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Post by profh0011 on Aug 11, 2021 10:44:53 GMT -5
In retrospect-- and I mean, decades after I first read any of these-- it struck me that Buck Rogers & Buddy Wade in the 1939 BUCK ROGERS serial reminded me immensely of the characters of Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes in the early CAPTAIN AMERICA comics. With that in mind, it made sense for Steve Rogers in 1964 to suddenly have the "suspended animation / man out of his time" thing added to him.
It never crossed my mind about that solvent being used to help Zemo... but, since the guy pretty much KILLED Steve's kid brother (more or less), I doubt Steve had any reason to feel sympathetic toward the guy. Jack Kirby wrote such better dialogue for Namor in FF #6, I can't help but wonder just what got lost by the editor's insistence on doing the dialogue himself. For most of the 60s, Namor comes across as a real MORON, and a hot-headed one at that. What I didn't know for some time was that The Lava Men story was a sequel to one in the THOR series. But I don't know if they ever turned up again, after those 2 appearances.
The Teen Brigade seems like Kirby's latest in a long line of kid gangs going back to the early 40s. I don't think his editor liked the idea. The moment Kirby was off the book (for the most part), Rick Jones disappeared. Jim Steranko finally made Rick Cap's PARTNER in CAP #110, but when he jumped ship after only 3 installments, Rick was summarily BOOTED out of the book so Roy Thomas could use him in a TERRIBLE tribute to Billy Batson over in the CAPTAIN MAR-VELL series. (That just never should have happened. BAD idea, BADLY executed.)
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 11, 2021 10:51:17 GMT -5
Jack Kirby wrote such better dialogue for Namor in FF #6, I can't help but wonder just what got lost by the editor's insistence on doing the dialogue himself. For most of the 60s, Namor comes across as a real MORON, and a hot-headed one at that. What I didn't know for some time was that The Lava Men story was a sequel to one in the THOR series. But I don't know if they ever turned up again, after those 2 appearances. Jack Kirby wrote the dialogue for Namor in FF#6?? Didn't Stan Lee write the actual dialogue? And yes, Namor does come across as a hotheaded moron. Then again, he's certainly not alone in the Marvel Universe there. Yes, there was an editor's note that one of the Lava Men in this story is the same one that Thor met in Journey Into Mystery #97. I think that's a nice little bit of Marvel continuity.
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 11, 2021 10:52:26 GMT -5
I read Detective Comics #346. I think this is the third issue of Detective Comics from this era where I can tell they used the plot for an episode of the Batman television series.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 11, 2021 10:54:29 GMT -5
Jack Kirby wrote such better dialogue for Namor in FF #6, I can't help but wonder just what got lost by the editor's insistence on doing the dialogue himself. For most of the 60s, Namor comes across as a real MORON, and a hot-headed one at that. What I didn't know for some time was that The Lava Men story was a sequel to one in the THOR series. But I don't know if they ever turned up again, after those 2 appearances. Jack Kirby wrote the dialogue for Namor in FF#6?? Didn't Stan Lee write the actual dialogue? And yes, Namor does come across as a hotheaded moron. Then again, he's certainly not alone in the Marvel Universe there. Yes, there was an editor's note that one of the Lava Men in this story is the same one that Thor met in Journey Into Mystery #97. I think that's a nice little bit of Marvel continuity. Jack Kirby wrote every comic book story ever. And still does. Don't let the hype fool you.
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Post by Hoosier X on Aug 11, 2021 11:34:20 GMT -5
I love the first ten issues of The Avengers.
My favorite story arc in ALL OF COMICS is the first four issues of The Avengers and then Fantastic Four 25 and 26.
I call it GET THE HULK!
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Post by Rob Allen on Aug 11, 2021 14:33:31 GMT -5
Avengers #6 was my first, and I read it to tatters. A great introduction to the Marvel universe.
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Post by profh0011 on Aug 11, 2021 15:29:16 GMT -5
Jack Kirby wrote the dialogue for Namor in FF#6?? Didn't Stan Lee write the actual dialogue? Jack Kirby wrote every comic book story ever. And still does. Don't let the hype fool you. Yes. Jack Kirby wrote ALL of his own stories, with ZERO input from his editor. (The only exceptions would be things like, having characters from other books cross over.)
In a long COMICS JOURNAL interview, Kirby famously summed it up: "At Marvel, THE WRITER is not allowed to do his own dialogue."
The problem is, far too much of the time, the dialogue distorted the personalities of the characters, and changed the stories so there were often plot holes, contradictions and other things that were not present at the story (plot) stage.
As for FF #6, there was an article in one issue of THE JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR (I should really look it up to see which issue, and who the writer was). The article's author talked about how many people can tell who pencilled or inked based on art style, but the same was true of writers. And he had determined that FF #6 contained KIRBY's dialogue. The style was different. I had always felt that one issue was better than any of the ones before or after it in that era. I just never knew why. As soon as I read about this, I KNEW it had to be true.
There are 2 episodes of NICK FURY in STRANGE TALES where the editor was on vacation. For one, the dialogue was done by Denny O'Neil. The other, Kirby. The sad thing is, on that series, Kirby only did FULL pencils on 3 episodes, which were inked in turn by Dick Ayers (nice), Frank Giacoia (REAL nice) and Mike Esposito (sloppy rush job). All the rest Kirby did story & LAYOUTS, with others doing the pencils and inks (John Severin, Joe Sinnott, Dick Ayers, Howard Purcell, Ogden Whitney, John Buscema, and finally, Jim Steranko). Had Kirby been able to do full pencils-- or DIALOGUE-- or both-- that run by be better-remembed than it was. Jim Steranko did flashier art... but with few exceptions, his writing wasn't really as good-- or as coherent-- as Kirby's.
My own dream team would have been having Wally Wood do pencils & inks, or just inks over Kirby full pencils... with Kirby doing the dialogue. imagine if the art on NICK FURY looked like THIS...!
There is a HILARIOUS screw-up in STRANGE TALES #141, where they switch from one story to the next. By rights, the narration should have said, " 2 weeks later..." Instead, it starts with " Meanwhile, in another part of SHIELD HQ..." But this makes it look like Fury was in 2 parts of the building AT THE SAME TIME. This is what happens when the guy doing the dialogue is NOT the guy who wrote the story. It might have helped if SOMEONE ELSE had been the editor, over-seeing said dialogue (heh).
I LOVE that entire run, despite the behind-the-scenes confusion.
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 11, 2021 15:59:38 GMT -5
Jack Kirby wrote the dialogue for Namor in FF#6?? Didn't Stan Lee write the actual dialogue? And yes, Namor does come across as a hotheaded moron. Then again, he's certainly not alone in the Marvel Universe there. Yes, there was an editor's note that one of the Lava Men in this story is the same one that Thor met in Journey Into Mystery #97. I think that's a nice little bit of Marvel continuity. Jack Kirby wrote every comic book story ever. And still does. Don't let the hype fool you. And he created Spider-Man.
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Post by dbutler69 on Aug 11, 2021 16:01:35 GMT -5
I love the first ten issues of The Avengers. My favorite story arc in ALL OF COMICS is the first four issues of The Avengers and then Fantastic Four 25 and 26. I call it GET THE HULK! Avengers #5 notes that it takes place right after the events of FF #25-26. Gotta love that old school Marvel continuity!
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Post by commond on Aug 11, 2021 17:08:10 GMT -5
There is a HILARIOUS screw-up in STRANGE TALES #141, where they switch from one story to the next. By rights, the narration should have said, " 2 weeks later..." Instead, it starts with " Meanwhile, in another part of SHIELD HQ..." But this makes it look like Fury was in 2 parts of the building AT THE SAME TIME. This is what happens when the guy doing the dialogue is NOT the guy who wrote the story. It might have helped if SOMEONE ELSE had been the editor, over-seeing said dialogue (heh).
I LOVE that entire run, despite the behind-the-scenes confusion.
You must be thinking of a different issue of Strange Tales because I checked this one and there's no gaffe.
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Post by commond on Aug 11, 2021 19:52:25 GMT -5
I finished the fourth arc of Sandman Mystery Theatre. I really like the tight plotting of these four issue arcs. The pacing is excellent and everything ties together beautifully. The stories aren't really mysteries per se. We generally know who the killer is before the hero does. However, the way Wagner and Seagle pull together the plot threads is impressive. I do hope they start introducing some murder mysteries that happen outside of the main characters' social circles, however, as it doesn't seem plausible that they could be so closely related to so many different crimes (unless there is a storyline reason I'm missing related to Sandman's dreams.) I'm really starting to like the Dian Belmont character. I loved how they handled the discovery of Wesley's secret. It's such a strong dynamic with Wesley being guilt-torn over not being honest with Dian, and Dian discovering the secret for herself and being plagued by anxieties over how to broach the subject. They're well on their way to becoming a memorable comic book couple for me. One thing, though -- Dodds is supposed to be in his late 20s, but the way Davis draws him at times, and the way they color his hair, he often looks middle-aged. Am I the only one who feels that way?
I'm still going strong with Jonah Hex and Conan the Barbarian. I just read Jonah Hex #50. I have no idea how they are going to write Mei Ling out of the series -- is she going to leave him? Will someone kill her? The suspense is killing me. Conan just went through an amazing run -- one of the best so far -- but big John finally hit the wall and now we've got a reprint and a three-issue Howard Chaykin story that was supposed to run in Savage Sword of Conan. It's amazing how much work Buscema produced on a monthly basis, especially all of the extra work he somehow found time for.
For some reason, I decided to read the Punisher mini-series from 1986. I don't know why I did this. I guess for the same reason that I sometimes watch 80s action flicks. The mini-series was trying to be edgy and groundbreaking, but afterwards I read the first issue of The Question Quarterly, and that issue alone blew the Punisher mini-series out of the water.
On a whim, I read the three-issue Hawkworld prestige mini-series. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about post-Crisis reboots anymore. I used to think they were cool, but now I'm not so sure. There's a certain timelessness to great comic book runs, but with these reboots, I immediately place them as late 80s or early 90s. One thing I'll say for Hawkworld is that the art is absolutely gorgeous. I haven't read a lot of Truman's work, but the pencils I've seen on Grimjack are kind of ugly to me. His work on this series was stunning.
I also read Formerly Known as the Justice League. Justice League International is probably my favorite comic book series of all-time. I started reading it as a kid with the Kooey Kooey Kooey island storyline and was absolutely hooked. Many of my favorite childhood comic book memories involve hunting down the back issues of that series. You can never go home again, and you can never truly recapture the magic, but it felt like visiting old friends. There were a lot of characters whom I hadn't thought about in forever, and some side-splitting laughs. Maguire's art remains top shelf, and he's still a master of facial expressions. If you liked the humor of the original series, and the non-stop banter, then this sequel will feel like old times. The appeal of the original series was that it made fun of the doom and gloom of the mutant books and the stuff I mentioned above (Hawkword & the Punisher.) I'm not sure where the reboot fits in the scheme of modern comics (I did like the self-referencing joke they made about 80s nostalgia reboots), but it's the same silly fun.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 11, 2021 20:17:28 GMT -5
I totally agree that Wesley Dodds looked, and acted much older than his late 20s. Ages in fiction often make no sense, though.
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Post by profh0011 on Aug 11, 2021 21:36:22 GMT -5
"For, AT THAT VERY MOMENT..."
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Post by tartanphantom on Aug 11, 2021 23:16:21 GMT -5
Just finished a long-haul chronological re-read of Jonah Hex, beginning with his first appearance in All-Star Western #10, and continuing through Weird Western Tales #38, then to Jonah's first eponymous series in 1977-- 92 issues plus 1 DC Special (which gives the story of his eventual death). Interestingly, the DC Special Series story was published long before the finish of the first run, and its foreshadowing shows up later in the next series, titled simply " Hex", which puts Jonah forward into a Mad Max-esque future for its entire 18-issue run.
Overall, there is some great art and some great writing throughout, with Michael Fleisher handling a large portion of the writing throughout. I think Fleisher's continuance on the series provided the difference that made this character stand apart from other westerns of the day, as there are several over-arcing plot threads, instead of the stand-alone "good guy vs. bad guy" stories so often found in the genre. By the end of the 92-issue run, Jonah Hex was literally the "last man standing" in the western comics genre. The art is very good early on, with Tony DeZuniga (one of the character's creators) handling the bulk of the artwork throughout most of the ASW/WWT era. In the first self-titled series, the artists vary a bit more-- Jose Garcia Lopez handled the duties early on, with sporadic fill-in artists, until later taken over by Vicente Alcazar, and at times Luis Dominguez. There are also several issues where Dick Ayers and Romeo Tanghal team up for pencil/finishing duties. After that, Ayers and DeZuniga work together for most of the remainder of the run. There are also occasional guest-artist issues, featuring the likes of Gray Morrow, Ernie Chan, Dan Spiegle, and Ross Andru.
The follow-up Hex series is a bit more uneven, and reads as somewhat dated now. Nevertheless, Fleisher continues scripting duties, With Mark Texeira on pencils for 11 of the 18 issues. Unfortunately (for this particular series), Keith Giffen takes over on the artwork for the final 5 issues (#14-18) and almost instantly, the book is a very difficult read. No offense intended to Giffen, whose work I have enjoyed on other titles, but the hard angular lines and very confusing panel work makes everything a jumbled mess. Giffen utilizes a Jean-Luc Godard style jump-cut layout, often with extreme close-up panels, and virtually no long-shots or vista views. It's a poor attempt at art-film abstract close-up in 9-panel newsprint format, and I'm not sure if it worked out the way Giffen intended.
The original chronology ends there in 1987, and Jonah Hex doesn't appear in his own story again until 1993, when Joe Lansdale, Timothy Truman and Sam Glanzman team up to produce a five-issue mini-series under the Vertigo banner: Jonah Hex: Two Gun Mojo.
Although Riders of the Worm was not quite as successful as the first Vertigo series, it still spawned yet another sequel, again with the same team at the helm.
Although I've owned all three Vertigo series for several years, this was the very first time that I had read the 2nd and 3rd series. All three series take a definite turn toward the bizarre and macabre, which is rather apropos under the Vertigo imprint.
Two Gun Mojo was very enjoyable, and Lansdale seemed to really be focused on the complete story when he wrote this one. Unfortunately, Riders of the Worm is not as good, but still worth a read. By the time Shadows West was published, I felt that both the writing and the artwork had fallen off substantially. The last series is plagued with unnecessarily gratuitous profanity and innuendo, which I don't find personally offensive, but instead it seems rather trendy, forced and trite. However, this is somewhat characteristic of a number of Vertigo titles from around the late 90's, so I suppose in a way it was a product of the times. The plot also seems rather contrived and does not flow nearly as smoothly as Two Gun Mojo or Riders of the Worm. Finally, the artwork is much more cartoonish than the first two series. Truman and Glanzman did not give it nearly as much attention to detail as the first two series, and I suspect that Shadows West, was more of a quick cash grab than anything.
If you've never been a western comics fan, Jonah Hex could be the character that could change your mind... He's not your average Roy Rogers or Durango Kid. Instead, I'd put him in good company with Doug Wildey's "Rio" and Jean "Moebius" Giraud's "Lt. Blueberry"-- more "anti-hero" than cookie-cutter white-hat western hero.
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Post by MDG on Aug 12, 2021 8:30:47 GMT -5
I totally agree that Wesley Dodds looked, and acted much older than his late 20s. Ages in fiction often make no sense, though. People tended to look and behave much older (I won;t say mature) in the first half of the 20th century than they do now.
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