I've been known to romanticize weird little corners of Marvel like the title Nova. or Machine Man. But I do know a good superhero epic mega-blockbuster, and after a busy summer, I thought I'd relax with Comics and, for the first time in months, write about them. AVENGERS ANNUAL #7 of 1977 and its sequel is, at least, in the Top 7 Stories of the Seventies that ever assembled Avengers. Now, I loved the scope of Marvel-Two-In-One Annual #2 -I wondered if it wasn't the best Spider-Man stories of the 1970s. But it MIGHT be the two-part summer epic that best epitomizes stories of the Avengers, too. The others? I propose, chronologically: Kree-Skrull War from #89-98. Then, the jaunt of ever Avenger to Olympus in 99-100. The Serpent Crown encounter that brought us Squadron Sinister and Hellcat, 141-144 and 147, was it- there's another. Between Grim Reaper and Ultron's machinations next around #159-162 proves, this title hardly let up. #167 -177 compri...

I was just getting around to Being at the time, but looking back at the early and mid-70s, I have a question that applies to movies, books- even my starting point, comic books, which took on a moody, melancholy aspect, particularly with Marvel Comics, which had just begun its publishing period of the roster of characters that we see in abundance across media and toys, today. What are the causes of the increase in violence and death and overall downbeat tone that defines 1970s storytelling? Do you think the new permissiveness post-60s was at the root of the violence and death portrayed? My first thought was, word was getting back about Viet Nam, and young people were disillusioned with institutions they'd been inculcated culturally to trust. I often think the idealism emerging within the counter-culture was just not manifesting quickly enough, for the impatience of the youth. I'm clear, too, that the rise of counter-culturalism 1) certainly does not match the rural values...

Forgetting is the curse of the Man-Thing...and sometimes, his only blessing. But I haven’t forgotten the Man-Thing. He may be a character you say haunts you. It’s those stories! Man-Thing is the rarest sort of protagonist, in that he is chiefly an unobserved observer, until he tries to intervene and scares the carp out of the water. In 1971, he debuted in a Marvel Comics experiment with adult material, in the form of black and white magazines. SAVAGE TALES #1 features the ill fate of chemist Ted Sallis, betrayed by his lover into the hands of terrorists who want his secret: the new Super Soldier Formula, in the manner of that which once transformed Private Steve Rogers into the apex of human fitness, Captain America. But something there in the swamp works with this imperfect formula, to render Sallis senseless, recreated as a shambling, muck-based mockery of humanity. The experiment didn’t continue, but the Man-Thing, created by Gerry Conway and Gray Morrow, came back a couple ...

Marvel Team-Up “MiSCHIEF NighT” SPIDER-MAN and PHANTOM RIDER Page 1 Spidey swings over Manhattan, thinking of the Midnight Western he saw before heading out. Flash! 2 Is that Jack O’Lantern? No, it’s Jack Stingy, who thinks Spider-Man is the Devil’s emissary. 3 They clash! Stingy’s a bit like Mysterio in battle. He has a special locket he was just about to use to activate a time travel spell. Their scuffle puts Spider-man close to the locket, which picks up his concept of the Wild West. Jack Stingy activates it, happy to have a target for his mischief, and takes them to an American Southwest of the 1860s by the end of page four. So, we’ll pick up page 5 with Carter Slade, in his guise as The Phantom Rider and it’s the dawn, the day of Mischief Night. He's using his spectral dust and fists, wrapping up a serious rustling plot. Show Nancy, his girlfriend, in a locket; she’s coming on the next train. As is mentioned in front of Carter, we flash to: Some Tequila is ...

A great fight scene for Marvel’s top TV heroes of the late seventies, Spider-Man and the Hulk! OK, first twenty-five minutes of story sets up Banner being kidnapped to the Rosslyn Hotel in NYC. Peter’s looking for tips about the famous research scientist who has supposedly turned up in the Big Apple. At this point, Spider-Man’s spider-sense begins bringing him closer. He changes, climbs to the top of the hotel, and continues homing in on his signal. That danger sense grows when Dr. Banner is pushed too far and Hulks out. Now, we’re setting them up to meet in the hallway- and cut to commercial! Wow! Imagine what might happen next! Well, as I have no concern over the health of stunt men nor of a budget at risk, here’s what I picture, using their television counterpart power levels. Ok, FADE IN: Hulk roars. Spider-Man uses his ability to do the unexpected: leap onto the ceiling. This confuses and infuriates the Hulk, which provokes a kick in the face. This doesn’t do too mu...

My favorite run of the comic book, THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, was written by David Micheleine, co-plotted with inker/finisher and sometime layout artists Bob Layton, and usually drawn or layed out by John Romita, Jr. Their run started together in summer 1978, about the time GREASE came to theaters, with #117. With a few guest artists like Carmine Infantino in #122's origin recap, Alan Weiss (#136) and Jerry Bingham (#s 131- 135), they chronicled the character long-time fans of Marvel know as ‘Shellhead,’ until summer of 1981, with issue #153. Best friend/ personal pilot James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes is introduced with #118. Bethany Cabe is the other key supporting cast member, a devastatingly lovely redheaded woman who is full of surprises, beginning with her profession, bodyguard, and continuing from criticizing Stark’s absent and seemingly-incompetent bodyguard, to revelations in her last year in the strip that eventually led to her parting ways with Tony. This is also the home of...