Guest Review - Buried Treasures: Dynamite 1974

Doug: We have a treat for you today. Over the past few weeks we've been discussing the superhero inserts found in two magazine from the mid-1970s: Smash and Dynamite. Many of us recall those mags, available to us through monthly book orders in our elementary school classrooms. You might recall Mike Wilson's comment last Friday that he actually has the Dynamite from which I pulled the Captain America exhibit. How long do you think it took me to email him after his comment? Not long! So today we're very thankful to have Mike's review of the complete issue -- which we know those of you who lived the magazine will love, and we hope everyone else finds quite interesting. Thank you, Mike!

Dynamite #5 (November 1974)
Scholastic, Inc.

M.S. Wilson: I mentioned in the comments to Doug's post on superheroes in Dynamite magazine that I had the issue featuring Captain America, so Doug asked if I'd do a write-up on the entire issue; not completely comics-related, but BAB is about pop culture in general, and a lot of us seem to remember Dynamite quite fondly... I know I do. So, here's a look at that particular issue, from November 1974 (which was issue #5, so Dynamite was still in its infancy back then). Now, I was only two years old in 1974, so you're probably wondering how I ended up with this issue. When I was in Grade Six (around 1984), I took this issue out of the school library. I guess I took it home and never got around to returning it... so I suppose I actually stole it, but I was pretty absent-minded in those days; of course, I'm much better now.

The first page is the Table of Contents, and then they get straight to the story featured on the cover. My copy is missing the cover (besides being absent-minded, I wasn't all that careful back then), but the cover story was about the TV show Born Free, which starred Gary Collins and Diana Muldaur (later of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame). I don't remember this show (it apparently only ran for 13 episodes in late 1974), but Collins and Muldaur played real-life conservationists George and Joy Adamson, who lived with a variety of animals and tried to protect them. Both the Adamsons were later murdered (Joy in 1980 and George in 1989), so it's a little strange seeing this article about their fictional selves. The article talks a lot about the animals used during filming, including Elsa the lioness. The show was filmed on location in Kenya, which was (and still is) pretty unusual. There are only a couple of quotes from the stars; most of the article talks about the animals and how they're trained -- which sounds a little intense in places, like how they describe feeding two different lions in the same spot to get them in a territorial mood, then bringing them together so they would fight... they say the lions were pulled apart before they could hurt each other, but it still sounds a bit iffy to me. Apparently there was a lion poster included with this issue, but I never had that.
 

There's a page of Daffy Definitions (my favourite is "Secret:  Something you tell one person at a time"). Dynamite seemed to have a lot of these little one-page things, usually some kind of joke or cartoon. The most famous is probably "Bummers", which is missing from my copy of this issue. Why is it missing? Did I mention how careless I used to be? Anyway, next up there's a 3 page article about Hershey, Pennsylvania (The Sweetest Town in the USA), although it seems to be as much about chocolate in general as it is about Hershey specifically. After that is the three-page Captain America article which Doug already covered in its entirety. I guess it was one of a series, but I don't have any other Dynamites of this early vintage, so I don't know what other superheroes featured in other issues. After Cap, there are two pages of "Dynamite at the Raceway", which is basically just five "trivia" questions about auto-racing.

Next there's a two-page feature called "Sound Off", which shows how to make musical instruments from household objects (shoebox guitar, pot lid cymbals, wine jug tuba, and stuff like that); some of it is pretty ingenious, but I'm not sure how good it would actually sound. In the middle of the mag is a calendar for Nov. 1974; apparently this was a regular feature, though my later (early '80s) issues don't have it, so I'm not sure when they stopped including it. The calendar has little factoids and celebrity birthdays and such for each day, plus some really funky artwork. In fact, the art looks a lot like the art on "Bummers", so maybe the same artist did both. The calendar is followed by another two-page spread about the Hero sandwich ... but instead of an article, there are five recipes for different versions of the Hero (or Sub, Hoagie, Paris Loaf ... whatever you want to call it); some of the recipes sound pretty good, though I've never actually tried any of them.

The following article is two pages (well, one page of text and a big picture) about Olga Korbut, who had made quite a splash at the 1972 Olympics. Of course, Nadia Comaneci was the big story in 1976 and she isn't mentioned here. But there's a quote from an American high school gymnastics coach practically guaranteeing that America would produce their own Olga Korbut. I guess Mary Lou Retton was just waiting in the wings. Next is a feature that I always remember somewhat fondly, "Hot Stuff". It's a couple of pages about products, interesting facts, or ideas for stuff that kids could do. Over the years they had some cool stuff in Hot Stuff. This particular instance talks about the "Ghost Writer and Developer", which was an invisible ink pen you could buy (for 98 cents, which was a lot of money in those... ah, never mind), and it came with the Developer pen which made the invisible writing visible. There's also a recipe for a genuine (I assume) New York Egg Cream, a blurb on how to make your own perfume, and a few paragraphs about how to make some extra money... by setting up your own auction. I bet a lot of kids who followed that advice later regretted auctioning off their comics, baseball cards, and toys.

Next up are a couple of pages on secret codes, my favourite article in this issue of Dynamite; unfortunately, I loved it so much, I tore out the pages years ago and now they're long gone. So that's why there are no scans of those pages (and why there's no Bummers page... it was on the back of one of the secret code pages). I was crazy for secret codes and ciphers as a kid, so I collected everything I could find on them. I think Dynamite did a number of articles on codes over the years. Apparently there was a decoder wheel on the back cover of this issue, but as I mentioned, I don't have a cover so no decoder wheel either. Next is a one-page Dynamite Race Track Game which is played on graph paper with a pen. The rules are a bit convoluted and it looks pretty boring to me. Next comes "Good Vibrations", which was another regular feature. It was kind of a "Dear Abby" (or "Agony Aunt" for you Brits out there) aimed at kids. This time around the letters deal with divorce and are answered by an actual doctor (I'm assuming a psychiatrist), Paulina Kernberg; I'm not sure if she answered the letters in every issue, or just this one. I know this "advice column for kids" was a regular feature for a long time, but it may have had a different name later on.

Next is another light-hearted page called "Name Dropping", giving us the real names of celebrities. I think this is the first place I learned that John Wayne's real name was Marion Morrison. The following two pages are perennial favourites ... that's right, I know you've all been waiting for it... Count Morbida! This featured (as far as I know) through Dynamite's entire run and basically consists of a couple of pages full of (fairly easy) puzzles presented by a cartoon vampire named Count Morbida, who constantly breaks the fourth wall by insulting the kids reading the magazine and getting angrier and angrier as they solve his puzzles. The art is crude, but for some reason I've always loved it. There's lots of detail in the background that makes it fun to examine closely. The last page talks about next issue's content, and urges kids to send ideas in to Hot Stuff... and maybe get one of those cool Hot Stuff t-shirts. So, that's it for this issue. Some articles were interesting, some were kind of blah (at least for me), but I think that was the appeal of Dynamite; they put so much into each issue (and such a variety) that there's almost certainly something that'll appeal to everyone. I know I could always find at least one article that I liked, plus all the regular features like Bummers, Hot Stuff, and Count Morbida. I guess that's why so many of us have such fond memories of this old mag; thanks, Doug and Karen, for letting me relive my (long-) lost youth!

Doug says, "Check out some of my Stuff!", Part 10

Before the Christmas season totally leaves us, I wanted to do one last "Doug's Stuff!" post to show off my especially-geeky Christmas tree. I have to give a lot of credit to my wife, who has encouraged the purchase of many of these ornaments. She also came up with the idea to dedicate one of the trees in our house to all of this.

Starting at the top (sadly, no cool tree topper on this -- but wouldn't something to do with the Angel be sweet??), you can see miniatures of Catwoman, Batman, Robin, and Superman -- all made by Hallmark. Toward the left is the extremely cool Wolverine ornament from Carlton Cards; the Spider-Man in the center is from Carlton as well. I don't know where the Superman and Batman logos (the Batman logo is somewhat hidden near the bottom of this picture) came from -- maybe just Toys 'R' Us? Lastly, you might notice the Super Friends lunchbox on the bottom left, the Superman lunchbox middle right, and the Wonder Woman outfit on the bottom right.

Moving down the tree (by the way, the tree is one of those pencil trees, usually comes pre-lit, and stands around 5-feet tall), you get a better look at the Batman logo and the Wonder Woman outfit, and you can see the Hulk, Superman, Captain America, and two Spider-Man ornaments from Hallmark. To the top left you can barely make out one of Hallmark's comic ornaments for 2009 -- Wolverine from the tv show Wolverine and the X-Men. The Batcycle at the bottom of this frame is from the Warner Bros. Studio Stores.

Heading to the bottom left are the black Spider-Man 3 ornament from Hallmark, the Amazing Fantasy #15 ornament from this year's Hallmark offerings, a very cool phone booth with Clark Kent/Superman action and lights, and some non-descript Dynamic Duo again from probably Toys 'R' Us.

Swinging around to the right, you can see the Iron Man movie ornament that Hallmark offered last year, a neat 5-character Marvel puzzle from Hallmark, a Superman relief ornament, and Batman on his Batrope -- one of the first comics-related ornaments I got. The Wonder Woman hanging off the lower right side is from the Warner Bros. Studio Stores.

Wrapping it up, you can see a Clark Kent outfit near the top of this photo, and above it is a neat ornament from the United States Postal Service -- a picture of Superman from the Siegel/Shuster era on a porcelain postage stamp. In the middle is a Batman holding a Joker jack-in-the-box, again from Warner Bros.

Of course there are several other little wonders I've not mentioned by name, including Mighty Mouse and Bubbles from the PowerPuff Girls!

I hope everyone had a nice holiday season, regardless of the faith you practice. Here's to 2010 being a great year! Stick with the Bronze Age Babies and we'll try to do our part!

Licensed to Sell

Doug:  Back in the Bronze Age, there was certainly no lack of opportunity for seeing our favorite heroes and villains in places outside of our four-color funnybooks.  Today we'd like you to tell us of those periphery things you collected besides comics.  We've talked about different action figures, there has been discourse on the Pocket Books reprints, and I'm sure along the way we've hit several other types of products.  Today let's open it up again, but at the same time zero in on a few loves of my life -- I'd like to know if you had similar collecting experiences.

Slurpee Cups:  As I've shown in the picture-laden posts of "Doug's Stuff", I have a fair collection of Slurpee Cups.  All of the ones I have were purchased with that frozen concoction inside -- sometimes I fantasize about going on eBay and beginning to collect a really nice set of all of them, Marvel and DC.  But I'm so stuck in the trade paperback/hardcover buying mode that I doubt I'll get to it.  It's really amazing that the cups have lasted, as the plastic of which they're made is not of the highest quality; in fact, they can be quite brittle.

Third Eye posters:  Again, as I'm sure I've mentioned in the past, I have two of these -- the Fantastic Four and Medusa.  I also have a Dr. Strange greeting card that I did purchase via eBay at some point.  If you're not familiar, these are black light posters that are really quite garish.  I won both of them at a carnival when I was around 10 years old, throwing darts at balloons.

Topps Superhero Stickers trading cards:  How about these?  Did you have any of these stickers?  They were pretty silly, but I was just so comics-crazed at that point in my life (1975 -- I would have been 9 years old) that I would beg for anything I saw that had Marvel's characters on it.  I think I still have three or four sheets of construction paper with these stickers affixed to them!

Doug:  So there are a few ideas to get your memory working.   What of the above did you dabble in, and certainly what else not mentioned did you try to get your grubby little mitts on?  Thanks in advance!

UPDATE (3/16/13)  Here are the three sheets of construction paper with my Topps Marvel Superhero stickers affixed; I'd mentioned this in yesterday's comments.  Doug

 

Thanks For the Love!

Our friend ol' Groove over at Diversions of the Groovy Kind was nice enough to toss a kudo or two our way over the holiday weekend and today we'd like to do an off-day post just to say "Thanks, Groove!!"

As part of the award, we are now supposed to tell seven things about ourselves. Since this is a partnership, I think we'll split this one up 3 and 3, with our seventh nugget about the blog itself. So, here you are --

1. Doug's a high school social science teacher and former coach. Among his few claims to fame, he counts coaching at the state level in four different sports part of his life's thrills.

2. Karen's first comics convention of any kind was the 1975 San Diego Comic-Con, at the El Capitan Hotel, where she met both Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

3. Doug's about to become bankrupt, as he has a son heading off to college in August.

4. Karen used to work in a forensic DNA lab, and can say unequivocally that it looked nothing like the labs on CSI.

5. Doug's pretty good friends with DC artists Don Kramer and Mike Babinski -- known Don since high school and had Mike as a student over 15 years ago!

6. Karen once celebrated Thanksgiving in Australia, and dined on crocodile and kangaroo meat. This gave her an increased appreciation of turkey.

7. So, the nugget about our blog? Believe it or not, and I know you'll find this impossible since this is such a seamless production day-in and day-out, but Karen and I have never met. Nope -- not face-to-face and never even shared a phone call. Blogging about comics is a labor of love for each of us, and this product is due to modern technology. So whadaya think of that?

As part of this love-in with the comics blogging community, we are to steer you toward seven other blogs we think are swell. So, in alphabetical order, we'd recommend to you:

Comic Coverage (sadly, now defunct)

Fantastic Four Stuff (a neat place to see FF memorabilia and original artwork)

Kingdom Kane

Marvel Genesis

Mighty World of Bronze Age Marvel

Silver Age Comics

Spider-Man Reviewed

So check out these other great bloggers, and again -- thanks to Groove and to all of you who are reading our blog regularly. As we approach our second year, we are just having a great time and hope to do this for many months to come. Have a great day!

Doug's Stuff Epilogue -- the Weird, Unusual, and/or Unique

Doug:  Today's post was perhaps inappropriately named.  While I do intend to show you something that I own that is perhaps unique (it's at the least unusual), I don't want to really dwell on my collection.  I'm more interested in that corner of your collection where lay things that are just a bit out of the ordinary.  We all have our comics, trade paperbacks and hardcovers, playthings, etc.  But what would you like to discuss today that would really be just a bit of you showing off?

Doug:  I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea a) why I bought this, or b) what I am ever going to do with it.  It should have been a failed purchase right from the start.  Below you can find a couple of photos of the inside and outside of an uncut sheet of covers to Avengers #360 (March 1993).  I purchased this from a dealer on eBay -- not sure when.  But for those of you who remember the issue, it was on cardstock (not too stiff) and had the (obviously) gold foil stamping;  ah, the 1990's!  So my point is that it was rolled for shipping -- any manner of indiscretions could have arisen!  But alas, it's in great shape.  Again, I don't know how useful it is, but it is sort of cool.  I also have no recollection of the price I paid, but I know it wasn't unreasonable.  What's it worth?  What's it worth to you -- that's what it's worth, pal.

Doug:  So as I said at the top, I'd like to know what oddities you have.  I wish we had a way for you to upload photos if it's really cool or strange -- I guess if you can host them yourselves and don't mind, send us a link in the comments, so we can all check it out.  Thanks!

Doug's Favorites: Avengers #28

Avengers #28 (May 1966)
"Among Us Walks... A Goliath!"
Stan Lee-Don Heck/Frankie Ray

Doug: Today we'll begin an irregular series of comic book reviews featuring personal favorites of Karen and I.  I'm leading off with a book that I'm sure those of you who have been around here for any length of time at all could have predicted would be on my very-short list of all-time favorites.  Karen will be along in about a week or so with her first offering and then who knows?  We've even discussed working in one of our partner reviews on a book that happens to be on both of our lists -- Silver Surfer #4!  So buckle in -- I imagine this series will take us all over the Silver and Bronze Ages (and maybe even past?).

Doug:  As I said, I've written about this book on numerous occasions.  I still for the life of me cannot remember if I first came to it in its original form or in a Marvel Triple Action reprint -- it seems to me that I would almost have to have had the original somehow, as the MTA version was published after I think I first read this.  At any rate, the cover alone stands as one of the best of the Kooky Quartet era.  Attributed to Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia (with lettering by Slammin' Sammy Rosen), it just exudes heroism and not just a bit "hey, don't mess with us".  The interiors are of course by Don Heck, and I've gone on record several times saying I really do like Heck's art from this period.  It's really familiar for me, as I had a couple of original 12c issues and the MTA's were reprinting in this period as well.  Additionally, Giant-Size Avengers #5, reprinting Avengers King Size Special #1 was on the grocery shelf.  So really, I grew up with Heck alongside the current pencillers, Bob Brown, Sal Buscema, and even Dave Cockrum.  It was a great time to be a budding Avengers fan!

Doug: Another thing that I found different but better from the comics then-presently on sale was the coloring of Captain America's uniform.  The lighter blue with the little feather lines (my interpretation -- chain mail was a foreign concept to me) on the chest worked for me, and to be honest I always thought the navy blue seen in Cap's Bronze Age series looked off.  Of course I warmed to the darker version, but I still have a soft spot for these old issues of the Avengers with that color scheme as a focal point.  Lastly, before I get to the synopsis, Steve Rogers' true mark of heroism may not be that he defeated the Nazis and helped the Allies win the War -- it may be that he didn't kill Hawkeye!  Man, ol' Hawk is tough to take in this time!  I'll periodically sit down and read a little run of the Avengers, and whenever I do the in-fighting and petty bickering is way over the top.  But it is the hallmark of Stan Lee's Marvel Universe, and it's fully infiltrated his scripts on this book.  OK, on to the story itself, and I'll continue a smattering here and there of why this single book is one of my all-time faves.


Doug:  We begin with the Kooky Quartet in the monitor room of Avengers Mansion. Pietro has picked up a distress call from a "Dr. Henry Pym" wanting the Avengers help in finding the Wasp.  The newbies all wonder who this guy is, what's his connection, etc.  But Cap keeps a cool head and takes the mic from Quicksilver.  Turns out Pym is really Giant-Man!  He's on a "scientific research ship" out at sea.  Now we've had our discussions before of comic book scientists, most recently Ray Palmer as a physicist pronouncing death on the Batman, but I for one am curious why a biochemist is out at sea on a ship that looks like it landed from outer space!  Anyway, Pym's really down in the dumps (Heck does a great job depicting a real hangdog look, slumping shoulders, etc.).  He feels that there's nothing more to lose; while he regretted letting go of his secret ID, he feels worse about losing Jan.  Back at the Mansion, Cap orders Hawkeye to go pick up the good doctor.  Of course, Hawk can't just go...

Doug:  We cut away to find Jan secured in a small vial, the prisoner of a creepy crusty-looking baddie named the Collector!  This was his first appearance, and he's since gone down as one of the Avengers recurring foes (though never too deadly), with a major role in "The Korvac Saga".  I've always wondered -- are his eyes just really deep set and dark, or does he wear a mask?  Thoughts?  He tells us right away what his schtick is -- he's amassed a collection of cool stuff from across time.  His goal -- to collect a team of super-heroes!  Hold on, because I know that sounds like a Silver Age DC, but it works here.  The Collector has already obtained a super-villain -- the Beetle!  Wow!  I wonder how hard that takedown was?  I guess ol' prune-puss beat Scourge to the draw...  We find out later that not only has the Beetle been collected, but he's under the influence of some obedience serum and can't make a break for it.

Doug:  Back to the Avengers, Hawkeye returns with Pym.  He wants to get going right away, but the team insists that he prove himself.  We learn that he and the Wasp resigned back in ish #16 due to Pym's fears that the constant size-changing was harming his body.  But, he says, he'll give it a try so there are no doubts.  Suddenly Wanda, in typical Stan Lee girl-fashion, tells that she's sewn Pym a new costume, in the event he ever returned!  Wow -- I wonder how she'll deck out the God of Thunder?  But for my money, Wanda (does anyone know who really designed the Goliath costume?  Was it Don Heck?) did a great job.  I love the color scheme and it maintains some of the lines that exude growth -- dressed for success, I say!  Pym has warned that the only height he can achieve is 25 feet; and he must stay there for 15 minutes (don't know why...).  After a false start, he suddenly explodes upward in the alley.  Hawkeye and Quicksilver become believers and the team quickly boards a quinjet.

Doug:  Prior to leaving, the Collector had somehow taken over the frequency at Avengers Mansion, told them that he had the Wasp and even where to find him!  So as the quinjet streaks away, Hank Pym begins to take inventory of his new teammates.  I think this aspect of the story was endearing to me, as my recollection was that I was also new to this team.  Hank's opinions of Hawkeye and Cap seemed to mirror my own.  Landing, Quicksilver of course speeds ahead and finds a castle.  Awesome!  What kid wouldn't like a story with a giant, a castle, and Captain America?  The Collector allows our heroes to enter, and right into a trap.  It's a pretty basic trap -- Cap sniffs it out immediately and of course the team is knocked out in a flash.  We next see them all suspended from the ceiling by their wrists with the Collector gloating over them.  But as soon as the Wasp's name comes up, Pym loses it and shoots up and out of his bounds.  Heck does a great job over the next several pages of really drawing Hank to scale.  I'm not sure he always nails it at 25-feet, but back in the day I certainly got the idea.

Doug:  Hank, now called Goliath, and the team face several travails -- a catapult, the Beetle, a couple of giants grown from Jack's beanstalk, and a gong (that's right....).  But in the end Earth's Mightiest Heroes win out.  I think Stan and Don do a really nifty job of showing that this version of the Avengers can be taken down by lesser foes, and their strength is in their teamwork and in their unity.  I will say, however, that "Maneuver Nine" forced me to suspend a little disbelief (but not the cape of levitation).  Once the team is in control of the situation, the Collector plays his last card.  If anyone steps forth, he'll crush the vial around his neck -- which contains the Wasp!  Quicksilver solves that problem, though, and the Collector orders the Beetle to stand by his side as he grabs a funky-looking vase and does the big fade-out.  Wanda launches a hex at the vial, releasing Jan (what a great power!  Need something blown up?  Falling from the ceiling?  A vial the size of a pencil eraser opened?  Wanda's your girl!), who grows to full size.  Right away Wanda notices that she isn't wearing a mask.  Hank encourages her to reveal her ID, too.  She does, and then tells Hank to shrink down and give her a smooch.  But -- remember that 15-minute limit?  Yep, exceeded that.  Hank begins to get all woozy and passes out -- at 10-feet!  Oh, the tension!  Certainly, to be continued!

Doug:  If you've not read my Hank Pym essay, intended for publication in Assembled! 3, you should check it out.  I detail my love affair with the Goliath character and on into Hank's switch to Yellowjacket.  I won't go on with any of that here.  But to close, I want to reiterate why I think this book is so cool -- teamwork, characters that aren't too powerful, an anything-goes villain, a damsel in distress, cool threads, and a cliffhanger ending that left a young boy wondering where he could find the next installment!  This is honestly a story I never tire of... and that's the true mark of any favorite book.

Doug's Favorites: Marvel Heroes & Legends 1

Marvel: Heroes & Legends #1 (October 1996)
"For Better and For Worse"
Stan Lee/Fabian Nicieza-John Buscema/Sal Buscema/Gene Colan/Steve Ditko/Ron Frenz/John Romita, Sr./Marie Severin/Terry Austin/Al Milgrom/Tom Palmer/Bill Reinhold/Joe Sinnott

Doug:  Just take a look at that cast of creators, and you'll easily see why this book is a favorite of mine!  I'll admit right up front that the script here stinks for the most part.  I think Stan was working way too hard to seem quaint -- really wanting a throwback to Marvel's Silver Age heyday.  But, he was certainly handicapped from the get-go by a weak plot from Fabian Nicieza.  This book was published in the years shortly after Marvels, when the House of Ideas had ceased to be new for the most part, and became bent on a program of recycling; hence you'll find Marvels narrator and protagonist Phil Sheldon alongside a youth -- the latter serves as the catalyst to bring all of the heroes  into action.  But what's lost here is the fact that Kurt Busiek told the tale of Marvels through Phil Sheldon.  Here, Sheldon is a bystander who just happens to find himself in the thick of things.  And the young lad who gets himself lost amid the throng of celebrity watchers on the day Reed Richards married Susan Storm?  He's really a pain-in-the-butt and for my money would have been better left to the mercy of the Grey Gargoyle.  Sheesh, but I'm curmudgeonly in this season of brotherly love!

Doug: So given that the basic premise of the story is that the kid is along a crowd-restraining barrier, freaks out when the super-scuffle breaks out and gets separated from his dad, and encounters all of Marvel's Silver Age stable (sans the Hulk and Dr. Strange) of characters before he's eventually reunited with his father, I thought I'd approach this review just a bit differently.  I've included nine images from the story, the latter eight celebrating the artists of Marvel's past (with the exception of the final sample, which is by Ron Frenz).

Doug:  Leading off, above, is Our Pal Sal Buscema.  I chose this page, as well as all of those that follow by this simple criteria -- I felt these pages best represented the artists as we knew them.  Look at the Sal offering -- action, emotion, and those undeniably Sal-like facial expressions.  One comment -- I cannot stand when stories that are written from a past perspective use modern expressions in the script.  Example A is Jonah telling Robbie, "Grab your cellular phone!  Gotta call the Bugle!"  Given that this is an "untold tale", I don't know why any such updating was necessary.

Doug:  Next up is Sal's older brother, Big John Buscema.  I know we sometimes use the term "stock pose", and one could certainly argue that the second panel is just that from the pencil of JB; but ain't it great??  Love it to pieces.  In case you're wondering, the story segues from one artist to the other, sometimes on the same page, but sometimes at the top of a page.  In the case of the brothers Buscema, they actually share a transitional page -- very appropriate, I felt.

Doug:  Jazzy Johnny takes center stage next, and on his trademark character.  This was a bit ironic to me, as on the cover credits you'll notice the name of Steve Ditko.  But, given that there is no mention of Dr. Strange, I thought Ditko on Spidey would be a slam dunk.  But no -- you'll have to scroll down just a bit to see where he wound up.

Doug:  Yep, Ditko's on the Fantastic Four.  A couple of things to remember -- Jack Kirby had passed away about two years prior to the publication of this mag.  And, what's more, Ditko had only a smattering of experiences as the penciller on Fantastic Four stories.  So I still believe that, while his inclusion in this book was a wonderful touch, his assignment to the FF portion is dubious at best.  Romita could have done it, as he'd had that short stint following Kirby; but I think we'll all agree that Romita and Spider-Man are like peanut butter and jelly.

Doug:  You know what I like about Gene Colan?  His energy.  From the panel lay-outs to the incredible sense of speed he instills to his characters in action, Colan is a vibrant storyteller.  Below you'll find yourself some vintage Daredevil.

Doug:  Of all the Silver Age greats included, I felt that Marie Severin's talents had declined the most.  This is unmistakably her; you can even get a sense of the caricature work she did in Not Brand Echh!  I'm at a loss to know if she ever did the art on the X-Men, but given the choices that were not available (Don Heck, Werner Roth, etc.), it's fine by me that the first lady of Marvel was included on the Merry Mutants.

Doug:  I'm not sure what's going on with Ron Frenz in this book.  Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed his work on Amazing Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer revival.  And I suppose for those consumers who were teens in 1996, a little injection of then-modernism may have been a selling point - search me.  It's good stuff (although some of his faces are really off -- there's a panel of Sue that I didn't include where her eyes are closer to her ears than to her nose!)

Doug:  I'm sure there are those among our readers who didn't even know this magazine existed.  There's actually a second issue that features the Avengers, but I've never seen it so can neither pump nor pan it.  Despite this story's poor writing, it still remains a fave of mine.  I've long contended, contrary to the opinions of just about anyone who will listen, that art carries the comics medium over story.  And I'll use this book as my support.  At the end of the day, Stan failed me.  But the heroes of my youth -- those guys and gal who gave me the best time copying their lines as if they were my own, returned one more time to make me smile.  That's what comics in the '60's and '70's were all about, after all.

BONUS:  How about one more page of John B. love?  Several years ago I purchased a pencil rough from a dealer on Ebay.  It happens to correspond to the published page below it.  We've discussed recently how by the '80's and beyond Big John was largely doing breakdowns with his inkers given the responsibility of finishing and polishing.  So marvel at this creative process, and get all giddy at the sight of a JB original.