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Post by Reptisaurus! on Jan 25, 2016 20:35:51 GMT -5
I'd also like to see them. I still hate myself for never following through with learning how to draw comics. I even bought "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way." My foray in learning how to draw was a rather lewd book called "How To Draw Those Bodacious Bad Babes Of Comics" Naturally, I got rather good at drawing the female anatomy, but my skills at drawing men severely lacked. Also brought the book to school one day with me in fifth grade, I'll let your mind wander as to what the reactions were.... .My curiosity got the better of me and I ordered a copy. I am a bad person, maybe.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 26, 2016 9:57:11 GMT -5
Tales to Astonish #46
Story Title: “…When Cyclops walks the Earth” Cover Date: August, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee (plot); Ernie Hart [as H.E. Huntley] (script) Pencils: Don Heck Inks: Don Heck Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Sam Rosen (interiors); Artie Simek (cover) Cover Art: Jack Kirby (pencils); Dick Ayers (inks) Synopsis: With the city experiencing a lull in crime, Henry and Janet decide to go on vacation in Greece. Soon after their arrival, they learn of a monster who has been terrorizing the local sailors. Ant-Man and the Wasp decide to go after the monster and discover that it’s a robotic cyclops mentally controlled by aliens to scout for an invasion. Ant-Man enters the giant robot and reconfigures its robotic brain so he can control it with his cybernetic helmet. After Ant-Man uses it to rescue the sailors and destroy one of the alien ships, the aliens flee thinking that humans have greater metal powers than their own. Character Appearances: Ant-Man [Henry Pym]; Wasp [Janet Van Dyne]; Cyclops Robot; Kraglin Comments: This was a surprisingly entertaining issues given the fact that its basic plot is probably the most overused device in Silver Age superhero comics: the poorly defined alien invasion. Heck’s design for the alien’s was surprisingly inventive; they looked kind of like something out of Micronauts. It was a nice change of pace to set the story in Greece, but outside of a shot of some ancient Greek columns when Hank and Janet arrive, the story could have easily taken place in Florida. I’ll never get over how easily spooked alien scouting parties were back in the Silver Age. It only takes one little retaliation or interference with their plans and they’re hightailing it back to their home planet. Maybe comic creators got it right and that’s why aliens haven’t conquered us yet? Oh, they keep trying, but they keep getting spooked… Character Development: I enjoyed the banter between Jan and Hank in this issue. Jan comments that it’s “ghastly” that the city is all peace and quiet with no crime and openly admits that she's bored. Her presence seems to have allowed Hank to find his personality, as he even cracks a few playful comments (not quite jokes) in the story. Janet is certainly more proactive than Sue Richards at this point (even though Stan and Jack are slowly improving Sue’s character in that regard) as she’s the one who rushes off to free the sailors while Hank is lecturing and initially chases off the aliens by leading a team of wasps to attack them. Personal Rating: 5. I give this a “strong” average score. I can’t bump it above that status as there were no new or interesting villains, and the plot being what it was, but it was enjoyable none-the-less. Historical Rating: 5. Average here as well. I liked the look of the aliens, but besides learning that one was named Kraglin, we never get their names. I think those guys might have had potential down the line if they were fleshed out a bit more.
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Post by Cei-U! on Jan 26, 2016 14:18:20 GMT -5
I would niggle with you about the story's setting. Take another look at the backgrounds on pages 4 and 5. It's clear Don Heck did his research, as both the architecture and the wardrobes of the background characters are authentically Mediterranean. This was one of Heck's best art jobs (which becomes more evident when you see it in black & white). Aside from that, I agree with your overall assessment.
Cei-U! I summon the peerless penwork!
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 26, 2016 19:19:42 GMT -5
I honestly didn't think the wardrobes were accurate for the time, but I very well could be wrong about that. To be honest, my critique should have been more to the point that he didn't get to show more of Greece given the shortness of the story.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 30, 2016 9:37:34 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #4
Story Title: “Nothing Can Stop…The Sandman!” Cover Date: September, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee Pencils: Steve Ditko Inks: Steve Ditko Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Sam Rosen Cover Art: Steve Ditko (pencils & inks) Synopsis: As the story opens, Spider-Man attempts to stop three crooks who are about to rob a jewelry story. Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of attacking them before the attempt and they call for a cop. A bit embarrassed, Spider-Man swings off. He then runs into a super-powered criminal on the run from the law known as the Sandman. Spider-Man attempts to apprehend Sandman with little success, but in the process rips his mask off. He’s forced to flee the scene before Sandman can learn his true identity. When then learn the origin of Sandman; having escaped from Island Prison, Flint Marko is transformed into Sandman after being exposed to radiation while hiding in an atomic testing site. Being on the beach at the time, the blast somehow fused his body with the sand, granting him his superhuman powers. With the Sandman at large, Peter is forced to stay up all night repairing his mask. In the morning he attempts to get an advance from J.J. Jameson, but Jameson refuses and says that he’ll only pay once he has pics of Spider-Man in his hands. Parker heads off to school, but fate would have it that Sandman chooses Parker’s high school as a good place to hide from the cops. The Sandman threatens the principle (and even demands to be given a high school diploma since he never graduated) but Peter has overheard the exchange and changes into Spider-Man just in time to stop him from injuring the man. The two do battle, with Spider-Man doing everything he can to keep from being defeating by the powerful villain. Finally, he succeeds in tricking Sandman by allowing himself to be covered in sand, making himself into the shape of a ball, and bouncing down to the room where an industrial vacuum cleaner is stored. Faking an attack with a drill, he tricks Sandman into turning into sand and then uses the vacuum cleaner to trap him. Realizing that he’s forgotten to snap pictures of the fight, he takes a few pictures of himself leaping through some tossed sand to simulate the battle. Having defeated his foe, Spider-Man turns him over to the police outside. Jameson is also on the scene and meets Parker inside. Parker gives Jameson the undeveloped film, and after collecting his money, which puts him in high spirits, he tells Liz that he can go on that date with her after all (which he had to break earlier because of Sandman). Liz is angry at being stood up and instead decides to go out with Flash. The story ends with Parker lamenting his bad luck and wondering if he’s going about his superhero career for all the right reasons. Character Appearances: Spider-Man [Peter Parker]; Sandman [Flint Marko] (Intro; Origin); May Parker; J Jonah Jameson; Betty Brant (introduction, only last name revealed); Flash Thompson; Liz Allen (only first name revealed) Comments: The opening scene with the crooks was funny and very well done. We’ve seen Spider-Man underestimate super-villains so far, but we’ve yet to see him blow it with a bunch of run-of-the-mill wise-guys up until this point. To go from that right into tearing his mask and having to cut out of a fight, yet again, illustrates the different approach Stan and Steve were going for with the character; it makes sense that a 16-year-old kid would make bonehead mistakes like this and they pull it off without it seeming too forced or goofy. My favorite bit of humor is when Spidey decides to leave Jameson a little present on his chair in the form of some sticky webbing. Later, as Parker, he has to bring Jameson a new pair of pants with Jameson indignantly stand by in his boxers. I also loved Spidey's hilarious solution that solved the problem of those forgotten fight pics. Sandman’s demise was a bit unsatisfying, I must admit. It was well established in the issue that he could make himself rock-hard and turn into his hands into giant hammers, etc., so how a giant vacuum cleaner bag could stop him is a mystery to me. It’s almost as if Lee and Ditko came up with a villain who was a little too powerful for his own good. That said, it was my only quibble with an otherwise excellent issue. Character Development: The most interesting bit of development in this issue is with Peter and Liz. Apparently, the females are slowly warming up to Peter, as Liz decides to go out with him after turning him down several times. Is this a sign that being Spider-Man is giving Peter more confidence as Parker, even though he isn’t consciously aware of it yet? He also has his first big run in with his arch-high school nemesis, Flash Thompson. The two almost get into a fist fight toward the end of the issue after Flash teases him for apparently hiding during the Sandman/Spider-Man fight. Peter realizes that he could easily hurt Flash and backs down, leading his classmates to view him as a bit of coward. Personal Rating: 8. A very good issue that just slightly falls short of issue #3 for me. The opening splash page featuring Sandman fighting Spider-Man, with scenes from various parts of the story in the background, is my favorite Ditko splash page so far. Historical Rating: 8. Sandman will go on to be a major villain and a thorn in the side not only of Spider-Man, but of the FF and the Avengers. Also of note, the letters page indicates that this issue is the first official monthly installment of The Amazing Spider-Man.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Jan 30, 2016 23:12:34 GMT -5
Sandman’s demise was a bit unsatisfying, I must admit. It was well established in the issue that he could make himself rock-hard and turn into his hands into giant hammers, etc., so how a giant vacuum cleaner bag could stop him is a mystery to me. It’s almost as if Lee and Ditko came up with a villain who was a little too powerful for his own good. That said, it was my only quibble with an otherwise excellent issue. This was addressed in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man not too long ago (and by that I mean 2009 or so). If memory serves, Sandman and Spidey are recalling their first encounter and Sandman basically says that he let himself get captured at the end of that story. He points out that he could've rapidly expanded his body in every direction and shredded the vacuum cleaner like paper, but instead he decided that he had learned the measure of Spider-Man's abilities, and so would wait for a better time to attack him (i.e. in a later issue).
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 31, 2016 7:22:10 GMT -5
Avengers #1 Story Title: “The Coming of the Avengers!” Cover Date: September, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee Pencils: Jack Kirby Inks: Dick Ayers Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Sam Rosen (interiors); Artie Simek (cover) Cover Art: Jack Kirby (pencils); Dick Ayers (inks) Synopsis: As our story opens, we see that Loki has been banished to the Isle of Silence in the Asgardian dimension. Plotting revenge on Thor, Loki decides to use the Hulk as bait to lure Thor into a trap. Using his mental powers, Loki makes the Hulk think that there is TNT on the nearby train tracks. The Hulk leaps down in an attempt to save the train, but in the process destroys the tracks. To Loki’s surprise, the Hulk heroically uses his own body to brace the tracks, allowing the train to pass without incident. Loki gloats because he knows that even though the Hulk saved the train, the humans will view it as an attack. Soon the news is all over the papers and the hunt is out for the Hulk. Rick Jones reads about the attack in the papers and proceeds to Teen Brigade headquarters with plans to radio the Fantastic Four for help in subduing the Hulk. Seeing this, Loki causes the radio signal to be redirected from FF headquarters to Donald Blake’s office instead, since he only wants Thor involved. Unbeknownst to Loki, Ant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man also receive the signal and all make plans to head west to take on the Hulk. The FF do get the signal a bit later, but inform the Teen Brigade that they can’t make it because they’re involved in another case. Mr. Fantastic informs the teens that others who can help would have picked up the signal and as soon as they get off the radio with the FF, Thor, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and finally Iron Man, all arrive on the scene. Irritated that others are now involved in his plan to defeat Thor, Loki uses his powers to create an image of the Hulk that distracts Thor and caused him to give chase. After discovering that it was only an illusion, Thor puts it all together and realizes that Loki is behind it all and travels to Asgard to confront him. The scene shifts to the Hulk, who has taken up refuge in a circus, disguised as a robot clown called Mechano. While the Hulk is performing tricks and various feats of strength, a lone ant scout informs Ant-Man. Realizing that it could very well be the Hulk, Ant-Man, Wasp and Iron Man race off to confront him. The three heroes give battle and try to subdue the Hulk, but he easily escapes and even incapacitates Iron Man by crushing his propulsion unit in the process. Meanwhile, Thor is given permission by Odin to travel to the Isle of Silence to confront Loki. Thor survives the various perils that Loki throws at him (which includes giant tangle roots, volcanic explosions and troll attacks) and succeeds in capturing Loki and returning him to Earth. Having fled to Detroit, the Hulk holds up in an auto manufacturing plant. Iron Man, having repaired his armor, arrives and gives battle, but Thor arrives with Loki and explains that the villain was behind it all. In a last effort to save himself, Loki uses his magic powers to turn himself radioactive, but Ant-Man and the Wasp, unseen, open a trap door below Loki and he slides into an impregnable lead-lined tank. With Loki defeated, Ant-Man suggest that they combine their powers and form a team. All the heroes agree, and the Wasp is the one to suggest that the new team be called the Avengers. Character Appearances: Avengers [Thor [Thor Odinson, Don Blake]; Iron Man [Tony Stark]; Ant-Man [Henry Pym]; The Wasp [Janet Van Dyne]; Hulk [Bruce Banner, Mechano]] (introduction, origin); circus ringmaster; lion tamer; trapeze artists; Bobby; Bobby's mother; Charlie; Captain; Jane Foster; Asgardians [Odin]; Teen Brigade [Rick Jones; William "Willie" Bishop]; Fantastic Four [Mr. Fantastic [Reed Richards]; Invisible Girl [Sue Storm]; The Thing [Ben Grimm]; The Human Torch [Johnny Storm]]; Loki [Loki Laufeyson]; Silent Ones Comments: The first issue of the Avengers is interesting on multiple levels. The first thing that strikes you when you read it is just how much “stuff” is in the story. You get little glimpses into multiple mythos’, not to mention worlds, at a breakneck speed: the FF show up, we get reintroduced to the Teen Brigade, see the Hulk in his baffling and short-lived career as a circus performer and even get a brief solo Thor adventure in Asgard! Sure, the issue is an uneven classic, but it’s impressive that Stan and Jack pulled it off as well as they did when taking into account all that content. I think the Hulk’s powers are once again of special interest. Stan is clearly using every opportunity to tell us that the Hulk leaps and doesn’t fly. Certain scenes illustrate this better than others, but it’s unclear to me if Kirby is yet on the same page as Stan on this. The scene where the Hulk jumps through the top of the circus tent, is caught in Ant-Man’s net, slows a bit and then surges up taking the tent with him, obviously defies the notion that this is a character that leaps instead of flies through the air. Character Development: The Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp are all portrayed in interesting and frustrating ways in this debut issue. First off, the Hulk is clearly being portrayed as the misunderstood hero. He goes out of his way to save the train and later quickly accepts the idea that he can openly work for the good guys for a change and eagerly joins the Avengers. This doesn’t last long, of course, but it’s a struggle the Hulk will wrestle with for years to come. Though it’s not overt, Ant-Man comes off as the prime candidate for leader, since he’s clearly being portrayed as the brains of the fledgling group and the most proactive in this issue. He’s also extremely condescending to Wasp in this issue, chiding her for taking too long to “powder her nose” and generally comes off as an ass. Wasp comes off as being primarily influenced by the appearance of the males around her; she’s enamored by Thor’s good looks and repelled by the scary Iron Man and monstrous Hulk. This irritated me as it seemed to be a regression from her portrayal in the last few issues of Tales to Astonish. Stan was a progressive guy, but he’s still missing the mark in his portrayal of female heroes at this point. Personal Rating: 7. A flawed classic debut issue, the story never fails to entertain me when I reread it. Stan and Jack do a solid, if uneven, job with the writing and the art, but I forgive this seeing as how we get so much good stuff in span of a mere 22 pages. Kirby and Ayer’s do a fine job overall, but both have done better work on Fantastic Four up till this point. I will say that the open splash page featuring Loki has never been one of my favorite Kirby splashes. It’s a bit awkward. It doesn’t really succeed in portraying the menace of Loki, but what really hurts it is the clutter of descriptive text and little illustrations of the featured players to the right of the page. Historical Rating: 10. You don’t get much more historically significant than this. The Avengers are now clearly the most important team in the Marvel Universe and the vast scope of the team--including members, supporting players and villains--has affected, if not directly involved, virtually every major Marvel character down to the present day. This first issue alone includes virtually everything we’ve seen so far in the Marvel Age sans Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
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Post by the4thpip on Jan 31, 2016 12:56:57 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. One cannot trademark a word like "Egghead." Microsoft never managed to trademark "Windows", either. For the same reason, both Marvel and DC have had characters named Scarecrow.
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Post by Cei-U! on Jan 31, 2016 14:03:49 GMT -5
Re: Avengers #1.
The absurdity of the Hulk passing himself off as a robot circus clown for a week (that's how long the ringmaster says "Mechano" has been packin' 'em in, which makes NO sense in the context of the rest of the story) pretty much spoils this story for me. An incredible distortion of a character's personality for the sake of a sight gag.
Cei-U! That, and Loki turning radioactive!
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 31, 2016 14:44:29 GMT -5
I must admit that it makes no sense but it is one of the greatest panels in comic-book history: If it makes no sense in the context of the story, then the rest of the story is at fault! I summon my two cents.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 31, 2016 18:05:46 GMT -5
Re: Avengers #1. The absurdity of the Hulk passing himself off as a robot circus clown for a week (that's how long the ringmaster says "Mechano" has been packin' 'em in, which makes NO sense in the context of the rest of the story) pretty much spoils this story for me. An incredible distortion of a character's personality for the sake of a sight gag. Cei-U! That, and Loki turning radioactive! I'd love to see a four issue mini-series that delves deep into the Hulk's week as a robot circus clown written by Peter David and penciled by Steve Rude.
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Feb 1, 2016 13:41:46 GMT -5
Re: Avengers #1. The absurdity of the Hulk passing himself off as a robot circus clown for a week (that's how long the ringmaster says "Mechano" has been packin' 'em in, which makes NO sense in the context of the rest of the story) pretty much spoils this story for me. An incredible distortion of a character's personality for the sake of a sight gag. Cei-U! That, and Loki turning radioactive! The Hulk's personality was variable enough in his.. what?.. seven previous appearances that I'm not sure his personality could be distorted. I thought the circus clown fit in pretty well with the "Good job, kids" Hulk at the end of Hulk # 6. ( And that one sight gag was better the best thing in Avengers comics and the next 653 issues have been admirable but futile attempts to recapture that kind of greatness.)
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 1, 2016 19:25:57 GMT -5
The funniest part is that the crowd is fine until the Hulk wipes off the white clown makeup around his mouth. Then they all freak out! "Holy crap, it's the Hulk!"
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
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Post by Confessor on Feb 2, 2016 1:53:41 GMT -5
You certainly can't knock the historic importance of Avengers #1, but personally I've always found the ludicrousness of the Hulk working in a circus and the dodgier than usual Stan Lee dialogue makes this issue hard work to enjoy for a modern reader. However, if you were 8-years-old or so in 1963, this must've seemed like the greatest comic ever.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Feb 3, 2016 12:56:20 GMT -5
Re: Avengers #1. The absurdity of the Hulk passing himself off as a robot circus clown for a week (that's how long the ringmaster says "Mechano" has been packin' 'em in, which makes NO sense in the context of the rest of the story) pretty much spoils this story for me. An incredible distortion of a character's personality for the sake of a sight gag. Cei-U! That, and Loki turning radioactive! The "radioactive Loki" thing always bothered me too. Not so much that he could turn radioactive (because after robot-circus-Hulk-clown, why not?) but that somehow Ant Man anticipated that he could and would, and had a lead tank standing by ready to trap him.
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