Monday, January 20, 2014

BAB Classic: Three Cows Shot Me Down! Avengers #93



NOTE:  This post was originally published on 1 November 2011.

Avengers #93 (November 1971)
"This Beachhead Earth!"
Roy Thomas-Neal Adams/Tom Palmer

Doug: Big changes are afoot in this installment, effendi! Not only do the Skrulls make their entrance, but the art takes a drastic turn with the takeover by the stylistic Neal Adams and Tom Palmer. And for those who take note of such things, this issue also marks the beginning of the "framed" cover period at Marvel.

Karen: Well, I never liked those "framed" covers -I always felt like too much art was lost. But unlike some of our BABsters, I really enjoy Neal Adams' artwork on our mighty Avengers. I think he and Tom Palmer did a fantastic job, giving this epic story a sense of grandeur it deserved.

Doug: I don't know that I necessarily like the framed covers as much as I like the fact that they represent an era in comics production, sort of like the go-go checks on DC's in the late 1960's, the "Still only 25c" call-outs on the tops of Marvels, etc. And we'll discuss Mr. Adams as we go through today's post, but count me among those in his adoration-club.

Doug: Today's book is really divided into two major parts. The introduction gives us the not-so-famous (because the line was never actually uttered) "three cows shot me down" splash page whereby the Vision stumbles into Avengers Mansion. Now if that seems somewhat confusing, given the fact that he, Quicksilver, Goliath, and the Scarlet Witch were seemingly fired by the Founders at the end of last issue, then hang in there. All will be made clear soon. As the Vision staggers, he mutters for help, then collapses. As Iron Man moves over to investigate, he reports that there is no pulse, nor breathing. Cap wonders aloud if that's normal -- after all, as an android the Vision perhaps shouldn't operate as a human would. I was struck here by the ignorance of the Founders in regard to the Vision -- but then, had they spent any real lengthy time with or around him since Avengers #57?

Karen: Very true, the Big Three at this point really didn't know the Vision all that well.

Doug: Suddenly our heroes are jolted by a voice -- one they don't seem to recognize. But upon further review, they determine that it belongs to one Dr. Henry Pym -- but on the scene as Ant-Man! His claim is that Iron Man had called a meeting of the original team. As Pym had founded the team in his Ant-Man guise, that's how he showed up. But seriously -- what did you think of that? While it's immediately obvious (as we get to the next part of the plot) what Neal Adams was going for visually, this came out of left field. By the way, Pym's entrance here will be replayed in part 1 of the "Bride of Ultron" saga much later.

Karen: Pym changed identities so often I didn't even give it any thought. Would it have made more sense for Yellowjacket to show up? Sure. We already knew his size-changing was having an effect on his health. So yeah, it might not seem to make sense but I don't feel it detracts too much from the story. Of course, it's actually essential for the plot that he be ant-sized, so even if he showed up as YJ, he'd have to shrink down anyway.

Doug: I suppose the answer could be as simple as Adams didn't want to draw Yellowjacket. Funny that only a few issues later, in the 100th anniversary edition, that there would be another call-out for the founding Avengers (along with everyone else).

Doug: The first major part of the book is Roy's and Neal's homage to the film "Fantastic Voyage", as Hank offers to enter the Vision's comatose (or dead) body to find out just what's ailing him. What follows is a 13-page romp through the various systems and component parts of the Vision. It's entertaining, although at times Roy's words are a bit over-the-top. I didn't agree completely with Adams' interpretation -- although at this time we didn't yet know that the Vision was a re-worked version of the Original Human Torch, Adams has said that was his intent (and left a few clues in this very tale). Of note is some sort of brace on the Vision's uvula... That being said, I just didn't go for some of the explanations of the way the Vision's body/systems worked. Yes, I know he was "improved" by Ultron-1, but it still seemed a bit off. The artwork here was beautiful, though -- much of that credit goes to Tom Palmer, who really enhanced Adams' pencils through the use of zipatone.

Karen: The vats of spheres that allowed Vizh to change density or mass were an interesting idea. I suppose they would flood through his entire body when he wanted to change? His insides looked more like a factory than a body. It seemed a bit contradictory at times -we know he has a heart but where was it? He has analogs to most human organs -a tongue, nasal passages, a brain -but the scene in the chest is completely different. Regardless of this, I still felt it all worked. There was a real sense of drama as Pym fought to make his way to the brain. Curious that Roy felt the need to have Pym declare his love of E.C. Comics though. Not sure where that came from, but these issues are filled to the brim with all sorts of references.

Doug: As the first chapter concludes, Ant-Man takes off just before the Vision awakens. As Vizh arises from the slab, it's a particularly powerful panel. He is dark and moody, and I believe for the first time his word balloons are fully-squared as we'd come to know them in the later 1970's. He's up, and he's not happy. He takes it right to the Founders, ridiculing them for their callous expulsion of the current team in the previous issue. Thor is the first to speak, and is incredulous at the accusation. Iron Man adds to the mystery by showing a letter from Jarvis -- his resignation. So the four begin to compare notes, and Vizh relates what happened after they were "fired".

Karen: This was good stuff, properly heavy and well-portrayed. I've been using the TPB for this review and I note that the coloring of Vision's head piece is yellow and not green. Looking at the original comic though, I see the mistake was made there first!

Doug: The erstwhile Avengers hopped in a car and headed north from the city, toward the farm where Carol Danvers had told Mar-Vell to go. Once there, the team had to hop a fence to get toward the farmhouse -- Clint took the lead and quickly separated himself from the other three heroes. Vision offered Wanda assistance, to which Pietro immediately lashed out. Shades of things to come. So the Vision lifted, and was almost immediately blasted from the sky, screaming. He fell in the midst of three cows. Wanda and Pietro hurried to his side, and as they did the cattle transformed into, of all things, the Fantastic Four! The FF attacked mercilessly, but with strange powers, as Ben stretched his arm to strike down Quicksilver! The Vision, still stunned, sunk beneath the earth's surface and lay in wait until their attackers had departed -- the baddies exited with Wanda and Pietro. When the coast was clear, the Vision had levitated his damaged body, and floated toward Avengers Mansion.

Karen: Pietro's reaction towards the Vision is thought by the android to be due to the sense of paranoia they are experiencing, but surely Thomas by this point had already figured out that the speedster would be on to his sister's feelings towards the Vision. I thought it was pretty cool the way Adams depicted the Vision's inert body floating back slowly to Avengers Mansion. What a sight that would be.

Doug: Creee-py. As we head into the concluding chapter, we find Mar-Vell imprisoned by three Skrulls, with Carol Danvers in the room, also a captive. The Skrulls spy Goliath approaching, and soon the FF is on the move toward him. Of course by now we know that the doppelgangers are Skrulls as well, and they make no effort to hide it -- their speech patterns alone give it away. Our pal Rick Jones is along with Clint, and he's the one who deduces that all ain't quite right. He's captured, and as he challenges "Mr. Fantastic", the secret is revealed. We then get a very brief recap of the conclusion of FF #2, and are told that a Skrull Hyperbeam revived the "cows". And it's about this time that the cavalry arrives -- in the form of Cap, Vizh, Iron Man, and Thor!

Karen: Isn't it great how this ties all the way back to FF #2? Roy's ingenuity with incorporating past elements into stories is among the best. The Skrulls' appearance seems almost to change from panel to panel -a mistake, or a comment on their fluid nature?

Doug: I don't know. One thing I was aware of throughout the book was the general size of the Skrulls. As I recall, Kirby had drawn them much smaller -- "little green men", if you will. Here they were large, muscular, and threatening. Maybe intergalactic war brings that out in people?

Doug: Mar-Vell works against his shackles, attempting to ignite the uni-beam on his wrist. By rubbing it against the metal encasing his arms, he's able to do just that -- he bounces it off some reflective surfaces in the room and is able to re-direct it back toward himself. Freeing himself, he then sets Carol loose. Mar-Vell then sets about the creation of an omni-wave projector in order to contact the Kree across hyperspace. He tells Carol that the omni-wave is not only a super-radio, but is potentially a powerful weapon -- one the Skrulls would love to have. So begins a series of split pages, with Mar-Vell doing his thing on the top, while we see the Avengers battle the fake FF on the bottom. I have to interject here that I really don't care for Adams' rendition of the FF, and particularly not for his version of the Thing. But as Mar-Vell is about to finish the projector, he suddenly destroys it! Carol is astounded, but then cryptically says "you know". Yep -- she was a Skrull who slipped up and called the Captain by his real name, when we're told that only the Avengers knew that. And Carol -- she is in fact the Super Skrull!


Karen: What did you think of the split pages as a story-telling device? On one hand, it was a bit annoying, yet I can't deny that it built tension. I agree with you completely regarding Adams' FF -they just don't look right. Not every artist is suited to all characters. How about the coloring when Mar-Vell is constructing the omni-wave? I thought that green really gave the art a sense of something strange going on.

Doug: I was reading from the trade paperback, as well. I was sometimes confused by Adams panel lay-outs, particularly when he moved across the top and bottom halves of a page. The coloring on this particular lay-out made it obvious. I didn't particularly care for this portion of the story -- the way it was handled, I mean. But I want to make a general comment about the coloring. I think when Neal Adams arrived on the scene, comic book pictures became "art". By that, I mean more attention to detail was paid to lay-outs, coloring, etc. Where the four-color page had once been flat, now it leapt off the page. And a clarification -- by "flat", I don't mean the effort or action was flat. No way -- Kirby, John Buscema, DC's own masters -- no. I mean there was just a new visual dynamism from Adams and his subsequent imitators.

Doug: The Super Skrull takes down Captain Marvel at about the same time the Avengers defeat the Skrulls outside. Having what he needs, the Super Skrull reveals that the farmhouse is actually a cloak for a Skrull spaceship! As it begins to launch, Clint grows to his maximum height and attempts to pull the ship down. He's almost successful, but as fate would have it, the Pym growth serum wears off and Clint falls away. Thor saves him, but it's a defeated crew of Avengers who are left on Earth -- minus their ally Captain Marvel and two of their teammates!

Karen: One of my favorite panels of all time is that big shot from below of Goliath pounding on the Skrull UFO. That has such a feel of power and excitement. The ending left you wondering how our heroes would recover -and hey, what happened to the Vision?

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember so many individual panels from this that it’s hard to believe they’re all from one comic.

Cap bending down and Ant Man jumping on his hand, the contours of the Visions face in the double page splash as Hank goes down his throat, Palmer’s use of ziptone to make Hank’s helmet look like real steel coupled with almost Perez-like use of light playing on it at the same time to show the shape of the helmet and the movement of light on it, the comedy shot where Hank falls down a tube, the long shots of falling and flying inside the Vision’s body that recall their work on Xmen, the anti-bodies or white corpuscles or whatever they are sticking to Hank, the intangibility bath, the reflections of what he’s looking at in his visor, Clint going over the fence, Mar-vell smashing the Omni Wave, Reed-Skrull’s fist going through the Vision, Clint turning and growing at the same time and, of course, Karen’s favourite.

Jeez, if it had THAT final panel (you know the one), you wouldn’t need to buy any other comics.

I think you’re right about the contrived-ness of Hank turning up as Ant Man. I read somewhere that Adams had told RT that he wanted to do a Fantastic journey type dreamscape, and with the change that month (and that month only) to the much heralded 25c squarebound format, RT figured he could shoe-horn it in without slowing the action down. Little did they know that, even shoehorned randomly into the best story there had ever been up to that point, it slowed nothing down and became a little classic in its own right.

I also love the way Hank narrates to himself. Obviously a device to make it work for us, but plausibly as he says, also to keep his own confidence up. It always sounded like Chandler/Hammett type narration to me.

Richard

Edo Bosnar said...

Agree that this is quite an intro for Adams on the Avengers. I'm definitely not one of the "don't-like-Adams-in-Avengers-or-Marvel-in-general" crowd, and I love the art in this issue. And generally I like the panel design as well. However, I do agree that Adams and the FF, especially the Thing, really don't mix.
There were some aspects of the story that bothered me, however. Roy really went overboard on Hank's monologue while traveling through the Vision. I was puzzled by the EC comics comment as well, and was surprised at the Superman reference (okay, he said 'Clark Kent', but still).
Also, a criticism from previous issues also applies here, as the recently 'expelled' Avengers drive to upstate New York in their convertible, all in costume.
By the way, Richard touched upon it in his comment above, but I have to ask, why was this issue - and this issue alone - double-sized? Did all Marvel titles have extra story pages that month?

Anonymous said...

Hi Edo,
According to Marvel, it was supposed to be permanent. They had to increase prices to 20c to cover escalating costs, esp. paper (somewhere in one of the Bullpen Bulletins just prior, Stan goes into it in some detail). They decided that to capitalise on the distribution costs ( bear in mind, Marvel were only 3 years free of the DC distribution deal that had restricted them to 8 titles) they decided to double the size of the comics and go straight to 25c. It killed them so badly that after only one month, almost everything went back to the originally proposed 20c and normal size. (4 or 5 of them had actually gone straight to 20c at normal size in November). They flirted a lot longer with the Surfer and probably killed the chances of one of their most iconic characters in the process.

DC followed suit, but stayed with the 25c format for a lot longer thinking the market would pick up, but they apparently took an absolute spanking that year and went back to plan A.


There are cynics who say that it was a trick to (1) make the 5c hike seem more palatable and (2) outwit DC. Certainly both of these things were accomplished, but if you read the Bulletin pages leading up, they are blowing big trumpets about it and afterwards, they admit hands down that it was a shocking failure, so I tend to believe them. I don’t think they would have taken a risk with so many core titles (there were 28 comics published, of which some were reprints, annuals etc and four were 20c format, but at least 15 of the key books went to 25c versions for one month only. I really don’t believe they did it on purpose. I also don’t believe it was a result of seeing the sales figures because comics were produced 6 months in advance. I think someone in accounting had a brainfart).

Richard

dbutler16 said...

Count me in the pro-Adams camp! Yes, Adams’ panel layouts are a bit different at times, though. I think it makes for a nice change, and forces us to process our comic book information a bit differently.
I like Pym’s quote about humans thinking they’re the only ones who can feel pain. How many times have I heard that a fish doesn’t feel that hook in his mouth. Huh? How do you know?
It’s funny that they didn’t correct the coloring error on Vizh’s head. Maybe it was intentional?
I thought the reference to FF#2 was pretty cool, too. Bronze Age Marvel continuity in action!

Super-Duper ToyBox said...

pretty great stuff... several bloggers have been touching on this issue recently, and i just read the Kree-Skrull War TPB this summer, funny.

Inkstained Wretch said...

What a contrast this story is to the John Byrne Vision stories in the 80s, whene he apparently transformed into a series of electronic circuits inside.

Regarding Neal Adams, I never said I hated him -- his take on the Vision's innards is striking -- I just find him better suited to Horror/Noir stuff. There's something oddly too precise about his renderings of straight-up superheros and I am not fond of the way he lays out the action, which can be confusing, as the post indicates.

Doug said...

I think comparing the Batman post of last week (still up on our main page) to this issue of the Avengers shows what some are discussing. Maybe it's me, but I'll posit that Adams is best on faces in general and on bodies that tend to be long and lithe. He's OK on Cap and Iron Man, but at times I feel his Thor is unimpressive. Other artists, like Byrne or Buscema, imbue the Thunder God with a massiveness across his chest and shoulders that is very striking -- it just exudes power. While Adams can exude agility and bodies-in-motion, he doesn't convey incredible strength well. Even his iconic cover to Superman (don't know the issue right off the top of my head -- the one where he breaks the chains (is it part of the "Kryptonite No More" story?)) shows a for-the-most-part Superman that isn't much larger than Adams' Batman.

Thoughts?

Doug

Doug said...

I was going to guess Superman #235; I was off by two issues. Here is a link to the cover of Superman #233:

http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=55433

Doug

Anonymous said...

I was thinking before that it must have been interesting to have been around at the time when Adams and Kane both started working at Marvel. I bet Romita dropped his chips a few times when he saw those proofs coming in!

Doug – I’m wondering if Kane addresses your issue? He has the same perspective / unusual camera angle thing that Adams has and long shots up the body as well, but he also gives the big boys plenty in the pec & shoulders department. I particularly like his Hulk...when he said he was going to smash, I believed him.

According to what Kane says in Arlen Schumer’s book, he worked very hard at that because his style at DC was far more in their house style, long & lithe. When he went to Marvel, he emulated Kirby more than you’d think.

There’s a great page in Schumer’s book where you see a panel of Green Lantern (Kane), a panel of Cap (Kirby) and a panel of Cap (Kane-post-Kirby) and you really see what he means.

Richard

Doug said...

Richard --

I assume you are speaking of the book "The Silver Age of Comic Art"? If so, I have that and will gladly check this all out after I get home today. Thanks!

Doug

Anonymous said...

Hi Doug – yup that’s the one (hope I’ve remembered rightly! If it turns out to be Frank Robbins, I’ll have to commit ritual suicide).

Richard

david_b said...

Yes, the 'Silver Age of Comic Art' it is and it's a superb book comparing styles, and it's rightfully HUGE, so I can matte/frame some of the full page art.

Ah, ish 93. We have arrived. I've mentioned my love/hate relationship with this issue and Adam's art over the last few posts with the previous issues. It's simply uneven - You have the utterly-fantastic opening sequences (the shading on Ironman and Hank are fantastic), not so good on Cap and Thor. A magnificent, awe-inspiring trip down inside 'Vision Lane'.., all done with great, near cinematic style. Juxtapose that with the tedious dual-action frames of Mar-Vell and a shoddy-drawn FF later on.

Visually majestic and surprisingly disappointing, all in one ish.

However, the story references were indeed awesome, tying back to original Skrull appearance.

One pick..: The culmination of this story was a justifiably huge undertaking.., but despite the beautiful journey through the Vision (taking up a major part of this issue), what did it really add to the overall story arc..?

Doug said...

Just checking in with some "news you can use" -- last week I told our readers that I'd try my best to find out if the new "Marvel Firsts" series of tpb's was in color or B&W. Some of us were concerned that at page counts getting close to 500 pages, that it would have to be in the Essentials format. Well, I'm happy to report that even though the comic shop I asked never replied, I was able to confirm (on three different sites) that the 1960's edition is indeed in color.

You can go back to our original post, and see the cover of the upcoming 1970's (vol. I) by pasting in the following link:

http://bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com/2011/10/discuss-evolution-of-personality.html

Thanks,

Doug

Fred W. Hill said...

I had read tidbits about this particular issue for over a decade before I ever got my hands on it, spending $25 for what was once "only" 25 cents! And, yeah, I agree with Karen that Adams' art really provided a greater degree of grandeur to the ongoing story. That said, I also agree that his take on the Thing looked somewhat off. Perhaps part of the problem with Adams' renditions of Ben Grimm and Thor and similar big-muscled characters is that his highly realistic style doesn't quite work for these larger-than-life fantasy figures who are very particularly associated with Kirby's mid-60s style (remembering that Thor, as rendered by Kirby in Journey Into Mystery back in 1962 looked positively anemic, at least compared to how Kirby portrayed him from 1965 and on). And going backwards on the FF, it wasn't until Sinnott came onboard that the Thing really started to "look right".
All in all, though, this issue was an epic within an epic. Lots of great stuff.

Karen said...

I wonder if we need to cut Adams some slack for some of the weaker efforts here (ex. The FF) since this was a giant-size issue? He had enough problems just getting a regular sized title out on time!

All of these issues are full of science fiction film homages or references. Roy would use variations of famous film titles for chapter titles. Besides Fantastic Voyage, there are echoes of This Island Earth, The Mole People, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and others I can't remember this morning! Actually it just occurred to me that the omni-wave is a lot like the interociter from This Island Earth.

Personally I think this is the story that put the Avengers into the super-heavyweight category. The FF had been facing intergalactic menaces for years. Now the Avengers were entering that arena.

Karen

david_b said...

I don't see it as strictly an Adams fault in regards to the FF.

Totally agreeing with Fred on the treasure of having Mr. Sinnott ink Ben Grimm, Palmer's inks could have been better as well.

We all love artists that take chances with style and innovation; with that in mind, some styles rise to the occasion, other attempts not. I really liked the idea of the dual action screens.., it just didn't come off well.

I don't think the art will detract from an otherwise outstanding entry into the Marvel Universe.

Rip Jagger said...

Possibly the single greatest comic book in my collection. Pound for pound, this one has it all. Adams at his peak, and a potent story of real significance. I can't explain how exciting it was to get hold of this and imagine another one like it due the next month. Alas it was not to be.

Rip Off

Fred W. Hill said...

From my perspective, this is the comic and storyline that gave The Avengers something to match the Galactus and Master Planner trilogies of the FF & Spider-Man, as well as the Hercules/Pluto and Dormammu/Eternity epics of Thor and Dr. Strange. Of course, there had been many outstanding previous Avengers tales, including the introductions of Ultron and the Vision and the Kang/Gamemaster story, but the Kree-Skrull War had a much grander scale. Not everyone's cup of tea, as indicated by some of the comments, but having only read about it as an adolescent and only having finally been able to read it as a young adult over a decade after it was initially published, I enjoyed it for both the art & story. Certainly it has many flaws -- so did those other classics I mentioned earlier. I also think this was where the Avengers really came out from under the long shadow of the Fantastic Four, this within a year of Kirby leaving that title but still about a year before Lee took his leave. Maybe this cover is rather symbolic in that way, especially as it (and the previous cover) prominently feature the Big Three who would now become regulars for the first time in over 5 years.

david_b said...

Fred, I'd agree on 'the story' that changed their status, among others you mentioned, I'd add CA&F's 'Secret Empire' saga.

All great multi-issued sagas that puts our heroes into the next higher level of status.

Edo Bosnar said...

Looking at my comment from a few years back (which now seem overly critical), I just have to add that I can see why so many fans who bought this off of the spinner racks have such fond memories of the Kree-Skrull War. If I had read this new as it was coming out, it would have blow my little mind! The intriguing, multi-faceted story and Adams and Palmer's art just give this issue in particular a very dramatic, even cinematic feel.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a fantastic issue and more than any of the ones you've covered so far it makes me want to pick up the Kree-Skrull TPB (though ideally, when it comes to old comics I prefer the original issues - though I am sure they'd be out of my price range).

Super-Skrull is one of my favorite FF villains.

So this issue takes place before Carol Danvers becomes Ms. Marvel?

Speaking of Ms. Marvel, I have a post going up on my blog tomorrow about the first arc in the Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel series that started in 2012 and was just cancelled this past fall.

Anonymous said...

Oh and speaking of Hank Pym's many changes - perhaps some of you have not seen this handy-dandy guide by Fred Hembeck from Marvel Age #31 (1985)

Doc Savage said...

I thought Neal Adams peaked with his amazing understanding of geology and plate tectonics!

Edo Bosnar said...

Osvaldo, yep, this issue came out a good five (or so) years before Danvers became Ms. Marvel.
And thanks for the link to that Hank Pym guide - Hembeck is always good. Also, while I don't think Ant Man would make a very good herald for Galactus (unless he's normal size and riding a giant winged ant), the just-before-his-wedding mentally unstable Yellowjacket certainly would.

Anonymous said...

As I've mentioned previously, I discovered over Christmas that I own the 2 issue Marvel Special Edition The Kree-Skrull War starring the Avengers. Having none of the originals, my earliest Avengers is 102, I was like "Wooo". Now as an adult, I began to collect the Marvel Essentials. With Vol 4 ending with 97, I now have the story. Note of warning, the Marvel Special Edition treats 89-92 as Prologue and summarizes them in 7 pages. But that's not why I called.....

Looking back at the story through the filter of me, I see in Capt Marvel the military man sent to the frontier, meeting and living with a primitive culture and to some extent, going native. When he is forced to return to his people, his friends, the Noble Savages, unite to free him. Isn't this Dances With Wolves? Does somebody owe Thomas some money?

Four aliens sent to earth and stuck in the wrong bodies (3 out of 4 and that ain't bad)? I would say Reed is Dick Solomon, Johnny would be Tommy Solomon leaving Ben as Harry?

Now to my nitpicks (remember, I do love this story). When Iron Man gets the band back together, I can see where Capt has replaced the Hulk, that's a given, but when only Ant-Man shows up, nobody bats an eye. Jan's absence is thrown out as an aside by Hank. "Oh, she has a virus". Are we getting back into the Marvel's Boys Club? Can't write for a girl? Hey, Wanda's in the story. Riiiight. I would have thought it would go like this "What's that voice" "A spy" "Base villain" "Forsooth, tis Ant-Man" "Hey Hank, where's Jan Why the get up" But alack and alas, not the way it went down.

Cue dramatic Vision Entrance!!!

For those who've seen Monster House, when the panel with Vision's uvula is shown, was I the only thinking "So it's a girl house"? If you haven't seen the movie, find it, it's a good film.

With the Vision reboot/reset, would he come out more robotic than before? More computer-ish? It would be logical....


The Prowler (splitting up the posts, its a 2014 thing)

Anonymous said...

As relayed by the Vision, in the first encounter with the Skrulls, it seemed as though they, the Skrulls, were mixing and matching the powers of the FF. How big is this farm? Wouldn't Clint have seen the Torch's flame? Heard the scuffle? Vision getting shot by an arrow from yon castle(You killed the VISION!!! Uh, I'm not dead yet, you mortally wounded the Vision, I think I'm getting better, look I can sink into the ground. We shall avenger you good Sir Vision I'm not dead yet!?!)? I mean, a ray striking him out of the sky? His cry of pain?

When you see the panels of Mar-Vell next to Rick hitting Clint with the rock in B&W, I thought it was still Capt Marvel Rick hit with the rock. I get the impression that Thomas keeps splitting Clint from other three to make it plausible that they're beatable.

Now we get the Omni wave part. The hint that it was the mutants the Skrulls were after? Were they the most "human"? What makes them good hostages? It would seem Rick Jones would be the choice. The Avengers defeat the cow/Skrulls but the Super Skrull gets away with CM, Quicksilver and Wanda.

With the Vision hiding on board....this is getting good and we haven't even left Earth!!!!

The Prowler (still rambling on since 2013, anybody want some grapes).

Unknown said...

Speaking of Neal Adams...

I just shook his hand! My son and I were browsing in a comic shop on Hollywood Blvd about an hour ago. In walks Neal Adams. He was even wearing the same blue shirt I've seen in photos. Maybe it's like his super-suit.

Me: "Are you Neal Adams?"
NA: "Yes".
Me: "I'm a big fan of your work"
NA: "Why, thank you."
NA smiles and extends his hand.
NA: "Do you work here?"
Me: "No, I'm just browsing with my son."
I point to my four-year-old who is talking to a glass case full of toys, completely oblivious to anything else going on.
Me: "I'm working on the next generation here".
NA: "Oh, that's great."
Me: "He's really into Batman right now."
NA: "Excellent."

Adams was definitely there on business, so I kept it short, and refrained from any inane fanboy questions. But he was very pleasant and gracious. I wish I'd had something witty prepared. But then, who expects to bump into Neal Adams?

James Chatterton

Doug said...

This is primarily for Osvaldo, who keeps threatening that he's going to get the topic-of-the-day one of these reader-led times...

Tomorrow: Spotlight On...
Thursday: The Open Forum
Saturday: Discuss
Sunday: Who's the Best...?

Line up those potential topics, kiddie-winkies!

Doug

PS: I saw two things on the web today that were "extra post worthy", but held myself back. Y'all can just remain ignorant in the name of vacation protocol! ;)

david_b said...

James, AWESOME STORY about Mr. Adams.. Thanks for sharing!

Another thought on Hank here. I do wish they would have had Yellowjacket instead of Antman, but I suppose he preferred drawing a helmet to angling the head around the wings on those side shots.

The light purple gloves and shorts on the red uniform look terrible.

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