Week Ending May 18, 1974
It is still 1974, I am about a year away from my dad pulling his van up outside the local newsagent and sending his collection of near feral children in with 10p each and the almost unheard of instruction to "buy yourselves something", thus it will be a full 12-months before my life is changed forever by the purchase of my first Marvel UK weekly. I wonder which title I would have selected if this had been the week instead? I like to imagine it would have been MWOM #85 but a more realistic part of me suspects that the temptation of a full size Mars Bar would have won the younger and more fickle Tim over.
Meanwhile, here in 2022 I have purchased myself a new laptop. This will hopefully lead to a more coherent blog experience and greatly reduce the strain on my old eyes from trying to communicate my mutterings via a phone app.
Mighty World of Marvel #85
The Incredible Hulk: ...Where Stalks The Night-Crawler! Reprinting The Incredible Hulk #126
After his clash with the Absorbing Man, an unconscious Bruce Banner is whisked away by some young hippies who are giving off some strong cult vibes. Thus begins this week's tale which doesn't feel like the usual Hulk fights the military or a monster in the desert fare, despite Roy Thomas doing his best Stan Lee tribute act thing. As well as the unusual setting, Herb Trimpe appears to add a little gothic flavour to his art, giving a bit off a 'Hammer House of Horror' atmosphere. There is quite a lot going on in this story, which was obviously some sort of crossover with the blue-mask era Dr Strange. Banner is sent to an alternative universe where he meets the titular Night-Crawler, unfortunately this turns out not to be the X-Men's Kurt Wagner, but a giant, mace wielding, Asgardian Destroyer lookalike with a tail. A perfectly fine substitution as far as I'm concerned.
The Fantastic Four: The Battle of The Baxter Building Reprinting Fantastic Four #40
Important stuff out of the way first; I think this might be the only story title I have seen so far without an exclamation mark, was Stan OK? Did anybody check in with him at the time of original publication? This feels like it should have been at least a double or maybe even triple exclamation mark title, maybe Stan was trying his hand at some unfamiliar subtlety, we may never know the answer.
Don't worry True Believer, any thoughts of a low-key, character-driven study are erased within two pages when Daredevil employs his famous billy-club rifle function, including flip-up crosshair sight (think about it) to shoot down a Mr Fantastic constructed drone being used by Dr Doom. The still powerless FF accompanied by DD now lay siege to the Baxter Building in order to evict its new Latvarian resident. As luck would have it, Reed had his deus ex machina on charge all weekend and unfortunately for Victor Von Doom, the battery indicator LED just turned green. Richards uses his amusingly named 'stimulator' to return the team's powers and Doom is given a thorough clobbering by a very annoyed Thing. Last week's half of this story showed some promise, but the silly conclusion and deteriorating artwork (looking at you Vince Colletta) really do let it down.
Spider-Man Comics Weekly #66
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Impossible Escape! Reprinting Amazing Spider-Man #65
Where were we? Oh yeah, Spider-Man is injured and unconscious after his tussle with the Vulture in a partially wrecked Daily Bugle building. This gives Stan a chance to play with the usual format by having Spidey taken into custody, giving the supporting cast a chance to flex their drama muscles. Obviously J. Jonah Jameson is all for seizing the moment to unmask his arch-enemy, while Captain Stacy steps in to protect Spider-Man's right to anonymity, I'm not sure this holds up constitutionally, but I have a feeling the same plot got recycled at least once for Daredevil. While all this goes on, Gwen Stacy gets several panels to look wide-eyed and worried about a missing Peter Parker. Our hero is quickly whisked away to a prison infirmary where we can get to the real meat of the story. No sooner has he arrived than a conveniently timed prison break is able to take Captain Stacy hostage, leaving a groggy and injured Spidey with no option but to pretend to throw his lot in with the escaping convicts. Actually, I'm pretty sure this was not his only option and it is choices like this that get him the reputation as a menace. Looks like JJJ was right all along.
Iron Man: The Mysterious Mr. Doll! Reprinting Tales of Suspense #48
Iron Man: The Mysterious Mr. Doll! Reprinting Tales of Suspense #48
Ahh, so we now get the story I thought we were getting two issues ago. For some reason I was under the impression that Tony Stark developed the famous MK3 armour in response to the threat of the Melter. If I thought the Melter was a stupid character to necessitate the classic Iron Man look, Mr Doll is far, far worse. A cut price Puppet Master knock-off in a medieval jester's hat, but if that is what it takes to get Iron Man his new threads complete with pointy-topped face plate, I'm fine with it. Once again, kudos to Mr Ditko for creating a character's defining design.
The Mighty Thor: They Strike From Space! Reprinting Thor #131
Thor and Hercules return in triumph from the netherworld, while Herc has some Olympian scores to settle with the gods who abandoned him, Thor is off to Asgard to finally sort out his Odin/Jane Foster problem from like a billion issues ago. This goes surprisingly smoothly given all the drama the subject has previously caused, though the fact that Jane has gone missing at the hypnotic command of Tana Nile will undoubtably throw a spanner in the works. Tana Nile chooses this moment to reveal her true form of a Rigellian Coloniser, Kirby takes the opportunity to go full-on out there with his alien character design while somehow retaining a weird swinging sixties sexiness. I am willing to bet this issue is probably responsible for more than a few middle-aged men having a fetish for women with disproportionally large heads.
The Avengers #35
The Ron Wilson/Frank Giacoia cover of the US Master of Kung Fu #18 gets re-coloured for the UK market, which does little to alleviate the collection of uncomfortable racial stereotypes on display. Action-packed but 'icky' in summary.
Master of Kung Fu: Island of Living Death! Reprinting Master of Kung Fu #18
Shang-Chi continues his James Bond style adventures to smash his father's empire of crime, wearing his cinematic influences on his baggy sleeve. Making his way onto a cargo ship belonging to Fu Manchu, he discovers his dad is smuggling a sedative comically called 'mimosa' in barrels of gasoline. I can't help feeling that Steve Englehart probably wanted to use a less Comics Code friendly, ripped from the headlines narcotic, but fruity cocktail it is. after succumbing to the fumes, Shang-Chi awakes to be challenged in combat by one of Fu Manchu's men hopped-up on a lethal dose of what is clearly some high-grade amphetamine (the Marvel Bullpen was very different in the 70s) leading to the usual kung fu battle with the unusual ending of the antagonist setting his own face on fire (again... the 70s) Shang-Chi makes good his escape while setting fire to Fu Manchu's ship full of not-drugs-honest.
The Avengers: The Laser Trap! Reprinting The Avengers #34
Many (myself included) have bemoaned this period in The Avengers Weekly history for the Earth's mightiest heroes having to play second fiddle in their own title to the kung fu craze. Well lets be brutally honest, they weren't helping themselves at this point with lacklustre work from Lee and Heck and villains as daft looking and feeble as the Living Laser, there are several good reasons why the movies skipped this era and jumped straight to Ultron.
Dr. Strange: From The Nameless Nowhere Comes... Kaluu! Reprinting Strange Tales #147
Well look who is back, not that he actually left. Dr Strange returns from a hinted at but non-existent sabbatical with a newish creative team. Stan is still partly writing but with several pages of help from Denny O'Neil, while Bill Everett steps into the enormous vacant loafers of Steve Ditko. It is early days but Everett feels like a solid choice, his art has a similar 1950s feel to Ditko and it seems from this episode that he can do a reasonable facsimile of Steve's psychedelic bent, if Bill has to be our rebound relationship I'm ok with it. As for the story, it is mostly a recap of Strange's recent saga with the introduction of another mystic threat of the week.
Bullpen Bulletins
A great summarisation as ever Tim. Wishing you all the best.
ReplyDeleteBill Everett created some gorgeous art for Doctor Strange ( as he did later on for his return to the submariner a few years later ) but there was something chikd like about it that took a little away from the menace I have never been quite sure what it was that was lost but something was. Still it is great to look at .
ReplyDeleteBill's art is clean with an eye for realistic anatomy and figures, it does seen to lack an 'edge' though. That said, it is a pleasure to look at.
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