The Super Blog Team-Up Post that Wasn't, and Bar the Doors

Doug: The Dreaded Deadline Doom. Creator changes. Cancelled titles. New directions for your favorite teams, heroes, and books.

Doug: All of those things have conspired in the past to give us a "Wait, what?!?" feeling. Those stopping by today for the promised second BAB entry in this summer's Super Blog Team-Up extravaganza may be wondering where it is. In the big picture, the SBTU group decided to postpone the event to mid-August. Several bloggers who will participate found that today was not going to work for them, so in the interest of quality a later date has been agreed upon.

Doug: Truth from this corner, however, is the post didn't get written. And it won't be written. The conspiracies against us in the present include time, family, vacations, and other general pursuits... but the bottom line is that we don't have a post for you today, nor will we for the foreseeable future. And lest anyone read into these comments, there are no troubles in BAB-land; Karen and I correspond as we have for the past dozen or so years, if a bit more infrequently now.

Doug: What we'd hoped to bring you was a review of the Paul Dini/Alex Ross treasury JLA: Liberty and Justice. If you've been around these parts for some time, you'll recall that we've reviewed the Superman, Batman, and Captain Marvel books in that wonderful series. It was always our hope to finish the run by reviewing the Wonder Woman and JLA volumes. Sadly, we didn't get round to them.

Doug: While it was a lot of fun to be "back" in May, today's post is also our last, at least until some undetermined future notice. The Bronze Age Babies are going back into retirement. So while we'd love to say we'll see you tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel, we can't. But... never say never.

You all take care!

Be sure to stay up-to-date with Karen and her collaborators Larry & Bob on the Planet 8 podcast, 

and check in daily with Martinex1 and Redartz over at Back in the Bronze Age.

Burnin' for You - Thoughts on The Torch Limited Series 1-8

The Torch - collects The Torch #s 1-8 (2010)(covers by Alex Ross)
Alex Ross/Mike Carey/Jim Krueger-Patrick Berkenkotter

Doug: If you're like me, you occasionally wile away some time searching the graphic novels and trade collections on sites like Amazon.com. A couple of years ago I stumbled across a trade that collected a series that piqued my interest. I saw this before I'd agreed to surrender my principles and embrace the Brubaker/Epting Captain America material. Going back to the Bronze Age, I've always been an Original Human Torch fan. Despite the art, I generally liked the Invaders mag, and got a big kick out of the Torch's role in the "Celestial Madonna" arc in the Avengers. I'll admit it -- despite what John Byrne did to the Vision in the pages of West Coast Avengers, I was excited for the return of the Torch. And unlike Gwen Stacy or James Buchanan Barnes, the Torch's revival was one that made sense. Well, made sense if he wasn't the Vision... Thank goodness for the sensibilities of Kurt Busiek's Avengers Forever in helping us get through the trauma. Anyway, to bring my mind back, on Easter Sunday I was in Indiana visiting our younger son. Before I left town to come back home, I'd noticed that the LCS was actually open. Since the proprietor always has a killer selection of trades/hardcovers at half off MSRP, I stopped in. Success! I scored the second volume hardcover of the Spider-Man newspaper strips, the tpb for "Batman: Year Two", and today's subject. All for $32. Happy Easter, indeed.

Doug: How about some background on this project, from Newsarama.com --

Alex Ross will team with writer Mike Carey for a Human Torch limited series which will return this Golden Age hero to prominence in the modern Marvel Universe. (NOTE: I'd argue that it's Tom Raymond, Toro, who is actually the protagonist of this story. -Doug)

According to Marvel and Dynamite, Ross conceived of the series, and will be co-plotting with Carey and providing covers. The eight-issue miniseries is slated to begin in September (2009). An interior artist was not named.

The miniseries, which will be packaged by Dynamite Entertainment (like the soon-to-conclude Avengers/Invaders limited series), is part of Marvel’s year-long 70th anniversary celebration. It’s only fitting for the original Torch to get a spotlight, as the character first appeared in 1939’s Marvel Comics #1, as an android created by Dr. Phineas Horton.

Ross’ path has intersected with that of the Torch in a couple of notable projects over the course of his career, first off, teamed with Kurt Busiek in Marvels #0, where the Torch narrated his own creation and origin in a haunting tale; and more recently, in the above-mentioned Avengers/Invaders, where the original Marvel hero (along with his sidekick Toro) found himself in the modern Marvel Universe, along with other members of the original Invaders. 

In the modern Marvel Universe, the original Human Torch (who took on the name “Jim Hammond” after returning to the modern era in the pages of West Coast Avengers) is “dead” – well, as dead as an android can be, having exploded while saving his teammates in New Invaders. Aside from his appearance in Avengers/Invaders, one of the Torch’s last appearances was as a memorial statue at The Initiative’s Camp Hammond, with the inscription: JIM HAMMOND, THE FIRST OF THE MARVELS: He showed us that heroes can be made. In Avengers: The Initiative #23, the statue was torn down by a mob after SHIELD and Tony Stark fell from grace, and Norman Osborn took over the camp (Accessed 30 March 2016).

Doug: Let me just add an editorial comment that aside from my acceptance of the returns of Bucky Barnes, the Original Human Torch, and Toro (we'll get to that in a minute), I cannot abide the fact that Norman Osborn again exists in the flesh. I know... hypocrite. Sue me.

Doug: The last appearance of Toro before the events of the Avengers/Invaders limited series was way back in 1969 in the pages of Sub-Mariner #14 and was presented by Roy Thomas, Marie Severin, and Mike Esposito. Here's the gist of that tale, in (you guessed it) a 100-Word Review: 

Namor emerges from the Pacific Ocean, only to be attacked by the Original Human Torch. The Torch is under the control of the Mad Thinker, which Namor quickly deduces. We find that the Thinker is allied with the Puppet Master and Egghead in a bid to conquer the world by negating all mechanical and electrical apparatus. The Torch frees himself from the Thinker’s control, but in an effort to foil the master plan, we find that the Torch is really Toro, brainwashed to think he was the Torch. The Thinker tries to kill Namor, but Toro gives the ultimate sacrifice.

Toro, to the best information I could find, did not appear in any story that was not set in or referencing World War II until the revival of the Original Human Torch in 1989. From there, and it's difficult for me to testify as I didn't read any of the books that allegedly feature the character, Toro appeared or was at least referenced somewhat regularly. Then (and I'll let some fan from Wikipedia report):

Toro appears in the Avengers/Invaders maxi-series alongside his fellow Invaders when an incident takes them from the battlefields of WWII  to the present Marvel Universe, where they encounter both the New Avengers and Mighty Avengers and the Thunderbolts.^[4] An examination of him by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents reveals that Toro is a mutant. In Avengers/Invaders #12, Toro was revived from the dead by the Cosmic Cube thanks to a wish made by James "Bucky" Barnes, and met as he rises from his grave by the Golden Age Vision. Bucky was careful to manage the wish so Toro's revival does not upset the time stream, Toro only coming to life after the Invaders have returned to the past. Toro is the same age he was when he died.^[5]

And then someone had to go and do this (also from Wikipedia):

Following the Infinity story, when Terrigen Mists were scattered around the world, Toro was subjected to Terrigenesis and engulfed in a cocoon. Being unknowingly an Inhuman descendant, Toro was now theorized that his powers had been the consequence of his recessive Inhuman genes.^[9]

What the?!? Oh boy... I'm gonna leave that lay right there.

 

Doug: The Mad Thinker is the villain in The Torch mini-series, and I have to say this is one of those times where a writer catches lightning in a bottle. Called simply the Thinker (no "Mad", and no Awesome Android here), Alex Ross and Mike Carey chose to drop the "X will happen in 3.57 seconds" schtick and make him a truly formidable adversary. I felt when I was reading this story that the Thinker was a major player -- that he could actually pull off his scheme. His personality was perfect -- over-intelligent, haughty, rude, and overall malevolent. Obviously the character had a history with both the Original Human Torch (FF Annual #4) and Toro (see above), and this sort of forms a third and final act if you will. Yes... I think viewed through that lens it makes a really nice triptych of stories.

Doug: Here's the basic plot of the story --

1. The Thinker is hired by AIM to create a WMD -- a big WMD.
2. Tom Raymond, Toro, shepherded by the Golden Age Vision in a sort of Spectre role, thinks revival sucks -- especially when he sees his wife Ann with a new husband.
3. Toro decides the only thing worth doing would be killing the man who killed him -- the Thinker. But after the Vision spirits him to the Thinker's lab, Toro finds that his flame is immediately spent.
4. Toro is captured by the Thinker and "examined" -- tissue is extracted from various parts of his anatomy. The Thinker determines that Toro was exposed to "Horton cells" -- carbon/polymer strands of artificial "DNA" that Phineas Horton used in the creation of the Human Torch. This is a breakthrough for the Thinker's WMD creation.
5. The Thinker has the Torch's body exhumed from Arlington National Cemetery. He begins to cultivate the Horton cells he has isolated and restore the damages to the Torch's body. 
6. Toro learns that his mother was not an office assistant as he had known, but had worked closely with Phineas Horton in the years prior to the creation of the Torch. It is possible that the Horton cells were introduced to Tom's physiognomy by his mother's contact with the cells.We also learn that Toro's X-gene only gave him an immunity to fire; it was actual contact with the Torch that allowed Tom Raymond to ignite and become a flaming youth (KISS reference there, you know).
7. In a scene ripped from your favorite Frankenstein flick, the Thinker re-animates the Torch by positioning his body high in the sky, suspended from a metal post in the middle of a lightning storm. The Torch comes back to life, but has no mind of his own.
8. Using Compound D, his own variation on the Horton cells, the Thinker subverts the Torch's will and forces him to be his WMD, first ordering the Torch to attack and destroy a Scandinavian ship, and then later a gas main running beneath a village in Estonia. Both missions are successful, with property destruction and loss of life.
9. With the Torch reactivated, Toro's control of his own flame returns. The two torches indeed share a symbiotic relationship, as the Thinker hypothesized.
10. But what the Thinker had not counted was that the Torch's humanity derives from existing in the presence of human cells, human DNA -- specifically Tom Raymond's cells. The Torch's mind returned...

Doug: I don't want to give anything else away, because I'd really like to encourage you to seek out this trade or the actual comics. The outline above covers most of the first three issues. If you are like Karen and I and felt that Brubaker's Winter Soldier epic was well handled, then you are going to enjoy this story. I thought the characters were handled with a reverence, such that the creators had a story to tell that involved the present. That these dead creatures should be resurrected was handled in a manner that did not require me to suspend my disbelief past what I'd usually expect. The comic book science was "sold" to me in a straightforward way, and I never doubted for an instant that in the Marvel Universe these things could happen. And let's face it -- anything involving the Cosmic Cube (used to resurrect Toro) is basically magic anyway.

Doug: The eight issues go on to include the Sub-Mariner and some Atlanteans, the Fantastic Four (there's a great team-up where we actually get to see three Torches in action!), Nazis, and a setting in the last few issues that echoes Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tour. de. Force.

Doug: Lastly, I've included below some samples of the interior art. Whenever I see that Alex Ross is doing covers for a project, I immediately want to see the interiors to see if they are up to the standards of the outer package. In this case I think you'll find that Patrick Berkenkotter is every bit as able to handle these characters as Steve Epting was to show us Bucky's return. Like I did when I first sat down to read the Captain America: Winter Soldier collection, I read this baby cover-to-cover in one sitting. It was a page turner, and I felt satisfied when I got to the end of it. It was just as much fun on the re-read for the writing of this review. Go ye forth, then, and seek! Find this tome! And then let me know if you also had a good time.

Who's the Best... Comics Artist?

Doug: Back on May 22 Karen hosted a conversation about Marvel Team-Up #70, featuring Spidey, Thor, the Living Monolith, and the art of John Byrne. Some comments were made along the lines of Byrne being the consummate comics artist, really mastering all of the characters at Marvel and DC (as well as in his own output for Dark Horse). So, knowing what we do around here with inspiration, today we'll chew that fat some more. Who, in your own esteemed estimation, is the best comic book artist. And if you want to define that feel free. My take on it is more along the lines of figures and faces. But if you heard "storyteller" when you read today's title that's fine, too. You all know we can keep a few plates spinning in a day's talk.

The Day She Died: Marvels 4

Marvels #4 (April 1994)
"The Day She Died"
Kurt Busiek-Alex Ross

Karen: This final issue of Marvels deals with what many see as the transition point from the Silver Age of Marvel to the Bronze Age -the death of Spider-Man's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy. With it, we also have the death of innocence in comics and the death of Phil Sheldon's faith in the heroes, or perhaps his faith in the world in general. I found this last issue in many ways a difficult read, as I sort of internalized Phil's struggle, having now pretty well disconnected from new comics, yet still yearning for the comics of my youth. I'm positive I was over-thinking things!

Doug: Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross certainly chose several incidents and developments, in addition to the featured tale, to demarcate the Silver Age from the Bronze Age. Seeing it all in one place really does show the reader (and long-time fan, as so many of us are) how time had led to an expansive new Marvel Universe. I don't recall having the same feelings toward Phil Sheldon the first several times I read this mini-series that I've had this time. I don't know that I'd say I bear the guy (character...) any animosity, but he's certainly way more flawed to me now than I've ever perceived him in the past. I think we've both questioned his reliability as a husband and parent, although there's no doubt about his financial provision. But here, he walks a creepy obsessive line in a few regards that's a bit uncomfortable to me.

 

Karen: This story opens with Phil achieving his long-sought after success with the publication of his book, Marvels, but he still seems to have an emptiness to him. He's bitter over the way the rest of the world treats the heroes, ungrateful for their sacrifices, and he grows fixated on trying to do something about it. When Spider-Man is implicated in the death of police Captain George Stacy, he decides to work to clear the web-slinger's name. Phil takes this up as a personal crusade of sorts, partly in counter-point to J. Jonah Jameson's senseless vendetta. He speaks to various people who were at the crime scene, including Dr. Octopus, but what really pulls him in deeply is getting to know Capt. Stacy's daughter, Gwen. He sees in her a beautiful, innocent young woman, full of life, and has an epiphany of sorts: it didn't matter if people believed in the Marvels or not -- they weren't here for that. They were here to save people like Gwen. As a reader, you can see where this is going.

Doug: I loved some of the visuals in this book. Even though there was no action, the scene where Sheldon and his new assistant visit Luke Cage is well done. The scene you mention with Phil visiting Octavius in prison is great -- what a smirk the good doctor wears! And late in the book the way Ross portrays Phil's in-home darkroom is excellent. If you've ever been in one (and I come from a family of printers), it's spot-on.

Karen: After all these years, the book is still brilliant to look at. I did enjoy that scene with Dr. Octopus a great deal - it was just chilling. Shortly after this, we are taken back to that fateful battle between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin from Amazing Spider-Man #121, and that horrible fall. Phil sees it from a vantage point almost level with the pillars supporting the bridge. He knows, instantly, that Gwen is dead. He can't comprehend it -- how could the hero not save her? Of course, that's likely how most of us reading that  issue felt as well. Again, Phil stands in for the longtime comic fan. Things had changed. Things were changing. The earlier encounter with Luke Cage, Hero For Hire, was another indicator - the world we knew was becoming different, more complicated.

Doug: And that's where I was going with my initial comments at the top. From the Kree-Skrull War to Daredevil shacking up with Natasha in San Francisco, there were so many specific vignettes that when taken together showed how the comfort of the Silver Age had given way to new, different, and sometimes uncomfortable circumstances in the Bronze Age.

Doug: So Richard Starkings and the boys at Comicraft lettered in the fateful "snap" when Spider-Man's webline reached Gwen's legs, the recoil breaking her neck. I had forgotten that a few pages later Sheldon remarks that he can still hear the "flat snap" across the water. He contrasts what he knows to be true with accounts that it had been the fall that killed Gwen Stacy. Just as Gwen had symbolized innocence in that Spider-Man tale from over 40 years ago, she stands in that role here in Marvels.
 
Karen: Yes, I noticed that too, that damn snap has always made me feel queasy. It's been said by many that Gwen's been far more important in her death than she ever was in her comics life, and certainly the implications of her death informed the decade that came after.

Doug: But what did you make of Phil's visit to see Gwen? I guess if Ross hadn't drawn her to look just as beautiful as Jazzy Johnny Romita ever had, maybe I wouldn't make anything of it. But Sheldon kept going back to see her. Yeah, he was wanting to get her to exonerate Spider-Man in the death of her father. But the scene when they walk through the Atlantean vessels was just a little odd to me. And in the days after Gwen's death, I couldn't decide if Phil was obsessed with Spider-Man's failure -- did that burst his personal Marvels balloon? -- or if he was overly distraught with her death. 

Karen: A middle-aged man, obsessing on a beautiful young woman...well, it happens all the time. A little disturbing but I do think there was that layer to it. Loss of innocence, loss of youth, longing for the past, his own personal success -there was a lot tied up with Gwen in Phil's mind. Phil tries to continue work on his next book with his assistant, Marcia, but his heart isn't in it. As he's going over photos with her, he sees Hawkeye and the Hulk fighting Zzzax on TV (from Incredible Hulk #166), and he snaps. He's done. He can't do it any more; he's 'too close' to it all. But he tells Marcia to carry on -- she can use everything to make the documentary she discussed. He's ready to retire. Phil steps outside and beckons the young paperboy over and tells Marcia to get a picture of him and his wife with a nice, normal kid. Little Danny Ketch.

Doug: Danny Ketch. The 1990s Ghost Rider. Yes, a nod to bring this historical love letter to the then-present, but to me now, it just leaves me flat. Is Danny Ketch even still in the MU?

Karen: Certainly in 2015 Danny Ketch doesn't seem all that relevant, does he? Taken as one long piece, I enjoyed Marvels a great deal, although it did make me feel that living in that universe would probably not be such a wonderful experience! Phil's questioning -- why are the Marvels here? -- his quasi-religious take on them, would surely be one shared by many people. It's interesting that this is not addressed in comics. Of course, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby went the other route, with people giving the heroes a hard time right from the beginning. People were motivated by fear rather than love or awe. So Phil is an oddball. But I feel he also fills in for us readers who came in either in the Silver or early Bronze ages and have a longing for those days. He has developed an obsession with the heroes and misses the days, during the WWII, years, when they seemed perfect and were idolized. I can understand this, to some degree. I suppose I don't want cartoon cutouts but I also don't enjoy the extreme moral ambiguity I've found in a lot of recent books I've happened to pick up. But in any case, Alex Ross' art is phenomenal throughout the series. It never wavers and brings not only realism but the right amount of fantasy -sequences in this issue with Namor's Atlantean army is pure Ray Harryhausen Saturday-matinee stuff -the art just transports you. 

Doug: If super-heroes were real in today's reality-TV, tabloids-dishing-constantly-on-celebrities sort of culture in which we here in America find ourselves mired, they would be at the top of the food chain in terms of public notice. I don't know if the media would brand any of them as bad guys... shoot, not even the bad guys themselves! Who today doesn't love a good villain? And yes -- Alex Ross's art sucks the reader right into the story. He was the perfect choice to tell this story, and Kurt Busiek for the most part transferred the four-color stories of his (and our's) youth to this wonderful reimagining. In reflection, maybe Phil Sheldon was the perfect protagonist. As he'd felt as a younger man that he couldn't measure up to the Marvels, could never be the perfect man, in the end that's how he truly was. So what Busiek and Ross crafted was a main character with those wonderful feet of clay, manufactured by the one and only House of Ideas.

Judgment Day: Marvels 3

Marvels #3 (March 1994)
"Judgment Day"
Kurt Busiek-Alex Ross

NOTE: As in the past, we're apologizing up front for the quality of the art scans in today's post. Doug happened to have a digital copy of today's featured issue, but in attempting to convert the images for use some distortion took place. Hopefully you'll still get some utility from our images.

Doug: It's funny how a mood can change, even on the same subject matter. Two weeks ago Karen led off our comments on Marvels #2 by stating that she had a real sense of melancholy after reading that book. I'd argue that her (and mine, as well) feelings were due in no small part to the ugly way in which the citizens of New York's Homo sapiens community reacted to the coming genetic apocalypse allegedly to be wrought by Homo so-called superior. The dominant thread in today's fare is also the apocalypse -- yet I found myself on the edge-of-my-seat giddy as I re-read this for perhaps the fourth time. Alex Ross, in paying tribute to the source material of Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott, really knocked the Galactus storyline out of the park.

Karen: I suppose it's stating the obvious to say there are a lot of strong visuals in this issue. But it deals with one of the most significant storylines in comics history. 

Doug: I'm trying to think of another Marvel story that would be splash-page worthy (the equivalent of Elaine Benes' "sponge worthy"), and I don't think there is one. Stan, Jack, and Joe truly crafted a tale of universe-shaking proportions and the decision to retell it in full pages was a stroke of genius! Every one of the 8+ full-pagers contains so much majesty, so much peril...

Karen: I like the way those spectacular scenes are juxtaposed with those of everyday people, including Phil Sheldon, dealing with what may very well be their last day on Earth. For all that Ross is adept at portraying epic moments, he gets all the little ones right too. 

Doug: The other thread running not only through this issue but the two previous installments is the personality of Phil Sheldon. We noted from the get-go that he has some hang-ups. Early on, it was feelings of inadequacy that led him to postpone his wedding with his fiance' Doris. Now here, 25 years later (real time, which seems about right -- Ross draws Sheldon as looking to be around 50), he's as absent from his domestic situation as any superhero. When I think of how many times Peter Parker stood up his aunt, or Gwen, or Mary Jane, it seems that Sheldon has done that just as often to his wife and two daughters. And even when he's home he seems to be emotionally barren to them.

Karen: He appears to have obsessed on the 'Marvels' -- is he a reflection of the reader? The issue sets  up his disconnect with his wife and family, but then through the crisis with Galactus, Phil seems to recognize that they are more important to him than his job, or chronicling the doings of the super-beings. Yet, at the end, he leaves his family again to get pictures of Count Nefaria. So what has really changed? He criticizes his fellow citizens for not showing the Fantastic Four, and the other Marvels, the respect they deserve, yet how much respect does he show his family? I don't know -- I just can't figure out how I feel about Phil, honestly.

Doug: I agree. He seems duty-bound, as the heroes he wishes to portray on film. And I cannot decide if he is in love/awe of the Marvels from an existential standpoint, or if it is the potential to profit off their existence with his proposed book of photographs that drives him. Why does he continue to take the photos? He's good at it -- much better than Peter Parker, for example, simply because Sheldon has to work at it. Unlike Parker, he doesn't have the luxury of suspending some high-tech camera from a lamp post while the action takes place. Does he drive himself, indeed putting himself in harm's way over and over because he is obsessed with being a part of this epoch in human history, or is it the lure of financial gain, of financial independence in his golden years that pushes him to place all his energies on his vocation? The character does bother me in that I don't feel like I can get a handle on who he is and what he's all about. Your point about the potential that he is a reflection of the reader, of the comic fan who can't get enough is interesting. Might Phil Sheldon be a "real life" completist?

Karen: That's where I was coming from. With each issue his need to get closer to the Marvels, to make others understand their importance and share his obsession, seems to grow. Although I think he does want to profit from them, his motives seem to be based more from hero worship or even a quasi-religious drive -and doesn't that sound like fandom at its worst?

Doug: So aside from the Sheldon interest, another aspect of this series that continues to captivate me is the research that Busiek and Ross did in crafting their plot. Right from the splash page, there are a bazillion bits and pieces of Marvel history on display. It's really visually appealing to see it presented as if it were real -- and the inclusion of newsmen we know such as a very young Tom Brokaw and John Chancellor adds authenticity to this man-on-the-street perspective.

Karen: Oh, indeed, the effort that went into weaving together all of those past tales was impressive. The book I'm using has an index in the back that lists all the comics they drew upon for each issue of Marvels. For the splash page alone, they reference  Avengers #16, and Tales of Suspense #s 66, 69-72. It made me so curious, I looked at those Iron Man stories on my DVD and saw that Stan Lee and Don Heck stretched out a fight between Iron Man and the Titanium Man over three issues! 

Doug: And speaking of perspective, I know you and I and certainly some of our readers have criticized some of Ross's questionable lay-outs on his Marvel 75th anniversary covers. I don't have that problem in Marvels #3 at all -- in fact, during the entire Galactus sequence is made even more dramatic due to the way Ross renders the crowd scenes. His shots looking straight down on the spectators adds tremendous scale to the battle atop the Baxter Building, and the times he uses an upshot to show Sheldon and the other journalists from their skyscraper windows is equally effective.

Karen: I went back and looked at Fantastic Four #48-50 to see those original scenes and it's really amazing to see the way Ross takes what Kirby and Sinnott did and then interprets it. He's very faithful to the source -- the shot of Galactus blasting the Torch, you still have the thick, billowing black smoke, for example, but in Ross' composition, we have both Galactus and the Torch in the same frame, giving us a sense of the space god's size. Or when Reed curls into a ball and knocks Galactus off the Baxter Building momentarily, we get the shot from a slightly different angle, with Galactus' foot in our face, again, giving a sense of size. The full page shot of him halting his fall , floating above the Manhattan streets, is spectacular. Another item of note: Ross is completely faithful when reproducing Kirby's wild machinery -- I checked and every odd screw, coil, and gizmo is copied exactly!

 

Doug: What did you think of Ross's Peter Parker? He's certainly snarky-looking, which fits that scene perfectly. But I'll tell you -- I got a real Andrew Garfield vibe off Pete. And you know how I'd feel about that!

Karen: Oh, I laughed, but you can understand Phil's ire! And yes, Andrew Garfield could have played that scene well.

Doug: Lastly, we'd be remiss if we didn't hit on a few of the cameos in this issue. In addition to the above named journalists, did you catch the Monkees? 

Karen: Oh yeah, of course, how could I miss Mike Nesmith's beanie hat? There were a lot of faces that looked familiar, but I couldn't place them. Maybe it's just due to Ross' realism. As one of our readers mentioned, I do think Ross makes Foswell look like Don Knotts. I thought Kurt Busiek himself was a reporter in one panel. I also thought the man in the restaurant bar behind Phil's family on the next to last page might have been Stan Lee, but not so sure about that one.

Doug: Yes to all those, and then some. And Ross even managed to work his father, Clark Ross, into a crowd scene -- years before he would be the model for Norman McKay, the cipher in DC's Kingdom Come! I can't tell you how strange it was to meet Mr. Ross at an art gallery show in Chicago that featured Alex's DC Comics work -- the page cometh to life!

Doug: Join us in two weeks for the conclusion, a portrayal from Busiek and Ross that I feel was just as gut-wrenching as the Conway/Kane/Romita/Mortellaro source material. 

Monsters: Marvels 2

Marvels #2 (February 1994)
"Monsters"
Kurt Busiek-Alex Ross

Karen: I finished Marvels #2, and it put me in a melancholy mood, which I'm pretty sure it has every time before. The initial stuff with the Avengers battling the Masters of Evil is very exciting of course. The great shot of Giant-Man looming over Phil has to be one of the most talked about visuals from Marvels; it certainly makes an impression. Say, I actually found a website, Comic Coverage by Mark Engblom, that did a panel-by-panel comparison of the battle in Marvels #2 with the one in Avengers #6; here's the link. It was interesting to see the way Ross had changed perspective and yet kept all the details from the original Kirby drawings, right down to the same civilians in the scenes!

Doug: It's amazing how "brightly optimistic" this issue opens, because like you I recall what's coming in the later parts of the book. You know, at first I thought it was funny that the first time we see the Avengers corresponds to their adventure six issues into the group's history. But then I asked myself what they'd done publicly ahead of that; the big brouhaha against Zemo's goons seemed fitting then.

Karen: I think we've both discussed before how some of the very early Marvel books are less than exciting. I know I was extremely disappointed when I read the Marvel Masterworks collection of the first ten issues of X-Men; I thought it was deadly dull for the most part. The early issues of the FF and Avengers were also hit or miss.

Doug: I was reading Kurt Busiek's commentary that is tucked in between the first two issues of Marvels in the tpb I'm using. He talks at length about the research both he and Alex Ross did for this mini-series and some of the roadblocks they encountered. The story that really struck me was how to fit the X-Men, given their own continuity, into the Reed & Sue wedding. Talk about continuity issues -- Busiek tells that to the best of his reading and inferencing, the X-Men had to participate in the wedding in about a 4-hour window in the middle of one of their own adventures. How's that for being thorough?

Karen: That's either extremely diligent, or just insane. Maybe both!

Doug: As in the first issue of the series, we see genuine "hero worship" directed at Captain America. This is magnified in the second issue as he seems to be the greatest of the Marvels. Though technically powerless (certainly as compared to his Avengers teammates), we get the impression that Busiek and Ross are giving Cap the Superman treatment -- the so-called "greatest hero of them all".


 Karen: But after this of course came all the ugliness over the 'mutant threat.' Even after having read this a half a dozen times it still got to me. Seeing Phil, our everyman, pick up that brick -stomach churning. I realized that the reaction of his neighbors reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode (I had to look up the title) - "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street' - where aliens just cut power to some houses and let human paranoia and fear take their course. I can't help but think Busiek might have been influenced by that. In the back of the book I'm using, Ross explains how the look of the mutant girl the Sheldons are harboring was based on a Wally Wood character from a 1953 EC comic. I mean, when you see it, it's a dead ringer! Ross really doesn't pull any punches with the child either: at first you're hit with revulsion, yet this is undeniably a frightened little girl, and you can feel that coming out of the page. Just like Phil, quickly you shift from fear to sympathy. Yet for Phil, he has to fear for the safety of his family. This is one of the very few stories that dealt with mutants that actually got across a real feeling of what it would be like on Marvel-Earth during mutant paranoia. However, I didn't feel that Busiek and Ross explained why the fear was not more widespread to all super-heroes. They did have the debates with Professor X and Trask but how would the public know how Giant-Man or some of the other characters got their powers? This was true of course during the Lee/Kirby era as well, so it wasn't really their job to explain anything. I guess it's one of those things that just bothers me. But the mood they get across here is much more affecting than anything from that earlier era.

Doug: I have also always wondered what, at least in the public eye, set the X-Men apart from other super-powered beings. Maybe it goes back to Magneto's ramblings about Homo superior and mutants being the next step on the evolutionary scale, superseding Homo sapiens? And I agree that taking the focus off the longjohn types and putting it squarely on folks like us does add to the tension over the perception of this "threat". So think about it -- Communists, mutants, Kennedy had been assassinated, the civil rights issues... for the denizens of the Marvel Universe, these were unsettled times to say the least.

Karen: Oh, I get the whole idea of humanity being driven out by the mutants, but honestly, who could tell which super-powered hero was a mutant and which wasn't? Just because they say so? Never made any sense to me. But the overall value of the X-Men as an analogy for the outcast in society was valuable enough that it was worth "just rolling with it."

Doug: As to this book's visuals, I can't think of another image that is as "Wow!" as the Giant-Man image... except perhaps two others: I love the full-pager with Galactus on his knees, picking himself up while levitating several stories above the street. And I am always washed over in trepidation when I see the panel with the Green Goblin perched on the window sill of Gwen Stacy's apartment, her body limp in his arms. Ugh... talk about foreboding.

Karen: There are so many stunning images from this series -and it was just four issues! Hard to believe when everything seems to be stretched to 12 issues any more. I really don't think Marvels gets the credit it is due. People talk about Watchmen and Dark Knight with such reverential tones, but for me, I'd much rather look at this series any day. I'd rather examine and admire my heroes than tear them down.

Doug: I've often wanted to read Watchmen again -- I've only ever read it once, in serialized form as I purchased it. I'm sure I'd get much more out of it in tpb form, which I own.

Doug: So let's have a discussion on the title of this story, as I feel it ties directly into your comments above about Phil Sheldon's getting sucked into the scenes with the angry mobs. How do you interpret "Monsters"? At first blush, it's obviously about the "mutant menace", right? Or is it Busiek being ironic? I don't feel that this story is overtly "preachy", yet I think in your reaction to Sheldon's behavior you've hit on what is perhaps the true meaning -- it's not the mutants who are the monsters, is it? 

Karen: I think it's pretty clear who the "Monsters" are (funny -- my version of the books does not include titles). I agree that the story is not too preachy -- perhaps it is bordering on it, but I think when you take the books as a whole, it's more the progression of Phil's attitude toward both the Marvels and the public. 

Karen: OK, let's not forget the cameos: How about Maude herself, Bea Arthur, at Alicia Masters' exhibit? And it looked to me like Alicia was modeled after actress Linda Hamilton. Tony Stark looked like Timothy Dalton.

Doug: Agreed on all fronts -- and don't forget Phil riding the elevator with Jack and Jackie Kennedy (which again is somewhat morbid as the events in these stories would have taken place in 1964...). Of course the wedding page has some special guests of the Richards', notably Rob and Laura Petrie (Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore) and the Beatles! Clark and Lois also made a second appearance at the Daily Globe's New Year's party, this time with Jimmy Olsen on tow.

Doug: And if the big purple robots put a start in everyone, that's nothing. Wait until the next big fellow draped in purple shows up. And what an issue that will be -- splash page city! 

A Time of Marvels: Marvels 1

Marvels #1 (January 1994)
"A Time of Marvels"
Kurt Busiek-Alex Ross

Doug: What's this? A comic book review that's not in our "Arc of Triumph?" series? Yep -- we told you that in our revised "anything goes at any time" schedule we'd try to get back to doing our famous (shoot, world-renowned!) partner reviews. So here you go. And no, we didn't pick this just to rile the Alex Ross haters among our regulars... Although we'd lie if we didn't say we joked about it back in the planning meeting! We don't know how long it will take us to get through these four issues, but we can tell you we're looking forward to taking another look at this landmark series.

Doug: As I was getting myself mentally prepared for this write-up -- you know, brain calisthenics and such -- I was struck with the notion that this series may have been every bit a part of the 1990s and all that was wrong with it. I don't mean that in the sense that this was a sub-standard story (as much of the 90s was filled) or that the creators were "trendy". Instead, I was thinking about the format. You'll peek back to the top of the post and see the cover date was the very beginning of '94 and I'm wondering if this book was the first to sport a "premium" cover (not a variant, but a fancier material)? If you've never owned the periodical version of this story, you may not know that each issue featured a full-page painting by Ross (in today's case, of the Original Human Torch) layered over by an acetate cover that featured a black printed border with the appearance of die-cut lettering at the top. Of course numerous knock-offs ensued -- lots of painted books, and Marvel copied itself with the acetate overlays for a couple of issues in the big "Atlantis Attacks" annuals cross-over.

Karen: I'm using the hardback edition from 2008, which includes Marvels #0 as well as numerous sketches, promo art, and photo references. I nearly forgot about the goofy acetate covers! Before I started reading I tried to recall my mindset at this particular time. I was only buying comics occasionally, having a hard time getting back into regular series. Like many other people, my mind was completely blown by Alex Ross' art. I couldn't believe he was painting comics! The absolute realism of it all sucked me right in. And Kurt Busiek's history wrapped up in an everyman tale was handled masterfully.

Doug: I am reading from the trade paperback that has Giant-Man on the cover -- not sure of the year, but it also includes the Torch story from Marvels #0 (which I just love). Hey, how exciting was it when the Torch was spied in one of the early scenes of Captain America: The First Avenger? Anyway, I really don't remember how or why I bought the first issue, but I do recall meeting Alex Ross at a small comic show near O'Hare right after the first issue came out. In fact, he was giving away the promo poster for the series, which featured the cover of Marvels #2 (the Angel taking flight). I had a nice chat with him, and he autographed the poster; it still hangs on the wall of my comic room. I agree about Busiek's script -- there is just so much detail! No way this was done "Marvel method" -- Ross must have received exhaustive notes from Busiek. Of course, knowing Alex's appreciation for comics history, I am sure he had a mighty hand in the plot and execution of this story.

 

Karen: There are so many things we could talk about here, just with the first issue. Of course, through-out the series we are peppered with cameos, of both celebrities and sort of displaced comic book characters. I just love getting to see a very young J. Jonah Jameson as a beat reporter back in 1939, already annoying everyone around him.

Doug: I am pretty certain that ol' JJJ is never named in this story. I can check again, but I made a conscious effort when reading this last week to see (because my memory told me that on previous readings he had not been identified). But of course we all know who he is. I thought it was a nice homage to Marvel in general to make Martin Goodman the publisher of the Daily Bugle. And Ross's depiction of Goodman was spot-on. I also enjoyed the cameos in this first issue, including Clark Kent and Lois Lane, and what looks to be a very young Billy Batson peddling newspapers. Those sorts of "Easter eggs" really made this a visual treat on top of your aforementioned praise of Ross's realistic paintings.

Karen: You're right, JJJ is never named as such, but that haircut, the mannerisms, little phrases ('when I run the Bugle') -it's pretty much obvious, and delicious. But Busiek makes him more than a caricature; JJJ earns his stripes, chasing down stories and facing the catastrophes these 'Marvels' bring. It actually provides some depth to his later hatred of Spider-Man and other super-heroes, if you consider he saw Namor nearly drown all of New York! Two other notable cameo appearances are Popeye (why?) and a young Nick Fury, not in the war yet. I like how Ross draws him with a shadow over his left eye. Another great Easter egg of a sort is Ross' homage to Edward Hopper's 'Nighthawks' painting when Sheldon and JJJ have a run-in with the Torch late one night.

Doug: Of course the story also had a few "weirdities", such as Namor prancing around in his birthday suit. I have a reprint of Marvel Comics #1 (which actually reprinted the Crown Prince's first appearance from Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly) and the Sub-Mariner was wearing his trademark trunks throughout. So in spite of a heaping helping of his naked butt, I did enjoy the way Ross drew his ankle wings. They were huge! And c'mon -- if they actually were going to be used for flight, they'd have to be larger than the way we've generally seen them depicted. The panel where the Torch engages Namor and they wrangle over a steel girder is a lot of fun, and I've always loved the 2-page spread of the tidal wave crashing onto New York with a tiny Human Torch streaking across the top of the image.

Karen: Yeah, naked Namor...I did a little research and came back empty handed, so to speak. I couldn't find anything from Ross that indicates why he chose to do that. I suppose the logical conclusion would be that someone living underwater wouldn't wear clothes. But it did surprise me when I first saw it. Interestingly, in the back of my book, hand-written next to some of the sketches for Namor it says 'Freddie Mercury' but I don't think he wound up looking much like Queen's lead singer in the finished product.

Doug: Busiek did a solid job of making Phil Sheldon an interesting protagonist. I think his point-of-view is very believable, as an ordinary man who has come through the Great Depression with a renewed optimism, yet distressed at the coming events in Europe. But the arrival of the "Marvels" makes him feel small, and insecure as a man. His worry about being able to protect his loved ones, and whether it is wise to even consider bringing children into such an unsettled future drew me in. But his reverence for Captain America was noteworthy. As remarked in the story, he was "one of ours", and that set him apart from the Torch and Namor. 

Karen: The American public, ever fickle. It was completely believable to me that the crowd was swayed by the newsreels to suddenly accept the Torch and Namor as "our" boys. And then Captain America come on the scene -so big and strong, perfect chin, wrapped in the red, white and blue -well, he was manufactured to be The American Hero. Don't get me wrong, from childhood to now, I've loved Cap and that sense of honor, justice, morality, all the qualities that made Steve Rogers a hero regardless of the Super-Soldier formula. But let's face it, he was a pre-fab hero, before there was even a Madison Ave marketing racket to push him out. 

Doug: I think in Busiek playing up the hot/cold aspect of the crowd he was playing along with a trope Stan Lee had used throughout the Silver Age.

Doug: So you're saying Cap was a forerunner of the Monkees? 

 

Karen: Ha! You and I have been doing this so long, we're so in synch -I almost said "like the Monkees!" But yes, the way Cap is built up for the public, it's PR at least, propaganda at worst. Phil Sheldon's concern over both the war in Europe and the rise of the super-beings is understandable. But his decision  to delay marrying his girlfriend Doris -I don't know, maybe because I'm a woman, it all seemed rather foolish. The idea of having to "protect" her, and not being able to do that in the face of these new beings, diminishing him, making him unworthy -he really had an inferiority complex going on here! Not that it's an impossible reaction but it seemed a bit like he was running away to me.

Doug: I agree that Sheldon seemed off base with his line of thinking. Why wouldn't he feel better about protecting Doris if he had married her and could be around her more? You know, above you talked about how quickly the crowd turned, but Busiek does a nicely subtle job of showing really how their world turned. At the beginning of this first issue Sheldon remarked how they'd beaten the Depression and how everyone's spirits were up -- they were invincible. Yet just a few months later Hitler had become a serious focal point in all their lives, and the advent of the Marvels complicated life even more. I think Steve Martin's album "Let's Get Small" could have been a mantra. But hey -- if Phil hadn't decided to abandon Doris, we'd have not had the pleasure of being introduced to Willie Lumpkin!

Karen: I did smile when I saw Willie Lumpkin -or 'Bill.' And hey, Mickey Rooney was in the theater audience too.

Doug: Alex Ross flirted with racism just enough to really give some of the war scenes a bit of Golden Age authenticity. His depiction of the Japanese soldier bordered on caricature, but stopped short of crossing that line. Busiek did include the term "Japanazi", which again was a nice throwback to a different time.

Karen: Was "Japanazi" a term that people actually used back during the war years? I've often wondered if it was something made up in the comics... I don't know if I've seen it anywhere else. ...OK, I looked it up and apparently it was a term used on war posters of the time period (I saw a few, including one with Popeye), so I suppose it's legit.

Doug: I have all of the Fleischer Superman cartoons on DVD, and I think the term is used somewhere in those. But I could be misremembering (that's so Brian Williams...). So what did you think of that last scene -- the assault on the Nazi stronghold? Sort of made the Invaders look like the minor leagues!

Karen: It's a breath-taking scene! I love the high, overhead angle -I know we've talked about Ross overdoing it recently on some covers with the odd angles but this one really works for me. I could identify eight of the ten heroes but had trouble with two of them. The ones I recognized were Cap and Bucky (and this Bucky is quite obviously a kid, being carried by Cap the way he is), Namor, the Vision, the Destroyer, and the Black Widow (none of these three related to the later Marvel versions), the Blazing Skull, and the two Torches. From the reference section in the back of my book, I found the identities of the other two: the Thunderer and the Black Marvel. These are some pretty cool-looking cats. More appealing than most of the Liberty Legion! I know some of these characters have been brought into current or recent books, like the Skull and original Vision.

Doug: Yes, Ross's depiction of the very young James Buchanan Barnes does fly in the face of Ed Brubaker's thoughts on the character's age during the war. Personally, I always thought of him as Ross does. However, I fully accepted that he must have been closer to 16 in the Liberty Legion story that ran through Invaders #s 5-6 and Marvel Premiere #s 29-30. And in regard to the coolness of those Golden Age heroes: I have so tried to get into that material but it's just so difficult. The art and the stories are so crude as compared to the stuff we focus on (late 1960s-mid 1980s) that I just can't do it. I've several times been ready to pull the trigger on the Golden Age volume in the Marvel Firsts series but have always talked myself out of it.

Doug: In our next installment, we'll delve into Marvels #2 and the dawn of the Silver Age! No promises when that will be, but this has been fun getting back into the "what we do around here" of comic reviews.