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 watched the Avengers all the way through for only the second time, including its cinema debut the summer of 2012, where we went opening day in Horton Plaza, a reliable ways from our first shawarma experience later that afternoon over on Fourth Avenue. Me being my best friend and band mate, Anji Bug. I love how that one post-credit scene, of any of them, does no more previewing than simply showing they socialize. Now, I’m recalling the first of my Marvel Super Heroes. When I’m three, there’s already Spider-Man, and soon after, the Incredible Hulk, who I probably started watching in his first season. I already could read the TV Guide well enough. G-Force is already my favorite superhero team when I’m four, and I love Goldar from The Space Giants, and will meet the Superfriends just before Ultra Man and Spectre Man. Avengers is so great because at its core, it’s got the four of the first five Marvel heroes I found: Hulk, then Iron Man, Cap, and Thor. I’m less sure about Thor, b...

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...

Denny O'Neil always said he needed to relate to the heroes he wrote, and Tony Stark was more-or-less antithetical to Denny's values as a social crusading Catholic and veteran of the Bay of Pigs conflict in 1962.   But Stark shared a vulnerablity Denny understood intimately.  So, the mainstream superheroics are given human dramatic stakes by Tony's manipulation by O'Neil creation Obadiah Stane, back into sorrows of the bottle and self-loathing.  Now, Denny had two stories to tell, with down-to-Earth James Rhodes standing in as Iron Man.  Now one of Marvel's best-known heroes- maybe the highest-profile character who could be tried this way- was a Black American, but most of all, a loyal friend, with a different approach and skillset to bring to the twenty year-old character.  Here's my podcast, with limited space remaining, quickly hitting the key insights I uncovered.  It really must've been torture to see Tony, and eventually Rhodey, in their personal d...

First, Happy Birthday, Luke McDonnell! Every since I discovered recently he was born July 19th I knew how to break apart the O’Neil run- largely defined by Denny’s work with newbie John Romita, Jr.-and which day to post. It fit neatly with an Alan Kupperberg tribute remembering him on the anniversary of his death, July 17th. It’s interesting to me, anyway, that McDonnell starts superheroes on Spider-Man and goes on to a long Iron Man run, while Romita essential is vice versa. I note this type casting of sorts where, when you need to put characters through a rough time- when you want to tantalize or depict their downfall or hard times-Mr. McDonnell looks like the go-to guy! If you start from putting clean-cut square nebbish Peter Parker in jail, you then get Tony Stark penniless on the streets, the premier DC Comics team Justice League of America in crisis free fall, and end up with an even bigger set of doomed rejects in The Suicide Squad! For my theory about McDonnell’s grimie...

1st Marvels: John Romita, Jr. INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #115 Mantlo’s run becomes history, and Layton/ Michelinie/ Romita makes history Paired with the inker who would notably join him on Uncanny X-Men- Marvel’s best direct market seller- the son of Silver Age Spider-Man artist John Romita followed his namesake over a decade after that future Art Director came to Marvel. I virtually forgot John Romita, Jr. got his first assignment drawing a back-up for Amazing Spider-Man Annual #11 in 1977. His full-book premiere comes in Invincible Iron Man #115, a 1978 issue which, with a few fill-ins, marks his regular tenure there. When new writer and new inker David Michelinie and Bob Layton begin directing Iron Man, next issue, a definitive Bronze Age team comes together, making a modern look and feel for the mechanized marvel that influenced Jon Favreau and his own team on the box-office smash Iron Man movies. But everyone’s got to start somewhere, and it so happens JR, Jr., as he’s often n...