Extra! The power of Attuma, Tiger Shark, Dr. Dorcas!

Every now and then I search eBay for Marvel Bronze Age and look for something I don’t have, looks interesting, and is cheap. I figure it's pot-luck, but if I’m not paying more than I would for a modern comic then I have nothing to lose (except maybe 20 minutes).

I have never understood the appeal of super-villain comics; how can you sympathise with serial-killers, megalomaniacs, terrorists and assassins? For that reason I’ve never bought a Wolverine comic or, when I was much younger, any comic billing itself as a Super-Villain Team-Up! Still, this was only £1.44 and features Namor, the Sub-Mariner. He may have gone all Avenging Son on us surface-dwellers once in a while, but I don’t think his heart was ever really in it. Plus, he’s wearing his Disco Leathers.

I am going to say up front – this comic was one white hot mess! As written by Jim Shooter for the December 1975 issue, we have the Amphibians, and Subby, held hostage on Hydrobase by three of the dullest villains ever, and Betty Dean (a very old Sub-Mariner supporting character) has just been killed by Dr.Dorcas (pronounced Dorkas I assume - if so, it’s entirely appropriate). 

Dr. Doom rescues Namor because he seeks some sort of an alliance (something to do with ruling the world together), and some sloppy writing painting Doom as a benevolent dictator. I’ve always hated that aspect of Doom – and it seems particularly galling in light of world events today. Anyway, Doom and Namor return to Hydrobase with a cunning plan, ending in Subby ‘accidentally’ killing Dorcas, and Doom very un-accidentally killing some poor wretch, a court jester type character who’d mocked Doom earlier. That he was called Saru-San is neither here nor there. 

I really want to jump all over Shooter’s abysmal script, but I am going to give him the benefit of doubt considering he must have been pulled in at the last minute to finish a Tony Isabella story (info gleaned from a Peter Sanderson LoC taking Isabella to task for #2). The comic was drawn by George Evans, a name unfamiliar to me, and a quick look at his Wikipedia profile explains why. Though he started his career in comic in 1940 at Fiction House, and also worked for EC, his Marvel work was limited to just a handful of issues in the 70s – none of which I’d ever read. The art on this issue was both efficient and uninspired, typical bog-standard Marvel fare. 

The next issue box teases a new writer, a new artist, and a new direction. Are there any Super-Villain Team-Up fans out there that want to recommend further reading?

Bronze Age Marvel covers: Tomb of Dracula #1

I'm going to be reviewing this one in the near future, but I thought I'd say a few words about this Neal Adams' cover now; and those few words are - Adams can't draw Dracula! Everything else works but Dracula himself looks wrong, like he'd been lifted from elsewhere and dropped in.

What really makes this a great cover, though, is the excellent logo; definitely one of the best during the Bronze Age.

I never read any of the US editions of Tomb of Dracula, instead my blood-sucking reading came from Dracula Lives which lasted 87 issues from 1974 to 1976. This particular cover was used on #4, but reversed, and it doesn't seem to work quite as well without the original logo or border.

Bronze Age Marvel covers: Spider-Man #101

Returning to the theme of favourite Bronze Age covers, Steve W of the fabulous http://stevedoescomics.blogspot.com/ suggested this one in the comments for Thor #337. It's a nice Gil Kane and John Romita Sr. composition, but it's Morbius' dialogue that clinch's the deal. What a cheek - the Disco Vampire calling Spidey a freak just because he's got a few extra arms!

Daredevil #85

Cover date: March 1972

Writer: Gerry Conway

Artist: Gene Colan

Inker: Syd Shores

Last issue Matt and Natasha were getting it on in Switzerland, this ish they’re jet-setting back from London – living the high-life in the glamorous 70s, eh Matt? Unfortunately The Gladiator (and gang) is on board for a spot of hijacking, necessitating Matt having to change into his Daredevil garb in the toilet. Not really the way to join the Mile High Club, ol’ hornhead!

I actually quite like this vibe – I can imagine Matt and Natasha hanging out at Studio 54 (a few years later) with the likes of Mick, Bianca, Liza and Jerry, indulging in a life of care-free hedonism.

Conway seems to be enjoying himself here, playing up the soap-opera between Matt, Natasha and Ivan – but what is going on with Ivan’s dialogue? I thought he was Russian? Does this sound like a Russian?

“Thanks for reminding me, sweetheart! Wouldn’t want to ruin baby-mouths complexion, would we?”

“Maybe you’d like to tell us what this stick-up’s all about, hey handsome?”

Conway also introduces a note of tension between his three principals, while cutting away to Karen Page accepting a proposal and heading for Los Angeles, and Foggy Nelson closing-up shop. He really was breaking up the old status-quo, and turning Daredevil into a sophisticated comic (despite the comic book trappings).

The Gene Colan and Syd Shores art is a pleasure – I especially enjoyed the opening splash-page with a symbolic Daredevil floating in the clouds above the 747; it set the mood wonderfully for a cracking good read

Buy Daredevil #85 at My Comic Shop

The Demon and the Demi-God!

Every now and then I search eBay for Marvel Bronze Age and look for something I don’t have, looks interesting, and is cheap. I figure it's pot-luck, but if I’m not paying more than I would for a modern comic then I have nothing to lose (except maybe 20 minutes).

The Champions, more than any other Marvel team, seem to me to be the most emblematic of the Bronze Age; more so than the All-New X-Men (a re-invention of a Silver Age team) and The Defenders (which formed ‘officially’ just as the Bronze Age began) it inexplicably captured the imagination of this particular 10 year old boy with its first issue in 1975.

Starring a motley crew of Silver Age characters and one Bronze Age invention, it was forged at the height of Marvel’s Bronze Age – when it seemed a new concept (good or bad) was being published every other month.

That being said, despite an intriguing mix of characters, it never particularly worked. Hampered initially by some uninspired Don Heck art and a concept in search of a direction, it improved towards the end of its short life with the arrival of John Byrne on art but completely failed to fulfil its potential.

So, for 30p I snagged The Champions #10 (Jan 1976) by Bill Mantlo and Bob Hall. And for 30p I got the skrag end of a skirmish between The Champions and three of Russia’s super-heroes (and a super-villain). No foot notes, no re-cap pages, but it didn’t matter. That old saying about every comic being someone’s first is true, but every comic I read as a kid was my first and what I didn’t know made me want to read more. Sod having everything explained to me, I just wanted something that excited me to read the next issue (and maybe scour the second-hand bookstalls for the previous issues). This didn’t really excite me though.

Angel, Iceman, Hercules and Ghost Rider have been imprisoned underground by Darkstar (hence the cover) while the Black Widow and Ivan, and some other guy, are held captive aboard a ‘hovering supersonic craft’. Turns out that that the Crimson Dynamo is Ivan’s presumed dead son, who wants revenge on his old Dad because of some brainwashing.

I have no idea why The Griffin (an American?) is piloting the craft.

A fairly uninspired fight closes the comic, but what would have brought me back next month was the ‘defection’ of Darkstar. The Champions really needed another female member.

The art by Bob Hall was certainly an improvement over Don Heck, and Bill Mantlo was the go-to Marvel Bronze Age writer who more often than not turned in an entertaining comic. This just wasn’t one of them.

Buy The Champions #10 at My Comic Shop