Today let's hear what's on your mind, regardless of what it is.Doug: Here's one that's occurred to me on multiple occasions -- Why does Black Bolt wear a mask? I understand why Medusa does -- after all, she started off as a goon. But what's the rationale for a monarch, unknown by the public and with no secret identity, to cover up his face?
Doug: I vividly recall seeing the Amazing Adventures with Killraven and the War of the Worlds series when I was a kid. But to this day I have never read a single story. They always looked great on the shelf, but always got squeezed by the other mags I bought regularly.
OK -- your turn!
Amazing Adventures with War of the Worlds and Killraven was great, especially when Don McGregor and P Craig Russell were the creative team. Did you read McGregor's Black Panther?
ReplyDeleteThere are certain questions you aren't supposed to ask such as how did the schoolboy Peter Parker make a costume that even a professional seamstress would consider a challenge or where does the Fantastic Four's vast wealth come from when Reed Richard's inventions are never used by anybody except the FF - does anybody else use clothes made of unstable molecules? Exactly. Come to think of it, where do all the superheroes get their costumes from anyway - most of them have secret identities so they can hardly order a costume from the local tailor - I assume they are all as talented at making clothes as Peter Parker. In the UK the first few issues of Killraven were printed in Planet of the Apes with the Martian heads redrawn as ape heads and Killraven renamed Apeslayer.
ReplyDeleteMy Random Thought O'the Day:
ReplyDeleteWhen the Marvel covers of, say, 1975 are presented together (as they are in the Comic Book Time Machine site) look "rougher" in their art and design than, say, the comics of 1979 do. I wonder if it's because I grew up with the 1979 stuff or is it because Jim Shooter instituted more organization and sameness in his reign?
Does this even make sense? Ah, no matter. If you don't like that odd belief, to paraphrase Groucho Marx, I have others. ;)
A random tip: this weekend I picked up a copy of Marvel Team-up 70 at the local flea market. Years ago I bought the original art for the last page of this issue at a convention, and years later sold it out of financial necessity. As a lark, I scanned the last page, then used PaintShop to convert the image to black and white. Finally ramped up the contrast to eliminate the remaining gray tones, and voila: a 'reasonable facsimile' of the original art I parted with, now serving as a background!
ReplyDeleteSaddened to hear of ESPN anchor Stuart Scott's passing. Only 49 years old. I knew he was fighting cancer but did not know how bad it was. I always think of him, Rich Eisen, and Keith Olbermann as the guys who lifted that network to the heights (Berman is a clown to me, but now's not the time to discuss that). Scott was smart, funny, and hip, and brought a much-needed African American viewpoint to ESPN. He was also a great example to aspiring sports casters. I'm always shocked when someone so young passes; maybe moreso when they are my age! RIP Stuart Scott.
ReplyDeleteI need a new iPod sometime soon, for my iPod Classic is on its last legs. Only had it for several years, so I suppose its about time. Will head to the local Mac store this week. Love its big screen for all the tv shows I have on it, so will have to shop around.
ReplyDeleteI think I have the whole WaroftheWorlds/Killraven run, and I remember enjoying it quite a bit. . . but I can't actually recall the specifics all that clearly. The art was generally quite good, yep. It did take a bit of a visual downturn, IIRC, when KR's outfit was redesigned into something rather horrifyingly similar to a man-kini. (Didn't WARLORD end up wearing something like that, too? Man, there is NOTHING that says "comfortable and supportive to the male anatomy" in that design. . . )
ReplyDeleteKaren, I have shared that feeling of quiet shock (as I'm sure many of us 'round here have) when one of our contemporaries passes away unexpectedly from more-or-less natural causes. Clearly, our very presence here identifies us as a group of folks that cherishes and nurtures a connection with that "self" of our youth. Mostly I'd say that this really is a good thing, but it does maybe distance us a bit from that sense of impending mortality. . . so those losses do hit a bit harder when they occur.
HB
What, apart from the Comics Code seal, holds Bruce Banner's pants up?
ReplyDeleteWhat keeps up the Hulk's britches?
ReplyDeleteOne of Reed Richard's less well-known inventions...
the suspenders of disbelief!
Rip Off
Ha! Pat, that was actually a reader's answer to the self-same question- which was an oft-returned-to topic on Greenskin's Grab-bag (the letters page)-- gosh, back in the late Silver Age-!
ReplyDeleteI think the sort of close-your-eyes-and-just-say-it-and-move-on "official" answer had something to do w/ the gamma rays/particles being emitted during the transformations had an effect similar to "unstable molecules", with the additional side-effect of turning ANY color of pants that Bruce might be wearing to a medium purple. 'Cause that happened a comical number of times as well.
HB
As I said in my first comment - nobody wears clothes made of unstable molecules but they'd have been perfect for Bruce Banner.
ReplyDeleteI picked up a few issues of the Amazing Adventures Killraven stories. I thought they were good, not great.
ReplyDeleteA related question about the Hulk:Where does Hulk/Banner get his never-ending supply of purple pants?
I liked the War of the Worlds ' Kilraven stories. Colin I lad never heard that they remastered the stories as Apeslayer. That is strange; was there a big PotA following in the UK and they wanted to push that? Regarding Mars, I thought the John Carter covers from Marvel were really attractive but to this day I have not purchased one of those. On another note, why can AntMan control ants and Yellowjacket call swarms of bees but as far as I know Wasp never controlled wasps. Was Hank holding back on Jan's powers?
ReplyDeleteMartinex1 - re: The Wasp controlling wasps. Yellow Jackets are actually wasps so Henry was stealing Janet's gig!
ReplyDeleteI really like YJ but he is kind of a jerk. I still wish he had been a skull prior to striking Jan. I'd like to see Jan wear the YJ costume for a while. And have Hank return to being Giant Man. Then he could control giants! Or Gi-Ants! Now that would be something to see.
ReplyDeleteThe Essential Killraven is probably still obtainable. Early issues have some pretty bad writing, but once Don McGregor came along the series came sharply into focus; he had a really strong idea of where he was going. The art of Herb Trimpe holds up surprisingly well; it's quite intense. And P. Craig Russell's arrival at the end was a joy. He seemed to be getting better by the page. I'd say it's worth a look.
ReplyDeleteOn Killraven, I agree with Russ: it's a good series, especially toward the end. And I have the Essentials book, but I'm still quite annoyed that there's never been any color reprints.
ReplyDeleteAs for my own random thought, as my whirlwind tour of Eureka, CA comes to close, I have to say that I just love thrift shops that hold books...
On a completely different note, why didn't Magneto just throw it in and become the world's wealthiest civil engineer? He could build fully operational bases under the Antarctic, on asteroids...all by himself, it seems!
ReplyDeleteWhy do regular humans in the Marvel Universe "hate and fear mutants", but seem perfectly OK with humans who gained super powers through external means (i.e. radioactive spider bites, cosmic rays, gamma rays, etc.)?
ReplyDeleteAnd even more importantly, how do they even know the difference?
It is a sad state of affairs in a man's life when he has to go to work just to find time to post at one of his favorite blogs! On the plus side I did manage to paint two shirts, one pair of shorts and three walls in the garage!
ReplyDeleteDoug, Groovy has some of those Amazing Adventures featuring Killraven. Just imagine that storyline; a gladiator leading his people to freedom!?! Where do they come up with these things?
Also, the Inhumans. You're a guy with hoofs for feet and a mask! What, so no one would recognize you!?! You have HOOVES!!!
I think Reed's money came from his patents and IIRC, they also had a comic about their adventures.
And Aunt May taught Peter how to sew. Keep books, cypher and basic calculus. The rest he picked up on the streets and cub scouts.
(Laugh-a while you can monkey boy).
William's question about Marvel normals "fearing and hating" mutants, but being OK with Spider-Man and the FF has always bothered the heck out of me. Even as a kid, it didn't mane any sense to me.
ReplyDeleteYeah Killraven was a real trip. I have about 2/3 of that series. P. Craig Russell's art was a real treat but what really distinguished it was Don McGregor's trippy dialogue. It gave us an alternate universe, somewhat related to HG Wells' martian invasion story.
ReplyDeleteAs for suspension of belief, forget about where Hulk gets his neverending supply of purple pants, how the heck does he even keep them up? A skinny physicist instantly gaining about 1000 pounds in additional bodyweight would most likely have all his clothes ripped to shreds!
- Mike 'psychedelic warrior of the worlds' from Trinidad & Tobago.
Because Mike, in the Marvel Universe, there's only room for one Giant-Size Man-Thing....
ReplyDelete