An Exercise in Speculation on Our Favorite Stories, and What Could Have Been...

Redartz: Happy Friday, everyone! Just for fun, to start off the weekend, here's a little brain teaser. A game inspired by a recent comment from Martinex1, in which he speculated on the Avengers' "Celestial Madonna" arc, if it had been done by Steve Englehart and John Byrne/Terry Austin. The object of the game is deceptively simple: pick one of your favorite stories, and devise a creative team that might have made that story even more awesome. Blending eras is fine. For example: say, Jim Starlin inking Jack Kirby on the "Galactus Trilogy", or Steve Gerber handling Disney's Uncle Scrooge (now I would have read that...).

I will start off with a pick not too far removed from Martinex's posit: What if the Avengers/Defenders War had been brought to life by Englehart, Byrne, and Austin?  We know what a great co-plotter  John Byrne has been -- who knows where might that story have gone? And oh, the artistic possibilities... Byrne's skilled at drawing just about everyone; we saw him on Avengers -- he would have been loads of fun on the Defenders. Plus, with Terry Austin inking, we might have had Popeye make a background appearance in the domain of the dread Dormammu!

OK, now it's your turn. Can you think of a great story that might even have been greater? It's open season, and all's fair. Let's see what you've got!

BAB Classic Rewind: Inkers -- Just What Should Be Their Role?

  This post was originally published on July 10 2010
It was re-published as part of our BAB Firsts feature on January 23 2015

Doug: Welcome back to the post that just keeps on running. We are revisiting this topic yet again, as we have something to add to it. Our pal pfgavigan was gracious enough to submit another strip for your perusal and commentary. He based this one on the post you're about to read (again). It struck a chord with him back in January, so he submitted his own topical response. It rests at the very bottom of today's post, and will hopefully generate even more conversation. I'd throw out, too, that today we could discuss not only inkers in general, but bad fits. Of course we know those great fits -- Terry Austin and anyone would be tops on that list. But what of the mismatches? Thanks, pfg, and to all others who will dive back in today!

Doug: I have inking on my mind today. Part of my preoccupation concerns the current series Karen and I are running on Mondays in July, what we're calling "George Perez July" and featuring four annuals with his pencil work. Last week's peek into Avengers Annual #6 showed the inks of Mike Esposito, et al. However, tomorrow and a week later we're going to see Perez under the influence of one Pablo Marcos. In the opinions of the Bronze Age Babies, the results are less than stellar. Fortunately, when we delve into X-Men Annual #3 to close out the feature, we'll be inspecting the embellishment of super-inker Terry Austin. Austin's run with John Byrne in the regular X-Men title is among the finest series of issues ever published.

Doug: The other reason I'm spending the better part of a Saturday fretting over these issues is the recent e-mail I received from TwoMorrows promoting their upcoming retrospective on the career of Vince Colletta. Now when any discussion of inkers comes up, Colletta's name is sure to be at the forefront of the "disdain" side. For further information on not only the book but on what Vinnie did to Jack Kirby, check out the preview of the book. By the way, the tome will hit shelves on July 30, and can be ordered at this link.

Doug: If you scroll down our sidebar, I've added a little retrospective of the pencilwork (some with inks) of John Buscema. After the Silver Age, Buscema was known mainly for providing breakdowns over which the inkers had some liberty in bringing the finished page to you. Of course one of Buscema's longest-running collaborators was Tom Palmer in the pages of The Avengers. Palmer seemed to stay pretty faithful to Buscema's "look". John was known to say that the only two inkers he preferred over his pencils were himself and his brother Sal. Recently I reviewed the TwoMorrows biography of Sal -- you can see his comments on inkers here.

Doug: What we'd like to do is begin a new feature on the blog that we'll call The Open Forum. Please feel free to use this like a message board. What I want to know today is your opinion on inkers you love, hate, what their role is, are pencillers too picky, etc. How do you feel about Colletta erasing parts of Kirby's panels? Do you think it was good or bad that Joe Sinnott somewhat "unified" the look of the Fantastic Four while inking over Kirby, Romita, Buscema, Perez, and Byrne? Are there some pencillers who make good inkers (I always thought Gil Kane was best on the Amazing Spider-Man when Romita inked the book), and others who never mastered the craft? Have at it...

Doug: Below is another gallery of John Buscema's work, featuring his layouts, tight pencils, inks on his own work, inks by Dave Cockrum (from Avengers #125) and by Dan Adkins (the Captain Mar-Vell frame). Submitted for your appreciation and inspection.

 

100-Word Review - Four from the Hip

Doug: What a treat we have today! Edo Bosnar decided to take the 100-Word Review challenge, and boy -- did he ever! Edo has provided us with not one, not two... but four capsule reviews of comics he's mentioned around these parts in the past. We're excited to present his thoughts, and hope that you'll enjoy your time here. So no sense in delaying any longer -- let's get to it!

Edo Bosnar: I wanted to try my hand at the 100-word reviews that Doug mentioned, and decided to write them for some random single issues I have in my current collection – books that I re-acquired simply because I remember liking them so much when I was a youngster. None of them disappointed upon being re-read: I found I like them just as much (or at least almost as much) now as I did back then. I wanted to write about them, but didn’t really feel up to doing complete blow-by-blow reviews. Nevertheless, keeping these down to just one hundred words proved quite challenging. So here they are in chronological order of publication:

 

DC Comics Presents #3 (November 1978)
Story: David Michelinie
Art: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

I have fond memories of the first few issues of DCCP, all so beautifully drawn by Garcia-Lopez. Originally I bought all of them in those drugstore three-packs, all with Whitman logos instead of DC’s. Years later, I came across this one in a local comic shop, also with the Whitman logo! The story is pretty simple: Supes and Adam Strange each find themselves on the other’s world, or rather, their worlds have switched solar systems. It’s all part of a nefarious plan by one of Strange’s old foes. Besides the lovely art, there’s some nice character moments in this one. 

 

Marvel Team-Up #79  (March 1979)
Story: Chris Claremont 
Art: John Byrne and Terry Austin

My favorite single issue of Marvel Team-Up ever. This little gem from the X-men’s legendary creative team features an unlikely team-up between Spider-man and Hyborian Age female fury Red Sonja. When a museum guard is drawn to put on a mysterious amulet on exhibit, he is transformed into the wizard Kulan Gath and begins wreaking havoc. Peter Parker is sent to the scene by Jameson; Mary Jane tags along and, after picking up a sword also on exhibit, is transformed into Red Sonja. It all makes sense by its own internal logic, and  it’s action-packed and entertaining to boot.

Marvel Two-in-One #51 (May 1979)

Story: Peter Gillis

Art: Frank Miller and Bob McLeod

Our story opens with the Thing meeting Nick Fury on the roof of the Avengers Mansion to join a poker game with Ms. Marvel, the Beast, Wonder Man, and also D.A. Tower and Jarvis. Fury gets an emergency call from SHIELD – Yellow Claw’s Sky Dragon is attacking the Helicarrier! So Ben flies Fury and the Avengers Three to the scene in the Fantasticar, and they get into a high-altitude slugfest with the invading goons (not sent by Yellow Claw, incidentally). What I like best about this largely tongue-in-cheek story is how it highlights the jocular camaraderie among the Marvel heroes. 

Star Wars #38 (August 1980)

Writer: Archie Goodwin

Art: Michael Golden (plotter/penciler/colorist), Terry Austin

This is basically a filler issue, and is only peripherally even a Star Wars story, but it’s probably my favorite of the entire series. Luke and Leia, on a covert mission in a spice tanker, are attacked by an imperial destroyer and TIE fighters. They jump into hyperspace, but apparently the hyperdrive sustained damage in the attack, and they end up in a starless void. They eventually run into an immense glowing object that appears to be alive. It sucks in their ship, and once inside they get caught up in what seems like an insane and very lethal game.