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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 9, 2016 15:39:22 GMT -5
I think he had a TANK ready to capture Loki, that happened to be lead lined? Yeah, still not great. Between all the lead and all the asbestos that was just laying around back then I'm shocked anyone in the MU survived. No wonder there are mutants coming out of the woodwork!
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 11, 2016 13:39:55 GMT -5
1. I went with Reinman because of this Editor's note on GCD: "Cover inks credit from Nick Caputo via the GCD Error List (1 November 2006); the original indexer credited George Roussos." I assumed that GCD was stating that George Roussos was originally given the credit but that credit was incorrect. I of course have no idea and will be more than willing to take your word for it given your scholarly reputation. I think the original indexer was right. The inking looks much more like Roussos than Reinman, especially on the Thing. Plus Roussos is only three issues away from taking over as FF inker. Still I could be wrong. Cei-U! I summon the hedged bet! Nick Caputo is usually reliable on this kind of stuff. He's online, so we could ask him. He's active in Facebook's Timely-Atlas group, and his blog is really fun: nick-caputo.blogspot.com/
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 11, 2016 14:36:23 GMT -5
Fantastic Four Annual #1
Story Title: “Sub-Mariner Versus the Human Race!” Cover Date: 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: At long last, Namor the Sub-Mariner has located his lost people. Having reclaimed the throne of Atlantis, his Atlantean subjects hail the return of their monarch. Lady Dorma, Namor’s one-time love, is overjoyed at his return, however the warlord Krang, who was supposed to marry Dorma and who secretly desires the crown, is less than enthused. Bringing the pageantry to an end, Namor makes ready with his plans to invade and conquer the surface world. Meanwhile, at the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four are enjoying some down time. The Torch decides to play a prank on the Thing, which leads to one of their customary spats. The horseplay gets out of hand, however, when the Thing accidentally ruins Sue’s collection of expensive dresses with a power hose. Reed steps in to calm things down and suggests that they’re all on edge and need a vacation. Reed decides that they’ll take a cruise, partly so the vacation can double for an investigation into strange sightings of massive sea-monsters in the Atlantic. While enjoying their vacation, the Torch spots a sea creature and alerts the rest of the FF. The team takes a small boat out to investigate, but are attacked and captured by several sea creatures. The creatures bring the FF underwater where they are imprisoned by Namor and his Atlantean soldiers. Namor explains that he was behind the strange sea-creature activity and reveals his plan to conquer the surface world. Namor then releases the FF, sending them all the way back to the Baxter Building in one of their devices, and Mister Fantastic informs the United Nations of the eminent threat. Reed then introduces Dr. Falton, and expert on marine evolution, who proceeds to inform the delegation of the evolutionary history of Homo Mermanus, the Atlantean race, as well as the origin of Namor the Sub-Mariner. When Reed reiterates that Namor and the Atlanteans are a menace, Falton reveals himself to be Namor in disguise and then proceeds to declare war on the surface world. The Atlantean army arrives on the surface, bringing a vast amount of technology and weaponry with them. The Atlanteans quickly subdue the populace of Manhattan, but fail to defeat the FF. Reed has the Thing capture some Atlantean soldiers for him to study and he discovers their weakness; unlike Namor, the Atlantean soldiers need to wear helmets filled with seawater and can only breath air for a short period before suffocating. Reed quickly devises a device that will evaporate all the seawater in all the helmets worn by Namor’s soldiers, but the top-heavy machine falls over and Reed is injured in the process when he pushes Sue out of the way. With Reed injured, he instructs Ben and Sue how to operate the device and they activate it. The device works and the Atlantean soldiers are ordered by Namor to make a hasty retreat to the sea. Enraged by his defeat, Namor attacks the FF in the Baxter Building and escapes with the Invisible Girl back to his command craft. The FF follow in their new U-Car and Namor meets them in the open ocean for a final confrontation. However, Lady Dorma learns of Namor's affection for Sue while he’s away battling the FF and attempts to kill her by smashing out a window of the command craft, which causes the water to rush in. Before the Atlanteans can repair the breach, Sue swims out in a desperate attempt to make it to the surface. While Namor and the Thing are battling underwater, Namor sees her unconscious form and races her to the surface. Realizing that she needs immediate hospitalization, Namor convinces the FF to trust him and he swims down to the command craft, telling all of his Atlantean subjects to leave so the vehicle won’t be weighed down. Dorma and Krang protest, but Namor has the final say. Namor races Sue back to New York and succeeds in saving her live by getting her to a hospital in time. The FF arrive a short time later and are overjoyed to see Sue recovered. Namor returns to Atlantis, but is not greeted by his people. Apparently they viewed his actions as a betrayal and have deserted him. (The issue features a rogue’s gallery drawn by Kirby that gives brief recaps of the various foes of the FF so far. There is also a short six-page story retelling, and expanding, the original scenes in Amazing Spider-Man #1 when Spider-Man attempted to join the Fantastic Four. There are two pages, featuring text and art, devoted to answering fan questions about the FF’s powers and, finally, a reprinting of the first 13 pages of Fantastic Four #1 which retells the FF’s origins.) Character Appearances: Fantastic Four [Mister Fantastic [Reed Richards]; Invisible Girl [Sue Storm]; Human Torch [Johnny Storm]; Thing [Ben Grimm]]; Sub-Mariner [Namor] (origin recap); Dorma (Silver Age introduction); Krang (introduction); Alicia Masters; Adlai Stevenson; Nikita Krushchev; Leonard McKenzie; Fen; Dr. Falton Comments: There is so much exciting stuff going on it’s hard to decide what to praise first. Stan and Jack masterfully reintroduce the Atlanteans to the Marvel Age and add a bit of complexity into the mix with the introductions of Lady Dorma and Krang the scheming warlord. The first three pages featuring Namor’s kingly return to Atlantis is probably the most impressive bit of Kirby art so far. I love those pages. How can you beat Namor riding on the back of two sea turtles while wearing a crown and flowing red cloak? The storytelling and art was top notch in this issue and it seems as if Stan and Jack wanted to make sure that their first big annual was a cut above the standard fair. It’s simply the best FF story to date. The only slight nitpick I have is with the scenes where the Atlantean soldiers are forced to dive back into the sea after their helmets supply of seawater is evaporated. Earlier, in the recounting of Namor’s origin, it’s stated that his mother, Princess Fen, can live for five hours out of the water. It seems to me that the Atlanteans would have had plenty of time to refill those helmets. Ah, well. It made for great drama, and in the end, that’s all that matters. Character Development: This extra-sized issue gives us the most interesting look into Namor’s characterization so far. It’s clear that he only wants to conquer the surface world to protect his people, and even while fighting the FF, he makes a point that he has no desire to harm them or any other surface dweller. While Sue obviously still has feelings for him, it seems apparent that she realizes that it would never work between them and she seems more resolute in siding with her teammates in this story. Personal Rating: 9. In my humble opinion, this was easily the best Marvel Age story so far. I think it’s so strong that it compares favorably to some of the better issues from the golden period of 1964-1967. Historical Rating: 9. The first Marvel Age annual (alphabetically) is an incredibly important issue. The high quality of the story aside, the introduction of the "modern" Atlanteans, and the nature of the annual itself with all its bonus content, make this issues a milestone.
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Post by Cei-U! on Feb 11, 2016 15:23:33 GMT -5
My favorite FF story ever! One note: Dorma was not introduced here. She's a Bill Everett creation, dating clear back to Marvel Comics #1.
Cei-U! I summon the piscatorial pedigree!
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Post by Farrar on Feb 11, 2016 15:53:29 GMT -5
Fantastic Four Annual #1
Story Title: “Sub-Mariner Versus the Human Race!” ... Thank you for reviewing this story, it's one my favorite Silver Age issues! Great review/commentary. I marvel at that amazing two-page Kirby spread every time I see it, I just love it. Alicia should be included in your "Characters Appearances" section for this story.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 11, 2016 21:28:25 GMT -5
I have to give CBD partial blame for the character appearance gaffs. I copied and pasted that section(as usual) but didn't catch the mistakes. I've had to add characters here and there in the past and make minor corrections, so I need to watch those guys.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 12, 2016 7:58:04 GMT -5
Here of course is the classic first page of FF Annual #1. I couldn't find it yesterday, for some odd reason, but I had to post it.
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zilch
Full Member
Posts: 244
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Post by zilch on Feb 13, 2016 0:41:17 GMT -5
Couple of quick observations...
Lee and Kirby really stretch their wings with the added page count of this story. A big culmination of the Namor sub-plot running through the MU up to this point.
Kirby's Atlanteans are more human in appearance than the original ones from Everett's golden age stories, with the exception of Fen and Dorma, they resemble catfish (i think), definitely not just blue humans.
The big "dragon" in the backround is a statue of some sort of monster that would have been at home in any late fifties Atlas book.
Next step for big, grandiose pictures is the Asgard views in Thor, i think.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 13, 2016 1:46:59 GMT -5
One of the thing's that always impressed me about Kirby's art in scenes like the on's above is that he took the time to design different styles of armor for each of the Atlantean warriors. Touches like that make those scenes far more pleasing to the eye.
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Post by Batflunkie on Feb 14, 2016 5:29:59 GMT -5
One of the thing's that always impressed me about Kirby's art in scenes like the on's above is that he took the time to design different styles of armor for each of the Atlantean warriors. Touches like that make those scenes far more pleasing to the eye. Agreed and you can never go wrong with a double page spread, sometimes it's the only way you can do art like Kirby's justice Also, is just me or does it seem like Jack is aping Bill Everett's style when he draws Namor and the Atlanteans?
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 14, 2016 9:17:08 GMT -5
Journey Into Mystery #96
Story Title: “Defying the Magic of…Mad Merlin! Cover Date: September, 1963 CreditsScript: Stan Lee (plot); Robert Bernstein (script) [as R. Berns] Pencils: Joe Sinnott Inks: Joe Sinnott Colors: Stan Goldberg Letters: Artie Simek Cover Art: Jack Kirby (pencils); Sol Brodsky (inks) Synopsis: The tomb of Merlin is discovered and his sarcophagus is being unloaded New York. Merlin is awakened after a thousand years and immediately decides to try and take over the world by becoming the real power behind President Kennedy, as he was the real power behind King Arthur. However, Merlin is not what he seems, and is in actually a mutant with vast mental powers. He battles Thor, and at one point levitates the Washington Monument, attempting to use it as a spear to attack Thor. Thor finally defeats Merlin by transforming into Donald Blake, claiming to be able to transform into any shape he chooses. Accepting defeat, Merlin surrenders and Thor forces him to return to sleep in his sarcophagus. Character Appearances: Thor [Doctor Donald Blake]; Merlin [Maha Yogi] (introduction); Jane Foster; Loki (cameo); President John F. Kennedy (cameo); Caroline Kennedy (cameo); Pierre Salinger (cameo); King Arthur (cameo, flashback) Comments: The best thing about this issue for me is the foreknowledge that it’s the last Bernstein issues before the start of the legendary Lee/Kirby run. I sort of like the idea that the ancient figure of Merlin was in actuality a mutant, but you have to wonder how this flew with readers at the time. The X-Men debuted this same month, so the significance of being a mutant was lost on most readers I’d assume. Once again, this is another Thor story that reads like a Superman story of the same period with none of the strengths of what will become the classic Thor mythos: Kirby’s majestic Asgard, inventive modernization's of Norse mythology, interesting super-villains not named Loki, cosmic grandeur, etc. Another positive is that I feel this was Joe Sinnott’s finest issues yet. He drew a particularly impressive close-up panel of Merlin’s crazed eyes on page seven. Character Development: Jane chews out Don Blake for bailing on a roomful of patients to save the passengers of a school bus that plunged into a river. She spends a good four exposition-filled panels reading him the riot act about his irresponsibility. One thing I can say for Bernstein is that his females are a bit more forceful than Stan’s at this point. Still, this dynamic wears thin when the rest of the issue is so poor. Personal Rating: 4. Another clunker, unfortunately. The plot had potential, mutant Merlin being an interesting concept, but the goofy Silver Age execution ruined it in the end. Historical Rating: 5. The “Merlin” of this story, who is better known now as Maha Yogi, would later be retconned has having only impersonated the real Merlin in a convoluted backstory where we learn that he was actually an ancient Aryan mutated by aliens known as the Caretakers of Arcturus and that he gained his long life from possessing a fragment of the Bloodstone.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 14, 2016 11:05:48 GMT -5
Sidenote: Last appearance (in continuity) of President JFK
I do hear rumors of a big mini-series coming up where he is revived as a Republican
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Post by Nowhere Man on Feb 14, 2016 12:40:24 GMT -5
Sidenote: Last appearance (in continuity) of President JFKI do hear rumors of a big mini-series coming up where he is revived as a Republican But he's "too young to be the President" as Merlin clearly thought. No one would buy it.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Feb 14, 2016 14:29:40 GMT -5
JFK was also the first character to crossover between the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe. Supposedly he revealed Superman's secret identity to Reed Richards
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,051
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Post by Confessor on Feb 15, 2016 6:59:19 GMT -5
JFK was also the first character to crossover between the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe. Supposedly he revealed Superman's secret identity to Reed Richards JFK (and his wife) were also busy hobnobbing with Herbie Popnecker over at ACG. Also...I want to say something intelligent about JFK's "Camelot" and Merlin's appearance in this comic. But I can't think of anything.
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