A Tournament of Champions!

 Week Ending 17th August 1974

The Mighty World of Marvel #98

The "Herbill" signature informs us that this cover was created by Herb Trimpe and Bill Everett, however there isn't very much to inspire readers. I'm not sure what would attract a British reader to pick up this mag and buy it really when judging the cover. The UK version is coloured more brightly than the US version, but in many ways I think I prefer the original colour scheme, which is a little more easier on the eyes. Draxon and his troops look way better in blue uniforms, as for the battlements, they don't work for me in yellow and orange.

The Incredible Hulk “Havoc is just a thing called Hulk!”

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Herb Trimpe

Inker: John Severin

Originally published in The Incredible Hulk #133

Cover date November 1970

(Published in August 1970)

After last week's slow build up we start with Draxon boasting his ambitions, reusing the end splash page from last week. Then it's straight into the action he awaits to open his specially delivered shipment of weapons from the US together with an unwanted stowaway. Not very morally pure of the US allowing the sale of weapons of mass destruction to a European dictator. Was that a social comment by Roy Thomas? Draxon orders his men to destroy the Hulk which they do their best to accomplish but even driving him over a thousand foot drop isn't going to bother the green brute.

The Morvanian army make little headway in capturing or destroying the Hulk as the US army have over the years. In fact the Hulk manages to make his way through the fire storm and confront Draxon in the flesh, picking up the tin pot dictator in his giant-sized green mitts. But it was either some part of Bruce Banner's conscience or the Hulk's own logic that lead the gamma spawned giant to throw the despot to the ground, declaring him "not worth smashing!" The Hulk leaps off to find a tranquil spot near a lake where a little girl wishes that he's and her country's future can one day be safe. It's a lovely image, one that Roy or Herb Trimpe might have taken out of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Not that I mean that as any form of criticism, I've always said if you're going to steal, steal from the best. More next week with, "Comes the Golem!"

Daredevil “There shall come a Gladiator!”

Writer: Stan Lee and Dennis O'Neil

Artist: John Romita Sr

Inker: Frank Giacoia

Originally published in Daredevil #18

Cover date July 1966

(Published in May 1966)

The opening splash page shows Foggy Nelson entering a costume shop keen on buying a Daredevil costume to impress Karen Page with by perpetuating the lie that he is the man without fear. It's a foolish idea and a foolish plot to be honest. Stan Lee must take the majority of the blame for that, although Lee only wrote the first seven pages after which he left to go away on holiday for the first time in years, or so we're told in an arrow text box. Meaning that Dennis O'Neil wrote the last three pages of this week's half story and the rest of next week's.

He meets a creepy looking shop keeper who agrees to alter a  Daredevil costume to fit him. The keeper isn't happy about the attention super-heroes get, referring to them as "overrated, conceited, swaggering braggarts and that any one with the right powers built into a costume could be a super-hero or villain. He plans to use Foggy as a guinea pig in a plan to prove his theory. Later he convinces Foggy that he could impress Karen more if he fought a villain while wearing his new Daredevil costume and he could pretend to be that villain. Foggy tries on his new outfit and he looks every bit a wally, showing that normal people don't look good as super-heroes. Although John Romita's son John Romita Jr would make great use of the "everyman can be a super-hero" idea some forty-two years later with Mark Millar in their Kick-Ass series. 

Melvin Potter (a name not mentioned yet) the costume maker has been busy creating a costume from himself to wear as the fake villain, although his vocal rantings don't paint him as a fake of any kind. It has tough nylon boots that are studded with tungsten blades, wrist shields made from rotating tungsten cutting discs and a mask that will allow him to breathe with its built in oxygen regenerator if needs be. This is the first image of the Gladiator's iconic costume. It's a wonderful design, of course it would be coming from the pencil of John Romita Sr, fuelled by his creative imagination. Although the villain and his reasoning for becoming one might be a little suspect, the over-all look and his developed character goes a long way, becoming one of Daredevils better foes, probably the best to come from these early stories, in fact only the much later Bullseye can match it. We get to see him in action next week. 

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

Tim Taylor writes in condemning all the so-called Marvelytes who try to put down ol' Greenskin, he adds they should try knocking Daredevil instead as he finds him to be boring. Tim thinks that Herb Trimpe's artwork as improved vastly over the months. Tim also replies to Alistair Sloan by saying that Superman (who?) may be stronger than the Hulk but if it came to the crunch the Hulk would beat him. (Doesn't Kryptonite give off Gamma radiation? I'm only saying.) Stephen Carr from Teeside wonders how the Hulk could stay sub-merged for about half an hour without taking a breath while he was fighting the Sub-Mariner? Well Stephen the Hulk has the largest lungs of any mortal. J. Smith from Scarborough says he stores his mighty Marvel mags in folders he gets from Boots for only five pence each . These "document wallets hold about 25 mags, well you're going to need at least two every year.

Paul Bobb-Semple RFO, TTB, KOF, QNS lists Spider-man as the best scrapper and Daredevil as the worst. Spidey wins best wise cracker while Doctor Doom is awarded the worst wise cracker. Best Knucklehead award goes to the Thing. Best Villain is the Beetle, best super-team the Avengers, best villain super-team the Sinister Six. He awards the Fantastic Four the worst twit of the year and worst softies awards. Somehow I think he doesn't like the FF. Philip Orde from St. Albans in Hertfordshire suggests that a vote should be set so that the winners could get their own comic in the UK. Philip also asks what will happen when the British stories eventually catch up with the American ones? Well we'll see when they do. John Lyons from Manchester wants to win a No-Prize for collecting all three weeklies totalling 197 comics plus 100 American mags. He gets a No-Prize not for that collection but for trying so hard to win one. That sounds like a hollow prize if you ask me. P. Tiara from Surrey buys the MWOM and the Avengers weekly every week but not SMCW as he can't tolerate Spider-man. 

The Fantastic Four “Those who would destroy us!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Joe Sinnott 

Originally published in The Fantastic Four #46

Cover date January 1966

(Published in October 1965)

I love the way Stan and Jack created the Fantastic Four stories during this period, with them always starting in the middle of the action from their last adventure. It's a brilliant plot device that pulls the reader in from the very first page. This week is a biggie with Black Bolts' first encounter with the Fantastic Four, with the silent king giving the Thing's pride a bit of a clobbering. Reed discovers Triton's secret by ripping his moisture holding clothing making the water breathing Inhuman flee into the murky surface of the river. Off panel the Seeker, or possibly his men capture Triton while he attempts to make his escape .

The rest of the Inhumans continue to battle against the FF. This leaves a slight disappointing laps of continuity as we finally witness the mysterious Seeker and his men enter the Baxter Building. If they captured Triton near the site of the battle why doesn't he try to capture the rest of the Inhumans? Instead he's breaking and entering the FF headquarters, abducting the tranquillised Dragon Man who he believes could only be an Inhuman. Surely he would know the members of the Inhuman Royal Family he has been tasked to find. I understand the method (the Marvel Way,) used by Stan and Jack to create comics, with Stan giving Jack a plot or story idea, then letting Jack create a strip and later Stan adds the dialogue to make it work. But here they aren't on the same page. 

Don't get me wrong this is classic stuff, I love the battle and the fact that Black Bolt runs out of energy to deliver the killing blow so Karnak must flee with his ruler and the other Inhumans when they find out that Triton has been taken by the Seeker. The "tug of war" scene between the Thing and Lockjaw with a steel girder is a wonderful sight to see, both fun and dramatic at the same time. Can't wait for more next week. 

Spider-man Comics Weekly #79

This Spider-man cover by John Romita Sr is dramatic and definitely catches the eye, but it isn't quite the best Spider-man cover this week, as I hope you'll agree with me later. It's pretty much a faithful copy of the Amazing Spider-man #69 cover, but with the background colours brighten up somewhat with shades of yellow and orange. Is that colour palette becoming a trend with these British comics? 

Spider-man “Crush the Kingpin!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: John Romita Sr and Jim Mooney

Inker: Jim Mooney

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #69

Cover date February 1969

(Published in November 1968)

Spider-Man races around the city in search for the Kingpin and the stolen ancient tablet, while Joe Robertson meets with his son who has been taken into police custody with some other student protesters who were arrested in connection with the theft. Gwen Stacy arrives at the police station and confronts the gathering protesters when one of them calls Peter a coward as he wouldn't stand with them. She defends his honour by slapping one of them in the face. When she tells her father about it, he asks maybe she was more worried that it could be true. Gwen isn't sure of the answer.

Spider-man finally locates the Kingpin's hideout, but judging it to be a trap sends a web manikin in first. With the trap sprung a topless web-slinger leaps in to take out the Kingpin's armed men with ease. The Kingpin himself isn't as easily defeated, using his bulk strength the crime lord throws Spidey into the web-dummy that is still hanging, entrapping him in his own webbing. You and I will have to wait till next week to see if he can get out of this sticky mess.

The advert for the Spectacular Spider-man special collectors Marvel Treasury Edition issue 1 gets a full page treatment like last week but sadly only on the inside black and white pages. One difference from last week's back page colour advert is that only two open double pages are shown here while it did have three open double pages on last week's version. Why they removed the centre one, repositioning the other two is anyones guess.

The Web and the Hammer

John Knight from Warwickshire has an idea that small cards with images of different super-heroes with a brief origin description on them could be given away as free gifts with the mags. Winston Waters' mum has made him a Spider-man costume, but the only thing missing is Spidey's webbing, cause his mum doesn't know how to make it. Sorry Winston it's a secret. Jamie Holloway from Derby wants to see the Fantastic Four star in their own comic. Possibly with Thor as their back-up strip, MWOM would feature the Hulk with 20 pages with DD getting 10 pages. SMCW would have Spider-man with 20 pages, leaving Iron Man with 10 pages. The Avengers would have 20 pages in their own mag, backed up by Doctor Strange with 10 pages. Master of Kung Fu would get his own mag with 20 page of Shang-Chi giving the X-Men the chance of a new strip with 10 pages. Nicholas Hedges from Broxbourne has dreamed up a few "Make Mine Marvel" sayings. So until I get time to print them all you'll have to kick on the letter page to read them for yourself, Make Mine Marvel. 

Iron Man “The Mandarin's revenge!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in Tales of Suspense #54

Cover date June 1964

(Published in March 1964)

Tony Stark is called to the Pentagon when Stark's latest "Observer Missile is destroyed while over Bodavia. In the original US comics they where over Viet Nam, I guess mentioning China or Russia had become OK but Viet Nam still left a political sore point that the editors may have felt British readers wouldn't appreciate or understand. So Iron Man goes to investigate leading him into trouble with the Mandarin who had destroyed the spy missiles to attract Iron Man's attention. Iron Man falls for it and right into a trap. The conclusion next week.

Bullpen Bulletins

Only SMCW features the Bullpen page with "Dazzling data, dizzy dispatches and dangerous declarations of rather dubious distinction!" this week. The first item puts the Dragon Man's duel appearances in this week's Avengers and Fantastic Four stories into the correct chronological order. The next item talks about the ever growing list of Marvel madmen, like Ken Koch, who's also a famous modern-idiom poet on the staff of Columbia University. And Peter Basch an acclaimed photographer whose regular models of choice are the world's most glamorous celebrities. Stan Soapbox sees the Man discussing the relevancy of comics, especially what's involved in scripting a comic. He considers writing a comic book story is probably more difficult than writing a script for any other media due to the need to contend with the limitation of space in a few brief dialogue balloons, while an author in any other medium may take page after page to expand upon it. Done well a few words per dialogue balloons can give the reader the same reading satisfaction, mental stimulation and cultural fulfilment as any other media. In a Special to Spider-man Comics Weekly the displeasure by some towards the depiction of Oriental villains like the Mandarin in Iron Man and Fu Manchu in Master of Kung Fu, as a slur on the entire Chinese race. It's Marvel's firm belief that all men are equal regardless of race, colour, or religious persuasion. Thus they try to treat all races the same, listing positive ethnic role models like Joe and Randy Robertson in Spider-Man, Jim Wilson in the Hulk and Shang-Chi in his own strip. Also there's hints at more to come with characters like Luke Cage and the Black Panther. In the Bombastic Bullpen Biography Dept. old hands like Danny Crespi and Morrie Kumamoto have their history discussed with both of them starting at Marvel way back in the 50's when it was known as Atlas Comics. Both left Marvel for a time but returned to the fold to become important members of the Bullpen production team. Danny and Morrie make all the lettering corrections, they also make up the cover blurbs, titles and the occasional cover logo. In fact it was Danny who was responsible for the Master of Kung Fu logo. 

The Mighty Thor “If Asgard falls..”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in The Mighty Thor Annual #2

Cover date September 1966

(Published in June 1966)

This story came from the second Thor Annual, which purists may call The Mighty Thor King-size Special #2, with the Journey into Mystery Annual #1 being the first issue (although some might say that it should be Journey into Mystery with the mighty Thor #1, But lets keep it simple). It's very topical for this time of year as the Asgardians host their own version of the Olympics with warriors from around the kingdom arriving for the contests.

 

There's even an Olympic torch of sorts but being a Stan Lee and Jack Kirby penned tale it's called a "Beacon of the Brave" and it sits on top of the "Mount of Eternity", lite with the flame from three torches ignited by Odin's own hand and carried by three Asgardian runners that run their way up the mountain to signal the mightiest warriors in all creation. This doesn't go un-noticed by the evil Loki and his helpless ally the Absorbing Man who are still floating frozen in deep space after Odin punished them for their attempted coup way back in SMCW #51. The God of Mischief sees the games as a opportunity to strike back.

Answering the call to take part in the games are the Warriors Three, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg join Thor in the opening parade. Jack Kirby creates a quartet of opponents to face the Warriors Three and the mighty Thor who they meet in a bar brawl involving Tyr, Brok, Galp and Drom the Spirit-Weaver, four ne'er-do-wells. The two groups end up challenging each other to see who is superior, with Tyr choosing Fandral, Galp against Hogun, Brok against Thor, and Drom against Volstagg. 

Thor and his friends may have more trouble to deal with than some petty bar room squabbles as Loki sends his spirit to Earth where in the ruins of temple where the Destroyer armour was stored, Loki possesses the body of the Destroyer in the hopes of using the enchanted armour against his brother and father and in doing so ruin the Tournament. This is a classic splash page, I love the use of Kirby energy to show just how powerful the Destroyer is. Yep serious trouble next week. I'll be back to read it all. 

Two more triumphs from British Marvel showcased in this simple but interesting collage. If you didn't already own the two mags the black and white covers on a black background might peak your interest. 

Avengers Weekly #48

Now this cover will peak your interest. Spider-man swinging over the roof-tops of New York might be the norm for him, but it's not Chang-Chi's usual battle ground. However the both of them together is sensational. It's quite an iconic cover, seventeen months later Ross Andru kind of copies it with the two opponents clashing mid-air over the streets of the city, for the cover of Superman Vs Spider-man, or maybe not. Either way I think the original version by Gil Kane and John Romita Sr looks vastly better. The right text box uses much of the same text as the original with only "Spider-powers" replacing "Super-powers". The lower text box also uses a lot of the original wording, although it might make Avengers fans angry, as it reads "Extra! Blockbuster bonus! The mighty Avengers--battling the deadly duo of Diablo and the Dragon Man!" as if they were added and hyped up as an after thought in their own comic. In the Giant-sized Spider-man the text box read "Extra! Blockbuster bonus! Spidey clashes with the mighty Avengers and the roaring, rampaging Hulk!" because that was the repeated strip that had originally been printed in the Amazing Spider-man Annual #3, cover dated November 1966, published August 1966, which was used to back up the Spider-man and Master of Kung Fu strip in the Giant-size Spider-man comic. British readers would recall seeing that strip in SMCW #75 and #76. I've got to give this cover the Cover of the Week award it's fantastic.

Master of Kung Fu “Cross...and double cross!”

Writer: Len Wein

Artist: Ross Andru

Inker: Al Milgrom

Originally published in Giant-size Spider-man #2

Cover date October 1974

(Published in July 1974)

The story opens with Sir Denis taking to the old man,  an old associate of Smith named Lu Chang. Dying, his final words are of warning that Spider-Man has allied himself with Fu Manchu and they intend to destroy the power plant near the 59th Street Bridge. From this scene we can safely assume that Shang-Chi has become a trusted ally of Smith with both English man and China man becoming more at ease with each other, it's a slight jump from the time when Shang-Chi only accepted information from Smith but not the offer of transport back in Avengers #34. 

 

Shang-Chi decides to go to the power plant alone to face Spider-man, refusing any offer of help from Sir Denis, which is perfect because Spider-man has also followed his lead to the power plant with the fake knowledge that Shang-Chi plans to destroy the plant on the orders of Fu Manchu. It's great that the two heroes follow both sets of lies, because we get some fantastic fight scenes that are worth the price of the comic alone. Of course while fighting, some of the things Shang-Chi says don't add up with what Spider-man had been told so he tries to call a truce while they find out what's really going on. Shang-Chi thinks that this is a trick but when Spidey stands motionless in front of a Shang's high kick the China man pulls out of the attack and the two heroes compare notes. Realising that they've both been set up they head off for a confrontation with Fu Manchu next week. 

The Avengers “The Widow trap!”

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: John Buscema

Inker: George Roussos

Originally published in The Avengers #41

Cover date June 1967

(Published in April 1967)

Like the credit box says on the opening page this is a "Roy Thomas-John Buscema master piece of matchless Marvel magnificence!!" The Avengers finally get the artist they deserve, sorry Jack and Don, John Buscema is the one! Buscema was chosen to draw the Avengers #41 when Stan Lee and publisher Martin Goodman decided to up the amount of annuals on sale at the time. The king-sized Avengers annual would require as much as fifty pages of art, two and a half times the amount that a normal monthly needs. So Don Heck was chosen for that project while Buscema was given the opportunity to take over the monthly artwork. In an article written for the Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers volume 5, Roy Thomas says when he first saw John Buscema's pages that "they looked midway between the comic art produced by the likes of Jack Kirby, Don Beck, et al, and the kind of advertisement you'd see in a 'slick' magazine like Life or Saturday Evening Post. Only instead of smiling men, women and children ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a new car or refrigerator, the first page showed Hawkeye swinging on a trapeze as he practiced his archery, while Hercules tossed up humongous weights." It's safe to say Roy, like myself, fell quickly in love with the artwork.  

 

When you see the guest villain you might not shout from the hills, but Thomas and Buscema have a habit of taking lesser characters and finding more of interest in them. Even the Avengers-typical argument scene is lifted up a thousand fold with Buscema's art. It's kind of like photorealistic, which must have come from Buscema's time as an advertising artist. The heroes faces show more personality, the choreograph of their positions enhance the drama more than Kirby or Heck's panels ever did. Don't get me wrong I love Jack Kirby, he's the King of comics. But I'd much rather read a Buscema penciled piece.

Buscema is just great at character and design he works well with spectacular scenes too like this one depicting the Black Widow's nightmare scene when she is trapped inside the Chinese chief scientist, Doctor Yen's Pyschotron. Roy Thomas knows when to let the artist do what they do best, but also when and how to enhance any scene with mature intelligent text. Take the text at the top of this panel for example "Instantly at the touch of a dial , a thousand lights dance madly, an awesome electrical whine fills the stygian gloom of the chamber--and the Black Widow suddenly finds herself in a ghastly chimerical world that was never meant to be--!!" That's fantastic writing that fills in the gaps, but also leaves space for Buscma's artwork to blossom. It's the ultimate tag-team as Roy and John try to better one another and the readers become the real winners. Move over Stan and Jack, a new team supreme are in town!

This story isn't all about the Black Widow and the communist military leader Colonel Ling's plans for the Pyschotron, no Roy and John manage to weave a twisting tale of plots, sub-plots, flashbacks and teasers. Doctor Pym has purchased the inert body of the android Dragon Man to study. Thus planting the seeds of Pym's research into androids, artificial lifeforms and artificial intelligence, that will lead to the creation of Ultron and the Vision. Diablo, who gave life to Dragon Man is skulking around in the shadows too, planning to reactivate the android for his own gains. I cherish this story as a starting point for what would become the greatest comic book partnership, a writer and artist more in sink than any other. Yeah there are some great partnerships in comics, Lee/Kirby, Claremont/Byrne, Moore/Davis, Moore/ Gibbons and many, many more. But they all part ways, not always on great terms. Thomas and Buscema have a massive back catalogue, The Avengers, Thor, the FF, Conan and loads more, they continued working together right up until John's passing away at the age of 74 with cancer in 2002, on a mini series for DC that will never see the light of day. Peter David recalls paying his respect to John at his funeral and seeing him in his open coffin with a drawing pen neatly tucked between his fingers. He will be missed but never forgotten, not when we have such a beautiful legacy to enjoy again and again. His involvement in these Avengers stories lift them to another level, so of course I'll be reading next week's second half conclusion. 

Avengers Readers Assemble

Terry Gulliver from Staffordshire recalls Doctor Strange's earlier appearances in the old Power comics. John Cock RFO, KOF, FFF from West Bromwich loves all the British Marvel mags, especially now they've all got glossy covers, but he asks for colour inside too. David Taylor from Daventry congratulates British Marvel on the Avengers weekly but asks why there are pictures on the letter pages that have nothing to do with the letters. He also wants to see more "Meet the Avengers" features. Well the pictures on the letter pages make it look more pretty and also mean that there aren't more letters that I have to comment on fifty years later. Let me tell you these blogs can take a lot of time, even though you might think they're thrown together. Stephen Smith from York looks deeply into how Doctor Strange casts a spell. It's not just the incantations he quotes, like "By the seven Rings of Raggadorr" or "By Cyttorat's Crimson Bands" but it's also the action he makes with his body and hands. 

Alastair Love KOF from Renfrewshire in Scotland, makes some suggestions to the mags like printing lists of heroes and villains in the comics and removing Doctor Strange from the Avengers to have him replaced with the Silver Surfer. Andrew Dibley KOF, ROF, FFF, TTB is pleased to see a strip about kung fu as he likes the martial arts very much, so much so he wants another comic with a kung fu lead story, with the X-Men as back-up. He wants to know how much it would cost to have colour inside of the mags too and will there be more new British Marvel mags coming out? They can't or won't say how much it'll cost but they hint that it will have to go up so fast it would send them into orbit. As for more mags, readers will have to be a little bit more patient. John Jarvis from the Isle of White asks any chance of getting Avengers number one, some more pin-ups and an Avengers TV series. The pin-ups will appear from time to time, the TV series is up to the TV moguls and the best place to find the Avengers number one is a second-hand shop.

Doctor Strange “If This Planet You Would Save!”

Writer: Raymond Marais

Artist: Marie Severin

Inker: Herb Trimpe

Originally published in Strange Tales #160

Cover date September 1967

(Published in June 1967)

The leader of the Circle Sinister is finally revealed to be Doctor Strange's arch-nemesis, Baron Mordo. But knowing the danger that the Earth is facing Doctor Strange tries to appeal to the Baron for his aid in saving it. Even when Strange shows Mordo the Living Tribunal's Sands of Death with the sifting grains of sand that draws the planet nearer to annihilation Mordo refuses to believe him, setting his minions upon Strange at first, then fighting him in one-on-one magical combat. Strange fights off all attackers including Mordo who he convinces to help collect all the evil mystical essence via a rite of Exorcism. In order to collect all the fragments together, they must be contained in a human host, a role which Mordo agrees to take. After all the evil power unleashed by Zom is collected into Mordo's body and the exorcism is complete, Mordo turns to Strange, declaring himself "power incarnate!" Strange warns him about the Living Tribunal but it's too late as Mordo strikes him down. Not much is know about Raymond Marais he only did a handful of Marvel and DC comics, I imagine that Marie Severin did most of the heavy lifting in this tale. Which to be fair is really quite enjoyable, certainly one I look forward to reading how this story pans out next week. Till then...

  

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.