvel. By the mid-90s his art no longer excited me. The faces would start looking more cartoony and he would start drawing slimmer bodies on the male superheroes. But, at this time, he was probably my favorite artist and I would rush to pick up any book he drew. When I saw this issue of New Mutants on the rack I eagerly bought it, despite having dropped the title a few years before and not really caring a whit about it anymore. MichaelSeptember 9, 2014 7:43 PM New Mutants #74 I think the idea is that Shaw considers Magneto a hypocrite because at least Shaw knows that he's a bastard but Magneto imagines he's a hero. Vincent ValentiSeptember 9, 2014 7:41 PM New Mutants #75 Byrne had said at the time that Bob Harras had called him up to ask him to draw an issue of New Mutants. He first said that he didn't want to draw the New Mutants. Then Harras said that Magneto reverts to evil in this issue, to which Byrne replied that in that case, he'd make time. I saw some of the pencils once and they were extremely loose. You are mostly looking at McLeod's work here. MikeCheyneSeptember 9, 2014 7:36 PM Iron Man #238 Hammer will eventually create the Rhino's armor but that's not until he gets the original suit off in Deadly Foes of Spider-Man, which is after this issue, right? fnord12September 9, 2014 6:51 PM General Comments JSfan, to respond to your question, i've started a website where i'll review all my comics in chronological order. I've made it partially into 1989 so far, and i'll just keep going until i get all the way through, and then you'll have your answer. ;-) fnord12September 9, 2014 5:55 PM Out of scope I treat the Squadron Supreme like a pocket universe within the Marvel universe, so yeah i'll be covering that as part of 1989. fnord12September 9, 2014 5:22 PM Speedball #5 Sounds like Wanyas is right, then. I've added another scan of the two of them. I wonder if Mary Jo Duffy, who scripted that part, was in on the joke (and if she or Ditko named them Bliss and Huggins, if that was meant to mean anything). Jay PatrickSeptember 9, 2014 5:14 PM Speedball #5 I don't know about the rest of.the book, but in the above scan he looks exactly like a 1971 Stan Lee without his wig. In fact, he looks a lot like Funk Flashman, the Stan Lee caricature that Kirby did for DC. Walter LawsonSeptember 9, 2014 4:19 PM Excalibur #8 I guess Phoenix learns for the first time here that her mother's still alive (or her mother's alternate timeline counterpart, not to be confused with her mother's alternate timeline clone whom Rachel has also met without much fanfare), and it's not a very big deal. I'll put this down to Rachel's mind wipe at Mojo's hands--it's not clear what exactly he erased, but whatever he did maybe makes her less emotional about family than she was in her Uncanny days. Walter LawsonSeptember 9, 2014 4:10 PM Iron Man #238 I hate the "bio-duplicates" stuff, but Micheleinie/Layton's idea wasn't much better. (25-year-old cancelled plotline spoiler alert: it's Rae Lacoste.) Whitney Frost deserves to stick around, even if she hasn't been put to good use in many years. RobertSeptember 9, 2014 3:57 PM Out of scope Will you be covering the Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe GN? fnord12September 9, 2014 3:35 PM Speedball #5 I can see Bliss as Kirby, but I don't think Mr. Huggins looks anything like Stan Lee (including looking at other panels in the book). kveto from pragueSeptember 9, 2014 2:52 PM Captain America #351 This should have been Walkers final issue. He'd served his purpose and at least would go out on a sombre note. Bringing him back as US agent and trying to "redeem" him was a mistake. It also polluted the Captain costume. While not my favourite steve rogers identity, that goes to the Nomad, steve has some memorable stories in that outfit. it should have been retired as well. CullenSeptember 9, 2014 2:08 PM Captain America #350 I remember being very disappointed with this reveal - it reduced all motivation to conspiracy. And between the various parties, they all had very interesting concepts that were believable (as far as that goes). I wasn't yet to the point in my political development where I was a straight-up ULTIMATUM booster, but the idea that they were part of the Skull's machinations really let me down, even then. david banesSeptember 9, 2014 1:57 PM Iron Man #238 The way Stark defeats Rhino reminds me of how Spidey beat Rhino the first time in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, it was more with steam and overheating the guy in a tunnel. God I miss that cartoon. The hell is with all the stupid overly childish Marvel cartoons now? Wanyas the Self-ProclaimedSeptember 9, 2014 1:03 PM Speedball #5 Are the 2 guys after Rico supposed to be Stan Lee and Jack Kirby? Erik RobbinsSeptember 9, 2014 12:57 PM Solo Avengers #13 I guess that's what I get for going solely off of memory. It probably was a different circus. (Did Eden dress like Princess Python, or did I just pull that completely from nowhere? I think I just assumed that Eden was the Princess's real name.) david banesSeptember 9, 2014 12:53 PM Captain America #350 I remember asking months ago about the Skull and his face and this is where I feel they 'get it right' and make his face always a red skull. Now I haven't read this myself but I do understand the disappointment in making the Red Skull the one behind all this. Having the government putting Cap on a leash is a very grounded idea for conflict. Still I do agree with Thanos saying the Skull would having all these plans in motion at once. It has been such a long time but doesn't it seem like the crappy 90s Captain America movie borrows quite a bit from this period? I mean borrowing and failing. Luis DantasSeptember 9, 2014 11:43 AM Captain America #350 This storyline was certainly an improvement over the previous status quo of the Captain America call line, and had an interesting concept, but the execution was so flawed. Characterization, for one, is functional at best, with hardly any subtlety and some unfortunate choices. Of course, the worst ones are still to come, with the odd decisions to give John Walker the Captain costume (which I wish had been kept by Steve; it is far superior to the blues) and treat him as if he were an actual hero in WCA and beyond. That just made no sense whatsoever. Other than that, we could have had so much development of Nomad, Falcon, Flash-Smasher, even Battlestar, but that was just not to be. Even the nominal protagonists have just the broadest strokes of clear personalities and motivations. In the end, it is far better for concept than execution. JSfanSeptember 9, 2014 11:22 AM General Comments Hi fnord12, may I ask who you're favourite comic book writers, artists and story arcs are? Luis DantasSeptember 9, 2014 11:14 AM West Coast Avengers #41 That is certainly a valid reading. I believe he also appeared in a few crowd scenes - probably one when Captain America reestablishes the team somewhere later in 1989 IIRC, and at least one during Avengers Disassemble. Avengers Disassemble had a lot of people hanging around just to remind them that they were technically former Avengers, it seems. fnord12September 9, 2014 7:33 AM Captain America #261-263 Jon, that was an alternate universe story, but basically yes. Also, if you're not familiar with it, check out Captain America Annual #6. The set-up for that is what Stern was riffing on for the Corps story. fnord12September 9, 2014 7:30 AM What If? #4 Yes, thanks, Thanos6. Fixed it. DermieSeptember 9, 2014 12:55 AM Solo Avengers #12 (Yellowjacket) Jon do you mean Black Knight, rather than Fixer, for the "romance" with Yellowjacket? Because the Fixer thing is a continuation of his unwanted sexual advances towards her in Stern's run. As for the thing with Black Knight, there really isn't any reason (or opportunity) for it to have been referenced since then--it was a single kiss; they never had an opportunity for it to go further. It wasn't long after this before Dane got turned into a metal statue...and shortly after the curse was broken, Rita ended up travelling into the future to join the Guardians of the Galaxy. And after that she was killed. If Busiek had ever written Rita, he probably would have made some reference to it...but she was dead (which is why he didn't end up using her in THUNDERBOLTS). DermieSeptember 9, 2014 12:50 AM Solo Avengers #13 @Erik, it was not Princess Python that was teen Clint's first lover--it was a woman named Eden (as shown in Fabian Nicieza's short-lived HAWKEYE series). However, Ringmaster was the head of that circus...so I wonder if Clint worked with more than one circus in his career. @Kveto, audiences can be fickle--perhaps Hawkeye was the star of the show at one time (when he upstaged Bullet Biker), but by the time of his IRON MAN appearance the audience had moved on to newer acts? Steven PrintzSeptember 9, 2014 12:44 AM West Coast Avengers #41 Moon Knight destroyed his Avengers card in Moon Knight #50. He didn't take part in Operation Galactic Storm or any other mission. In Volume 3 #1 he makes a cameo but takes off without participating. He may have shown up at the time of Disassembled, but he didn't join any team. He only became an active Avenger again in Secret Avengers. Thanos6September 8, 2014 10:59 PM What If? #4 Should GA Human Torch be changed to Human Torch (Golden Age)? Jon DubyaSeptember 8, 2014 10:32 PM Captain America #261-263 Hey! Is this the same Ameridroid that was featured in Captain America Corps? Jon DubyaSeptember 8, 2014 10:26 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Yellowjacket) OK something been bugging me about Fixer and since he appears here, this seems like a good time to bring it up: why does Fixer seem so bulky here? I mean when we meet him in his "Techno" guise he's practically a twig. I mean I know that part of the Thunderbolt ruse was that they were suppose to look different, but Fixer's change seems more drastic than the others. Also, this "romance" between Fixer and Yellowjacket just screams "tacked on." I mean I don't think it ever been referred to before or since then (as compared to Whirlwind's oft-referenced "crush" on the Wasp.) Even Kurt Busiek ignored it and he LOVES these little continuity details. Thanos6September 8, 2014 10:24 PM Doctor Strange #32-37 I think the Dweller's point is that by this point, Strange thinks he knows all the big universal powers, their roles, etc. By reminding him not just of how much he doesn't know, but how much he DOESN'T KNOW HE DOESN'T KNOW, it severely rattles his confidence and throws him off. MichaelSeptember 8, 2014 9:50 PM Inhumans Graphic Novel The weird thing is that we'll see in Inhumans Special 1, (which is published in 1990, but probably was in the works before this story, since Vinnie Colleta did the inks) that Medusa only became a member of the Frightful Four because she was amnesiac following one of Maximus's schemes. So if that's what Medusa means by referring to herself as a "bad girl", I'm not sure why it's such a big deal that Black Bolt forgave her- after all, we've seen that Black Bolt blames himself for his brother's madness before. MichaelSeptember 8, 2014 9:38 PM Captain America #350 A lot of readers didn't like the idea that Cap regained his confidence by defeating Walker (a) five seconds after he got out of the hospital and (b) right after he exhausted himself fighting the Skull's goons. By Gruenwald's logic, Spit and Jet are two of Daredevil's greatest foes since they easily defeated a beat-up Daredevil in DD 260. Walter LawsonSeptember 8, 2014 9:38 PM Captain America #350 Byrne was Kieron Dwyer's stepfather at the time, which may be why he marks his MU return here. Or it's just a coincidence. This story seemed anticlimactic at the time, and it still reads like a rather hasty conclusion to the saga. Rockwell screws up, the Skull kills him in a way that telegraphs he's back, and the two Caps fight. Was the Skull's scheme so fragile it could unravel so quickly--and dud he really think revealing his existence, after concealing it so long, served any purpose? It's not like he had a great reason to be confident Walker would kill Rogers or vice versa. It all seems utterly ad hoc. Gru goes on to make the Skull an interesting villain, but his mission statement in this ish about American decadence doesn't develop into much, and all his schemes seem kinda pointless, if not as cartoony as in the old death-satellite days. Thanos6September 8, 2014 9:13 PM Amazing Spider-Man #255 The Black Fox is always a fun character for more light-hearted stories. fnord12September 8, 2014 8:46 PM Captain America #350 Not yet, but pretty soon. The Bloodstone Hunt begins with issue #357 and that has back-ups with USAgent. And then it goes into back-ups with Vagabond, Cobra, etc.. Jon DubyaSeptember 8, 2014 8:22 PM Captain America #350 I think what made the status quo change easier to swallow was that Steve Rogers was still a co-star in the book so we actually got to SEE how he dealt with the new situation, making it feel more like an organic story instead of some editorial mandate to boot him out of the book. Speaking of costarring... I know that for a while the Cap books start featuring backup stories relating to Cap's supporting cast and villains. Is this the issue where that format starts? Ataru320September 8, 2014 8:16 PM Alpha Flight #66 From what I've seen from this page, I can say that Mantlo was someone who was willing to try different sorts of things, even if some would consider some of his ideas more "novelty" or "gimmicks". Many of them endure: White Tiger (in a way), Cloak and Dagger, Rocket Raccoon, ROM and the Micronauts...but then again he also gave us things that just seem funny in respect like Razorback, Team America and the (vastly underrated and really needs more respect) Hypno-Hustler; heck even some stuff he did do with the mainstream heroes like the Hulk's pardon and then subsequent de-evolution back to savagry at least was something different. No Mantlo won't be remembered as a great but he probably to me is just a good idea man, and idea men have good and bad ideas that can stand the test of time. MichaelSeptember 8, 2014 7:53 PM Alpha Flight #66 Look at it this way, fnord- you've still got some Mantlo stories you still need to review, like Cloak and Dagger/ Power Pack- the Afterschool Special- I mean, Shelter from the Storm. MichaelSeptember 8, 2014 7:43 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Yellowjacket) I don't feel bad for Fixer. Look at the Mansion Siege arc- Yellowjacket only treats him badly because he gets grabby with her. He's a creepy attempted rapist that endangered a child. TCPSeptember 8, 2014 7:39 PM Amazing Spider-Man #301 The letters page of this issue printed some responses to Kraven's Last Hunt that slammed Marvel for "glorifying suicide." Jim Salicrup mentions that J.M. DeMatteis would be writing a follow-up story to deal with this issue. I'm guessing that would be "Soul of the Hunter," which wouldn't see print until 1992. Thanos6September 8, 2014 7:08 PM Fantastic Four #266-268 I do like the idea that while Reed may overall be the smartest, any of these guys can surpass him in their areas of expertise. There's one prose novel where even Doom grudgingly admits Octopus is his superior when it comes to radiation, and getting anything resembling a compliment from Doom is a feat in itself. Thanos6September 8, 2014 6:58 PM Captain America #350 I like the idea that the Skull is enough of a mastermind to have all those iroms in the fire at once. And every time I read the issue, I always feel sorry for those poor schmucks at the beginning. fnord12September 8, 2014 6:45 PM Captain America #350 Not counting his New Universe stuff (Byrne was drawing Star Brand in 1987), i believe that's the case. RobertSeptember 8, 2014 6:39 PM Captain America #350 Going by publication date, was this Byrne's first work back at Marvel since '86? CecilSeptember 8, 2014 6:37 PM Fantastic Four #1-10 It's a reminder that some of the most enduring characters and concepts EVER started out very rough, shored up with ridiculous and cliche elements, with some shred of soul picked up on by their creators (and their successors). I'm not sure any FF story in Supermegamonkey has ever gotten an A review. But creative people often times give up on their ideas because they can find every fault and hold every fear of an imperfect creation, and that desire to make the perfect genius thing straight off the starting line has left many protean ideas in limbo. Every professional creator I can think of has taken a chance that has clearly misfired in the process of creating a body of work hailed by fans everywhere. CecilSeptember 8, 2014 6:14 PM Marvel Mystery Comics #8-10 Well lately, I found myself reading FF Essentials #3 again, loving its breakneck pace and humor and potentially fascinating ideas...and then asking myself how does the Human Torch breathe at all, when fire consumes oxygen...and if he becomes a plasma body, where does his fleshly mass go? But I wonder if there isn't some place for wild, imagination-first stories...maybe when playing with kids :-D There is some little part of each of us who knows drawing whatever comes first to mind in a simple story is a degree of imagination our intellect tends to compromise over time...leaving many of us without the sense of play that exists in, and sustains, the creative person's mind. fnord12September 8, 2014 5:41 PM Daredevil #196-200 I could get technical and say that the Beast appeared in Daredevil #155-156 and #164, but that was as an Avenger. Using my character intersection search, it seems you're correct, this is the first time an X-Man appeared in the Daredevil book. JeffSeptember 8, 2014 5:34 PM Daredevil #196-200 Is this the fist time ANY X-Men appeared in Daredevil? I am hard-pressed to remember any previous encounter (although DD met the originals back in Avengers 111). TCPSeptember 8, 2014 5:23 PM Alpha Flight #66 I, too, really loved most of Mantlo's Spectacular Spider-Man run. It's a shame that what I've read of his other work does not stand up as well. Luis DantasSeptember 8, 2014 5:22 PM West Coast Avengers #41 @Steve Printz: I'm fairly certain you are mistaken. Roughly at the time of Infinity War Moon Knight was still receiving calls from the Avengers, albeit failing to answer them. He and Spider-Man even agree to keep in touch during "Round Robin" by Avengers communication cards. Alex FSeptember 8, 2014 4:17 PM Marvel Mystery Comics #14 (Terry Vance) Looks like Mr. Squirrel (I assume that's an alias) is mostly in the negative space between the birds on the left side of the page. His eye's just below Mrs. Goose (her married name)'s hat feather, the fur on her collar forms his tail. No sign of Mr. Donkey yet, but even after we find him it'll be revealed that he's aerospace mogul George Maxon, then that Maxon's a third reich imposter. MikeCheyneSeptember 8, 2014 4:13 PM Alpha Flight #66 Mantlo was never my favorite or even close to favorite writer (at the risk of being rude, was he anyone's?), and his Alpha Flight run sucked big time, but I (sort of) enjoyed his Spectacular Spider-Man and Hulk runs. They had obvious problems (scripting indeed was a big one), but taken as a whole, they were solid, enjoyable runs. I wonder if he would have worked on anything if he had not suffered his accident, and I'm glad he got a credit on Guardians of the Galaxy movie. kveto from pragueSeptember 8, 2014 3:41 PM West Coast Avengers #41 Now that's an awesome fill in issue. So many sub-plots dealt with and a fantastic battle to boot. It has so much going on but gives a lot of space for character and continuity. Makes perfect sense that Seth would go after Konshu. kveto from pragueSeptember 8, 2014 3:33 PM West Coast Avengers #40 good to see these teams collide. It would have to happen if they both operated in LA. And a logical reason for the conflict. Grunwald will revisit this plot almost exactly in a future Cap issue (even with Digger in the same role) kveto from pragueSeptember 8, 2014 3:30 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Yellowjacket) I'm with you, sort of torn on this issue. It was interesting to see the long sub-plot of Dane's crush on Jan resolved here and not in the regular avengers book. I did feel bad for the Fixer. Any guy who has been "friendzoned" can relate to his anger at seeing Yellowjacket crush on the hunk. It does make her "reform" seem really shallow. At least with Diamondback, they try to emphasize her rough upbringing. But it was a pretty funny issue, especially in showing that she made a better decision than Abomination, don't bother with revenge. kveto from pragueSeptember 8, 2014 3:24 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Hawkeye) I wonder why Hawk-eye didnt pull out that "Ultron-killer" arrow when the team meets Ultron in the future. I guess he forgot about it. I actually have less problem with Hawk-eye beating Abomination than Wonderman doing the same. Hawk has constantly shown that he is full of tricks and surprises and has used those tricks to beat opponents way out of his power range (Deathbird, the Collector, etc). He has more of a "surprise" element to his character, almost Batmanish in a way (who has defeated Superman with his tricks and cunning). Wonderman is just strong, and not as strong as the hulk. there's nothing that he has in his skill set that says he should beat an opponent as strong or stronger than the hulk. essentially wonderman just has muscles, no surprise tricks he could use. So unless the Abomination was having a bad day with Wondy, he should beat a lesser version of himself. kveto from pragueSeptember 8, 2014 3:06 PM Solo Avengers #13 I have trouble imagining an archer could upstage a motorcycle stunt rider. Dillon Zarro must have been pretty bad. In the first issue of Iron Man where Hawk-eye appeared, the crowd didn't think much of Hawk-eyes archery. they were calling for the dancing girls. I don't like the idea that Hawk was the star of the show. the whole reason he became a hero was for attention david banesSeptember 8, 2014 1:41 PM Fantastic Four #266-268 I remember hearing of the Ock story years ago I figured it happened later in the decade when Ock was scared of Spider-Man for a while since Ock never struck me as having a docile side. This take place when Ock was scared of Spidey doesn't make much sense either since he wouldn't go berserk. Some day I'm gonna read the Byne run. fnord012September 8, 2014 12:16 PM Thanos6September 8, 2014 12:11 PM Fantastic Four #266-268 Please! Thanos06 is my prototype! I'm the one TRUE sixth clone of Thanos! ;) fnord12September 8, 2014 12:08 PM Fantastic Four #266-268 Thanks, Thanos06. Thanos6September 8, 2014 11:38 AM Fantastic Four #266-268 You should add Charles Jefferson as appearing here. BUSeptember 8, 2014 9:57 AM West Coast Avengers #40 ...It was obvious at the time if you'd been following Cap's book... TCPSeptember 8, 2014 9:16 AM Amazing Spider-Man #240-241 I remember reading an interview with Roger Stern where he called the Vulture the perfect Spider-Man villain, due to the conflict of old age and sneakiness vs. youth and determination. Thanos6September 8, 2014 8:26 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #55 This story raises an issue I'd love to see explored more. What do you do when you have a villain who is just flat out too dangerous to give a constitutional trial to? The kind where the only way to keep him restrained is to keep him unconscious. As soon as he wakes up, BANG, he's out of there. Thanos6September 8, 2014 8:15 AM Quasar #1 I'm not going to lie. QUASAR is, without a doubt, my favorite comic series. Ever. By anyone. fnord12September 8, 2014 7:41 AM The Incredible Hulk and the Thing: The Big Change (Marvel Graphic Novel #29) Jonathan, just a running joke. :-) fnord12September 8, 2014 7:36 AM Solo Avengers #13 Confirming that the scans are a pretty accurate representation of the colors and Dermie's right that Bullet Biker is only purple because of the tinted glass. I try to avoid splitting up books whenever possible. It's unfortunately not possible a lot of the time with Solo Avengers, but in this case it was. @Erik, a Secret Wars of the Carnies oneshot continuity insert seems inevitable. Erik RobbinsSeptember 8, 2014 12:36 AM Solo Avengers #13 Anybody else at that circus? I believe Princess Python was for a time, and she was, um, "dating" a teen-aged Clint. Jay DemetrickSeptember 8, 2014 12:18 AM Avengers #219-220 As we discover in The (New) Defenders, it just self-delusion but also the whisperings of the Dragon of the Moon in the back of her mind that warped her decisions. Jonathan HamiltonSeptember 7, 2014 11:01 PM The Incredible Hulk and the Thing: The Big Change (Marvel Graphic Novel #29) I think that the worms were Vegan as in from a world called Vega. DermieSeptember 7, 2014 10:34 PM Solo Avengers #13 Between the "show me what you've really got in that quiver" line by Gayle, and Black Knight's "polishing the old Ebony Blade" line in the previous issue, SOLO AVENGERS certainly seems to have the most sexual innuendo in the Avengers line! DermieSeptember 7, 2014 10:29 PM Solo Avengers #13 Bullet Biker looks purple in those scans due to the tinting on the windshield of his van--when he steps out of the van, you see his normal skin tone. Jon DubyaSeptember 7, 2014 10:26 PM Solo Avengers #13 Is there something wrong with the coloring in this issue, or is it just like that because of the scans? Because that biker guy looks like Purple Man in those shots. Also, I thought these Solo Avengers stories were treated as separate entities? Steven PrintzSeptember 7, 2014 7:50 PM West Coast Avengers #41 Moon Knight would not be an Avengers again until the first volume of Secret Avengers in 2010. Tigra goes back to the WCA, giving them five members. fnord12September 7, 2014 6:54 PM West Coast Avengers #41 Thanks, Michael. Revised the entry regarding Cheops. MikeCheyneSeptember 7, 2014 6:52 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Yellowjacket) According to the Marvel Appendix, the Fixer will use the robot again in the first Thunderbolts issue. MichaelSeptember 7, 2014 6:46 PM West Coast Avengers #41 It's not Seth that thinks the "even him" line but one of his minions, a General Cheops. It's also Cheops who sends the minions after Khonshu, because he's afraid Khonshu will stop their plans. RobertSeptember 7, 2014 6:29 PM Solo Avengers #13 I swear I had an action figure that was virtually identical to Bullet Biker. It was either a later generation Cobra pilot or from one of those generic G.I. Joe knock-offs. Luis DantasSeptember 7, 2014 4:43 PM Doctor Strange #1-2 Bringing the Wings of Needless Sorrow back to our attention at this point was probably meant to tease the possibility of Doc falling down into the abyss again. MichaelSeptember 7, 2014 4:10 PM West Coast Avengers #40 The Official Handbook makes it clear that Misfit was one of the Power Broker's mutated failures that the Night Shift rescued in Captain America 330-331- it would have been nice if this had actually been stated in the story. fnord12September 7, 2014 3:32 PM Solo Avengers #13 Oh, ok, thanks. I saw the MCP gave Trick Shot a BTS appearance for this issue and made a wrong assumption. MichaelSeptember 7, 2014 3:28 PM Solo Avengers #13 I don't think we ever found out who Bullet Biker's boss is but in later issues, Trick Shot tries to protect Clint from Bullet Biker, so it almost certainly isn't Trick Shot. fnord12September 7, 2014 3:20 PM General Comments Thanks Clyde. I tagged it with the wrong year category, so it showed up in 1989. Fixed now. clydeSeptember 7, 2014 3:14 PM General Comments FNORD - you have the second story about Yellowjacket in Solo Avengers 12 as a pushback in the 1989 section. However, you actually have it placed at the beginning of 1989 in that year's section. MichaelSeptember 7, 2014 2:46 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Yellowjacket) According to dcindexes, Solo Avengers 12 and Avengers Annual 17 came out the same week. Cringe WorthySeptember 7, 2014 2:38 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Yellowjacket) "Polishing the old ebony blade?" Good grief! MichaelSeptember 7, 2014 2:31 PM Solo Avengers #12 (Hawkeye) Fnord, I think the problem is less this issue than the way the whole "Bobbi killed a man who raped her" plotline was handled. We started out with Bobbi lying to Clint about having killed a man that raped her. Then, in issue 32, we have Bobbi endangering innocent people by freeing Yetrigar and almost crippling or killing a man who only attacked her when mind-controlled. Then Clint finds out about Bobbi killing the Phantom Rider, but it's not clear if he finds out about her actions in issue 32. Then Bobbi splits off a "kill squad" from the Avengers but they don't actually kill anyone (Stack might have died when the High Evolutionary blew up his headquarters to stop them but that's on the Evolutionary) and in issue 41, Bobbi goes out of her way to keep Greer from killing some of Seth's goons. This issue is no more or less incoherent than the whole storyline. If Clint is angry about Bobbi killing the Rider, then his self-righteousness in this story makes no sense but if he's angry about Bobbi almost killing the Phantom Rider's descendant or he thinks her squad killed some of the Evolutionary's goons, than he's got a legitimate point. JSfanSeptember 7, 2014 2:27 PM General Comments Ignore that last comment. I think It only ran for 2 issues. JSfanSeptember 7, 2014 2:19 PM General Comments Solar Man. DO you plan on reviewing that character? david banesSeptember 7, 2014 1:05 PM Speedball #5 A rat mask? What is this Hotline Miami now? fnord12September 7, 2014 10:01 AM What's Missing Thanks, Michael. Listed it. MichaelSeptember 7, 2014 9:07 AM What's Missing Thor:Blood Oath is a limited series that is supposed to take place in Thor's Journey into Mystery days after Thor first encountered the Absorbing Man but before Jane Foster left. (I say "supposed to" because your head will explode trying to fit it in.) Walter LawsonSeptember 7, 2014 3:00 AM Uncanny X-Men #189-191 My guess is that if Sonja has to return when Gath does, she's represented here mosby Selene but by the redhead Arilynn. She doesn't take on Sonja's form because, unlike MJ in MTU, she doesn't get Sonja's sword. But the way Claremont likes to do reincarnation/descendant stories, I suspect MJ and Arilynn are both Sonja in some sense. The first Marada tale certainly looks like it was going to be Claremont's story of how Sonja met and killed Gath--there's an evil wizard in the story that's a dead ringer for him. I don't think Claremont got around to showing Selene's history with Gath, but you could try a fan-fix relating Selene all the way back to some of the sorceresses/goddesses in Gath's first appearance in the Thomas/BWS Conan. I'm curious as to why Claremont (or Byrne) chose Gath of all the possible Conanan wizards to feature in MTU. ChrisSeptember 7, 2014 1:28 AM Quasar #1 I have mixed feelings on the Quasar series. There are some good ideas and moments, but the character and title never really connected. Gruenwald is really fighting the general trend of dark and gritty in the era with Quasar, and it is interesting artifact because of that. Alex FSeptember 7, 2014 12:55 AM Power Pack #44 These memories are from 1989 but I'm pretty certain we see the possessed dentist from Daredevil (who was literally torn limb from limb) and some of the people eaten by the Empire State Building's elevator alive again. Maybe the editors or creators wanted to walk back the really extreme violence of Inferno. Alex FSeptember 6, 2014 11:57 PM X-Factor #39 I graduated from Transformers & GI Joe to the X-books with Inferno and I read this particular issue so much I think it may have fallen apart. Seeing you guys raise your intelligent and reasonable points sure takes the shine off that apple. At least the art's still great. That's one thing about Inferno, we've got Silvestri, Simonson, Bogdonove, Romita, and the Buscemas. Even with rushed schedules and bad inkers all these scans look pretty great to me, especially considering the dark age that was fast approaching. Luis DantasSeptember 6, 2014 11:50 PM Quasar #2-3 It is possible that Gruenwald was subtly drawing inspiration from Lensman (which is a clear inspiration for the Green Lantern concept). The Lensmen were of varied species and their Lenses were specifically stated to "fix" their respective weaknesses - for Humans, that meant giving them awesome telepathic powers. Maybe the Bracelets are part of the reason why Quasar is so much more confident after meeting Eon, and they similarly made the Elan more serious, the Space Phantom more ethical, etc. fnord12September 6, 2014 11:26 PM Quasar #2-3 Yeah, Dormammu mentions the Elan as one of several races that had "that power which was given to mankind" but there aren't any actually in that issue. And it's a little unclear what the power is, exactly, and if Peter Gillis really meant the Enfant Terrible Elan or was just making up names like he did for a number of other races and it was just a coincidence. BUSeptember 6, 2014 11:22 PM Venus #18 Gruenwald did a series of "Tales of the Marvel Universe" backups in issues of What If that laid out a lot of the pre-history of the Eternals, including the origins of Kronos and going into this stuff, as Michael mentions. It was published years previous to Quasar. Jay PatrickSeptember 6, 2014 11:07 PM Quasar #2-3 fnord... I thought that may be the case but I followed the link to the Doctor Strange issue you posted and I didn't see anybody that looked like him, so I assumed you were referring to someone else. Luis DantasSeptember 6, 2014 10:33 PM Quasar #1 Maybe Mark Gruenwald felt the need to give a better send-off to the New Universe and to the Star Brand? I know I did. ChrisWSeptember 6, 2014 10:23 PM Amazing Spider-Man #3 As a counter-example, Batman (who does have a great rogues gallery) didn't spend decades obsessing about what Joe Chill did to him. He mourned his parents, and obsessed about that. They were killed by a criminal, so he fought crime, end of story. A year later, he gets a teen sidekick whose parents were also killed by a criminal, and wants to fight crime, end of story. Thus Batman, Robin, and their rogues gallery became the great characters that they are. It was a simpler time. By contrast, it's only vaguely established in "Amazing Fantasy" #15 that Peter Parker's actions led to his uncle's death. Read the actual story, it's a simplistic short tale only slightly removed from any other superhero story at the time. The basics are there, but not established in any way we can recognize. It's only built on in later stories ("Amazing Spider-Man" #1, where the first panel is Peter throwing away his Spidey costume for causing him nothing but pain; "Amazing Spider-Man" #2 where Aunt May gives Peter Uncle Ben's old camera, and he thinks it's a good way to help pay the bills.) Reading the first six, twelve, twenty-four, thirty-eight, fifty or seventy-five issues of "Spider-Man" is what reinforces why Spidey fights crime. This is worlds away from explaining why Batman or Superman fight crime, or even the Fantastic Four (who explore strange new worlds and the villains there) or the X-Men (who have to fight other evil mutants.) Walter LawsonSeptember 6, 2014 10:13 PM New Mutants #32-34 There's an African Queen named Ashake in Claremont & Bolton's Marada the She-Wolf GN. Marada herself, given her personality and silver hair, seems like a probable Storm ancestor. The Ashake in that take is younger than this one, doesn't have silver hair, and isn't a sorcerer, so any connection is only speculative. fnord12September 6, 2014 9:59 PM Thor #391 Thanks, TCP. ChrisWSeptember 6, 2014 9:54 PM Amazing Spider-Man #3 I would also agree with that, with the caveat that it's not so much that the villains themselves are better, it's that they're generally appearing in better comics (or at least a better shared universe) than other villains. And by objective standards, no, the Marvel heroes didn't have great rogues galleries. The guy who killed Uncle Ben was noteworthy for his effect on the hero and supporting cast years later, and he was a nameless thug in a short story. Given the amount of light and dark Stan, Jack and Steve introduced to the characters in their shared universe, it's not surprising that even the stupid villains [and sorry, but the Enforcers are stupid] are much more acclaimed by fans over the last half-century than the crooks showing up in contemporary DC comics at the time. Even the Enforcers had to be a credible threat to Spider-Man, and work with his other rogues gallery [Sandman, Green Goblin] in a scheme that would fit in with Spidey's life at the time. I have literally never read a comic book where Hawkeye was the villain, but I've read dozens of them where he was the hero, and it's still cited that he started out as a villain. I'd swear I've read a comic where Black Widow was the villain, but have no idea what comic that was, and she falls into the same category. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, later Rogue and Magneto, one of the greatest things to say about the Marvel Age is the depth of characterization that made compelling stories that weren't so clearly about hero vs. villain. And by the way, after some thought, I would also add Dormammu, Galactus and arguably the Kingpin to the list of villains whose debut lived up to the scale of their villainy. We're talking about a world where J. Jonah Jameson scores higher on the villainy scale than most of these costumed twerps, even as of "Spider-Man" #38. TCPSeptember 6, 2014 9:47 PM Thor #391 Published date for this one is currently May 1989, but I think it should be May 1988. fnord12September 6, 2014 9:15 PM Quasar #2-3 Thanks, Clyde. I was thinking of Tomar-Re, but he turns out to be pretty different looking than Eon's former fishman Cosmic Protector. clydeSeptember 6, 2014 8:44 PM Quasar #1 "Marvel was in an expansionary phase, and the "decision was made to pull the plug" on the New Universe," - too bad they had to bring the star brand back from the "New Universe" in this title. That really messed it up towards the end of the run, IMO. clydeSeptember 6, 2014 8:33 PM Quasar #2-3 FNORD - The Green Lantern you're thinking of is Tomar-Re - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomar-Re fnord12September 6, 2014 6:50 PM Quasar #2-3 Enfant Terrible = Elan. MegaSpiderManSeptember 6, 2014 6:45 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 The way the panel of Wolverine lighting the cigarette looks, it looks like he turned into Batman for a split second. Jay PatrickSeptember 6, 2014 6:22 PM Quasar #2-3 That's what I thought as well, James. And next to the Shi'Ar is an Enfant Terrible. fnord12September 6, 2014 6:16 PM Quasar #2-3 Added Kayla, thanks. Good call, James. That's definitely what he is. And i see that his race has never been named. If another of his species wasn't shown in that panel, i would have assumed that Starbolt was an enhanced Shi'ar, but i guess this confirms that he's from another species. fnord12September 6, 2014 6:09 PM Speedball #5 And Basher is literally just a guy in a mask that throws stuff at cops. I've added character tags for both and an image of Basher. James MSeptember 6, 2014 6:03 PM Quasar #2-3 Presumably the guy to the right of Mar-Vell in the Cosmic Protectors panel is of the same race as Starbolt, of the Imperial Guard? MichaelSeptember 6, 2014 6:02 PM Speedball #5 And no picture of the Basher? Come on, we also see him again in New Warriors 66, where Clyde also implausibly claims to be behind him. MichaelSeptember 6, 2014 5:59 PM Speedball #5 The Two-Legged Rat appears again in New Warriors 66, where Clyde claims to be behind his origin. How? He has no powers, he's just a nut that hates cats. MichaelSeptember 6, 2014 5:53 PM Venus #18 The Uranian Eternals' origins were previously revealed in a backup in What If 26. Ataru320September 6, 2014 5:15 PM Quasar #1 And thus he heads off to join an amazing adventure...with a roller skater, a vampish spy and the Texas Twister. (yeah, somehow the origin makes the fact he ends up with the Super Agents all the weirder) MichaelSeptember 6, 2014 5:12 PM Quasar #2-3 You left out Kayla Ballantine as a character appearing. fnord12September 6, 2014 4:28 PM Venus #18 Belatedly responding to ParanoidObsessive, i just finished a review of Quasar #2, and that seems to be the first time this is all laid out in a comic (as opposed to a Handbook). TCPSeptember 6, 2014 3:54 PM Marvel Fanfare #1-2 Ah, I had wondered if that was what you meant. Don't know if I'd call that form a "giant spider" per se, but 8 limbs is enough! fnord12September 6, 2014 3:47 PM Marvel Fanfare #1-2 I was referring to Amazing Spider-Man #101. TCPSeptember 6, 2014 3:37 PM Marvel Fanfare #1-2 "Spider-Man, perhaps since he's mutated into a giant spider before, is able to regain some control of his mind..." When did this prior mutation occur? Luis DantasSeptember 6, 2014 11:49 AM Fantastic Four #242-244 "The Infinity Spoon", anyone? Johnny would need a lot of help to eat a whole planet. Not to belittle him, but he would. fnord12September 6, 2014 10:31 AM Fantastic Four #242-244 Thanks, Cecil. Yeah, if Ghost Rider showed up instead of Galactus in the cartoon that would have been a different story entirely. CecilSeptember 6, 2014 9:24 AM Avengers #273 Why thank you! I agree with the pitch-perfect villain voices. A terrific novel demands as many uniquely-developed support and antagonistic characters as possible, and if we are talking about comic books that stand well as literature, they need that, too. I think most average grade comics discussed here don't honestly pass that litmus test, which is hardly surprising under the duress of commercial production. Other comics may contain memorable art or interesting concepts; the average ones usually don't align the full possibilities therein, or re-tread plots and don't break new ground as to our knowledge of the characters (or, the more subjective problem, takes them in shallow or confusing directions). The forethought that went into the characterizations adds up to Stern's tour de force in comics. A head-on melee between teams might have had a certain adolescent fascination (I certainly wanted MORE of that in Secret Wars as a child), but what you learn about everyone as people, via actions and interactions, gives this arc its head-and-shoulders above stance. CecilSeptember 6, 2014 7:42 AM Fantastic Four #242-244 I think the DD/Spidey thing distracted your readers from noticing "it's Ghost Rider who shows up instead of Galactus" in the '90s cartoon, because from context, I believe you mean "i/o Dr. Strange." The costuming debate's very much on my mind as I design Not Another Comic Book and settle on where it should draw the line for the sake of good storytelling and still reflect an enlightened sexual viewpoint AND its unconventional cast. Greatly enjoy your cyber-comics boxes, Fnord. CecilSeptember 6, 2014 7:22 AM Defenders #110 I can't seem to find an earlier inter-racial marriage. 1st kiss I believe goes to Iron Fist and Misty Knight, depending on your ethnicity index for Cleopatra :-D My Emmy-winning video editor friend Joe Braband has a fantastic resurrection pitch for Devil-Slayer in a story, but he's actually come back several times. We wanted to post him in a Mexican mental health clinic and bring back Vera Gemini. Oddly, Payne was in the first Marvel Team-Up I ever bought. I sneaked the fifty cents out of a church collection plate. Never again. CecilSeptember 5, 2014 11:32 PM Avengers #219-220 I squeezed my old comics until they became diamonds, too. And good for you, Drax; you came back as a pretty awesome character! Still uber-serious and a bit mad with grief and vengeance, as per his original incarnation. He felt a lot more like the Yondu I knew than the also-pretty-cool present/ movie iteration. CecilSeptember 5, 2014 11:15 PM Giant-Size Fantastic Four #2 Time Enough For Love was the Nebula-nominated "Best Novel" published by Robert A. Heinlein the year before, giving us Ch. 4's reference. The erudite name-dropping, like the occasional use of quotes of enduring writing (a point Morrison makes in Super Gods), doesn't elevate the plot by itself, yet, like any D grade comic reviewed, somebody probably cherished this issue. It's too bad you can get this professionally-made yet "meh" period of serial super-heroes, but really off-the-wall inventiveness like Fourth World and OMAC over at the Discombobulated Competition (or Jungle Action) couldn't catch traction. (I like that sentence, I think I'll leave it there.) david banesSeptember 5, 2014 11:08 PM X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4 Yeah those are Claremont things, Mantlo is the one that can tell entertaining stories but has an issue with women and mental illness. Somehow the way he writes those two rubs me worse than other writers from even further back in the day. MichaelSeptember 5, 2014 10:40 PM X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4 I meant more like Claremont than Mantlo. MichaelSeptember 5, 2014 10:39 PM X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4 But teenage girls being sexually violated, the body swapping, etc.- all those elements seem more like Mantlo than Claremont. Gary HimesSeptember 5, 2014 9:41 PM Avengers #219-220 Even if she's part Kree or the result of some type of genetic manipulation, Moondragon still doesn't fit the requirements for being a "goddess". She's deluded herself into believing she's something she is not. Oh, and that hairdresser isn't gay, he just likes to do his Gollum impression for customers. Gary HimesSeptember 5, 2014 9:31 PM Captain America #270 Some elements of Arnie were incorporated into the Bucky character in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. Walter LawsonSeptember 5, 2014 9:27 PM X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4 It may very well be mostly Mantlo's plot and Claremont's script. Claremont has done rather a lot of scripting other peoples' stories, even in Uncanny--think of that stray issue (228?) that DeFalco plotted and Claremont scripted. Also, given the Marvel style of comic creation--plot, pencils, then script--it might make sense if the Micronaut writing/art team does their thing, then turns it over to Claremont to script. Presumably Claremont would have had plot input, too, but the basic plot-art could be handled by the Micronauts guys. If I were Marvel, I'd also rather pay for a Claremont script than a Mantlo one; that may indeed be why Claremont wound up doing so much script-only work at various times in his career. (Infamously, his resignation from Uncanny came after Harras told Claremont he only wanted him to script. That's evidently what editorial saw as Claremont'smain value to the company. That Harras would even propose such a thing suggests that in other circumstances Clatemont 'twas willing to accept that kind of deal.) david banesSeptember 5, 2014 7:45 PM Captain America #270 " So he rushes downstairs, the monster is distracting," I heard about Arnie and this story. I did wonder if it'd be a bit stereotypical ,82 after all, but ultimately well meaning since I heard Cap accepted his friend. The Navy thing isn't really a big deal and it looks like a really thoughtful and sweet issue. MichaelSeptember 5, 2014 6:38 PM Excalibur #6-7 For what it's worth, I always assumed Meggan's weakness wasn't a result of N'astirh's death but due to the fact that Meggan loses her powers and starts to die away from the British Isles, as revealed in the Cross-Time Caper. BillSeptember 5, 2014 5:56 PM X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4 Poor Kitty! Sometimes it seems like all the pervs go after her. LOL Jay PatrickSeptember 5, 2014 5:44 PM Alpha Flight #65 I'm really curious about fnord's thoughts on Bill Mantlo's swan song next issue. Luis DantasSeptember 5, 2014 3:30 PM Marvel Preview #3 Apparently Chris Claremont has some very specific beliefs about reincarnation, or at least likes to use those recurrently in his stories. When I first read the Dark Phoenix saga I saw Cyclops thinking about the past-themed daysdreams Jean was having as being about "past lives" and I was all wtf?!? about it. Now I see that he used the same idea in previous comics as well. fnord12September 5, 2014 11:29 AM Excalibur #6-7 I'm not sure it matters, Jay. These stories are all happening concurrently, not sequentially. You've got the Daredevil thread, the FF thread, the Spider-Man thread, and the Excalibur thread, and they're all weaving in and out of the events of New Mutants (N'astirh's techno-organic state and the portal's opening and closing) and X-Factor (the Empire State Building getting restored) and events in each issue are happening at roughly the same time. As for Crotus, it seems equally likely that N'astirh has just moved on after using Crotus to get the babies. Now that he's techno-organic and focused on the plan that involves Madelyne, he doesn't need Crotus anymore and has forgotten him. It's all arbitrary since this isn't a Part X of Y style crossover, so i think i'll leave off on any further fine-tuning. I do appreciate your thoughts, though, and i thought i HAD included an image of Kitty in the armor, so if there's a different scene that i'm not thinking of that maybe suggests placement more strongly, let me know. JSfanSeptember 5, 2014 6:30 AM Spider-Woman #47 I find that sometimes Nocenti's 'metaphorical' writing works and sometimes it doesn't. I 1st thought she was trying too hard in following Frank Miller's Daredevil by trying to be 'profound' but I've since realised that's just her way of writing. I just think it can come across a little bit pretentious sometimes. david banesSeptember 5, 2014 3:38 AM X-Men and the Micronauts #1-4 Um excuse me but I believe Kitty Pryde is 13 and a half years old? Thank you. What is this perv stuff? A Song of Ice and Fire now? david banesSeptember 5, 2014 12:15 AM X-Factor #39 I wish this issue happened in X-Men and not X-Factor since I'm not loving the artist. I remember reading this last year, getting to the part with Mr. Sinister kissing Jean Grey and I was having flashbacks to Berserk's Eclipse, except this ends a lot better and causes less trauma to the characters and reader. david banesSeptember 5, 2014 12:10 AM Astonishing Tales #21-24 I was going to comment on Godzilla movies were losing tickets in Japan in 1974 and 75 would close the old fashioned ones with Terror of Mechagodzilla for nine years. I've forgotten that once upon a time they put Godzilla movies on television though. TNT's Monster Vision! None the less I have to protest the first Godzilla sucking because he fights no other monsters. I guess there are two types of Godzilla movies: outlandish and serious. I've loved both since I was 4 but I think I like the serious ones a tiny bit more. Looking at Gojira, 1985 and Biollante here. Love the new one too. Walter LawsonSeptember 4, 2014 8:47 PM Marvel Preview #3 Kate Fraser first appeared in Giant-Size Dracula #2. The reason "the Master" wants her alive in this issue is because in that GSD tale she reminded him of his wife and helped him against the demon Y'Garon. She next appears in some early Captain Britain stories, as well as GSD#3. The first GSD story has a line that suggests her psychometric ESP power might qualify her as a mutant. (I'm reminded of the early uncertainty about Mentallo, Psylocke, and other ESPers.) Thanos6September 4, 2014 6:28 PM New Avengers: Illuminati #3 I suffered through Avengrrs Disassembled and the opening of New Avengers, but this was the issue that completely convinced me that Bendis should be kept away from 616 with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole. david banesSeptember 4, 2014 6:22 PM Secret Wars II #5 If anyone is a fan or "fan" of The Room then you all got to read The Disaster Artist. It is about how the Room was made from the man who played Mark. It is all hilarious, disturbing, insightful and disturbing too. "I never want to leave you.." gfsdf gfbdSeptember 4, 2014 5:29 PM Secret Wars II #5 So I've been truckin' along for a while and, yeah, it's pretty much as bad you say, but I recently realized something: Read every bit of Beyonder's dialogue in the voice of Tommy Wiseau from The Room. His not-quite-sure-how-this-human-thing-works shtick makes every Secret Wars II issue and tie-in immensely enjoyable. david banesSeptember 4, 2014 4:02 PM Daredevil #260-261 Torch trying to be a thug reminds me of the classic Justice League Unlimited cartoon when Flash and Lex Luthor switched bodies. Flash in Lex Luthor's body: *starts to leave bathroom.* Jay DemetrickSeptember 4, 2014 3:57 PM Excalibur #6-7 I'd place this after Daredevil #265 as the moment where Kitty suddenly, unexpectedly manifests a piece of Magik's armour (which would be a nice scan to add *wink!*) must take place the moment when Illyana does her sacrifice to banish the demons back into Limbo. I'd maybe even argue placing this between The Uncanny X-Men #242 and X-Factor #38 as Meggan's sudden unexpected weakening before Kitty slashes her with the soul sword probably means N'astirh was killed by the X-Factor & the X-Men at that moment and Crotus seems to be calling for a "mawthter" who will never answer on the last page. Alex FSeptember 4, 2014 2:28 PM Daredevil #260-261 I feel like Johnny Storm's street though (sic) look might be the first time JRJR drew a regular (i.e. non Kingpin/Bullet size) character with the Klaus Janson 5' x 4' proportions. It would not be the last. JSfanSeptember 4, 2014 11:20 AM Strange Tales #111 (Human Torch) Didn't Spider-Man cover himself in asbestos in an issue? I can't remember what one, unfortunately. Ataru320September 4, 2014 8:48 AM Amazing Spider-Man #3 Deh...meant to say Cobra, not Eel. Ataru320September 4, 2014 8:47 AM Amazing Spider-Man #3 It does make me wonder though: did any of the early Marvel heroes have really spectacular rogues galleries? Sure there were some exceptions who broke out due to the missions or the ways they were depicted (Doctor Doom, Magneto), but if you look at the early years you have just a ton of bizarre ideas that just match the age they were created for. The Fantastic 4 were lucky in that at least they were first and that their exploration aspects allowed for them to encounter the strange and the weird to allow for threats to emerge that just appeared interesting (Skrulls, Kree, Galactus, etc.) But the Hulk barely had anyone memorable in his initial run (maybe Tyrannus) and wouldn't get it until his second time around when Leader and Abomination came around; Iron Man had a lot of one-offs and took a while before he got threats of note like Titanium Man; Ant-Man and Wasp only really brought us Egghead and Whirlwind...and maybe some B/C listers like Porcupine; Thor mostly got his good rivals when we got more into Asgard, though he at least faced the likes of Radioactive Man, Eel and Mr. Hyde first; Daredevil...well Stilt-Man and Owl had a bit of staying power; and if it weren't for the Frightening Four allowing for the longevity of Paste Pot Pete/Trapster and Wizard, then who knows if any of the Torch's solo threats would have lasted...except maybe the Beetle but he always wins ;p At least with Spider-Man and with the Lee/Ditko combination, we have threats that may seem silly, but at least they become and remain extremely memorable. They left an impression where you want to see more of Doc Ock, Green Goblin, Sandman, Vulture...heck even the Enforcers as david mentioned above. They may seem Silver Age ridiculous in an era where superpowers can get rather insane, but these comics gave these villains as much legacies as the heroes they fought. david banesSeptember 4, 2014 2:10 AM Amazing Spider-Man #13 If Amazing Spider-Man movies end up using Mysterio I wonder what route they'll go? Will be a no-body that goes crazy because no one remembered it was his birthday? Or maybe he decides to become a super villain because a fish bowl got stuck to his head? Seriously I see so much potential in Amazing Spider-Man 2, what I thought was done well was done really well, but what was done poorly was done sooooo poorly. david banesSeptember 4, 2014 2:06 AM Amazing Spider-Man #3 NO! The Enforcers are not stupid! And besides the the Circus of Crime appeared in Incredible Hulk 3 created by Lee and Kirby. Walter LawsonSeptember 4, 2014 1:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #162-166 The Acantis' crystal soul is a lot like the alien bug races' crystal soul in Marvel Preview 14, a Claremont Starlord story. Although these stories depart from X-Men themes, they flag up a number of Claremont ones. Note that the brood control the Acanti using a "slaver virus." (A transmode variant, perhaps?) lots of body transformation/swapping themes as well, not only with the abroid but with Storm's Acanti merger/rebirth and Carol's transformation. Plus the shipified Acanti and Skysharks manifest Claremont's biology-technology merger trope. Walter LawsonSeptember 4, 2014 1:19 AM Uncanny X-Men #235-238 Logan calls Rogue/Carol "Ace," but in Uncanny 182, "Ace" is Carol's nickname for Rossi. Anyone looking for an escape hatch to say Maddie wasn't totally evil all along (troubled, spiteful toward Scott and X-Factor, eventually willing to work with demons to find her baby, but not an outright villainess) can find it in the dialogue of 238. There's Maddie's line that the Genoshans' meddling has sparked "an Inferno," and there's her subsequent line that she was "condemned" from the moment she arrived in Genosha, which may not be a reference to just what the Genoshans planned for her but also to her self-chosen fate once she had to embrace her Goblin Queen power to survive/retaliate. She starts acting more overtly vengeful afte the psychic interrogation--that, I'd say, is the moment the Goblin Queen, already conceived by Sym, is actually born. Walter LawsonSeptember 3, 2014 11:45 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #10 Also note how Claremont, speaking thru Storm, redefines the X-Men at the end of this issue. They're not just mutants, they're a specially selected group of mutants with indomitable wills. Was Claremont setting up an opposition to the Shadow King--who, like Mojo, is a fat guy who enslaves people--even in 1986? His knack for recycling his plots and fetishes means it's hard to tell what's a master plan and what's just Claremont using the materials at hand to tell the same story he always wants to tell. But I think that story, in the X-verse anyway, gets bigger and bigger with each iteration. Sorry for the slew of speculative posts, but there's a lot going on in the Claremont books when you look closely: plots are even more intricate than they seem at first blush. Walter LawsonSeptember 3, 2014 11:37 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #10 Further indirect evidence of a Mojo-Genosha link is that in the Ultimate MU, Mojo Adams is a citizen of Genosha, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genosha#Ultimate_Marvel . A wink at some connection Claremont had intended? Walter LawsonSeptember 3, 2014 11:29 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #10 Oops, I overlooked Nate's existing comment. I see he has the same idea about transmode. Walter LawsonSeptember 3, 2014 11:27 PM Uncanny X-Men annual #10 So e Claremontiverse notes: Doug and Warlock sense that the goop, or its source, is a modified form of the transmode virus. When we see references to "transmodification" in Genosha later on, I assumed there was no connection to the virus, but seeing the line here in reference to the X-Men's transformation and Mojo, I wonder. (And is this the secret to the Body Shoppe and Lady Deathstrike's advanced cybernetics?) On p. 22 Spiral uses "pixie dust" to control the audience. A lot like how Nanny, a villain in similarly child-themed stories, uses her "puxie dust." The outdoor theater in Central Park where the X-Men take the stage and fight Mojo is the Delacorte, which is also where Rachel Summers entered the Body Shoppe in X-Men 209. The Secrets of the X-Men blog says Claremont planned for Longshot's appearance in this issue to be related to Rachel's story in the unpublished Phoenix mini. Notably, Longshot here and Phoenix when she resurfaces have both lost their memories. Would the Phoenix mini have had Mojo doing to her what he does to the X-Men here, de-aging and re-aging her to enslave her? Spiral in this issue craves the spotlight and gets jealous when Longshot, whom she's in love with, claims it. Kinda reminiscent of Claremont's Dazzler characterization. ChrisWSeptember 3, 2014 11:03 PM Amazing Spider-Man #3 You're right about them being visually interesting, as well as non-repetitive in their powers. I was certainly overlooking those aspects, and will upgrade my opinion of Spider-Man's rogues gallery accordingly, but I still see them as mostly gimmicks. Maybe not so much as a Flash villain, but throwing electric bolts, having four arms, or flying is not really that distinctive, outside of the early Marvel Universe, and I definitely disagree about their origins or motivations. Well, origins might be subjective [and, oddly, looking at your list of villains and the ones I mention below, a good chunk of Spidey's villains never got origins beyond 'who I am and why I'm fighting Spider-Man'] but motivations? Doc Ock is crazy, Chameleon is a Commie spy, the Lizard was a science experiment gone wrong (and note that Connors never had anything to do with that experiment again while Ditko was around) the Scorpion was great, and those are the best of them. Electro is a low class idiot, I might understand why he thinks thuggish behavior is the way to go once he gets nifty powers. Maybe Sandman too, but Mysterio, the Vulture, the Green Goblin? Isn't there anything else they can do with themselves besides basic theft? I'm not getting into the intricacies of the Goblin after Ditko's run, or later additions to the canon for any of them, by the way. I'm only talking about the characters as we knew them as of "Spider-Man" #38. Kraven is a thrill-seeker, the Molten Man was just cobbled together for a fight scene, the Circus of Crime and the Enforcers were stupid, and by the time Ditko left, we're getting The Meteor and A Guy Named Joe. I think Spidey's rogues gallery is colored by the fact that early Spider-Man comics were so great. ChrisWSeptember 3, 2014 10:55 PM Amazing Spider-Man #34 I'm sure someone before Stan came up with distinctive dialogue in comics, but Stan demonstrated how it should be done, and on a large-scale. The Human Torch appearing in FF was recognizeably the same Human Torch guest-starring in "Spider-Man." They both used the same lingo. ChrisWSeptember 3, 2014 10:22 PM Amazing Spider-Man #13 I've always wondered what it says about Liz that the first time she shows any real interest in Peter, it's immediately after he nearly gets killed fighting Doc Ock, and unmasked for the entire world to see. No wonder Flash decided to dress up as Spidey and fight crime a few issues later. What must teenage life at that high school have been like? ChrisWSeptember 3, 2014 9:57 PM Amazing Spider-Man #2 "Daredevil" #225, sorry. ChrisWSeptember 3, 2014 9:54 PM Amazing Spider-Man #2 I was certainly confused by the two-faced stylings of Peter and Spidey as a young lad reading early "Marvel Tales." I do see the point of trying to make the Vulture younger - his only power is technological flight, it's not like he's a serious threat - but there's no way you can look at a character like that and not see him as old, which helps him look menacing too. I'm not a big fan of the Vulture, but when he's a great villain ("Daredevil" #224) he's a great villain. Mark DrummondSeptember 3, 2014 5:06 PM Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy The twin villains in the early part of the story were named Arak and Arion, both of which were coincidentally(?) the names of two sword & sorcery-type early 1980s DC books. Ataru320September 3, 2014 4:44 PM Strange Tales #120 Between modeling this phone and that weird helmet a while back, is Sue pretending she's just some advertiser of Reed's super-science? Ataru320September 3, 2014 11:05 AM Tales To Astonish #47 (Ant-Man/Wasp) Eh, there's a major difference between this guy and the Hypno-Hustler. Trago is just some guy in a turban that can make you hear weird things. The Hypno-Hustler is THE FUNK!!! JSfanSeptember 3, 2014 4:10 AM Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #1-3,5 I'd rather look at the art than read the story. I'm not sure if that's necessarily a good thing. Steven PrintzSeptember 3, 2014 2:18 AM New Avengers: Illuminati #1 I also love Busiek and hate Bendis. ChrisSeptember 2, 2014 10:44 PM Amazing Spider-Man #3 The Ditko rogues gallery is impressive for their names, cool visuals, and variety of powers. Some have really interesting origins or motivations. They can be reduced to just gimmicks, but so can most villains. Compared to the rest of the Silver Age, Spidey has some very good stories, and that is what sells his foes as excellent villains. I am not as impressed by the Romita villains because they aren't as interesting. Nor do I find them as visually appealing. This isn't surprising - Ditko was the idea man, and when he left quality decline and Stan raised the soap opera quotient to compensate. Most heroes don't have a rogues gallery anywhere near as interesting. They lack variety. Many lack distinctive or interesting visuals. Their powers don't provide much threat to the hero, or their power sets are very repetitive. In contrast, Electro, Mysterio, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Chameleon, and Vulture all have very different methods of fighting the hero, and I think they go beyond gimmicks. It is hard to accept Captain Boomerang being a threat to the Flash; not so Electro to Spider-Man. Alex FSeptember 2, 2014 8:14 PM Excalibur #3 I read this when it came out (I was 12) and I remember the smile line. It was something I noticed and had to think about but I figured it was a joke meant to show us Sat-yr-9's a serious and dangerous person. ChrisWSeptember 2, 2014 5:41 PM Amazing Spider-Man #3 I agree. For all the love some people have of Spidey's rogues gallery, I honestly don't think most of them are that impressive. They usually are just names and gimmicks. It's like Lee and Ditko's notion of creating villains were straight out of the then-current Batman or Flash series. John Romita Sr. even said that Stan's idea of plotting could often be reduced to 'let's have the next villain be called the Shocker (or Kingpin)' and left the rest to Romita. But Doc Ock stands out from the crowd. Especially in this issue. I'm hard-pressed to think of a major Marvel villain with a better debut. Doctor Doom? Magneto? The Green Goblin? Not even close. Ock has a believable origin and motivation [good enough for comics anyway] and although it would later become a clich e [sic] here the flat-out thrashing of Spider-Man was very well done. Fifty years later, I'm not impressed at the way Spidey was inspired to "never give up" but at the time, this was groundbreaking stuff. He went from arrogant to shamefully defeated and then came back to win again all in the space of twenty or so pages. fnord12September 2, 2014 3:42 PM Fantastic Four #18 Well, you're right. Maybe we're both right, but you're more right. The Cavourite Crystal caused the Super-Skrull to warp along the power beam, and then after the Skrull throneworld was destroyed, the beam warped him back to Earth's Van Allen belt, and then it was being trapped in the Van Allen belt that gave him cancer. ParanoidObsessiveSeptember 2, 2014 3:41 PM Fantastic Four #19 "My one problem is why after they knew they couldn't transport the serum back they just didn't take Alicia back and feed it to her in the past?" Exactly the same thing I was thinking! Also, just for reference's sake, this storyline is the one that interweaves with the plot in the much, much later West Coast Avengers #17-24 time travel story. I always thought it was kind of a clever conceit, to have the newer scenes taking place at the same time (so to speak) with the earlier story, with the implication that it ALWAYS happened that way, rather than being an after-the-fact change. More interesting because it implies the Fantastic Four only managed to "win" in this particular story because of a few things the West Coast Avengers did in their story that helped the FF escape. ParanoidObsessiveSeptember 2, 2014 2:19 PM Tales Of Suspense #46 "You'll be... uh... SHOCKED at my powers!" Hey, wait. That wouldn't actually be a pun in Russian. Why are all the foreign characters apparently speaking English to each other in their home countries when no one else is looking? I smell a conspiracy! ParanoidObsessiveSeptember 2, 2014 2:10 PM Fantastic Four #18 "The power beam will eventually result in the Super-Skrull developing super-leukemia." I'm not sure this is true (unless it was retconned at some point and I missed it). It was originally established that he gained cancer from being trapped in a non-corporeal form for a prolonged period in the Van Allen Belt (ie, the radiation belt that surrounds the Earth) - the constant exposure to radiation led him to develop the cancer. The irony, of course, being that it was probably in the Van Allen Belt where the Fantastic Four were exposed to the cosmic rays that gave them their powers in the first place. But the Super-Skrull was cured of his cancer after the Silver Surfer was tricked into using his power to reintegrate the Super-Skrull's discorporate molecules back into their natural form. Thanos6September 2, 2014 9:11 AM New Avengers: Illuminati #1 Busiek's run, disappointing? Well, I guess we are SERIOUSLY going to have to agree to disagree on that; Busiek's is my all-time favorite Avengers run, and is in my top ten of all comic runs, perios; while Bendis was bad enough to make me abandon Marvel completely. Thanos6September 2, 2014 8:34 AM Sub-Mariner #32 Doubtful this was intended at the time, but over the decades Llyra's probably turned into Namor's arch-nemesis. Thanos6September 2, 2014 8:15 AM Avengers #78-79 I think we can all agree that the Reaper's new costume that debuted here is a VAST improvement over his original. Thanos6September 2, 2014 7:57 AM Fantastic Four #94 The scene with the Thing instantly taking to his role as "Uncle Benjy" reminds me of one of my favorite lines from Slott's SPIDER-MAN/HUMAN TORCH mini-series, Peter talking to Franklin; "I have it on good authority that Uncle Bens are always right." fnord12September 2, 2014 7:53 AM Fantastic Four annual #1 It seems you're right. Don't know where i got that from. I've removed him. Thanks. fnord12September 2, 2014 7:45 AM Inner Demons Thanks, Thanos6. I fixed that link label (they all go to the same entry). David, Ox does appear in this issue, i just didn't include a screenshot. fnord12September 2, 2014 7:41 AM Amazing Spider-Man #19 I've added that JJ panel. Thanos6September 2, 2014 6:56 AM Silver Surfer #4 The cover is one of the Silver Age greats. Thanos6September 2, 2014 5:44 AM Strange Tales #157-168 (Dr. Strange) You might think of it as threat overload, but I myself love that; it's a great series of "just when you thought things couldn't get any worse...!" Thanos6September 2, 2014 5:32 AM Daredevil #25 I don't think Mr. Fear is that bad of a villain. Honestly, you should have listed the Matador instead. Thanos6September 2, 2014 4:04 AM Fantastic Four #39-40 I would love to see a "What If The Thing Killed Dr. Doom?" based on this issue? Thanos6September 2, 2014 3:21 AM Amazing Spider-Man #19 Oh yes. That three-panel sequence of Jonah losing his grin is possibly the funniest sequence in all of Ditko Spidey. Thanos6September 2, 2014 2:40 AM Fantastic Four #27 Weak plot, maybe, but the fight between Reed and Namor is one of my all-time faves; and I normally dislike Kirby fights. Thanos6September 2, 2014 2:08 AM Amazing Spider-Man #9 According to THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES, the "electric rays like a magnet" thing actually would work. Go figure. Thanos6September 2, 2014 2:07 AM Fantastic Four #22 Possibly Mole Man used some minor trinkets from the Valley of Diamonds to bribe the various citizenry into making their "complaints." david banesSeptember 2, 2014 1:57 AM Daring Mystery Comics #1 I remember being surprised when I learned that Marvels The Twelve were all actual Timely, proto-Marvel, Comics. Fiery Mask is one of the main characters in that mini. Thankfully no Golden Age Citizen V but there is Captain Wonder who forgot to add legs to his costume too. david banesSeptember 2, 2014 1:44 AM Inner Demons Where's Ox!? It's not the Enforcers without Ox! david banesSeptember 2, 2014 1:39 AM Tales Of Suspense #45 I kind of miss Pepper being less of a supermodel secretary/CEO and Happy looking like a thug instead of a handsome man who just can't smile. Thanos6September 2, 2014 1:35 AM Tales Of Suspense #45 I love Frost's look here. Thanos6September 2, 2014 1:30 AM Fantastic Four annual #1 I don't think this can be Vashti, can it? He doesn't meet Namor and become his Grand Vizier until Namor's ASTONISH series. Thanos6September 2, 2014 1:27 AM Inner Demons Shouldn't the Miracle Man stuff be listed for FF #3 instead of 2? Thanos6September 2, 2014 1:23 AM Daring Mystery Comics #1 It's THOMAS. Of course it was. :) (Not a complaint, I love the man, just an observation) cullenSeptember 2, 2014 1:16 AM Daring Mystery Comics #1 I never realized that "Behold... The Vision!" cover was a direct homage. Wonder if that was Thomas's choice? Thanos6September 2, 2014 1:14 AM Strange Tales #111 (Human Torch) I do give the story credit that it takes into account that just because you're a super-genius who can invent ultra-high-tech stuff, that doesn't automatically turn you into a criminal mastermind. Thanos6September 2, 2014 1:11 AM Amazing Spider-Man #3 I know Osborn's the favorite nowadays, but to me, Octopus will always be Spidey's true arch-enemy. Thanos6September 2, 2014 12:04 AM Amazing Fantasy #15 The security guard is apparently named "Baxter Bigelow." ChrisWSeptember 1, 2014 9:15 PM X-Factor #38 I don't have a dog in the fight about the overall conclusion to Madelyne's story, other than it being poorly done no matter what side you take, but I do take exception at denying that the Reavers' computers could (in theory) have been responsible. It was already set up that she understood the computers far more than anyone else, it was being established that the computers were reorganizing the base to the point where the returning Reavers didn't even recognize it. Claremont does have a fondness for weird superhero headquarters - the Australian town, Excalibur's lighthouse, the rebuilt Danger Room, even Ship which Claremont had no part in creating (to my knowledge) - and although I don't subscribe to the viewpoint, I could easily see that it was intended that the computers were already sentient and would reveal [whatever they were going to reveal] in future issues. By the time he left, Claremont had foreseen a plot where Xavier would die and Gateway would replace him, so this is probably a part of that. No, Maddie was not always evil. She was a normal girl/Claremont woman [itself an impossible thing to be] who happened to look like Jean and important moments in her life happened to occur at the same time as important moments in Jean's life. Charles Dickens just texted me and said that's not plausible. Between the missing baby, the Australian computers, the Seige Perilous, Phoenix and editorial demands, there's no good way out of this mess. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. The least bad option is tie everything into Maddie and make it work as much as possible. Top of my head, the second best choice would be to tie it into Jean, and rather than the clone subplot, it turns out that Jean (or Phoenix) was Maddie all along. Third best choice would have been to have Illyana reset everybody back to the start when she got rid of all the demons at the end on "Inferno." Fourth best choice would have been to have Rachel show up and provide whatever exposition was required. Fifth best choice was that Maddie never existed and she was always a long-running scheme of Sym and N'astirh, who were probably working with Mr. Sinister. There is no good option. There is only the least-bad option. And that's not even getting into Scott's reaction to Maddie. Sure, on-panel, all we saw were things that reminded him/us of Jean (other than Paul Smith's art, the first point where comic book characters stopped being drawn on-model) but off-panel, by the time they'd spent their first night together, Scott would have seen any number of ways that she differed from Jean. His own paranoia might help him miss this, but seriously, Maddie doesn't have a New York accent, she doesn't do that 'bored and telekinetically playing with her hair thing,' she does talk about all the places she's been and people she's met (unlike Jean, who was usually at the same places Scott was, ever since high school, so she has no reason to explain any of this to him) and basically by the end of their first night, even in a Code-approved comic, there's no way that Scott could have mistaken Maddie for Jean. ["Jean didn't swallow, she spit."] Never mind the concept of infatuation, which rushes you into marrying someone you only met seven issues ago (in Marvel Time, no less.) If anything, Scott would have been looking at how much better Maddie was to Jean in every possible way. Maybe he was deluded, maybe Maddie was using her latent Phoenix/Sinister programming to control his mind, maybe the tragedy of losing Xavier and having Magneto take over the school made Scott snap when he heard Jean was alive again. None of this is to his credit, or anyone else in X-Men or X-Factor, but blaming Madelyne for everything is the least bad way to make the story work, while remaining consistent with What Came Before and still leaving the characters viable for future stories. As I mentioned on the "X-Men" #242 page, who's in charge here? Definitely Cyclops, definitely not Storm, completely overthrowing 100+ issues of Claremont's work. It's not well done. I'm not defending the quality of this issue. [Especially Al Milgrom's inks over Walt Simonsen, ewwwwwwwww!] But it does basically work as a conclusion to the Madelyne Pryor/Jean Grey storyline. It will never be a perfect fit, no matter how many retcons they add. Thanos6September 1, 2014 8:15 PM Daring Mystery Comics #1 Aww, I like the voodoo-zombies. They're the type I grew up with. Feed 'em some salt and free 'em. Thanos6September 1, 2014 8:12 PM Fantastic Four #257 Yeah, I think it was in one of the handbooks. Maybe the Deluxe Edition? It said that eventually they decided Tarnax IV would be a better world to run the empire from, so the government moved there from Skrullos. Skrullos the homeworld is where the Skrull race evolved, but Tarnax IV the throneworld is where the Skrull empire was based. As for the Skrull civil war, I suppose that it had been so long since the move was made that Skrullos had lost most of its importance, even as a symbol. doomsdaySeptember 1, 2014 7:05 PM Hulk #1 Original Sin Iron Man vs. Hulk retcons the hulks origin BillSeptember 1, 2014 4:35 PM Fantastic Four #257 The throneworld was most likely at a central point of the Skrull Empire. A world that would be easily defended (from an enemy attack, not Galactus, as shown) and with fairly easy access to everywhere else in the empire. Obviously, the throneworld was where all the royalty, military heads and politicians were living. The homeworld would not have much of a place of importance, because it's location may have been too remote or at an inconvenient location for running things. It probably had a lot of civilians living there, with a governor overseeing things. Mark DrummondSeptember 1, 2014 3:06 PM Avengers #125 Something I just recently noticed: when one of Thanos' ships falls to earth and bounces off a building, a movie marquee at the bottom of the panel reads "Deep Throat". MichaelSeptember 1, 2014 11:18 AM X-Factor #38 Fnord, if I don't understand the point of the retcon, it's because Simonson wasn't very clear about it. For example, Simonson established that Maddie was censoring video but that's seemingly contradicted by Maddie being surprised at seeing Scott and Jean. If the idea was that Maddie's deeper personality was censoring the videos without her surface personality being aware of it, then that could have been explained in the story: fnord12September 1, 2014 11:12 AM Fantastic Four #257 I've just checked and Byrne definitely refers to it as a "throneworld" and not a "homeworld" in both this issue and the previous one. Just wondering where there the distinction between the two was made, and what the significance of the "homeworld" is if the empire was being run from the "throneworld". BUSeptember 1, 2014 11:05 AM Fantastic Four #257 I've long had the same understanding as Thanos6, that it was Tarnax IV, not Skrullos, but I couldn't cite were I read that to save my life. Handbooks is a good guess. fnord12September 1, 2014 8:51 AM Fantastic Four #257 Hey, Thanos6, can you cite your source for that? I'm not questioning you, just wondering where to validate it. I'm fairly certain that throughout this era all the references back to this issue say "homeworld", although i may be misremembering. So i'm wondering if your comment is based on, say, the history lesson in the Celestial Madonna story or if it's from more recent revelations (something in Secret Invasion?) or maybe something in Englehart's Silver Surfer that i haven't gotten to yet or the Handbooks or what? During the period where the Skrulls are broken out into factions following this story, if one of the warlords had control of the "homeworld" it should have been a significant claim to legitimacy, but i don't recall it coming up so far. fnord12September 1, 2014 8:45 AM X-Factor #38 Wow, Michael. That's A LOT of long comments. And you seem to still not be accepting the point of the retcon, which both my response and Walter's explain. The answer to your "MPD" question is essentially "yes". What it seems you're not accepting is that the point of retcon is to establish that Maddie isn't a real person. She's a construct created by Mr. Sinister. On the surface level, she's got a personality designed to get Scott to fall in love with it, and real enough to fool the telepaths that Sinister in this story says that he knew he'd have to circumvent for his schemes. But on a deeper level she's the Dark Phoenix power subverted further by Sinister. All the thought balloons and narration panels are from her surface thoughts. The point isn't that she's a bad person for subverting the X-leadership fight or abandoning her baby or anything else. The point is that she isn't a person at all. Scott drifted away from her because he subconsciously started realizing that she wasn't real; she was designed to attract him but it ultimately didn't work or it stopped working when Jean was resurrected. Maddie wasn't "losing it", Scott was coming out of her thrall. The X-Men shouldn't feel guilt about leaving Maddie with Scott because it was neither they nor Scott that was responsible; it was Mr. Sinister. Why didn't the other X-Men investigate X-Factor, have Roma send them after Nathan, etc..? Because Maddie was an evil construct that was manipulating the X-Men. I can understand if you don't *like* the retcon, and i imagine that's especially the case for people that had an attachment to Madelyne (to me she's always been defined by her suspicious similarity to Jean and the related coincidences, so i've never taken her seriously). As i've been saying, this story sacrifices the character of Madelyne, literally retroactively wipes it out, to achieve its goals. So your comment about "individual dignity" is spot on, and i'm sure Claremont agreed (and i think both Claremont and Simonson capture the pathos of that by having Maddie rebel against what's being done to her in the dialogue, and i personally think that's well done). If you want to call it sexist to take a developed female character and retcon her into a construct, that's your right (i'd be curious to know if it's Claremont, Simonson, or Harras that you're leveling that charge at, though; i don't think we can look at any one part of this story and assume that all three didn't have input). I can also accept that the nature of the retcon is cheap and an easy out for the writers to not have to go back and reconcile every line of dialogue. And i definitely take Jon and Luis' points that this story is not casual reader friendly and this issue in particular is a dump of data that you already have to be well mired into the X-Men storylines to follow. Personally i am happy to make that trade in order to get the long lingering problems resolved, but i can concede that in terms of quality value i may have overlooked more than i should have because of the payoff. And finally, i agree that it's the case that after clearing out all the deadwood, it seemed like Simonson, Harras, and (to a lesser degree) Claremont didn't really have an idea of where to take the characters next. This actually would have been a perfect time for a creative team shuffle. But i don't take that into account when looking at Inferno itself. But, Michael, most of your arguments seem to miss the mark because you're not accepting the point of the retcon. With this i've said my piece. I hope this won't trigger another dozen comments, but i promise i won't come back and do any point by point responses. Alex FSeptember 1, 2014 3:35 AM Iron Man #235-236 I want to draw attention to the almost Mark Beachum level Iron Butt fetishism in that final scan. Thanos6September 1, 2014 2:26 AM Damage Control #1 As hilarious as DAMAGE CONTROL is, I have to skip the first issue nowadays, for hopefully obvious reasons. Thanos6September 1, 2014 2:08 AM Avengers #275-277 As far as I'm concerned as well, this is Marvel--is comics--at its peak. Walter LawsonSeptember 1, 2014 1:36 AM Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #32-33 The antigravity platforms in Vachon's base (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-brboQ-agXaI/ULvrLnTrkmI/AAAAAAAADMc/NBslS9MEEYw/s1600/kungfu3343.jpg) look nearly identical to the platform and setting that Carol Danvers in dancing on in her vision of being seduced by Shaw in Marvel Super-Heroes 11 / Ms. Marvel 25, which also takes place in Hong Kong. Now that I think of it, the Lady Mandarin turn with Psylocke is a riff on the Carol/Dark Phoenix thing, using many of the Ms. Marvel 25 elements, including this base. Thanos6September 1, 2014 1:33 AM Captain America #320 I love this issue. It has a great vibe like the first HALLOWEEN movie; near misses, characters not sure if they're more afraid of what they know or what they don't know, an ambiguous ending that suggests the evil is still out there. Even the art style during the final showdown suggests a mysterious autumn night. Thanos6September 1, 2014 12:41 AM Fantastic Four #257 Since this isn't the original Skrull world of Skrullos, but the newer capital Tarnax IV, I think it should be corrected to "throneworld" over "homeworld." MichaelAugust 31, 2014 6:16 PM X-Factor #39 Which is why, to beat a dead horse into the ground, it might not have been a good idea to get rid of Maddie if they didn't have a new direction in mind. Walter LawsonAugust 31, 2014 6:01 PM X-Factor #39 One problem with the efficient wrapping up of so many plot lines is that after this issues, X-Factor has no direction at all. The mutant hunter theme and its fallout supplied the direction through issue 26, along with Scott's angst about Jean, Maddie, and the baby. From 26 until this issue, the missing baby and Warren's transformation have been the directional plots. Now the baby's safe and Warren is redeemed, and Louise S. (or Harras) has no idea where to go next. We get a pointless, overlong space "epic" that just retreads some of the Jean/Maddie/Phoenix and Dark Angel stuff, and then we get a year of killing time with Caliban and vampires until it's time for the next crossover and then, at long last, the merger with the X-Men, which could have happened any time after this issue. This is Walt S.'s last issue as well, so the art takes a dive. (I love Paul Smith, but Milgrom inking him is not a good combo.) X-Factor ceases to be compelling pretty much for the rest of its run, depending on your taste for PAD-Factor. RobertAugust 31, 2014 4:29 PM Avengers #256-257 Avengers #255-261, Annual #14 & FF Annual #19 has now been reprinted in The Legacy of Thanos TPB. MichaelAugust 31, 2014 1:39 PM X-Factor #38 There's another point- Scott's refusal to kill Maddie is treated like a kindness by Scott but think about what Scott knows about Maddie- she was traumatized by a crash she felt responsible for, so actually killing her son would be a million times worse- it's another example of Scott putting his own needs over Maddie's. MichaelAugust 31, 2014 1:10 PM X-Factor #38 And the problem with the story is that it ignores everyone's culpability in the matter. None of the X-Men feel any guilt about what Maddie became, even though they left her alone with a man they knew had turned another woman into a bad girl. And they ignored any signs that something was wrong with her. Nobody ever uses what happened to Maddie as a critique of Storm's leadership. ChrisWAugust 31, 2014 12:55 PM X-Factor #39 Why would Sinister not want Havok? Just imagine how much faster the Mutant Massacre would have been if Alex had been a Marauder. MichaelAugust 31, 2014 12:21 PM X-Factor #38 Moreover, Jean tries to excuse what was done to Maddie by arguing she was doomed from birth. That worked for Terra in the Teen Titans, since she was a traitor from the beginning. But Maddie, like Wanda, approached the team in good faith. She was patient with the X-Men while they looked at her like she was a villain and even gave a woman that tried to kill her a slap on the wrist. "They were doomed from birth" is an excuse for the characters to ignore their own culpability in the matter. MichaelAugust 31, 2014 11:49 AM X-Factor #38 Jon is right. What's disturbing about Maddie is that unlike other characters that were turned into villains, Maddie never knowingly CHOSE to be a villain. Her last lines before choosing the Goblin Queen nail were "I love him" and "What the heck,it's just a dream". But Maddie gets treated like a villain and Gateway, who enabled it (and who also doesn't have to pay for his role in Tyger Tiger's violation) gets treated like a hero. (And if Jean has Maddie's memories, then shouldn't she know about Gateway's duplicity?) MegaSpiderManAugust 31, 2014 9:56 AM Cloak and Dagger #4 I'm getting some real Mark Bagley vibes from the art here. fnord12August 31, 2014 9:26 AM X-Terminators #2 I mention this in the entry for X-Terminators #3. There's definitely a character named Scab whose real name is Tim, and there's also a Timmy. According to Marvel's wiki, it's Timmy, not Scab, who appears here. I'm sure that's not authoritative but i'll stick with it for consistency. The point of tracking these Inferno babies isn't really to be specific about which baby appeared exactly where, but just so that when we get to those issues their chronologies will show that they were appearing around this time. I'm really tracking them all for consistency; it's Face that is the only one that has anything approaching lasting significance (so far and as far as i know). fnord12August 31, 2014 9:22 AM X-Factor #38 To be less cryptic than Luis, here the wikipedia section for that. ;-) MichaelAugust 31, 2014 8:43 AM Power Pack #44 Maybe the deaths were undone magically when the final spell was broken. BerendAugust 31, 2014 6:25 AM Power Pack #44 How can they explain away Inferno as a hallucination? We've seen quite a few people dying as a result of it. Luis DantasAugust 31, 2014 5:00 AM X-Factor #38 Well, exactly: that was a something. Actually, two different somethings. BerendAugust 31, 2014 4:22 AM X-Factor #38 You say Maddy stays dead till 2008, but she returned before in the 1990's Nate Grey series I think. Or was that a clone or something? Jon DubyaAugust 31, 2014 1:16 AM X-Factor #38 Even acknowledging the points previous commenters have left, there are still MAJOR problems with this issue. 1) Much has already been said about Madelyne's portrayal throughout Inferno but for me the bigger problem with the revelations here is that this becomes a huge case of Never Live It Down for future stories. Now anytime poor Maddie is referenced or revived, her default status is always "Evil All Along." (For instance a recent X-Men story had the X-women describe her as one of the X-Men's deadliest enemies, like WTF?) Dark Phoenix (who let us remember blew up a planet!) was shown more sympathy. So Ms Pryor is not ruined here she's ruined for all future generations as well (Similar to how the upcoming Byrne WCA issues will color the Scarlet Witch's character from now on.) 2) The retcons also make both X-teams look like rather gullible chumps. In addition Jean comes across as rather unsympathetic and self-involved here throwing self-righteous accusations toward Madelyne while constantly calling her a "witch" (How "censored-for-prime-time-NBC" of her). Of course Simonson already had Jean beating the "Madelyne is a no-good shrew" drum earlier than this. 3) I also can't say this is well done because this is a just big ol' infodump. But like fnord said, at least some dangling plotlines were being resolves after lingering for far too long (similar to the poorly-done Hobgoblin revelation, where readers are just glad it's over with.) And despite my complaints I can see how Simonson would want to clear out the "baggage" and move on as soon as possible (after all SHE'S the one who's going to have to be writing Scott from this point on so one could see how she was invested in redeeming the book's leading man. Claremont doesn't have to care at this point so it's easier for him to be dismissive.) I just wish she did it in a way that involved more grace and tact and less badly-retconned cackling super-villianeses. Luis DantasAugust 31, 2014 12:58 AM Power Pack #44 Also, with all the controversy about the recent Milo Manara cover for Spider-Woman and the aforementioned parent shot of Gosamyr, I can't help but notice that Julie is drawn a bit too well for taste in that bus scene. When did Power Pack become a direct-market only title? I have a hunch that its demographics (as originally intended, anyway) suffered particularly badly from the change. gfsdf gfbdAugust 31, 2014 12:12 AM Uncanny X-Men #199 Phenomenal issue. Everything I love about Claremont's X-men right here. Not to mention one of the more essential Magneto stories. Jay DemetrickAugust 31, 2014 12:09 AM X-Terminators #2 On http://marvel.wikia.com/ it says Scab's real name is Tim/Timmy. Scab is blond haired where Timothy is black haired. If that's correct, you should probably change the "Characters Appearing:" tag from Timothy (Inferno Baby) to Scab. If it's incorrect, I guess Timmy's hair went from blond to black at some point...? Luis DantasAugust 31, 2014 12:03 AM Power Pack #44 That makes one of us, I guess. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 11:59 PM Power Pack #44 Luis, there's a difference in Marvel ethics between using mental powers to change people's minds and using mental powers to fix mental illness. Moondragon using her powers to make Quicksilver less of a bigot is clearly wrong but Xavier using his powers to cure Gabrielle Haller's catatonia is treated sympathetically. Of course, the difference is that Gaby had been catatonic for years, so barring a miracle Xavier had no other options, while the Powers has found out their kids' secret less than 48 hours ago so their condition might improve with time. Still, I can see why the writers thought this was acceptable. Luis DantasAugust 30, 2014 11:30 PM Power Pack #44 I get the feeling that Inferno was a bit too ambitious for its own sake. It is obviously meant to give a sense of closure for most of the subplots that have been running amok for the last four years or so - nearly all of them unexplained or unsolvable consequences of the status quo of Magik and Cyclops - but it could only go so far, for various reasons. It ended up making Illyana just a glorified source of plot demons, and attempted to drown the inconsistencies and dead ends under a veritable multitude of men behind the curtains. Nearly all of the resolutions were as necessary as they were ultimately unsatisfactory, even outright vague. Its is also noticeable how the boundaries of the individual books began to crumble to the point where I feel that it is hindrance to actually have Power Pack, X-Factor and New Mutants as books of their own. The actual plots all but ignore those distinctions, and the guest starring has grown unyieldy. Going back to this issue, that is both a logical and completely unacceptable resolution of the dilemma of how to deal with the parents. Between the obvious uncertainties brought by Inferno itself and Mirage saying outright that she has the power to build constructs that look just like their sons and daughters and showing convincing evidence that she used it, they should indeed be at least somewhat suspicious for a while. It is not a particularly convincing lie, after all. The problem with that approach is that it can only result in portraying the Powers as being scarred self-delusionals from them on or instead having a storyline where they grow the courage to find out the truth. The second approach would be by far the more satisfactory, but it would also need a degree of editorial space that I sure don't see existing at this time. I will be very pleased indeed if I eventually am proven wrong. Even so, wtf. This issue is in essence advocating the ethics of date rape. Mirage is lying outright to well-meaning parents that did nothing wrong and are understandably shocked, all the while still trusting them to keep guard of their sons and daughters. That is an utterly irresponsible thing to do. And it does not help that Gosamyr's powers mean in essence that they are drugged at that moment, a point made even by the story itself in that panel with the cheesecakey back shot of Gosamyr in a suggestive pose. It is no wonder that the character lasted so little; her powers walk a very fine line indeed, and her appearance is unconfortable at best. fnord12August 30, 2014 11:22 PM New Mutants #72-73 Thanks, Jay. Fixed it. Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 11:11 PM New Mutants #72-73 The 4th scan and the 9th one are the same. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 10:57 PM Power Pack #44 But here's the thing- the Magneto-is-turning-evil-again plot had been building since New Mutants 61. I can't imagine that they were planning on letting him remain head of the School while evil, so it should have been obvious to the Power Pack staff that SOMETHING was going to happen with Magneto and the School, so you'd think they would ask the X-Staff BEFORE revealing the kids' identities. fnord12August 30, 2014 10:57 PM Uncanny X-Men #202 Luis, Magneto had some self-esteem problems. Thanks; fixed it. Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 10:56 PM X-Factor #38 Ah! Missed that bit. Never mind, carry on. lol! fnord12August 30, 2014 10:51 PM X-Factor #38 Jay, i had already mentioned the babies in the Considerations section. Not sure if you're suggesting i should do something more? I didn't feel i need to include that particular panel as a scan. Luis DantasAugust 30, 2014 10:49 PM Uncanny X-Men #202 "During the fight with the Sentinels, Magneto makes sure to keep civilians out of danger, which resolves a tension that had been brewing between him and Magneto". That seems to need some fixing. Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 10:38 PM X-Factor #38 The panel with Iceman mentioning the 3 babies that he and Rogue are shown holding is the first panel of the page where Beast suggests Archangel as Warren's new name that you've scanned there. Kinda important for Inferno Baby tracking. ;) clydeAugust 30, 2014 10:24 PM Power Pack #44 Or perhaps, any book that had ties to the mutant titles should have had monthly meetings about the upcoming plots. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 9:33 PM Power Pack #44 One other problem with this story- later on Inferno is explained away as hallucinations. But we see plenty of injured people in this story. One would think some of them had injuries that couldn't be explained through hallucinations. DermieAugust 30, 2014 9:33 PM Uncanny X-Men #242 Kudos to Claremont (and the art teams involved, of course) for making sure that the male characters get put it skimpy S&M outfits for "Inferno" as well as the women--with Havok's "goblin prince" shredded loincloth, and Captain Britain's thong-and-harness look in EXCALIBUR. It makes it feel slightly less exploitative towards the female characters when the men are subjected to the same thing--and it provides some equal opportunity ogling for the female and gay male audience members. Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 9:31 PM Cloak and Dagger #4 Lol! Yea, Michael, the Atlantis Attacks Annuals all had back-up stories that didn't take place alongside the main one if I remember correctly. And the New Nutants one throws a monkey wrench in easy placement if the Atlantis crossover parts that take place after it. Sh! Don't tell fnord12 that though! fnord12August 30, 2014 9:06 PM Cloak and Dagger #4 I'll have to get there eventually. ;-) But i'll wait until i cover the annual to place the back-up. Max_SpiderAugust 30, 2014 9:03 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #148 Poor Flash will end up getting a more central role in Las Vegas' own equivalent of Inferno during Circle of Four that'll leave a lasting demonic impression on his life. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 9:00 PM Cloak and Dagger #4 Jay, please, don't direct fnord's attention to X-Factor Annual 4- he'll go mad trying to figure out whether the lead story takes place before or after Acts of Vengeance. Have you no soul? MichaelAugust 30, 2014 8:58 PM X-Factor #38 Getting back to fnord's argument that Maddie being alive would have just asked for continued angsty trouble, the opposite happened when Maddie died. Scott and Jean became boring. Yes, Englehart's Crystal- Johnny-Alicia triangle was a disaster but that's because (a) Englehart can't write woman and (b) Englehart planned to reveal that Johnny was brainwashed by a 6-year old. If Maddie had been kept around to keep the Jean-Scott relationship interesting, we might not have had to have Scott boink Emma Frost. Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 8:44 PM Cloak and Dagger #4 And don't forget the Inferno Aftermath story in X-Factor Annual #4! MichaelAugust 30, 2014 7:53 PM X-Factor #38 Except that Classic X-Men 43 implies Maddie was already awake- she was pounding on the door when Sinister tried to kill her. Walter LawsonAugust 30, 2014 7:27 PM X-Factor #39 Also, the fragments of motivation we've seen for Sinister so far actually do connect, but the connection hasn't been spelled out clearly--presumably that was to be fodder for a different story. Nathan has a lifespan of a thousand years or more. So he can take a long-term approach to wiping out humanity. His strategy seems to be to acquire and crossbreed powerful mutants. He's breeding an army. Perhaps he wiped out the Morlocks because, as a large mutant community, they could be the beginnings of a rival mutant army or a rival source of mutant solidarity and leadership. They might not be a threat to Nathan for thirty years, or a hundred years, but he might as well eliminate the potential threat while it's still very small. Walter LawsonAugust 30, 2014 7:18 PM X-Factor #39 Sinister's childish fight with Scott, and the fact that he likes to call opponents and minions "child," is a clue to his real nature, as is the fact that when he possesses Rogue he's impressed by how strong her body is. That didn't make sense when I read these issues in real time as a ten-year-old myself--Sinister's body obviously has plenty of physical power in this story, so why would he be impressed by Rogue?--but now that I know what Claremont intended, I assume that while Nathan's mind inhabits the Sinister android (or whatever it is), the android doesn't have any much capacity for feeling. There has to be a mind in it, or else Rogue's power wouldn't work, but if it's a marionette without living feeling, that would explain why Nathan's mind is impressed to feel what it's like to have Rogue's body. I've heard this actually ties in with what Claremont intended for Gambit, but we'll cover that in 1990. Vincent ValentiAugust 30, 2014 7:09 PM X-Factor #38 Whoops, came here to complain about Milgrom's horrid inks, but I'm too late! Walter LawsonAugust 30, 2014 6:54 PM X-Factor #38 It's also because the Phoenix was animating Maddie, who was otherwise inert, that Maddie dies when Jean comes to terms with the Phoenix and accepts her stolen life back. It's a well constructed conclusion--it was set up by the otherwise unnecessary revelation in Uncanny that Maddie didn't live until the Phoenix came to her--even if it's not communicated completely clearly. Walter LawsonAugust 30, 2014 6:50 PM X-Factor #38 The memories Phoenix tries to return to Jean are those from the time Phoenix was impersonating her, X-Men 101 to 137. This is so the writers don't have to remember whether Jean has ever met Kitty Pryde or whatever and don't have to go through the rigmarole of having Kitty introduce herself to Jean and bring up the whole resurrection/fake Jean business again. This also allows fans to say that the Phoenix Jean is the real Jean and those stories count, but she's not responsible for the Dark Phoenix murders, even though she remembers them. Maddie's life was derived from the Phoenix all along: that's why she was inert until the Phoenix Jean died on the moon. Phoenix then transfers copied memories from Jean--including Annie Richardson's death--to Maddie. Why doesn't Maddie remember Dark Phoenix? Any explanation will do: chalk it up to Maddie not being quite Jean, so the memories don't access properly. And Sinister has given her a personality and identity of his making. No wonder she's a mess. Note that while she should, as a clone, have Jean's TK and TP, as Goblyn Queen she seems to have some reality-bending power as well. It's not a gift from the demons: N'Astirh is surprised and impressed by the power. It's a bit of Phoenix power. Maddie in some some sets in the Dark Phoenix, though incomplete and twisted by Sinister and the demons. I don't see a problem with telepaths and reality warpers being able to use their powers subconsciously. Maddie could have very pure motives in Uncanny 201 and still be affecting Scott's battle with Storm. Maddie was already unstable by Uncanny 223, when she was suicidal and was only saved by Alex's intervention. Her baby had been kidnapped and she was almost murdered twice. Her subsequent decision to join the X-Men in the fight with the Adversary might be interpreted as suicidal too: the X-Men might survive, or might sacrifice themselves saving others, but Maddie had no way of knowing she'd make a difference. She could only expect to die, albeit honorably. Maddie tells Jean not to judge her for not asking aroma to send the X-Men straight to the baby. I don't think this has to be read as Maddie not caring about the baby: Jean is just being foolish because sending the X-Men and Maddie directly to the baby, the Marauders, and Sinister would only have gotten the X-Men killed. Look at the fight next issue: Sinister singlehandedly beats all the X-Men and X-Factor until Scott (supercharged by Havok) breaks his conditioning and his Sinister with everything. One of the good things about this issue is that it can be read as validating Phoenix Jean and Maddie both by wrapping them in with real Jean. Louise Simonson a and/or Harras doesn't leave well enough alone, though, so we get Maddie's and Phoenix's personalities coming back in Jean during the Judgment War, but in general I agree with Fnord that we've seen the best fix that was possible from the moment Jean was resurrected and the Phoenix Jean was rendered inauthentic. Now all the authenticity is as restored as it can be. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 5:55 PM X-Factor #39 On the first page of the issue, Beast is lying unconscious at Sinister's feet. But a couple of couple pages later, Beast attacks Sinister who claims "I noted your absence and wondered when you would arrive". Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 4:33 PM Uncanny X-Men #243 You wrote: "(sans Beast and Longshot, who take baby Nathan and Jean's parents, no longer demons, to the safety of X-Factor's Ship)" MichaelAugust 30, 2014 4:33 PM X-Factor #38 In addition to Simonson's "wimpy lover" line, which ties with "Sinister's chicken" next issue for the most juvenile pieces of dialogue I've ever read, the art is horrible. Wolverine doesn't look like Wolverine,even taking into account the demon influences, and part of this is due to Milgrom's inks. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 4:22 PM X-Factor #38 Also, fnord, X-Factor 38 is the closest I've ever seen to a story that's objectively badly written. In addition to the confusion about the Maddie retcons, several plot elements are left vague. Did the Phoenix merely copy Jean's memories (if so, why did it need to return them?) or steal some of her memories (if so, why didn't anyone notice Jean was missing some of her memories?) or steal part of her soul without affecting her personality? Why was Maddie dying in the final battle with Jean? (The Official Handbook claims that it was because the X-Men managed to protect Jean from the blast but not Maddie, even though they were right next to each other according to the art.) Like Luis pointed out, it's not clear how much of the characterization was supposed to count. Simonson has Logan point out that this isn't the real Maddie, just a demon conjuring, and Maddie talks of the ties which S'ym forged to bind her to darkenss, implying that Maddie is only acting this way as a result of a spell. But everyone seems to hold Maddie's actions against her nonetheless. And Maddie's dialogue is horrible- it doesn't sound like either the Maddie talks or the way a real person would talk. If you don't believe me, ask your "wimpy lover" for a second opinion. Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 4:22 PM X-Factor #38 You didn't scan the panel where Iceman & Rogue discover the 3 missing Inferno babies. Over in New Mutants they have the 10 rescued from the pentacle. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 3:50 PM Uncanny X-Men #243 As pointed out earlier, the same thing that happens with Maddie happens with Magneto in New Mutants 75, which was also written by Simonson. She got the blame for both of these since she wrote both issues, although Harras probably deserves some of the blame too. RobertAugust 30, 2014 3:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #243 Shouldn't the blame placed at Simonson's feet be shared significantly by Harras or DeFalco? Perhaps she was simply writing Madelyne the way editorial wanted her to be written and Claremont's different interpretation was his passive aggressive way of disagreeing with the way the story was being handled? It wouldn't be the first or last time a Marvel editor or EIC decided a character being written out should be vilified to prop up others. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 3:38 PM X-Factor #38 This story is problematic in several other ways. If Scott thought Maddie was losing it BEFORE he left her with her baby, then how does that excuse his leaving her alone with his baby for months? It makes it worse. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 3:02 PM Uncanny X-Men #243 Claremont seemed to have different ideas about Maddie than Simonson. Note that he states that Maddie and Jean were "in every primal respect identical". The idea seems to be that Maddie was as decent as Jean before the demons came along, while Simonson tried to convince us that Maddie was really crazy all along. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 2:24 PM X-Factor #38 More to the point, there's an undercurrent of sexism and victim blaming to all of the accusations against Maddie. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 2:02 PM X-Factor #38 How could Maddie be subconsciously altering the videos before Uncanny 232 without realizing it? Unless she was suffering from MPD. Luis DantasAugust 30, 2014 1:52 PM X-Factor #38 This storyline is a good prequel of the dreadful thing that will be the 1990s in comics. Storm und drung is supposed to carry all the plot? Check. Overdramatic posing and speeches in most any panel? Check. Convoluted storyline which can't be understood at all without a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of minor events from years ago? Check. This one explicitly mentions Uncanny X-Men #201, which was published over three years earlier, and makes it influenced by Madelyne, thereby putting her character and sanity in doubt at least since that time - which in effect is a retcon that Maddie wasn't really sane and faithful by the time Scott left her in X-Factor #1. There are also the references to Phoenix switching places with Jean, dying in the moon and attempting to return to Jean in her underwater cocoon in Jamaica Bay, which are not even footnoted (and in one case involve yet another retcon in an expansion history in a reprint book). We are apparently expected to have read all of those and remember the key points by heart. It is no wonder that comics can't really earn new readers by now. They have become more of a commitment than most marriages. Personally, I feel very frustrated by this storyline also because I have no clue about how much of the characterization is supposed to "count". Everyone is at least shell-shocked, if not outright demon-influenced, yet everything is just so terribly ambiguous. This history even states outright that Storm, Wolverine, Colossus and Psylocke are untouched by the demonic influence despite arguably showing evidence to the contrary. If the writers and editors couldn't be bothered to care about the characterization, I did not feel that I should, either. fnord12August 30, 2014 1:46 PM X-Factor #38 Michael, everything that you say is a contradiction is explained here by the fact that Maddie was acting on a subconscious level until after her encounter with Sinister. The one possible contradiction is the sequence with her fighting the Marauders, but even that we've only seen previously in Maddie's dream sequence. I get very clearly that you don't like this revelation, but i see it differently than you. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 1:30 PM X-Factor #38 Fnord, the Maddie-was-always-evil retcons make no sense. Ataru320August 30, 2014 11:44 AM Uncanny X-Men #242 Great, Michael, you just gave me the bizarre image of shoujo-esque huge-eyed Kingpin and Graviton. Who knew that such horrible villains could be so pure? Jay DemetrickAugust 30, 2014 11:37 AM Uncanny X-Men #242 I always assumed it was Madelyne's magic influencing the X-Men. It's most obvious with Havok but I think the others were being infected as well. And then N'astirh's specific attack against Longshot changed him of course. MichaelAugust 30, 2014 8:54 AM Uncanny X-Men #242 "I've always assumed X-Factor were just meant to be more purehearted--they've certainly been portrayed lately as the nice mutants and the X-Men as a more radical, darker team." kveto from pragueAugust 30, 2014 8:39 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #147 I didnt like Conway's worship of the average New Yorker here. They have to endure things like rude waiters, over-priced pizza, crazy cab drivers, etc. and somehow that makes them equipt to deal with a demon invasion. Heck, the only guy who had any trouble fighting demons was spidey. kveto from pragueAugust 30, 2014 8:36 AM Amazing Spider-Man #313 And he got to have Spidey comment that the eyes were "all wrong" on the balloon Spidey, despite that being the way his eyes have been depicted for 30 plus years. It smacks of a monumental ego, "My version is the right one." I will say that his rendition of the lizard is really good, probably the best he's been. ChrisWAugust 30, 2014 3:01 AM X-Terminators #4 Fair enough. I assumed you were referring to later series, but just wanted to check that you weren't talking about books Marvel had already put out by this point ["Contest of Champions" was intended to lead to an on-going Shamrock series, or something.] Other than "Transformers" lasting 75+ issues longer than their original miniseries, I couldn't come up with any examples. So given how Marvel was working at the time, I'll stick with my theory, that it was a way to get another X-Title #1 on the shelves, make use of characters who would otherwise have nothing to do, include details that wouldn't really fit in elsewhere - probably another reason "Inferno" is my favorite crossover - and set the New Mutants up with a place to go and things to do once the X-Mansion gets destroyed. ChrisWAugust 30, 2014 2:00 AM Uncanny X-Men #242 I'd noticed the "Ghostbuster II" connections as well - especially since the movie came out just after Inferno ended. There's also the way sacrificing the lead female's baby becomes the main point. This is probably my personal favorite issue of "X-Men," for a number of reasons, not least of which Claremont reclaims the original X-Men as his own. Even without knowing any of his thoughts about X-Factor, he writes the team really well, and note that they pretty much all get something to do above and beyond what the X-Men do. Archangel and Jean don't do much, but he reminds Ali of what he used to be, even in her demonic state, and Wolverine of the intent to reveal that Apocalypse was behind the Weapon X project - was this site the place where I found out about that? - while Jean breaks through to Storm and effectively ends the demonic possession by her mere presence. Once she and Storm hug, the X-Men are basically on the side of the angels again. Bobby suddenly whips up a cool way to save Colossus and is instrumental in defeating Nasty, which was Hank's idea to begin with. And if anybody can be said to be leading the two groups, it's Scott, and certainly not Storm. Considering the last time they saw each other was in #201, that's an important point, especially considering they're now fighting the wife he left the X-Men for, alongside the woman he left his wife for. I'm not a big fan of the demonic X-Men. It really only works for Wolverine (for obvious reasons) and maybe with Storm's apparent willingness to leave New York the way it is, because leading the X-Men gives her the right. It really gets stupid in the following issue of X-Factor, where the X-Men pointlessly become evil again, and are written even worse. Jim Shooter once told an anecdote for a fanzine, about how professional Claremont was to work with, and how he would change any line of dialogue the editor complained about, with the caveat that Claremont had to be the one to write the new dialogue. He laughed that one time, right before the book went to press, he changed a bit of dialogue, challenged Claremont to find which one it was, and Claremont never did. Fine for Shooter (if this is a true story) but when the X-Men start being written by others - including Shooter during "Secret Wars" I and II - they are generally always 'wrong.' Erik RobbinsAugust 30, 2014 1:29 AM X-Factor #37 Hank ripping off his costume does seem kind of random. I wonder if perhaps Silvestri had already drawn him sans-costume for Uncanny or some similar behind-the-scenes explanation. Walter LawsonAugust 30, 2014 12:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #242 Claremont (or JR Jr) has said that in the original '85-'86 Mutant Massacre/Marvel Crisis/Jasper's Warp story some of the X-Men were going to come out warped by Jaspers, even after his defeat. Claremont is using Inferno to do the same thing, though it won't last long beyond Inferno. Archangel does get demonized by Maddie, but it's true that we don't get an explanation for why X-Factor aren't demonized the way the X-Men are. I've always assumed X-Factor were just meant to be more purehearted--they've certainly been portrayed lately as the nice mutants and the X-Men as a more radical, darker team. Obviously those who consider Cyclops to blame for the Maddie situation might not agree. The X-Factor/X-Men split began with a Ghostbusters riff--X-Factor as mutant hunters--so it's fitting that the 1986-1989 mega-arc ends with another Ghosbusters riff, the demons taking over the city. It's admirable how many long running plots are wrapped up, at least for the time being: revenge on the Marauders and their master, the Jean/Maddie/Scott problem, the X-Men not knowing Jean was alive, and X-Factor thinking the X-Men were dead. It could have been a lot worse: in the 1990 annuals we'll see the similarly longstanding threads in which the X-Men don't know what happened to Rachel and Rachel had never met Jean resolved in a really desultory fashion. (Plus lil 'Ro and Fambit join the X-Men and effectively re-establish the team after 18 months. But we'll get to the horrible Days of Future Present soon enough.) Luis DantasAugust 29, 2014 11:34 PM Uncanny X-Men #242 I guess I should have expected something similar to this from way back when Illyana first manifested her soulsword to fight S'ym back in 1984's New Mutants #14. For all that seems to happen, it should have been an exciting history, but there is way too little in the way of convincing behavior. The X-Men are very ambiguously (and conveniently) corrupted by Inferno so their characterization is just wild and missing; Madelyne and particularly Alex are just unexplainably nuts; and the most important characters from the perspective of plot have been through so many unexplainable contrinvances for so long that it is just not possible to have any idea of how they truly feel or behave anymore. I don't even know how I feel about Cyclops, Jean or Madelyne in this storyline, because it is just too obvious that I am not supposed to have any idea. Luis DantasAugust 29, 2014 11:17 PM New Mutants #72-73 It is interesting to note that these issues have Magneto going back to his helmet (which was previously indicated by Magneto himself to be a clear statement of his villainous motivation) and, in fact, to his full previous costume. The implication is just ambiguous enough to be deniable. fnord12August 29, 2014 9:47 PM Excalibur #6-7 I think i'll leave the train dragon appearances to where it actually is shown. fnord12August 29, 2014 9:44 PM X-Factor #37 Oh god, don't send creators here! The last thing they want to see is us being obsessively critical about stories they worked on 30 years ago! Jay DemetrickAugust 29, 2014 9:11 PM Excalibur #6-7 The moment when Shadowcat manifests a bit of Magik's armor is probably when Magik sweeps the demons back to Limbo and sacrifices herself in New Murants #73. When Meggan unexpectedly weakens and Shadowcat attacks her with the Soul Sword is probably when N'astirh is blown up in Uncanny X-Men #242. Vincent ValentiAugust 29, 2014 7:57 PM X-Factor #37 fnord, I just posted a question to Walt and gave him a link to this page....so we'll see what he says! RobertAugust 29, 2014 7:50 PM X-Factor #37 When do we get to the part where Dr. Strange shows up and turns Nathan into a bomb to stop Madelyne? MichaelAugust 29, 2014 7:29 PM X-Factor #37 Fnord, the problem is that this WASN'T a resolution. I waited 3 years to see a meeting between MADDIE and Scott and Jean. This WASN'T Maddie, except in name- it bore no resemblance to her. Vincent ValentiAugust 29, 2014 7:19 PM X-Factor #37 @Michael: Vincent ValentiAugust 29, 2014 7:05 PM Uncanny X-Men #242 This is the big one. I had been waiting years for this meeting after numerous cases of Lucy wiping the football from us (e.g. the Morlock tunnel during the Mutant Massacre). It was a big deal to 15-year-old me. I was annoyed that it they met while the X-Men were in their demon forms, though, especially since I was looking forward to seeing Simonson draw the X-Men. MichaelAugust 29, 2014 6:42 PM X-Factor #37 Vincent, I dug out Marvel Age 64- the original drawing of Avengers Annual 17 has a HUMAN Beast, not a blue and furry Beast. fnord12August 29, 2014 6:38 PM X-Factor #37 @Michael, i think it's very different. What i've criticized Mantlo (and others) for is the histrionic arguments that sometimes nearly and sometimes actually result in teammates coming to blows, and then later just all moving along with the main plot of the story side by side as if they hadn't just been trying to kill each other. Over the top characterization and poorly designed power demonstration scenes, in other words. What's going on here is something else entirely. I know you don't like what's happened to Madelyne's character and as i stated when i intro'd the X-Men portion of Inferno, i'm in agreement with you there. But really it was all but inevitable. A reader that never had any access to behind-the-scenes information could easily come to the conclusion that Claremont was a master planner setting this up from Madelyne's first appearance (if not before, in Avengers annual #10). The people mistaking her for Jean, the Mastermind plot, the suspicious time and date of her plane crash, the super-human prowess she's demonstrated against super-opponents (as you've pointed out). We know that it's really that Claremont was playing games with readers and his normal tendency to bestow extra abilities on all his female characters, and that he actually didn't like any of this at all, but it's actually a very logical conclusion that there was something "sinister" about her. It's a shame that it's damaging to the character, to be sure, but i do feel like it's a good and even necessary fix at this time. If the X-Books had been allowed to cross earlier, something i've been criticizing since at least Mutant Massacre, we might have been able to reach a different conclusion. But having gone on this long, i don't see that there could have been a satisfying resolution that just got Scott back together with Maddie or something. And unlike a Mantlo or Englehart book, i feel like this has been structured really well and scripted well. I think Maddie's dialogue here and in the X-Men book works really well on both a surface and meta level, with the character being allowed to rail against the fate that's befallen her (i agree with Jon that there's a difference on the Simonson side, and i'll go into that with one of the later X-Factor issues). It's nicely done. And it's reaching a specific conclusion, unlike the Quicksilver story that left us with no explanation (or in fact, multiple contradictory explanations) and no resolution. I think this is far from a classic, and i really wish that Maddie wasn't put in an S&M outfit through all of this (unless that's also meant to be meta commentary) but i like Inferno as a much needed wrap up to a number of long lingering problems. @Vincent, the costume thing makes a lot of sense. Please let us know if you do hear from Walt on that. MichaelAugust 29, 2014 6:36 PM Fantastic Four #285 You're thinking of Fantastic Four 342- the kid committed suicide "in honor" of Johnny. Vincent ValentiAugust 29, 2014 6:06 PM X-Factor #37 I remember seeing a Marvel Age preview of an X-Factor issue during Inferno which was drawn by Simonson and showed them fighting demons...but the Beast was in non-furry mode. It seems that somewhere along the way, plans changed to have the Beast revert to being furry again. If you look closely at this issue, in the panels before the Beast rips off his costume (particularly in the 5th image above), it looks as if Walt originally drew the non-furry Beast but altered it into his furry form afterwards. #33 was clearly dedicated to the Beast turning Furry again, but maybe Simonson drew the issues out of sequence? It could explain why the furry beast kept the brown costume for a few issues to reduce the amount of redrawing that Simonson would have to do - and he had the Beast rip off the uniform once he "caught up". I ought to ask him on Facebook, as this was a question that has irked me for over 25 years now! MichaelAugust 29, 2014 5:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #242 Claremont has said that Alex's and Maddie's dialogue reflects his feelings towards Scott. MichaelAugust 29, 2014 5:12 PM Excalibur #6-7 Kitty says that Rachel established a psychic bond between her and the baby so that she could know when the baby was in trouble. If that's the case, then why didn't Rachel sense when the Marauders attacked Maddie and stole the baby? MichaelAugust 29, 2014 4:53 PM X-Factor #37 Fnord, you can't have it both ways. How many times have you criticized Mantlo for having characters resolve their differences by fighting each other? How is this any different? And you criticized Englehart for having Pietro go mad and become unrecognizable as a character but Maddie is at least as unrecognizable. Jon DubyaAugust 29, 2014 3:48 PM X-Factor #37 The only thing is that the ending scene here doesn't quite match up to one from Uncanny X-Men 241 (Indeed there wasn't any indication that Madelyne was even there in New York at the time during the Uncanny ending.) And of course the mild schism between Claremont and Simonson's take on Inferno starts in earnest, as the demonization (sorry for the pun) of Madelyne goes into overdrive here. Her portrayal is a lot more sympathetic in Claremont's issues. Notice that Weezie is already setting the scene for Maddie to take the blame for a lot of x-related problems and as such we (the audience) shouldn't feel to bad if she's killed off (she was Evil All Along and she wasn't a "real" person anyway right)? Vincent ValentiAugust 29, 2014 2:03 PM Daredevil #265 To be fair, as a NYer growing up during those times, the city was really a hellhole (no pun intended) at the time. MikeCheyneAugust 29, 2014 12:47 PM Fantastic Four #285 I remember a comic in which one of the Seekers (the Secret Empire mercenaries) says his kid died impersonating a superhero--I can't believe it's this issue since the dad in the story looks nothing like a mercenary, but can anyone remember what this was referring to (or if I'm remembering it right)? Jay DemetrickAugust 29, 2014 12:26 PM New Mutants #72-73 Yes, the heat and animated objects were kept going by N'astirh, Goblin Queen and even Crotus as we'll see in Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, Excalibur, Cloak & Dagger and Power Pack. A few other demons managed to resist Magik's sweep back into Limbo too. Erik RobbinsAugust 29, 2014 12:26 PM Avengers #1 Of course, as a counterpoint to that, there are the desert creatures that were mutated by the Banner's gamma bomb that Rick Jones-Hulk met. Erik RobbinsAugust 29, 2014 12:23 PM Uncanny X-Men #153 I think it's just that she remembered the dragon in her story when she met a real dragon, and decided to re-use the name. Erik RobbinsAugust 29, 2014 11:45 AM New Mutants #72-73 As I only had the the X-Terminators/New Mutants/Avengers parts of Inferno, and not the X-Men/X-Factor parts, this was the end of Inferno as far as I knew. Did the increased heat and animated objects continue after the demons were pulled home? fnord12August 29, 2014 9:36 AM Fantastic Four annual #1 Fantastic Four #22. Not too far off from here. ParanoidObsessiveAugust 29, 2014 9:13 AM Avengers #1 "I want to know how come every sea-dwelling creature in the Marvel universe doesn't have super powers? the rules of comic book super science are pretty clear - exposure to radioactivity = super powers." There's actually an answer to this. It's established in the Marvel universe that the main reason humans are so susceptible to mutation via radiation is because of the genetic tinkering the Celestials did way back in the dim and misty. But since they only tamper with the dominant species on the planet at the time, humans are the only species on Marvel Earth that possess that added potential. So essentially, mutation (in the sense of the X-gene) is a direct naturally-occurring manifestation of their alterations to the "mainline" DNA (with Eternals and Deviants being the more extreme result), and characters like the Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man are basically cases where the external stimuli of radiation successfully triggered a form of mutation where otherwise none would have occurred. So in a universe where the Celestials never visited Earth, presumably the Fantastic Four would have just died of tissue damage and/or cancer. That being said, radiation shouldn't be able to cause massive mutation on a similar scale in other species, because they were never "adjusted" by the Celestials. Of course, tons of sea monsters DO exist in the Marvel universe, but most of them have other origins... ParanoidObsessiveAugust 29, 2014 9:01 AM Fantastic Four annual #1 Even more amusing when you realize that, if she'd developed the force fields she was later known for by this point, she could have easily survived simply by forming an invisible bubble of air and floating up to the surface. Since I'm trawling through all these issues in chronological order, I forget when she first got the force fields... how long after this do they finally show up? Ataru320August 29, 2014 8:54 AM Uncanny X-Men #153 I just noticed that the Blackbird was cast as "Lockheed the Dragon"...foreshadowing? HarryAugust 29, 2014 8:14 AM Howard the Duck #33 So over the top, in fact, that, as it isn't *funny* (even if someone were to believe that homosexuality was wrong, it fails on that basic score alone), it shouldn't even have been included. Odd that, whether the rumours are true or not, Marvel weren't officially allowing gay characters at the time (but Arnie Roth was sympathetic and not merely implied as being gay, so I have no idea what that means for those rumours), they would see fit to include someone here who basically has predatory designs on Howard because, you know, 'the gays are like that'. fnord12August 29, 2014 8:10 AM Daredevil #263 Yeah, i was actually thinking of a scene on the next page of issue #263 but i hadn't flagged it so i thought it was in #265. And i forgot to go back to update this here when i did the review for #265 (which the Kingpin does not appear in). I've removed the reference to #265. The scene i was thinking of was when Typhoid Mary's demon friend says to Kingpin, "You've been working for us for a long time now. But you know that." while the Kingpin just sort of looks placidly at his feet. MichaelAugust 29, 2014 7:55 AM Daredevil #263 "it seems (we'll see more in issue #265), sure that the influx of demons is his personal karma for his life of crime, he's completely unmoved by the events of Inferno." fnord12August 29, 2014 7:39 AM Firestar #3 You didn't used to have to get to the airport two hours before your flight, too. fnord12August 29, 2014 7:34 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #148 I agree, Jay. I've swapped this with DD #265. fnord12August 29, 2014 7:30 AM What's Missing Thanks, Midnighter. I see the Appendix has an entry for them and they have an interesting history. And it's by Simon Furman! I don't own any of these but i'll keep an eye out in the bargain bins or i'll list them here if i don't have them when i get to 1990. fnord12August 29, 2014 7:21 AM West Coast Avengers #32 Alex, i think the idea is that she's small so her voice should be quieter, so they wrote the text smaller. They did the opposite with Bill Foster in West Coast Avengers annual #3 and West Coast Avengers #39. Bill Oakley was the letterer for all of these. MidnighterAugust 29, 2014 5:34 AM What's Missing Before you start the 1990, note that the recent Deadpool Bi-Annual put in continuity the Brute Force, a sort of squad of Animal Superheroes that starred in a 4 issues series by Simon Furman and Jose Delbo in 1990. HarryAugust 29, 2014 5:29 AM Nick Fury vs. SHIELD #1-6 "Jasper Sitwell is made head of SHIELD now that Fury is gone. Dum Dum is said to have been passed up due to his heart condition" Recent revelations in Original Sin put this in a different light... Alex FAugust 29, 2014 4:08 AM Thor #391 One of the things he ordered from room service was an elliptical trainer. Jay DemetrickAugust 29, 2014 3:07 AM Web of Spider-Man #48 It's possible Kingpin's appearance here could take place during Daredevil #263 between his being informed of demons pouring into New York and Typhoid Mary visiting him with a demon companion. Walter LawsonAugust 29, 2014 2:44 AM Uncanny X-Men #153 This issue does set up he idea that the X-Men can't afford to rebuild the mansion after the Hellfire Club's recent attack, which sets up the move to Magneto's haunted island. The fairy tale gives us what might be two important insights into the Phoenix story: Xavier has a crystal that supposedly contains Jean's soul. Is that analogous to the holempathic crystal? If so, it may be an indication that Claremont had a back door to bring Jean back. The second, more important thing to note, though, is the description at the climax, where the Phoenix is presented as a cosmic force that possessed Jean, whose soul is separate from and opposed to it. This of course is what will eventually become canonical for the "real" continuity. Claremont seems to be opening some doors here, although I don't think he actually intended to bring Jean back. Alex F.August 29, 2014 2:07 AM West Coast Avengers #32 Do the Wasp's word balloons look a little off to anyone else? Alex F.August 29, 2014 1:51 AM Nick Fury vs. SHIELD #1-6 Walter's iPad is a deltite! Walter LawsonAugust 29, 2014 1:34 AM Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 Mussolini invaded Abyssinia in 1935, so according to the Punisher, Magnum was born in 1920. This story was published in '75, so a fifty-five-year-old Magnum was giving Spider-Man a hard time in hand-to-hand combat. Magnum must already have had some superhuman power by this point. Jay DemetrickAugust 29, 2014 1:20 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #148 The ending of this takes place concurrent with X-Factor #38 where Madelyne dies and the Empire State Building is restored at dawn so that would place it after Daredevil #265, which ends shortly after the demons are sucked back into Limbo by Magik which takes place in New Mutants #73 (Before Uncanny X-Men #242-X-Factor #38) Luis DantasAugust 29, 2014 1:03 AM Amazing Spider-Man #313 Between the odd names, the Conan reference and the Thanksgiving theme I am perhaps unduly reminded of Christopher Priest. MichaelAugust 28, 2014 11:51 PM New Mutants #72-73 Another interesting thing- Illyana's "improved" scrying glass can perceive Peter despite Roma's spell. MichaelAugust 28, 2014 11:31 PM Firestar #3 I've flown from Pittsburgh to New York a couple of times. MichaelAugust 28, 2014 11:28 PM Daredevil #265 How would the announcer on the radio know the number of babies that were kidnapped, that Illyana was from Limbo, etc.? An afteraffect of the spell? gfsdf gfbdAugust 28, 2014 11:24 PM Firestar #3 Why would you fly from Massachusetts to Newark? fnord12August 28, 2014 9:29 PM X-Terminators #4 ChrisW, i'm thinking of more recent books like, for example, Hercules starting out as a World War Hulk: Aftersmash title or an Alpha Flight book beginning with a Fear Itself tie-in. And then you have all the books launched out of things like Dark Reign, which i guess was less a crossover and more a formalized status quo change, but it's similar. fnord12August 28, 2014 9:17 PM New Mutants #72-73 @Michael, re: the time thing. All in good fun, ofc course, but i think you could still say that time is slowing down or acting funny due to the closeness of Limbo even if the full timelessness isn't in effect. There has to be some difference that allowed Kang to operate in secret from the Council. ChrisWAugust 28, 2014 9:14 PM New Mutants #72-73 I'd say this storyline is where Bret Blevins' art style fit the story the best in every way. Even the real objects were intended to be demonically twisted (the pet store, for instance) which only makes sense, given that the crossover centers around Illyana, and this the series she appears in. Another reason I have affection for "Inferno" is that the crossover had finished around the time "Ghostbusters II" came out, which had some plot similarities, particularly sacrificing the female lead's baby. ChrisWAugust 28, 2014 8:58 PM Amazing Spider-Man #313 I think the in-joke is that McFarlane had to draw a Spidey that resembled the traditional model. clydeAugust 28, 2014 8:56 PM New Mutants #72-73 The problem I had with Illyana reverting to her younger self was it negated all the years of "growing up" she did in terms of emotional maturity. It's like when Jean Grey "came back to life" after being Phoenix. ChrisWAugust 28, 2014 8:53 PM X-Terminators #4 What other cases are there of Marvel starting up a series that was intended to be on-going, but also part of a crossover? Not saying there aren't any, nor that Marvel wasn't perfectly capable of making such a stupid decision, but having refreshed myself on "X-Terminators" for the first time in many years (possibly since it was fairly new) it looks to me like a short-term series designed to get a sales bump from an X-title #1, make use of characters that otherwise "Inferno" didn't have much room for and expand the scope of the storyline (introducing Crotus, for instance.) Also, keep in mind that Weezie, Claremont and Bob Harras probably all knew that the X-Mansion was going to be destroyed at the end of "Inferno" and the New Mutants wouldn't have any home to go back to, so why not fold them in with the other teenage mutants hanging out with X-Factor? clydeAugust 28, 2014 8:53 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #148 I find it hard to sympathize with Flash. He has "feelings" when it suits him. When did he ever think about Peter's feelings when he constantly bullied him during High School? MichaelAugust 28, 2014 8:42 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #148 The point of the hallucination is that Betty FINALLY realizes she relies on men too much, which is an attempt at redeeming her from the insane adulteress PAD left her as. MichaelAugust 28, 2014 8:37 PM New Mutants #72-73 Note that the demons claim S'ym was unable to bring Limbo's timelessness to Earth, so you can't use that to explain the chronology problems with Excalibur 4-7. Mark DrummondAugust 28, 2014 8:28 PM Avengers #299-300 Gilgamesh, or as I used to call him, Cow-Man. Yes, I know it technically should be Bull-Man, but mine is funnier. clydeAugust 28, 2014 7:46 PM New Mutants #72-73 Given what happens to Illyana in 1993, Rahne's line about her life stretching before her like a golden path seems sad. Walter LawsonAugust 28, 2014 7:35 PM New Mutants #72-73 Sym notes that Colossus is impervious to transmode. In Uncanny 242 we'll learn that Rogue acquired immunity when she leeched Magus. Colossus's immunity seems to come from already being organic metal. RobertAugust 28, 2014 5:56 PM Web of Spider-Man #48 "No, thinks Gloria. He is MORE than a man. Her mouth goes dry as she watches him LEAP..." Conway missed his calling writing for Harlequin. fnord12August 28, 2014 5:04 PM Avengers #299-300 I figured it was just another demon. I assume they all have names! ;-) fnord12August 28, 2014 5:03 PM X-Terminators #4 Regarding Nathan, i'm still not sure that disqualifies him from being (behind the scenes) here with the other infants, though. X-Factor #37, where Nathan is (re?)delivered to N'astirh definitely takes place after X-Terminators #4. Regarding a single page, i don't cut up the comics like that. If stories take place concurrently, i keep them as close together as practical (in this case, in adjacent entries), but i don't merge them into a single entry. If you were reading the comics you wouldn't jump back and forth between books, and i try to follow a similar flow here. Jay DemetrickAugust 28, 2014 4:25 PM Avengers #299-300 There is another named goblin servant of N'astirh here that calls himself Klytus. I wonder if he was meant to be Crotus? This appears to be his only known appearance. Jay DemetrickAugust 28, 2014 2:35 PM X-Terminators #4 I'm surprised you didn't just make this an X-terminators #4/New Mutants #72 page because the events/story are so interwoven. Jay DemetrickAugust 28, 2014 2:14 PM X-Terminators #4 Nathan Christopher & 3 other babies were kept separate from the pentacle for a ritual in the Empire State Building we'll see over in X-Factor #38. Ataru320August 28, 2014 1:42 PM New Mutants #32-34 Gotcha; it just seemed from the image that with Warlock's infecting of the demons of Limbo here that this was the source that would corrupt S'ym. fnord12August 28, 2014 1:06 PM New Mutants #32-34 I do mention it in the description but i think the real infection happened circa New Mutants #47 by the Magus. Ataru320August 28, 2014 1:01 PM New Mutants #32-34 Considering it's importance to Inferno, I was sort of wondering if you could add a mention/point regarding Warlock infecting Limbo/S'ym with the Transmode virus here. Ataru320August 28, 2014 12:52 PM Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1-5 My only real complaint is that the girl who supposedly became Typhoid Mary is a blonde here...and she's supposed to be a redhead. Heh, even in the 90s, there is little consistancy with hair color for female characters. Ataru320August 28, 2014 12:45 PM X-Terminators #4 Yeah, Skids, Rusty and Boom-Boom end up joining the New Mutants...as the super-bulky/tiny-footed shadow of Liefeld draws closer. Not necessarily one of Marvel's better ideas with these kids. clydeAugust 28, 2014 10:14 AM Thor #391 Alex - you should see his hotel bill with all the hours of the personal trainer he hired & gym equipment he rented while he was there. fnord12August 28, 2014 9:14 AM Daredevil #263 Just for completeness, and maybe because it helps explain why there may be inconsistencies between Claremont's usual N'Garai mythos and Limbo, it's worth remembering that it was Bruce Jones in Ka-Zar that created Belasco and established his link to the "Elder Gods, demonic entities from a parallel universe". I'm was also reminded while looking that up that Belasco's backstory includes a battle with Dante, who then went home and wrote Inferno based on the experience. Which, given the Limbo connection, makes the name of this crossover all the more appropriate. fnord12August 28, 2014 9:08 AM Web of Spider-Man #47 I guess it's kind of like Doctor Strange: Into Shamballa but while i didn't love that for similar reasons, at least the art was equally experimental and it fit a certain mood. That Firestorm annual really does look like a children's picture book. fnord12August 28, 2014 9:03 AM Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1-5 Agreed, Midnighter. I've updated the description a bit to reference your comment regarding Matt's father. But since this series is referenced in later books in relation to Typhoid Mary, i'm still keeping it in the project with the idea that if the events here didn't occur exactly as depicted, something like them must have. ParanoidObsessiveAugust 28, 2014 8:20 AM Journey Into Mystery #94-96 That picture is fantastic. Now all we need is to get Marvel to put in a Loki/Thor piggy-back ride scene into Thor 3, and I can die happy. ParanoidObsessiveAugust 28, 2014 8:17 AM Amazing Spider-Man #4 "In the end, Spidey defeats the Sandman using a vacuum cleaner which is ridiculous" This actually seems to be a running premise with Marvel, though - for whatever reason, characters who can turn their body into a liquid/gas/particulate and reform it later always seem to be completely immobilized if captured in some form of container. Even if, theoretically, they should be able to just force their way out of the container by partially reforming or something. I remember at least one story with Nitro where he exploded and turned to gas, and afterwards he was vacuumed up to neutralize him. Maybe it's some sort of "leverage" issue? MichaelAugust 28, 2014 7:47 AM Daredevil #263 Walter, it's worth noting that Claremont seemed to conceive of the N'Garai as fallen angels while later writers seemed to conceive of them as offspring of the Elder Gods (Chthon, Set, etc.). Alex FAugust 28, 2014 5:03 AM Solo Avengers #4 (Black Knight) The Black Knight's worried about drawing blood with his evil magic sword, so he takes it into battle and tries to smack people with the broad side instead of locking it in a vault or dropping it in a vat of molten adamantium? One of the dangers of going back and reading the things I fondly remember from my childhood is realizing they don't make sense. Alex FAugust 28, 2014 3:22 AM Thor #391 Mongoose is in pretty good shape for a guy that hasn't left his hotel room in months. MidnighterAugust 28, 2014 3:04 AM Daredevil: The Man Without Fear #1-5 This story can't fit in continuity because of the death of Jack Murdock: in every other telling of the origin of Daredevil and the childhood of Matt, it'always shown that his father is killer after Matt started the college, and he knows Foggy Nelson. In Daredevil -1 Jack goes along Matt in the first day of the college, in Daredevil: Yellow and in every rapresentation of the last fight of Battlin' Jack, Matt is in the crowd along with Foggy. Otherwise, it's an excellent story (even if I don't know if it would worked as a movie...) david banesAugust 28, 2014 2:13 AM Daredevil #263 Man that Subway Demon looks a lot like something from the pages of Devil Man, I love it! Walter LawsonAugust 28, 2014 12:07 AM Daredevil #263 Claremont did seem to have a system for his demons. Belasco served the Dark Gods, who were evidently worse than limbo-denizens like Sym. The Dark Gods seemed to be synonymous for Claremont with the N'Garai, who were completely sealed away and had a hard time accessing earth, except via those few cairns and maybe some Satana subplots. Belasco wanted to open a gateway to the Dark Gods,and I believe there are even a few stray lines of dialogue from N'Astirh about making his portal in Inferno a link to real s even beyond limbo. He'll, or whatever the N'Garai realm is called, is evidently home to more power than Limbo or earth. The Dark Gods / N'Garai were the rulers of earth at one point. Kulan Gath, as well as Belasco, was a servant of them in exile. It seems like Claremont was setting up the Shadow King as a priest of the N'Garai or N'Garai himself before that plot line was aborted in the early '90s. Although the N'Garai we see in comics get reduced to cannon fodder eventually--weaker iterations of the demon that attacked Kitty Pryde at Xmas and the Hulk at the Crossroads--the early N'Garai Claremont introduces are guys like Kierrok and Y'Garon, who do seem more dangerous. (And this is leaving open the question of whether Claremont might have linked the N'Garai with Chthon: later writers would, and Claremont had written Chthon in Spider-Woman, so I suspect he intended him to fit somewhere into the scheme.) Max_SpiderAugust 27, 2014 10:39 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #147 I think he likes people to assume he's from hell and would automatically acquire them simply because they are sinners. It'd fit well with the concept of demons liking the souls of the innocent, harder to get as they're not damned. "Have you looked at your soul lately? Disgusting!" Never let it be said that demons don't have a grasp of beauty! xD Course, demons are also known for just messing with people, so that's as good a reason as any! ChrisWAugust 27, 2014 10:29 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 Wouldn't everybody just call "Secret Wars" "Battleworld" instead, as a way of reminding those who were there what happened, and letting those who weren't there know that they're referring to an event that they weren't part of? ChrisWAugust 27, 2014 10:28 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 I've always been bothered by the characters automatically referring to an event the same way, as clyde mentions. I don't know how it started, but we all remember 9/11 as The Day It Happened. Nobody remembers 12/7, but we know "Pearl Harbor" as Where It Happened. "Secret Wars" is the one that gets me. Cyclops had to tell Madelyne where he went, Reed, Johnny and Ben had to tell Sue what they were doing for the last week, Peter Parker had to explain things to his supporting cast. "Secret" makes very little sense, and "Wars" no sense at all. At least "Inferno" might be a magical word that has meaning to Sym, Nastirh, Illyana, and a few others. Otherwise "inferno" would be just an ordinary synonym for what's going on, and "hothouse," "steambath," "smokehouse," firepit," etc. would work as well for the characters who aren't directly involved. Walter LawsonAugust 27, 2014 10:01 PM Web of Spider-Man #47 Thanks, Fnord. Here's a link to the Conway Firestorm annual, as reviewed in Nobidy's Favorites, http://www.armagideon-time.com/?p=9514 ChrisAugust 27, 2014 9:57 PM Daredevil #263 This is about the only issue during Inferno that actually makes it really seem like a demonic invasion as opposed to the extra-dimensional invaders from the Living Eraser guy or any of the other ultra-lame early Stan Lee villains. However, it does bring up a point. Why are demons invading from a place called LIMBO rather than Hell? For that matter, why are there demons at all in Limbo? One problem with Claremont doing his own things and reusing his old stuff, is that there is a huge inconsistency on these kind of supernatural things. We have Mephisto and Satannish and the other hells in various occult hero Marvel titles. We have Claremont's own N'Garai. And we have these Limbo demons. (Plus the other evil entities from the various Dark Dimensions, but they are sufficiently different that I won't include them). Vincent ValentiAugust 27, 2014 9:11 PM Daredevil #263 I think this issue really shows JRjr becoming a breakout star. I didn't care for him on X-Men but this is such a natural fit for him. fnord12August 27, 2014 9:09 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #147 Ah, he says that to everyone though. To Hodge it was we already have your soul. I think he just likes to mess with people. But i've added a portion of that scene. clydeAugust 27, 2014 8:25 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 Michael - Kang probably thinks that the weapon is still being built. He may have wanted to see it and work on it himself. MichaelAugust 27, 2014 7:59 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #147 You cut out the funniest part, fnord. Macendale's such a loser that N'astirh doesn't even WANT his soul. MichaelAugust 27, 2014 7:58 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 This plot never made sense to me. Kang knows the Dreaming Celestial has completed his weapon 17 years from now. So why does he think that the Celestial will have the weapon now? That's like traveling back to 1928 and asking Oppenheimer how to build an atomic bomb. MichaelAugust 27, 2014 7:49 PM Daredevil #263 Note that Matt's law clinic is described as closed by the police in this issue. That confirms that Punisher: War Journal 1-3 has to take place before Inferno. fnord12August 27, 2014 7:11 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 Kang got the memo, too, because he says "This strange upheaval in Limbo that the heroes of New York have dubbed 'The Inferno' plays directly into my gauntleted hands'. clydeAugust 27, 2014 7:06 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 Why does the Human Torch refer to this event as an "Inferno"? This seems to be a common theme in comics where the characters know the name of the "event" that we're reading about. fnord12August 27, 2014 6:23 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 Ok, the plural "Kangs" was a mistake, but the sentence was otherwise just deliberately casual. You guys are on my case about my grammar today! ;-) Jay DemetrickAugust 27, 2014 6:04 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 You wrote: "When the FF catch up with Kangs, a very Mike Allred looking panel." Looks like that got accidentally truncated or something? fnord12August 27, 2014 5:48 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 Right, N'astirh. Thanks, Jay. Jay DemetrickAugust 27, 2014 5:43 PM Fantastic Four #323-324 You wrote: "Here, Necrodamus is colored red when he shows up, so i think it's meant to take place after he becomes techno-organic." I believe you meant N'astirh. Also it's hilarious that Kang's timeship's weapon makes a TARDIS! noise which is of course the name of Doctor Who's space-time machine. I think when Human Torch suddenly explodes out of control is probably when the Pentacle Portal opens. fnord12August 27, 2014 4:55 PM Power Pack #42-43 Thanks Clyde, i've added the missing word. Ziggy's Rule of Humble Pronoun Usage is in effect here, though, and i never capitalize my first person pronouns unless they're at the beginning of a sentence. I find Jason Macendale's trajectory less ridiculous since he was already the Jack O'Lantern and the Hobgolbin before becoming the Demogoblin, whereas Carmody starts off as just a regular middle manager with no reason to be involved in super-stuff. But i can concede it's a fine point. The counter-argument against that being Crotus is that he says "master" without a lisp unlike his usual "mawthtur". But we'll see Crotus cured of his lisp by Cloak and Dagger #4 so maybe he's in a transitional state here. clydeAugust 27, 2014 4:17 PM Power Pack #42-43 Also, the demon that FNORD said resembles Crotus talks in the same mannerism that Crotus talks with. clydeAugust 27, 2014 4:13 PM Power Pack #42-43 FNORD - there's a word missing here (and a grammatical mistake - the i in i'm should be I, since I'm being really specific): Also, when you say "I still find it ridiculous that a regular guy could eventually become so obsessed with a single family and eventually become an actual demon.", that's exactly what happened in the Spider-Man titles during Inferno. Hobgoblin becomes fused with a demon at this time. fnord12August 27, 2014 11:40 AM Avengers #299-300 I think that's just like a colloquialism, a slightly more formal version of "y'all". It means "all of you". It may not be appropriate for Steve Rogers, who grew up around New York, but we've seen Louise Simonson throw in the occasional Southern US phrasing, and perhaps that rubbed off on Walt. And Cap has traveled the country so it's not impossible that he'd picked something like that up. When Cap first sees the New Mutants he says "It's some costumed kids I've never seen before!" and then a little later thinks to himself "But who are they? There're so many super heroes around, I can't even keep them straight anymore!". So i don't think he recognizes any of them. I'd think if he recognized some of them he could put the pieces together about the others. JSfanAugust 27, 2014 11:35 AM Daredevil #263 What better place to fight Demons but in Hell's Kitchen. StephenAugust 27, 2014 11:29 AM Avengers #299-300 You say that Cap doesn't recognise any of the New Mutants, but doesn't the line "I don't recognise you all" imply that he does recognise some of them? BerendAugust 27, 2014 10:16 AM Avengers #299-300 Someone should give Nanny and Orphan Maker an overhaul. Their shtick of making children orphans to "save" them should be increadibly creepy, but in practice it just doesn't work. Nanny just has the stupidest design. Even the sexy-nanny-robot Magneto would later makes looks less stupid! and seeing these pictures of Orphan Maker just sitting there crying just make it impossible to take him seriously as a threat. Jay DemetrickAugust 27, 2014 1:19 AM X-Terminators #3 The goblins bringing in the last of the babies seem to be the ones from Mr. Sinister's orphanage. That means Nathan Christopher is probably among them. N'astirh would not shift his operations without his final crucial element in hand. Erik RobbinsAugust 27, 2014 1:16 AM Avengers #299-300 I really enjoyed the run from 297-300 (including Annual 13) and was likewise excited for the new line-up. (I had no particular associations with Reed & Sue with the FF, since they left that team on my first issue of that title that I read.) I was not too aware of artists and writers at the tie, but I knew the quality took a swift downward turn from here. And now I know why. I hated how they tossed aside the Forgotten One, though. I guess nobody else knew what to do with him. (I imagine Byrne felt something like "If I'm going to be stuck with an Eternal, I want a more interesting one like Sersi, not one so similar to Thor or Hercules") Walter LawsonAugust 27, 2014 1:16 AM Marvel Super Heroes #11 (Ms. Marvel) There are other script clues in the Vosburg pages as well: the flight Carol boards at Kennedy is "Sovereign Airways Flight 007." Claremont makes reference to "Sovereign" this or that in several comics, and of course eventually does a series for DC called Sovereign Seven. I doubt that would have been even on the drawing board in 1992, though, so Furman couldn't be referring to it. It's Claremont, using some of his favorite tropes. Walter LawsonAugust 27, 2014 12:55 AM Marvel Super Heroes #11 (Ms. Marvel) Looking over this issue again, I'm fairly certain the Vosburg pages were plotted and scripted by Claremont. Vosburg's art looks like his style from '79, not the later Cloak and Dagger-era Vosburg. Note how perfunctory the plot of the definitely new Gustovich pages is: Coehlo is speedily killed off and Shaw gives us a straight up expository explanation if the Coehlo-Brotherhood-Hellfire Club connection. Then we move onto the setup for the Rogue-Carol showdown. This is in contrast to the plotting of the Vosburg pages, in which new subplots--Coehlo, the seduction scene--are still being added, as if this was an ongoing series with subplots. The script, too, not only sounds rather Claremontian--"compeer," or the way Pyro announces his name and Avalanche's--but connects Coehlo with Moses Magnum's Deterrence Research Corporatuon, which figures in Claremont plots in Power-Man, Marvel Team-Up, and later Spider-Woman but otherwise has never been mentioned outside of Magnum's first appearance. It's a distinctively Claremont institution/subplot that was completely forgotten after about 1981. I don't think Furman would have known about it, let alone inserted it unnecessarily into the story. Jesse Baker and Mark Drummond have both connected this with something I've heard Ckaremont allude to elsewhere: the Dark Phoenix Saga was originally a Ms. Marvel plot. Hence the mysterious seduction scene she imagines while she's on the flight across the Pacific: but in Carol's case, it's not Mastermind or anyone else projecting illusions into her mind, it's just her sixth sense giving her a precognitive flash. I suspect Claremont intended Shaw to be the seducer, and Mastermind wouldn't have been involved. (Byrne has said that he was the one who prompted Claremont to include Blob in Mystique's Brotherhood, as a tie to past X-continuity, and I've heard, or just suspected, he was responsible for Mastermind's Dark Phoenix role as well.) Then again, maybe the rumors of the Grandmaster appearing in the series were a mix-up for Mastermind... Walter LawsonAugust 27, 2014 12:31 AM Marvel Super Heroes #10 (Ms. Marvel) Note the last two pages of the story, not scanned here, look a lot more like Vosburg's Cloak and Dagger work: inkier and more angular. Matthew BradleyAugust 26, 2014 11:48 PM Power Man #24-25 To add to the generally ramshackle nature of these issues, Bill Foster is frequently misidentified as Bill "Temple." ChrisAugust 26, 2014 11:33 PM Avengers #299-300 Creators starting plot threads that see print, but then get axed a few issues in becomes a hallmark of the DeFalco era. Many great runs are prematurely aborted under DeFalco's tutelage. ChrisAugust 26, 2014 11:23 PM Excalibur #4-5 I was in denial for a long time that Courtney was dead. I liked her too as a character. It was cruel, but not done as well as killing of Guardian or Phoenix. Never having seen her before, I think readers should have been given at least another year or two of development before the killing would have had real impact. MichaelAugust 26, 2014 7:49 PM Avengers #299-300 I think Simonson deserves more blame for the Reed and Sue debacle than you're giving him. If he didn't think that the editors would yank Reed and Sue back to the FF if sales collapsed on the FF, then he probably fell for people offering to sell him bridges. RobertAugust 26, 2014 7:48 PM Fantastic Four #322 Graviton and Dragon Man would both be among Spider-Man's villains during Acts of Vengeance. I wonder how far in advance they had that storyline planned out to see which hero got which villains. RobertAugust 26, 2014 7:40 PM Avengers #299-300 When this came out I was actually excited about the book's new direction. I don't really remember why. I do remember my immense disappointment at John Buscema being off the book. The Buscema/Palmer team was irreplaceable to me back then. I stuck with the book for a few more issues before dropping it into the "check back every few months" category and eventually "check back every other year." clydeAugust 26, 2014 7:39 PM Avengers #299-300 I thought Gilgamesh's armor was unique enough to be remembered. fnord12August 26, 2014 11:54 AM Web of Spider-Man #47 The text in 1987's all-pinup Web of Spider-Man annual #3 was by Danny Fingeroth and Roger Stern. Ataru320August 26, 2014 11:15 AM Fantastic Four #66-67 Its sort of strange looking this over and wondering what would have happened if Kirby went through with his idea that the Enclave were noble beings trying to create a being and "Him" (Warlock) ends up being the one who turns out evil, not by their result but just because of his interactions upon seeing the nature of man. Unfortunately I don't know if that would have meant Warlock wouldn't have been around for what Starlin ultimately does with his character but that's probably one of the few good things that came out of the direction it did go in. (sometimes things work out in the end I guess with the right writers but it does make one wonder what could have been) DermieAugust 26, 2014 12:25 AM Excalibur #4-5 Claremont does an excellent job of developing Courtney here into a really interesting and likeable character that the reader can latch onto...and then immediately kills her off. Cruel, but well executed! Luis DantasAugust 25, 2014 11:39 PM Excalibur #4-5 @Michael: I was surprised when I learned that Claremont created Captain Britain. Having first read the character in Marvel Team-Up, I did not think Claremont had a very good grasp of him. I guess Cap is a bit like DC's John Henry (Steel): a fairly good character, at least when not handled by his creator. Luis DantasAugust 25, 2014 11:35 PM Excalibur #4-5 I just now noticed that Moira is using continuous stationery. That of course is reasonable for 1989, but would be odd these days. To think it has been 25 years since. Luis DantasAugust 25, 2014 11:32 PM Excalibur #4-5 I wasn't a big fan of Excalibur back in the day, but it was certainly a welcome breath of fresh air among all the gloom and doom of the mutant books of the time. This was Kitty Pryde's finest hour by far. MichaelAugust 25, 2014 10:48 PM Amazing Spider-Man #312 It's Felix the Cat. McFarlane often put Felix into his work for a friend of his: MichaelAugust 25, 2014 10:45 PM Excalibur #4-5 As a kid, I had no clue what the Crazy Gang were because Claremont couldn't be bothered to explain it. I assumed they were robots created by Arcade. Would it have killed Claremont to throw in a line "They're figments of the imagination of a madman who could warp reality?" Mark DrummondAugust 25, 2014 9:03 PM X-Factor #35 Nanny seems to have walked off the set of "Lidsville". ChrisWAugust 25, 2014 9:01 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Is it any wonder Carol was reborn as "Binary"? Dual stars, orbiting each other? ChrisWAugust 25, 2014 8:59 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 I'd wondered about that too, but I was tired enough from doing the research. It's also the culmination of Nimrod's storyline, whatever the hell they were doing with Master Mold [as they become two psyches within a single mind] and Rogue "dies" wearing Ms. Marvel's outfit. Betsy's a mutant, no if's, and's or but's. Her connection to Otherworld helps, in-universe, but not otherwise. I've said it before, but I see Claremont's X-titles as a large graphic novel, divided into three acts. Act I ends with the death of Jean Grey. Act II ends with the birth of Rachel [or the X-Men's deaths, it's a little vague] and Act III culminates with Claremont leaving the title and the new Jim Lee-directed series. Rogue is one of the best examples for this theory, as an interesting character, with one of the most original superpowers in the whole history of superheroes, and one of the most unique problems in the history of superheroes-with-problems. With Genosha and Inferno, Carol Danvers had moved back up to co-star status. We didn't see anything to make it happen, other than the X-Men turning demonic, and an inversion of the whole concept of Phoenix [dies to be reborn again, really, how could anyone have missed that?] but Rogue and Carol were headed for a split. I think it's even been established that Dazzler was supposed to die in the fight with Master Mold, but somehow Rogue went through the Seige Perilous instead. Basically, she was one of the perfect characters in Claremont's Russian novel-sized tapestry, appearing midway through Act II and working well enough to stick through to the end, and only pulled in because Claremont disliked what someone else had done to another character in a different series, no less. Mark DrummondAugust 25, 2014 8:59 PM Amazing Spider-Man #312 Did they ever explain why Harry even kept the Goblin paraphernalia in the first place? Why does he have a Black Cat(I'm assuming it's not a Minstrel)mask in his attic? david banesAugust 25, 2014 8:42 PM Amazing Spider-Man #312 Battle of the Goblins at last- Ataru320August 25, 2014 8:13 PM Web of Spider-Man #47 So then Aunt May and Uncle Ben go to relax (or to see any traces of their daughter Linda ;p) and Peter is playing with giant enemy crabs? O...K... MichaelAugust 25, 2014 8:04 PM Amazing Spider-Man #312 The weird thing is that in a later issue of Web, when Harry wants to become a hero to atone for the lives Norman took, Peter punches him. It might be possible to try to explain the discrepancy by saying that Peter is offended by the idea that anything Harry does can balance the scales with Gwen's death but still ... MichaelAugust 25, 2014 8:02 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 The idea that Betsy's powers can get past Rogue's and Juggernaut's blocks because she's magical might work but Claremont had a Sentinel describe her as a mutant in issue 247. Walter LawsonAugust 25, 2014 7:52 PM Web of Spider-Man #47 Conway was, I believe, behind an infamous Firestorm annual that was just prose with illustrations. Come to think of it, a couple of Spidey annuals around '87 were just illustrated text as well, like bad Handbooks. Was that also Conway? (I must be thinking of the Web Annual circa '87.) Walter LawsonAugust 25, 2014 7:42 PM Excalibur #4-5 Body-swapping is another of Claremont's, er, tropes, along with mind-control, and we'll see a lot more of it in the course of Excalibur. (Power-swapping is a variant.). Note that the actual body-swaps brought about be Tweedle's device are foreshadowed by Kitty and Rachel swapping clothes-personas. Come to think of it, Meggan reflects this theme as well, with her automatic adjustment to the body type of her attraction. I'd almost recommend a fan fix for Rachel: Mojo and Spiral must have done to her what they'll soon do to Psylocke, because she's grown a lot more, er, pneumatic since her return from the Mojoverse and she was never a sexy dresser before her disappearance from the X-Men. Far from it, actually. fnord12August 25, 2014 7:27 PM Web of Spider-Man #47 Thanks, Luis. Fixed. Luis DantasAugust 25, 2014 7:24 PM Web of Spider-Man #47 The first image is repeated midway through the page. fnord12August 25, 2014 7:19 PM Marvel Super Heroes #387-388 (UK) That's true, Harry. He scripted three pages of that. In terms of my "only work Alan Moore" comment, i suppose i should have added the caveat for that and the non-Marvel universe stuff that Mark mentions. ChrisWAugust 25, 2014 7:01 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 Oh, and the comedic scenes of Inferno are the main reason I've always liked Marc Silvestri's art. Besides his basic skills as an artist and storyteller, he could do a very good job of straddling the distance between realism and cartoons. This is especially important in the superhero genre, because it's completely unrealistic, but should make some gestures in the direction of affecting real people with real lives in a real world. But at the same time, it should be able to have fun with how loony some of the ideas are anyway. It can be subtle - Maddie's dress changing every panel, which I had never noticed before - or it can be obvious and very funny, like the fire hydrant beating up a dog. The look on the dog's face is priceless. ChrisWAugust 25, 2014 6:45 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 I always wondered how Scott knew the moment of Phoenix' death. He'd been busy for a little while at that point, and sure didn't look much in the mood to check his watch afterwards. ["Oh Jean! *SOB* 'beep' Time of Death, 4:15AM, Eastern Standard Time, Oh Jean!"] The Shi'ar would have such records, although the argument could be made that Xavier's influence led them to include Earth-specific time-keeping, and Scott might have gone back to check during their adventures with Shi'ar characters in the mid-150s, that's about as far as I'm willing to speculate on the silly notion that Scott has memorized what moment Phoenix died. I could possibly accept that he narrowed it down to the time of day ['the Shi'ar grabbed us on the evening of... After a fairly normal earth cycle, we were sent to the Moon... Figure twenty minutes before the other X-Men were cut down and Phoenix was reborn, then maybe another three, four minutes... Check what time zone Alaska is in...] and his own paranoia would take over from there after meeting Maddie. That would make some of his behavior in "X-Factor" more explainable actually, but having it happen on the same day is enough coincidence for me and still maintain the idea of Maddie as a totally unique person. Specifying the exact moment of her plane crash/Phoenix' death is just setting up a target for cosmic powers to deal with. [The Grand Master of course. Who did you think I was referring to? ;) ] ChrisWAugust 25, 2014 6:13 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 As for the inconsistencies with Longshot, I never read "Mephisto vs." and never liked Longshot, so I don't have a dog in that fight. BillAugust 25, 2014 6:04 PM Excalibur #4-5 Man, I just love the Alan Davis art! Excalibur and the West Coast Avengers (especially after John Byrne took it over) were my favorite titles at the time. ChrisWAugust 25, 2014 5:49 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 The only thing I found to support the theory that the problem was psychological in (I forget which issue) when Rogue mentions #203 and how that night helped her come to peace with what she did to Carol. Betsy shows up not too long after that, and although Rogue's having problems again after Genosha and Inferno, by that time enough 'healing' had taken place that Betsy could work with her. That said, my reading of the situation is that it wasn't psychological. Two psyches in one mind, a telepath could deal with that. But one psyche is part-Kree, and I have to wonder if specifically being Kree is the main source of the problem. Xavier can read Shi'ar minds, for instance. The nature of Rogue's powers might have played a part, but I would say the primary cause of the interference was the unwelcome alien intruder in Rogue's mind. [I have no objection to the idea that her inability to control her powers is psychological, I just don't think that matches up with 'I can't read your mind.'] I could also accept that the X-Men had worked with her all this time to do something that would enable telepathic communication. There are two main reasons I wouldn't really believe they'd succeeded in any meaningful way. First, the aforementioned 'alien' thing. Second, if they'd found some way to overcome that [Kitty built a mental feedback generator] then there'd be no point to keep bringing up how difficult it is to read Rogue's mind, any more than building a pair of crutches would avoid exposition like 'As you know, Rogue, you've broken your leg, making it much more difficult to train for marathons with you' and then they train for marathons anyway. I like BU's point about Betsy's connection to Otherworld. To me, it's not a good explanation for her abilities with Rogue and Jugs, but it certainly makes sense in-universe, and is probably one more reason Claremont showed such preference for her. He did create her, after all, but [nit-picking] he created her as a blonde. Alan Moore dyed her hair purple. StephenAugust 25, 2014 5:14 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Most of the inconsistencies could be explained away by saying that Rogue has learned how to consciously project thoughts so a telepath can read them. Especially if we assume that the reasons she is impossible/difficult to read do not prevent her from receiving telepathic messages. BUAugust 25, 2014 5:04 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 It's probably significant that Betsy isn't really a mutant - she's an Otherworlder. She was acting as Captain Britain when Slaymaster blinded her, with no problem operating the (magical) suit. -Her telepathy, like the purple hair, is, no doubt, derived from her other-dimensional, supernatural, heritage. I like nothing, absolutely nothing, about what was done with her on X-Men, but magic can bend a lot of rules - especially in Juggernaut's case. Jon DubyaAugust 25, 2014 4:27 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 The scene of Rogue touching Psylocke isn't neccesarily a plot inconsistency. It's long been suggested (and confirmed in X-Men Legacy when Rogue gets "cured") that the problem with her absorption were more psychological than physical in nature. HarryAugust 25, 2014 4:19 PM Marvel Super Heroes #387-388 (UK) Didn't Alan Moore have some small input in the 'Heroes for Hope' comic as well? The Magneto dystopia sequence? fnord12August 25, 2014 3:53 PM Excalibur #4-5 I've added a point and mentioned that. Thanks. She's had barely any appearances in US comics but probably her death will seem more significant after i cover the early Captain Britain issues during my next back issue add. Uncanny MichaelAugust 25, 2014 3:04 PM Excalibur #4-5 Courtney Ross is not only zapped but killed here. Not sure if that's worth a historical significance point or not. fnord12August 25, 2014 10:01 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 FYI i've added something to the Q&A about how to possibly troubleshoot if you get that UTF-8 error message. Not that i expect people to do troubleshooting when there's an error on my site, but it's there in case people want to try. fnord12August 25, 2014 9:42 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Chris, thanks for doing the research on this. It shows that there was some inconsistency pretty much from the beginning. I wonder if that does (unintentionally) support the idea that it was psychological. I guess it depends on if Rogue's absorption of Ms. Marvel's attributes physically altered her brain to make it more alien (which isn't impossible considering it did also give her super-powers) or if it's just that some of the thoughts in her head were alien and those times when Rogue was more at peace with herself, it was easier for telepaths to work with her. The Longshot thing is interesting. UX annual #11 was the same year as the Mephisto vs... series where Mephisto said that Longshot didn't have a soul, which was later ignored during Fall of the Mutants and again soon during Inferno. Seems like they were originally going in a different direction for the character. fnord12August 25, 2014 9:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Posting Chris' comment here: From #171: "I cannot effectively read your mind, Rogue. You possess two diametrically opposed thought patterns, one of them alien. It sets up an interference pattern I am thus far unable to penetrate." I would like to give credence to fnord's suggestion that Xavier was helping her (off-panel) but less than a year later, after the incident with Michael Rossi, Rogue was actually going downhill. Xavier was mugged soon afterwards which inhibited his telepathy anyway, and led to him leaving Earth. Even if we disregard this, Carol couldn't become *less* alien. In #179, as Rogue saves Colossus, Xavier does say he'll be monitoring and if necessary, augmenting Rogue's abilities with his own. This is the sort of thing he's done before and will again. The narration even tells us that Xavier is trying to shield her from the pain. If this wasn't Rogue-specific, I'd have no problem with it. Strange that decades-old comic plot points irritate me enough to track this argument, but there you go. Well, given what website this is, maybe it's a little less strange. In #185, Rogue has run off. Xavier can't sense her thoughts, indicating she's left the New York metropolitan area. Sensing her thoughts would presumably be different than reading them. Interestingly, I can't find any reference whatsoever to Rogue's immunity to telepathy for the next few dozen issues. It's ignored entirely, except by omission when Rachel mindlinks the entire team and Rogue is never shown being a part of it. It's not until #212 that the issue even comes up again, when Betsy telepathically contacts her and Tom Corsi [who we're told are a mile away] warning of a problem with Colossus, who has currently collapsed directly on top of Betsy. #213, narrated by Betsy. "Even amplified by Cerebro, I cannot read her thoughts. She is a wild eclectic mix of human and alien, her natural psyche jumbled together with the one accidentally stolen from Carol Danvers." Yet somehow Betsy is able to telepathically interact with Rogue, who at the moment is high up in the air, patrolling the estate. Rogue is talking directly to Betsy's 'butterfly eyes' psychic effect, but it's not clear how that works. Cerebro doesn't let people, even telepaths, listen in on some other location, does it? [Serious question, it may well have done exactly that in some previous issue; I only know that it tracks mutants.] So even though she explicitly cannot read Rogue's thoughts, they can still telepathically communicate. #214, Malice has possessed Rogue. Storm asks what Betsy can do, and is told Rogue's "mind is virtually impossible to probe, even when she's cooperating." Is it just me, or has the bar suddenly been moved from 'I cannot read her thoughts' to '*VIRTUALLY* impossible to probe', implying that it is slightly possible to probe Rogue? By #217, "Rogue's unique psychic nature limits my access to her mind, but for what I plan, I don't need much" as "Psylocke's focused psycho-blast sledgehammers through Rogue's psi-shields." That would have been a nifty trick if any previous telepath had needed it against Rogue. Then Betsy starts making Rogue see things that aren't there, like Betsy "planting the impression that I was standing where I wasn't, and then scrambling her perceptions so that when she thought she was climbing into the air, she was really diving into the [ground]" as Rogue is beaten during this impromptu Danger Room session. #218, against the Juggernaut, Rogue thinks (no 'butterfly effect' or word balloons, this is an actual thought) "Monitoring me, Betts?" and is told "As best I can. Remember, Rogue, your mind is almost as closed to me as our quarry's." Obviously not enough to prevent telepathic communication, i.e. reading thoughts, even though five issues earlier, Betsy couldn't read Rogue's thoughts, and Xavier couldn't even penetrate that interference field. Of course, three pages later, Betsy mindblasts Juggernaut through his helmet and the extra skullcap he's wearing. Even he's surprised by it. "My helmet's supposed to protect me from mental powers!" It occurs to me that the consistency might have left a little earlier, and yes, in "Secret Wars #5," Xavier is giving telepathic commands to Rogue to which she responds with a word balloon. He also telepathically gives her orders in #9. Rachel didn't try to get through Jugs' helmet in "X-Men #194" and although I don't have "Marvel Team-Up #150" handy, the synopsis on this site makes it look like she was ineffective against his helmet, and the first appearance of the skullcap. So basically, the interference that was impossible for Xavier to penetrate is effectively gone by the time the new X-Men tackle the Juggernaut. Or else Betsy's just that much better. Adding a 'oh, but it's harder to do this with Rogue than with other people' isn't much of a fig-leaf. It's harder to lift a twenty pound object than a ten pound object, but most people can manage without needing to comment on the difference. "X-Men Annual #11," Betsy telepathically alerts every X-Man about Horde, and Rogue thinks "Ah get the picture, Betts, thanks." Several pages later, as Rogue submits to the illusion, she says "Of you all, save Longshot [?????] Rogue's is the most difficult mind for me to read, so I only perceived flashes of what occurred" and then gives a concise summary of Rogue's thoughts. And what's this "save Longshot" stuff? She never had any trouble communicating with him telepathically, except when he first appeared in "Annual #10," and he was in psychic shock with no coherent sense of self at the time. #221, Betsy can contact Rogue and Dazzler while they're having an argument. At the very least, it should be like speaking English to someone who only knows Kree. Interestingly, at the end of the issue, when Rogue and Madelyne are trapped by Polaris, Psylocke knows because she senses Maddy's thought patterns. But in #222, she's perfectly capable of waking Rogue up telepathically, and Rogue responds with thought balloons that she obviously knows Betsy's going to understand. "Psylocke gave me a fix on Madelyne, Dazz. She's still in the bay. Current's sweeping her out to sea. Ah gotta go." #223, another psychic conversation between the two, with the extraneous "Rogue's thoughts are the hardest of the X-Men for me to read." So much for Longshot. Weirdly enough, in #225, Betsy's not powerful enough to force the Blob to get off of Wolverine. #230, "Poor dear, do you truly believe you can escape a telepath?" Annual #12," "Yo, Psylocke, can you 'hear' my thoughts?" "Loud and clear, Rogue. I've established a solid psilink between us." Oh come on! There is creating a psychic barrier that the world's greatest telepath (other than Betsy) can't get through, there is being inconsistent, and then there's not even trying. Even worse, the following page, "I cannot vector Rogue to Storm's position. Ororo's blocking me, I can't pick up any navigational benchmarks from her mind." #235, Rogue gives a psychic shout to Betsy, who mentions her natural resistance to telepathic powers, and reads the image of Madelyne's aircraft in Rogue's minds-eye to get a fix on the location for Gateway to transmit the team. #239, another training session, Betsy telepathically confuses Rogue, again as Rogue points out. Interestingly, this is where Carol starts appearing regularly. Betsy mindblasts Rogue after the training, so Carol takes over. Before the Genoshoa storyline, Carol's only appearance was in #182 when Rogue was exhausted after flying halfway around the world, and when she heard Michael Rossi's voice on the answering machine, Carol took over. Now she's becoming a regular. #243, Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops and Psylocke are inside Jean Grey's mind as she assimilates Maddy's mind, and comment how similar it is to when Rogue absorbs someone. Psylocke is asked if she can bring Rogue in to help Jean restore order, and again Betsy mentions Rogue's natural resistance to telepathy won't make it easy. Yeah, right. This time, it actually happens to be impossible, because Mr. Sinister is interfering. In the same issue, Betsy is quite capable of overcoming Sabretooth's psychic resistance, which caused her such problems in #213. In "X-Factor #39," Rogue takes part in the mindlink between all the muties against Sinister. Carol made an (off-panel) appearance before #244, and when Rogue begs Betsy to wipe her out, the response is "I can hardly read your thoughts, Rogue, much less erase them." Then Carol returns again, and stays in control for the rest of the issue. She's still in charge in #246, when Betsy tracks Carol down. "Picking my brain, Psylocke?" "In yours - and Rogue's - case, I can't. The unique interactive synthesis of your dual consciousness makes you both exceptionally resistant to telepathy." And toilet paper is exceptionally resistant to a knife. Rogue passes through the Seige Perilous wearing Ms. Marvel's costume, and the question of her resistance to telepathy becomes a moot point from here on. The Shadow King didn't have any problem with her mind. I could see the argument that Xavier set her down a path that helped, except this doesn't keep Carol from being part-Kree, which is the fundamental obstacle. I don't know why Claremont kept the dual consciousness around in the first place. Sure, Rogue makes a better character with flight, strength and invulnerability, but how is Binary walking around in the first place? I never understood that one. ChrisWAugust 25, 2014 12:25 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Making him the proximate cause of Rogue leaving home? I guess I don't see your point. I don't have a problem with Rogue being fooled by Mastermind. He's an illusionist. [Yes, I'm sure there's some explanation somewhere of how his powers rely on telepathy, beyond the mind-thingie device the White Queen gave him to use on Phoenix] But I see nothing wrong with him being able to fool Rogue. She's deteriorating, going nuts after absorbing Carol, pointlessly focusing on Dazzler, alienated because of her powers, and Mystique can't do anything to help her. She would have found a reason to leave if Mastermind hadn't done anything, not least because she's fundamentally a superhero [as in #185, where she risks herself to save a boat, assumes it's Storm's psyche making her take the risk, and then Storm flies up next to her.] MichaelAugust 24, 2014 8:56 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Chris, one thing to note is that Mastermind's illusion power was able to fool Rogue in issue 175. In the same issue, Mastermind tells Maddie that he been paying back some scores with some former colleagues. Apparently, he was the person in issue 170 who caused Rogue to run away from home. ChrisWAugust 24, 2014 8:16 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Running into the posting problem I've had before. I figured out what went wrong then, but I'm stumped on this one. Anyway, I've tracked every reference I could find to Rogue's resistance to telepathy through Claremont's run (and elsewhere, when need be) and the ease with which Betsy overcame that problem. The results are here: fnord12August 24, 2014 6:54 PM Daredevil #260-261 Tanks! Jay DemetrickAugust 24, 2014 6:33 PM Daredevil #260-261 You wrote: "His idea of playing a street level though is pretty funny, though." I think that first "though" was meant to be "tough". ;) Jay DemetrickAugust 24, 2014 4:16 PM Fantastic Four #322 It's hard to tell when the pentacle portal opens in Fantastic Four but the Empire State building looks pretty normal yet during Fantastic Four #323 while the young Watcher is hanging out on the 100th floor spying on them, at least up until the FF notice the FF Plaza "burning with witch-fires like every other skyscraper in town." point. Also Necrodamus only appears in astral form throughout #323 and we discover in Fantastic Four #324 that he slipped from Limbo physically when the pentacle portal opened. Since Mantis disappears from Kang's containment tube at the end of FF #323, I suspect the pentacle portal possibly opened when the skyscrapers started burning with "Witch-fire" and Necrodamus arrived bodily on Earth to kidnap Mantis shortly after that. We do see a flying demon and some weird mystic/cosmic ribbons and circles floating in the air earlier at the beginning of FF #323 but they look more like the ones from Doctor Strange than the X-books. The FF don't get to fight any demons during 323 either, just animated objects, so I suspect most of FF #323 is before the demons start pouring out of the sky. Ataru320August 24, 2014 4:16 PM Fantastic Four #322 I do like the fact that Graviton doesn't give a crap that demons are now running around New York in the midst of the massive cross-over. It acknowledges Inferno but allows other things to happen in the universe instead of having every hero team literally stop what they're doing to fight the massive threat of the moment. ChrisAugust 24, 2014 2:28 PM Fantastic Four #322 I think it is good that Englehart is working to develop Graviton as a WCA foe. He appeared in the Limited Series, and seeing him again in WCA plots is a good to way to give them their Doctor Doom, Magneto, Green Goblin, etc. However, I don't like this development of his personality. The "god" angle is poorly done. Whatever his power, the man is still mortal. He needs a better motivation and personality to catapult him into the ranks of top villains; sheer power is simply not enough if he's a schmuck. Interesting use of his powers though. I'll give Englehart credit for that. MichaelAugust 24, 2014 1:25 PM Fantastic Four #322 Note that Graviton is able to protect himself by "increasing his own density" in this story, while in West Coast Avengers 4 he used "gravimetric force fields". Gravimetric force fields always made more sense to me- gravity determines WEIGHT, not DENSITY. MichaelAugust 23, 2014 1:06 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Even in issue 218, though, she was able to make sure that the entire crowd only remembered their ideal images of heroes and not the X-Men. (Although, on second thought, maybe that didn't work very well, since the kids in issue 225 seemed to know it was the X-Men that fought the Juggernaut.) Luis DantasAugust 23, 2014 12:06 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 That sure makes sense, Fnord. However, consciously or not, Claremont sure seems to be improving Psylocke's power levels drammaticaly, if the psiweb that she cast in Genosha back in #238 is any indication. It takes some major juice to be capable of so casually selectively mind-scrubbing a whole mob. JSfanAugust 23, 2014 10:35 AM Amazing Spider-Man #35 On second thought, maybe you're right. fnord12August 23, 2014 9:45 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 I'll wait and see if Rogue goes back to being difficult for other telepaths to communicate with in future stories, but my fanfix would be that Rogue's mental state has been getting better thanks to the (offpanel) sessions she used to have with Professor X. It's what she came to the X-Men for in the first place, after all. So perhaps Xavier set her down a path where she was becoming more at peace with the voices in her head, and that's why lately it's been possible for "Carol" to come to the surface and it's also why Psylocke is able to communicate with her. fnord12August 23, 2014 9:36 AM Amazing Spider-Man #35 Isn't that panel better left to the imagination? ;-) Ataru320August 23, 2014 6:45 AM Strange Tales #111 (Human Torch) If you want to see how utterly ludicrous this whole thing is, the cover is one of those "we declare this the Marvel Age of Comics!" So...the Marvel Age includes the Asbestos Man!? (cracks up hysterically) Ataru320August 23, 2014 6:26 AM Strange Tales #102 (Human Torch) I actually like Wizard's look here, its rather unique in a Kirby manner. (maybe it should have remained long even with his power suit though...) Walter LawsonAugust 22, 2014 11:42 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Claremont certainly wants Betsy to be formidable, but he's never been a stickler about powers and their limitations anyway. Think of all the inconsistencies with Wolverine's healing factor being exhausted, then he's fine two issues later. Claremont will ignore or modify the rules as it suits him. TCPAugust 22, 2014 11:04 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #128-129 I can't help but be amused by Betty's inability to remember Ned's face, as it almost seems like a reference to how forgettable a character he was pre-Hobgoblin. ChrisWAugust 22, 2014 10:37 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Michael, that's my point. Xavier couldn't touch Juggernaut without his helmet, Rachel couldn't touch Juggernaut without his helmet, but Betsy can? And she can read Rogue's mind despite laborious thought balloons about how hard it is to read Rogue's mind? Xavier couldn't do that, Rachel couldn't do that. For a time, Rogue was the one person (mutant) whose mind couldn't be read. And the Juggernaut was a villain whose mind was well protected from any telepaths in the vicinity. He was even smart enough to build a skullcap, just in case he lost his helmet. But Betsy can get through all of that, just because Claremont says so? I see a direct line between this point and her becoming a sexy ninja drawn by Jim Lee, and it isn't pretty. [Except for Betsy, who is always hot. :P] No, it's canon. Rogue's mind can't be read. Juggernaut's mind can't be read. Don't mess with that, or else she's not that unique a hero and he's not that unique a villain. Gary HimesAugust 22, 2014 9:05 PM Fantastic Four #12 To prove how tough he is, the Thing rips apart General Ross' collection of bound phone books. Seems like kind of a strange hobby for ol' Thunderbolt... Gary HimesAugust 22, 2014 8:06 PM Strange Tales #102 (Human Torch) Hey Wiz, why the long face? (Sorry, couldn't resist!) TCPAugust 22, 2014 7:59 PM Web of Spider-Man #31 I grew up reading DeMatteis' post-Clone Saga Spectacular run, so he was actually one of my first favorite writers in comics. Having since gone back and read his Marvel Team-Up work, I have to agree that (at least in those older stories) he tends to let his personal beliefs and literary interests take precedence over the plot. But, probably due in part to those issues of Spectacular, I do still get interested when I see his name on something, and I still love many of his more psychologically-intense stories (like this one!). JSfanAugust 22, 2014 7:27 PM Amazing Spider-Man #35 Where's the panel which says: Later, in the privacy of his own apartment, Raxton peels off his outer clothes, again to revel in his awesome power... Mark DrummondAugust 22, 2014 6:36 PM Fantastic Four #164-165 Per Back Issue #74: these issues were originally supposed to be Giant-Size FF #6, but Perez had to be substituted for Buckler due to his slowness. Frankie Raye was actually named after Frank Giacoia's fake Marvel name. Mark DrummondAugust 22, 2014 6:33 PM Fantastic Four #158-159 Per Back Issue #74: Medusa was removed specifically to get her back into the Inhumans series(or Giant-Size Inhumans, as it was supposed to start out with). Mark DrummondAugust 22, 2014 6:29 PM Giant-Size Fantastic Four #4 Per Len Wein in Back Issue #74: Madrox was created by him and Buscema. Claremont only dialogued the 2nd half of the story. Luis DantasAugust 22, 2014 1:28 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 Inferno seemed a bit disjointed to me. It made an effort to be more of a crossover than the Fall of the Mutants, and I guess it succeeded at that. But there was no point. N'astirh appeared almost overnight in Power Pack, New Mutants, X-Factor, X-Terminators, X-Men and Fantastic Four - and I still don't really know for certain were he appeared at first. He just seemed to sort of be there without much of a purpose beyond getting the children, despite being nonetheless a prime mover and shaker of the whole crossover. This may have been one of the first and the best example of the kind of crossover that does result in enhanced sales and also in reduced interest. X-Terminators, particularly, looks like it could be so much better without the shadow of Inferno hanging over it. It looks like all the books read like they were side stories without the main plot. And I'm not sure reading them all would help, either. clydeAugust 22, 2014 12:45 PM New Mutants #71 Michael - My view of the scene with Emma was that she wasn't concerned because she cared about people. It was the psychic pain she was feeling being a telepath. She wanted the elevator caught so it would stop her headache. MdentAugust 22, 2014 12:32 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 "The idea that the plane crash was fake makes no sense- Mastermind knew about it in X-Men 175 and Scott found out additional details in X-Men 172. What, did Sinister tamper with the newspaper archives in every library in Alaska and New York?" This. MdentAugust 22, 2014 12:18 PM New Mutants #71 Illyana was the most interesting sub-plot/character of Inferno. This had been building since X-Men 159. It really brought Sorcery/Magic to a plausible relevance in the X-Books. My only wish is the Dr. Strange could have been involved more. It wouldn't have been that hard. MdentAugust 22, 2014 11:56 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 I would disagree Walter. I read these as they came out. This for me was an excruciating time to read the book. Almost 3 real years for Jean's returned to be acknowledged by the X-men. 3 real Years for Nathan to be named. Given the importance to Sinister, how little lead up there was to him. The Maddy into villain seemed so forced as a way to get rid of her. Come to think of it when has any Marvel Clone story actually been any good? I think of Maddy/Jean, Joseph/Magneto, and Spider Clone. Just all uninspiring plots to me. While it's true Storm and Jean had little panel time, she did reference her friendship a lot after she died and before Jean was brought back. I think of X-men 154 where there is a flashback. What is more accurate is Storm might have been better friends with Phoenix then Jean. BillAugust 22, 2014 11:32 AM Fantastic Four #286 No need to apologize for any perceived long-windedness. I'm also of the pre-tweet generation and love to read others thought out and well put points of view. You do raise some good points about everything. Personally, I think the reason Jean was kept in her torn dress for the duration of the story was just for the sake of simplicity. That's what she was wearing at the time of her (supposed) transformation into Phoenix, so obviously it's what she'd be wearing here (good touch by Byrne). Keeping her in it was probably to help keep her quickly recognizable to readers. She didn't have a current recognizable costume to change into, after all. Jean Grey in civilian clothes makes her "a face in the crowd". I think this is less a manipulating of readers and more keeping a character recognizable. What's the old expression? "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Now, as we move along in the years at Marvel (and comics in general), there's plenty of examples of the female characters being used specifically for eye candy and such... Alex FAugust 21, 2014 3:45 PM New Mutants #56 I feel like it's okay to try redeeming someone this young. Empath may be a manipulative villain but he's only 16. Mental health professionals won't diagnose people with personality disorders (which are the really disruptive, potentially untreatable problems) until they're out of their teens and usually into their twenties, their brains literally haven't finished forming before then. Two friends of mine who committed serious crimes at that age are now a psychiatric social worker and a beloved high school teacher. Alex FAugust 21, 2014 3:07 PM Iron Man annual #9 Costa Gavros, the place Roxxon sends Sandy, is probably a reference to European Filmaker Costa-Gavros. InstantiationAugust 21, 2014 1:41 PM Fantastic Four #286 I hear you, Bill! Worth noting that this subject connects to considerations elsewhere on this site of Marvel's increasingly evident move toward titillation during the 80s. I'm saying nothing new in noting that this reflects changing mores as well as the changing demographics of comics readers. It's hard to draw the line, but obvious attempts to exploit female characters and manipulate male readers became too pervasive, I think. The manipulation works for profound biological and cultural reasons, of course, and empowerment and exploitation of female characters stood side by side. My main objection is that it seemed clear that a kind of crass business formula was being substituted for what comics should have been aspiring to at this point: genuine artistry. This FF issue might be said to offer a mild instance and is based on Byrne's typically knowing use of past comics history but nonetheless also seems indicative of a larger oncoming trend. However, Byrne has strong credentials, I believe, as a feminist comics artist. He was part of the team that made Jean Gray the most powerful (and tragic) of all mutants and that made Mystique the leader of the new Evil Mutants (still a "Brotherhood," though). And on his own, he invested a lot in developing Sue Richards' character and powers as well as transitioning her to being called The Invisible Woman. In addition, he balanced out the FF as two men and two women (even if it really annoyed this fan to see The Thing, my fave FF character by far, exit). I wonder if he pushes things here early on, in his desire to make this a showdown between the two female characters, by having Jean be able to telekinetically pin Hercules? Without studying the precedents, this surprises me, as Herc, a true demigod, is well established to be just about the strongest of all Marvel heroes, with only the possible exception of a fully enraged Hulk. In terms of sheer physical strength, he has been shown (at least at times) to be a bit above even Thor and the Savage Sub-Mariner and thus The Thing, Colossus, etc. But there is the bit here about Jean's "extra power." Hmm. To return to the main subject: I'm no prude by any means and am an unabashed worshiper of the female form, and I also think it was an inevitable part of the evolution of comics that they became "sexier". (But sexy characters such as Black Canary, Cat Woman, etc. have been around for ages, and just for instance, Neal Adams' gorgeous, curvaceous Black Canary in her fishnets was making male readers' eyes pop out of their heads at the beginning of the 70s.) It just raises some tricky issues that require tact and artistry. The idealization of human bodies, both male and female, is integral to the superhero genre. But when we start to wince at obvious exploitative elements and feel like the main appeal is to hormones rather than artistic appreciation, something has gone wrong. (And, to be clear, I'm thinking less of this particular issue and more of later developments, such as have been discussed in relation to X-Men 240-41.) And I won't even get back into my hatred of retcons such as this one . . . Excuse this fossil's long-windedness. I'm of the pre-tweet generation. MichaelAugust 21, 2014 1:23 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 It's fairly clear that it led to something else, yeah. david banesAugust 21, 2014 12:04 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 I never realized that Inferno was influencing the X-Men this early. I mean I know they start mutating and looking demonic but I thought their 'jugular' approach for the Maruaders was one part payback and one part remember very well how dangerous they are. It was a bit catharic to see them live up to 'we're going to take these guys down and hard!' especially with how brutal the sewer fights were. I think my favorite part with Betsy making herself look like an enemy and an enemy look like her and trick one of the teammates of the Marauders into attacking their own ally. JSfanAugust 21, 2014 12:00 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 The writing's good but the whole Glory and Eduardo thing comes across really creepy. It's like she doesn't quite know what's going on and before she know it she's dinning with a complete stranger. I don't know if it leads to anything else, if you know what I mean, but it kinda creeps me out. Oh, Jonah, ye of little faith. ClutchAugust 21, 2014 10:09 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 In retrospect, Spectacular was the more solid "old school" Spidey book around during this period, especially in contrast to Amazing, even though the latter was likely the hotter seller due to McFarlane Mania. Jay DemetrickAugust 21, 2014 9:50 AM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 Demons begin poring into New York on the last page of Amazing Spider-Man #312 so it, and Web of Spider-Man #47 (which takes place after this and before that issue), take place before X-terminators #3/New Mutants #71 too. MichaelAugust 21, 2014 8:30 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 I think it was more an example of how powerful Betsy was. Claremont had her hurt the Juggernaut despite his helmet in X-Men 218. fnord12August 21, 2014 7:40 AM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 @Jay - the M-Squad characters only have a couple more jokey appearances so i didn't think they were worth a Historical Sig mention. I'll revise if it turns out otherwise. fnord12August 21, 2014 7:36 AM New Mutants #30-31 Thanks, Midnighter. Fixed it in both places. fnord12August 21, 2014 7:33 AM Daredevil #262 Thanks, Jay. I've pushed it back. fnord12August 21, 2014 7:32 AM Amazing Spider-Man #311 Thanks, Michael. I'll probably do that again, but i've fixed it here. MidnighterAugust 21, 2014 5:18 AM New Mutants #30-31 Both here and in the entry of Secret Wars II 1 you sai that the Beyonder teleported away the X-Men, but is Lila Cheney that teleported them away, worried about the reaction of the Beyonder to the Wolverine's assault. Jay DemetrickAugust 21, 2014 3:09 AM Daredevil #262 I guess I didn't finish my conclusion... I'd place this before X-terminators #3/New Mutants #71 where the portal opens. Walter LawsonAugust 21, 2014 2:52 AM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 241, p. 2 , as he swats away the demons, is the second time Sinister says he has no heart. It's practically his catchphrase. Maddie's costume, such as it is, as seen of one of the upcoming X-Factor covers made the ten-year-old me wonder for the first time if mom would let me buy such a porn-y looking comic. The shredded loin cloth and exposed side buttock were a bit beyond what I was used to from Marvel at this point. I wasn't unappreciative, but I didn't want to risk losing out on the story because of the racy art. (My parents let me buy it anyway.) ChrisWAugust 21, 2014 1:35 AM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 Oh "Inferno," how I've missed you. Ahem, what I mean to say is we aren't remotely in the worst of Marvel's exploitation years. So far, everything we've seen can be justified through the story, and if you don't agree, we can go back to Jean Grey the Black Queen for exploitation. I'm not defending these pictures other than as Marc Silvestri's art skills, the requirements of the story [and who knows how much influence Bob Harras had by this point] and my pre-teen self enjoying what looks cool. Marvel was in the final stages of 'sexy girls can be doing anything, and they'll still be sexy girls' [Vertigo being knocked out by a Mouse.] It's not the same as the Jim Lee/Rob Liefeld era. Silvestri still treated the story as the most important thing, in this last important storyline of Claremont's run. It's as exploitative as possible without crossing the Lee/Liefield line. And being true to Claremont's story, doubling and redoubling the whole concept of exploitation in comics. Madelyne is one of the sexiest characters I've ever seen in comics, and I'm old enough to wonder if that costume is uncomfortable, even more than her magic/Phoenix powers can account for. Can't we just have a sexy broad hanging around with demons around an altar be a sexy broad hanging around with demons around an altar without getting all... dirty about it? Jon DubyaAugust 21, 2014 1:16 AM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 "Also, the Marauders don't seem to know why Sinister sent them there and the X-Men don't wonder if the dead Marauders are clones." As implied in one of the scans above, Storm thinks this all due to the craziness of Inferno (also note that the non-Colossus X-Men are clearly being magically influenced as well, so their only concern is beating the Marauders to a pulp.) And of course clones weren't so prolific in the X-Universe as they would be later on. Also while Michael definitely has a point about the overall treatment, I rather like Madelyn's portrayal here. She makes a strong showing here (against Mr Sinister, no less!) and I like how she just radiates defiance, even after what has to be a devastating revelation. You'll see the REALLY sexist/damaging stuff come when we get to Louise Simonson's explanation of the plot. ChrisWAugust 21, 2014 1:08 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Worse than the Rogue/Carol Danvers question, worse than the Rogue touching Betsy question (which is at least an interesting plot point left unanswered) when the hell did Betsy become a telepath powerful enough to get past Rogue's Kree heritage [!!!] and read her thoughts, which she's been doing more and more of lately? Xavier couldn't do that, and there was nothing anywhere to tell us Betsy was a more powerful telepath than Xavier. Rogue's mind is impenetrable. Charley made that clear a long time ago. And now we get Betsy whining about how much harder it is to read Rogue's mind than other peoples'? Really? Is that what Rogue's reduced to? I don't even think it happened this issue, but it always irritated the piss out of me that suddenly Rogue's mind was readable to any telepath, just a little bit difficult. ChrisWAugust 21, 2014 12:49 AM X-Factor #35 Of all the villains in all the Marvel Universe, they had to use Nanny? I swear, demons should just wipe this world clean of all its sins. MichaelAugust 20, 2014 11:13 PM Amazing Spider-Man #311 You have Hobgoblin listed as a character appearing, not Jack O'Lantern. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 10:25 PM Daredevil #262 In Daredevil #263 one of Kingpin's minions rushes in to inform Kingpin that demons are pouring into New York like it just happened. This may just be an animated broken vacuum cleaner and not actually techno-organic. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 10:20 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 This is also historically significant as the first appearance for the members of M-Squad who are a bit of a parody of the Ghostbusters and may be based on friends of Claremont & Co. I suspect Dr. Snodgrass is based on author/scriptwriter Melinda Snodgrass. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 10:14 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 The smaller, less intelligent Limbo demons are referred to as goblins throughout the X-terminators mini. It seems to be the title N'astirh gives her, like she's a weird consort for him or something. He makes Meggan his Goblin Princess over in Excalibur when that comes up. MichaelAugust 20, 2014 10:10 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 This story is totally inconsistent with X-Men/Spider-Man 2. Note that the X-Men merely think it's fitting that the Marauders are in the Alley- they don't think "that makes sense, they had a base there." Also, the Marauders don't seem to know why Sinister sent them there and the X-Men don't wonder if the dead Marauders are clones. InstantiationAugust 20, 2014 10:05 PM Strange Tales #178-181 Fair 'nuff! Possibly a reason to get the new "Complete Collection," then! As a bonus, it has what remains of the "lost issue" of Warlock, penciled by Alan Weiss, along with some full-pg. pinups by Starlin and the earlier reprint covers. (I never had those reprints, just the original issues and this new collection.) Oh, and it also has a little info about the prank Starlin played on the censors when he remixed letters on the cover of Strange Tales #179 to read, "Approved by the Cosmic Code Authority" . . . Btw, I notice your Strange Tales scans appear washed out by comparison with the vibrant colors of your Warlock issue scans. And one final random observation: The "blazing giant" from Warlock #14 looks a fair bit like Omega, the apocalyptic character Starlin later introduced, under a pseudonym, in Superboy & The Legion of Super Heroes 250-51. (Are we allowed to mention DC around here??) SilverbirdAugust 20, 2014 9:44 PM General Comments Dugan* SilverbirdAugust 20, 2014 9:43 PM General Comments Divan is what????? That's messed up! fnord12August 20, 2014 9:22 PM Strange Tales #178-181 I agree that that's how the stories should be broken up, Instantiation, but as i mention in the Considerations section, my reprints of these issues are very weirdly formatted such that the original issues are split up amongst multiple issues of the reprint. So for example Special Edition Warlock #5 contains half of Warlock #15, all of Marvel Team-Up #55, and half of Avengers annual #7. And since i've found a way to fit all the issues into continuity as a group, i don't want to cut up the issues (and photocopy pages when there's a different issue on each side). I have done some crazy stuff like that when i've had to, but i avoid it whenever possible. So that's why they're bunched into a single entry like this. fnord12August 20, 2014 9:14 PM General Comments Interesting. I'll hold off for now. It won't be that hard to make a change if i decide to do so (i'd rename the current tag and then create a new one for the early appearances), but we'll see if it sticks. fnord12August 20, 2014 9:04 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 Fixed the images; thanks Luis. Clyde, JJ is usually shown to have a lot of integrity when it comes to non super-hero subjects, so i thought this was in character for him. MichaelAugust 20, 2014 8:48 PM General Comments Fnord, there's a revelation about Dum Dum Dugan in today's Original Sins 5. Your site doesn't have spoilers, so I'll link to Scans Daily: Luis DantasAugust 20, 2014 8:36 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 There is an image missing after the last Kristy picture. clydeAugust 20, 2014 8:27 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 Two things I noticed about this issue: 1. - Magic seems to affect Spider-Man like it affected Superman. 2. Since when is J.J.J. so concerned about a responsible newspaper ? He's basically been running a smear campaign against Spider-Man for years. I blame this out-of-character experience on Inferno. david banesAugust 20, 2014 8:14 PM Daredevil #262 All the cats and dogs of the world were right all along. InstantiationAugust 20, 2014 8:09 PM Strange Tales #178-181 This is my all-time favorite Marvel cosmic saga, so I'm very glad to see it's one of the few things to which you've assigned an "A" quality rating. It was recently reissued, of course, as "Warlock: The Complete Collection" (2014) -- well, except for the non-Starlin Marvel Team-Up story. And that leads me to a point you may or may not agree with . . . I'd suggest breaking this huge review up. I actually think of this series as four relatively discrete units: 1. Strange Tales 178-181 & Warlock 9-11 (Warlock vs. The Magus: *This* is really my favorite cosmic epic. I don't place the rest as high.) 2. Warlock 12-15 (an interlude featuring the Star Thief story, which anticipates the idea that Thanos will attempt to turn out the stars) 3. Marvel Team-Up 55 (the non-Starlin Stranger story) 4. Avengers Annual 7 & Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2 (the Second Thanos War) There are so many things one could say about these issues. For now, I'll limit myself just to noting how cool it is that when we arrive for the second time at the scene in which Warlock kills himself, we learn that Starlin's other Eternal Champion, Cap. Mar-Vell, is the sole witness. david banesAugust 20, 2014 8:01 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 Maybe Demon Queen was already taken? MichaelAugust 20, 2014 7:56 PM Spectacular Spider-Man #146 But it couldn't have taken a week for Scott and Jean to travel to and back from Nebraska, unless they took the scenic route- although that *would* explain Excalibur 4-6. MichaelAugust 20, 2014 7:54 PM New Mutants #71 "It's also with these scenes that the rest of the New Mutants finally see and understand what Illyana went through as a teenager, and realize that she's not evil as much as abused" MichaelAugust 20, 2014 7:44 PM X-Terminators #3 Note that N'astirh tells Taki that he's the one transforming the city but in X-Men 242, he makes it sound like Maddie is transforming the city. MattAugust 20, 2014 7:07 PM Uncanny X-Men #240-241 I hated the name Goblin Queen, makes no sense. Never understood why they called her that. It sounds like something from a low budget horror film. fnord12August 20, 2014 2:57 PM General Comments I did that for X-Terminators #1 in 1988. It can't start twice. ;-) clydeAugust 20, 2014 2:35 PM General Comments FNORD - Will you be putting a comment next to one of the "X" issues as the "start of Inferno" on the main page of 1989? JSfanAugust 20, 2014 2:01 PM New Mutants #71 Forgot about that elevator scene. Very gruesome. Still, it was the tower viewer eyes thing that got me. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 1:38 PM New Mutants #71 I wonder if kids refused to enter elevators after reading this crossover...? There is a another incident in The Uncanny X-Men #240 with an elevator in the RCA Building to go yet... ;) Preying on phobias much Marvel?>:) fnord12August 20, 2014 1:05 PM New Mutants #71 Added it. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 12:28 PM New Mutants #71 You didn't include the 3rd and most brutal of the Empire State Building's elevator atrocities. It was very Stanley Kubrick's The Shining inspired. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 12:14 PM X-Terminators #3 The last 3 babies show up in X-Factor on the Empire State Building when Madelyn is defeated. They were to be used somehow when she sacrificed her son. Keep an eye out for that bit of dialogue when it comes around. fnord12August 20, 2014 11:23 AM X-Terminators #3 N'astirh said that he needed 13 infants in issue #2, though. Wiz Kid shouldn't count any more than Artie and Leech did. clydeAugust 20, 2014 11:15 AM X-Terminators #3 This is a quote from the wiki page on the Inferno babies: In X-Terminators #2 N'Astirh says that he needs thirteen children, who will act as focuses for his power and open a gate from Limbo to Earth: InstantiationAugust 20, 2014 10:23 AM Iron Man #55 Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to say his work was "perfect" from that point or anything, just that he was finding his groove, esp. as an artist. And maybe it's just me, but I never considered Roy Thomas's work to be "beyond criticism" either. Also wanted to say the obvious to fnord12 -- what a fantastic resource this is. Thanks for all the hard work you've invested in it. Star OceanAugust 20, 2014 8:46 AM Journey Into Mystery #114-119 fnord12, cool! I mean, i don't read some of these issues. But i sure you know what doing. JSfanAugust 20, 2014 8:32 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 Jay, I know what you mean. The bit where the tourists look through the tower viewer really disturbed me when I was a kid. It still does, actually. MichaelAugust 20, 2014 8:13 AM X-Factor #35 But Maddie says "You always hated that name" in X-Factor 37, implying that Scott liked to call him Chris and Maddie liked to call him Nathan. And no, we never saw the baby's name until X-Men 239. Erik RobbinsAugust 20, 2014 3:05 AM Uncanny X-Men annual #12 I was never able to figure out who the guy on the end is in the "naughty" X-Men. He's got slightly blue skin, so Nightcrawler? I assume the redhead is supposed to be Maddy rather than Jean. As I recall, Mojo was unhappy with there being a Longshot in the X-Babies, which I thought was weird, since there were Longshots in some of the other teams. But I guess this one called attention to himself with the "Guess who's back?" line. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 2:28 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 If you think this elevator scene is disturbing, just wait until you get to the one in New Mutants #71! Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 2:15 AM Amazing Spider-Man #311 Also seen in this issue is an elevator in the Empire State Building eating a janitor. A similar scene takes place in The Uncanny X-Men #239 where the elevator eats some tourists. Jay DemetrickAugust 20, 2014 2:08 AM X-Factor #35 I believe Walter is correct about the baby's name. In the issue where the 2 teams meet, Maddy tells Scott: "We call him Nathan now." if I'm remembering correctly. Implying that they called him Christopher before that. Erik RobbinsAugust 20, 2014 1:05 AM Uncanny X-Men #239 That elevator scene is highly disturbing. A scene that definitely left an impression on me at the time. I don't remember if I knew Rogue well enough by this point to get the significance of her touching Psylocke. Alex's radio is playing "Devil with a Blue Dress" when Maddy shows up wearing a blue dress. Walter LawsonAugust 20, 2014 12:12 AM X-Factor #35 Part of the clue with boy Nathan is his nickname, "Lefty." "Sinister" means "left" is Latin. Didn't Scott and Maddie name their baby Christopher Charles either in the issue he was born or shortly thereafter? I'm pretty sure that's the case. In any event, to Scott he's still Christopher; it's only Sinister and Maddie who call him Nathan. Which makes the line about Lefty's real name being Nathan "of all things" kind of a premature clue. Walter LawsonAugust 19, 2014 11:58 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 In addition to Sinister's remarks about time being in his side, his statement that "Sinister has no heart" is also flagging up that the super-villain we see is not an altogether real creature, but just what Claremont intended the Sinister persona to be--Android? Psychic projection--is never revealed. Commenters elsewhere have noted that Sinister is "playing with action figures" with his crystal figurines of the X-Men. There's some artful writing here: Maddie's reference to "watching in my monitors" nicely parallels what Sinister is doing and subtly foreshadows the relationship revealed next issue. In support of my argument that plots have been advancing better than Fnord believes, once Marvel time is accounted for, I'd just note that when the X-Men arrived in Australia there were four outstanding missions for them: the Marauders, the Brood, Maddie's baby, and the missing Sara Grey. The X-Men and Maddie accomplish three of those four objectives with only one side mission in the main book (the Genosha story) or two if you count the High Evolutionary/Savage Land story. My point is that the monthly/biweekly book is actually moving ahead more systematically than one might think. (Arguably, though, the X-Men should also be tracking Nimrod and Rachel Summers--those are genuinely lost threads at this point.) The Storm/Jean friendship was retconned into the Classic X-Men backups. MichaelAugust 19, 2014 10:32 PM X-Factor #35 "presumably her home was blown up by anti-mutant terrorists after Nanny had already orphaned and kidnapped the kids" ChrisAugust 19, 2014 10:20 PM X-Factor #35 I couldn't believe at the time had bad the book had gotten since the heights of issues 24-25. I was simply buying the title because I always had at this point. ChrisAugust 19, 2014 10:17 PM Amazing Spider-Man #311 Mysterio is a hard character to write. The key to Mysterio is misdirection, not the fishbowl head costume. Mysterio has no superpowers. What he has is his MIND and his technical skills. Ditko understood this which is why Mysterio in ASM #24 is very different than the Mysterio as he first appeared in ASM #10. He didn't show much variety in ASM Annual #1, but that wasn't a real Mysterio story, it was just a greatest villains showcase. Unfortunately, most writers afterwords merely repeated the fishbowl costume and used unimaginative plots. Vincent ValentiAugust 19, 2014 9:41 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Storm calling Jean her "best friend" is odd considering that they barely had any on-panel interactions during the Claremont/Cockrum/Byrne years. fnord12August 19, 2014 6:37 PM Journey Into Mystery #114-119 Star Ocean, as i mention in the Chronological Placement Considerations, this issue must take place concurrently with Avengers #16. Thor appears in Avengers #16 but then it's later said that he's left for the Trial of the Gods, which is shown in these issues. When stories overlap i place them as close to each other as possible. fnord12August 19, 2014 6:35 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 I've added Nathan's name to the Historical Significance description but i didn't increase the score, since we all know his real name is Cable. fnord12August 19, 2014 6:34 PM Uncanny X-Men #174-175 So what are we all talking about, then?! ;-) I see that the MCP has updated the character listings for this issue and now includes Havok and the New Mutants and gives a BTS for Polaris since she must have been there if Havok was. (I also see they list Magma as BTS which i'm not so sure about.) MichaelAugust 19, 2014 6:22 PM Iron Man #55 I don't know- I think he's still having trouble in issue 30- the narrator lecturing the reader about how great Mar-Vell's inner strength was, etc. was just horribly overwritten. Starlin said that after that issue, Roy Thomas gave him a speech about how words are tools, not pearls. Star OceanAugust 19, 2014 6:21 PM Journey Into Mystery #114-119 Hi! But why ITM #114 stand after Avengers #16? It's march! I mean it's not chronology (on plot). InstantiationAugust 19, 2014 6:11 PM Iron Man #55 Can't blame you! (about either the boots or the system . . .). One quick further thought here: These issues really represent Starlin's apprenticeship phase or something like that. You can clearly see him evolve as both a writer and an artist, throwing out tons of ideas and getting it together. My feeling is that by CM #27 he's *there*. And that's quick. Thanos now looks like himself. And there's that great touch about how he gives the Super-Skrull, who is terrified of Drax, that Unisphere, which he says will protect him. But then it turns out to be worthless, just a ball of glass -- and what a great page that is. Many more would follow . . . InstantiationAugust 19, 2014 5:56 PM Captain Marvel #31-33 Captain Marvel #33 was, luckily, one of the first comics I ever read, and boy did it make an impression on me, esp. the ending. Space warping! The good captain aging/balding! Thanos's head floating in the sky! And then the iconic karate chop that does in both the Cosmic Cube and (seemingly) Thanos Himself. And after that, no one says anything for two whole pages. There's just a shriek and then Death's laughter. The final words, from the narrator: "And to understand is to choose a life with no simple choices -- the life of Captain Marvel." (I now have the whole series collected in a volume aptly titled "The Life of Captain Marvel.") This was something most unusual, mysterious, and mind-bending. So I think how good the conclusion is is definitely debatable. For me, it's one of the high points in Starlin's cosmic output -- and it definitely did a lot to turn me on to comics. (Wow, this came out way back in '74 . . .). But you do have to understand those five "clues" outlined above (two 4s there, btw, just noticed) and also the fact that subconsciously Thanos always wants to lose. He worships death, but part of him seems to want to live (he doesn't just commit suicide, at least not in a straightforward manner, for instance) and to let some others do so as well. He's often notably a good bit harder on his own minions than on the heroes who oppose him, whom he secretly seems to admire. This psychological complexity -- and Starlin created Thanos during a psychology class, it's worth remembering -- creates an interesting dimension to his character and makes him quite unlike, say, Darkseid, to whom he's often compared but who is more thoroughly evil, single-minded, and relentless. The Mad Titan, indeed. Mark DrummondAugust 19, 2014 5:45 PM Cloak and Dagger #3 I strongly suspect Marvel actually slapped "Mutant Misadventures" on the cover to trick less intelligent X-fans into picking it up. MichaelAugust 19, 2014 5:34 PM Uncanny X-Men #239 Nathan Christopher Charles Summers is named for the first time in this story- that should probably go in the historical significance. MichaelAugust 19, 2014 5:18 PM Uncanny X-Men #174-175 Alex is clearly at the wedding- Scott refers to him as Alex when he asks for the ring. fnord12August 19, 2014 5:02 PM Iron Man #55 Too late. I looted Mar-Vell's boots and they are very stylish and i'm not giving them back. (Thanks for pointing out the costume change, Instantiation, and sorry my primitive system doesn't allow editing of comments.) InstantiationAugust 19, 2014 4:50 PM Iron Man #55 Ha! Oops, I was typing quickly and of course meant "look." (Wish you could edit these posts -- oh, well!) clydeAugust 19, 2014 4:29 PM Amazing Spider-Man #311 IMO, a good writer can work around the script, not have the script determine how he works with it. MichaelAugust 19, 2014 4:05 PM Amazing Spider-Man #311 I don't know, kveto- Michelinie has said in interviews that Amazing was his dream job but he didn't like writing it with a married Spider-Man. Maybe that affected his writing. kveto from pragueAugust 19, 2014 4:02 PM Amazing Spider-Man #311 When did Mysterio become an idiot? He sets up this plot of trying to guilt spider-man by making him responsible for a death then tells Spidey the whole damn plot as soon as he shows up. Spidey even calls him out on it when Misty tries to guilt him with a ghost. "Fool me once..." I think JS fan hits the nail on the head. A talented writer like Michelne must've been handicapped by MacFarlane drawing whatever the hell he wanted, cohesive story be damned. It the only explanation that makes any sense. It worked for Ditko and Stan but sure don't work here. JSfanAugust 19, 2014 3:51 PM Amazing Spider-Man #311 Damn, that's some phoned-in art. Either that or McFarlane fancied doing whaever he liked and DM had to script around it. Whatever. It's poor. MichaelAugust 19, 2014 3:28 PM Amazing Spider-Man #311 I never liked this issue- Mysterio should know that innocents have died in Spider-Man's battles before, so why did he think that one more would have made such a difference? A better writer would have made use of Peter's history with Captain Stacy, Gwen Stacy, etc. fnord12August 19, 2014 11:55 AM Web of Spider-Man #46 Clutch, interesting. I wonder if that was even originally meant to be Hank in the background, and that's why he was colored white, until someone caught the mistake at the last minute. And here i was complimenting Howell for how nicely integrated this issue was... Ataru320August 19, 2014 8:17 AM Cloak and Dagger #3 Considering the Grund who worked with Korvac, I would have expected them to be a bit more powerful. But I guess that's the Grunds of the GotG universe. ClutchAugust 18, 2014 11:06 PM Web of Spider-Man #46 That very cheesecake-sy Wanda sounds more like Janet Van Dyne in one of her ditzy phases what with her calling Peter "Spidey" so much. Vish and the Witch were never that chummy with the web-slinger. Given what's coming up in the Wackos' own book, I'm betting that the guy by the pool could be Simon. (Except for the "darling," unless Wanda was feeling a bit frisky at the time!) Actually, it sounds more like Howell meant this scene for Jan and two generic dudes to begin with. It simply makes more sense. fnord12August 18, 2014 9:25 PM Cloak and Dagger #3 Yeah, thanks, Michael. I just mean any generic appearances can't go in between these issues. MichaelAugust 18, 2014 7:39 PM Cloak and Dagger #3 Just to let you know, Dagger doesn't get her sight back until issue 12-13 and she makes a few appearances in other titles (during Atlantis Attacks and Acts of Vengeance) before she finally gets her sight back. fnord12August 18, 2014 7:02 PM General Comments Clyde, not sure exactly what you're asking but see the entry and Michael's comment for Silver Surfer #16. It's referenced in that issue and the experience in the GN is said to help the Surfer fight back against the Soul gem, but as Michael says it seems to reflect a different status quo for Nova. Beyond that i don't know if it has any real impact on the main Surfer book; it's really about giving Stan Lee and John Buscema an opportunity to work with the Surfer again. I'll be covering it "soon". Jay DemetrickAugust 18, 2014 3:54 PM End of Line "End of Line" is very Tron. Just had to mention that. ;) Cesar Hernandez-MerazAugust 18, 2014 1:40 PM Captain America #321-322 I must also say I love the ULTIMATUM uniforms. With soldier-type (well built and athletic) guys and girls wearing them, you know they will look really good! Cesar Hernandez-MerazAugust 18, 2014 1:38 PM Captain America #321-322 I am Mexican, but I really like Captain America and would find it very difficult not to listen to him if he asked me something (if he existed in real life or if I lived in a comic book, that is). I guess he could defend his name of "America" (not that I am a fan of using that name for the country, instead of the continent) by saying he got all of these ideals while he was a boy, when living in the USA was not easy. There was no money, his own mother had a lot of problems, too, and not everyone rushed to help. Still, seeing this, he thought those values were worth fighting for. There could then be meaning in keeping the name, and in insisting he is not blindly defending the politics of the country at any given time, but the "ideals" and what the country could be if it reached them. He is trying to inspire a whole country (and world) into becoming something better. Better than the place he had to grow up in. Of course, he will not whine about it so we may not hear him complaining about his youth that much. About the no-killing, I agree it would be better to have him "stop killing" others instead of never having done it. Now he has to set higher standards for himself. Going with this "higher standards" thing, he may not look down at soldiers killing during a war. But since he has a physical advantage over all of them (ally and enemy), he thinks he has no right to abuse power (there can be no "might makes right" for him). I remember a couple of years ago when I read the first issues of Avengers. I was surprised Cap was so blood-thristy for "revenge" (his words) against Baron Zemo. I also agree Chris Evans's Cap is very good at displaying all of these aspects of the character (man, I loved his relationship with Sam Wilson in the movie). While I know it will most likely not happen (then again, they have surprised me a few times already), I would like to see Cap's reaction to Diamondback flirting with him in the movies. BuffyAugust 18, 2014 12:18 PM Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12 This was my first taste of Marvel comics, specifically Secret Wars UK #17 (October 1985), which was part of the US's issue #8. InstantiationAugust 17, 2014 11:06 PM Iron Man #55 As for the alteration in Mar-Vell's suit, take a loot at his boots. HarryAugust 17, 2014 9:03 PM Uncanny X-Men #200 The purple with white trim Magneto costume is the one I regard as his "X-Men outfit", as it's worn in the Fantastic Four and Avengers crossovers, and also most of his surprisingly few appearances going forward in Uncanny (he was a more solid fixture in New Mutants, of course). clydeAugust 17, 2014 6:27 PM General Comments This is just a general question - What significance does the Silver Surfer: Judgment Day graphic novel have in regards to the continuity of the Silver Surfer? SilverbirdAugust 17, 2014 3:52 PM Marvel Team-Up #4 Gil Kane must have loved drawing Morbius. It doesn't matter at what angle you draw the face, you get nostrils! fnord12August 17, 2014 1:37 PM Hulk #271 Thanks, Clyde. I've upped the Historical Significance due to his increased prominence lately. clydeAugust 17, 2014 11:44 AM Hulk #271 The only reason I picked this up now was I just found this issue at a yard sale for $1.25. Needless to say, I scooped it up quick. It's going for $109.00 on mycomicshop. Score. fnord12August 17, 2014 9:00 AM Ka-Zar the Savage #1 There's a flashback in Ka-zar the Savage #21 that shows some of it. fnord12August 17, 2014 8:59 AM Ka-Zar #1-2 Not the first time i've done that. Still holding out for Ron Howard to direct a Conan movie, i guess. Thanks. Luis DantasAugust 17, 2014 8:28 AM Ka-Zar the Savage #1 Oddly, the start of Ka-Zar and Shanna's relationship has never been shown far as I can tell. Shanna first met Ka-Zar in the first two issues of his previous series. http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/kazar_12.shtml And she was last seen in the issues you covered already in Daredevil #117 http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/daredevil_117.shtml She had appearances in the meantime in 1975's "Savage Tales" #8-10 and "Rampaging Hulk" #9 (June 1978). There are a few stories in Marvel Comics Presents and Marvel Fanfare that may have told the tale, but were published much later (and I did not read them, so I don't know). Luis DantasAugust 17, 2014 7:56 AM Ka-Zar #14-20 The last panel says that there is an explanation for the cancellation in the letters column. I do not know what it is, but I am curious. I will however notice that Marvel began a licensed Tarzan series in 1977 (first issue in March, cover-dated for June). The first issue was by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. It lasted until #29 in July 1979 (real time, I assume). http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com.br/2009/08/famous-first-fridays-marvel-comics.html I do not know whether Marvel wanted to avoid competing with itself or ERB's properties caretakers demanded Ka-Zar not to have stories published in the meantime, but I assume at least one of the two probably happened, even if informally. Ka-Zar was not seen again (far as I know) until somewhere around Uncanny X-Men #114-116, in late 1978. http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/uncanny_x-men_111-117.shtml JSfanAugust 17, 2014 7:40 AM Ka-Zar #1-2 Just being pernickety, but I think you mean Robert E Howard. fnord12August 16, 2014 11:45 PM Uncanny X-Men #151-152 Luis, maybe this was just a page failing to load fully? I don't see anything unusual here. fnord12August 16, 2014 11:45 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #49-52 Thanks, Luis. Fixed it. Ataru320August 16, 2014 10:57 PM Avengers #240-242 Is there something wrong with the lips in these issues? I'd say its just the females (see the scary Shulkie where she places her hand on Jess) but even Vision and Cap are affected based on the pics. Luis DantasAugust 16, 2014 10:51 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #49-52 The first Mysterio picture is duplicated. The first and extraneous stance is among the Power Man images. Luis DantasAugust 16, 2014 9:50 PM Uncanny X-Men #151-152 There is some odd formatting in the HTML code of this page. Some important info has been placed right after the sentinels picture. SAugust 16, 2014 5:56 PM Avengers #240-242 Tigra says the events of Spider-Woman 50 happened just days ago. I guess it's been a pretty busy few days in the Marvel U. Jon DubyaAugust 16, 2014 12:13 AM Avengers #167-168, 170-177 I think Brevoot's concern was that the epilogue was simply done as yet another "Take that" at Shooter (there were quite a bit around this time) since many people (creators and fans) began seeing Shooter's recuring theme of "Cosmic-powered schmucks" as stand-ins for the man himself. That being said, I also don't think the epilogue was too bad (although unnecessary) since any time Korvac reappears, modern writers interpret him the way the epilogue does anyway (for example Carina certainly comes to this conclusion during Avengers Academy.) Mark DrummondAugust 15, 2014 11:07 PM Fantastic Four #176-178 Two more of those "Hunt" background signs appear in #176. Luis DantasAugust 15, 2014 9:51 PM Defenders #52-56 It is weird how Namor does not even recognize Nighthawk (who, granted, is in a different new costume) after personally suggesting him as his replacement in the Defenders in #14 - http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/defenders_14.shtml BillAugust 15, 2014 2:45 PM Fantastic Four #286 Well, as a kid reading this issue, I didn't mind Jean spending the issue in a (hand made) short skirt! Heck, as an adult now, I guess I still don't mind... InstantiationAugust 15, 2014 1:17 PM Fantastic Four #286 Okay, so why is Jean (or "Jean") parading around in this issue in a short torn black dress? Well, way back in X-Men #s 98-101, when Marvel Girl initially transitioned to Phoenix (or so we thought . . .), Jean was wearing a long black dress that inhibited her movement. So Wolverine "fixed" it for her with his handy-dandy claws. "Hey! Not so blasted short!" she had cried. Wolverine clearly enjoyed his handiwork, as did the gallery. The artist was Dave Cockrum. And here the superior Mr. Byrne obviously relished picking up on this situation and drawing Jean's legs for a full issue. We can appreciate the fruit (er, stems) of his labor. And most of those present at Avengers' mansion were guys. That said, as someone who bought and devoured the Dark Phoenix Saga hot off the racks, this issue is Blasphemy. I have to dial out a lot of later Marvel "history" to maintain my interest. This is almost as bad as if it turned out that Captain Marvel *really* hadn't died of cancer; instead, it was his cousin Car-Vell or something. Sheesh. JSfanAugust 15, 2014 1:07 PM General Comments Fair enough. I guess there's no real urgency. fnord12August 15, 2014 12:14 PM General Comments I actually got as far as downloading phpBB one time but then put it aside and never went back to it. I will do it one day but it's not a priority for now. JSfanAugust 15, 2014 12:01 PM X-Terminators #1 Mansize, I couldn't agree more. I can't understand how this book didn't get more issues and Alpha Flight did. The mind boggles. MansizeAugust 15, 2014 9:52 AM X-Terminators #1 I think the X-termies were radical !!!! (like almost every other X-book in this time was). Why these characters in particular never got a chance after this book is frustrating to me. The build up to X-terminators was enormous through the X-factor ward thing, mainly because they were all characters with a huge and interesting background. Let me recap. Rusty had a lot of screen time when X-factor took off, and sort of made their true goals clear. Together with Artie, who was of course linked to Beast's storyline. Then Skids joined during the Massacre (and because of it), even has some flashbacks to her youth. Leech - who loses his surrogate mother in the Massacre - joins some time after, when Caliban joins the main team, and his siphon powers play a major role in a lot of stories thereafter. Boom Boom started off in Secret Wars with the Beyonder (I think), and leaves for a while with Fallen Angels. All of them together saved Rictor. Throw Taki into the mix with his cool powers, and there you have it, fantastic potential for a new X-team. Which was unfortunately not followed up upon. Rusty and Skids were ditched for no good reason, and forced into really, really lame roles hereafter. Boom Boom and Rictor were totally diminished and destroyed as characters right after X-Force took off, with Boom Boom having nothing to do but be obnoxious and Rictor nothing to do but rehash himself and his trust issues. Taki was likely trashed because his powers virtually added nothing to what Warlock added to the team at the time (and we all know where that ends). And then the great Artie-Leech dynamic... I've no words for it, it is frustrating even now. JSfanAugust 15, 2014 9:35 AM Daredevil #146-147 Gil sure does love the old up-nostril shot. I actually like this one. InstantiationAugust 14, 2014 11:39 PM Uncanny X-Men #132-135 At the time, I thought it had made me into a Wolverine fan, but with hindsight, I realized it really made me into a John Byrne fan. When he left the X-Men for the FF, so did I (at least until he replaced the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing with She-Hulk . . .). Mark DrummondAugust 14, 2014 8:19 PM Captain America #349 I have to wonder if the "idiot" scene is a backhanded reference to Ozymandias' Giant Alien Squid in Watchmen. Mark DrummondAugust 14, 2014 8:02 PM Marvel Fanfare #10-13 The Black Widow did the same thing in MTIO #10(for all I know, Claremont may have lifted it from a Modesty Blaise strip). InstantiationAugust 14, 2014 6:53 PM Uncanny X-Men #136-137 A few subjective thoughts on The Dark Phoenix Saga (X-Men #s 129-37): It's deservedly a classic, of course, but I think -- and it seems, based on his grades, that our Friendly Neighborhood Reviewer agrees -- it's somewhat overrated, generally. First, the main theme of the story -- in order to avoid becoming evil and cosmically powerful, a hero has to commit suicide -- is a repeat of Jim Starlin's great Warlock series from the mid-70s. Only that had a much tighter focus on the protagonist, along with an incredible psychedelic imaginative sweep (and remains my all-time fave Marvel cosmic epic). The plotting of these X-M issues is a bit "cluttered," and there are a lot of forgettable fight scenes with faceless, uninteresting minions of the Hellfire Club. It's hard (for me, anyway) to get too excited about even the Club itself (despite the amusing parallels with famous actors, such as Orson Welles). The Club, or more particularly Mastermind, is really just a catalyst for the Main Event. Furthermore, I strongly object to the sequence in which Dark Phoenix randomly gates to a "galaxy far, far away" and devours an entire sun. Why would she do this randomly and waste so much time/energy in the process? Obviously, our redoubtable storytellers didn't want her eating Earth's Sun (end o' story, so just kill billions of random creatures elsewhere!), and they also wanted to bring the Shi'ar into the arc. But their presence is not organic or integral to this tale, really, so this all feels very strained and grafted on to a story that's essentially about corruption, a descent into madness, and love. A tighter focus on those powerful essentials would have served the saga well, I feel. As for eating a sun? Come on. Her resulting power levels would have been such that she could have vaporized the Earth in an instant with her pinkie. In fact, how could she possibly have kept that much mass/energy in check without becoming a black hole? So why go there, esp. when she never exhibits power on that absurd level? It's one of various grandiose instances of "out-Galactusing Galactus" that Marvel fans have been subjected to from this point forward (e.g., Beyonder!, Infinity Gauntlet!, and other overblown "oh-no-the-Universe-is-going-to-be-destroyed-yet-again!!" epics). In my view, this is a completely unnecessary and distracting digression for this story, which has such a strong personal dimension, rooted in Jean's psyche and the bond between her and Scott. The same end could have been accomplished if she had used her Phoenix power to kill a few innocent people on Earth, instead of gratuitously wiping out billions of nameless aliens. No reason to go over the top like this -- it just detracts and is way out of keeping with the whole Hellfire Club prologue. Ah, but let me do the best parts of the story justice. What really sticks with you in this series are the great moments -- panels and pages - and some are among the best I've ever encountered in the comics. Byrne is really exceptional when it comes to rendering emotion on faces with just a few deft, minimalist strokes. And his Jean is gorgeous. So, a quick highlight reel (by no means complete): the dark look (anticipating Dark Phoenix) on Jean's face as she confronts the White Queen in 131; that famous last panel of 132, a perfect snapshot of what made Wolverine, well, Wolverine (before he became totally overexposed!); Jean, still as the inviting but terrifying Black Queen, destroying Mastermind's mind in 134; the terrific battle between Dark Phoenix and the X-Men (with the help of Beast's mind scrambler) in 136, culminating in the awesome psychic duel between DP and Prof. X; and then the climactic heartbreaking two pages in 137, in which Jean, momentarily lucid again, but having seamlessly transitioned from Phoenix to Dark Phoenix (watch her costume), commits suicide. Throughout, Byrne does such a great job of conveying the emotions on Jean's face -- anguish, innocence, lust for power, sheer evil, conflict, confusion, heartbreak as she appeals more than once for her teammates to kill her. This, more than anything, is what sticks with me. And let me not forget the iconic cover of 136, which seems, perhaps, to be an homage to the famous Neal Adams cover of "The Brave and the Bold" # 84 (Batman carrying Sgt. Rock). But Byrne's cover is even more powerful, with all those distraught or downcast faces and Jean's limp but alluring form in her lover's arms. Perfect choice as the cover of the collected edition. So, some aspects of this saga strike me as mediocre, forgettable filler, and over-the-top silly. But the great moments and cruxes are truly great, with an emotional impact rarely achieved in this medium, and for that, one will forgive quite a bit. clydeAugust 14, 2014 2:46 PM X-Terminators #1 Jay - That's impressive. It's a very detailed run-through. Thanks. david banesAugust 14, 2014 1:55 PM Uncanny X-Men #132-135 Yes, I've heard numerous people claim they went a 180 on Wolverine the moment they saw that 'now it's my turn' panel. InstantiationAugust 14, 2014 1:15 PM Uncanny X-Men #132-135 Worth noting that the Hellfire dudes are based, respectively, on Robert Shaw, Donald Southerland, and (very obviously!) Orson Welles. In fact, the name Harry Leland is an amalgamation of Harry Lime (Welles' great villainous character in "The Third Man") and Jed Leland (Kane's sidekick in the immortal "Citizen Kane"). #132 was the first X-Men issue I picked up off the rack, and the extraordinary final panel made me a fan (at least of the Byrne era) for life. Jay DemetrickAugust 14, 2014 1:13 PM X-Terminators #1 I've put together a little timeline of the events of Inferno if you're interested. It's not complete yet but I think I've got the majority of the story threaded together. http://jade-dragon.wikidot.com/marvel-s-inferno-crossover BerendAugust 14, 2014 8:05 AM Daredevil #243-244 The Nameless One looks oddly like Elektra from the back. JSfanAugust 14, 2014 6:26 AM General Comments Hi FNORD, have you ever looked at phpBB free forum hosting website? I've created a stand-alone website using their software and it's very easy to use. However, I'm completely useless at creating banners and making it look fancy but it might be something you'd be interested in if you do finally decide to pursue that area. ChrisWAugust 13, 2014 8:41 PM Avengers #298 Michael, that's exactly what I mean. Even without reading more than a handful of Englehart's FF, I knew that Reed and Sue left the team to raise Franklin (and I've just checked on this website to be sure I wasn't missing anything.) So, yeah, they decided to devote their attention to raising their son for a change, and then join the Avengers??? I have no objection to treating Inferno (or any other big event) as a crisis that would bring Reed and Sue running to help, but (searching for an analogy) this is like Lennon and McCartney announcing they've left the Beatles to devote time to Yoko and Linda, and then a few months later they've joined the Rolling Stones. It's not going to give them any more time with their wives, and the fundamental wrongness of the entire concept should have sent up red flags from the very start. "Hey, you know who would make a good Avenger? The leader and founder of the Fantastic Four!" Englehart had no plans to bring Reed and Sue back, but he completely ignored the reasons he provided for them leaving the FF to say 'sure, they can join the Avengers'? Sure, Jarvis could watch over Franklin, but so could Alicia and Agatha Harkness. clydeAugust 13, 2014 7:21 PM General Comments FNORD - GOTG 27-34 takes place on "our" earth. Plus 32-33 features Captain Universe. fnord12August 13, 2014 3:50 PM General Comments Clyde, i only have a few scattered issues of the 90s GotG and i don't have any of the Infinity War tie-ins. Normally i wouldn't include GotG since it's an alternate future title, but if there are specific crossovers with current day books i would like to include them. I have a Doom 2099/Daredevil crossover in mind where i intend to include the Doom issue(s), for example (i'll have to re-read them again to see exactly what i'll include). If you think the GotG issues are relevant and there's a set of issues that you recommend include, i may pick them up before i get to 1992. Or i'll at least list them on the What's Missing page. fnord12August 13, 2014 3:46 PM Daredevil #260-261 Matt, thanks for the feedback. I do briefly mention the cover vs. realtime date gap on the Q&A and Rules pages, but i could probably make it more prominent. I will note the cover date shifts on the 1989 category page and in maybe a few of the issue entries (or please remind me if i don't). The cover dates will also become interesting in more recent years when really they stop being "cover" dates (maybe i should refer to them as indicia dates) and between scheduling problems and then random double-shipping they almost become meaningless. But we'll see how it goes. It's just a way to broadly organize things. clydeAugust 13, 2014 2:53 PM General Comments FNORD - this may have been asked before, are you going to be covering the Guardians Of The Galaxy series from 1990? I know that it takes place partially in the "current" Marvel Universe during the Infinity War in 1992. MattAugust 13, 2014 1:06 PM Daredevil #260-261 I just love what you're doing with this site. It really takes me back, and your effort is truly impressive. I've enjoyed reading these so much! Can't wait to see what you do with the immense continuity mess after Inferno, though -- best of luck. The next two years are have a lot of problems. Also, I don't know where else to raise this as an issue, but the only thing that bothers me -- and I don't know that it makes much difference overall, just a nagging concern -- is that the cover dates are not the release dates. From the beginning of its Silver Age titles (and prior to that for at least some time), Marvel used a four-months-ahead cover date scheme. This was to tell newsstands to keep the book out on the rack until no later than some time that month. So a cover date of "Nov" (as Fantastic Four #1) could remain on the stands until November of that year, but it actually came out back in July. Similarly, a cover date of "Apr" (as will be seen with the concluding Inferno issues) came out in December of the prior year. I only raise this as an issue, because in the year after Inferno, Marvel changed its cover date policy. In order to make room for more and more titles (the 90's were just around the corner, after all...), Marvel shortened the cover date discrepancy to two months, right around the time that Acts of Vengeance was beginning. Hence it looks like there was some crazy explosion of twice-monthly publication across the entire line -- but that's not what happened. They cut one month off first (around September, I think), and then the next month they cut another (October). The result: in January of 1989, everything was cover dated "May," but eleven months later in December of 89, the cover dates were "Feb." (The other result is that Acts of Vengeance issues spent less time on the stands, thank goodness -- but I'll save the editorializing for another time.) Like I said, it's not a huge deal. I'm just anal retentive about my comic book timing, and this does make certain events easier to place. Christmas issues, for example, almost always have an Apr cover date if they're monthly, or Mar or May for bi-monthly books (there are exceptions, of course). Plus, the way you've got it set up, both Inferno and Acts of Vengeance will be happening in the same year, despite the fact that they were fall crossovers in consecutive years. Just a thought, no reason why, this far in, you should necessarily change anything. It would be a lot of work! And you've already put in scads of work already, of a very high caliber. Keep it up! I love your site. Matthew BradleyAugust 13, 2014 12:30 PM Marvel Two-In-One #9 At the risk of overstating the obvious, you'll notice that the disguised Puppet Master's resemblance to Howdy Doody is made overt by the "H. Deuty" name on his dressing-room door. Strange how Giella's inks almost completely erase Trimpe's very distinctive style. ChrisAugust 13, 2014 2:35 AM Avengers annual #17 This IS a fun team, and Doc Bright's art is always welcome. I would have liked to have seen more of these "ad hoc Avengers teams" every so often in addition to the regular lineup. I agree with clutch that this team would be more fun than the team Walt assembled #300. I liked Gilgamesh though - he had potential and would have filled the Hercules role. Good call, Clutch! ChrisAugust 13, 2014 2:30 AM Avengers #298 Walt Simonson had the chops that he could have written a great Avengers run, if allowed to do what he wanted. But under the editorially mandated restrictions, it was just awful and I hated it. Stern had created the core of one of the classic Avengers team in my mind: Cap It doesn't get the press that other classic line ups get, but as the core of the Stern run, this is MY team. It was incredibly painful to see it fall apart. I know it is not Simonson's fault, but I don't look upon his era fondly. Jarvis is a great supporting character though. Always good to see an issue where he shines. Supporting characters are very hard to have in team books. Claremont always screwed them up in X-Men by making them demons, magicians, or other nonsense. FF too often ignored them. Avengers only had one and often ignored, but Jarvis did well over the years. david banesAugust 12, 2014 6:49 PM Avengers #298 Little old ladies who love wrestling are quite real. One of my managers at work is this tiny woman, polite but if a customer gets rude she can take care of herself and she just loves watching boxing. Luis DantasAugust 12, 2014 6:45 PM Fantastic Four #229-231 17 years before 1981 amounts to 1965, when Shooter sold his first Legion of Super-Heroes script to Mort Weisinger. http://www.jimshooter.com/2011/03/how-i-spent-my-summer-vacation-1965.html So yes, it sure looks like an attempt at smearing Shooter. BillAugust 12, 2014 6:37 PM Avengers #298 I always thought it was loopy how Reed and Sue joined the Avengers and then left after a whopping 3-4 issues on the team. Reading it in real time felt like whiplash! (and this isn't taking into account how Gilgamesh only lasted an issue or two longer himself!) MichaelAugust 12, 2014 6:32 PM Avengers #298 Chris, basically what happened was this- when Englehart was writing FF, he wrote out Reed and Sue. Simonson asked if he could use Reed and Sue in the Avengers and Englehart agreed, since he had no plans to bring back Reed and Sue in the near future. Unfortunately, then the FF sales collapsed and the editors demanded that Englehart bring back Reed and Sue in an attempt to stem the bleeding. So Reed and Sue were yanked back into the Fantastic Four and as a result Simonson and Englehart both quit, although Englehart wrote another 8 issues under a pseudonym. ChrisWAugust 12, 2014 6:17 PM Avengers #298 By "long-running Avengers and FF storylines" I mean that (although I didn't read either series) my understanding is that the Avengers break-up was built-up somewhat, and I know that Englehart's FF was moving along in his particular interests. Sue and Reed quit the FF, and suddenly they're members of the Avengers, and then they're yanked back after "Inferno" and Walt Simonsen is off the title. david banesAugust 12, 2014 6:16 PM Thor #195-205 I thought Ego Prime was pretty cool and his fight gave a sense of being titanic, his hair alone could be the Asgardians. Not even shooting a bolt in his mouth kept him at bay for long. ChrisWAugust 12, 2014 6:15 PM Avengers #298 Bill, purely speculation on my part, but given that mega-crossovers had started becoming an annual event by now, is it possible that the Marvel editors had been able to have as many titles as possible directed to cover the upcoming X-event a few years out? "Disband the Avengers and give a new team a reason to form," "Get the characters out of town if you don't want anything to do with it," or even timing the return of Dr. Strange to his own title with a story that blatantly looks like Inferno (at least on the cover) and hope to trick some people into buying it. Purely speculation, and I'm not saying it worked perfectly. It's tough to imagine Steve Englehart's FF being directed by the imminent crossover, although the fact that Marvel immediately reversed long-running "Avengers" and "FF" storylines right after "Inferno" at least suggests some form of, uh, demon possession. ;) SilverbirdAugust 12, 2014 5:35 PM Thor #195-205 I sat down and tried to read this fantastic (when the issues are read a few days apart) 22 part arc in as few sittings as possible. Effect was frighteningly similar to watching to many episodes of Rocky in Bullwinkle, it drove me temporarily insane. Now what happened To Silas and Tana? They were standing next to the entranced Asgardians at the end of #204 but then seemed forgotten. fnord12August 12, 2014 4:00 PM Hulk #329 Thanks, Alex. Fixed it. Alex FAugust 12, 2014 3:56 PM Hulk #329 The second scan of SHIELD fighting the outcasts seems to be a repeat of an earlier image. fnord12August 12, 2014 3:53 PM General Comments I didn't list Kevin, or Cassie Lang on the 1979 page, because i like to use the main category pages as overviews of what happened that year, and the significance of those characters doesn't come up until way later. As an aside, i like to look at the lists of new characters and compare against the criticism that you sometimes hear that no worthwhile characters were introduced after 1975 (or 1963, or whatever). And 1988 actually has some characters with longevity: Venom, Speedball, Tombstone, Typhoid Mary. None are exactly Spider-Man, ofc, but still. Ataru320August 12, 2014 3:36 PM Captain America #217-221 Well Roy Thomas at least solidified one thing about Cap: the reason he got frozen was bad and he ruined a few other things but at least he probably gave the '07 movie the idea of Cap as a movie serial star. ClutchAugust 12, 2014 2:57 PM Avengers #298 Man, that next to last panel is worth its weight in gold. Cap never looked so awesome and his opinion of Jarvis' worth is spot on. Jarv really had what it took to chair the team whenever the chips were down. Jonathan HamiltonAugust 12, 2014 9:07 AM Uncanny X-Men #19 On the first page, Marvel Girl appears to be reading Monsters Unlimited #6, a humor magazine written by Stan Lee. Truly a master of self-promotion. MichaelAugust 11, 2014 11:08 PM Amazing Spider-Man #37 And as we'll see when fnord finishes reviewing the Speedball series, he did the same thing with Nathan Boder. ChrisWAugust 11, 2014 10:53 PM Amazing Spider-Man #37 According to what Ditko has written in his self-published comics - which I haven't read personally, only seen quotes second-hand on the internet - he did intend for Norman to be the Green Goblin. He did use the long-form storytelling comics medium to insert Norman as one of JJJ's fellow club-members, and then introduce Norman's son as Peter's companion, and intended to build up to a great reveal. Contrary to popular opinion, he'd already used the 'this villain is secretly a complete unknown' several times in "Spider-Man," starting with Electro and going on to include the Big Man and the later villains. I see no reason not to take Ditko at his word that he intended Norman to be the Goblin all along (or at least once he or Stan thought of the idea and realized it worked perfectly) and not repeat himself. Basically, Ditko's end game for Osbourne wasn't much different from what actually happened, although the memory loss stuff probably wouldn't have happened. Comics being such a weird place to be in the late-60s, and Stan Lee being the only one who was there to say what happened, history gets re-written as Ditko wanting the Goblin to be a complete unknown, and he's not talking, so who is there to say otherwise? But based on second or third-hand reports, he did intend Norman to be the Goblin, and set it up in advance. Erik RobbinsAugust 11, 2014 10:53 PM Daredevil #260-261 Johnny's "Bad!" look resembles Johnny Bravo a little bit. Gary HimesAugust 11, 2014 10:45 PM Marvel Fanfare #10-13 I remember that gimmick of having escape equipment being hidden beneath a layer of false skin being used by Lex Luthor in the SUPERMAN VS THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN treasury edition back in '76. Wonder if that's where Ralph Macchio lifted it from? ChrisWAugust 11, 2014 10:44 PM Amazing Spider-Man #283 No disrespect to Mr. Frenz or fnord, but I thought the big splash page worked well. I don't recall the specific transition, and freely admit that Spidey beating up the Absorbing Man is more than a little strange, but with a couple decades of hindsight, it actually works. Titania [the villain] is the damsel in distress, and Crusher [the other villain] is rescuing her from her oppressor. If there's a reason for "Secret Wars I" to exist, it's for Spidey beating up Titania, making the point about bullies versus wimps [I genuinely believe Shooter was brimming over with ideas for a sequel at that point] and this was a very well done story with the villain-as-hero rescuing a damsel-in-distress concept. I don't recall the particular panel transition, and would certainly prefer that Ron Frenz had drawn the complete story, but I think that, even with editorial meddling, it worked for that particular Spider-Man story. Your mileage may vary, obviously. MichaelAugust 11, 2014 7:52 PM General Comments Wolfpack is just mentioned in passing as a superhero team in New Warriors 1. MichaelAugust 11, 2014 7:41 PM What's Missing I don't know- you might want to review Saga of the Sub-Mariner to see how Roy reconciles some of the odder elements of Namor's history. (Saga is what started again the whole "Namor's a mutant" thing.) ToddAugust 11, 2014 7:10 PM Daredevil #260-261 Yes, those others ones look more like the photos I can find of her, too. So, unless she was doing something different with her hair in 1988 that is reflected in Romita's art, maybe not. The dialogue does sound "authorial," though, and the issue's write-up at Matt Murdock Chronicles goes that way with it. ToddAugust 11, 2014 7:00 PM Marvel Fanfare #10-13 Perez was one of the great artists in comics of this period, but his weakness was always proportions. I remember one of the Fantagraphics magazines (Amazing Heroes or Comics Journal) putting up side-by-side panels showing how the Widow looks to have gained about 20 pounds from one to the next. The heavier one was the one above where she's holding the goon, saying she doesn't like having her bath interrupted. fnord12August 11, 2014 6:39 PM Daredevil #260-261 I've added a scan of the woman Daredevil talks to. I would have never have thought it was Nocenti since it looks very different than past comic depictions of her, e.g. here or here. fnord12August 11, 2014 6:31 PM Amazing Spider-Man #283 Thanks, Mr. Frenz. I've updated the post to correct that. Ron FrenzAugust 11, 2014 5:54 PM Amazing Spider-Man #283 The reason for the odd splash page transition is simply that it was added later by the editor and an unknown penciller. ToddAugust 11, 2014 5:20 PM Daredevil #260-261 Fnord, the "someone from the crowd [who] stops him and helps him walk away" is Nocenti herself, isn't it? Not that she introduces herself or wears a nametag, but it's usually interpreted that way, based on the way the woman is drawn and the views she expresses. It's the one thing I didn't like about this generally strong Typhoid Mary story. It's both indulgent and weird (the writer inserting herself as a liberal comforting figure to tell the battered hero he's better than this, and then vanishing). Alex FAugust 11, 2014 1:52 PM Thor #375-376 I like the Sal Buscema Man-Beast design way more than the original Conan-villain-with-a-dog's-head look. InstantiationAugust 11, 2014 1:20 PM Fantastic Four #246-247 For me, this is the highlight of Byrne's great run on the FF. No one, I think, has done a better or more nuanced Doom. InstantiationAugust 11, 2014 1:16 PM Fantastic Four #251-256 Yes, the universal translator could have been mentioned. My own conception of the Negative Zone would be a place closer to the psychedelic extra-dimensional spaces envisioned by Steve Ditko and Jim Starlin. Cheers. SharAugust 11, 2014 10:56 AM Tales To Astonish #90-91 Kane may have had a change of heart later on--or figured, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em ;)--because his 1976 work on the Inhumans comic is filled with direct Kirby references from Fantastic Four 45, 46, Annual 5, etc. Perez did the same thing on the preceding Inhumans issues (using the same sources), so perhaps it was done to maintain consistency and/or was an editorial mandate. ClutchAugust 11, 2014 10:50 AM Avengers annual #17 I was almost convinced that Hercules was gone for good after reading this story in real time. This was the last great Avengers annual for me. Walt Simonson brought together an awesome mix of characters both old and new. Walt writes a cool Beast and the Hulk easily fits Hawkeye's role as the team's resident infant terrible. It was good to see the Falcon and Cap in the Avengers again. Heck, THIS is the roster that Walt should have gone with instead of the crew he assembled for Avengers #300. I know that Peter David was doing great things with the Gray Hulk over in his own book and Hank was still exclusive to X-Factor, but it was a lot of fun seeing these guys assemble for at least one adventure. Poor Jocasta, though... I knew her well. MikeCheyneAugust 11, 2014 10:44 AM Amazing Spider-Man #37 What was Ditko's end game for Osborn? Does anyone know? Even if he's not the Goblin, he's up to no good in all of his Ditko appearances anyway. SharAugust 11, 2014 10:44 AM Fantastic Four #151-153 Fnord12, thanks again for the shout-out. :) During the course of this project I've been wondering the same things as you about the Kirby art that seems to have been used or provided to many of the veteran artists when they first started at 1960s Marvel (Kane, Tuska, the Buscemas) plus the post-1970s younger fans-turned-pros like Buckler, Perez, and many others. Namely, since it appears that so many artists were given or had access to Kirby art and/or photostats, where did all this art end up? Also, another thing that may be of interest: as we know, Kirby returned to Marvel in late 1975-early 1976. Within a few months of Kirby's return, Buckler's assignment as the FF's regular penciler ends (with FF # 169, cover dated April 1976). Perhaps a coincidence, but still... Buckler briefly returns to the FF comic for a few issues some years later with #326 in 1989. He still uses the same technique, i.e., Kirby recalls. I have these all queued up, just need to get through the 1970s first. fnord12August 11, 2014 10:08 AM Doctor Strange #1-2 Meant to add: I did consider that Dormammu's "native" reference might be a reference to his vow to stay off Earth, but he seemed to be implying something else here, like because he was (re-)born in this dimension he's now godly force for this universe instead of (or in addition to?) the Dark Dimension. JSfanAugust 11, 2014 9:49 AM General Comments You know, I'm actually looking forward to your reviews for comics produced during the early 90s; if only just to measure how the art and stories compare to the 80s. I'm also looking forward to your reviews of the disatrous Clone Saga and Maximum Carnage stories...;) fnord12August 11, 2014 8:11 AM General Comments If other books are referencing Wolfpack that'll make me more likely to cover it sooner rather than later, but Erik's review doesn't get me too excited about it. ;-) Regarding 1989, i intend to include Act of Vengeance issues in that year if that's what makes sense. I just don't want to start reviewing AoV and then stop for six months or whatever while i work on the back issue add. So i was thinking i'd hold off on the AoV issues and then insert them when i get back to it. But if the stories are too tightly intertwined i'll just have to find a different breaking point when i get there. fnord12August 11, 2014 8:06 AM What's Missing Thanks, guys. The Quasar issues i'll definitely cover as pushbacks when i get into 1989. Cloak's MCP #9 and Judgement Day i am holding off on deliberately, as surmised. For the back-up Solo Avengers stories, i'll cover them when i get to the main Hawkeye parts. I've held off on them for now because i'm waiting to see how placement of WCA #40 and #41 needs to play out. Saga of the Sub-Mariner i've added to the What's Missing list above. I actually have this but i keep it in with my Handbooks and stuff. I don't know that it would be a very interesting review. Yes, there's a framing sequence, but it would be like one sentence of review followed by 200 References. fnord12August 11, 2014 7:50 AM Doctor Strange #1-2 @Michael - i'm the Anti-Mephisto. Instead of undoing people's marriages, i marry everyone. Fixed that, thanks. @Jay - I'm sure the "recent issues" footnote was meant to be pointing to the Dec and Jan issues of X-Men, which would be actual Inferno issues. But the fact that it's a vague reference helps me place this into what i think has to be an "ebb" in Inferno, because here's Dormammu actively going around sealing off this dimension (the Negative Zone portal) but he doesn't even comment on a gaping portal to Limbo? The heatwave had been going on for some time, and i think the sky tearing itself open could be a reference to the events of these issues, since we see the sky aflame due to Dormammu. I could easily move this into 1989 to go concurrently with specific X-Men issues when i get there, but i think it works better this way. We don't actually see the FF building getting restored, but i assume you're correct. It's not said if any of the FF are home, and Dormammu says that if they were in the building they wouldn't even notice the effect unless they tried to leave, so i don't think it needs to be a placement consideration. So this will land between FF #321-322 but that's just the way it'll happen to fall. MichaelAugust 11, 2014 7:44 AM General Comments But Namorita mentions Wolfpack in New Warriors 1. RyanAugust 11, 2014 6:16 AM Captain America #308 When I was reading this I noticed the nose (or lack of) picture. Thanks for clarifying this. Jay DemetrickAugust 11, 2014 3:31 AM Captain America #348 Well, specifically the scene at the beginning of X-terminators #1 when N'astirh arrives on Earth. N'astirh claims responsibility for "the transformation of Manhattan" in X-Factor #36. It was his spells that were demonizing objects into attacking people. Jay DemetrickAugust 11, 2014 2:35 AM Doctor Strange #1-2 That's weird, I thought that "See recent issues of the X-Men" footnote was a reference to Inferno itself. That next panel where they talk about the heat-wave and the sky tearing itself apart sounds a lot like the portal opening over Times Square, though it may be the storm we see building in Web of Spider-Man #47 that takes place before the portal opens. The graveyard where N'astirh is casting his spells may be causing the "some disturbance away south" of Central Park... I'm guessing Four Freedoms Plaza is restored when Dormamu is expelled from Strange's body? When do you think that moment takes place for the FF and are they home when it happens? Erik RobbinsAugust 11, 2014 1:49 AM General Comments Re: Wolfpack. Several years back, I did a re-read of all my comics. I have most of Wolfpack (probably due to cheap back issue bins), and it was a slog. Not a great story, and no visible connection to the Marvel universe. I did more research after my last post on this subject, and the House of M Wolfpack seems unrelated, just more recognizable characters using that name for their team. (I think I somehow confused Wolfpack with Shadowmasters back in the day) Erik RobbinsAugust 11, 2014 1:36 AM What's Missing For 1988 continuity inserts, there's Quasar #3, which I believe takes place prior to Quasar's re-appearance in Avengers 301-303. Which places it before Inferno, since Human Torch was nova-flamed between Inferno & Reed's return to the FF (which is a problem for 302-303). And Quasar #2 takes place sometime before that. I'm guessing that you will take the same position you did for Quasar #1 (waiting for publication date to place it since you are close to reaching that time period anyway), but since you asked, I thought I'd point it out. Walter LawsonAugust 11, 2014 12:38 AM X-Terminators #2 Then again, if Nastirh stole the book, maybe it's not the same as the Right's collection of notes. Was there a Belasco spell book in earlier Limbo stories? I presume he stole it from Sym or Magick. MikeAugust 11, 2014 12:32 AM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #77-79 "I'll always find a way to beat you!" "You'll never win! Never!" Ugh. Seriously did Mantlo write that? MikeAugust 10, 2014 11:54 PM Amazing Spider-Man #301 Yeah, Todd's awful. ChrisWAugust 10, 2014 11:37 PM Damage Control #3 Anne and Fluppy, truly the dynamic duo (plus Fluppy.) MichaelAugust 10, 2014 11:37 PM General Comments Fnord, there's a problem with including Atlantis Attacks but not Acts of Vengeance in 1989- there's too much overlap. For starters, New Mutants Annual 5- an Atlantis Attacks Annual- seemingly takes place after New Mutants 86-an Acts of Vengeance issue. There's a great controversy at the MCP over how to handle it. Meanwhile, Wolverine 19-20 are the Acts of Vengeance issues- but they take place before X-Men 249. So you'd have to move X-Men 249-255 into 1989. ChrisWAugust 10, 2014 11:34 PM Doctor Strange #1-2 I'm really liking Richard Case's art. I thought he peaked on "Doom Patrol," especially when inking himself, but he's hitting all the buttons here. I know I still have these issues somewhere in storage, and am itching to look at them again when I get the chance. I've completely blanked out the first four issues of Dr. Strange's new title, but these two remind me that it was pretty good after all. A decent Dormammu story, that incorporated the entire Marvel universe (your mileage may vary on whether or not it was successful) as "Inferno" started... Reading this piece, I was in fanboy heaven. And, this may sound weird (like anything else I write doesn't sound weird) I particularly like the way Doc faked his death and specifically tied it to "Secret Wars II" and his one brief encounter with the Beyonder. The X-Men spent years pretending to be dead, but how they died was quickly forgotten. With Doc, it was always an encounter with the Beyonder, everyone nods, says 'what a shame' and moves on. And Doc even helpfully left video for us to look up on Youtube. MichaelAugust 10, 2014 11:28 PM What's Missing Fnord, Solo Avengers 12-13 were cover-dated 1988 and the second story in issue 12 takes place before Avengers Annual 17. But they haven't been included in 1988. MikeAugust 10, 2014 11:17 PM Iron Man #2-4 I definitely agree with you on Stan Lee's early writing. The melodramatic stuff was present along with some corny superhero self promotion. "They'll have the Avengers to deal with!" MikeAugust 10, 2014 10:54 PM Tales Of Suspense #52 (Iron Man) Meanwile, the Crimson Dynamo's early armor has the distinct look of a circus clown. DermieAugust 10, 2014 10:48 PM Punisher #14 Totally random observation, but--those are some incredibly tight jeans on that kid that Punisher literally throws out of class in the 2nd scan. Erik RobbinsAugust 10, 2014 9:16 PM The Saga of the High Evolutionary In the real world, DNA wouldn't be discovered until the 1950s. I like to think that Wyndham's work being so advanced is not due to Phaeder alone, but that all science is more advanced in the Marvel universe, leading to the technological marvels of the Golden Age (including advanced human-like androids like the Human Torch). After all, when he is explaining his work to his professors, it's clear he expects them to understand what DNA is and what it looks like. I'm not sure what to make of the DNA in the "after" image. It looks more like it has been through a blender than mutated. It's not double-helix anymore, more of a jumbled mess. Walter LawsonAugust 10, 2014 8:56 PM Damage Control #3 It looks like the colorist may have stepped in to make Anne's costume less revealing. MikeAugust 10, 2014 8:41 PM Amazing Spider-Man #143 It's named after the Hendrix song since the other song is called "They call the Wind Mariah" and yes we had to sing it back in the 2nd grade. InstantiationAugust 10, 2014 8:13 PM Death of Captain Marvel (Marvel Graphic Novel #1) The panel where all the heroes arrive on Titan . . . there's definitely a little mini-drama in that. The Hulk is checking out Tigra (meow!), and Hercules seem ready to brawl over it. Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner (of all folks!) seem to be trying to keep the peace, while a lot of other characters seem aware of the situation. Interesting how that's dropped in there, with no further development, a neat Starlin touch. And there are so many great touches in this classic . . . Walter LawsonAugust 10, 2014 8:08 PM X-Terminators #2 Hodge says in X-Factor 34 that Nastirh offered him aid in exchange for the children "and certain other concessions." He may just be referring to selling his soul, as referenced in X-Factor 32, but perhaps another concession was turning over Belasco's spell book. Luis DantasAugust 10, 2014 8:04 PM Captain America #349 Flag-Smasher was always written as a foolish buffoon after his very first appearance. A shame. InstantiationAugust 10, 2014 8:03 PM Fantastic Four #261-262 Btw, in "What If?" #41 ("What If the Avengers Had Fought Galactus?"), Galactus was shown to defeat and even kill Uatu (Earth's Watcher) very easily. InstantiationAugust 10, 2014 7:54 PM Fantastic Four #242-244 Just quickly want to add that I've always liked that bit about Galactus materializing his equipment out of pollution, a quick but very pointed moment that every environmentally conscious person should appreciate. InstantiationAugust 10, 2014 7:50 PM Fantastic Four #242-244 Hi Ricardo, I see where you're coming from. Byrne certainly does try to use that idea that Frankie is already powerful. But it's still quite a long way from Human Torch level to Silver Surfer level, as is demonstrated when Johnny tries to keep up with Frankie as she first flies into outer space and then when she annihilates the Skrull star fleet in an instant. My point is just that if Galactus can raise her up that much on a permanent basis, he'd easily be able to wipe out Iron Man, etc. (And another thing he does while weakened is materialize his planet-devouring equipment out of pollution in Earth's air, again demonstrating himself capable of feats seemingly requiring much more power than defeating a few superheroes, mostly of the middle rank.) And I like your analogies, but if you chase your dog into a dangerous neighborhood, you'll likely enter prepared. At least if you're smart! And this is Galactus, a supra-genius cosmic entity, not a random guy off the street. The ants analogy does strike me as apt, but not entirely for the reason you probably intend. :-) I'd say that the superheroes would have had about the same chance of taking down even a weakened Galactus as the ants would have of taking you or me down, even if we were a little weary from pursuing the dog. :-) I just have a very grand conception of Galactus, and it's rooted in the canon of Marvel Comics. I think many later writers, including even the great Byrne (and I mean that completely sincerely), haven't done justice to the original Stan Lee/Jack Kirby conception of Galactus. Way back in Thor #134 (1966!), for instance, in the Big G's second appearance, Stan the Man unequivocally wrote that Galactus is "the most awesome living being in the cosmos." *That's* what the later writers have often forgotten and failed to do justice to. Thanks for the conversation. MichaelAugust 10, 2014 7:19 PM Doctor Strange #1-2 The physical evidence left behind by Strange's spell is weird- so everyone remembers Strange as having died circa Secret Wars II 9 but everyone also remembers Strange having delivered Wanda's children months later. I know, if it made sense, it wouldn't be magic. MikeAugust 10, 2014 7:13 PM Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #7-8 I thought only the Falcon and Luke Cage were alowed to rough up Morgan! Now Spidey gets into the act. Poor Morgan, always getting throat grabbed and having his office busted up. I collected Spec Spidey from the beginning, but it just got progressively worse so I stopped. The enemies - Lightmaster (worst costume ever?) and then the Punisher ripoff Hitman - were getting really stale. Loved Sal in Defenders and he's one of my favorites, but no one does Spidey as awesome as Romita did, not even his son. cullenAugust 10, 2014 6:56 PM Captain America #349 Very few backgrounds, tons of word balloons. I like this story but I don't like this storytelling. ChrisWAugust 10, 2014 6:56 PM Damage Control #3 When is Fluppy getting his own series? MikeAugust 10, 2014 6:45 PM Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12 I really wanted to like this series more. And while the idea and story line are very good, I agree with you that the dialogue is clunky. The art itself ranged from pretty good/not bad to terrible depending on the panels I was viewing. For example, a lot of the heroes in far off scenes looked very stick man-like. I dislike Doom's face with the smaller features and small mouth. Spider-man's eyes are positioned wrong in the above panels. As for the story/dialogue I hated that Claw was turned into a blabbering idiot. I collected a few of these, read them a few times, and then sold them off within a couple years later. Did a search for this to see your take on it. Still don't like the art, but then again I somewhat unfairly expect every Marvel artist to be almost as awesome as John Buscema. TCPAugust 10, 2014 6:44 PM Amazing Spider-Man #188 One reason I like the Marv Wolfman run of ASM is that it did move things forward in Peter's life, and made things less "static and predictable." Things like moving Peter to the Daily Globe, ousting Jonah from the Bugle and from the realm of the sane, and cleaning Spidey's record felt like breaths of fresh air after the dull Len Wein run. BillAugust 10, 2014 6:37 PM Captain America #349 I was one of those people hoping that Battlestar was going to be a new member of the Avengers. At the very least, I thought maybe he'd be Captain America's (Steve Rogers) new partner. MikeAugust 10, 2014 6:13 PM Daredevil #62 I've always liked anything Squadron Sinister related since first seeing them in Defenders 13-14, so I grabbed this issue from the old comic store and later Iron Man #63 (vs Dr. Spectrum). You call Colan's art "atmospheric" and I call it "shadowy" but I think we're both alluding to the same thing. Not one of my favorite artists for sure. The story was so-so, but I gave it a C rating. kveto from pragueAugust 10, 2014 6:03 PM Captain America #349 Just something very cool about Flag-smasher, wielding his morning star and cap's shield, while flying on ski-jets. clydeAugust 10, 2014 4:28 PM Avengers annual #17 Boy, Hercules didn't have much luck in the latter half of the 80's. First he gets beat up by the Masters Of Evil. Then, upon his triumphant return, he gets evolved beyond godhood and disappears again for a while. MichaelAugust 10, 2014 4:02 PM Avengers annual #17 Marvel Age 64 showed a cover of this Annual featuring Thor, Druid, Hulk, She-Hulk, Dane, Beast and Cap. So probably the original plan was to feature the Avengers before they broke up getting help from Hulk, Beast and Cap but it was decided at a late date to change this issue so that it took place AFTER the Avengers broke up. That would explain Clint's and Bobbi's nonsensical phone calls in West Coast Avengers 39 as well as Thor's inability to assemble a team of reservists shortly before the Avengers are able to assemble a team of reservists against the Evolutionary. Alex FAugust 10, 2014 3:38 PM X-Factor #7 True dat, uh, as the kids* say**. Alex FAugust 10, 2014 3:35 PM Avengers annual #15 I knew I should have trusted your judgement. |
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