Bronze Age Marvel Greats: Sal Buscema

Despite my love for Marvel’s Bronze Age, I would be the first to admit that there are few extended runs during this period that really hold up to repeated readings. Many are flawed by inconsistent art teams, THE DREADED DEADLINE DOOM!, or sudden shifts in writers. One of my most revered Bronze Age Marvel runs is Steve Gerber’s time on The Defenders, marred only by his very sudden departure to be replaced by Gerry Conway.

In issue #41, in response to a letter, an unnamed Marvel employee (but it is most likely Gerber himself) writes:

“In any event, we’re not necessarily sorry you disagree with Steve Gerber’s plots or that they disagree with you, because Gerber’s been relieved of his duties on the book. Next issue, Gerry Conway takes over the scripting and he promises that THE DEFENDERS will shortly resemble a super-hero book – and not the outtakes from “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” – in plotting and dialogue once again.”

Ouch!

It struck me, though, after recently re-reading the run in its entirety, that the unsung hero is Sal Buscema. Never a flashy artist, he is an excellent storyteller and adds much needed consistency. His characters are always on-model (a practise a few of the later, more stylised, Marvel artists ignored, to the detriment of the Marvel Universe as a whole), and perfectly captures some of the more outrageous aspects of Gerber’s scripts. Just take a look at that panel above, with Val, Dr Strange and the Hulk wearing bozo masks, and marvel at the way Sal highlights the absurdity of the situation with an apparently matter-of-fact illustration. The tension between the absurd and the mundane is palpable.

Sal was inked by a variety of talented individuals (and Vinnie Colletta), but though Klaus Janson was nice (if a little overpowering), I am very partial to the inks of Mike Esposito. The most enduring image from Gerber’s run, for me, has always been Valkyrie’s despatch of a rat menacing a child in the slums, and Sal and Mike played the scene exceptionally. Enjoy.

“I must be dreamed before midnight…but where is my dreamer?”

In The Defenders #21 (cover date March 1975), Steve Gerber introduced The Headmen, a villainous team of two mad-scientists and a mystic. Curiously, as announced in that issue's letter column, all three characters had appeared previously; but where?

SPECIAL BULLPEN NOTE:

Okay. So now you’ve met the Headmen – Dr. Nagan, Jerry Morgan, and Chondu. But you probably didn’t realise all three of these characters have appeared before! No, not in THE DEFENDERS…not even together as a team…but recently, in a Marvel mag published during 1974.

So guess what? It’s contest time! We’ll award a special prize – and a no-prize as well! – to the first reader who’s able to tell us where and when Nagan, Morgan, and Chondu last appeared. (And when you figure it out…hoo boy, are you gonna be surprised!).

Well, for those of us who were no-prize challenged (and 49 Bronze Age Marvelites got it right!) the answer was Weird Wonder Tales #7 (cover date December 1974), which reprinted a number of science fiction/horror tales from the 1950s.

Dr. Arthur Nagan, the Gorillia-Man, originally appeared in Mystery Tales #21 (art by Bob Powell); Chondu the Yogi first appeared in Tales of Suspense #9 (art by George Evans); and Dr. Jerry Morgan debuted in World of Fantasy #11 (art by Angelo Torres). The art was superb on each of the strips, but each had ‘shock’ endings a blind man could see coming. They must have intrigued Steve Gerber, however, for him to pluck these three Atlas era bozos from obscurity and cast them successfully in new Bronze Age Marvel roles. It was certainly a Weird (Wonder Tales) thing to do, but not entirely without precedent. Xemnu, the big white hairy fellah that menaced The Defenders early on, had made a similar transition.

It struck me, though, that Gerber may have lifted something else from that issue of Weird Wonder Tales. The Black Rain that emanates from Chondu’s brain after it is injected with a serum is described thus:

“…A sinister dream that dissolves into black rain and seeps into sleeping minds throughout the city.”

One of the other reprints in that issue of Weird Wonder Tales is Nightmare at Midnight, about a dream, depicted as a black floating mass, looking for a dreamer. Could it be that dream-without-a-dreamer that Chondu pulls from another dimension? I would like to think so.

This ‘prelude’ to The Defenders #21 is an interesting curio that makes me wonder what Gerber may, or may not, have been imbibing while reading Weird Wonder Tales #7 late one night in 1974. 

There was also an interesting item hidden away in this issue’s Stan Lee’s Soapbox. Stan mentions a Hitler documentary mag… say what? Surely Marvel didn’t? I haven’t been able to find anything on the ol’ web about it, so if anyone knows any information, please share. That just sounds so….ill considered!

Buy Weird Wonder Tales #7 at My Comic Shop

The Summer of '76

The Summer of ’76 was notable for many things. The UK was roasting in a heat-wave;  ABBA  was camping up the charts with Dancing Queen and Rod Stewart was singing about The Killing of Georgie. I was 11 years old; I’d moved up to big school, AND started my first job as a Paperboy. Things were good; school holidays seemed endless and I had my own money to spend on comics.

So what was I spending that hard-earned (dragging the Sunday papers around Highbury Hill at 7AM was hard labour!) cash on? What Bronze Age Marvel comics caught my eye in July 1976?

The Avengers #149

Steve Englehart was only two issues away from ending his era-defining run on The Avengers (and his time at Marvel during the Bronze Age) but before then he had to finish up a memorable multipart storyline in which The Avengers came into conflict with The Squadron Supreme, The Brand Corporation, Roxxon Oil, and The Serpent Crown. Oh, and he introduced Patsy Walker as The Hellcat.

The Defenders #37

Steve Gerber was spinning a lot of plates during the final stretch of his run on The Defenders. While Dr. Strange and Red Guardian were fighting off Plantman’s giant dandelion puffs, Kyle (Nighthawk) Richmond was still suffering an existential crisis from having his brain removed earlier, and Valkyrie was incarcerated in a women’s prison. Meanwhile, Nebulon was recruiting more costumed crazies to his Bozo cult…

The Fantastic Four #172

Bill Mantlo had the Fantastic Four battling a giant golden gorilla called Gorr, from Counter-Earth; a world created by the High Evolutionary, which was now under threat from Galactus and his new Herald, the Asgardian Destroyer armour.

Howard the Duck #4

Steve Gerber again, on his most personal series; the tale of Paul (Winky Man) Same, a man with a sleeping disorder and the inability to confront those who push him around.

The Invaders #7

Roy Thomas introduces us to the Falsworth’s; an upper-class family that includes World War I hero Union Jack, his daughter Jacqueline (who would later become the plucky heroine Spitfire after a blood transfusion from the android Human Torch) and nephew John, the Nazi vampire Baron Blood.

Obviously team books were what caught my eye during that blazing hot month; more heroes for my pennies, but also some exemplary comics. Steve Englehart’s Avengers (drawn by George Perez) never failed to entertain, and Steve Gerber’s comics left an indelible impact on my early teen self. I personally consider Englehart and Gerber to be the two pillars of Marvel’s Bronze Age, defining the era with their creativity and individual insight.

The Fantastic Four cover had floating heads which was always a must buy, and how could I resist that funky looking vampire on the cover of The Invaders? I don’t recall much of that period of the Fantastic Four - was this when the evil Reed (Brute) Richards from Counter Earth trapped the good one and replaced him on the team? - but I absolutely loved these early issues of The Invaders with art by Frank Robbins.

July ’76 filled my head with alternative Earths, Counter-Earths, giant golden gorillas and dandelion puffs, Bozos and Nazi Vampires, and taught me to stand up for myself for fear of running around at night wearing a night-shirt and cap! It was truly a Bronze Age smorgasbord.

Marvel Feature #2

Cover date: March 1972

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Ross Andru

Inker: Sal Buscema

If it’s Halloween, we must be in Rutland, Vermont. Cue the obligatory Bronze Age cameos for Tom Fagan and a Marvel writer; in this instance Roy Thomas (with wife Jeanie)*.

It’s the night before All-Hallows Eve, and some witchy folks in robes are summoning The Dread Dormammu. When he shows up he isn’t too pleased. What he needs is the vessel to escape his otherworldly dimension, and in this instance that would be Dr. Strange (just his body will do). Some of those same witchy robed folks have journeyed to New York’s Greenwich Village and the good doctors Sanctum Sanctorum, where they trick Dr. Strange’s astral self from his body so they can kidnap it before returning to Rutland. Wong puts up a good fight but soon succumbs; luckily he was on the telephone to Clea at the time. She soon arrives, and after Wong fills her in decides she better summon some help. Interestingly, it appears that Stephen Strange and Clea are on the outs at this time, and her powers have waned somewhat.

Using the Eye of Agamotto, Clea manages to broadcast an image of Dr. Strange to two recent allies, Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, and both answer the summons to New York and a dark alley where Clea and Wong are waiting. After dressing Namor in some civilian wear, Clea hypnotises Hulk into transforming back into Bruce Banner and gives him some tranquilisers to keep his mood swings in check. They then catch a bus to Rutland to rescue Dr. Strange’s body.

Up on Bald Mountain, proceedings have begun to release Dormammu so he can reside in Dr. Strange’s body and conquer our dimension. Our intrepid band of rescuers climb the mountain, battling witchy robed folks on the way, and when they reach the summit, just as Dormammu appears, Dr. Strange’s astral self shows up - he was hiding within Wong. A battle ensues, and Dormammu is once more banished.

Roy Thomas’ script is efficient at bringing these three very different characters together, but if The Defenders are to continue as a team, a less convoluted means will need to be found to accomplish that on a regular basis. The concept does have a lot of potential though, and I enjoyed the interaction between the three leads (+ Clea). Ross Andru, inked by Sal Buscema, captures the mood necessary to this type of story, filling the pages with an eerie atmosphere and strong storytelling (and his Clea is a delight too -weird hair and all).

*last seen in The Avengers #83

Buy Marvel Feature #2 at My Comic Shop

*********************************************************************************

There’s also a ‘fabulous Fifties featurette’, from Sub-Mariner Comic #36, showcasing Namor’s astute Atlantean intelligence. After helping an alien world drain the Earth of its water, Namor suddenly realises...

“Ah...good! Now the sun will go to work, and the world’s population will perish without water!! Oh, what sweet revenge! At last I’ve gotten even! But...WAIT!!! What have I done??? Without water, my own race will die off, too!!!”

Oh, Namor...