Stronguy Reviews The Marvel Bronze Age

[bronze_rules]

I'm curious to any opinions on whether Ghost rider helped or hindered this book???

 

Ghost Rider was the weakest character in the book. It was obvious that he was there just to draw in readers. It seems the only thing he did was show up, flame out, shoot some Hellfire at something, realize it didn't have any effect then get person_without_enough_empathyslapped into unconsciousness. Had this series come out 10 years later it would have been Wolverine instead of Ghost Rider.

 

Hilarious ....about the person_without_enough_empathyslapped into unconsciousness part. I specifically remember that part, even after reading the series decades ago.

[Comicopolis]

[canickus]

Stronguy, you are the man. Great thread. Looking forward to Logan's Run...

[rjpb]

The general suckitude of Bronze Age marvel circa 1974 contributed to my losing interest in "ground-level" comics for a number of years. This thread is far more entertaining - you are a brave man, Stronguy.

[Stronguy]

Adventures On The Planet Of The Apes

Issues 1-11

October 1975 - December 1976

 

Rating: 2/5

 

Not a lot to report on this one. If you saw the movies then you could have saved yourself $2.95 (or $3.10 if you lived in one of the 30¢ variant cities) and not bought the comics.

 

Issues 1-6 follow the original Planet Of The Apes movie pretty much scene for scene. George Tuska and Mike Esposito turn out some pretty bland art with only 1 memorable page -- the 2 page splash of Taylor and Nova in front of the destroyed Statue Of Liberty. But even then it's not that great. Issue 6 has a pretty decent Jim Starlin cover. I don't know that you can really credit Doug Moench with "writing" -- more like watching the movie and remembering. One thing that seemed strange was, you know how Hulk 168 has that Overstreet note about Betty being nude when she's really just standing behind a bunch of bushes presumably nude, well issue 1 has 2 panels with some interracial bare-assness and there's not one single mention in Overstreet about it.

 

Issues 7-11 follow the Beneath The Plane Of The Apes movie... once again, scene for scene. Taylor disappears into a mysterious wall of ice, rescue pilot Brent shows up and hooks up Nova (damn tramp!), they meet some telepathic zombie looking guys and Taylor blows up the planet. Alfredo Alcala took over as the artist for this run and the art takes a nice step up (if you like the Filipino art style... and I do).

 

 

[mica]

Issue 10 had the best cover.

[Bonds25]

Great thread Strongguy! (thumbs u

[TupennyConan]

[mica]

Chili must have some great indepth stories that he's having to re-read.

 

Or maybe there's some crossover action into Millie the Model.

[Stronguy]

Tough crowd.... geesh...

 

I have time to get through about 2-3 issues a night (if I have time to read at all). It might take a while to get through some of the longer runs. Chili has 19 BA issues (including the Special) so I should be done in a day or two.

 

Until then you're just going to have to be entertained with my Amazing Adventures review I'm writing right now.

[Stronguy]

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Amazing Adventures

Issues 1-39

August 1970 - November 1976

 

Rating:

1-10: 4/5

11-17: 2/5

18-39: 4/5

 

Marvel's first Bronze Age attempt at taking a bunch of B-characters and jamming them into a single mag.

 

AA breaks down into 3 differnt groups...

1-10: Inhumans and Black Widow double feature

Noble effort to bring in a bunch of 2nd stringers to sell a book. The first 8 issues are the crux of the run dealing, in both Inhumans and Black Widow, with that whole '70s fighting "the man" thing.

 

--Inhumans

Lee and Kirby are at the helm of the first 4 issues. Decent overall but Chic Stone just beats the hell out of Kirby's pencils and the art suffers. The whole thing has a real SA feel.

 

Issues 5-8 are masterful. Roy Thomas starts writing (5 and 6) and you get some absolutely beautiful Neal Adams pencils with Tom Palmer inks (5 and 6). Gerry Conway takes over writing in 7 and 8 but he's just building on Thomas' foundation so no harm done. John Verpoorten inks Adams and there is a noticeable drop off. Issue 8 has an Avengers appearance where Thor takes on the Inhumans.

 

The last 2 issues are really bad. Black Bolt is captured by Magneto, Conway writes his own story (and it shows) and the team of Mike Sekowsky and Bill Everett take over the art. It's obvious that Everett is carrying the art because he's replaced by Frank Giacoia and... well... there is suckage to be seen. Thanks goodness they decided to end this with #10.

 

--Black Widow

Gary Fredrich and John Buscema (1 and 2) do a decent job on this. The story is about fighting the mob by teaming up with a bunch of repressed 20-somethings. Nothing to get excited about. However, Buscema's art is just great.

 

In issue 3 Gene Colan takes over the art. Damn, I loves me some early '70s GC art. Mimi Gold writes issue 4 but that's not a big deal. Then Roy Thomas takes over writing for issues 5-8 and Don Heck gets the art. Heck's are is solid and carried in issue 6 by Sal Buscema and issue 7 by Bill Everett. Issue 8 is the last BW story and, honestly, that's a good thing.

 

Notes:

Peter Parker and JJJ make a cameo in issue #3.

Several racey panels in the BW stories.

Issue 8 features Thomas/Adams on the Avengers and that predates their Skrull-Kree War masterpiece by a month.

 

Summary:

Issues 1-8 are worth getting.

Lee/Kirby/Stone kill the Inhumans stories in 1-4 but the BW art seals the deal.

Adams is the man on the Inhumans stories in 5-8.

Issue 5 is the best all around just because you get Adams/Palmer and Colan all in the same book.

 

11-17: The Beast

The furry Beast stories take over in 11-17. Gerry Conway's writing and Tom Sutton's (ugh) art are pretty poor. The X-men appear in a flashback in issue 11 and you get the origin of the furry Beast (gray).

 

Iron Man shows up to get his butt kicked in issue 12 and not even Mike Ploog's inks can improve Sutton's pencils... Steve Englehart writer. Beast makes his plastic face in issue 12.

Issue 13... what a beating. I really wish someone had broken Tom Sutton's hands before he got around to this issue. It didn't help that Frank Giacoia inked it. BAD doesn't describe it well enough.

Issue 14... Iron Man shows back up but, unfortunately, so does Tom Sutton.

Issue 15... Angel appears along with Scott Summers, Jean Gray and Professor Xavier cameos. Furry Beast finally turns blue. Actually he's black according to page 5 but, like Superman's hair, he's blue. Oh yeah, more Tom Sutton art.

Issue 16... Rutland, Vermont Halloween issue (Tom Fagan, super hero parade... you know). Steve Englehart, Len Wein, Glynis Oliver (Wein), Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway make appearances. Juggernaut escapes from limbo where Dr. Strange had left him. Bob Brown's art almost makes you wish Tom Sutton was back.

Issue 17... Finally and end to the suckage. Jim Starlin/Mike Esposito do the first and last pages with the origin of the Beast (from X-Men 49-53) jammed in the middle.

 

 

Summary:

This series is bad... just bad. Unfortunately there are a lot of "collector's" reasons for picking it up.

-- 1st furry Beast (#11)

-- Picture Frame covers (#11-15)

-- Rutland Halloween parade (#16)

-- Bullpen staff appearance (#16)

-- Early Jim Starlin art (#17)

Collect 'em but don't bother reading them.

 

 

18-39: War Of The Worlds featuring Killraven

Whoda thunk it. This is actually pretty decent. It starts out as typical '70s suckage but evolves into a decent story. Basically the Martians return to Earth after getting killed off by human germs at the end of War Of The Worlds. This time they enslave the Earth and people become cattle for the amusement of the Martians. Some people are bred as gladiator type warriors... Killraven is one of them. Eventually he frees himself and starts a resistance movement to take the Earth back from the Martians.

 

Issue 18... I guess there were high hopes for this title because they get Neal Adams and Howard Chaykin on art. Of course they knock it out of the park.

Issue 19... Chaykin takes over as penciler. I can't tell if it's his pencils that are so bad or Frank McLaughlin's inks. Either way, it ain't issue 18, that's for sure.

Issue 20... Herb Trimpe's art starts and it's typical.

Issue 21... Don McGregor starts writing (thru 39). Trimpe art continues (thru 24).

Issue 25... Rich Buckler/Klaus Janson art. Talk about an Adams clone. I heard that Adams used to claim Buckler as a dependent on his tax returns in the '70s.

Issue 26... Gene Colan art

Issue 27... This is the beginning of greatness. P. Craig Russell takes over as artist... sublime mastery. Trivia: Chaykin told me PCR was the first openly gay comics creator.

Issue 33... Herb Trimpe art

Issue 37... Jack Able ruins PCR's art.

Issue 38... Bill Mantol -script and Keith Giffen art. Not a bad effort by KG. Killraven fights a bunch of Marvel heroes in virtual reality.

Issue 39... The story ends kind of mid-arc. I guess Marvel needed to replace this title with something of substance like 2001 or Champions. In hindsight I hope someone kicked themselves in the azz.

 

Summary:

Pick these up if you can. They're cheap and well worth the read. PCR's art is amazing and this is probably the best in the Marvel sci-fi genre.

 

[chrisco37]

This is my new favorite thread. Keep them coming, SG!

[nmtg9]

Stronguy, this really is a wonderful thread.

 

Thank you for this and keep it coming. (thumbs u

 

Neil

[Comicopolis]

Mucho kudos as ever

[underthebigw]

Great going, Jeff.

 

The Killraven run is one of the underappreciated gems of the BA. Just a fun storyline. Glad to see someone else likes it.

[awe4one]

Hope I'm not misremembering, it's been awahile since I've read those AA issues, but wasn't the Thomas/Adams Inhumans issues where we learn about Black Bolt's true relationship with his brother, Maximus? If so, it did make for some great reading and added a nice layer to Black Bolt's history...

 

Jim

[rjpb]

That brings back memories - the initial excitement over Marvel returning to the split books - Kirby, Adams, BWS and Bill Everett being a plus. Thrilled with a new Beast strip (I was an X-men fan at the time) - and then disappointed with how much it sucked. Adams back with WotW - but only for an issue - sticking with it for a few issues before starting to lose interest in mainstream comics all together.

[Stronguy]

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Amazing Adventures, vol 2

Issue 1

December 1979

 

Rating: 2.5/5

 

Nothing to get excited about here, just a partial reprint of X-Men 1 and the reprinted origin of Professor X from X-Men 38.

 

That is all... move along...

 

[mica]

Nothing to get excited about here, just a partial reprint of X-Men 1 and the reprinted origin of Professor X from X-Men 38.

But what memories. As a nine year old I got to hold that book in my hands and feel the satisfaction of getting to read the stories and see the art that I had never been able to see.

 

Now seeing reprints is no big deal, but back then I was very happy with it.

[Stronguy]

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ARRGH!

Issue 1-5

December 1974 - September 1975

 

Rating: 2.5/5

 

Issue 1... Fangula (Dracula) moves to New York... kind of humorous. After great suckage in Astonishing Tales, Mike Sekowski and Tom Sutton actually make a really good art team on this story. Their animated styles are classic Not Brand Echh type material. They even channel Gene Colan's ToD style pretty well. The other 2 stories appear to be reprints from '50s Marvel books... something you'll see a lot of in the '70s.

 

Issue 2... Another original story (Tom Sutton art) followed by 2 more '50s horror/humor stories.

 

Issue 3... More of the same. BUT, there's an ad for Count Dante and the Black Dragon Fighting Society. I sooooo need to make a Count Dante t-shirt.

 

Issue 4... If the formula is working (and I don't think it actually is) then don't change it... and they didn't. One new and 2 old. However, the first story is a gaff on the Night Stalker TV series. Kind of funny.

 

Issue 5... Guess the formula wasn't working so they did 4 new Andru/Esposito stories. Fortunately it was not enough to save this title and that is that. In the Bullpen Bulletin there's and obituary for Artie Simek (d. 2/20/75)