If You're Going to San Francisco... Amazing Adventures 7-8

Amazing Adventures #7 (July 1971)(Inhumans cover by Neal Adams)
"An Evening's Wait for Death!"
Roy Thomas-Neal Adams/John Verpoorten

Doug: I know I said that the last four week's worth of reviews was probably going to be it from me for the foreseeable future, but here I sit again. Writing/scanning/arranging/etc. these reviews is a labor of love -- trouble is, for much of the year it's just been a labor to find the time to do it! But lately I've been able to scare up a couple of hours here and there without taking quality time out of the marriage. So what the heck -- I like comics and you like reading about them. Today we'll be looking at an Inhumans story, spread over two issues of Amazing Adventures. Let's go.

Doug: We open on a beach under the control of Red China (because back in the Cold War you had to say it that way). The Inhumans -- Gorgon, Karnak, Medusa, and Triton -- crash-landed there at the end of the previous issue after a skirmish with Maximus. Black Bolt is elsewhere. This was during the time that Black Bolt had amnesia inflicted upon him by Maximus and was in the city of San Francisco. In defending a young man and his uncle from some thugs, Black Bolt had afterward donned civilian clothes. But unable to speak and truly wanting to converse with the boy, Black Bolt had lapsed and uttered the word "I..." It was enough to split a large naval vessel in half. Needless to say, people were on the lookout for the guy who did that.  But back on the beach, our cousins are unconscious when the Red Army shows up. They try to figure out the best course of action to deal with these "monster". As they debate, the commanding officer tells his troops to put down their weapons. Trouble is, that's right about the time everyone wakes up. And naturally Gorgon mistakes all the movement for an attack. So we get a little brouhaha, and Triton hops into the waters to help. He swims out and then down until he finds a large electronic switch on the side of a cliff. He triggers it, and back on the surface a panel opens from the side of a mountain to reveal a slick aircraft. Turns out it had been stashed there months earlier by these very Inhumans (although I couldn't find when). They make their getaway.

Doug: In San Francisco we find Black Bolt, still in civvies and with the boy he'd protected, accosted by an African-American man with a mechanical hand that looks an awful lot like something you would want to avoid the business end of. The man says he knows about the silent man and what he did, and that he can help. The boy asks about the gun-like contraption and the man suddenly converts it to a hand! What a device! He says they must get into his car, and that he will take them somewhere that's safe. As they slide into the back seat, it's suddenly revealed that the boy's (we now know his name is Joey) uncle Roscoe is in the front seat and up to no good. As gas fills the back seat, Joey's uncle and our new villain -- a Mister Dibbs (In the Heat of the Night and Sidney Poitier's "Mr. Tibbs" came out in 1967, but Roy must have been a fan) -- drive off with a costume draped across the front seat. The costume of Black Bolt. Dibbs remarks that the power in that suit is going to bring his plan to fruition.

Doug: We cut to the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of California. Our four Inhuman travelers have set their craft down in the water and hop a hoverboard-type of contraption to make their way to shore. They don't land in directly in San Francisco as you might have guess, but instead turn up on Muscle Beach. It's really sort of silly -- I don't know if it was Roy or Neal who wanted to work this in. But as our costumed Himalayans reach the sand, the muscleheads decide that a) these new arrivals are weirdos and b) they need to be shown that it's a private beach. Well you can guess how this fight will go. Triton again figures that it's he who must end it, so creates a diversion to draw the bodybuilders away. Medusa and Karnak usher Gorgon out and into the city after they steal clothes from the beach's locker room. Emerging, they hail a cab and ask to be taken to the only place they know: Johnson Street. The only reason they know it is because the cabbie had his radio on and a disturbance was reported. In a city the size of San Francisco, Medusa figures any lead is a good lead.

Doug: And, as fate would have it, who do you think is in the middle of the unrest? Why sure -- it's Mister Dibbs. And Black Bolt, now in costume. Dibbs and his armed militants have come to take a stand against their living conditions, their lack of civil rights, and the "crushing heel of white society". If the mayor will not bring down the rat-infested tenements, then Dibbs has a way to do it himself: Black Bolt. To be continued.

Amazing Adventures #8 (September 1971)(Inhumans cover by Neal Adams)
"An Hour for Thunder!"
Roy Thomas-Neal Adams/John Verpoorten

Doug: As I was thinking about what to read for today's reviews, I kicked around some George Perez JLA, some black-and-white Frankenstein Monster, and maybe a Dave Cockrum Legion tale. When I came back to the Perez notion, I remembered the discussion we'd had on Inhumans #2 a couple of months ago. Since I have the Inhumans Marvel Masterworks,
 volume 2, I decided to check out the entire issue -- which was, by the way, my first Inhumans as I'd missed the premier. But in looking through it I recalled that the first four issues were all pretty serialized. So I moved away from that. But lo and behold! Right next to that Masterworks sat the Inhumans Marvel Masterworks, volume 1. Ah ha! I immediately turned to Amazing Adventures #8, recalling the cool Thor cover. Leafing through, it was obvious that I needed to also read and review #7, which you just finished reading. So here we are.

Doug: Oddly enough we open this issue in Avengers Mansion. This is the era of the Kree-Skrull War, and this is a great line-up! They are assembled near a visi-screen, watching the goings-on in San Francisco. As Mister Dibbs shouts the name of Black Bolt, the Scarlet Witch wonders aloud who he is. Cap says he does not know, either. Now hey -- didn't the Avengers and the Fantastic Four always share files? I just found this odd. Roy was writing both books and was certainly the resident Marvel scholar, so he would know if this was off. It sure seemed peculiar to me. Suddenly Thor enters the monitor room and claims that he alone will go to San Francisco to right this coming wrong. Just like the Muscle Beach scene in the previous issue, this appears to be a way to raise up a brawl. But, I suppose that's a long-standing Marvel tradition, so I'm going to play along.

Doug: Back in the City by the Bay, Dibbs is spouting his rhetoric and claims that for years he worked within the system to try to enact change -- a change that white politicians would hear nothing of. Well that was all going to end this day, and by demonstration he was going to show his followers how. Black Bolt barely whispers and one of the projects comes down. A representative of the mayor quickly calls out to Dibbs, saying that they'll work with him. Dibbs will have none of it and relates a tale of his youth. It's unfortunately a typical urban story of this time period (shoot -- of now, to say sadly...), full of poverty, vermin, and the protection of youth. Dibbs is angry, and he's promised to bring the entire area to the ground. Off to the side the Royal Family witnesses this in horror as their liege has used his power for violence. They change and leap to action as Dibbs' men fire smoke grenades near the National Guard.

Doug: Still without Triton, Medusa and her remaining male cousins take the fight right to the militants. It's tough to say who is right and who is wrong in a situation like this, but certainly the means of action by Dibbs and his men do cross a line. Ever the blusterer, Gorgon hoists a VW Beetle to get some attention. The compact car is suddenly sliced in half by a certain hammer made of Uru. Thor makes a grand entrance, but announces that the insurgents are under his protection. Now that's not how I'd have figured it. Karnak leaps at Thor while Medusa holds the Thunder God's arms with her tresses. A strike to the Son of Odin's wrist causes him to drop Mjolnir and since this is the Bronze Age -- you know what that means (tick, tick, tick...)! But we cut then to a hide-out across town, where Joey is being guarded by one of Dibbs' men. There's a radio playing, so Joey knows the score. He manages to get away, but not before looking into another room -- a room into which his guard had called. And he sees...

Doug: We cut back to Johnson Street where it's Gorgon who now (unwittingly) keeps Thor separated from his enchanted hammer. The Inhumans move against Dibbs, who leaps off a tank to meet their charge. He peels off the fake hand to again reveal the gun-like device at the end of his right arm. As Medusa uses her hair to grab the weapon and throw Dibbs off-balance, gunshots suddenly ring out from stage left. The smoke from the grenades has dissipated enough that the National Guard and police can now get through. Dibbs sees that this is it. But Thor reaches Mjolnir in the confusion and uses its power to whip up a thunderstorm, driving law enforcement back with wind and lightning. Thor makes his way to Dibbs and tells him that he knows what he's going through. Dibbs scoffs, incredulous that a god could say such a thing. But Thor remarks that he knows the pain Dibbs has faced. Dibbs wonders if Thor has seen some secret file on him, and then reveals the truth: Cancer was going to take his hand and perhaps his life. But his physician -- Dr. Donald Blake -- gave it to him straight. Dibbs, now mad at the world and for seemingly losing all he'd worked for, said he would see Tony Stark about his hand situation. And after that, he had something to do. Thor tells Dibbs that he's watched him from afar, and that all reason has left him. Dibbs turns to implore Black Bolt to speak and complete the mission. But Thor whacks Dibbs on the back of the head, ending his day. The Royal Family rush to their king, begging him not to speak. And then we find that it's not Black Bolt in costume at all -- no, it's Roscoe, young Joey's uncle. And just as he parts his lips to speak, the antenna atop the mask suddenly recharges with the energy of the sun. And Roscoe is not fit to take it. News later that day reports how a stranger in a strange suit had died that afternoon, and that Lionel Dibbs would be awaiting a trial. Joey heard this, in the company of his companion who had been restrained in the room next to him: Black Bolt.

Doug: So... I'm not going to categorize myself as an Inhumans expert, but I've read my fair share of their adventures. Certainly by 1971's history, I'd say that I have read almost all of them. And I never got the impression that it was Black Bolt's suit that gave him his powers. I guess I always figured it was the Terrigen Mists that had empowered him (see the Inhumans back-ups in late Silver Age Thors) with the curse of the voice, with flight, etc. As to the antenna? I really never thought about it much. I mean, isn't the same deal on Lockjaw, and isn't it a part of him? I'm asking -- help a brother out if you know the answers to these questions. When Roscoe spoke at the beginning of the demonstration and the building fell -- how'd that happen? Oh, yes -- and raise your hand if you're ticked off that Thor and Black Bolt never actually fought inside the book. False advertising, I say!

Doug: And what of the script? Roy Thomas is obviously sitting in for Denny O'Neil in a story we've somewhat read before (see our review of Green Lantern #76, as well as other GL/GA issues). Notice how Neal Adams was the penciler on both tales? I'm not saying social justice in comics is wrong -- I think the fact that Thomas and O'Neil, and Stan Lee and others as well, wanted to bring light to important political issues is probably commendable. And that it plays with a heavy hand? I don't know -- maybe that's my problem, not theirs. We could debate that all day, and certainly bring the topics discussed right up to today's relevance. Adams art was great as it usually is (even if John Verpoorten's inks gave it a scratchy texture). If I'd quibble, it's that Adams could draw Thor a bit beefier. But that splash page of the Avengers was magnificent. The man was born to draw that team! Or was it the X-Men...?

Return of the King: Eternals 1

The Eternals #1 (July 1976)
"The Day of the Gods!"
Jack Kirby-Kirby/John Verpoorten

Doug:  As I begin today's review, it's actually last Monday (that just screwed you up temporally, didn't it?) and we've had about a dozen comments on the Captain America #193 post.  Surprisingly to us, as Karen wrote in a comment of her own, our readers tended to agree with us on the writing prowess of Jack Kirby in the latter Bronze Age.  I'm not going to sit here and tell you that the book we're about to review has a script that's Bard-worthy, but I will offer that it's better than what we dealt with seven days ago.  It will be up to us, and you once you get to typing your own missives at the conclusion of the post, to determine just how and why this might be so.  So as they (who?) say, let's do this thang.

Doug:  I am sad that Kirby didn't do one of those photo montages he was so renowned for back in his FF and Thor days as a way to lead this one off.  The drawn outcome is a bit murky, but it mirrors the cover and gets us on our way.  Our three protagonists -- Dr. Damian, his daughter Margo, and their associate/videographer Ike Harris, have entered an enormous cave or chamber -- the belly of a pyramid, perhaps.  The three had been on a search for the mythical Chamber of the Gods, allegedly located deep within the Andes Mountains.  What they discovered is incredible -- Inca-like relics combined with star-faring vehicles, god-like images of beings not of this planet.  Dr. Damian is beside himself, but gains enough composure to begin to verbally document what he is seeing.  At that point we learn that Ike Harris may be more than we at first assumed, as he begins to pontificate on the origins of the relics and how they fit into a larger picture of terran existence -- stating as fact that man is not, nor has he ever been, alone.  Damian recoils as if reacting to heresy.

Karen: As much as I ripped on Kirby's art in Captain America, these first few pages are fairly spectacular, with Kirby doing his best versions of Incan styles mixed with his own cosmic sense. I have to say that this whole book was a real blast from the past. It was like watching a bunch of episodes of the old Leonard Nimoy show, In Search Of - we have ancient astronauts, hidden races, Lemuria, mysterious warped zones of time/space, UFOs - you name it! Like you though, I felt this fairly screamed for a photo-montage!

Doug:   As Ike Harris continues, Dr. Damian announces that he's through with the college pranks.  Margo, no great thinker in her own right, just gives off a sort of "yay, Dad!"  Harris stoops to look for some sort of device on the floor -- a kind of gateway that will bring the gods back to Earth!  We then cut to the Pacific Ocean to find an airplane swallowed up by some serious Kirby Krackle in a Bermuda Triangle-like disappearance.  We are privy to the device that was the culprit -- a craft that then descends into a long tunnel toward the depths of the sea itself.  We are then introduced to some dudes that could have walked straight outta Apokalips.  There's red-faced Kro, Jabba-like Brother Tode, and a fair(ly ugly) unnamed maiden.  We learn that they are Deviants, and they remind me somewhat of one of Kirby's earlier creations, the Inhumans.  Apparently each Deviant looks different, and there are some traits that are more desireable than others.

Karen: This theme is repeated again and again isn't it -- not just the Inhumans, but all Marvel mutants too, are a race that "doesn't breed true". But the Inhumans and the mutants tended to be pretty decent looking. These guys are just nasty! Kro's kinda groovy with his glasses, and Brother Tode reminds me a bit of Modok, with his big noggin. 

Doug:  Kro is charged with going to the Inca cave to find the beacon which can herald the arrival of the gods.  Brother Tode cautions that the Eternals may find it first; Kro brags that he will return with it within the hour.  So we shift back to the cave, where Margo is shaking in her Lara Croft-boots at weird ol' Ike Harris.   Harris has discovered some sort of intergalactic telescope, which to me more resembles Reed Richards' gateway to the Negative Zone.  The cosmic cat is now out of the bag, and Dr. Damian and Margo now approach Harris and ask him to confirm that he is not one of them.  Harris does, and begins to narrate a genesis story.  I've read many times that Jack Kirby was fascinated with religion and ideas of creation.  Here he again gets to explore some of his wonderings.

Doug:  In Kirby's origins of life tale, the gods had come to Earth after its creation.  They decided to capture and alter an early man, called the Dawn Ape, and allow it to breed the three great races:  the Deviant, the Human, and the Eternal.  The Deviants were increasingly ugly and warlike, man was... well, man, and the Eternals were immortal.  Deviants went underground to live in the bowels of the Earth where they could plot, humans of course occupied the surface and evolved through conquest and subjugating other life forms, and the Eternals took to the skies and mountaintops -- living apart.  As Ike Harris finishes his story, his attention reverts to the view screen as he sees an energy trail from the gods' spaceship!

Karen: Kirby really shows all the stuff he's been reading, or maybe also watching on TV (like the previously-mentioned In Search Of...). He's taken ideas from Erich von Daniken, the Shaver Mysteries, and a variety of other sources and synthesized them and filtered them through that unique mind of his to produce this mythos. Just looking at these pages, I was struck by the huge scale of it all. It really would make a great movie, wouldn't it?

Doug:  I think this is why Jack would have worked best with an editor -- his mind just exploded, but without anyone else to temper his mental outbursts, the ideas were like a stampede!

Doug:  But, at the same time the gods appear, Kro and his minions close in on the Inca cave.  As they ascend from the aquatic entrance, they hear an alarm sounding -- it is the beacon, and the Eternals found it first!  Wait, what?  What Eternals?  Well, in another one of Kirby's painfully awful play-on-names, ol' Ike Harris is really Ikaris of the Polar Mountains!  The jig's up, and it's game on!  Ikaris creates an energy field that holds the Deviant army at bay, and then removes his sunglasses.  We are told that it's an Eternal's eyes that contains the true power and Ikaris uses his to wipe out Kro's cohorts.  However, one baddie levels a gun on Ikaris and hits him with a shroud, shutting down the Eternal's eyeblasts.  Kro charges, but Dr. Damian steps in to buy time.  Margo removes the cover from Ikaris but the entire assemblage is startled by the arrival of the spaceship alluded to earlier.  The gods have returned!

Karen: The "Ikaris/Ike Harris/Icarus" thing sort of bothered me even as a kid as "Ike Harris" is not pronounced anything like "Icarus" but I guess after all these years I can let it go. It's interesting that there was so much focus on the Eternals' powers coming mainly from their eyes -- I don't seem to recall this being the case in later appearances in other titles but I could be wrong. It does remind me however of Darkseid's omega effect being so central to that character. I really liked the seemingly gigantic spaceship landing, with all the raw energy pouring out of it.

Doug:  I told Karen three weeks ago when I read this for the first time that I enjoyed it.  In fact, if I could get my hands on the next couple of issues I'd be quite interested to read those as well.  Some of you remarked last week that Kirby was perhaps at his best when working with characters with no prior continuity.  In this book he was perhaps able to continue to explore themes he'd broached at DC in his Fourth World material.  At any rate, his dialogue was much stronger and the story seemed to be more linear and less pell mell.  For me, this was a definite improvement over his return to Captain America. 


Karen: I'd agree, this was a much more interesting and stronger read, though I wouldn't necessarily say that the dialog was vastly improved; actually, the whole book felt like it belonged to an earlier age. It does feel a bit stuffy. But we are able to come to it with no pre-conceived notions about who the characters are and how they should act. We're unfolding a mystery and frankly Kirby's graphics hold up pretty well here and help to pull the reader along. This was the one Kirby title that when it came out, I did buy it somewhat regularly, mainly because it was right up my alley at the time, what with my fascination with all this kind of stuff. I think I lost interest in less than a year, but it was more attention than I gave to any of the other books Kirby worked on. It has to be considered his biggest success in his second tenure at Marvel. The Eternals were initially planned to be outside the Marvel continuity, but by issue #6  were starting to be shoe-horned into the MU. Eventually, the characters and concepts were adopted by later writers and worked into the threads of the Marvel tapestry such that they are as much a part of Marvel history as their predecessors, the Inhumans. In fact, apparently in some sense the existence of the Eternals supposedly lead to the Kree creating the Inhumans! (Check the wikipedia listing for the Eternals if you don't believe me). Much like what happened at DC with Kirby's Fourth World characters, the Eternals found little success while Kirby handled them, but later became a mainstay of the Marvel Universe.

Marvel Firsts: The Lady in Black

Amazing Adventures #1 (August 1970)
"Then Came... the Black Widow!"
Gary Friedrich-John Buscema/John Verpoorten

Karen: The Black Widow has been around a pretty long time in the Marvel Universe. Starting as an Iron Man villain (and a commie!) in Tales of Suspense #52 (published April 1964), she soon switched sides and became a good guy, a frequent ally to the Avengers and Hawkeye's main squeeze. But she eventually left Hawkeye and struck out on her own, changing from her original masked outfit to a sexier form-fitting suit designed by John Romita, Sr. Her first appearance in what has become her standard outfit was in Amazing Spider-Man #86 (July 1970). Amazing Adventures #1, published a few months later, was her first solo feature, even if she shared half the title with The Inhumans (what an odd pairing!).

Doug: I always felt that Natasha was a character that writers had a hard time using. Her appearances in the Avengers were for the most part underwhelming. However, I cannot begin to imagine how Hawkeye would have reacted to seeing her in the catsuit she sports in this story. Fishnets aside, ol' Clint Barton may not have been able to contain himself! And she seems an odd choice for a solo book. Do any of our readers know if Marvel's second go-round with split books had the original intention of try-out series, or were the Inhumans and the Widow supposed to be ongoing?

Karen: Our tale opens with 'Madame Natasha' bored out of her rich little mind. At this stage of her career, she was still just as interested in fashion and fun as she was espionage. She gets a call from a well-known playboy (not Tony Stark!) who asks her to come to Switzerland with him later in the week. She's thrilled and accepts immediately. But as soon as she hangs up, she has that empty feeling again. She realizes that it's action she really craves. She thinks back on her encounter with Spider-Man, and how he defeated her. She needs to get out, to prove herself. You never know when opportunity will knock. She notices that her maid, Maria, has been crying. She asks her what's wrong, and the woman explains that her son owes money to bad men who have threatened to kill him. The Widow immediately offers to give her the money, but Maria insists that her son must work things out himself, and leaves.

Doug: How did you view Natasha in this scene? While she's compassionate toward Maria, she's "all about me" in regard to the rest of her life. She just seems pretty aimless. I thought she appeared pretty self-absorbed. Do we know how she got all of her money?

Karen: Yeah, I had the same feeling. It was as if the Widow used Maria's son's plight as the perfect excuse to put on her costume again. We get a page that demonstrates her powers, including her anti-grav shoes (!) and widow's web, which duplicates Spidey's web line. She calls Ivan and tells him to have the Rolls ready, then throws on an overcoat and heads out. As they drive to Maria's home, the Widow looks out the car window and sees the rough conditions of the neighborhood. She does some typical Marvel pondering about government and the common man and then has Ivan pull over. Apparently Ivan is unaware that his boss is the Black Widow at this stage of their relationship, which surprised me. She tells him to go home, leaving him worried, and she clambers up Maria's building.

Doug: This version of Ivan was a very far cry from the protector of his "tsarina" we'd see in the Champions a few years later. Ivan in this story wasn't half as cool as Alfred. If memory serves, it's later revealed (retconned) that Ivan had been with Natasha since her childhood. Am I off-planet in thinking he may even have been her father? Anyway, I thought it was dumb that she went to her crime investigation in the Rolls, especially since it was in the 'hood!

Karen: The Widow eavesdrops on Maria's apartment and hears a couple of typical Buscema-style thugs threatening Maria and her son. They take the kid and tell Maria to come up with the money in 12 hours or they'll kill him. The Widow decides it's time for her to act. As the men leave the building she swings down, kicking one in the face. As the other thug prepares to shoot her, the Widow uses her Widow's Bite (a ray from her bracelet) to shoot him first, paralyzing him. The first thug she attacked has recovered and is charging at her. He's huge, twice her size, and mad as heck. But the Widow takes him down with a well-placed kick. She's actually disappointed that the fight wasn't more challenging.

Doug: You know, they should have just plastered "jumping on point for new readers" all over the cover to this mag. While not a first-issue origin story, it seems to have been written with the grab of new readers in mind. But, there really isn't much of a story here, is there? We get a little history, a little motivation, some very minor characterization (but enough), a complete run-down of Natasha's powers and attributes, her relationship with SHIELD, and that fact that she's superbad when she needs to be. As far as the kidnapping, it may have been a world record for the shortest in history. The baddies don't even get off the front stoop before they're slam-banged by our heroine!

Karen: New York's finest quickly arrive and the Widow realizes her new outfit doesn't have a mask! Uh, maybe she should have considered that before? Wishing to avoid being recognized, she scampers up the building just as the cops help Maria's son up. He explains that a lady in black saved him. The Widow swings off, pondering whether she should continue in her crime fighting career - well, I think we know the answer to that one.

Doug: My suspension of disbelief was put to the test when she got into the Rolls with a trench coat on over what was obviously a black catsuit. Or was she just too good-looking that Ivan didn't even notice her strange clothing choice? Then, as you said, the whole mask thing was dumb. It made her seem way too flighty for me. The Natasha I recall was strong, self-confident, and without doubts. This gal may evolve into here, but there's certainly a ways to go.

Karen: This was an OK little story. To be honest, the Buscema art really saves it from being utterly forgettable. I think the Widow became much more interesting when she partnered with Daredevil soon after.

Doug: John Verpoorten didn't do a bad job on the inks. This Big John was Marvel's production manager, but frequently stepped into his embellishing shoes during this period. I thought in a few instances the faces were flat, but overall there was a little "pop" to the art. I agree with you that the story was unspectacular but not offending. As I said above, it's really a nice little piece of marketing if you wanted to keep new readers coming back. Unfortunately, as we saw before, the Kirby writing on the lead Inhumans feature may have chased some away!