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Post by james on Aug 25, 2021 9:44:03 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #51Thing and Beast! And Ms Marvel! And Wonder Man! And Nick Fury! I smell a card game! Creative Team: Peter Gillis-writer, Frank Miller-pencils, Bob McLeod-inks, Tom Orzechowski-letters, Glynnis Wein-colors, Roger Stern-editor Synopsis: Ben Grimm is on the roof of Avengers Mansion, dealing with a twitchy robot sentry, who doesn't care if it is an emergency. ben finally uses his FF Elevator Beam Device on it and it opens a roof elevator for him. he meets up with Nick Fur, who tells him to get his rocky keister in gear, as they are late for.... ...the big card game! Cap and iron Man begged off, as they and Fury have been at odds. Elsewhere, at a SHIELD arsenal (Do they host wrestling matches, like National Guard armories?), some soldiers try to bluff their way in, get called and deal the sentry a Dead Man's hand. See, I can do poker references! The trucks spread nerve gas, then soldiers hit the ground, headed for their target. Miller can't draw a beret to save his life! Back at the game, Ms marvel wins the hand, with a full house (aces and a pair of queens), when Fury gets the alert of the attack. At eh arsenal, the assault team uses high tech to open a vault and some techs work on something, which launches into the air. The SHIELD Helicarrier gets a radar contact on an incoming bogey and Dum-Dum alerts Fury. He scrambles the Avengers and Ben and they take the Fantasti-car to intercept. When they arrive on station, they find a surprise... The invaders have reactivated the Yellow Claw's Sky Dragon flying fortress (from Strange Tales #166) and are using it to try to board the Helicarrier. The heroes swing into action and bust some heads... Inside the Helicarrier, the invaders have breached a secure stronghold and have taken the Ultimate Annihilator. It is General Pollock, who was behind the Avengers previous battle with Nuklo, and Fury gets the drop on him. Fury gets shot in the back and kicked in the head by Pollock and he and his men escape back to the Sky Dragon. Wonder Man tries to pursue and gets zapepd by electrical cables, but he is too powerful. the General gets onboard and tells his men to release grapples; but, they are interrupted... The General and his men are taken prisoner, after Fury proves to be alive, thanks to his bulletproof sportscoat (Fury isn't going to wear a vest!). They head back to Avengers Mansion to resume the game, but, everyone is passed out before Wonder Man can bring in the java. Thoughts: This was a lot of fun and a nice use of SHIELD, especially for the time period. SHIELD had been turned into a cheap stand-n for CIA shenanigans by 1970s marvel writers who read too many articles in the Washington Post and movies like 3 Days of the Condor. I liked it better when SHIELD was Marvel's UNCLE rip-off and fought super-terrorists. I do have to say their security sucks, as the enemy keeps invading their facilities; but, then again, Red Cell used to make a mockery of security at Naval installations, when I was in the Navy (and we ran drills with them, for a week, including an afternoon, where they took over the building where I worked. The Navy rarely took it seriously and were made to look even more stupid for the attitude and they went so far as to trump up charges against Richard Marcinko, the commander of the unit, because he stepped on too many toes. he got the last laugh with a tell-all memoir and a series of rather bad technothrillers. Anyway, nice throwbacks to some of the Strange Tales SHIELD issues, as well as the Avengers own previous run in with Pollock and his mercenaries. Gillis does a decent job with the military stuff, even if Frank isn't exactly Joe Kubert, when it comes to soldiers. He gets the job done for this sort of thing. I laughed at the yellow and orange SHIELD security uniforms; but, Steranko established that in the Strange Tales days, even though it looked wonky (well, he had them orange, with yellow highlights, then had some troopers in yellow, with orange highlights, later). Subsequent Marvel artists kind of went back and forth with it. Clay Quartermain, who wore Orange in Strange Tales, kept it up when he was part of the Hulkbuster team, in the Hulk's series. Gabe Jones was switched between yellow and orange. Fury and Dum-Dum were always in the blue jumpsuits and thse were eventually standardized as SHIELD uniform, with colored equipment rigs signifying rank and/or specialty, by the 80s (as see in OHOTMU) I kind of miss that in the MCU. Not orange jumpsuits; but, SHIELD having slick uniforms. Maria Hill and a couple of others had something along those lines, but SHIELD soldiers were in basic tac-team utilities. SHIELD should always look more advanced than the US Army. I bet they even have a high-tech, complicated version of the basic P-38 can opener! If Steranko designed it, it will be the size of a cuisinart. Miller is actually a surprisingly good choice for SHIELD stories. he would later draw What If? #28, where Matt Murdock becomes a SHIELD agent, instead of Daredevil. It was surprisingly good. Nothing major here; just a lot of fun. Who did the cover? I think it's Perez because Ben, Beast and Ms. Marvel look like Perez 100% but Wonder Man and Nick do not!
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 25, 2021 10:10:27 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #51Thing and Beast! And Ms Marvel! And Wonder Man! And Nick Fury! I smell a card game! Creative Team: Peter Gillis-writer, Frank Miller-pencils, Bob McLeod-inks, Tom Orzechowski-letters, Glynnis Wein-colors, Roger Stern-editor Synopsis: Ben Grimm is on the roof of Avengers Mansion, dealing with a twitchy robot sentry, who doesn't care if it is an emergency. ben finally uses his FF Elevator Beam Device on it and it opens a roof elevator for him. he meets up with Nick Fur, who tells him to get his rocky keister in gear, as they are late for.... ...the big card game! Cap and iron Man begged off, as they and Fury have been at odds. Elsewhere, at a SHIELD arsenal (Do they host wrestling matches, like National Guard armories?), some soldiers try to bluff their way in, get called and deal the sentry a Dead Man's hand. See, I can do poker references! The trucks spread nerve gas, then soldiers hit the ground, headed for their target. Miller can't draw a beret to save his life! Back at the game, Ms marvel wins the hand, with a full house (aces and a pair of queens), when Fury gets the alert of the attack. At eh arsenal, the assault team uses high tech to open a vault and some techs work on something, which launches into the air. The SHIELD Helicarrier gets a radar contact on an incoming bogey and Dum-Dum alerts Fury. He scrambles the Avengers and Ben and they take the Fantasti-car to intercept. When they arrive on station, they find a surprise... The invaders have reactivated the Yellow Claw's Sky Dragon flying fortress (from Strange Tales #166) and are using it to try to board the Helicarrier. The heroes swing into action and bust some heads... Inside the Helicarrier, the invaders have breached a secure stronghold and have taken the Ultimate Annihilator. It is General Pollock, who was behind the Avengers previous battle with Nuklo, and Fury gets the drop on him. Fury gets shot in the back and kicked in the head by Pollock and he and his men escape back to the Sky Dragon. Wonder Man tries to pursue and gets zapepd by electrical cables, but he is too powerful. the General gets onboard and tells his men to release grapples; but, they are interrupted... The General and his men are taken prisoner, after Fury proves to be alive, thanks to his bulletproof sportscoat (Fury isn't going to wear a vest!). They head back to Avengers Mansion to resume the game, but, everyone is passed out before Wonder Man can bring in the java. Thoughts: This was a lot of fun and a nice use of SHIELD, especially for the time period. SHIELD had been turned into a cheap stand-n for CIA shenanigans by 1970s marvel writers who read too many articles in the Washington Post and movies like 3 Days of the Condor. I liked it better when SHIELD was Marvel's UNCLE rip-off and fought super-terrorists. I do have to say their security sucks, as the enemy keeps invading their facilities; but, then again, Red Cell used to make a mockery of security at Naval installations, when I was in the Navy (and we ran drills with them, for a week, including an afternoon, where they took over the building where I worked. The Navy rarely took it seriously and were made to look even more stupid for the attitude and they went so far as to trump up charges against Richard Marcinko, the commander of the unit, because he stepped on too many toes. he got the last laugh with a tell-all memoir and a series of rather bad technothrillers. Anyway, nice throwbacks to some of the Strange Tales SHIELD issues, as well as the Avengers own previous run in with Pollock and his mercenaries. Gillis does a decent job with the military stuff, even if Frank isn't exactly Joe Kubert, when it comes to soldiers. He gets the job done for this sort of thing. I laughed at the yellow and orange SHIELD security uniforms; but, Steranko established that in the Strange Tales days, even though it looked wonky (well, he had them orange, with yellow highlights, then had some troopers in yellow, with orange highlights, later). Subsequent Marvel artists kind of went back and forth with it. Clay Quartermain, who wore Orange in Strange Tales, kept it up when he was part of the Hulkbuster team, in the Hulk's series. Gabe Jones was switched between yellow and orange. Fury and Dum-Dum were always in the blue jumpsuits and thse were eventually standardized as SHIELD uniform, with colored equipment rigs signifying rank and/or specialty, by the 80s (as see in OHOTMU) I kind of miss that in the MCU. Not orange jumpsuits; but, SHIELD having slick uniforms. Maria Hill and a couple of others had something along those lines, but SHIELD soldiers were in basic tac-team utilities. SHIELD should always look more advanced than the US Army. I bet they even have a high-tech, complicated version of the basic P-38 can opener! If Steranko designed it, it will be the size of a cuisinart. Miller is actually a surprisingly good choice for SHIELD stories. he would later draw What If? #28, where Matt Murdock becomes a SHIELD agent, instead of Daredevil. It was surprisingly good. Nothing major here; just a lot of fun. Who did the cover? I think it's Perez because Ben, Beast and Ms. Marvel look like Perez 100% but Wonder Man and Nick do not! GCD credits it to George Perez and Joe Sinnott.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 29, 2021 17:53:25 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #53Spidey & The Hulk! And Woodgod. And John Byrne! Oh, my! Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer, John Byrne-pencils, Frank Giacoia-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, Don Warfield-colors, Archie Goodwin-editor. Synopsis: Hulk comes into a New Mexico town, which seems to be deserted. It smells funny and is covered in purple dust; but, Hulk likes it and thinks it must be his town. Hulk has civic pride and decides to clean up the place, so he can be proud of it... Hulk smash; but, first, Hulk ensure parks are clean and streets are well maintained! Hulk issue bonds to fund initiative. Hulk goes to turn a truck back onto its wheels and a man falls out of it. Hulk tries to make the figure talk, but is interrupted by Woodgod, who mutters on about The Scream and his father (Bacchus?) Hulk throws a door at stupid goat man. So do fans, judging by the way he seemed to mostly disappear, after being introduced! Meanwhile, Spidey has hitched a ride with the X-Men, after their adventure in Giant Size Marvel Team-Up (which I will cover next time)... They spot hovercraft on their radar and are then hailed that they are in a restricted area and the hovercraft fire missiles at them. the X-Men defend themselves and land. They pick up transmissions from the authorities, that something has entered the town. The X-Men need to get prof X back home, but Banshee stays behind to aid Spidey, who wants to investigate. Hulk and Woodgod fight.... Hulk lifts the truck to throw it and collides with an electrical wire and gets a jolt that causes him to switch back to Banner and lose consciousness. Woodgod is puzzled, but has to run fromt he people on hovercrafts... Banshee nearly drops Spidey into some burnt out trees, because he is too heavy (must be all those Hostess products) and buggers off back to the X-Men, since he didn't get title credit, on the cover. Spidey goes into Liberty on his own. Woodgod fights the hovercraft men and Spidey saves some, then talks to them. They are the military and some farmer broke open a cannister of nerve gas. Spidey happened to be sprayed by an anti-toxin, is GS MTU and is fine. Woodgod attacks and Spidey defends, then Hulk returns and we have a three-way standoff, as the issue closes. Thoughts: This is confusing as s@#$ and it is another case of needing to read other comics to figure out what is happening here. Listen, bub; I live(d) in a rural area, with limited access to comics. i shouldn't need to buy two other issues to figure out what is happening in this story, which is brand new for this comic (last issue closed out that storyline). So F-U, Marvel! I think I will buy an issue of The Phantom, instead. Seriously, this is why I hated Marvel, in the 70s. Without regular newsstand access, and one that carried the same sets of titles, consistently, these kinds of comics gave me headaches and I usually skipped them. It doesn't help that Woodgod was rather underwhelming in Marvel Premiere. Oh, look, an ersatz Pan! Put on some Zamfir and dance around the fire! Meh! The basic plot seems to be a swipe of the Andromeda Strain (Bill Mantlo swipe? the hell you say!), which will be ironic, after my next entry in this thread. You could also point to Village of the Damned, for a similar thing, with a dead or deserted village, with some kind of extraterrestrial source of the problem. Crichton wasn't that original, either. Byrne is rather subdued, here. This would be early stuff; maybe he is still trying to prove himself, before going nuts with things. Giacoia is a bit different than Terry Austin, to boot. There might be an intriguing mystery here, if I didn't need to read two other comics, before hand. That devalues this greatly, in my eyes. Letters page has one from Fred Hembeck, who liked the Wraith storyline. He did not care of the Killraven or Deathlok issues, any more than I did. Probably because nothing really happens in them.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 29, 2021 19:18:30 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #53Thing & Magnavox! Oh, wait, that's Quasar. Wrong tv! PROJECT PEGASUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Creative Team: Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio-writers, John Byrne-pencils, Joe Sinnott-inks, Dian Albers-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Roger Stern-editor Synopsis: Ben is flying over the Adirondacks region of New York, in the FF's Pogo Plane and he is in a mood. He is headed for Project PEGASUS, where he got into a brawl, and he is feeling guilty about leaving Wundarr there, to be a lab rat. He makes contact with the control tower and is vectored to a landing pad, at the impressive facility. The pad then starts to drop below the surface, as it is a hydraulic lift elevator, which is bringing him to the internal hanger. He is met by PEGASUS security. ben is there to spend some time working with security, in exchange for being able to check on Wundarr. ben is shown around, then taken for processing, to enter the facility. He is scanned and bio-recordings are taken, he's deloused and voiceprint recorded, for access. He is scanned, recorded and prodded at various points, before finally being issued his security card and decoder ring... He then meets the PEGASUS Chief of Security, the Crusader! Whoops, no, it is not Bob Grayson, aka Marvel Boy, aka The Crusader, the 1950s hero, who had been driven insane and attacked the FF. They tussle, with the former Marvel Man, SHIELD agent Wendell Vaughn thinking Ben is just testing him and he subdues Ben with an energy cage, similar to the one Captain America used on Ben, the last time he smashed up PEGASUS. Vaugh introduces himself and his new codename, Quasar. He then relates the history of Marvel Boy, from gaining his energy bands on uranus, to being a superhero, to a fanatic who attacked the FF, to how Vaughn's father was tapped to analyze the energy bands for SHIELD, leading to Wendell putting them on and using their power to join the SHIELD Super Agents, as Marvel Man. That group broke up, after fighting Captain America, after he revealed that the Corporation had infiltrated their ranks with a traitor, Blue Streak. It is further revealed that Vamp was also a Corporation agent, which just left Texas Twister and Marvel man as the legit agents, and Twister quit before they found out Vamp was a plant. Quasar shows Ben around and they run into Thomas Lightner, the former Blacksun. Ben still doesn't like him. Afterward, Lightner goes to his quarters and speaks to a shadowy figure, over a communicator, reporting in to the Nth Command... he says the presence of Ben complicates things. Meanwhile, Thundra is walking the streets of New York, at loose ends, after her adventures with the FF. She comes across someone threatening an African-American little person and intercedes... She beats the crap out of the attacker and the little person, Herkimer J Ogelthorpe, asks if she has ever done any wrestling. She says she has, on Femizonia, and Ogelthorpe sees dollar signs. he just happens to be a promoter and he thinks he has a found his own Wendy Richter (mixed with Chyna). Back at PEGASUS, Ben is shown to Wundarr's room, where therapist Dr Jeanine O'Connell works with him. He is little more than an infant in an adult body, practically comatose, after his encounter with the Cosmic Cube, the last time Ben was here. He emits an energy dampening field, which Ben soon discovers affects the energy within the body.... Ben is shown his own quarters and settles in, when we see Lightner, in a passageway, zap a guard and then another figure opens up the access hatch to a ventilator shaft and enters the PEGASUS complex, via it. The shaft has sensors that identify any living thing entering it, but the figure does not activate any of those sensors. Ben is bored and goes prowling around for some marks to lure into a poker game. he hears a noise, but doesn't see anything. He heads off looking for players, while we see the figure, out of the shadows... Deathlok! Thoughts: This is primarily introduction and exposition, as our characters make their entrances and we get their backstories. Quasar is fresh from his failed gig with the SHIELD Super Soldiers, which fell apart as soon as it started, since SHIELD doesn't perform background checks on its agents. He is related to Marvel Boy, via the energy band that give them power. Marvel boy appeared in the 50s and was later retconned to be part of the 1950s Avengers predecessors, as well as the Agents of Atlas. In the FF, the adult Bob Grayson, after the death of his father, suffers a breakdown and becomes the crusader, a fanatic who attacks the FF. he is seemingly destroyed and only the energy bands remain. Later, Vaughn appeared as Marvel man, in Captain America, when the SHIELD Super Agents debuted. Here, he gets a name, Wendell Vaughn, and his own identity, even though he still wears Bob Grayson's costume. Lightner was a shady character before and was Blacksun, before that. Why Ben would think he is kosher now is beyond me, though this story needs a man on the inside. The Nth Command wants something from this project, which is supposed to be about developing and exploiting alternate energy forms, including the energies used by some super-villains, as we will see. They send Deathlok inside, since he is dead tissue and cybernetics, while Lightner works on the inside. What he is doing will be apparent next issue. Thundra had been in the FF stories and she is pulled into a subplot, that will intersect into the main, down the road. She is about to enter the world of professional wrestling, in the years before Hulkamania. In fact, at this point, Terry Bollea was working in Alabama and Memphis, as Terry Boulder, then, after appearing on a local tv show, alongside Lou ferrigno, he was known as Terry "the Hulk" Boulder. He would also wrestle in georgia, as Sterling Golden. The next year, he would arrive in new York and be dubbed Hulk Hogan, by Vince McMahon Sr. Even that was 4 years before Hulkamania would blossom. Pro wrestling was popular in the 1970s, but was a regional thing. What is now known as the WWE, was called the Word-Wide Wrestling Federation, soon shortened to World Wrestling Federation. It cover the northeast area, including New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington DC, making it a lucrative place to work. At this point in time, Bob Backlund was the WWF Heavyweight Champion. Macchio and Gruenwald were fans and they namedrop a few wrestlers across their issues, especially once the Grapplers are introduced. Several people at Marvel seem to have been fans. David Kraft wrote a pro wrestling story, for Captain America #271 and Ben became a pro wrestler, in his own comic, as the Unlimited Class Wrestling Champion. Later, pro wrestlers Scott Levy (Raven) and CM Punk would write comic book issues, separately. Raven's was about Crusher Hogan, the wrestler that Spider-Man defeated in his debut, after gaining his powers (called Bonsesaw McGraw, in the Raimi film, and played by Randy "Macho Man" Savage). Thundra is actually a good character for a wrestling plot, as her background is as a warrior and wrestling is a form of gladiatorial combat. The storyline kind of blurs the idea that wrestling is staged and that it is real competition. Project PEGASUS is a riff on The Andromeda Strain, but mainly in the PEGASUS facility and its unction and security measures, which go awry. In The Andromeda Strain, Project Wildfire is an underground lab complex for analyzing alien microbes and viruses, including the one that killed all but two residents of a Southwestern small town. The film depicts elaborate decontamination and security features, as characters enter the facility... Marvel helpfully provided us with a schematic of the PEGASUS complex..... They were also pretty open about The Andromeda Strain being the inspiration for the facility, though the plots are vastly different. By the by, the FF's Pogo Plane was inspired by two prototype VSTOL aircraft: The Convair XFY-1 Pogo and the Lockheed XFV-1 "Salmon"... The Convair Pogo was the more direct inspiration for the plane, though the FF's is a jet aircraft. They worked reasonably well and had decent flight characteristics, but landing was a bugger! VSTOL research moved on from this concept to explore vertical flight via ducted or rotated fans or jet engines, leading to things like the Harrier. So, our actors have been introduced and out stage is set. Next issue puts the plot at the center, as Ben encounters Deathlok and we find out what he has been up to, since Ben recovered him from the hands of Mentallo and the Fixer and the Fixer's control mechanisms were removed. This is one of my favorite Marvel storylines, of all time. It is pure intrigue and action, with a great cast of characters, a terrific setting, and a plot that just chugs along. It really needs to be adapted for the MCU, though they already wasted PEGASUS, in the first Avengers film, as just a SHIELD research facility. You do need to introduce the FF to the MCU, first. PEGASUS would also influence the later Vault and The Raft, the super-villain prisons that would be introduced, down the line. DC did beat them to the punch, though, with Superman Island, in Superman #331, about 6 months before.
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Post by zaku on Aug 30, 2021 2:09:59 GMT -5
Marvel in the 1970s was strangely inconsistent about what could make the Hulk revert to Banner.
Quietly doing relaxing home cleaning didn't do the trick, but an electric jolt worked?
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Post by badwolf on Aug 30, 2021 8:51:44 GMT -5
Only Woodgod's face bears any sign of Byrne's style in those pages.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 30, 2021 13:44:38 GMT -5
Now we are into some good times in MTIO. It is a great run here with the creation of Project Pegasus with spectacular Byrne and Perez artwork. As you say, a very favorite and fun group of stories.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2021 14:32:32 GMT -5
Gotta do some backtracking for an annual... Marvel Team-Up Annual#1Spidey & The X-Men! I don't know if this X-Men revival is going to catch on. They are kind of goofy looking, compared to the originals. Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-co-plot & script, Chris Claremont & Bonnie Wilford-co-plot, Sal Buscema-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, Jim Novak-letters, Hugh Paley-colors, Archie Goodwin-editor. Too bad Dave Cockrum only did the cover! Synopsis: The story begins at some top secret government facility, but I wish they would give us the name of it... Some Senate fink is there to snoop around and whine about taxpayers' dollars and constituents and blah, blah blah. He is introduced to the team, though he already knows his ex-wife and her new lover. He denigrates the contributions of the project administrator, since she is a woman..... Something tells me most of these characters will be in the background for most of the story. They are doing alternate energy research and an Indian scientist has figured out how to irradiate common minerals, which will be a boon to mankind, as nothing could be more beneficial than more radioactive material, especially artificially induced radiation! Then, Mother Nature flips science the bird and sends an earthquake their way. My source material seems to be missing a page, because we cut to Peter Parker, on a plane, being introduced to scientists and senators, by someone named Sir Lionel, and the page starts out in mid-dialogue... The plane also carries prof Charles Xavier and his students, who are there in place of Reed Richards, since Prof Xavier is an expert on mutations. The Senator makes hay about their presence and Wolverine steps in to nearly make shredded wheat of the senator, when Peter Parker cools him down. Wolverine starts to argue when the plane runs into a black cloud and starts shaking violently and an engine goes out, while they start to dive. Figures are seen flying towards the plane. They are robots, from The Nest, but they treat the plane as a hostile and fire upon it. prof X sends the "students" out to deal with them. Petey switches into Spider-gear and helps. They swat away the robot sentries and are able to land the damaged plane safely enough, though the senator gets mouthy about things, again. he's also a racist and refers to the X-Men as "muties."He then gets mouthie to the Commie, when he tries to pacify things. The Russkie has a home-made geiger counter and the radiation levels are off the chart and he points the direction. seeing as they have no radiation suits, they blunder towards the source of intense radiation. Whoops, they do have a solution; the Commie just happens to have a cylinder full of anti-radiation spray (mixed with Right Guard, for a fresh scent)..... Science! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA................ Science.....as if........... Prof Xavier has a headache and isn't much help and Storm and Banshee go down. Wolverine wants to fight everyone, but Nightcrawler pacifies him about Spidey, who he met before (Spider-Man #162). They meet up with some non-Indian people using the names of Hindu figures, who look a lot like the team from The Nest.... They zap everyone and take Jean Grey, as "The One" and the rest are held in an energy field, while she is somehow changed out of her travelling clothes and into her Phoenix unitard, and made to kneel submissively before the pseudo-Hindus. Jean wakes up, reads their minds and learns what happened.... Nightcrawler comes up with a convenient way to get free of the energy field, which the JLA used a decade before, when they fought the Apallaxians. The Hindus need energy and intend on sucking out all of the earth's, but need Phoenix as a foci. She flips them off, Wolverine gets all slashy-slashy and it's on! Then, they start discombobulating and threaten to take the Earth with them. Spidey figures out how to send them into space to draw energy and not harm living things and Phoenix accomplishes it, with the help of the X-Men. Thoughts: An okay story; but it doesn't do much for me. The science is pretty bad, even for comics ad the rest of the plot is pretty cliched Marvel stuff. It's more of an X-Men story, with Spidey along for the ride; but, Mantlo isn't Claremont and Sal & Mike just don't have the Cockrum or Byrne touch. The Nest team is supposed to have been mutated and altered, thanks to the Indian scientist cultural memories of Hindu beliefs. Mantlo also throws some shade at Indira Gandhi's government, which was hardly a great bastion of democracy, with the scientist's background. It's not a great X-Men story and it isn't a particularly great team-up story. Just kind of average stuff, from an average team of creators. not exactly the kind of thing I want in a special issue. This then leads into MTU #53, as the X-Men drop Spidey off and ignore a threat because they weren't booked to be in the story. Mantlo just isn't setting the world on fire with this book, though neither did Conway. The sooner Claremont gets on it, the better.
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Post by badwolf on Sept 5, 2021 15:06:11 GMT -5
That annual has probably the weakest villain origin I've ever seen -- an explosion gives them the powers of Hindu gods because... they were studying them???
I was really disappointed with the issue when I got it a few years back.
Yeah, it's not Sal's best work. Why does Martin Aaronson look so familiar? S.B. stock look maybe.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2021 15:17:52 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #54Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-writer, John Byrne-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, George Roussos-colors, Archie Goodwin-editor Synopsis: The military stereotypes have Spidey, Hulk and Woodgod surrounded and capture Hulk & Woodgod in a net. Spidey tells off Maj Tremens, then interferes and frees the pair, with the military firing rockets at them. Hulk blocks them and Tremens claims to be trying to help them, because of the nerve gas they sucked up. Spidey says "Pull the other one" and sides with the "freaks." The soldiers gas them and Spidey succumbs, this time. Spidey wakes up in chains, while Captain Kirk...er, Major Tremens monologues..... (Imagine the dialogue in William Shatner's voice) Tremens plans on shooting Woodgod into space, and Spidey says he has evidence of the truth. Tremens sends a pair of Red Shirts to recover Spidey's film and he suckers them into releasing his bonds and he runs wild. Spidey still has metal mittens and booties, but they are more like weapons than restraints. He finds Woodgod and frees him, and he returns the favor by smashing Spidey's mittens. They find the Hulk and let him out. The military turn up with Kirby Artillery and force the trio towards the rocket. Hulk says "Come and have a go, if you think you're hard enough!" and takes a full blast in the chest and flips them off. They go to recharge and he slaps a shockwave out. The gantry collapses under Hulk and he falls, but catches himself. Woodgod destroys the cannon, which explodes. Spidey takes a crack to the head and falls into the rocket, which Tremens launches. Hulk goes after it, but it reaches stage separation and the capsule fires ahead, while Hulk's section falls away. Woodgod smacks Tremens and walks off, to disappear until Mantlo drags him into the Hulk's comic, down the road. Thoughts: Meh! Never liked Woodgod and Mantlo trying to shove him down our throats in what should have been a Spidey and Hulk crossover just makes me not care. The military are all ridiculous post-Vietnam stereotypes and Byrne's art is the only positive and Esposito isn't helping that. At least there are more spots here where it looks like Byrne, though it is sadly in need of Terry Austin. Woodgod was just too generic a creation, with a Pan design and none of the mythical trappings to make him interesting. Kirby did it long before and Roy Thomas followed, with far better results than Mantlo. Mantlo wrote some good comics (the Wraith stuff, until the trial bit), but these are not examples.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2021 16:47:41 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #54Thing & Deathlok! And Quasar and Thundra and Wundarr. Nice Perez cover. Creative Team: Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio-writers, John Byrne-pencils, Joe Sinnott-inks, John Costanza-letters, Bob Sharen-colors, Roger Stern-editor Synopsis: We pick up where we left off, as Ben blindly wanders toward Deathlok's ambush. Deathlok fires his maser and draws blood on Ben's arm, who is dumbfounded. He prepares a second shot, but Ben crushes the maser and Deathlok's cybernetic hand, then lifts him up by his throat to demand answers.... Deathlok says he has no more living tissue within him and Ben notes that he has a metal plates on both sides now, instead of just the left side. Deathlok kicks him away and Ben is weakened from blood loss. Deathlok pulls out his back-up maser and charges it to fire, when Quasar turns up with PEGASUS security to rescue Ben. Deathlok buggers off to continue on primary target. Ben says he thought SHIELD had Deathlok under observation and Quasar says SHIELD lost track of Deathlok months ago. Heck of a security organization that Fury is running. Deathlok continues towards his target, but alarms are going off and security doors close. he uses the maser to burn through them, while passing Wundarr's room. Deathlok locates a shaft and climbs down it to the area known as The Pit, where radioactive waste is stored, for future disposal (probably in New Jersey). He starts building something called an Nth Projector, which means he plans to kill everyone by boring them to death with his holiday slides. Quasar tracks Deathlok down, using his wristbands to trace his energy signature and he is out to prove himself, after the SHIELD Super-Agent failure. He confronts Deathlok, and they battle, but Deathlok hits Quasar with gas bombs and he starts losing consciousness. Deathlok aims his maser and fires... Quasar blocks, with an energy shield and the backlash damages Deathlok. However, his programming overrides self-preservation and he continues the attack. He has Quasar on the ropes, when Ben turns up, minus a wing... Ben tosses him like a ragdoll, but Deathlok is able to deliver a jolt from his exposed wiring. He is cornered, but goes into attack again and a PEGASUS guard blows his left arm and shoulder off. He tries to attack again and gets it from two guards and then Quasar realizes Deathlok has activated a self destruct and he lets loose with his wrist bands. He obliterates Deathlok's chasis, though the head is still functioning, when it explodes. Meanwhile, at Kowalski's Gym, Thundra engages in a "scripted" wrestling match, with a woman called Poundcakes. Thundra throws Poundcakes, then starts "shooting" on her and wraps her in a leg scissor. The opposing manager sends in the rest of his lady wrestlers, including Titania, Mimi and Letha. Guess Moolah had Lelani Kai and Judy Martin booked elsewhere. Thundra makes short work of them... She vaults over the ropes as the manager berates Ogelthorpe and threatens him with his backers. Meanwhile 2, Thomas Lightner, in a hazmat suit, finds the Nth Projector unfinished. he reports to his superiors who tell him to proceed with alternate plans. Ben runs into an old friend, Bill Foster, aka Black Goliath and they catch up, as the corpse of Atom Smasher is brought into the holding area, known as The Compound, for study. Later, Lightner comes into the Compound and enters a cell, marked Nuklo. He releases a containment cage, freeing the mindless nuclear monster, who fought the Avengers! The letters page reminds us that issue #49 included an homage to Dark Shadows, which I missed, since that show scared the pee-pee out of me, as a young child. I remember coming home from school, seeing Barnabas Collins baring his fangs and running away from the tv screaming. Luckily, Gilligan's Island was on next. Thoughts: More mystery and a nice use of Deathlok, though he appears to have been altered by someone; probably this mysterious Nth Command, to whom Lightner reports. He says he has no living tissue left, suggesting Luther manning's brain is gone. The dual sided skull casing suggests just that. His target seems to be an act of sabotage, possibly to cause an explosion in the Pit, which could create a nuclear incident. he is stopped before he can complete things and self destructs; so, it would seem that Deathlok is gone, from the present. Lightner is still getting around, without suspicion, though you would think that he access to various areas, particularly The Pit and the Compound, would be logged, given that the last issue showed that everyone was scanned and cataloged to keep track of them. Convenient gap in the system. Kowalski's Gym is a nod to Canadian wrestling legend Walter "Killer" Kowalski (Edward Wladyslaw Spulnik). Kowalski was born in Ontario, of Polish immigrant parents. He was 6 ft 4 in by the time he was 14. he was skinny for his size and started working out at the YMCA. He was attending college and working at a Ford plant, when he got into wrestling, as Tarzan Kowalski; and, later, Hercules Kowalski. he got the name Killer after a notorious match against Yukon Eric. Eric had a heavily "cauliflowered" ear (calcified cartilage, from broken blood vessels; the mark of old-time wrestlers, from headlocks and the like) and Kowalski did a knee drop onto him, from the corner and came down the side of Eric's head and tor off part of the calcified ear. Eric was hospitalized and Kowalski went ot visit, so the story goes, and started laughing when he saw Eric wrapped in bandages (probably working reporters and photographers who were there, interviewing Yukon Eric). One of the reporters said, "This guy is a killer" and the name stuck. Kowalski went on to be a major figure in pro wrestling, where he was a big draw in Toronto, Montreal, New York and Boston, where he held a version of the World Heavyweight title that came about in the early 60s, after disputes between some promoters and the National Wrestling Alliance board of directors (the key NWA promoters). After retirement, he became a trainer, opening a wrestling school in Boston. Among his trainees were Paul Levesque, aka TerRa Ryzing, aka Jean Paul Levesque, aka Hunter Hearst Helmsley, aka Triple HHH, aka Vince McMahon's son-in-law and likely head of the promotion when he retires (he is married to Stephanie McMahon, Vince's daughter); as well as Chyna, The Eliminators: Perry Saturn & John Kronus, and April Hunter. He made an appearance on Late Night With David Letterman, back in the 80s (Dave grew up a wrestling fan, in Indianapolis, watching Dick the Bruiser), where he showed off some of his photography... Kowalski answers the standard question with a pretty good fake out... Kowalski is also notorious for one of the worst rugs, ever! He also became a vegetarian, around the midpoint of his career, which lost him some muscular bulk, but increased his cardiovascular stamina and improved his in ring work. The segment presents wrestling as "scripted," which was a common mistake among people who thought they knew how pro wrestling worked. There was never a "script" until the last couple of decades. A "booker" laid out storylines and angles to run on tv, to entice fans to come out to see live matches, in the arenas. "House shows" would continue the storylines, as the tv angles would generate matches that would go around the circuit (same guys wrestled each other in each town on the circuit), building to a big show in the major city, within the territory. There would eventually be a "blow off" match, which was the climax of the feud. The booker would give the wrestlers the "finish" or ending of the match. For example, Ric Flair would "go over" or win, after 40 minutes, using the Figure 4 Leglock. That was as far as anything was planned. Ric Flair and his opponent would go out to the ring and improvise the entire match, incorporating their signature "spots" (moves or reactions to moves). They would pace themselves based on the reaction of the crowd. if the crowd was cheering and yelling, they would milk the reaction, drawing it out, continuing what they were doing. If they were quiet, they'd do something to liven them up, like the heel pulling a cheap shot to rile them up, or the babyface hitting a spectacular move. They would take the crowd on an emotional rollercoaster as the babyface would come close to a pin, but fail to get the third count or the heel would cheat and work over the babyface, hiding his illegal tactics from the referee, until he is finally caught or the babyface makes a "comeback" and starts getting his licks in. So, rather than working like a movie script, pro wrestling was more like improvisational theater, like Second City, where they took a premise (the angle or feud) and improvised a match around it. The really great performers could go out and do this with any opponent and make them look like a million bucks; guys like Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage, Chris Benoit, Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne and Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. Others had spectacular looks that made them great opponents for the heroes or great heroes to fight the villains, like Hulk Hogan, Ox Baker, or Lex Luger. Then, there were the monsters and special attractions, like Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy or Haystacks Calhoun. The lady wrestlers we see Thundra fight are homages to The Female Furies, from jack Kirby's Mister Miracle. Titania is an analog of Big Barda, Poundcakes is an analog of Stompa, Letha is akin to Lashina, and Mimi (later Screaming Mimi) is a distortion of Mad Harriet. There is no Bernadeth. Thundra also kind of fills the role of Barda. I suspect that is Gruenwald's doing, though I have no idea about how much of a fan Macchio was of the 4th World. Mimi will eventually go on to become Songbird, of the Thunderbolts. Gruenwald and Macchio also take us on a further tour of the PEGASUS facility, showing us The Pit and The Compound. The Compound will be a central setting, as it is a holding area for energy-powered super-villains and we will encounter some more, starting with Nuklo, the child of The Whizzer and Miss America (rather than Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, as Whizzer once thought). As it turned out, we were not done with Deathlok, as he was brought back, alive, in Captain America, in the fan favorite storyline, drawn by Mike Zeck. This did put a cap on his use, though, for the next few years. Bill Foster, as Black Goliath, fought Atom Smasher in his very short-lived comic and the villain was killed. As we will see, the battle also affected Foster. Next issue says goodbye to John Byrne and hello to George Perez, as Bill Foster gets a makeover. ps that isn't a typo above; Deathlok is using a "maser," or Microwave Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. It creates a coherent beam of electromagnetic waves, as opposed to the light waves of a laser. It actually predates the laser. Masers have been used in radio telescopes, space probes and atomic clocks, but they have also been at the center of research into energy-based weapons and were famously depicted as energy cannons in Toho's Godzilla and the two Gargantua films (Frankenstein Conquers the World and War of the Gargantuas).
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Post by berkley on Sept 5, 2021 19:36:53 GMT -5
a few random thoughts:
Once again, Byrne's art under Sinnot's inks doesn't look all that much like Byrne, at a glance. Not that the resulting product looks bad, just a little generic and lacking in personality.
I remember Killer Kowalksi very well from Grand Prix Wrestling on tv in the early 70s. I recall liking him at the time even though he was something of a "bad guy". I think on that show he wore a mask from time to time, but not consistently.
The Female Fury analogues look like a bit of a mixed bag, in terms of quality: I like Letha's design and Titania's wasn't bad, though a bit humdrum, the rest not so much. Looking up a few online images, they looked their best when Perez drew them: back then Perez's figures were more rounded and full-bodied than they would become later in the 80s. The later redesigns were all for the worse, going by the few I saw.
Like so many non-superhero characters, Deathlok to my mind seems completely out of place and underpowered in a superhero universe.
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Post by badwolf on Sept 5, 2021 19:49:12 GMT -5
Next issue says goodbye to John Byrne and hello to George Perez, as Bill Foster gets a makeover. Very annoying as I recently read this story in the JB Marvel omnibus and it is lacking the conclusion.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 5, 2021 23:54:22 GMT -5
Next issue says goodbye to John Byrne and hello to George Perez, as Bill Foster gets a makeover. Very annoying as I recently read this story in the JB Marvel omnibus and it is lacking the conclusion. Yeah, I never quite understood the rationale for reprinting a single chapter of a continued storyline, in a collection devoted to an artist. If he didn't do the whole storyline, why include it? To be fair, each chapter is more or less contained, in terms of concluding the battle with the issue's threat, while the bigger story continues in the background and into the next issue. The fight with Deathlok does have a conclusion, though you are left with the cliffhanger of Lightner releasing Nuklo. Project PEGASUS was reprinted three times, with a trade collection in 1988 (one of Marvel's early trade collections), a hardcover, in 2009 and another trade version in 2018. I had the early one. Bought it, the Dark Phoenix Saga, Demon in a Bottle and the Byrne & Stern Captain America collections within a few years of each other. I had the original MTIO issues though, except the Grapplers chapter, until I picked that up, in college. Missed that issue on the stands, back in the day.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Sept 7, 2021 14:16:01 GMT -5
Yeah, it's not Sal's best work. Why does Martin Aaronson look so familiar? S.B. stock look maybe. He reminds me a little of Arthur Nagan from the Headmen.
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