Marvel 1978 Week--Avengers #178

Well, it's been a while since we've had a special week around here, and as the clock is ticking down on 2008, we should take another peek back into Marvel's past. But this time, instead of hopping back forty years, let's settle on 30 years--to the halcyon days of 1978!!

This is especially exciting for me, as I got into comics big-time in 1976, so (most) of these I'm presenting this week were comics that I read "live" at the time--so I can see how they've aged for me.

December 1978 was a weird month for Marvel...it almost could have been called "Fill-In Month," as 2 (or 3, depending on how you count) of the 7 comics we'll be looking at were fill-in stories.

In the past few years, Marvel had been forced to run reprints in a number of their magazines when writers and artists ran afoul of the "Dreaded Deadline Doom" (leave it to Stan to make "not getting your job done" sound awesome and portentous). Jim Shooter had just become editor-in-chief, and instituted a "no reprints" policy. If a writer and artist weren't going to be done on time, he'd replace one of them for the month...or he'd just run a "fill-in issue," a story by another team entirely, usually not connected to the current run. Shooter preferred to call them "inventory" stories, commissioning stories for virtually every title to have on hand in case of deadline problems, or to fill the gaps between creative teams. And he was always ready to use them to keep Marvel comics shipping on time. Quite the contrast to 2008, eh?

Which leads us to Avengers #178:

An obvious rush-job by of a cover by John Buscema, basically a collage of stuff Shooter had told him was going to be in the story, with marginal coherence and no background. And the insides?

Yup, a fill-in all right. The Avengers had just wrapped up the epic "Korvac/Michael" storyline, and the title had some time to kill until David Michelinie and John Byrne were ready to start their run. So Shooter put the surprise team of Steve Gerber and Carmine Infantino in the driver's seat for one of the oddest one-offs in Avengers history. Gerber and Infantino?? Strap yourselves in, kids...

We start with one of the Marvel Universe's most self-evident premises: the ladies love Hank McCoy:

One of the more human patrons doesn't take kindly to striking out with those same ladies, though, so...


Well, it ends predictably enough, with Hank whooping him after a series of anti-mitant, anti-monkey and anti-Avenger slurs. His evening ruined, Hank skulks off into the stormy night, moping about his life, when he's confronted by an odd apparition:




OK, you don't see that everyday...Hank, quite naturally, freaks the hell out...and skedaddles back to Avengers Mansion, where he finds that his "friends" are none-too-helpful:

So Simon calls him a drunk, and Jan can't even be bothered to stop reclining in her comfy chair. Gee, it's really too bad she "died," isn't it?

His experience has McCoy growing increasingly cranky with his fellow Avengers...

...and even is wrecking his love life...


Well, all this philosophizing with a women we've never met before (and as far as i know, will never meet again) leads her to ask him an unusual favor...but it's all a set-up!!

Hmmm...who the hell is this costumed buffoon selling "mind-control" to a bunch of crime lords?

Why, he's the two-faced (literally!) Manipulator. Don't ask too many questions, because I don't have any answers...as far as I know, he never appeared anywhere again!! [CORRECTION: As commentator Menshevik noted, the Manipulator DID appear again, in Captain America #242 (1980), yet another fill-in issue where it was revealed that he was a robot (although he didn't know it!) Cap #249 it was revealed that that he was a creation of Machinesmith.]

Anyhoo, they entrap the Beast, and trick him into looking inside the MacGuffin box, and...


Which leads, of course, to the famous panel I teased last month:

Well, the dons are impressed by the ability to brainwash crime fighters, so they promptly hand over $10 million (in a check!!)...but it won't turn out well!!

Why would he betray them??

Of course, the CIA...you've got to remember, kids, in 1978 we thought the CIA was responsible for every bad thing ever...and it's all a 28-year-old set-up for the Civil War:

Surprisingly enough, it turns out that this has all been a very beneficial experience for Hank McCoy, as he recovers from the dancing and stream-of-consciousness poetry...

...and feels better than 10 years of psychotherapy!!

So it's all's well that ends well?? What about our CIA operatives? Well, they're about to experience a little bit of CHEAP IRONY THEATER:

O......K.....And so endeth a fill-in issue. No real ties to current continuity, which also means that it would never be followed up on in the future, so we'll just have to wonder to ourselves about the Manipulator's two-faces and odd-ass costume.

But it also shows that, in the right hands, a fill-in issue could be so much more...weird and funky and fun, focusing on heroes who might not be getting enough spotlight, and ideas that are just...weird.

ELSEWHERE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE:

It was all-dinosaurs, all the time. First we lead off with the end of an era: the final issue of Devil Dinosaur!!

Don't worry, though, as Devil (and Moon Boy!!) would get a guest-starring role in this fella's comic in a few months:

Ah, Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe, what a delightfully silly series. In this issue, Dum Dum Dugan uses Pym particles to shrink Godzilla down to manageable size...so they can take him back to New York City for study!!! SPOILER ALERT: That wasn't a good idea...

And finally, we have (also by Moench and Trimpe!!) Shogun Warriors #11--featuring giant Japanese toy-based robots beating up multi-headed giant lizard-thingies.

Man, when I was 14, the Marvel Universe was the coolest place EVER!!!

Full of Sound And Fury...

Some thoughts upon the "ending" of Skrullapalooza:

• Fair is fair, so I should acknowledge that, whatever else its flaws, Skrullapalooza was largely on time. There's certainly some utility, some virtue in actually bringing out a "spine" event for your entire universe in a timely manner. For comparison, we got 8 issues of Secret Invasion in the same time that we've seen 4 issues of Final Crisis. That's not to compare the artistic quality of the two--but in terms of keeping reader interest and maintaining momentum to establish a "shiny new continuity" (not to mention not keeping gosh knows how many other pending projects on hold), Skrullapalooza whooped Final Crisis.
• Perhaps as a consequence of prior delays, have you noticed that these spine events are trickling over less and less into the mainstream continuity? Ever since Civil War and Countdown, Marvel and DC have been less and less willing to have their ongoing series hijacked by inevitably late events. World War Hulk was pretty much ignored in every other Marvel mag--not a mention of NYC being devastated, Avengers Tower and the Baxter Building being flattened, etc--while instead we were given assorted mini-series so we could pretend this really was a universe-wide event. Skrullapalooza did cross over a little more...but the Fantastic Four, Thor, X-Men, Spider-Man, etc, couldn't be bothered to interrupt their own story lines to tie into the "new age" (Quesada's words) of the Marvel Universe--instead we got mini-series by different creative teams. If the patterns of WWH are followed (and if the solicits that have been released so far are an indication) we will never get even a mention in those mags of the universe changing events we've witnessed. Is this a preferable approach? Is it a sign that Marvel editorial has broken down into exclusive fiefdoms, where "I ain't tying into your crossover" is the rule rather than the exception? Discuss.
• One final bit of praise: however oddly and illogically it's been set up, it does sound as if there could be an awful lot of interesting story lines coming out of Dark Reign. Of course, I reserve judgment until some of those things actually happen, but there is some potential here.

There, that wasn't so hard, was it?

Ah, but there's' the flip side, isn't there? Why, on the whole, was Skrullapalooza such a disappointment?

• How, precisely, do the heroes win? In theory, the Skrulls have millions of soldiers at their disposal, now with Magic Super-Skrull Combo Powers. Not to mention an obvious advantage in space-age weaponry. I mean, when all of the heroes gather in one spot for the final confrontation, why not just freaking overwhelm them, outnumbering them 1,000-1, and with more powers? Or better, why not just launch a nuke or 12 from orbit?!? While the heroes are making their "last stand," why not just ignore them, leave NYC alone and take over the rest of the damn world? Bendis never seemed to grasp that we were facing a full-out planetary invasion by an entire star-spanning empire, as the heroes seem to win with less effort than they expended against the Red Hood's gang. The outcome is illogical, and rushed--a total anti-climax.
  
• Speaking of rushed outcomes, what happens to all the Skrulls? I know we'll surely get some details in the future, but wouldn't an invasion on this scale by shapeshifters cause a massive upswing in global paranoia, an inability to have the trust to create a new world order with a new S.H.I.E.L.D. and whatever else Norman Osborn is setting up? And we know there are more Skrulls out there--at the very least, Skrull Jarvis escaped with the baby. Shouldn't we have a planet where nobody trusts anybody anymore, were the merest interaction requires biological proof that you're not Skrull, where any and every problem is blamed on those damned shapeshifters? Apparently not--everyone is "phew, that was close" and is going back to trusting one man with unchecked power...this time just Osborn instead of Stark.
• Speaking of Stark--"World's Most Wanted?" "Will Stark be indicted?!?" For what, precisely? I shouldn't have to point this out, but according to Bendis' own timeline, S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated before the Civil War (before Stark took over), The Avengers were infiltrated before the Civil War. It's not as if he forced the world to buy Stark technology. Sure, he's a colossal doofus and a f#$%-up, but it seems obvious that the invasion would have happened even had we not had a Super Human Registration Act, even if Stark had never become director of S.H.I.E.L.D., even if everyone were one big happy Marvel family. Despite his crimes during the Civil War, Stark is mostly blameless here...and the populace of the Marvel Universe looks fickle and stupid (they now no longer care about Stamford??).
• Speaking of blame--Nick Fury trusted Spider-Woman, who was the freaking Skrull Queen, and dismissed Ms. Marvel as a Skrull. So much for all that time he spent in hiding sussing things out with bulletin boards and red circles. Where the heck is the public outrage at Fury for abandoning his post in time of invasion and running a triple agent who was actually behind said invasion?!?
• Who was a Skrull? As most people predicted, nobody important. Just as with DC's Millennium maxi-series 20 years ago, where we were promised earth-shattering revelations about what long-time characters we actually Manhunters and got bupkis, Skrullapalooza had no courage to do anything truly shocking. Jarvis? Please. She-Thing?? Stop the presses!! And making the cop-out even worse than it was, apparently everyone who had been replaced turned up alive and well. Cowardly, Marvel, cowardly.
• Speaking of cop-out city, not only do the good guys win ridiculously easily, with no casualties (even if you believe the Wasp is dead--she's not--than somehow miraculously returning Mockingbird from the grace counterbalances that), but we can't even remain true to the premises established. Stark tech is all compromised--oh, except for Maria Hill's LMD and ray gun and jetpack, conveniently. And except for Stark just happening to have "another suit of armor, not tied to the Starktech mainframe"--yet it still seems to have all of the capabilities of his old armor. And except for Nick Fury's big ass guns and magic teleporter. And the Scarlet Spider suits. And...well, you get the idea: total Plot-Convenience Theater. Pretend that you've completely disabled things, but actually not when you find you've plotted yourself into a corner.

Overall, though, the biggest flaw of Secret Invasion was the pathetic loss of so much potential. Bendis and Yu seemed content to shower us with splash pages and epic crowd scenes, rather than actually telling the story. The entire planet was under attack by an alien species bent on conquest, and we beat it with a Sharks vs. Jets rumble in the park? DC's Invasion! and Our Worlds At War we far better, more convincing depictions of that premise. They're Skrulls--anybody could be one of them!! No, we got Kirby the Pup. We're going to show what happens when we deprive our heroes of their most important technology...no, we're not, really. Look, all the Skrulls are Super-Skrulls now, they can do crazy things with their powers!! Not so much--aside from growing big, did we actually see a Skrull using anything more than a generic power beam within the series? Nope...just lots of static crowd shots of crazy quilt Skrulls not actually doing much.

The actual series itself was padded beyond belief, giving us, at most, 3 issues of content over 8 issues. Yet despite that, almost all of the big revelations took place elsewhere, in New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and Avengers: Initiative. It's almost funny--Bendis was apparently dead set on showing off how clever he'd been by showing us every clue he'd planted over the last 4+ years, every single moment of a couple of people being taken over and clandestine meetings and filling in background, all over the last who-knows-how-many issues of the Avengers mags. But if he had spent 1/10th of that effort on the actual invasion itself, and actually had something happen during it, it probably could have been a decent story. But instead we got huge build-up; deeeeeeeeeeeppppp background presented elsewhere; little of interest during the invasion aside from stilted, poorly drawn crowd fight scenes; and a rushed transition to the new status quo. For $3.99 per issue.

That was an awful lot of time and effort just to get to "Norman Osborn runs the planet now."

Friday Night Fights--Big Top Style!!

If you want a noisy battle, go to the circus.

That's the simple prescription followed by the creative team behind Luke Cage, Power Man #25 (1975). In a story way too convoluted to recap here, Luke and Bill Foster (Black Goliath!!) have become ensnared by Ringmaster's Circus of Crime--because, you know, every single Marvel hero had to become ensnared by Ringmaster's Circus of Crime in the 1970's.

In the ensuing battle royale, Cage spends most of his time going up against the Circus's strong man, named...uhhh...Strong Man. Dudes, couldn't you even try a little bit??

Luke strikes the first blow:

But the sucka keeps coming back for more:


Luke even gives him the backhand and the good old KRUMP!!


But this Strong Man is a glutton for punishment...he tries to sneak up on our Hero For Hire...

...but that doesn't cut it, sister:


That, my friends, is one mega-KRUMPed Strong Man!!

Bonus coverage--Power Man knocking the crap out of a clown:

Of course, Spacebooger never would have been captured by these goofballs in the first place...

Luke's Carnvial of Clobber was brought to you by Tony Isabella (plot), Bill Mantlo (script), Ron Wilson (art), Fred Kida (inks) and Charlotte J (letterer).

What *Really* Happened in Secret Invasion #8--Quasi-Spoilerish

I'll try to be discreet, but this is quasi-spoilerish...so wait and read Skrullapalooza #8 (a.k.a. Really? That Was It?), before reading this.

Apparently, a hero dies early on in the issue. But I beg to differ.

Carefully read what happens in those pages (as much as you can decipher from the frankly indecipherable storytelling by Lenil Yu), and compare it to these panels from waaaay back in Avengers #16 (1965):





Seems really similar, doesn't it? In Skrullapalooza, you don't actually see this character die; they just kinda vanish in a similar way to what Thor did to the Masters of Evil 43 years ago. And given Bendis' propensity to wuss out on any deaths on his big events (e.g., only Ant-Man and Jack of Hearts actually stayed dead after Avengers Disassembled, and I imagine they'll be back any day now), you can bet he did it this way to bring this person back in the not too distant future.

Much more on the inevitable creative flop of Skrullapalooza to come soon...

Celebrate With Siskoid

My main man Siskoid has just finished his unbelievably epic quest of reviewing ALL--that's right, every single one--of the Star Trek TV episodes and motion pictures. Once a day, every day, no matter what.

Post #726 went up Wednesday--726!!--and we should all congratulate him on his completely insane accomplishment.

He's not quitting...he's now taking up Star Trek comics and novels. Dude, I pity you..some of those Gold Key stories are....brrr....I get queasy just thinking about it.

He's not just a one-trick pony, though--it is called Siskoid's Blog of Geekery for a reason. Whether it's Spaceknight Saturdays, writing about his RPG experiences, creating his own unauthorized Doctor Who collectible card game--and lots and lots of comics stuff, too--there's always something worth reading, and vast archives to rummage through.

So drop by, read, congratulate him.

Oh, and this is my 500th post. Wheee.

Is There A Vogon In The House?!?

The splash page of Batman Family #17 (1978):

There's no story attached, no particular reason for this piece--just Batman in a goofy pose, and that...ahem...nice bit of doggerel. An odd way to open an issue, but what the heck, right?

There are no credits given, aside from Jim Starlin's signature in the lower right hand corner. GCD doesn't have any writing credits for this 1 page...it just lists Starlin as pencils and ink. So I suppose we should assume that Starlin wrote the poem, until we get some evidence otherwise.

Which means Jim Starlin rhymed "awesome" with "cross him." Which is too amazing to describe.

But let's take a closer look:

Oh, dear, that's so....special.

Now, this is ten years before the justly famous Batman #425, and before Chris Sims was even born, or else I might have suspected that this somehow his ode to Jim Starlin and "The Single Greatest Comic Book Of All Time." (Although I suppose if a time machine were to be involved, it would still be possible...)

But then I realized that I the answer was staring me right in the face all the time. Take a look at the bottom...when it says "The Batman," that's not a description of the poem's subject...that's the signature!!

Yup, The Batman was writing bad poetry about himself, describing how awesome he was.

Which, I suppose, explains an awful lot about "Zur-En-Arrh."

Manic Monday--Superman Vs. Kimbo Slice?!?

Time: late 1978. Spider-Man has just been cleared of all of the pending charges against him, so the marketeers and agents are coming out of the woodwork to sign deals with him. First up, there's a proposed TV deal:

ZING!! This is especially ironic, as the Spider-Man books of the era all have this on the cover:

Next up, a proposed comic book deal:


Oh, Spidey, how could you dis Jenette Kahn like that?

Of course, he's right...Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali didn't hit shelves until after Ali lost the title to Spinks...and Ali pretty quickly took it back, so Spidey was right to mock the concept of fighting Spinks.

Sadly, boxing is in such a state of disrepair and disrepute these days, I don't even know who is heavyweight champ right now (answer: 4 different people hold the title. I told you boxing was screwed up).

So if the project were to happen today, Superman would what--fight a wrestler? Someone from MMA?

Me, I'm old school. I'd only accept Superman vs. Clubber Lang.



Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard and Mike Esposito stick it to the man (and woman) 30 years ago in Amazing Spider-Man #186 ( November 1978).

What, No Terra-Man?!?

So, in Superman #682 (Triangle #6 of the Meet the New Krypton, Same As the Old Krypton saga), Supergirl, her parents, and a bunch of other Kandorians have made a decision in the wake of Doomsday's attack:

After our brush with Doomsday, we wanted to know we were safe from others who might attack us to get to you. Your foes are no longer something you have to deal with.

So they dash around gathering up Superman's foes, from prison, from Arkham, from just hanging around...and plop them into the Phantom Zone.

I have no real problem with the general concept. But you know what bothers me? Look at what we get:

From bottom left clockwise we've got Parasite, Silver Banshee, Bizarro, Toyman, and Prankster surrounding Mon-El.

This is what Superman's rogues' gallery has come to? Really?!? I mean, seriously, we barely even rise to the level of Spider-Man's deadly foes here. Prankster and Toyman?!?

(Note--since Luthor and Brainiac are both held by a secret military agency wanting to destroy Superman, they're no doubt shielded from the Kandorians' senses. Still, you'd think that given their experiences with Brainiac, they'd storm the Pentagon et al until they found him...why wasn't he goal #1??)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again--Superman has the lamest rogues' gallery out there.

Special note--after this panel, where a band of Kandorians breaks into Arkham to seize Toyman:

I'm going to be really cheesed off if Batman doesn't get involved in this rigmarole rather quickly with his secret stash Kryptonite...oh, wait, we're supposed to pretend that we believe Batman's dead, aren't we...)

Art Adams' Avengers Babies

Things I did not realize, example #370: Apparently, Ms. Marvel is only 10 or 12 years old.

Oh, wait, I guess not:

Baby-faced yet gravity-defying Carol Danvers brought you courtesy of Red Hulk #8 and Art Adams

Friday Night Fights--CHUGGA-RRUMPH Style!!

If we are to present bombastic battles bursting with scintillating sound effects, we need go no farther than Walt Simonson and his rapturously riotous run on The Mighty Thor.

Case in point: Loki, lord of lies and god of evil, has managed to tap a great power source and transform the God of Thunder in an Asgardian amphibian, to wit: A FROG. However, much to Loki's chagrin, Thor the frog has regained Mjolnir, and has been transformed into THE FROG OF THUNDER!!


Fear not, Marvel minions, this will be no quick battle, as Loki's malevolent magicks are quite capable of sound effects of their own:

To no avail, however, as the transformed Odinson show why no one--NO ONE--may trifle with the Thunder, even in frog form:



Meanwhile, the valorous Volstagg has been questing for the source of Loki's new found power. And, in what was surely a well-planned attack, the Lion of Asgard destroys the engine of evil with the most cacophonous avalanche in history--and it all starts with a "splic!"


How will this effect the Asgardian anura?

All back to normal!! "Shkrrasspp!" indeed!!

Yet all evidence of Loki's perfidious plot is now destroyed!! How shall the newly restored Thor deal with his sinister step-brother? Why, by giving him exactly what he wants, of course!!

And lo, thus ends another of Loki's sinister schemes--not with a bang, but with a KCUNK!!

Even Spacebooger must tremble at the fury of the Frog of Thunder (although he surely won't admit it!!)

True believer, the amazing action you've seen (and heard) here is courtesy of Thor #366 (1986)--written, drawn, inked, and probably personally delivered to newsstands by Walt Simonson, master of onomatopoeia!!

Rapturous Joy

From Dan DiDio's interview at Newsarama today:

The big question is where Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are going. They will be doing Superman: Secret Origin as a miniseries coming up later in the year...They’ll be doing the definitive origin of Superman as we’ve seen it all take place, and incorporating the changes that we’ve seen or suggested since Infinite Crisis.

Because the world hasn't had enough origin and early life of Superman stories yet...especially "secret" ones.

But if Johns ties in the various colors of kryptonite into his "emotional spectrum" theories, I might be on board.

On a conspiratorial note: interesting that DiDio calls out the changes "since Infinite Crisis." Hmmm, no mention of Final Crisis, eh? Should we infer that means there are no continuity changes coming as a result of FC?

We Interrupt This Broadcast

Can't post, busy cooking...

Bold Fashion Choices--Robin!!

From the center of Batman #259 (1974):

Uh-oh, this can't be good...

Oh boy, user-generated content that we can use free of charge to pad out our page count!! These 100 pages issues can be tough to fill...

Well, let the carnage begin...lets see what a "modern 'teen-age' image" looked like as portrayed by kids in 1975:

Remember kids--condoms can break!!

What if Robin became an Aquaman villain?!?

Entirely too happy...

Looks like a rejected Miracleman character.

Disturbing...

VERY disturbing...

I especially like Dick's porn star moustache in this one. Way to go, Carol!!

Still, I think we can agree, they're all better than this:

or this:

Manic Monday--Exclesior!!

For those who need the numbers, click for the readable version:

Stan's Soapbox, the complete collection of Stan Lee's columns from the Bullpen Bulletins pages through the years, is out...available from your local comic book shoppe or your finer online comics retailers.

I mean, you probably don't really need this, but it's published by Hero Initiative, which means the proceeds are going to a fine cause. And you must know someone that would enjoy this as a Christmas present...

I'm no salesman....we'll let The Man talk for himself.



So face forward, True Believers, shell out those shekels, and wallow in the mists of nostalgia.