As we’ve talked about before, team books were big business in the early 1980s. DC had a great-selling book set in the present day in Teen Titans, and a great-selling book set in the future in the form of the Legion of Super-Heroes. However, they didn’t have something that took place in the past – at least, not until former Marvel EIC Roy Thomas arrived at DC in the aftermath of a dispute with Marvel management.

At the time, DC’s universe was divided into a set of parallel worlds, with the “main” universe being designated Earth-1 and each additional number relating to a gimmick of some sort, or containing characters from companies that DC had ac2quired through the years whose histories obviously wouldn’t gel with that established for the main DC characters. Earth-2’s idea was that all of the heroes in the modern books had aged naturally from when they first appeared prior to WWII, and that’s where the Justice Society originally appeared. However, most Earth-2 books at the time of Thomas’ move were more concerned with telling stories of the children of the heroes; Thomas’ idea was to explore Earth-2’s past, with superheroes operating during World War II. This was basically Thomas’ dream project, and he went to town on the book.

Of course, the stories weren’t pure JSA stories; while Thomas made it a point to keep Hawkman around in virtually every issue, the stories mainly revolved around a set of DC characters that hadn’t received much of the spotlight (and, it should be noted, whom no one really cared enough about to object if Thomas messed with their histories). The first storyline stretched through the first three issues and dealt with FDR (who was a recurring character in the series) forming a new team of heroes to search for the missing JSA. Thomas’ penchant for mixing in real-world historical events shone through very clearly here, as the entire first story was set against the backdrop of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

I missed the heyday of the series, but through a series of happy coincidences I managed to piece together the first ten or so issues through a sadly-departed feature of comics, namely the discount store dollar bag. The above two issues were Thomas’ first where he started to focus on what became his core team, with Hawkman joining the more obscure characters Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick, Robotman, Shining Knight, Firebrand and, eventually, Commander Steel and Tarantula. The occasional JSA members wouls show up from time to time, but the series was really about that group.

Thomas’ artist was Jerry Ordway, who, like Thomas, was a longtime fan of the WWII-era heroes, and he provided the artistic punch that pulled Thomas’ stuff up to a higher level.

The WWII setting allowed for a lot of stories that had more resonance than they would during a modern era. Obviously, the debut of new villain (and eventual hero) Amazing Man wouldn’t be that big a deal… except that he was a black character in a WWII-era book.

This is the first issue I actually owned, and aside from confusing the heck out of me (it features Superman, Batman and Robin along with the regular cast, plus a cameo by the Sandman), it was notable for the debut of Tarantula’s new costume, which I always thought was one of the sharpest in comic books in spite of being predominantly black and brown. Tarantula, aka author Johnathan Law, would wind up as a supporting player in one of my favourite DC series, Chuck Dixon’s Nightwing.

Thomas eventually got to include some of the other DC hero teams of the era, in this case the Seven Soldiers of Victory. I mention them and not, say, the Freedom Fighters, because, well… they’re going to show up in JLU.

Fine, here’s the Freedom Fighters as well.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and in this case All-Star Squadron was the DC book that was hurt the most by Crisis on Infinite Earths. While most of the regular cast was immune from wholesale changes, characters like Superman, Batman and especially Hawkman’s histories weren’t really tied to the WWII-era anymore. making any of their appearances in the book to be of questionable validity (ironically, Thomas gets credited for introducing the term “retcon” to the lexicon in an All-Star lettercol a couple of years prior to COIE). While Thomas managed to re-align the book under a relaunched title, Young All-Stars, he never got back to the highs of those first few issues. Thomas then looped back around and told stories of the children of the All-Stars and JSA in Infinity, Inc..

[one last quick note: if you're reading JSA and have no idea what story they're referring to, odds are good that it will be some Infinity Inc. storyline. For such an obscure series, it gets called out a lot.]

All-Star Squadron isn’t really collected, but it’s not had to track down if you’re interested.

by Joshua Ortega (writer), Mel Rubi (art), Luke Lieberman (executive editor)

The Story: We are introduced to Sonja, the warrior queen of Sogaria, whose realm is being invaded by the Emoran army. Then, flashback to four months earlier, when Red Sonja was hired to help a small territory defend itself against Sogarian raiders. She takes the job, but her first encounter with the enemy turns out to be far different than she expected.

What’s Good: I can’t say enough about Rubi’s art. The action sequences are dynamite, the jewelry, clothing and weapons vivid, the “camera angles” varied and interesting, the faces expressive and the settings evocative. The first page is a great example of the draftsmanship that Rubi brings to the table, with an intricate crown, expressive posture and grip, smooth, but textured skin and shining gems. Rubi treats us to a several splash pages, and it’s worth mentioning that the actual dialogue and text-box writing is quite sparse. Most of the story is told through the art and this was a wise choice by Ortega.

In the parts where we hear Ortega’s voice more directly, the individuality of each character shines through the dialogue. One of the brigands she deals with in the first part of the story doesn’t use pronouns. Another says “prolly” instead of “probably”, which says a lot more about him in one mispronounced word than most writers and artists could show us in a page. Ortega gives Red Sonja a few one-liners, in part because she makes at least three dramatic entrances in this first issue.

There is also a back-up story by Roy Thomas, Estaban Maroto, Neal Adams and Ernie Chan from the mid-seventies that has been recently been re-colored by Jose Villarrubia. It is an excellent story and the new colors and printing on better paper really outshine the pulpy paper and give the story more power. It was also a real treat to see some Neal Adams work re-colored as if it was new.

What’s Not So Good: Very hard to complain about such a great book. For the record, I might have criticized Sonja’s state of occasional or partial undress gratuitous in other settings, but the fact is that this is part of how she was conceived by Robert E. Howard and how the setting perceives her.

Conclusion: You get a whole lot of quality story and first class production for only $2.99 with Queen Sonja #1. I started reading Red Sonja because of podcasts I’d heard from Dynamite, but I’d felt a little lost jumping in mid-story. This is a great issue to get on board.

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

Sono anni fausti per i fumettari nostalgici – e se avete seguito questo blog dall’inizio avrete capito che io ne faccio fieramente parte- in Italia.

Un sacco di ristampe di materiale degli anni ‘60 e ‘70 fuori produzione, pubblicato incompiutamente all’epoca o addirittura ancora inedito da noi, affollano gli scaffali dei negozi di fumetti e tra queste uscite ci sono cose curiose, cose per completisti, cose belle e varie cose imprescindibili. Ecco, a mio avviso, in questo caso siamo nel territorio dell’Imprescindibile.

Conan è l’avventura pura, il set base del romanzo di sword and sorcery, la pietra angolare della fantasy eroica, la materia primigenia di cui sono fatte le sberle la birra e le tette. Se da piccoli non avete voluto vivere almeno un giorno come Conan siete stati dei bambini sprecati.

I volumoni cartonati delle ristampe de La Spada Selvaggia di Conan sono una manna: ristamperanno in meno di 10 uscite tutta la gloriosa (e ormai da decenni inedita) serie degli anni ‘70 di Roy Thomas sulla quale si avvicendarono alcuni tra i più mportanti illustratori dell’epoca: da Barry Windsor Smith a John Buscema (che rese iconico il personaggio) a Gil Kane, Ernie Chan e Alfredo Alcala. Soprassedendo su una veste grafica un po’ pacchiana come è uso in casa Panini-Marvel Italia, dentro oltre le storie che – ripeto-  sono magistrali sotto ogni punto di vista ci sono anche molti approfondimenti sul personaggio letterario e sul suo autore, Howard.

Per la prima volta poi avremo le storie non solo raccolte assieme in una collana antologica ma anche a dimensione maggiorata, di modo che i meravgliosi disegni diano il meglio.

Il prezzo è di 25 euro, non poco ma  tuttosommato onesto se paragonato a operazioni corrispettive della Planeta DeAgostini, siamo al secondo volume e il primo è ancora reperibile… Se non avete ancora iniziato potete rimediare facilmente alla mancanza.

Su questo numero Thomas ci fa  volare via con una saga bellissima disegnata superbamente da J.Buscema ma soprattutto inchiostrata in maniera-che-non-ci-si-crede da A.Alcala che a mio avviso è stato uno dei grandi del fumetto americano (anche se filippino), ahimè sconosciuto ai giovani.

La storia “Il popolo del buio” del sovrumano Alex Nino è semplicemente uno dei più grossi trip grafici mai visti nel fumetto americano.

Poi oh: un sacco di mazzate, jungle, mostri, predoni, magia, fanciulle discinte, regni da conquistare e sangue da versare… Insomma, non ho capito: che vorreste di più? Che vi ci alleghino un bong carico?

CROM!

Clic

Via: The Comics Reporter

La guerra Kree-Skrull, la saga team-up madre di tutte le maxi-saghe Marvel, la saga che gettò le basi per la recente saga della “Secret invasion”, viene ristampata in ben due edizioni (Marvel Italia e la Gazzetta dello Sport) dopo una quindicina d’anni, immagino proprio contestualmente all’uscita di Secret invasion.

“Una guerra in atto da sempre tra due potentissime razze aliene finisce per coinvolgere la Terra.
 Questo evento intreccerà le vite di molti supereroi: Vendicatori, Inumani e Fantastici Quattro su tutti”.

Ecco la trama in soldoni, ma non è quella che mi preme analizzare: ve lo comperate e ve lo leggete se non lo avete ancora fatto… Quello che mi interessa è dire: “Roy Thomas è un cazzo di genio!”.

Se andiamo a vedere ad esempio cosa usciva all’epoca (1971-72)  per la “Distinta Concorrenza” in ambito di team-ups, il massimo a cui possiamo ambire sono gli Annuals delle “Crisi”  della Justice League of America con l’ annuale incontro multi-dimensionale  con la Justice Society of America di Terra 2 (raccolti in tre bei volumetti dalla Planeta DeAgostini col titolo “Crisi sulle Terre Multiple”) che si son svolti ogni anno dal 1963 al 1974 : una ventina di tizi in costume si beccavano una volta all’anno per debellare una minaccia che assediava Terra 1, Terra 2 o entrambe… Poi ognuno a casa sua, tipo un cenone di Natale ma con le botte e le tutine.

Zzap! Bang! Sock! Ka-pow! E si risolveva la faccenda, perlopiù, storie divertenti, qualche genialata di Gardner Fox, qualche tavola memorabile… Storie che hanno sicuramente vari meriti, non ultimo il fatto di aver creato ed espanso il concetto di multiverso nei fumetti, concetto sul quale campiamo di rendita tutt’oggi.

Roy Thomas (con l’aiuto di un Neal Adams in collaborazione febbrile)  la fece un po’ più complicata: per quasi un anno tenne mezzo cosmo Marvel in balìa di una guerra trasversale che coinvolgeva tantissimi eroi, pianeti, dimensioni e quant’altro, su più livelli narrativi, unendo con un filo rosso molte trame sparute dell’ allora già nutrita storia Marvel e creando di nuove sottotrame, alcune delle quali si sarebbero dipanate mesi dopo la pubblicazione della saga e le cui eco sono arrivate per anni, fino a oggi appunto con Secret Invasion.

Senza contare poi le varie implicazioni metaforico\sociali sul razzismo, la ricerca di nuovi punti di riferimento per la società ameircana, l’accettazione del diverso etc etc, tipiche delle storie dell’epoca (come già dissi riguardo a L’ Impero Segreto).

La cura inedita con cui Thomas affrontò questa maxi-saga servirà d’esempio per tutti dopo di lui, dando una nuova idea di “continuity”, tutto sembrava ora connesso e vitale, un “tutto” in relazione anche al di fuori di quello che vedevamo nei saltuari team up nelle serie regolari. Qualche anno dopo Thomas andò alla DC e mise il suo spirito da archivista e la sua certosina abilità a collegare i punti delle cronologie al servizio della serie  All Star Squadron, un atto d’amore retrospettivo (e anche un enorme sforzo di ricostruzione) verso la Golden Age senza precedenti allora.

Ai disegni de “La guerra Kree – Skrull” si alternano i fratelli Buscema ma soprattutto Neal Adams, che riesce a mettere in ombra persino un titano come John Buscema.
Adams è il capo della Silver Age, Adams rendeva oro ogni cosa che disegnava:  con le sue tavole dinamiche e drammatiche, coi suoi disegni dettagliatissimi, avrebbe reso avvincente da leggere anche le istruzioni di un aspirapolvere se le avesse illustrate e ti saresti sentito un cretino a saltarne anche una sola vignetta! Ecco cosa penso guardando il lavoro di Adams su questa saga.
Vedergli disegnare qui alcuni eroi per la prima e ultima volta è assieme una gioia e una tristezza.
Nel trambusto di battaglie qua e la nello spazio di questa saga mi sento di segnalre un piccolo detour che è la storia in cui Ant-Man fa un viaggio all’interno del corpo di Visione privo di “vita” per scoprire come riattivarlo: “Viaggio al centro di un androide”, che bomba.
Ecco amici, scusate la lungaggine ma questa saga è una pietra miliare tanto “kids’ entertaining” da un lato, tanto sfaccettata e importante dall’altro… In sostanza, come dicevo sopra: comperatevela.

The Essential Captain Marvel collects the first two attempts by Marvel to utilize the trademark they were able to nab from Fawcett.  

The first try, while interesting at times, is pretty much as bad as it sounds given its reason for existence.  In these issues Mar-Vell (yes that’s his name) is an alien scout for a race that may want to conquer the Earth, but who winds up sympathizing with the human race.  The first few issues by Roy Thomas work out OK with the concept (Gene Colan’s art helps a lot), but then Arnold Drake takes over and has no idea what to do with the character.  He shifts things into slightly more traditional superhero fare, but can’t quite jettison enough of the book’s origins to allow it to make any sense.  

Which brings about the character’s first revamp, thanks to Roy Thomas (again) and the amazing Gil Kane on art.  This time everything that made the character somewhat unique is discarded in favor of creating a totally a standard superhero comic.  Mar-Vell even gets saddled with perennial sidekick Rick Jones in order to make things seem even more derivative.  But there is Gil Kane so it’s not all bad.

Well I said last week that this looked like a pretty spare week for comics, yet when I got home I somehow had a pretty good size stack of comics. My buddy at Comic Relief in Berkeley talked me into taking a look at some new stuff that came out this week. So let’s check it out, first I’ll get the stuff I mentioned last week out of the way.

Cable #11 is a story that comes directly out of the Messiah CompleX crossover from last year. Cable continues to run through time with the all important messiah baby, who is now seven years old. This title really illustrates one of my main complaints about Marvel lately; titles are disrupted to accommodate some big shake up to the status quo, and the end result is some throw away mini series or unimportant new title. Examples of these unnecessary titles in recent history would be Avengers: The Initiative, the Emperor Vulcan mini series and some but not all of the recent Inhuman minis. The most recent addition to this list would be Secret Warriors #1. Now there’s no reason that any one of these titles couldn’t be good, they do after all represent new ideas and status quos in the Marvel U. The problem is, more often than not, these titles are almost willfully unimportant or poorly executed. Ed Brubaker spent twelve issues of Uncanny X-Men setting up a space opera with two of the three Summers brothers, Havok, and the newly discovered Vulcan, fighting it out with millions of lives in the balance. In the mini series to follow all the momentum is gone, and this storyline only seems to be getting worse. Plus at the end of the day, the threat that Vulcan poses remains firmly in space and has no bearing on what’s happening back on earth where all our other characters are. I say poo on that!

I don’t want to complain too much, but dammit, what’s up with this Secret Warriors crap? The idea is that this is Nick Fury’s backup team in case something ever happens to the other heroes. Guess what? None of these kids could hold a real hero’s hat. How many stories have you read over the years where the hero was the last, only, line of defense against total disaster? Oh, that’s right, that would be Every Superhero Comic Book Ever! So what the hell? Secret Warriors should be called The Initiative, Vol. 2., it is, after all, drawn by the same dude. Without even going into the writing or art though, it can easily be argued that the A-List heroes have a lock on the last line of defense gig, look for a different angle. Speaking of that, if you did want to read something that had a new angle on the Marvel Universe, you should read Brian K. Vaughan’s Runaways 1-24. Runaways was a nice little (mostly) self contained story that occupied its own unique niche in the Marvel U.

Amazing Spider-Man #585 came out this week. Since this is a weekly book, I’m going to wait until it is done to talk about it. It’s the second issue in the second John Romita Jr. run on the Spidey weekly.

I wrote all the stuff above before I read The Invincible Iron Man #10. I haven’t been too into this book but I have to admit, this issue is pretty good. The story deals with Tony Stark in the aftermath of the Skrull invasion. He’s on the run, Osborn is hot on is trail, and suddenly I’m rooting for Tony again! What the heck!? Is this the same Tony Stark that’s been messin’ up my beloved Universe for the last few years? It is, but I gotta admit, he’s lookin’ good, he’s doin’ cool stuff, I’m laughin’ out loud, and it only takes one issue to turn you around on a character and make you want to see what happens next. This goes to show that a good creative team can make the best of a bad situation. If Matt Faction and Salvador Larroca stay on this title for a while, it could get pretty good. Faction has been coming up as the heir apparent to Ed Brubaker and this could easily be his Captain America if he does it right. Is that a little over optimistic? Maybe so, but lets wait and see.

So that’s my previously stated list, except for Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3 of 5. To write about that, I would have to read the first two issues and I can’t find my copy of the first issue, so I’ll have to come back to that later. Now on to stuff I did not list last week:

This week I got four new titles, a one shot, and a reprint of a long forgotten number one from years past: Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk #1. This reprint heralds the coming of the last two issues of this mini series that’s been delayed I don’t know how long. Hey guys, all is forgiven. This comic still looks good and I’m ready to see what happens.

Dead Irons #1 is a four part mini series published by Dynamite Entertainment. As a publisher, you gotta respect Dynamite’s efforts, they seem pretty smart. They got Garth Ennis and Alex Roth doing some decent work for them, and John Cassaday, of Astonishing X-Men fame, is doing the covers for Garth Ennis’ upcoming title, Battlefields. A good cover artist can definitely generate some interest.   As for this particular title though, it’s not really my thing. The art is good, (the covers and art direction are by Jae Lee with the interiors by Jason Shawn Alexander) and the story seems interesting enough, I’m just not into gothic cowboy horror, which is what this is.

I just noticed all these #1s are by different publishers, from Image we get Bad Dog #1. This title is about a werewolf bounty hunter and his slobby partner. I checked it out, there are a few pretty good beats in here but it’s not for me. Also, it’s four bucks!

From Vertigo we get Bang! Tango #1 which, like Bad Dog, is written by Joe Kelly. What a weird comic! Really, this comic is about some dancer guy, and no thanks.

Coming back Marvel to close out the week, we have Agents of Atlas #1 in their new ongoing series. If you don’t know, a little while back we had a pretty good mini series re-boot with these characters, a superhero oddball team from Marvel Comic’s days as Atlas Comics, B.F.F. (Before Fantastic Four.) These characters are pretty cool, a human turned ape, an alien, a robot, a goddess, a fish girl, and the leader, a…Asian guy. No really though, James Woo is cool, this is a pretty cool team and we see them sparring here with (guess who?) Norman Osborn. We shall see how this title develops. Also, there is a pretty cool backup story with Wolverine and the Agents of Atlas back in 1958.

Lastly, I got an X-Men vs. Hulk One Shot written by Chris Claremont. I only got it because as a back up it has a reprint of the Hulk fighting the original X-Men from X-Men #66 written by my boy Roy Thomas and drawn by my personal hero Sal Buscema. Workaday lettering by Artie Simek.

Whoo! That was a lot more work than I expected! Here’s what I’m keeping and eye on for next week:

Action Comics #874

Booster Gold #17

Green Lantern Corps #33

Nightwing #153

Amazing Spider-Man #586

Incognito #2 Oh Boy! I liked the first issue, a new Ed Brubaker title to keep you eye on. If you missed the first one, don’t worry, a reprint of #1 comes out this week too.

I feel like I should mention that Thor #600 is coming out, only because it is an anniversary issue. I’m not planning on reading it though.

See you next week!

-Ronald Rosebud.

The first one came so easily to me, that I decided to do one more. And John bringing up the terrifying mental image of a roller skating Iron Man just made me think of this guy:

BLUE STREAK! The hard-skatin’, gas mask-sportin’, rootin’, tootin’ supervillain. God, I loved the late 80s, the age of over-armored bad guys with horrible “current events” gimmicks. Blue Streak first appeared waaaaay back in 1978 in a Captain America comic. Of course, back then his costume was fashioned after another timely fad…DISCO.

Groovy, man. I don’t even want to go into what’s wrong with that picture. Let’s just stick to the later version.

The Marvel editors must have spent a lot of free time wandering the aisles of the nearby Modell’s. A “battle suit” made out of shoulder pads, a catcher’s chestplate, knee and elbow pads, shin guards and a ski mask is not something you stumble upon by accident, unless you have a shopping cart and a limited budget.

The sad thing is that he’s not even wearing Rollerblades, which would’ve been somewhat more acceptable. I think. No, this guy’s sporting the old school skates…the kind of outfit you expect from the Freddie Mercury lookalike in the mesh tank top cruising down the Santa Monica promenade. How did Captain America take this guy seriously. Sure, he could fire lasers from his wrists and throw down razor-edged caltrops from his fancy hip pouches, but when it comes down to it, he’s a bright blue dude on roller skates. You know how you defeat someone like that? Trip him.

Son of a bimbo??? Did he just call Cap a “geek?” I’m sorry, Roy Thomas and John Buscema must’ve lost a bet to have created this tool. It is nice to see Cap on his Ameribike shooting out the ass-end of his Amerivan though. VROOM!

And what’s with the gas mask? Was Blue Streak moving so fast on his little training wheels that he was actually at risk of losing his breath? My guess? That mask is actually just used to catch the tears of shame streaming down his cheeks.

You know you suck as a bad guy when another bad guy makes it his life’s work to kill you.

Scourge: Saving Evil’s Reputation, One Mercy Killing at a Time.

Jason was kind enough to take the lead on this post because he’s better at finding and posting pictures than I, and because he seemed to need to get some thoughts about this guy off his chest. Sadly, he has once again said most of what needs to be said about this loser. Of course, I made that statement about Night Thrasher, and still managed to ramble on about him at length, so let’s see if I can do that again, shall we?

I would actually very much enjoy picking on his original, Disco-era costume, but I suppose we shouldn’t be too harsh on that decade, since fashion took a holiday for those ten years. Perhaps his costume looked good when it debuted, although I’m guessing it was considered a fashion faux pas even back then. I’m sure that Blue Streak and his creators thought that the new, armored duds were an improvement over the white leather suit with the blue lightning, but you know, they were kind of wrong. Sure, the armor makes practical sense, so they get points for that, but then they immediately lose those points for choosing to make the armor ugly, and decidedly impractical in many ways.

Certainly, if one is roller skating along at speeds of 40-50 mph, one would want head and face protection, if for no other reason than one doesn’t want to pick bugs our of one’s teeth. However, the design of the helmet (or ski mask; I’m unclear as to whether that’s supposed to be a thin helmet or a thick wool mask; I’ve been studying the art and it’s not horribly clear and I can’t find the information online anywhere) is so unnecessarily ugly that I have to wonder what the designer was thinking. The worst thing about the headpiece is that ridiculous air hose, which makes him look like some sort of alien. While I agree that an air supply probably wasn’t necessary, I don’t begrudge Blue Streak having one, except that it would have been possible to use one that wasn’t connected to a distracting hose, particularly when that hose goes….nowhere? The best I can tell is that the other end of the hose is connected to the back of his suit, which seems odd, since shouldn’t it connect to an air tank? Is he basically sniffing his back? Man, I hope he doesn’t stop for beans before a superhero fight; that air hose could end up being deadlier than any fight with Captain America!

Besides, what self-respecting villain would want to use an air supply that was dependent on an old fashioned hose like that? That hose is begging to be cut, and Captain America could easily sever it with one throw of his shield. Considering that armored heroes like Iron Man had been running around with internal air supplies for years before this outfit first saw print, I’m not sure why Blue Streak felt he needed to pretend he was getting his air from somewhere else. Perhaps the hose was just for looks? If that’s the case, it’s still a bad idea; once Cap severed it with his shield, he could then have grabbed it and used it to yank this guy’s helmet/hood right off his noggin and then proceeded to beat this loser with his own costume. Ahhh, I would have enjoyed seeing that fight depicted in an issue of his comic.

A closer look at those skates reveal them to appear to be the skates of the 70s-80s variety, the type which younger readers are probably wholly unfamiliar. These skates required a key, which was used to tighten or loosen the skates, and that’s how one put them on and removed them. I wonder if any of his villain comrades ever played practical jokes on him, where they hid his key, and he was stuck in his skates for a few days, rolling through the showers and the mess hall. Or perhaps they could have hidden his key when he wasn’t wearing his skates, and when he went to commit a crime, he would have had to do it sans his trademark mode of transportation. I can see the cab pulling up to the bank, and Blue Streak climbing out, wearing the outfit at the top of the entry, but instead of skates, he has on white tennis shoes. It couldn’t make the outfit look any worse.

Yes, Scourge did the comics world a favor when he killed this one. Sad that Marvel felt the need to bring this lame villain back during Civil War. He appears to be wearing the same costume. <sigh> Marvel, Marvel, Marvel….

Well, on the plus side, it looks like they’ve at least simplified the stupid air hose on his mask. I can’t see enough of his costume to determine if they lost those snazzy hip packs or not. I will say one thing though, you know you’re pretty bad-ass when you need knuckle guards. Rock on, newly resurrected Blue Streak!

]]> http://quienmemandaria.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/clasicos-dc-jsa-n%c2%ba-09-de-10/ Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:30:40 +0000 Eugenio http://quienmemandaria.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/clasicos-dc-jsa-n%c2%ba-09-de-10/

Clásicos DC: JSA Nº 09 (de 10)

Edición original: All Star Squadron Nº 55 a 62 USA

Guión: Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas
Dibujo: Mike Clark, Mike Harris, Arvell Jones
Tinta: Vince Colletta, Tony DeZuniga
Color: Carl Gafford

Formato: Libro rústica, 208 págs.

¿Quién es Mekanique? En este penúltimo volumen de Clásicos DC: JSA, Roy Thomas, Arvell Jones y otros autores nos cuentan cómo irrumpe esta misteriosa mujer artificial en la vida del All-Star Squadron. Tan ocupado estará el grupo con ella que no se dará cuenta de que su mundo no ha cambiado en absoluto después de Crisis en Tierras Infinitas. Además… ¡el origen de Liberty Belle y del Caballero Brillante!

Precio: 9,95 €

Clásicos DC: JSA 09: cuánto más cerca está el final de la serie, más claro tengo por qué la cerraron… no es que tuviese problemas con el cambio de continuidad en Crisis – que alguno tuvo -, es que la serie directamente se convirtió en algo totalmente aburrido, carente de cualquier tipo de interés y con un dibujo francamente mejorable. Y es que si primero hubo que tragarse los cruces con las Crisis – que con Firebrand o sin ella no había Dios que los tragase – las historias complementarias con la JSA perdidos en el espacio… incluso eran peores que las principales. Y tampoco se puede decir que viniesen mucho a cuento, aparte de eso, la resolución es francamente mala. Entiendo que Roy Thomas no supiese lo que iba a pasar con total seguridad – cosa que dudo después de leer los complementos a la edición en Absolute de las Crisis -, pero es que fue él quien dejó que la serie se muriese. Si lo alabé cuando empezaba, no me voy a cortar ahora en criticarle. Por desgracia el dibujo es igual de malo que los guiones, no hay por dónde cogerlo; el único que se podría salvar un poco es el número centrado en El Caballero Brillante – dibujado por Tony DeZuñiga – pero la verdad es que destaca por lo malo que es el dibujo de los otros números. No me extraña nada que cerrasen la serie.

La foto de los “All-Star” antes de las Crisis…

La foto de los “All-Star” después de las Crisis…

Lo que tiene traca es el resumen que aparece al final del tomo… ¿se habrá leído el cómic quien lo escribiese? A las pruebas me remito: “ no se dará cuenta de que su mundo no ha cambiado en absoluto después de Crisis en Tierras Infinitas”… ¿O es en tono irónico? Cosa que sería difícilmente comprensible…

Clásicos DC: JSA Nº 08 (de 10)

Edición original: All Star Squadron Nº 48 a 54 USA

Guión: Roy Thomas
Dibujo: Mike Harris, Arvell Jones
Entintado: Vince Colletta
Color: Carl Gafford

Formato: Libro rústica, 208 págs.

En Clásicos DC: JSA se encuentra recopilada la cabecera All-Star Squadron, donde Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler y Jerry Ordway crearon la base sobre la que se basarían el resto de series de grupos en la actualidad. Interrelación entre los personajes, subtramas, relevos generacionales, la importancia de los mismos (en este caso enfatizada con la creación del grupo Infinity Inc.) e incluso las consecuencias de Crisis en tierras infinitas. Todo ello en esta colección de 10 tomos mensuales que recuperan una etapa inédita y lista para descubrir.

Precio: 9.95 €

Clásicos DC – JSA 8: vaya… otro tomo flojo, vaya racha llevo. Para empezar una historia en Inglaterra en la que aparece un Camelot nazi; seguida por los números en los que el All-Star Squadron se ve inmerso en las Crisis en Tierras Infinitas: Firebrand es convocada por Harbinguer; el Comandante Acero termina en Tierra-1; Plastic Man y la Dama Fantasma se marchan a Tierra-X con Tío Sam y los Luchadores por la Libertad; Johnny Quick y Liberty Bell se casan… y terminan en Tierra-S acompañados por Green Lantern; y la JSA se pierde en el espacio…
El guión es entretenidillo pero… está muy lejos de los primeros números en esta serie, sé que a Roy Thomas se lo complicaron mucho con la Crisis, pero… deberían ser mejores, mucho mejores.
El flojo dibujo tampoco acompaña al guión.

Y ya sólo quedan dos.

Either I’m easy to please, or I’ve been really lucky the past couple weeks because this issue is yet another great read that was randomly picked. I mean, the cover should say it all: the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer, AND Dr. Doom? How could this issue NOT be good? The story is the finale of a three-parter (I haven’t read the first two parts, so I’m not too familiar with the entire story) as Doom has captured the FF (which includes Medusa as a current replacement for Sue) and is transferring a portion of the Silver Surfer’s Power Cosmic into his own Doomsman android.

First off, Rich Buckler needs to be awarded kudos for his very Kirby-esque pencil job. He also definitely gets tons of cool points for his last four pages being seemingly framed by fire (which makes sense when the master villain is revealed.) Of course, good art is always to be paired with a great story, and Roy Thomas delivers. Much of it is typical FF drama as the team tries to work their way through a series of dangers and traps that Doom has planted for them.

But the heart of the story comes with the seeming reunion of Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal. Shalla-Bal seems to have lost her memory of the Surfer, until the two embrace, only to find tragedy. The reason she has lost her memory is because she never had it: she is only an Earth look alike, tricked into serving Doom to help capture the Surfer. As the Surfer is able to break free and help the FF defeat the Doomsman android and Doom himself, the Surfer leaves, sorrowing, and wondering if he shall ever see his Shalla-Bal again.

Here, Thomas pulls back the curtain and reveals that all of this was carefully constructed by Mephisto to further torture the Surfer. And the worst (or best, depending on how you look at it) part? There was no look-alike. The girl is indeed Shalla-Bal who has been implanted with false memories from Mephisto. Norrin will continue to attempt to escape Earth to find his true love, while she will be living here, unknown, while he does this.

As I said, I didn’t actually read the first two parts, but I probably will. If this issue was any indication, this arc is a great piece from the early “Bronze Era” of Marvel Comics. It may be old, but if you ever get a chance to read these issues, I once again have a high recommendation. (I’m almost hoping next week’s pick will be a bad or mediocre one, so I don’t have to keep telling you guys to look up all these great old back issues! )

Next week: Fantastic Four 285 (A Secret Wars II tie-in!)

-LOTRKing

By Matt Fraction, Roy Thomas, Len Wein (writers), Kano, Gil Kane, Larry Hama (artists), Dick Giordano (inks), A. Crossley (colors)

I was wondering if or when Ed Brubaker or Matt Fraction would take it upon himself to retell or retcon the origin of Danny Rand. Looking back on their run it’s surprising how Danny Rand was left out of their series of big origin stories. After all, he is the star of the series. But after reading this issue, it all makes perfect sense: why ruin a good thing?

For those looking for a fresh story, look elsewhere. This book is essentially a reprinting of Marvel Premiere #15 and 16 with a few pages of new story by Fraction which acts as little more than window dressing. What impressed me is how well the origin of Danny Rand still holds up. Sure, some of the dialogue and thugs are cheesy (the guys who ambush Danny in New York look like a bunch of frat boys), but for the most part it’s a pretty entertaining story with just a tad of Marvel 1970s goofiness thrown in for good measure.

Reading these two reprinted issues, it becomes very obvious how these stories inspired Brubaker and Fractions run on the books. If you’ve read their run, the narrative will be all too familiar; you’ll feel right at home. Another thing I enjoyed is how the old 1970s art by Gil Kane and Larry Hama has been completely recolored with computers. Normally, I would be against this sort of thing, but the coloring work by A. Crossley isn’t intrusive. Instead, it enhances the artwork in a subtle and respectful manner. If Marvel wants to do more of this stuff in the future, I wouldn’t be against it.

Sure, this book may just be a reprint, two stories for $3.99 ain’t a bad thing these days. (Grade: B+)

- J. Montes

The Doom Patrol Archives Vol. 2
By Arnold Drake (writer) and Bruno Premiani with Bob Brown and Brian Bolland (artists)
Published by DC Comics/Archive Editions
Originally released August 2004

Availability: Amazon.com
Cover price: $49.95
Format: Hard cover, color, standard-size
ISBN 1401201504

Synopsis from publisher:
The World’s Strangest Heroes are back in an Archive Edition collecting DOOM PATROL #90-97 (originally published in 1964-1965). Robotman, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man and “The Chief” take on classic villains including The Brotherhood of Evil, the Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, Dr. Tyme, Mento, General Immortus, and more! Plus: an introduction by comics legend Roy Thomas.

Notes:

This publication is the second in a series of Archive Editions reprinting the first Doom Patrol comic book series. All material in this publication was written by Arnold Drake and illustrated by Bruno Premiani, except for a portion of issue #94, which was drawn by Bob Brown. Brown also provided the original cover art for the reprinted issues. Brian Bolland provided the new cover art for this publication.

Reprints:

1. Doom Patrol #90 (1964)
2. Doom Patrol #91 (1964)
3. Doom Patrol #92 (1964)
4. Doom Patrol #93 (1965)
5. Doom Patrol #94 (1965)
6. Doom Patrol #95 (1965)
7. Doom Patrol #96 (1965)
8. Doom Patrol #97 (1965)

Bonus Material:

1. Introduction by Roy Thomas

Clásicos DC: JSA Nº 07 (de 10)

Edición original: All Star Squadron Nº 40 a 47 USA

Guión: Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway
Dibujo: Jerry Ordway, Roy Thomas
Tinta: Jerry Ordway, Roy Thomas
Color: A color

Formato: Libro rústica, 208 págs.

En Clásicos DC: JSA se encuentra recopilada la cabecera All-Star Squadron, donde Roy Thomas, Rich Buckler y Jerry Ordway crearon la base sobre la que se basarían el resto de series de grupos en la actualidad. Interrelación entre los personajes, subtramas, relevos generacionales, la importancia de los mismos (en este caso enfatizada con la creación del grupo Infinity Inc.) e incluso las consecuencias de Crisis en tierras infinitas. Todo ello en esta colección de 10 tomos mensuales que recuperan una etapa inédita y lista para descubrir.

Precio: 9,95 €

Clásicos DC – JSA 07: nueva entrega de esta fabulosa – aunque por momentos irregular – serie. En este número tenemos de todo un poco… Comenzamos por el final (sí, lo sé) de la historia racista con Amazing Man como protagonista principal; después pasamos al origen secreto de Starman; seguimos con un nuevo combate con los superseres japoneses con la vida de Liberty Belle en juego; tras ello un número centrado en Danette “Firebrand” O’Reilly y su padre – un magnate del aceroque había colaborado con los nazis -; toman el relevo Liberty Belle y Johnny Quick – los verdaderos protagonistas de la serie – que siguen avanzando en su relación y se enfrentan con unos nazis (liderados por el Barón Bliztkrieg) que quieren robar la Campaña de la Libertad – provocando la muerte del “padre” de Belle, lo que hará que esta abandone su identidad superheróica durante… ¡un número! -; en el último número del tomo – con un regularcillo, malo, dibujo de McFarlane – el origen del Dr. Fate…
No es, ni de lejos, el mejor tomo de la serie que se ha publicado hasta el momento. Los continuos cambios de dibujante no ayudan demasiado a la serie y aunque los orígenes secretos son interesantes (al menos el de Starman) no dejan de ser relleno… Mejor o peor, pero relleno. De cualquier forma, Roy Thomas desarrolla una historia más que interesante.

Do Terra:

Rose McGowan, de Planeta Terror, vai estrelar a versão para o cinema da HQ Red Sonja, a heroína ruiva criada por Roy Thomas inspirada em contos de Robert E. Howard.

O primeiro pôster do filme já foi divulgado e a atriz aparece lambendo uma espada ensangüentada.

O filme marca mais uma parceria de Rose com o namorado – e cineasta – Robert Rodriguez. Ele a dirigiu em Planeta Terror e agora assina a produção de Red Sonja.

A adaptação dos quadrinhos será dirigida por Douglas Aarniokoski, assistente de direção de Um Drinque no Inferno e O Corvo.

Leia mais clicando aqui.

A HQ disponível no link abaixo (Death of a Legend) foi retirada da Epic Illustrated 34, o último número dessa revista que foi uma tentativa da Marvel de fazer frente a títulos de conteúdo mais adulto, como a Heavy Metal Magazine.

Roy Thomas, o mítico roteirista das HQ’s do Conan, presta aqui uma justa homenagem ao homem que lhe garantiu o sustento ao longo das últimas décadas: Robert E. Howard. E quem diria… O criador do bárbaro mais casca grossa do pedaço tinha uma alma sensível, delicada até. O colega Trezentos, em tom de brincadeira mas com muita propriedade, comparou: “Ele era como o Nietzsche: um emo com atração pelo bestial.”

E assim como Nietzsche, mas sem o problema que este tinha com a espiroqueta, Howard acabou doidão: um depressivo com tendências suicidas, que a 11 de junho de 1936, após ser informado que sua mãe moribunda não sairia mais do estado de coma, atirou na própria cabeça. Tinha 30 anos de idade.

Death of a Legend

Você precisa ver a nova tonalidade do Koleston...

Eu havia escrito este texto como um comentário ao post do Espantalho sobre os filmes novos do Justiceiro e da Sonja, em produção. E, como costuma acontecer com tudo o que escrevo, o próprio Espantalho me disse que o comentário estava mais parecendo um post do que um comentário propriamente dito. Então resolvi apagar o comentário e ampliar aqui como um post.

Ao mencionar o filme anterior da Sonja, uma produção tosca de triste memória protagonizada pela ex do Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, o Espantalho lembrou que o filme trazia o Arnold Schwarzenegger vivendo um “Conan genérico”, um tal de Príncipe Kalidor. Fazendo jus ao seu nome, o Semprealerta fez um pertinente comentário lembrando que o Schwarza foi contratado para viver o próprio Conan, mas uma pendenga de direitos autorais impediu a presença do Cimério no filme – e não foi a primeira envolvendo a ruiva com o uniforme mais legal dos quadrinhos quando se é um leitor de revistas adolescente.

A questão é que a Sonja dos quadrinhos é baseada no personagem que vocês vêem na primeira ilustração, ali em cima (de autoria de Michael Peters para um fanzine adaptando histórias de Robert E. Howard), e que um leitor mais perspicaz verá que, apesar da semelhança, não é a dos quadrinhos, dado que na Era hiboriana não havia ainda armas de fogo. Sonja é derivada da personagem Red Sonya from Rogatino (COM Y), que o criador de Robert E. Howard inventou para um único conto, The Shadow of the Vulture, publicado na revista Magic Carpet Magazine, em 1934. Diferente dos contos da Era Hiboriana, nos quais Howard misturava referências indiscriminadas para criar um mundo novo, esse é um conto “histórico”, baseado em fatos e episódios até certo ponto verificáveis. A Sonya da história é uma guerreira russa do século 16, ruiva, como a nossa Sonja, que combatia ao lado de outros aventureiros tentando furar um cerco otomano a Viena. Um trechinho, traduzido como deu por mim:

– Ah!, aquela lá é um demônio! Ela bebe a ponto de pôr os mais fortes a nocaute e empunha uma espada espanhola. Ela não é a luz do amor para nenhum homem. “Corte! Golpe! Morra, cão dos infernos.” Este é o caminho dela.
– Mas quem é ela, em nome do demônio? – rosnou Von Kalmbach.
– Sonya, a Ruiva, de Rogatino. É tudo o que sabemos dela. Marcha e luta como um homem. Sabe Deus por quê.

Tava aí o que você queria: o estilo fotorealista de Alex Ross desenhando uma ruiva boa

Em 1973, quando escrevia as histórias de Conan para a Marvel, o escritor Roy Thomas, tentando arranjar subsídios para os gibis em material original de Howard, fez uma devassa nos contos antigos do assim chamado R.E.H. e dali retirou a trama básica de The Shadow of the Vulture, reescreveu o bagulho transferindo-o da Renascença para a era Hiboriana e usou a Sonya da história como modelo para a Sonja do gibi. Também comparecem na personalidade e na história de Sonja nessa época elementos de outra guerreira criada por Howard, Agnes de Chastillon, também conhecida por Dark Agnes e Agnes de La Fere, também do século 16, mas francesa. O primeiro visual de Sonja na história publicada em Conan The Barbarian 23 foi desenhado por Barry Windsor-Smith (mas na história original Sonja tinha um visual mais… pudico. Usava uma cota de malha e calças de seda vermelha). A Sonja que se tornou célebre pelo seu impossível biquíni de argolas de metal foi criada pelo espanhol Estéban Maroto, e esse foi o visual com que a ruiva voltou à cena e mais tarde ganhou revista solo.

Como se vê, há a Sonya do conto de Howard e há a heroína dos quadrinhos, que só muito vagamente saiu das páginas do escritor. Mas desde que começaram os produtos agregados baseados nas obras de Howard, nos anos 1970, os personagens estão divididos entre duas empresas de licenciamento. Uma, a Red Sonja LLC, detinha apenas a Sonja (com j), e outra, a Paradox, ficou com tudo o que era baseado no espólio literário de Howard, incluindo Conan, a russa Sonya, Krull, o soberano da Lemúria e os tantos contos escritos por ele com heróis históricos, como já mencionados. Na época do filme estrelado por Brigitte Nielsen, as duas empresas não se acertaram no tocante à participação de Conan. Como o filme vinha na esteira de Conan, o Bárbaro, sucesso de público e grande adaptação de quadrinhos, o estúdio achou por bem manter o já contratado Schwarza na obra, criar um personagem genérico picareta e levar a malandragem até para o cartaz de divulgação, que vocês vêem abaixo, que trazia o Conan genérico maior do que a imagem da heroína do filme, na esperança de ludibriar os incautos achando que veriam o encontro entre Sonja e Conan (numa época sem internet e com menos informação se disseminando, talvez até tenha dado certo com alguns).

Isso é um cartaz de filme ou propaganda de roll-on?

Recentemente, a Paradox, começou a divulgar alguns produtos baseados na “Red Sonya” original de Howard, e a primeira empresa, a Red Sonja LLC, processou a concorrente por violação de direitos autorais (só eu achei isso surreal?) dizendo que a Paradox estava tentando lucrar com uma confusão entre as personagens. No início deste ano a justiça americana proferiu uma decisão resolvendo (??!) a questão: o conto ficou com a licenciadora original e a que detinha o personagem Sonja ganhou o direito de explorar também o personagem SONYA (não me perguntem como eles vão lidar com o fato de que o conto é de uma empresa e a personagem é de outra).

Ah, uma última curiosidade. Além de Brigitte Nielsen e da agora possível nova Sonja Rose MacGowan, a ruiva teve uma outra encarnação em uma série de TV do Conan, tosquíssima, produzida nos anos 1990 nos moldes de Hércules ou Xena. Quem viveu a guerreira, numa história na qual ela era enviada para resgatar um jovem feiticeiro, foi a modelocantoraeatriz Angélica Bridges, que, pelo que nos conta seu perfil no IMDB, depois disso só acumulou papéis minúsculos em séries de TV, normalmente como alguma garota advinda do Leste Europeu.

Sente só a qualidade da produção:

Curta de faculdade? Antes fosse.

In Flashback, LOTRKing reviews a random back issue (in most instances, one he hasn’t read before) and attempts to make sense of both the story and its place in Marvel history.

Remember that ol’ phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well, insert the word “comic” right before book, and you probably have an accurate description of this issue. After my random number generator chose this book last week, I took one look at the cover and thought: “this book is about to get the biggest bashing of all time.” Heck, I almost even threw a note in last week to expect a big bashing this time around. Let’s examine the cover for a moment: we have the X-Men looking for a monster that looks like it came straight from the 30s horror movie, neck-bolts and all. Second we have the caption: “The X-Men Meet Frankenstein!” Now anyone who has actually read the novel will know that Frankenstein was not the name of the monster, rather the scientist who created it, “the monster” is never given a true name. Being a huge fan of the novel, it always irks me when someone gets this wrong. Name nitpickiness aside, the X-Men facing off against the 30s horror movie version of an iconic character sounds like a recipe for cheesiness.

When I actually read the darn issue, imagine my surprise when my preconceptions turned out to out to be exactly wrong! I’m lead to believe that writer Roy Thomas didn’t write the cover, because he correctly refers to the creature as “Frankenstein’s monster” throughout! Many kudos points to him! Likewise, Xavier himself admits to being a huge fan of the novel also (more kudos points awarded!) In fact, it looks as though Roy Thomas is attempting to build a long-awaited sequel to the novel, by, at first, basing several plot points from the end of the novel. In theory, fiction-to-comic crossovers can work. Heck, I’ve got what I’d like to think is a pretty cool idea for a crossover between the Fantastic Four and one of my favorite books series (that’s a story for another time chaps!)

So far, my emotional roller-coaster went from being prepped for ultimate cheesiness, to being surprised and pleased. Unfortunately, the final stop was disappointment. The story sets up to actually be a good one, I was ready to read an entertaining attempted sequel to one of my favorite classical novels. Alas, “Rascally Roy” muddles things up as he attempts to tell the “true origin” of the monster, one that doesn’t make any sense in context of the original novel. It turns out that the “monster” was actually an android created by friendly exploring aliens, intended to act as an ambassador. When the android malfunctioned and terrorized humans, the aliens chased it to the arctic, where it was eventually frozen in ice, and found in the modern time. (He was thawed, that’s how he entered this issue originally, I suppose I should’ve mentioned that.) Xavier reasons that Mary Shelley somehow heard this story and wrote the novel. Of course, this new story bears no resemblance whatsoever to the novel, except for the fact that they both end in the arctic. They may as well have written this issue to be about a strange monster attacking, engaged it, and then learned its “alien creation” story. It really has no links whatsoever to Frankenstein. I realize that this was X-Men at its low point, right before in went into the “repeats” that continued for a few years, but did they really have to use this kind of disappointing gimmick to sell an issue? I really can’t recommend this unless you want a really rather odd (and nonsensical) spin on a classic tale.

Next week: Special Edition! Not Random! Review of the 1978 Silver Surfer Graphic Novel by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby! Excelsior! (Okay, that last comment was random, but seemed to fit in with old-school Marvel-sounding hype. Besides, you know you’ve always wanted the chance to say “Excelsior!”)

-LOTRKing

Amazon.com is now taking pre-orders on the X-Men Omnibus from Marvel. Magneto and the Sentinels may be the X-Men’s deadliest enemies, but there were plenty more in the mutant team’s earliest adventures! Lucifer! The Maggia! The unstoppable Juggernaut! Plus: See the first appearances of Ka-Zar and the Banshee! The tempestuous X-Men tenure of the Mimic! Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch’s journey from evil to good… and vice versa? Guest-starring Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch, and the Avengers! Collects X-Men #1-31.

Personally, I’m dying to get this!

In Flashback, LOTRKing reviews a random back issue (in most instances, one he hasn’t read before) and attempts to make sense of both the story and its place in Marvel history.

Once again we dip into some Silver Age Marvel, but luckily this one is one of the better selections from that period. Sure, it wasn’t the best comic ever published, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the last look into the Silver Age. This particular issue features the roster of Thor, Iron Man, Goliath (Pym), Wasp, and Hawkeye and begins as Pym is attempting to regain his powers. His first test fails (quite painfully), and the story soon progresses as we are introduced to the mysterious Collector. If my memory serves me right, The Collector belongs to a fraternity of beings called The Elders. I don’t remember what they do as a group, but I do know that they once tried to destroy Galactus and the universe, so that they could be the new “Galacti” of a reborn universe, and Silver Surfer had to stop them (or something like that). Anyway, that story didn’t come about until way after this, and I’m not even sure if The Elders had made an appearance yet. In this issue all we learn is that The Collector is an ancient alien being that likes to, well, collect stuff. (Why didn’t they just name him Pack-Rat-Man? ) And, having come to Earth, he decides to collect the Avengers one by one.

The first Avenger he “collects” is Thor, though this isn’t revealed until later, and he has tricked him into drinking an “obedience potion” made with Asgardian herbs (yes, I know, one of those quirky Silver Age gimmicks, but at least it makes sense in the context of the story). He then uses Thor to help him capture Goliath, Wasp, and Hawkeye, and later restores Goliath’s failing powers because he does not want a “defective” Avenger (bad idea buddy). As The Collector sends Thor out to retrieve Iron Man (which results in a pretty cool battle sequence), Wasp, Goliath, and Hawkeye are able to escape. This results in yet another battle, and, much to the Collector’s dismay, the destruction of many of his artifacts. When the battle causes one of his collected machines to go haywire, he is forced to use a temporal dislocator to teleport to another time (why simple teleportation wouldn’t have worked better is beyond me). With these three Avengers in a hovering ship being fast consumed by flames, all looks lost. Luckily, The Collector’s disappearance nulls the effect of the obedience potion on Thor, who has knocked Iron Man unconscious and left his armor barely functioning. Thor returns to the ship to rescue his fellow teammates, and we are left with what looks to be a happy ending.

Of course, the reader always needs to get pulled back, so we still have the vanished Collector drifting around, who we already know will pop back up. Likewise, the very end of the issue introduces a new hero called The Panther (I’m assuming this is T’Challa, the Black Panther), who will join the roster next time. So all-in-all, a fun read, but nothing you have to go hunting through back issues for. If you ever come across it, you may as well take a look at it, otherwise, nothing major missed.

Next week: Uncanny X-Men 40

-LOTRKing