|
Post by Hoosier X on Jan 12, 2016 15:13:58 GMT -5
I read the first issue of 1963 years back, but it didn't make all that much of an impression on me. I think the satire is a bit too forced for my tastes and I prefer Alan Moore writing stories where he doesn't indulge in faux nostalgia. I might have a different opinion if I read the run today. I'm a big fan of his writing, though, and love his Swamp Thing, From Hell, Watchmen, etc. I think his ABC stuff is fantastic. I loved it when it came out and I re-read it periodically. I think it got better as it went along. They're all good, but I like The Tomorrow Syndicate and Horus a lot more than Mystery, Incorporated. USA was Ronald Reagan and N-Man was Nixon and I used to imitate their voices while reading the dialogue.
|
|
|
Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 16, 2016 7:31:28 GMT -5
Tales to Astonish #35Story Title: "The Terrible Traps of Egghead!" Cover Date: July, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee (plot); Ernie Hart [H.E. Huntley] (script) Pencils: Don Heck Inks: Don Heck Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Cover Art: Jack Kirby (pencils); Dick Ayers (inks) Synopsis: After a brief recap of Eggheads origin, two crooks named Ape and Twister, who happen to be on the run from Ant-Man, run into Egghead in a flophouse. Egghead convinces them that they should form a new gang and sets a trap for the Wasp, hoping to use her against Ant-Man. He captures the Wasp, but Ant-Man frees her and the two recover Egghead's loot, a stolen diamond and necklace, though Egghead escapes capture. Character Appearances: Ant-Man [Henry Pym]; Wasp [Janet Van Dyne]; Egghead [Elihas Starr]; Ape; Twister Comments: The most amusing part of this sub-par story is the part of Eggheads plan that relies on Janet being interested in spending her free-time checking out wasp exhibits. There is an assumption on Eggheads part, and of course good old Ernie’s, that the nature of Janet’s powers would logically lead her to be into all things wasp. I get that this was simply a thematic decision, but it’s so goofy to me I had to point it out. We’re reminded in the story that Janet is a “socialite playgirl” so the idea that she’s a somewhat creepy wasp geek is shown to be even more ridiculous. It got me thinking that it would have helped this premise if women were allowed to be scientists (gasp!) in Silver Age comics. Character Development: Jan’s internal monologue never lets us forget that she’s in love with Pym. Of course Pym remains a clueless, condescending, stuffed-shirt about it all. Doe! Personal Rating: 4. Below average issue with a rather hokey plot. Heck’s art seemed sketchy and rushed in this issue, though I will say that when he got to draw Janet’s face in close-up, he did a great job. Heck always drew very beautiful and classy women. Historical Rating: 6. The return of Egghead, and the attempt to give Ant-Man an arch-nemesis, gives this one a slight nudge above average in terms of Ant-Man's history. Egghead is still a rather one-note villain to me, but to be fair, even Doom is fairly one-dimensional until FF Annual #2. Egghead isn't a villain I would have thought would have lasted, but darn it, he went on to be surprisingly important, not only to Ant-Man, but to the Avengers.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Jan 16, 2016 8:04:06 GMT -5
Egghead of course having nothing to do with Vicent Price's character in the 60's Batman show?
|
|
|
Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 16, 2016 8:11:37 GMT -5
Egghead of course having nothing to do with Vicent Price's character in the 60's Batman show? He was created for the Batman TV series, so I'm not sure if Marvel sued or not. I've never read anything about it, but Marvel's Egghead clearly predates the character from the Batman TV series. It would be interesting to find out if DC could use the character given today's climate. I don't see how. Not only does the character look the same, but he has the exact same name. I'm thinking Marvel and DC worked out a deal at some point over this.
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on Jan 16, 2016 9:22:04 GMT -5
I suspect the writers of the TV show were completely unaware of Marvel's Egghead. The term, a condescending synonym for "intellectual," was not uncommon, after all, having been heard A LOT during the '52 and '56 presidential elections as a putdown for the cerebral Adlai Stevenson. The look, aside from the obvious egg-shaped cranium, wasn't all that similar. Price's version had a mustache, no glasses, wore a white-and-yellow suit and was not (that I recall) a scientist. Marvel probably figured Egghead wasn't an important enough property to take 20th Century Fox to court over and, as long as the character didn't appear in DC's comics, let it go.
Cei-U! I summon the educated guess!
|
|
|
Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 16, 2016 9:29:47 GMT -5
A part of me wishes that there was a legal dispute between Marvel and DC over Egghead. I could see it happening today. I think what prevents this from happening is that nobody would want to use the character in the modern Batman books. I think Egghead has only appeared in DC animated adaptations and adaptations of the TV show.
|
|
|
Post by MDG on Jan 16, 2016 11:35:30 GMT -5
Would Marvel have to have specifically trademarked the Egghead character to have any legal standing? They certainly didn't mind jumping on Captain Marvel when that TM expired.
|
|
|
Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 18, 2016 10:42:44 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #17 Story Title: “Defeated by Doctor Doom!” Cover Date: August, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee Pencils: Jack Kirby Inks: Dick Ayers Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Cover Art: Jack Kirby (pencils); Dick Ayers (inks) Synopsis: Having returned from the micro-world and saying farewell to Ant-Man, the FF set out to track down Doctor Doom. Failing to find Doom after searching the city, the FF decide to return to their normal routine. While attempting to escape a group of fans who are waiting for them in their lobby, the FF are “rescued” by a janitor that tips them off on how to exit and avoid their admirers. Unbeknownst to the FF, the janitor is actually Doom in disguise. Doom manages to plant trackers on the wrists of each member of the FF and sends out strange ghostly followers to annoy and pester the group. After following the members back to their headquarters, Reed deduces their origins and removes the trackers, causing them to fade into nothingness. Doom then kidnaps Alicia and brings her to his ship which he has disguised to appear like a cloud. He then taunts the FF, and after his demands to become a cabinet member are rejected by the President, he begins to wreak havoc on the United States by causing all electronic devices (missiles, computers, etc.) to go haywire. After studying Doom’s ship, Reed formulates a plan to defeat him. Doom has his ships disintegrator ray’s attuned to the FF’s molecular structure, so he whips up a formula to revert the Thing to his human form, which allows Been to enter the ship in a special craft. After reverting back to the Thing, Ben then proceeds to destroy the disintegrator’s and this allows the rest of the group to follow. Together, they track down Doom, and after evaded several of his deathtraps, finally corner the villain. Doom refuses to be captured, and opening an escape hatch, seemingly plummets to the Earth. Character Appearances: The Fantastic Four [Mr. Fantastic [Reed Richards]; the Invisible Girl [Sue Storm]; the Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; the Thing [Ben Grimm]]; Doctor Doom [Victor Von Doom] (villain); Alicia Masters; Ant-Man [Hank Pym] (cameo); Princess Pearla (cameo); President John F. Kennedy (cameo, partially hidden); Nikita Khrushchev (cameo) Comments: This issue was as exciting as it was silly. Doom’s ship and various deathtraps were all cool ideas, but those crazy smiling “ghosts” of his was so bizarre, and seemingly out of character for Doom, you can’t help but scratch your head and chuckle. Kirby’s imagination was always idiosyncratic and those things were an excellent example of Kirby’s wild and imaginative artistic sensibilities. I can’t help but wonder if he was laughing a bit when he came up with that idea…and I can’t help but wonder what Stan thought of it when he first saw the pages. I also find it hilarious that Doom would want to be a cabinet member. Doom rants about how money means nothing to him, since he can invent anything he could ever want or need: it’s power that he craves. Cabinet member status seems like a bit of a step down from World Conqueror to me. Character Development: We’re lead to believe that Doom is primarily motivated by his disfigurement, but this of course will be basically refuted once we learn of his origin in Fantastic Four Annual #2. These formative Doom stories are interesting when compared to the more exotic and layered character we get after FF annual #2. It’s always fascinating to watch a great character go from potential to realization over a relatively short period of time. There is a nice scene where Sue uses judo to forcefully free herself from Doom’s clutches. Even though she makes sure to let us all know that Reed taught her said judo (and he’s apparently “one of the world’s greatest experts”?!) this little scene seems to indicate that Stan and Jack are softening their chivalrous stance when it comes to letting Sue get in on the action. Personal Rating: 7. While this issues is rife with Silver Age goofiness, there is more than enough good stuff here to make the story an entertaining read. Stan keeps up the amusing dialog (primarily with the Torch and the Thing's banter) and Kirby and Ayers continue to turn in solid work. Historical Rating: 7. I give this one a fairly high mark in importance for being the conclusion to the first two-part story of the Marvel Age.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2016 15:33:01 GMT -5
Trebor the Unconquered - That's one of my favorite FF stories in the early days and it's the goofiness that's stands out and that's why I like it so much. I read this story 4 years after it's came out and it was a dandy story that Stan written back then.
|
|
|
Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 18, 2016 19:16:00 GMT -5
It's certainly a flawed classic. Stan Lee rightly get's a lot of credit for injecting humor into the Marvel Age, but I think Kirby's sense of humor is vastly underrated. The visuals were all Kirby, so any of those sight gags, given the Marvel Method, were almost assuredly his. The Thing falling in a manhole, then bursting up out of the ground and saving a woman from a runaway car, completely by accident, might be my favorite bit. Though Sue mistaking a sinister looking guy buying a toy gun (that fires ping-pong balls) as a gangster making a deal in broad daylight is a very close second.
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 19, 2016 3:56:23 GMT -5
Egghead of course having nothing to do with Vicent Price's character in the 60's Batman show? He was created for the Batman TV series, so I'm not sure if Marvel sued or not. I've never read anything about it, but Marvel's Egghead clearly predates the character from the Batman TV series. It would be interesting to find out if DC could use the character given today's climate. I don't see how. Not only does the character look the same, but he has the exact same name. I'm thinking Marvel and DC worked out a deal at some point over this. DC's Egghead appeared fairly regularly in the recently concluded Batman '66 series, set in the continuity of the TV show.
|
|
|
Post by tingramretro on Jan 19, 2016 4:01:15 GMT -5
Would Marvel have to have specifically trademarked the Egghead character to have any legal standing? They certainly didn't mind jumping on Captain Marvel when that TM expired. But I can see the reasoning behind that. In 1968, it would have seemed pretty logical that a superhero publisher called Marvel should be the ones to publish a character called Captain Marvel, if only to stop people like MF Enterprises publishing another embarrassing character of that name which the unwary might confuse with their company.
|
|
|
Post by Reptisaurus! on Jan 19, 2016 20:52:32 GMT -5
It's certainly a flawed classic. Stan Lee rightly get's a lot of credit for injecting humor into the Marvel Age, but I think Kirby's sense of humor is vastly underrated. The visuals were all Kirby, so any of those sight gags, given the Marvel Method, were almost assuredly his. The Thing falling in a manhole, then bursting up out of the ground and saving a woman from a runaway car, completely by accident, might be my favorite bit. Though Sue mistaking a sinister looking guy buying a toy gun (that fires ping-pong balls) as a gangster making a deal in broad daylight is a very close second. Oh yeah, good observation. I've been reading Kirby's last few Marvel Age books before he left and the Romita/Buscema/Adams stories after that. The transition was really quite seamless, but all the books lose like 75% of the humor.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Jan 20, 2016 9:08:11 GMT -5
The transition was really quite seamless, but all the books lose like 75% of the humor. After Kirby left Captain America, Gene Colan took over I believe and I don't think it lost any of the spirit that Kibry so effortlessly envoked
|
|
|
Post by Rob Allen on Jan 21, 2016 18:33:07 GMT -5
Strange Tales #110 Story Title: "Dr. Strange Master of Black Magic!" CreditsScript: Steve Ditko (plot); Stan Lee (script) Something I learned about this story fairly recently: Steve knew that Stan wanted to add backup features to the former anthology books, so he plotted and drew this whole story on his own and brought it in to pitch the character to Stan. Steve had Strange Tales in mind from the beginning; he named the character "Mr. Strange". Stan thought that was too close to Mr. Fantastic and changed it to "Dr. Strange". That, and the dialogue, were Stan's contribution to the first few 5-page Dr. Strange stories. Stan had more of a hand in writing the origin a few months later.
|
|