Redartz: Credit where credit is due dept.: this past week I saw a post on the "Back Issue" page of Facebook, by Gary Ceballos, that asked a great question. I'm going to shamelessly borrow his question, with one minor variation. Hope you don't mind, Gary!
The original question was: What do you consider the top five single comics of the Bronze age, i.e. 1970-1985? For our discussion this week, we'll break it into three categories, spread over the next couple of weeks (so you have plenty of time to carefully compose your lists, of course!). What are your top five Bronze age Marvel single issues? Next week, we will look at your top five DC single Bronze age comics. And week three: what are your top Non-Big-Two books from the Bronze (could be Disney, Archie, Charlton, Indie, Underground, whatever).
Reprints are excluded, but magazines (such as Savage Sword of Conan) are acceptable. And this series of questions specifically refers to a single issue, not an arc or series. That said, you may certainly pick an issue from a given continued storyline as representative of that arc, but still standing as a single book. And you may choose your list based upon whatever criteria you see fit. Aaaaand, of course this won't be easy; limiting it to five comics forces us to leave out a lot. Everything clear? Cool. And as you might expect, I'll start things off with my Marvel list. These are 'favorites', not necessarily what I'd pick as the 'best' five books (although these books would surely be among the nominees for such a list).
My Top Five Bronze Age Marvels:
1.Giant Size Avengers 2: I love this book. One of the first Avengers arcs I ever read, with a great team, gorgeous art, a fantastic tale, cool drama, and a Celestial Madonna. My introduction to Kang, and what an impression he made. A lot of personal fondness puts this book at number one.
2. Amazing Spider-man 248: If these were ranked by quantity of rereadings, this book would be far and away number one. "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" is the crown of Roger Stern and Ron Frenz' stint on ASM. It's probably my absolute favorite Spidey story, and gets me every time. 3.
3. Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2: It was a toss-up; choosing this or Avengers Annual 7. Both books are the bookends of one of the finest Bronze age Avengers stories ever. Comics don't get much better. That said, MTIO Annual 2 gets the nod at number 3 due to the presence of two characters dear to my heart: Ben Grimm and Peter Parker.
4. Savage Tales 2: This magazine gets the fourth spot due to the first installment of Roy Thomas and Barry Smith's epic "Red Nails". One of the pinnacles of Bronze age comic art. A fine Conan tale. It's in glorious black and white. And there's a Stegosaurus. Nuff Said.
5. Dr. Strange 2: The number five spot was the hardest to fill, with soooo many contenders. And if you asked on another day the answer might be different. But Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner wove magic (sorry) in this story. This was my first Dr. Strange story ever, and so it has that personal importance. I could have easily chosen any of the five issues in the "Silver Dagger" arc, but issue 2 gets the pick for the inclusion of the Defenders. And the Hulk at a tea party.
Okay, that's my list and I'm sticking to it (for today, anyway). Now, while I start analyzing the choices for next week's DC list, you get to chime in with your well-considered lists. Hope you have an easier time picking than I did. Thanks in advance for participating!
32 comments:
I'll chip in first, Red, but only have three to throw on the table:
- Avengers #84. Still very bronze-agey, I know, but the only one of my three favourite comics in artwork terms to be dated post 1969 (Silver Surfer #& and Captain America #110 are the other two.
- ASM #121. Obviously a game changer. But when you look through it, it feels like watching a film. Cinematic in style.
- ASM #270. A genuine Bronze Age comic. While I'm not a great fan of much in ASM between about 180 and 470 compared to what's on either side, this one stands out for me. Spider-Man vs Firelord. In the silver age when Spider-Man was up against big hitters like Hulk, Rhino, whoever, there was never any real feeling that Soider-Man was out of his depth or in any mortal danger. The feeling in this comic was ver6 different.
I did enjoy those Celestial Madonna stories in my youth too, in U.K. reprints, but it's been over 40 years since I was what the inside of those comics looked like.
And I recently got some early Byrne FFs for free on ComiXology. I assume these were in that 1970-85 time period, in which case that Doctor Doom one with the FF all shrunk down in a model village with their memories lost was a pretty good one.
1. X-men Annual #3 - the X-men vs. Arkon. Story by Claremont, art by Perez and Austin. Simply the best annual ever.
2. Marvel Team-up #79 - Spidey meets Red Sonja. Story by Claremont, art by Byrne and Austin. My favorite single issue of Marvel Team-up.
3. Marvel Premiere #32 - featuring Howard Chaykin's Monark Starstalker. Simply brilliant.
4. Fantastic Four Annual #17 - "Legacy"; the FF go to a small town to find a missing friend of Johnny's, and what they find shocks them - a nice callback to FF #2. Story and art by John Byrne.
5. Marvel Two-in-One #51 - there's way more than two in this one, as the Thing, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man, the Beast and Nick Fury fly out to break the high-sky siege of the SHIELD Helicarrier. Story by Peter Gillis, art by Frank Miller and Bob McLeod. Pure, rollicking fun.
There's probably tons of stuff I like better than some of these, but I found it really hard to single out any story/issue of, say, the X-men, Byrne's FF, Avengers, Micheline & Layton's Iron Man, Miller's Daredevil, Simonson's Thor, Stern & Byrne's Captain America, Stern's Spider-man, etc., that I like so much that I could just pick it up and read without then sitting down and reading all of the stuff around it.
It's hard to disagree with your choices, Red, but I'd have to go with Dangermash's inclusion of Amazing 121. I'd also stick one of the Drug Trilogy on my list (maybe 97 since it has the most action), and I'd definitely include X-Men 137 (Death of Jean Grey).
For the last two, maybe a Frank Miller Daredevil (Death of Elektra or one of the issues right before it) and maybe Avengers 177, the final chapter of the Korvac Saga where everyone gets slaughtered.
It's hard to narrow it down; if you ask me again next week, I might have five different answers (well, four, because I'd always put Amazing 121 on the list).
This is SO. FREAKING. HARD. So far, I’ve got it narrowed down to TEN, and even that leaves out a ton of beloved favorites. No Conway / Andru Spidey, no Moench / Gulacy MOKF, no Englehart / Rogers Batman, no Wolfman / Colan TOMB OF DRACULA, no Steve Gerber, no Ploog, no Chaykin, no Simonson, no crazy-ass Atlas comics, etc etc etc etc. Like Edo said, sometimes the stories are so connected to their on-going storylines, they don’t stand out as individual issues. Or there may be a specific sequence in an individual issue that sings to you but the rest of it is only “so-so”. Peter and MJ’s first kiss in ASM 143 is one of my own personal highlights of the era, but the rest of the issue is just sort of average. And ASM 130 is the issue that made me fall in love with the series as a whole — a good villain plot, some juicy soap opera, a bittersweet “X-mas in New York” mood, great Andru/Giacoia art and an AWESOME Romita cover. BUT— it’s only half of the story, it’s really incomplete without ASM 131. This is really gonna take some thought....
Meanwhile, I suggest making an exception to the “NO REPRINTS” rule. It makes total sense to disallow reprints of Gold and Silver Age material, but what if we allow comics that reprint material ONLY from other Bronze Age comics? Because then we can include MARVEL TREASURY 4, which reprints the ENTIRE Thomas / Smith “Red Nails” adaptation — PLUS Barry went back and re-inked certain bits throughout the whole thing, and completely re-inked two entire pages that had originally been inked by Pablo Marcos — PLUS Barry colored it — PLUS it has probably Barry’s single greatest Conan image as the back cover. Also, the mighty EERIE 59, featuring Esteban Maroto’s Dax the Damned, would very likely be in my Top Five as well.
Though I should probably be thinking of “Process of Elimination” things, instead of ways to cast a wider net...
b.t.
I. . . I don't know if I could even keep it to the five greatest issues of THE INCREDIBLE HULK for the Bronze Age-- Yikers! (Especially with that huge '70 to '85 span. . . !)
HB
It’s funny, I don’t even think of Miller’s Daredevil or Claremont / Byrne’s X-Men as being Bronze Age books, but of course they ARE, just pretty late in the era, near the tail end. Depending on what we consider the cut-off — in 1984? ‘85? — the Bronze Age even encompasses the beginning of the “Independent” era, with comics like LOVE AND ROCKETS, THE ROCKETEER, AMERICAN FLAGG! , etc.
Anyhow, here are my Top Five:
CONAN THE BARBARIAN 37 (which I’ve mentioned here often enough, I won’t bore you all again with why I think it’s so special).
SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION 15 . The first Shang-Chi. Just a thumping great comic, one of the best First Issues of any title ever.
JUNGLE ACTION 8. My first Black Panther comic (and it happens to be Rich Buckler’s last). There are probably three or four later issues drawn by Billy Graham that I like just as much as this one (and probably one or two that I think are actually BETTER), so nostalgia definitely plays a part in my choice. Just looking at the cover gets me dewy-eyed. But it’s also simply a genuinely terrific comic. If you’re not familiar with it, google the words “Malice By Crimson Moonlight” and check out Buckler’s two-page splash, where he homages Steranko’s “Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound Kill” and actually tells a story inside the letter-forms. It’s brilliant.
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT 10. It’s actually the second part of a two-part story, and Part One is actually just as good as this one, page for page, panel for panel. But #10 is the one i bought off the spinner rack at Smith’s Food King in the first flush of my Comic Obsession (and also, the cover is TOTALLY kick-ass).
VAMPIRE TALES 4. It has a terrific Boris Vallejo cover, from the time before he became a slave to his photo reference — it has two Atlas Era reprints (a good one by Tony DiPreta and a pretty crummy one by Paul Reinman) — a whopping TWENTY-FOUR PAGES of “Photos and Features” plus a 2-page letters column (in other words, “filler”) — a middling generic horror short by Moench and Lombardia (who he?) and two absolute stunners: Tony Isabella and Esteban Maroto’s adaptation of August Derleth’s “The Drifting Snow” and “Lighthouse of the Damned”, a Morbius story by McGregor and Sutton that just oozes atmosphere.
Looking at my list, I’m struck by several things:
It’s all Marvel (not a huge surprise).
Black Panther is the closest thing to a “traditional” super hero in the bunch.
Two Tom Sutton art jobs, two Don McGregor stories.
Marvel Mainstays John Romita, Gil Kane, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, all MIA.
NO JACK KIRBY — how did that happen???
FWIW, here are my five Runners Up:
GIANT- SIZE SUPER STARS 1
EERIE 60 -- my first “non reprint” Warren mag, with Wood, Wrightson, and Rich Corben in astounding color
CREEPY 75 — Toth, Buckler/Wood, John Severin, “Thrillkill” by Stenstrum and Adams and a nice Ken Kelly cover
SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN 5 — Boris cover, “A Witch Shall Be Born” by Thomas, Buscema and DeZuniga
KAMMANDI 2
b.t.
Red, four of my five choices would have been Marvel UK comics but you said no reprints so I've chosen the US originals of those UK reprints...
1) Planet Of The Apes magazine #3 which featured part 3 of the Doug Moench/George Tuska adaptation of the first apes movie. Taylor has escaped and is running around ape city but he gets re-captured and utters the famous cry "Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!" - I first read this story in Marvel UK's Planet Of The Apes weekly dated November 23rd 1974 which was my first ever Marvel comic.
2) Amazing Spider-Man #83 - this was the first Spidey story I ever read and it introduced the Schemer who emerges as a rival to the Kingpin but - SPOILER! - the Schemer is really the Kingpin's son all along, gasp!! For us Brits the Kingpin/Schemer story began in Marvel UK's 'Spider-Man Comics Weekly' #103 in January 1975 which was my first "proper" Marvel comic after ten weeks of reading only Planet Of The Apes.
3) Conan The Barbarian #2 - "The Lair Of The Beast-Men" by Roy Thomas, Barry Smith and Sal Buscema was the first Conan story I ever read when it appeared in Marvel UK's 'Savage Sword Of Conan' weekly #2 in March 1975.
4) Savage Sword Of Conan monthly #4 - features Marvel's adaptation of "Iron Shadows In The Moon" by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala. This story is my all-time favourite of Robert E. Howard's original Conan stories (but it was called "Shadows In the Moonlight" when it was first printed in 1934). The UK reprint was in #1 of 'Savage Sword Of Conan' monthly in November 1977 and "Iron Shadows In The Moon" appeared again, this time in colour, in the 1978 Conan Treasury Edition. I own a complete collection of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories so Shadows In The Moonlight/Iron Shadows In The Moon is a story I know almost word for word as I'm regularly re-reading it!
5) Uncanny X-Men #132 - the only comic on my list that I didn't read as a reprint first. I was totally enthralled by the Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix epic and I could have chosen any issue of Uncanny X-Men from #132-137 but I'll go with #132 because I bought it on April 5th 1980 which was also Easter Saturday so that particular issue reminds me of Easter 1980 and the beginning of a fortnight's holiday from school :D
By the way, Amazing Spider-Man #83 only just scrapes into the definition of a Bronze Age comic - it was dated April 1970 so I assume it went on sale in January 1970. Just one month earlier and it wouldn't have been officially Bronze Age!
Challenge excepted Red!
But for my own sanity, I will limit the choices to my original reading stint of '75-'80.
No particular order;
GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1- Can't help it. This one was one of my first 30 or so comics, felt so cool being on the ground floor of a new team tho I had no clue who the original X-Men were. I read this so often the cover was hanging on by a thread.
AVENGERS #166- Finale of the Count Nefaria story. For a twelve year old the gratuitous action was heaven. Also that moment when Cap hands his shield over to a still insecure Wonder Man is unforgettable.
DEFENDERS #50- The ending to the Scorpio story, and what an ending. Just couldn't believe they went there. Has been burned into my head since.
X-MEN #166- Proteus scared the crap out of me, I guess that's one way to stay memorable. Plus that great Cyclops leadership scene, snapping Wolverine out the shakes!
DAREDEVIL #166- I actually felt compassion for Gladiator in this one. There are very few villains that I remember their names, but because of this story I remember his. Melvin.
Oops!
One too many #166's. That should read X-MEN #128
Excellent lists, all! Definitely a tour of the Best of Bronze Marvel.
Dangermash- ASM 270- I've never read that Firelord story, but have heard it referenced many times. Sounds like one that needs checked out. And the FF story you mentioned, from issue 236, is a classic indeed. Certainly one of the best of a Fantastic run!
Edo- you named several that just missed my list. MTU 79 is so good; Byrne and Austin never looked better. And you're right, on some of those classic runs you can't read just one. Kind of like Lay's potato chips, except you read them, not eat them...
Mike W- ASM 121 most assuredly deserves a spot on these lists. The drug books too. And probably several other Spidey issues. But very few books have the impact that 121 had, and still has.
b.t.- first off, we planned on making it slightly easier by devoting each of the next couple posts to different publishers, allowing us to focus on Marvel this go round (granted, it isn't much easier pinning down only five favorites).
Next, here's sharing your love for ASM 130. Gotta love the Spider-Mobile. What a memorable story , and also it's conclusion with Aunt May marrying (?!?) Doc Ock! Aaand, you have a solid point about reprints of Bronze age material. Absolutely that Conan Treasury should qualify. It's a gem. Finally, you've piqued my interest with your description of that Vampire Tales mag. Never picked one up; apparently that was a mistake...
HB- If anyone can come up with five top Bronze age Hulk tales, you're the one. Would, say, that Hulk Annual with Angel and Iceman be among your faves?
Colin J- ah, you got me on another technicality! Yes, the UK editions surely qualify, even if they present some Silver Age content too. And yes, ASM 83 juuuuust squeeks in. Which brings to mind, what was the latest ASM that would qualify for our discussion? Hmmmmm, published December 1985, according to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, that would be issue 274 with the Beyonder. Never read that one; anyone out there who can enlighten us on it's contents?
Killraven- great choices! Can't go wrong with Giant Size X-Men. And that DD issue with Gladiator- it was a good one. Yes, it did put poor Melvin Potter in a more sympathetic light. Good stuff indeed.
Red, re: your question to HB about Hulk Annual #7 - that would be a contender for me. But then again, I'm a big fan of annuals from the 1970s and 1980s. There's two in my list above, and I easily could have just picked all annuals, e.g., that Hulk annual, plus Spider-man Annual #10, 13 or 14 and Avengers Annual #9, 10 or 13. But there's so many (so, so many) other good ones, like FF Annual #14 and 15, Rom Annual #1 and 2, all three of the Tarzan annuals (and also the Warlord of Mars Annuals now that I think of it), X-men Annual #4 and 5, Hulk Annual #14 and 15.
And I just remembered the graphic novel line, which was often hit or miss, but Death of Captain Marvel and God Loves, Man Kills, to name just two, are both top-notch.
I have to say, by the way, that it's odd how Facebook functions; I'm a member of the Back Issue group too, but only certain posts appear in my feed/timeline and the one you mentioned didn't (I certainly would have remembered if it had). I usually don't bother going to the main Back Issue page, and now I'd have to wade through countless posts to find it.
Duh, it says right there in the header : “Best of the Bronze — MARVEL”. Somehow, I missed it. Ah well, my Top 5 all ended up being Marvels anyway....
Colin : Our “firsts” really have a special power over us, don’t they?
Killraven: I know I must have read DEFENDERS 50, but I don’t recall that gobsmacking ending AT ALL. I’ll have to dig it up post-haste to see what that’s all about. And that Proteus story in X-MEN is one of the storylines that stand out in my memory as being above-average in that remarkable run, too.
Edo: I share your fondness for Annuals, I have a soft spot for the ‘76 and ‘77 Marvel Annuals especially. Something about those square spines....
b.t.
Because this has no British reprints, it's just about possible! With reprints, the list would be fiendishly difficult!
1.) X-Men # 112 - The New X-Men vs Magneto - my first ever X-Men. This evocative comic encapsulates everything X-Men, all in one compact, incredibly succinct issue.
2.) Avengers # 177 - The finale of the Korvac Saga. I could have filled this entire list with issues from Jim Shooter's first run. This one is the culmination of it all.
3.) Marvel Spotlight Vol 2, number 2 - Spotlight on Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel's Titan Saga is probably the most underrated run in Marvel's entire history. It should be up there with Dark Phoenix. This issue is the finale & culmination of the entire run - although there is an epilogue in # 3! The fact that low sales made this gem of a run end in Spotlight, speaks volumes for the public's lack of taste - same with Warlock.
4.) Warlock # 11 - Warlock's battle against his future self, the Magus, comes to its conclusion.
5.) Moon Knight # 1 - Moon Knight must defeat his dark alter ego, Bushman, to retain his sanity/gain redemption. Psychological issues feature in Moon Knight more than any other comic, at that time.
Phillip
Anyone else thought of 5 more they could have included?
Phillip
Phillip- oh man, Starlin's "Warlock" was gargantuan. Immensely great story and art,too. Those books would make a 'best of' list just for the presence of Pip the Troll. And though I can't speak for anyone else, coming up with another list of five would be easy. Could probably make a list of twenty five...
Red – great subject! Wonderful!
(May I ask that you ad our 5 favorite comic-related “things” that were not comics? E.g. I'd love to sing the praises of Steranko's History of Comics, yet again, lol!)
My favorites:
Avengers 93. Avengers, Krees, Skrulls, Fantastic Four (?), Captain Marvel, Neal Adams and Tom Palmer. $.25 – lots of pages! This baby had it all!!!
Captain America 155 - This was a mind blower! Not only did we see reprints of Cap from the 1950s (a mind blower to a 11 year old kid who didn't realize Cap was around in the 1950s) but we are introduced to Jack Monroe (Bucky) and William Burnside (Cap) from the 1950s. It's fair enough to say that Roy planted the seeds here for the revival of Bucky as The Winter Soldier 40 years later?!
Hero for Hire #1 – A black hero! From the streets / prison! It seemed real! No one else called their enemies "motherless freakin' scum!" I loved it especially growing up in Gary, Indiana which became the murder capital of America just a few years later!
King Size Conan #1 ($.35) OK... It reprints: "Lair of the Beastmen" from Conan # 2 and "The Tower of the Elephant" from Conan # 4 BUT! It's a new Windsor-Smith cover! And the cover just lit my head on fire and it became the first and last Conan I ever bought off the spinner because of that cover!
Spidey 100. I bought it off the spinner walking with my dad to the beach on a summer's day. I still have it. The Romita cover is sensational. The interior work by Kane is sensational. A 6-armed Spidey at the end is a shocker! Every True Believer was on edge after reading Spidey 100, waiting for 101!
Tough to boil it down to five, not least because the definition of "Bronze Age" used here - as opposed to say, "the 70s" - covers both the newstand era and the early half of the direct market 80s boom.
How to judge quality between what are imo two different eras? Basically I went for comics that blew me away around the time they came out (so that excluded anything I came to later, as back issues or reprints) and still hold up decades later without necessarily requiring the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia.
1. Dr Strange #13 - The one just after the Earth is destroyed; at the time I was amazed by the high concept of the world being recreated as a copy, with Doc as the only "real" human. Great Gene Colan/Tom Palmer artwork too.
Sadly, after Englehart got the push some joker - Marv Wolfman? - retconned the end of the world as an illusion or something, but its still a fantastic read.
2. Giant-Size Man-Thing #3 - I was a bit down on Steve Gerber here a while back, but the writing on this one stands comparison with, say, Neil Gaiman's Vertigo stuff, which is an impressive achievement for the newstand era. And the art by the mighty Alfredo Alcala is phenomenal.
3. Captain America's Bicentennial Battles - Its a Jack Kirby king-size spectacular!
4. Daredevil #181 - A lot of people seem down on Frank Miller these days but as the double-size death of Elektra proves, his rise was well earned.
Ok, he wasn't the best artist in the world, but he was a great storyteller so who cares? (Especially as he as he had Klaus Janson around to make his stuff look better anyway)
5. Thor #337 - You knew this was going to be the business from the cover. Walt Simonson effortlessly reinvents the Marvel superhero comic with his first issue.
Honorary mention - Warlock #11 by Jim Starlin
And had I known about Redartz' rule change allowing Conan Treasuries, Treasury #15 - Song of the Red Sonja beats Red Nails imho, plus you get the Buscema/Alcala team, and Gil Kane with Neal Adams & co - might well have made my list...
-sean
Bonus list! My five worst Marvel comics -
1. Invaders #12 - Set in the Warsaw ghetto. An epic fail by Roy Thomas and Frank Robbins.
2. Red Wolf #8 - Our hero and native American lady cop Jill Tomahawk (!) take on a gang of bikers. Did uniformed police women in the US really wear mini-skirts in the early 70s? I don't think so...
3. X-Men #103 - %@£*#& leprechauns!
4. Marvel Premiere #31 (Woodgod) - Eh?
5. Avengers #200 - What were they thinking?
Dishonourable mention - Which ever one of the pre-Starlin red and blue Captain Marvel issues was the worst. The green and white ones weren't great either, but a) at least Rick Jones isn't in them, and b) I don't want Charlie on my case.
-sean
Sean - Surely, 'Song of Red Sonja' was Barry W Smith, not John Buscema!
Phillip
Unless the Conan Treasury was a combined edition, with Buscema/Alcala stories in it, too! I myself read 'Song of Red Sonja' on X-Mas Day 1977 in a British Avengers Annual dated 1978.
Phillip
Yeah, the Treasury reprinted Black Colossus and Night of the Dark God - drawn by Buscema/Alcala and Gil Kane respectively - as well as Song of the Red Sonja, Phillip.
Its kinda strange Song... was reprinted in that '78 annual, as the Treasury came out in '77 too and was pretty well distributed in the UK (iirc there were full page ads for it in the weeklies).
Still, I don't suppose you had any complaints about getting to read it for the first time...
-sean
Sean, as regards 'Song of Red Sonja', in the era of Mary Whitehouse values, Avengers Annual 1978 gave young readers their first Conan fix, "under the radar" ! The story was quite tame, itself, but - in the 1970s - WHS might not have sold Conan Treasury Edition to an 8 yr old, even if he could afford it!
Phillip
Treasury editions didn't have to pass the Comics Code, Phillip, so the Song of the Red Sonja reprint didn't have the changes to the skinny-dipping scene required for Conan #24 - Mary Whitehouse would have been appalled!
-sean
sean: Yes, it was Marv Wolfman who took over Dr. Strange immediately after Englehart. I honestly don’t recall the big cosmic re-set that so impressed you , but I do remember the transition from Steve to Marv as being very awkward and abrupt.
During the course of issue 18, Doc and Clea are time-traveling, they meet notorious horn-dog Ben Franklin, Doc has to go off by himself to do some Sorcerer Supreme stuff and leaves Clea behind with the balding, near-sighted, overweight and apparently IRRESISTABLY SEXY Founding Father. Before you know it, they are absolutely getting it on! As blatantly as the Comics Code would allow in 1976.
Time passes. Doc gets back from his mission, Clea and Ben are barely even making an effort to conceal what just happened between them — seriously, Clea is positively GLOWING — to the point where Doc is thinking, “HANG ON! Did she....did THEY...?”
So, issue 19 comes out and I’m eager to see how all these Sexy Time Shenanigans are gonna play out. Will this be the end of Doc and Clea’s relationship, not just as mentor and student but also as lovers? Or is Doc gonna be all open-minded and understanding and just let it go? Or maybe Clea will tell him, “You know, you and I shouldn’t be boinking anyway, I’m your STUDENT, for Pete’s sake”? Turns out none of those things happens because Marv just pretends the Big Bang never happened! I’m flipping the pages, confused — did i miss an issue or something? But nope. Marv apparently just didn’t want to have anything to do with Doc being cuckolded in his own monthly mag and simply ignored it. Talk about an anti-climax. LITERALLY.
b.t.
Oh crap, I totally mis-remembered — Marv didn’t ignore Clea’s close encounter with Big Ben. He waved his magic writer’s wand so that it turned out to be an illusion. SO much better!
b.t.
Yeah b.t., the one with Ben Franklin was great too, and I expect it had even more impact on American readers (Franklin being a larger figure in the popular imagination than he is for Europeans).
That whole run was brilliant, so it was really annoying it was cut short and messed up. Gotta say I never much cared for Englehart's writing elsewhere but his Doc, both with Brunner and Colan - was fantastic.
And as for Marv Wolfman... I disliked most comics he wrote, but enjoyed Tomb of Dracula.
Funny how that works. The artists were much more consistent back then imo, and its easier to find a 70s comic that still looks good than one where the writing holds up well (without having to make allowances).
-sean
Giant Size Avengers #2 is still one of my favorite Avengers comics ever. When Scarlet Witch brings down that asteroid it really ushered in a new era for her.
BobC- that was a great scene in GS Avengers 2. Especially Mantis'comment about how Wanda's asteroid nearly hit her. A bit of hilarity amidst the Kang-ly drama...
Lots of great issues already mentioned that I'd echo, especially Avengers #93, and yes, Defenders #50.
Another big one for me was X-Men #120, the intro of Alpha Flight. As I Western Canadian I was thrilled to see a realistic depiction of Calgary, and to see this mysterious new team of Canadians beat the stuffing out of my favorite mutants was delightful. Great art by John Byrne.
Speaking of great art, Master of Kung Fu #38, "Cat." That book had numerous great issues that I could suggest instead, but this is my favorite. I was really happy to get Paul Gulacy to sign these issues for me.
I'd also nominate Avengers #148, a great Englehart/Perez battle with the Squadron Supreme.
And Amazing Adventures #34 (Killraven) - "A Death In the Family" A very grim story with (spoilers!) multiple deaths of key characters. Very gripping to fifteen-year-old me, and again, wonderful art.
And to finish, I'll go with Iron Man #128, "Demon In a Bottle," the culmination of the best Iron Man run ever ( to me at least). These were the issues that made think, "yeah, that works," when I heard Robert Downey Jr was going to play Tony Stark.
redartz--no kidding! The bickering between Wanda and Mantis was awesome!
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