34 posts tagged “marvel comics”
When I was first introduced to Ms. Marvel, I have to confess I didn’t find her very interesting, and as a matter of fact, thought that the Red and Blue Captain Marvel costume looked absolutely ridiculous cut into a bad one-piece swimsuit. But I had a friend who absolutely loved her, (and I mean LOVED her!) and insisted on sharing, so I was exposed to her comic whether I liked it or not! This actually worked out to my benefit as I was able to filter through the stuff I didn’t like and appreciate the stuff I did, and eventually I came around and started picking up some of those issues myself!
The biggest part of what turned me around from a non-believer to a general fan of the comic was, of course, THE NEW COSTUME! Now THIS was what I liked! Rendered by a master of sexy super-heroine costumes was the mighty DAVE COCKRUM, and YES, the new outfit looked EXACTLY like a variation of Jean Grey’s revamped PHOENIX costume, but HEY, when you’ve got a winning formula, you don’t mess with it…
So, anyway, gone was the horrendous red and blue outfit, in was the sleek ‘n’ sexy blue outfit with the lightning bolt and golden sash , and just in time for a return slugfest against super baddie Deathbird (who would go on to give Hawkeye a run for his money in AVENGERS #189) then onward to my favorite arcs of the series, where Carol dukes it out with a civilization of super Lizard Men! Ah, trust me, it’s cooler than it sounds. And THEN…
Then the Comic got cancelled. Yep. GEEZ! All that coaxing and convincing me to get onboard the Ms. Marvel Fan Ship, and then the voyage was abruptly ended! But the best was yet to come with the aforementioned AVENGERS stint, all lovingly rendered by John Byrne, who was TOTALLY in his PRIME at this time!
At this time we started trying to buy all the back issues of old Avengers stories, and when we got our hands of the epic KREE-WARS stories, got to see exactly where Carol Danvers had come from in the first place! It was kind of nest to realize she actually had a bit of “history” within the pages of those old Silver Age Marvels!
So yeah, I was a fan there…but after that surrealistic ( and highly controversial) AVENGERS issue (196?) where she gets pregnant in some convoluted cosmic drama, I kind of lost interest and drifted away again. Next time I checked, for some reason the character named “Ms Marvel” was a big female version of the Thing! I didn’t know if this was supposed to be Carol Danvers or some OTHER character, and I DIDN’T WANT TO KNOW! (Okay, I found out later it was some OTHER gal, but still, the shock…!)
In fact, it was only with the arrival of Frank Cho’s cool and sexy MS MARVEL revival did I breathe a sigh of RELIEF, for here once again was that awesome dynamic costume, proving it could stand the test of time! The Ms Marvel of Old was back! ( and MAN, let’s hope she STAYS that way!)
A funny side-story that always makes me smile is remembering when my friend picked up a new issue of Ms Marvel and saw that Carol was dating some dude with a beard, he mock- angrily declared war against all bearded men, and set about cutting up every picture of a bearded man in the daily newspaper. I sat on the couch howling with laughter as he jokingly destroyed all the pictures, until he got into trouble when his father scolded him and said “What are you DOING to the Newspaper? I haven’t even READ it yet!”
Ahahahahahaha!!!
Ms. Marvel / Carol Danvers
First Appearance: Marevel Super-Heroes #13
By Roy Thomas and Gene Colan
Invaders #28 is one issue that I’ve always been aware of after seeing it my friends’ huge Marvel collection back in the late seventies because it featured the first appearance of Bucky’s fellow sidekick-aged counterparts in an interesting group called the KID COMMANDOS.
That particular issue’s cover made an impression on me because of two things: One, there was a cute oriental gal in the group, and Two, there was a black kid wearing what I considered to be one of the ugliest costumes to come out of the Bronze Age! I remember thinking, wow, that girl’s got that oriental kimono thing down good, but that dude looks like he just broke out of prison!
Well, it wasn’t until years later that I actually got down to buying that issue of the Invaders, and reading it I was even more amazed to find that the costumes the kids wore weren’t even made for them- they were “just some old theatre costumes that had been left behind”(!) Funny how they found ones that fit their powers/codenames so nicely- then again, maybe it was just luck that Gwenny Sabuki got to choose her costume before David Mitchell, otherwise, who knows? SHE might have been stuck with that green striped shirt! AHAHAHAHAHA!
But as we know, she got her hands on the Golden Kimono first, and thus was born the blazing GOLDEN GIRL, possessor of energy light powers and cheerful disposition!
I was hoping to read lots more stories featuring Gwen and the rest of the commandos, but after their battle against Agent Axis (who turned out to be that tricky Namor) I was disappointed to find they were largely regaled to “supporting cast”, at least in the issues I managed to get ahold of.
One thing that surprised me reading those issues was how YOUNG Gwen was… all those years staring at the cover of Invader #28, she always seemed to be eighteen or nineteen years old. But reading the stories as penciled by veteran artist Frank Robbins, she looked decidedly underage- more like 11 years old…(well, they WERE called the KID Commandos, after all…not the TEEN Commandos!)
I’ve always thought that Gwen’s GOLDEN GIRL character would have been a great one to revive somehow, though I wasn’t sure just how they would bring “up-to-date” a character that was a teen in World War Two… so I was very interested to find that they HAD brought her back (in a way) in the pages of THUNDERBOLTS, as part of the V-Battalion. Not that I have any inkling what that was all about, except for what Wikipedia tells me-
"Gwenny Sue later helped found the post-war organization the V-Battalion. Gwenny eventually changed her superhero name to Golden Woman, before she died in 1961. Her daughter and her granddaughter became the superheroines Golden Sun and Goldfire, respectively, though Golden Sun died when her own daughter was five years old."
Not bad for a sidelined secondary support character, eh?
Gwenny Lou Sabuki
First appearance: Invaders #26
Created by: Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins
Though there always seemed to be comics in our house growing up, it was of the Archie / Richie Rich variety and it wasn’t until my friend Jas living across the street introduced me to all the comics he was collecting that I finally got to see what all the hubbub was with those mysterious MARVEL and DC comics lining the racks at our corner candy store.
Up until then, Marvel and DC comics were strictly for “big Kids”, and whenever I’d take a glance inside one of the books, I was confused and overwhelmed by the pages of seemingly never-ending dialog and utterly incomprehensible storylines. I mean, sure, I’d heard of Spider-Man and Superman, but somehow the stuff I saw in cartoons and television seemed so easy to understand, reading the actual comic seemed like reading an encyclopedia!
He laid out some of his comics and explained to me that the comics were part of an ongoing storyline that continued from issue to issue, and that even though it might seem confusing at first, once you’d read a couple, the story would start to make sense!
I understood. It made sense, and looking at Jas’ monthly purchases, (among them HULK and CAPTAIN AMERICA as well as BATMAN and his all time favorite, GREEN LANTERN) I thought it might be interesting to try and begin collecting a title myself! But where to start? To be truthful, I didn’t much care for costumed heroes at that point in my life. I was more won over by my friend’s enthusiasm more that any actual comic hero…but then my eyes spied a comic featuring Godzilla. GODZILLA? The famous Japanese monster whose movies I stayed up many nights and endured many “Monster Weekends” to catch? Now THAT sounded cool!
GODZILLA #12
The Godzilla issue that I picked up that fateful afternoon was issue #12, and as luck would have it, happened to be the first chapter of a new story! The story was a tale of Godzilla being abducted and asked to battle on the behalf of an alien race against three deadly creatures called the Mega-Monsters who were due to arrive on Earth! WOW! This story was everything I’d HOPED it would be- big kaiju monsters slugging it out and even one of those giant transformer robots (a la MAZINGER Z) that I loved so much- what more could a kid ask for?! And this time, when I got to the end of the comic and it said “TO BE CONTINUED NEXT ISSUE”, I knowingly nodded, feeling very mature now that I was reading BIG KID comics, and even showed it to my mother, saying, ‘You See, unlike Richie Rich and Archie Comics, THESE comics are an ongoing series, and so they continue from issue to issue…!”
But my Mom dismissed it with a wave of her hand, saying, “Ahhh, they’re only trying to get you kids to buy more comics!” D’oh!
GODZILLA #13
Three or four weeks later, I happened to be in the candy store to buy some snacks after school, and was JOLTED when I absent-mindedly glanced at the comic spinner and saw the new GODZILLA issue on the rack! Honestly, I had forgotten all about Godzilla and collecting comics, but taking one look at the cover of Godzilla fighting the Mega-Monsters and the story and excitement came rushing back to me in a flash!
The previous issue was merely a setup for the confrontation ahead. THIS issue was the BATTLE ITSELF and oh how it delivered! A city-leveling slugfest began with Godzilla versus the three Mega Monsters all culminating in a devastating end where Godzilla’s giant robot partner Red Ronin is beheaded by one of the alien Beasts! This time when the comic went to “To Be Continued”, I FINALLY understood what a “cliffhanger” was, and I was simply BESIDE myself with desire to read what happened next!!!
GODZILLA #14
I couldn’t contain my excitement when I saw the NEW issue on
the stands! There on the cover stood Godzilla bravely trudging on solo against
the Mega Monsters, as Red Ronin’s severed head smoked in the foreground!
There was something special I felt seeing this cover. In a
way, it was like the first time I really knew that I was actually passionately
collecting this story, not because I wanted to be like my friend or because it
seemed cool, but because I truly loved the strip. There was a sort of sense of
pride I felt looking at that cover and already knowing EXACTLY what was going
on, I felt proud to say to my cousin, ‘Look, Godzilla is fighting Krollar from
the planet Mega- and that head is Red Ronin- he got his head sliced off by
Triax!!!”
Well, I ran home with THAT one, and it concluded with a big bang, with Godzilla systematically destroying all three Mega-Monsters and winning the praise of the dying Alien race who now knew their home planet would be forever safe from the evil Megs-Monsters! WOW! What a story!
It was here that comic collecting firmly took ahold of me and has never let go!
GODZILLA #15-16
Back in these days, I wasn’t really COLLECTING comics so much as readin’ them for enjoyment, so after I’d read the new issue, I’d just toss it wherever happened to be convenient. Then, whenever a new issue would come in, I’d have to hunt around the house and dig out the old issues.
One might be under the bed. One might be behind the television. One might be in the entertainment center stuffed in the drawer with the ‘45’s! When issue #15 came out, I was able to find all three of them, but I wasn’t so lucky when issue #16 came out. Try as I might, only issue #12 and #13 turned up. After weeks of searching, I realized my mother had probably thrown the tattered issue #14 out! After that sobering lesson, I made a special place for my Godzilla comics- I cleared out a space on the middle shelf right next to our encyclopedias, made a little stack, and there each new issue would go, and be returned to!
Though issues #15 and 16 (story where Godzilla heads out to cattle country and gets involved with rustlers!) weren’t as interesting as the Mega Monsters arc, by then reading the latest Godzilla Comic was like stepping into a pair of comfortable shows- a regular part of my life…little did I know my favorite storyline of them all was coming up next!
GODZILLA #17
When I first laid eyes on the awesome cover to issue#17, I didn’t give it too much thought. I simply thought the cover was being symbolic, about how S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Dum Dum Dugan was forever hounding Godzilla like an ominous presence lording over his life.
But when I read the issue and they ACTUALLY SHRUNK GODZILLA,
you could have knocked me over with a feather! Holy Cow, Who came up with such
a NEAT story?! (Well, that would be writer Doug Moench and artist Herb Trimpe, but you know how kids are…they
think comic stories grow on trees!)
But when this issue concluded, Godzilla was INDEED shrunken, about the size of a small chicken, and BOY! My mind raced with all the possibilities that could happen in subsequent issues! So off they were to New York, with a little Godzilla in tow!
GODZILLA #18
HOLY CRAP, when I saw this cover, I just about flipped! While waiting that long, agonizing month for the next installment, my mind raced at what the next issue’s cover would look like. All I knew was that Godzy was shrunken and going to the Big City. Then Issue #18 came out, and right off, that cover just ROCKED MY WORLD!
I remember taking this issue to Jason’s house to show it off, I loved it so much. I remember babbling to him, “OF COURSE Godzilla would be in the sewers fighting Rats! Now that he was reduced to their level, Rats are the “monster” equivalents of the city right?!” Bonus was the fact that it was “Battle Beneath Eight Avenue”…the name of the street that I lived on! Why, I could imagine this going on right beneath me…!
Well, reading it we find out that Godzilla’s friend Rob Takiguchi (the boy who’d controlled the robot Red Ronin before its’ demise) had fiddled with the latch on the cage containing Godzilla, and when the cage was accidentally dropped, the box sprung open and Godzilla had escaped into the bay!
He'd made his way into the sewers and battled off the rodent vermin as the desperate crew split up and tried to recapture him before he could get into more mischief. Attracted by the familiar voice of Rob Takiguchi, Godzilla emerged from the sewers, but just as Rob was about to approach him, the gas stated to wear off, and Godzilla suddenly shot up to a human-sized 7 feet!
GODZILLA #19
I remember when I saw this issue on the stands, I reached into my pockets and came up with about 18¢, a far cry from the 37¢ needed to buy the comic! Luckily for me, I lived right next to this empty lot where people would toss their beer cans and trash, and I kicked up two 10¢ deposit bottles and ran back to the store, turned in the bottles, got my dimes, and with my grand total of 38¢ was able to purchase my GODZILLA comic!
After all that work, I took a well-deserved break to delve into that new comic- and it didn’t disappoint! With Godzilla now a big 7 feet tall, Rob tries to quietly get him back aboard the ship, but when Dum Dum and the others see him, they panic and rush at him, and before you know it, the lot of them are trading fists and kicks, before Godzilla gives a final solid punch and runs off again.
GODZILLA #20
I think I made it clear above that at this time, I really didn’t care much for costumed heroes, and was waiting for more villains like the Mega-Monsters to show up. Instead, I got…The Fantastic Four?!
Yes, since Godzilla was loose in New York, somebody called in the good guys, and so it was that the Fantastic Four came to crash S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Godzilla hunting Party. I just didn’t like this invasion of my favorite comic… it took the cat-and-mouse relationship between Godzilla and Dum Dum out of their hands and basically turned it into the hot-headed Thing wrestling and irritating Godzilla against the advice of everyone! Finally someone has the good idea to use Doctor Doom’s time machine to send Godzilla back where he came from, and I hoped that would be the end of the superheroes for awhile!!
GODZILLA #21-22
Sent back in time, Godzilla teams up with Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur. This comic obviously meant to tie up loose ends of Devil Dinosaur’s canceled strip, and I felt like I had come in halfway through a movie with all these new characters and pre-existing storylines! Not only that, I didn’t care for Moon Boy taking Rob Takiguchi’s place. I thought there was only ONE BOY who could befriend Godzilla that way.
And it didn’t matter anyway, for once the task was done (and all loose ends were tied up) Godzilla was bounced back to present time, (an effect I NEVER saw happen in any of the prior (or Subsequent) “Doc Doom Time Machine” stories) once again giving Dum Dum and gang the problem of what to do with him.
Funny thing about issue #22- when I went up and paid for it, I placed 37¢ on the counter, grabbed my comic, and started to leave, when the lady behind the register stopped me and said, “That’s not enough. Your total is 42¢!” HUH? I hadn’t noticed that the price had finally gone up. Comics were no longer 35¢, they were 40¢!! So I had to borrow the rest of the money from my cousin, who insisted I pay her back that nickel later!
GODZILLA #23
Yag! More Marvel Heroes, this time Yellowjacket and the rest of the freaking Avengers. Funny how much I loved Costumed Heroes later, at this time I just couldn’t STAND them being in the Godzilla comic! But there they all were, like gnats bothering an ox!
After being sent back to the Stone Age, you would have thought we’d be through with New York super-beings, but it was not to be. Pretty soon it seemed like all the heroes in the city showed up for the punch-out. Using all their powers together, they use brute force to herd him to the oceanfront, but all they end up doing is pissing him the hell off!
GODZILLA #24
And then in the summer of ’79, Godzilla came to a close, though I did not know it.
Issue #24 was the final chapter in the “Godzilla Shrinks” storyline, ending when young Rob Takiguchi finally gets the Avengers to buzz off, and gently persuades Godzilla to return to the Sea. Rob gives a tearful goodbye as Godzilla walks out to the ocean, and as the sun sets, the heroes stand by silently as Godzilla growls a final farewell before departing for good.
And for the first time, the comic didn’t say “To Be Continued”…all it said was “Fin.”
“WOW!” I thought at the time. “What an Awesome ending!” I wonder how they’ll top that in the NEXT issue! But there was to be no “Next Issue”. Because of Toho’s hefty licensing fee and lukewarm sales, Marvel had decided to cancel the book. But I didn’t know about any of this, and after this, spent MONTHS waiting at the candy store for a next issue that never came! It seemed ironic timing that just as I was about to get into more “older” comics, my beloved Godzilla was coming to a close.
When school began again that September, I ran across one of my classmates from Elementary School. We got to talking about what we were up to, and he said he was collecting comics, too! When I told him I collected GODZILLA, he nodded, “The Marvel one? Yeah, I read some of those. Hey, I can give you my old issues!” COOL! We made plans to go to his house after school, and walking home that afternoon, I asked, “Say, Godzilla is my favorite comic, but what ‘s yours?” “Ah, it’s this really cool comic called X-MEN! I gotta let you see some of those!” And he did, but THAT’S a story for another time!
* * * * * * * * *
One thing we’d always loved back then were the HEMBECK strips that appeared at the back of all the DC Comics in the “Daily Planet” section, and what better way to celebrate my comic-reading childhood than to have Fred Hembeck himself recreate one of my favorite Godzilla covers?! When commissioning this piece from Mr. Hembeck, I was happy to find that HE was a big fan of Godzilla, too, AND in particular, that same “Shrinking Godzilla” that I loved!!! FANTASTIC!
I began reading Marvel Comics’ X-MEN series during the highly acclaimed Byrne/Claremont run featuring the “All-New, All-Different” team, and so had no real knowledge of the original 1960’s team. But as my love of the “Uncanny” X-men grew, my curiosity of the Lee and Kirby team grew too, til I HAD to know more about them!
This was back in the pre-internet days when access to information of most comics was almost nil. The only real way to get info on any comic you liked was to talk to the local comic shop dealer or other collectors, and in that I was lucky because I had a couple of friends who were BIG collectors of Marvel Comics, and were always ready to educate me about any Marvel History I needed to know.
So one day after telling my friend I wanted to see what the “old” X-Men looked like, he came to class and handed me a comic. It was issue #46 of a Marvel reprint title called Marvel Triple Action, and it was here I got my very first glimpse of the original X-Men: Cyclops. Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel and Iceman, and right off the bat I was blown away- WOW! How colorful, dynamic and totally COOL they looked!
The comic also introduced me to the Avengers for the first time, and I IMMEDIATELY dived into the story, relishing the interesting dialog and powerful artwork, not knowing at the time that the tale was concocted by two GREATS of the Silver Age (Writer Roy Thomas and Artists Big John Buscema), only knowing that the story “In Battle Joined!” was the most KICK-ASS story I’d read in awhile! Begun in the pages of X-Men #45, this was a story of the Avengers and the X-Men united against mutual baddie Magneto. The X-Men have been captured by Magneto, and the Angel has escaped to get aid from the Avengers- but they arrive just in time to see Cyclops knocking out former Avenger Quicksilver…
Hawkeye, Goliath, Wasp and the Black Panther have come upon X-Man Cyclops standing over the fallen figure of Quicksilver. Not sure of the situation, they tell the youth to freeze. Cyclops, however, suspects they’re only robots created by Magneto, and isn’t taking any chances. He fires at Hawkeye, and when Black Panther jumps down to subdue him, a couple of blasts from his optic visor give Cyclops enough time to get away!
It seems that when the Angel escaped Magneto’s prison back in X-Men #45, he went directly to the Avengers mansion for assistance in rescuing his fellow X-Men. Since Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were last seem leaving with Magneto back in Avengers #49, the Avengers are happy to team up tackling the master of Magnetism.
On the Atlantic flight over to Magneto’s island, Janet discovers a miniature bugging device hidden among Angel’s wings. The Avengers now believe he’s in cahoots with Magneto, and is setting them up. While he swears he ‘s innocent, they tie him up and leave him behind when they investigate the fortress. Thus we return to our opening scene where the Avengers have just arrived to see Cyclops flee!
Magneto is watching the entire drama play out, delighted that his plans are coming to fruition. Of course, it was all part of his plans for Angel to escape and get caught with the monitor on his wings. “ Now they and the X-Men, who might otherwise been allies- will be at each other’s throats!”
Toad doesn’t like the idea of bringing in the Avengers…they should have been satisfied capturing the X-Men- their REAL enemies! Magneto electrocutes Toad for his doubt, and Toad questions why Magneto always abuses him when he alone out of ALL the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants has been loyal. “Because I don’t NEED your Loyalty!” snaps Magneto. He explains that he’s only kept Toad around because it amused him, and now Toad is just angering him. Wanda steps in and begs Magneto to leave Toad alone, and Toad says “One day soon, Magneto shall know who his true friends are.”
Meanwhile, The Avengers have become antsy sneaking around the hidden fortress, and as usual, Hawkeye and Goliath start to bicker and fight. Soon the Black Panther, who initially tries to STOP the fight, is involved, and it is up to Jan to step in and remind them that there is a task at hand.
This moment of discourse is just what Magneto has been hoping to hear, and he releases a machine that unleashes crackling electronic commands upon the unsuspecting X-Men. When the sensations vanish, we realize just what the machine has done to their minds when Cyclops states, “There was something we were going to do! Yes- We were going to find the Avengers…and DESTROY THEM!”
Any doubt that the X-Men are on the wrong side of the good guys is gone when the Avengers confront the angry teen mob and Cyclops orders: “Kill Them! Kill The Avengers!”
Beast strikes the first blow at Black Panther, and the others follow his lead. After fighting for a while, the Avengers they find they are having a hard time beating them. Then Black Panther realizes it is because they subconsciously think of the X-Men as heroes, not villains. With this change in attitude, the Avengers make quick work of the youths, much to the confusion of Magneto, who thought the X-Men would be the victors!
His confusion only increases when he turns and finds The Angel has infiltrated the control room! Soon, the Avengers smash in, as well! Goliath knows Magneto must be dying of curiosity to find out what went wrong with his plans, and elucidates. “We guessed the bug on Angel was a plant, and tied his hands loosely! Wasp whispered in his ear our plans, then pretended to quarrel to lure you into an ill-timed attack!”
Magneto knows the only option is escape, and brings down a wall of metal parts onto the Avengers, giving himself enough time to get away! He orders Toad to get the escape ship, hitting him to get a move on. “He orders me to save him - and strikes me as he does so! Thus has he EVER rewarded my unwavering Loyalty!” thinks the Toad.
With a quick move, the Toad sets the machine generators to overload- soon the entire island will be decimated by the huge explosion! He leads the Scarlet Witch and a still dazed Quicksilver to a waiting escape ship. As the ship takes off, Magneto reaches out with his magnetic powers to lift him to the jet, but finds that his powers have no effect! Toad reminds him that he once built an entire ship out of non-metals, just to prove he could do it. As Magneto tries to hold onto the ship, He says, “Toad…Stop!! I am Your Master!” to which the Toad solemnly replies, “No Magneto. The Toad calls no man master- ever again!!” He steps on Magneto’s fingers and sends him hurtling to the jagged rocks below!
Meanwhile the Avengers and X-Men (who seem to have recovered from the hypno-ray) have made it back to their ship in time to witness the Toad and his crew leaving. They quickly shove off themselves, and a few minutes later, the very horizon rocks as the entire island goes up in a fiery explosion! Soon, the ocean is littered with smoking debris and machinery from the fortress, and among the bits of twisted metal floats the remains of Magneto’s once mighty metal helmet!
What a STORY!! I loved and re-read this issue so darn much that not only did I eventually collect all the back-issues of Marvel Triple Action featuring The Avengers (as well as Triple Action successor Marvel Super Action) but immediately began subscribing to the current issues as well -and what do you know- John Byrne was the artist HERE, too When I got older, I made it a priority to get my hands on all the ORIGINAL Avengers issues, and I was simply beside myself the day I got my very own copy of AVENGERS #53, the issue where that X-Men/Avengers story originally ran and the very issue you see scanned here!
Besides the overwhelming “pride of ownership” that came with obtaining this piece of Marvel history, there are several other good reasons to own the actual copy, and not just that they got the COLORS of Beast, Angel and Goliath right(!) in the original comic-I was ECSTATIC when I read the original issue and found there were TWO EXTRA PAGES that Marvel Triple Action had cut out! HOLY TOLEDO! This was like the Modern-Day equivalent of a DVD bonus! If I thought I loved that story BEFORE…MAN! Now it was BEYOND LOVE!!! Ahahahaha!
To this day, those Avengers issues from around issue #46-60 are still some of my favorite stories ever; Roy Thomas is still one of my favorite writers, and John Buscema one of my very favorite artists… When you consider that back then I was simultaneously reading both Thomas/Buscema stories AND Byrne/Claremont stories, there’s no wonder I call this my own personal “Golden Age” of comic reading in my life!
I had a friend who was in love with a certain actress, stating she had the “most perfect and prettiest face created by nature!” Then a few months later he came across a plastic surgery site that indicated his lady of worship had had quite a few procedures done, especially in the eyes and nose department!
Looking at the “before” shots of the woman’s “enhancements”, he sighed and said, “Ahh, I should have known…Nobody THAT perfect could have been for real!”
Although he was talking about his favorite actress, he may as well have been talking about our next Super-Vixen, the lithe and lovely Miss DELPHINE COURTNEY… This was a woman who seemed to have it all- brains, style, AND beauty…and just like my friend’s fallen angel, was a complete and utter invention… quite literally, in the case of Ms. Courtney!
In the issues of ALPHA FLIGHT leading up to the death of Guardian (who I’ll ALWAYS think of as “Vindicator”), Delphine Courtney ws the sultry smooth talker hired by Jerome Jaxon to corral ex-members of Beta and Gamma Flight into forming a team to battle Canada’s answer to the Avengers.
Delphine was always shown in the latest styles, sexy outfits and slinky dresses befitting her sylph-like features, and I was loving it! It was here that I guess I should have remembered the lesson of my friend’s tragic tale, but I was too busy enjoying the view!
We thought we were in for a helluva cat-fight when Heather Hudson (wife of Guardian) began tearing at Delphine’s face and clothes, calling her a “Harpy”- but unfortunately, under all that satin and silk (and skin!) was nothing more than cold, unfeeling metal, as Delphine is revealed to be nothing more than an android, and a darn ruthless and evil one, at that!
That Android would escape to “live” another day, and the next time she (it) showed up was disguised as The Guardian himself! While the reappearance of the character was cool, and the story really helped put a close to the Death Of Guardian storyline, she (it) never did put back on that Delphine disguise, and I found that I really missed that old look of hers!
Delphine Courtney
First appearance: Alpha Flight #8
By John Byrne
One of the many comics I collected in the 70’s was the supernatural themed strip GHOST RIDER.
Although Ghost Rider’s origins began within the Marvel Universe I.E. battling super-villains and teaming up with the various heroes of the Marvel Universe (even joining THE CHAMPIONS for awhile), to me, the comic didn’t really “find” itself until scribe Michael Fleisher took over the writing chores in issue #36 or so.
Mike was already famous for his work on the DC title JONAH HEX, and I’ll be darned if he didn’t bring that whole experience along and apply it to the legend of Johnny Blaze, as well!
Gone was the superstar stuntman Johnny Blaze, living in the big city, hiding his secret identity from a girlfriend as he did double-work as an adventurer and part-time member of the aforementioned Champions,( a group that never seemed quite believable to me anyway- Hercules? In a group with Iceman and Angel AND a hell-spawn demon?) and in its place was a Ghost Rider that seemed much more attuned to its lonely demonic origins.
Fleisher took elements of his two more famous works, JONAH HEX and THE SPECTRE, and, along with awesome illustrator Don Perlin (who really had that Jonah Hex western style of art), painted a glorious picture of a supernatural demon wandering across the desert wastelands, helping those in need, with the hangman (or rather, the law) always just one step behind him. In effect, Johnny Blaze became a demonic hellspawn “Man with No Name”!
When I first began reading GR, the series was a bi-monthly title, (and it was EXCRUCIATING waiting the long time between issues!) but once the comic became a monthly venture in issue #40, the strip really took off with the most haunting, memorable tales including Johnny Blaze getting amnesia and one where a wizard splits Johnny and the Ghost Rider into two separate entities!
But by far, my favorite arc in the series came up on issue #45. Fleisher revisited Johnny’s days as a famous stunt cyclist and in effect drew that chapter of his life to a close, freeing him to continue on as the tortured palefaced rider of the desert plains…
We arrive on the scene as the Ghost Rider is tying up a few loose ends of his previous adventure, catching a trio of crooks who have been pawns in a bizarre plot against him by magician Azazaih in the previous issue. After giving them a punishment of cold, burning Hellfire, The Rider reverts back to Johnny Blaze, and wearily makes his way down to the local pub to have a beer.
When Johnny arrives inside, the local townsfolk are huddled around the bar’s television set, watching in amazement as Stunt Cyclist Flagg Fargo breaks a new motorcycle somersault stunt record, a feat only executed before by Johnny himself! The crowd goes wild, until Flagg starts bad-mouthing Johnny, calling him a coward for not meeting him on challenges he’s been making at every stop of his tour. The bar crowd angrily protest the accusation, saying the Johnny Blaze was the best stunt-cyclist there ever was! Then one of the patrons looks over, and immediately recognizes Johnny as THE Johnny Blaze, stuntman extraordinaire!
The crowd rallies around Johnny, begging him to come out of retirement and put an end to all of Flagg Fargo’s bravado. After a bit of indecision, Johnny agrees, to the cheers of the barroom!
As Johnny leaves the bar that night, he sees a gang of thieves robbing a nearby warehouse. He hesitates changing into Ghost Rider, and that’s all the time the crooks need to get away. Off in the distance, he sees Flagg Fargo’s trailer, but thinks nothing of it.
In the days that follow, huge coverage has been made over Johnny’s return to Stunt -cycling, and everyone is turning up to see brash newcomer Flagg Fargo take on famous champ Johnny Blaze! But right off the bat, Johnny realizes how rusty he is. He hasn’t trained for this kind of maneuvering in years, and in his very first stunt, he lands quite awkwardly.
Flagg, on the other hand, is steady and sure of himself, and completes his stunt flawlessly. At the end of the heated challenge, with Flagg locked in competition with Johnny, the score has ended up at Flagg’s 325 to Johnny’s 225. Johnny takes it hard, but his sponsors cheer him up, confident that he’ll catch up in the next day’s events.
As Johnny rides home from the arena, he comes across the gang of thieves he’d chased the other night. Not wanting to give himself over to the Ghost Rider, he decides to chase the crooks himself, but is cut off by a car attempting to block any pursuers. Johnny crashes into the car, and as it speeds off, Johnny picks himself up and exclaims, “You want to know something, Blaze old Kid? This just hasn’t been your night!”
Day Two of the Motorcycle Championship at Claremonte Arena is about to commence with newcomer Flagg Fargo versus Johnny Blaze, former champ, just out of retirement! As the two motorcyclists prepare for the night’s events, Flagg’s constant goading of Johnny is starting to get to him, and he finds he can barely control himself. When Johnny looks like he might strike Flagg, the ref steps in and warns Johnny to keep professional during the event.
The championship starts, and though it begins smoothly, Johnny makes a mistake on the final turn of the obstacle course. Flagg aces the course, and seems to set the pace of the day. For every course Johnny wins, Flagg wins two. And so it is that at the end of Day 2, the scores are Flagg at 625 to Johnny’s 400. Fargo lips off at Johnny after the game, chiding “You’re in way over your head- If I were you, I wouldn’t even bother comin’ back tomorrow!” And this time Johnny doesn’t hold back, walloping Flagg in the chops. The ref comes to break it up and dismiss them. Fargo states “ While You been ridin’ around the country feelin’ sorry for yourself, I been workin’! I been practicing!” Johnny leaves to find his backers are starting to have their doubts that Johnny can pull it off, as well.
During his meal at the diner, a tough thug comes in picking up a huge order of food. Johnny immediately recognizes the man as one of the warehouse robbers he’d seen the night before. Following the thug to a waiting van outside, he changes into Ghost Rider, and goes off in hot pursuit of the crooks. But after a wild chase, the crooks mysteriously disappear again, and this time Johnny notices that both times, Flagg Fargo’s trailer has been nearby.
He deduces that Flagg must be in on it, and smashes in on the startled Flagg Fargo relaxing inside. He manhandles Fargo, demanding he admit to both leading the warehouse crooks AND cheating in the motorcycle championship. He leaves Fargo with, “Once I have caught your slimy accomplices and made them confess, I will return to inflict the full vengeful fury of the Ghost Rider unleashed!”
Later, Johnny laments the foolishness of his acts. He has no proof that Fargo is either a crook or a cheat…and what if he’d accidentally killed him as Ghost Rider? He doesn’t want to even think about that! Winning the championship means so much to him, he even briefly entertains using his Ghost Rider powers to cheat and get ahead, but thankfully opts to race the race honestly.
Johnny knows he must get a good night’s sleep for the final challenge the following day, but after tuning up his cycle, finds he cannot sleep. He drives around aimlessly all night, till he realizes it is morning. He is about to head back, when he sees Flagg’s trailer. Standing atop a mountain view, he can see a nearby hidden road covered by brush that hide the criminals vans from street view! So, here is where they have been escaping to! He bursts in on them as Ghost Rider, and makes quick work of them. He tries to get them to confess involvement with Flagg Fargo, but they insist they have nothing to do with him.
With the capture of the warehouse robbers behind him, Johnny arrives at the Arena with a newfound determination to win. Flagg comments that Johnny looks like he’d been up all night, but Johnny brushes it off, and prepares for the duel! This time, Johnny pulls out all the stops and performs incredible stunts. But Flagg is professional, too, and in the end, just barely manages to still beat Johnny with a close call of 825 to 820.
Johnny’s backers are furious. “Get outta here, Blaze you Bum!” they yell. “Yeah, take a powder, you has-been!”. But it is Flagg Fargo himself who comes to Johnny’s defense. He remarks that all his life he’d wanted to be the best, but what he’s seen Johnny do tonight he can only dream of. So even though Flagg won, he considers Johnny the winner. He offers the trophy to Johnny, but Johnny declines it. “You won fair and square.”
Late that night, Johnny takes one last look at the scoreboard of last night’s narrow defeat against challenger Flagg Fargo, 825 to 820. “ Face it Johnny Boy", he says to himself, "You can stare at that scoreboard till the cows come home, but that still isn’t gonna change it. You lost fair and square.” He realizes he has to accept the fact that he is no longer the world champion of anything.
As he leaves the empty arena, he realizes that most of the blame for his loss came from the fact that he spent more time as Ghost Rider than practicing and getting rest. Musing on how the Rider has completely taken over his life, he decides once and for all to leave the identity of Ghost Rider behind him, and concentrate on becoming his own person. “No matter what happens, I swear here and now, that I will never become the Ghost Rider again!”
Next time we see Johnny, it is three days later, and though Johnny hasn’t changed into the Ghost Rider, he is beginning to feel the symptoms of withdrawal. He can feel the spirit of the Rider rising up in him, trying to come up to the surface. He stops at a roadside bar where he hopes a few beers will calm his nerves down and keep the Rider in him at bay.
Inside the bar, he orders a beer from the barmaid, but before he can enjoy his brew, is suddenly harassed by a trio of Motorcycle thugs who’ve instantly recognized Johnny from his televised Championship defeat. They approach Johnny and goad him into a brawl. He slugs one in the gut and cracks one across the face before the bartender comes out with a stick to chase out the ruffians. After making sure Johnny is alright, they get him another beer on the house.
Later that night (and quite a few beers later as well), Johnny feels it is enough to “keep the demon down”, and stumbles out into the streets, where he find the three motorcycle thugs waiting for him on his motorcycle. The inebriated Johnny cannot even see straight, and the thugs begin beating him with chains and crowbars. The leader called Raz is about to stomp his heel onto Johnny’s head, when a policeman arrives in time to chase the thugs off.
The policeman and his companion, a pretty girl named Amy who is being taken in for loitering, check on the bruised Johnny, and determine he’s alright. Amy offers to take Johnny in if the cop will cite her some other night . He reluctantly lets her go. Once in the car, Johnny is coming to, and tries to thank her for her kindness, but she says she recognized Blaze because her brother is a motorcycle fanatic, and the pleasure is all hers!
At her little home, she shows him the couch to crash out on, and he promises to “sleep like a lamb.” His slumber is restless, however, for his nightmares are crowded with the specter of Ghost Rider haunting his mind. He dreams of torturing the thugs with hellfire, and wakes up with the bloodlust of the Rider bubbling up. He desperately needs another drink to drown the Ghost Rider back down into his subconscious. Amy thinks she is looking at a classic alcoholic when he demands a drink, but relents, and lets him have one, if only to relax him. He has managed, just barely, to keep the demon down again.
The next day is a happy one for the couple. Johnny apologizes to Amy for his actions the night before, as they make their way to the field, where they plan on having a relaxing picnic. After a meal together, Johnny and Amy are cozying up to each other, when Johnny hears the dreaded voice of the motorcycle thugs. They’ve come back to harass Johnny, but this time, all he wants is for them to leave.
They rummage through his motorcycle pack, and pull out his Championship Outfit. One of them puts it on. Then they say they are taking Johnny’s cycle, and want his leather jacket, too. Johnny is angry, but Amy tells him to just do it so they will leave. Johnny reluctantly backs down, and taking off his jacket and handing it to them, growls, “Here, you rotten…Here it is!”
The three thugs ride off and Johnny is furious, but Amy is proud of him for not resorting to violence. She points out that the important thing is that they have each other. But no sooner have the words left her lips, when the thugs return.. and accost Amy! The thugs push themselves onto the helpless girl, and this is the final straw! Johnny has had enough, and as four days of demonic repression burst forth in one huge explosion of rage, Johnny become the Ghost Rider again, insane with anger!!!
This is the first time we have seen the Ghost Rider without his leather jacket on, and for the first time, we see what the Rider’s “muscles” are composed of, swirling, flaming muscular sinews roar around the bones of the enraged Ghost Rider ! With a demonic gesture, he conjures up his chopper in a billow of hellfire, and speeds on to catch his fleeing prey. He immediately has them in his grasp where they are immediately engulfed in icy hellfire, the cold flame searing through them and obliterating their very souls!
Once the horrific deed is done, the fire and brimstone are suddenly sucked back into a weakened form of Johnny, where a frightened Amy rushes to his side. She fully understands his meaning of “Keeping the Demon down” now. “That’s what you meant, isn’t it?” “ That…That awful Thing!” Johnny admits that it is. As Johnny gets onto his cycle, Amy begs him to stay with her. “We can beat this thing if we stay together…I know we can!”, but Johnny sadly drives off, never looking back, thinking, “The Demon is inside me, Amy.” “It’s inside to stay.”
Oh, sure, she had a mutant power, all right- when she sang her sweet love song, all the dudes in Maggy’s secret lair immediately became transfixed and frozen in captivation, a power that didn’t do much good when one member of the X-Men was a red-blooded American GIRL, and it was Jean Grey indeed who eventually put the kibosh on Magneto and his New Men’s plans!
Expertly crafted by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams, Lorelei really stands out as one of the prettier mutants in a the X-Men canon (and that’s really saying something!) but unfortunately, Lorelei and her fellow Savage Land Mutates only made two or three more appearances (in the silver age), and sadly, none of them featured Neal Adams on pencils!
Talk about rare appearances! In fact, most of my life growing up, I only had TWO things with Lorelei in it: X-Men #63 and a battered old issue of FOOM which featured the X-Men, as well as some new artwork regarding Magneto’s merry mechanically-engineered mutants!
And by the way, at the end of X-Men #63, the Mutates appear to be losing their powers and reverting back to their former selves…when Lorelei appeared next in the Avengers (drawn by Big John Buscema), she not only had her powers back- but had gone from blond to redhead! How the heck did THAT happen? I guess when Magneto fills you up with Mutant Powers, even the residue has a bit of kick!
Lorelei
First Appearance: X-Men #63
Created by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams
supervixens!@greyvictory
One of the first comics a friend of mine collected was THE INCREDIBLE HULK-( this would be around…oh 1978 or so)
Though I myself wasn’t a reader of Marvel's jolly green giant, I always loved looking at the covers of those comics because they had such impact!
There was one of Hulk lifting a tractor above his head. There was one of Hulk smashing through the wall of a roadside saloon . There was an incredible cover (by Ernie Chan, as I recall) of the Leader in some robot-gizmo blasting Hulk’s back…
And there was this one featuring a “Maiden” punching out the Hulk named Moonstone!
Looking at Psychologist-turned-Villianess Karla Sofen’s costume now, it wasn’t much different from the other duds of the day, sort of NOVA mixed with the RED GUARDIAN, but at the time, I really thought that was one KEWL chick in that costume! I didn’t get around to actually reading those issues til years later, and didn’t get around to picking up copies for myself until even LATER, but as the old adage goes, better late than…you know the rest!!
Re-reading the comic now, it’s shocking to see how subdued Karla’s Moonstone character is. In the day of big boobs, skimpy costumes and pin-up splash pages, artists Bob McLeod and Sal Buscema seem almost unconcerned about using her sexiness as a selling point, (Ahh, these were the days, after all!) and I really had to scrounge around those two issues to get any kind of decent full-body shots of Moonstone!
Of course, Karla and her lunar powered alter-Ego Moonstone would get the “modern” updating in titles like THUNDERBOLTS, complete with obligatory sexy poses AND sexier new costumes, nonetheless, it’s still cool to see that Karla's character is still around, even though she ain’t NOTHIN’ like the Maiden I loved all those years back!
Moonstone
First Appearance
Incredible Hulk #228
By Marv Wolfman, Frank Robbins and Sal Bucema with Roger Stern and Bob McLeod
This is part of an ongoing series spotlighting my favorite Comic Book Super-Heroines. If you would like to view past entries, please visit the Archives at:
supervixens!@greyvictory
Absolutely one of the very best Fantastic Four stroies in the mighty FF canon!
The story opens with a scene Fantastic Four fans have long been familiar with: Four astronauts sneak onto the government base to pilot an unauthorized test flight to the moon. They are Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm, and they are about to make the jump into outer space that will become one of the most significant events in their lives as well as the world around them!
The secret flight has been planned in haste due to expected budget cutting, and as they hurtle upwards into outer space, they fear the shielding against the cosmic rays will not be enough to protect them. As they enter the cosmic storm, their worst fears are realized as the rays penetrate through the ship’s siding, and a bizarre transformation takes place within the four passengers aboard the ship as the rocket crashes back down to earth.
But here is where the familiar story diverges into a new and different story from the one we know…unlike the famed test flight when they crash land and are reborn as the Fantastic Four, in THIS scenario, the ship smashes down and explodes in a gulf of flame! Suddenly we see young Johnny Storm screaming up out of bed- the vision we have just seen has been no more than a bad nightmare of his!
But as Johnny crawls out of bed and gets ready for his day, we see at once that something is different- Johnny doesn’t appear to be the superhero Human Torch of the Fantastic Four, instead, he seems like a regular teenage boy living in a small town on his way to work at Sal’s Garage. He waves to the pretty girls on the street, and makes a visit to his favorite couple… Reed and Sue, who also appear to be no more than a normal married husband and wife in a quiet neighborhood!
He drives past Ben and Alicia, another happily married couple outside their café, and we are treated to another surprise- Ben is Human, and Alicia can see! Cleary we are dealing with an alternate reality of the Fantastic Four…or are we? As Johnny drives off, we see a man across the street observing the exchange of pleasantries with obvious delight. He is Phillip Masters, the father of Alicia, and as he tells himself, “Perfect! It’s All Going Exactly as I Want It!”, we realize that whatever is transpiring here is some kind of conspiracy, and it is happening to the REAL Fantastic Four.
That night, Sue is haunted again by the mysterious dream, and this time, after a heated argument, she sees Ben turning into a monstrous thing, she sees him stretching a pliable Reed, and finally setting Johnny on Fire! It is clear the dreams are becoming worse, and when Johnny and Reed are discussing it the next day at Ben’s café, he sheepishly admits that HE’S been having the same kind of dreams, too! Reed tries to wrap his mind around the subject, but then Phillip Masters and Alicia arrive, and they turn the conversation to more pleasant things.
After a long and particularly frustrating day at the university dealing with Mr. Vaughn, Reed sits alone in the dark and ponders the coincidence of all three of them having such similar dreams. Johnny on fire. Ben as a monster. Reed as a rubber man. And the space ship. It always comes back to the ship…
Reed drifts off to a troubled sleep. He dreams… and all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place: The Space Flight. The Cosmic Rays. The Crash. The birth of the celebrated Fantastic Four, the Baxter Building, and then, something sinister…the Puppet Master hypnotizing them…and leading them down to a secret lab, with one other waiting in darkness... He almost has the complete story, but just as he reaches for the answer, Reed falls out of his chair, crashing awake!
The fall has left him clear-minded and positive of one surety: THE DREAM IS THE TRUTH. And as he knows that, he knows that whoever has imprisoned them in this fairytale town must also be a dangerous villain who must be stopped. But he must accomplish his first great task: Convince the other team-mates that their life has been a lie!
Reed arrives home at an ungodly late hour, his arm covered in matted blood. He has sliced his arm with a scalpel to prove to himself that the bodies they inhabit are not real bodies, but in fact some sort of synth-clone puppets that their minds are inhabiting. The others, of course, do no believe a word of it, and think Reed is delusional from the loss of blood. “You Don’t Believe me”. states Reed, “But you will. Our very lives may depend upon it. I WILL MAKE YOU BELIEVE ME!”
Phillip Masters is sweeping the front of his toy store when he is accosted by the angry members of the team. Reed has been successful in convincing them the truth, and their real memories have come crashing back. Seeing the ruse is over, the former Puppet Master admits that he had a hand in the deception, but only because he wanted to see his daughter Alicia happy. But Masters didn’t have the technological knowledge to implement this kind of project, and brought in someone who did. “Who?” asks Reed, and just then a voice booms from above, “SURELY, REED RICHARDS, THAT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO DEDUCE?” Their captor all along has been DOCTOR DOOM!
With the illusion lifted, Doctor Doom grandly reveals the complete picture: They are indeed trapped in synth-cloned puppets of their real selves, and have been sentenced to live out their lives in the tiny constructed town of Liddleville! Enjoying the bizarre prison he has made for them, he’d even occasionally “entered” the town by “jumping” into a robot body to harass Reed Richards…Yes, Doom was Mr. Vaughn! So now what? “What do you intend to do?” asks Reed, and Doom laughs. He doesn’t plan on doing anything to them- he has reduced them to his play-things, and will leave them there in the Liddleville prison, trapped in their puppet bodies, while he leaves to reclaim the throne of Latveria!
Reed knows there is a small spark buried within each of their little cloned bodies that is in all of them that made them become the Fantastic Four. He must find a way to get their powers back, escape this prison and stop Doctor Doom- and he remembers something that just might do it… Earlier, the University had received a special piece of machinery, a PARTICLE ACCELORATOR, a device that can recreate any type of radiation, whether it be radiation from the sun, or…cosmic rays! After examining the equipment, Reed determines that is a real, functioning device, and all that is left is for the group to make the decision to change back to the Fantastic Four.
One by one, the members each step up to the accelerator, and get dosed with the equivalent of the space flight’s cosmic rays, reverting them back to the Fantastic Four, albeit a much smaller version! Using their powers, they break free of the Liddleville town prison, and soar out into Doom’s laboratory, where they have been secured away. They get to the control console , but find Doom has removed the Power Module that will start the controls and free them.
They lure Doom back to the lab and get him to “jump start” the module with an energy blast, and railroad him into setting off the controls, which frees the group at last from the puppet bodies they’ve been imprisoned! The group leaps up and quickly prepares for a battle with Doctor Doom, but find that the energy shock has left him strangely immobile. Not quite dead, he seems to be in a type of coma…
The reason we find, is that Doom has jumped back to his little robot body, and with only a twist of a ring, is ready to jump back when the Fantastic Four are off their guard! He is about to commence departure, when the ring is smashed by a thrown rock.
It is Phillip Masters, and he has re-programmed the entire town to his will. All he wanted was for his daughter to be happy, and Doom has ruined it for them. He orders the townspeople to destroy Doom, who flees for his life, knowing that if he should “die” in robot form , his mind will perish as well. He knows that in the robot body, he can run forever…but so can they!
A Terrific story by John Byrne, celebrating the story of the Fantastic Four and their origin.
And so it was that they recruited the gorgeous Glamazon, whom I found out had originally appeared to battle the Thing before developing a high-school girl crush on him!
In the end, it turned out that her love of the Thing was stronger than anyone thought, for it turned out that she’s only joined the Frightful Four to keep an eye on their shenanigans! And so the Wizard ended up with egg on his face again!
This story was so fun and interesting, I developed a lifelong love of the Amazonian beauty!
And to think, stories illustrated by George Perez and John Byrne were still to come !
Thundra
First appearance
Fantastic Four #129
by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway
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