Lions and Bulls and Rams... Oh My!

Avengers #121 (March 1974)
"Houses Divided Cannot Stand!"
Steve Englehart-John Buscema/Don Heck

Doug: Avid reader/commenter Richard noted a few weeks ago that he'd like to further discuss the derivation of comic book titles. Students of United States history will recognize today's title as scribe Englehart's taking of liberty with a speech Abraham Lincoln gave during the Civil War, when the President stated that "a house divided against itself cannot stand." And thus we enter the second part of our look at the Zodiac trilogy of issues that ran in the winter of 1973-4.

Doug: Catch your breath now, while you still can, 'cause this one's a non-stop rollercoaster! We lead off right where we left off, with Taurus and the rest of the crime cartel known as Zodiac atop the World Trade Center, with Mantis stunned and teetering on the side of the wall. Taurus is threatening to blast her over the edge, unless the Avengers surrender. And then something happens that struck me as quite odd... the Vision steps forth and plays off that neither he nor the other heroes really care, as Mantis is not an Avenger but a hanger-on with the Swordsman! I just found this really out-of-character for him -- don't get me wrong; I knew what he was doing. It's just that it was the Vision playing the ruse, and not another. So while he tries to sucker Taurus, Wanda revs up a hex and destroys the so-called "Star Slayer".

Karen: I can see your point, but then again, by this time he was a pretty experienced hero. But how the heck did Wanda destroy the big gun? Did it just vibrate itself to pieces? Did every bolt and screw suddenly snap? There were times where they just gave up on explaining what she was doing and just had her blast stuff.

Doug: To say a donnybrook breaks out wouldn't exactly be correct; to say "all hell breaks loose" would be more accurate. In the melee, Thor is stunned by a hand-held version of the star ray, Wanda's knocked out by Virgo, and the Vision has another funny line as he takes out three horoscopers on his own. And then Captain America enters the fray. In one of the lamest cross-pollinations ever, Englehart has Cap burst on the scene, stating, "...when I happened to see you fighting Zodiac." On the tallest building in Manhattan. Uh huh. However, despite this new distraction, Aries makes his way over to the edge, picks up Mantis (yeah, that was a heckuva long balancing act), and chucks her into the Manhattan sky.

Karen: Yeah, Cap's arrival definitely felt contrived. But I love seeing him with the Avengers, so I can forgive Englehart. But again...I have to complain about the Zodiac. What are their actual powers anyway? I mean, Virgo attacks Wanda with a metal bar. The others seem equally unimpressive. Talk about worthless villains!

Doug: Then it's Vision-time (I'll tell you, he was often the focal point in this story). Vizh leaps over the edge and plummets after Mantis. She, having awakened due to the passing cold air, "spreads eagle" to slow her descent. Vision manages to catch her, and then solidifying his arm to diamond-hardness, shoves it into the side of the WTC and uses the tactic to slow the fall, until they land, albeit with a severe jolt. After the landing, the WTC is shaken, and the Avengers immediately spring to action to mend it. There's a great panel of Thor supporting the entire tower, so let's pause a second to comment on the art. This issue features guest-pencils by Big John Buscema with inks by Don Heck. It's obvious that Buscema's dynamism is present, but at times we see a bit too much Don Heck on the surface. But overall, I'd say the art is a success. Funny, though, because I actually thought that as a tandem, Brown and Heck were better last issue than Buscema and Heck this issue. Thoughts?

Karen: Vision's rescue of Mantis was pretty spectacular. I love the fact that Englehart explains that he can only fly when he makes himself lighter than air. It seems like so many other writers or artists would forget this, and we'd get scenes of the Vision carrying people.

Karen: I'm glad you brought up the art. It was great to get a glimpse of Big John Buscema again on the Avengers. Unfortunately there are a lot of Heck-isms. But the layouts, the poses, are obviously Buscema. The faces show much more of Heck's influence.

Doug: Zodiac has used all of the commotion to make their escape, so there's nothing for our good-guys to do but head back to the mansion. Mantis has put herself into a trance in order to heal from the jarring landing. Once in bed, the Swordsman (on the mend from an infection suffered in #117) wheels into her room. The Avengers question him as to Mantis' background. He confesses that he doesn't know much, but does reveal that he met her in Saigon while doing enforcer work for the Asian mob. At his lowest point, she saved his life. We also learn here that she was a simple barmaid. T'Challa then enters the scene, having returned from an adventure with Cap and the Falcon (which was actually the first couple of chapters of the Secret Empire arc).

Karen: What does it say about the Swordsman that he knew so little of Mantis? He even says he was wrapped up in himself so much that he never asked about her. Yet he traveled across the globe with her and brought her to the Avengers. They in turn, took her into their HQ without ever investigating her. OK, when you start examining it, it seems very unlikely. But she injected a sense of mystery into the book. Although she might be the poster child for "pet characters". I think this may also the beginning of the 'quadrangle' with the Vision-Mantis-Swordsman-Wanda, as the Swordsman interprets a comment from Vision as showing a romantic interest in Mantis.

Doug: Meanwhile, back to the bad guys. There's a little unrest among the Zodiac, as Aries has challenged the leadership of Taurus. In a somewhat silly scene, yet providing an excellent visual, they have it out with Taurus coming out on top. But leave it not to Aries to fall into line, as he instead calls a secret meeting of six other members who also disapprove of Taurus' leadership. They scheme against their leader, and decide to call Cornelius van Lunt for financial backing. Ha! Little do they know that van Lunt is secretly Taurus; the mutineers are lured to one of van Lunt's warehouses. While all of this is going on, Thor has been looking for clues to the cartel's whereabouts, and eventually spies their ship.

Karen: I love the picture of Thor sitting on his hammer, watching the ship! I don't think I ever saw that before, or since.

Doug: The other Avengers are alerted, and an assault on the warehouse begins. van Lunt sneaks away during the fracas, and soon after our combatants notice that the doors and windows are sealed shut. Suddenly van Lunt's voice is heard, and then his face appears on a viewscreen. He laughs aloud as he reveals his alter ego. And then the warehouse blasts off!

Today's Open Forum is "Do It Yourself"!

Doug: Here's something you don't see every day. In fact, on this blog you've not seen it at all! Today Karen and I are going to step back as moderators for all of the fabulous discussions that usually take place in the Open Forum and let you, our faithful readers, pick the direction of the conversation. Yep, you read it right the first time!

Here's how it will work, and it's pretty simple: Whoever is the first to comment can post a query, posit, or general gibberish in the hopes of starting a conversation. Everyone who piles on later -- that's what we're talking about today! So, if you are reading this and no one else has commented, then it's all you! If you're coming along later and the comments are rolling in, please don't hijack the thread.

If this works out, we may do it again from time to time. Let it never be said that this isn't the Age of Experimentation on the Bronze Age Babies! Have fun!

EDIT (2:20 pm, 2/20/11): Looks like we have a winner! Terence Stewart, our buddy from across the Atlantic, and moderator of his own Mighty World of Bronze Age Marvel blog, offers this topic:

I'll posit a question - what is your all-time favourite Bronze Age Marvel cover?

So think it over, and be sure to offer a suggestion or two in the comments section!

Worse Than a Dead-Fish Handshake... Detective Comics 475

Detective Comics #475 (February 1978)

"The Laughing Fish"
Steve Englehart-Marshall Rogers/Terry Austin

Doug: I had so much fun last Saturday taking a trip back through Dark Knight time, that I thought we could do it again today and next week as well. Today begins a two-part tale involving the Joker. On Steve Englehart's website, he credits himself and this particular story as serving as the inspiration for the 1989 Batman film that starred Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. You be the judge.

Doug: As my resource for this (and next week's) post, I'm using The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told hardcover. That tome was released in 1988, before the height of Batmania and shortly ahead of Batman's 50th birthday and the release of the Batman movie. My copy is autographed by Dennis O'Neil, Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff, and Julius Schwartz -- I was fortunate to garner their signatures at the Chicago Comicon in the early 1990's, and can testify that all three men were truly wonderful to visit with. And if you don't have this book, you might consider getting a copy -- it really does contain some great Joker stories.

Doug: Our story begins on a stormy night in Gotham, as the Dark Knight sits perched atop a roof, looking for the right window. He finds it and descends, rapping on the glass of the apartment of Silver St. Cloud. I remarked last week that Marshall Rogers just draws this woman so beautifully, and here is no exception. In fact, he sexes her up even more than last week's panel of her in the hospital bed. Batman is concerned that Silver knows his secret identity and has entered her bedroom to find out. It's an awkward moment, as he is not himself. Englehart and Rogers do a phenomenal job of conveying the emotional tension in this scene. It's really just perfect.

Doug: As Batman leaves to continue his patrol, he's hailed by a fisherman. The man shows Batman his catch -- all sorts of fish, disfigured with Joker faces! And reports come in from up and down the eastern seaboard, and out west as well. Fish in American waters are being poisoned by the Joker! We then cut to the Gotham copyright office, where the Joker has come to meet G. Carl Francis, the official in charge. The Joker wants to copyright the "new look" fish -- and he intends to profit mightily from every herring, sardine, and fish sandwich! However, when Francis informs him that fish are a natural resource and beyond U.S. copyright law, the Joker leaves not a happy man.

Doug: This is a brutal Joker. On the way out the door, he threatens Francis that he has until midnight to amend the copyright laws. Once outside, one of his henchmen asks the Joker what's next for them. While talking to the man, the Joker oh-so-casually pushes him into the path of a passing semi, ending the man's life instantly. I think Steve Englehart, for whatever reason, really had his finger on the pulse of every character in this story. This is such a stronger job of writing than I read in 'tec #473, which I reviewed last week. Rogers'/Austin's art continues to be fabulous, but the big difference for me from last week to this is Englehart's execution of the events and dialogue. And this stuff as influence for what would become Tim Burton's first round with Batman? Read on.

Doug: We next get an interlude with Rupert Thorne, still haunted by the ghost of Hugo Strange. And who should show for a visit, but the Joker? The Joker tells Thorne that he knows full well that he and the Penguin, along with Thorne, had bid for the Batman's secret identity (see my review of #473); the only reason Thorne remains alive is because he didn't learn the Batman's ID. That is for the Joker alone to know -- the Joker admits that he needs the Batman in his life.

Doug: After a Bat-signal alert, Batman arrives at the home of G. Carl Francis, where the Gotham City P.D. is on guard. Commissioner Gordon walks Batman over to the television, where the Joker is on the screen promising to make good on his threat to kill Francis by midnight. Batman is given charge of security, and painstakingly goes over every aspect of the house and how it might be attacked. Now I'm no sleuth or CIA guy, but come on -- how about evacuating the potential victim from the premises? I guess Englehart didn't think of that. So at 12:00 AM, gas suddenly begins to emanate from the home's ventilation system. Batman moves to place a gas mask over Francis, but he drops to the floor, with a horrific Joker-grin on his face. Gordon enters, and immediately notes that many of his men didn't have gas masks, but didn't die. Batman quickly deduces that the Joker used a binary compound, either half of which is non-lethal. The Joker must have sprayed Francis with the additional gas earlier in the day. As the lawmen regroup, the Joker comes on the television again, threatening to kill again by 3:00 AM if his copyright demands are not met.

Doug: And in closing, we come up Rupert Thorne, who had fled Gotham after his brush with the Clown Prince of Crime. He stops by a lady in distress, and who is it but Silver St. Cloud, she also fleeing Gotham and the events of her evening. They recognize each other, and Silver asks for a lift. Thorne obliges and the two drive away.

And before I leave you (or you leave me...), I wanted to file another entry under "Great Minds Think Alike" -- our friend The Groovy Agent revisited all of Marshall Rogers' Detective Comics splash pages, just yesterday!

FOOM Fridays: FOOM #7

FOOM # 7 (Fall 1974)

Karen: FOOM 7 continues the focus on the Avengers. Check out that cover! I love how the Hulk is messing the logo up. I keep looking at the art and trying to decide if it was John Buscema's pencils and brother Sal's inks, or Sal's work alone. The figure of Thor definitely gives me a Big John vibe, while Hawkeye and Cap have more of a Sal feel to me. Any ideas?

The second part of the Jarvis interview proves as entertaining as the first. This time we also get a writer credited: Roger Stern. Jarvis discusses his unfortunate treachery with the Masters of Evil, a story that never really made any sense under close examination. Here, we are told that Dr. Pym thinks Ultron may have exercised some mental control over Jarvis, which makes more sense than the faithful butler betraying his employers. Some interesting tidbits about Jarvis: although born in the Bronx, both parents had recently emigrated from Britain, and Jarvis served in the RAF during World War II, which explains his British accent. Jarvis also discusses the Vision, and the android's relationship with the Scarlet Witch, which veers into a discussion of intolerance... fascinating stuff!

This article also has more of those wonderful Dave Cockrum drawings of the different team members. This time around it's Mantis, Swordsman, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Black Knight, Black Panther (the last two on a centerfold unfortunately), and Captain America and the Vision. All really nice stuff. While he's lauded for his work on Legion and X-Men, the man could have been one of the finest Avengers artists, if he'd only had a run of any real length.

There are pictures of the mighty bullpen from both a 1974 comics convention and the Marvel softball team. Boy, were all the guys hairy! It's fun to see how everyone looked back in 1974. For one thing, most of them were so young. I kind of forget that a lot of these guys were in their early twenties when they started working for Marvel. Of course, all the mid-70s styles also bring back a great nostalgia. The one thing I really did not need to see was a shirtless Vinnie Colletta. But I wanted to share my pain, so that photo is included here. It seems Marvel played over 25 games that summer, with the bullpen splitting up into teams and taking each other on. Hulk penciller Herb Trimpe is named as the best all-around player, and Al Milgrom, Archie Goodwin, and Doug Moench also showed some flare. It's stuff like this that certainly made this young Marvel fan think that all was peace and love within Marvel!

The big announcement in this issue's Department of Infoomation is that Roy Thomas is stepping down as editor in chief so that he can concentrate on writing. Marv Wolfman will become editor of the black and white books while Len Wein becomes the color books editor. Of course, we all know what a revolving door that editor in chief position became.

I mentioned in a comment on one of our posts that I don't think Roy Thomas has received enough credit for what he did with Marvel in the 70s. I've read articles, and I've interviewed people who worked for Roy, and the comments you hear again and again is what a great job Roy did in the balance between letting creators express themselves, and making sure that the comics sold. His philosophy seemed to be, "Go ahead, try different things, knock yourself out. But at the end of the day, the book has to sell." Nowadays, it feels, to me at least, like so much of the artistic aspect of comics has disappeared; stories are all geared towards whatever marketing says they should be doing. In the early 70s, Marvel was trying all sorts of off the wall stuff. Sure, some of it didn't work, but some of it was great. Now everything seems so calculated. I miss those days, when I could go to the spinner rack and get several super-hero titles, monster titles, sword and sorcery, jungle adventure...the Big Two now seem so limited. But, I digress.

The Giant-Size books were still going strong; it seems like they were still mostly new material and had not become reprint oriented yet. In the regular sized books, we are told to watch out for a new costume for the Scarlet Witch, something that never materialized. The very young George Perez was assigned as artist on the Man-Wolf series running in Creatures on the Loose.

There are a lot of fill-in writers and artists on titles this time around. It seems like a number of books, such as Daredevil, were in a state of transition. I recall as a kid being bewildered at times by the numerous changes in creative teams. I had only really begun to be aware of the various writers and artists a year or two before, so to see them constantly shifting at this time was frustrating.

There's some more fan art towards the back, and a contest to draw three pages from a Spider-Man script. All in all, this issue felt a bit light on content.

The back cover features a cool Mike Ploog Ghost Rider drawing; not sure what it had to do with the Avengers theme, but hey, it looked neat! I just wish the color separations had been aligned more accurately. When I look at it, I keep trying to adjust my eyes to make the image look right!

We're Not Worthy!!

(Dear readers: as so often happens, great minds think alike, and our pal Steve over at Steve Does Comics just ran a feature very similar to this one! But we decided to go ahead and run it, at the very least to get your comments. -- Karen)

(Verily, yon maiden doth speak the truth. At our last editorial board meeting in January, Karen suggested this topic. She placed it in the queue on Sunday, and I added artwork, with her approval, to it on Tuesday. And then, "Doh!" if our brother Steve didn't ask the same question yesterday. The Bronze Age blogosphere is a small world... --Doug)

Karen: Comic fans love to ridicule Aquaman, to discuss how worthless his powers are. But in the grand scheme of things, the old King of the Seas really isn't that bad. He at least has some useful abilities: he can live underwater, control sea life, and has some level of super-human strength and toughness. Sure, he's specialized, but he's not really worthless.

You want worthless? How about Duo Damsel, aka Triplicate Girl? This Legionnaire has the amazing ability to create duplicate, non-super-powered versions of herself. That's right, instead of facing down one petite 16-year old girl, guys like Mordru or the Persuader have to contend with two, or even three, such threats!

The Legion was home to a number of semi-worthless characters. Matter-Eater Lad? Dream Girl?

Over at Marvel, I always thought the Angel seemed somewhat useless. He could fly, but then again, so could 50% of the super-hero community. At least DC's winged avenger, Hawkman, had a bunch of cool weapons, as well as a manly costume showing off his bare chest. Even the Wasp had her stingers.

Water-based heroes and shrinking heroes have specialized niches but some are more lame than others. I love Triton, but the guy isn't worth a darn outside of water. Even Stingray is a little more useful. As far as the shrinkers go, I liked the Atom's outfit, but other than hitching rides on electrons, he seems pretty worthless. I'd rather have Wildcat around, even old, washed-up Wildcat. Ant Man at least could order ants around, which is amusing if not valuable. No wonder the guy invented a growth formula.

Who is most worthless? Name the names, we won't hold it against you.

Marvel and DC: Side-by-Side in 1972

1972

Doug: Welcome back to the third installment in our four-month look at what was going on at DC Comics and Marvel Comics as they went head-to-head in the Bronze Age of Comics. It's around the time of our first three posts that Marvel began to give DC some serious trouble in terms of market share. Both companies tried to occupy as much shelf space as possible, and each company attempted to modernize itself with a variety of offerings into new genres not seen for sale since the Comics Code Authority had come into being. In January, the Bloody Sunday that U2 immortalized occurred in Northern Ireland. Five men were arrested while breaking into the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. In August, Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics. And Hewlett-Packard released the first hand held calculator, at a retail price of $395!

Doug: Let's get this one rolling! January on into February was like "introduction month" at both companies. In Green Lantern #87 DC debuted a new Green Lantern as John Stewart (later to become the Green Lantern in the Justice League cartoon series) became Earth's back-up to the back-up; with regular #2 Guy Gardner out of commission the Guardians selected architect Stewart to be the first runner-up to Hal Jordan. At Marvel February saw Roy Thomas take full advantage of the now-relaxed CCA and publish a new anti-hero known as "Werewolf by Night" in the try-out book Marvel Spotlight. February also saw Jack Kirby unleash a not-so-veiled attack on Stan Lee through the character "Funky Flashman" in the pages of Mister Miracle #6 -- Flashman sought to be Mister Miracle's manager, but when rebuffed attempted to steal from the escape master. And in March, each company launched a character who would eventually reach the silver screen in the 21st century: Steve Englehart turned Hank McCoy into an actual Beast in the pages of Amazing Adventures #11, and Jonah Hex made his debut in All-Star Western #10.

Karen: Lots of firsts! John Stewart has certainly grown and changed over the years. I think he got a huge boost by being the Green Lantern in the excellent Justice League animated series. Werewolf by Night opened the doors for the Monster Era of Marvel, which I personally enjoyed. However, I found Kirby's spoof of Stan Lee more than a little nasty -and he also abused Roy Thomas, depicting him as "Houseroy," Flashman's fawning assistant.

Doug: Sort of makes one wonder, through the years, how many creators took a jab at a former colleague, boss, ex-girlfriend, etc. I wonder how open the welcoming arms were when Kirby returned to Marvel after his stint at DC? The more I read about the relationship between Lee and Kirby the more frustrated I get -- a) just over the general human relations aspect of it and b) we're left never knowing if their zenith years would have lasted longer.

Karen: It's sort of like Lennon and McCartney - two tremendous talents that did incredible work together, but there were always ego problems. I was very saddened to hear that Kirby was treated with less than respect on his return to Marvel. Most of the people there wouldn't have had their jobs without that man helping to create the characters, books, etc. He deserved better.

Doug: The spring showed continued innovation by both publishers. Following the release of the Werewolf, Marvel debuted The Tomb of Dracula #1, by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and Gene Colan (Marv Wolfman and Tom Palmer would come aboard with issue #7) in April. Over at DC, the company acquired the license to publish Tarzan and did so beautifully under the pen and pencil of Joe Kubert. DC chose to continue the numbering from the Gold Key series, so their 1st issue was actually Tarzan of the Apes #207. April cover dates also saw two other important comics: Marvel Premiere #1 featured Lee/Kirby's creation "Him" in a story with the High Evolutionary and the Man-Beast, and over at DC Dave Cockrum landed the art chores on the back-up feature running in Superboy #184 -- the Legion of Super-Heroes. And running through the first half of 1972 was the concluding chapters of the Kree/Skrull War in the pages of the Avengers. Oh, wait -- lest we forget... A certain fellow by the name of Luke Cage made his first appearance in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1. Sweet Christmas!

Karen: Bursting with creativity - this is why the 70s are without a doubt my favorite era of comics! There's also tremendous variety. Tomb of Dracula went through a rough first year, with multiple writers, before Marv Wolfman would come on board and give it a real direction. Marvel Premiere would feature Him as a Jesus-like hero, renamed Warlock, who would play out biblical parallels in a super-hero genre. I think it was a bold idea, but ultimately impossible to depict a peaceful savior in a medium driven by fights and action. The arrival of Luke Cage is the direct result of all of the popular blaxploitation films of the time. Although we can look back now at the book and find it more than a tad ridiculous, I'm sure at the time it must have felt like an exciting new idea.

Doug: It's interesting to me that you bring up that last point. Is this what "holding up" means to today's readers? I guess I rarely find story elements from days gone by that don't hold up, simply because my mind reads the story in context. So when I see a Richard Nixon caricature or Watergate reference, I'm anchored in that time period anyway. Now writing style, or artwork -- those things I can go along with in regard to the "holding up" conversation.

Karen: I hear you, although I'm probably guilty of looking on Golden Age material as corny or quaint.

Doug: So we've for the most part gone back-and-forth through the first six months of 1972. I guess I'd have to declare it a draw thus far. But what would the summer months hold? I think we'd be remiss if we didn't mark July as the end of an era -- perhaps the most important era in the history of the medium. With Amazing Spider-Man #110, Stan Lee retired from monthly comics writing. The co-architect of the Marvel Universe, and certainly the driving force behind the marketing of such, with that issue Stan left to devote his full attention to enhancing Marvel's presence in ventures outside the four-color world. August was also an important month of debuts from the House of Ideas, with the publication of The Power of Warlock #1 and the introduction of Ghost Rider in Marvel Spotlight #5, by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Mike Ploog. Maybe the biggest news at the end of summer was a change to the Editor-in-Chief chair at Marvel, as Roy Thomas succeeded Stan Lee. Thomas also took the reins of the "World's Greatest Comic Magazine" with Fantastic Four #126. Werewolf by Night #1 hit the stands in September. Over at DC? Well, if the re-introduction of the Seven Soldiers of Victory excites you, then I'm glad for you. That was part of the annual JLA/JSA crossover from Justice League of America #100. Kirby did get another title on the shelves as summer became fall, with The Demon #1.

Karen: Stan's departure from regular writing chores truly marked the end of an era. Yet, he had picked out good people to succeed him. I don't think Roy Thomas gets near enough credit for how he shaped and guided Marvel in the early 70s. From everything I've heard and read, Roy really allowed writers and artists to flex their creative muscles, only requiring that books continue to sell well. Based on the output from this time, I think that worked out very well.

Doug: Another of Marvel's monsters, the Man-Thing, arrived in Adventure Into Fear #10 in October -- how appropriate! The remainder of the year at Marvel was somewhat uneventful (in my humble opinion), as headlines included the changing of DD's mag to Daredevil and the Black Widow with #92 and Marvel's acquisition of the Doc Savage license. The Claws of the Cat #1 was cover-dated in November, and Shanna the She-Devil #1 closed out the year with some more girl power! DC, however, went out with a bang. Kirby's influence continued with the release of Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth #1 in November. Swamp Thing #1 came out the same month, as did a new Supergirl book.

Karen: We see more and more licensing as we progress through the 70s. At this point, I don't feel that's a bad thing. The 4 or so "girl-oriented" titles that Marvel put out were all dismal failures. I don't think they put their best effort into these, and the time maybe just wasn't right yet for it. The near-simultaneous arrivals of Swamp Thing and Man-Thing seems to have been a coincidence from all I've read. But it's not unusual for different people to fix on certain concepts at the same time. A few years ago we had two killer asteroid movies come out at the same time. Swamp Thing has proved to be the stronger concept, but I always enjoyed the goofiness of Man-Thing's appearance.

Hackin'

Doug: What is your definition of "a hack"? We've heard the term used often, applied to both writers and artists -- and if you ran out and got yourself a copy of "The Thin Black Line" like I told you to, you'd know that inkers like Vinnie Colletta were thrown into the mix as well.

What makes a guy a hack, and would you say that once a hack, always a hack? Does it have to do with ability, prolificacy, the lack of attention to details, or what? Is it possible that a given story might be considered "mailing it in" by one reader, but the greatest thing ever written by a different reader? Who was (or is) a hack, in your opinion?

Zodiac: A Sure Sign of Trouble!

Avengers #120 (February 1974)
"Death-Stars of the Zodiac!"
Steve Englehart-Bob Brown/Don Heck

Doug: Hey, Avengers fans! After our last look-in on Earth's Mightiest Heroes, just about anything we do has a chance of paling in comparison! Steve Englehart and George Perez created a tour de force with their sweeping Serpent Crown Affair. But what about our heroes pitted against a different super-team? As this was (if memory serves) the first multi-part Avengers story I owned, I'm looking forward to seeing if it provides the same wonder that it did three decades ago.

Doug: Well, this one's off to an odd start! I had #119 as a child, so when I saw the splash page to #120 with the two teams fully engaged, I was like "what the heck??" Today we're used to the first page of a comic being a throwaway, but in 1973 it just wasn't common practice. But at any rate, we got rolling just fine once page 2 sat under our noses.

Doug: Comment right away on the art. I'll be honest, and you probably know what's coming. We've been hot and cold around here (well, at least me -- I shouldn't speak for my partner) with Bob Brown's art. But when I saw that the inks were going to be by Don Heck, I was quite fearful for my visual experience. But let me state in front of everyone -- I thought the art in this issue was really good. There was the one obligatory scene Bob drew with some weird-looking breasts, but aside from that I thought the pacing, figure-work, and faces were quite nice. Maybe my surprise influenced my overall p.o.v., but I'm pleased that my memories from so long ago still ring true.

Karen: Unfortunately the Avengers went through a long spell of mediocre art. The book has the same sketchy look as Heck's pencils. What I wouldn't have given to have Cockrum or Buckler or best of all, John Buscema, drawing these stories.
Doug: So, plot synopsis: One Cornelius van Lunt pays a visit to the New York pen. He's interested in recruiting the old Gemini so they can get the Zodiac cartel back together. Joshua Link relates an origin of he and his brother, who is a cop. Seems an electron bath (wonder if that's moisturizing?) gave Joshua control over his good-guy brother Damian. Apparently all of this was revealed in the pages of Astonishing Tales, in some Ka-Zar stories. Partner, did you know any of this backstory, because I did not.

Karen: No, I did not. I've been slowly adding to my collection of Astonishing Tales but I haven't gotten any issues yet with Gemini. It's interesting how we see Englehart borrowing story elements from it here. Chris Claremont would take Zaladane and Garokk from those pages into the X-Men a few years later.

Doug: After the prison scene, we cut immediately to Avengers Mansion, where Jarvis is cutting out to head to the grocery store... on foot. Huh? Anyway, Damian Link gets access to the Mansion, and to our heroes. Seems he's a liaison between the NYPD, SHIELD, and the Avengers, and he has information about Captain America -- Cap's up on murder charges in his own book (although he did manage to sneak onto this mag's cover). But in the midst of the conversation, Joshua Link is able to possess his brother (electron bath, remember?). Mantis immediately picks up on it, and warns the Swordsman to be on guard. As Iron Man gives his officer buddy a tour of the facility (huh? Henry Peter Gyrich would be most displeased), Link spies a folder containing sensitive defense information -- yep, just laying out in the open. Link begins to pick it up when the Swordsman moves -- er, falls, right into Link, slashing the policeman's uniform and revealing the togs of Gemini!

Karen: A nice example of the subtle nature of Mantis' empathic abilities. However, Gemini -like much of the Zodiac -is no match for the Avengers. Seriously, even 12 of these guys shouldn't cause the team to break a sweat. Oh well, I guess their "nefarious plans" are the real threat.

Doug: Well, no sense for ol' Gemini to go quietly. A little donnybrook ensues, and Thor puts a stop to it with one punch. Man, I love the way Englehart wrote Thor! But, as our heroes begin to ponder what just happened, the wall starts to glow and blammo!! In step the full ranks of the Zodiac! Caught by surprise, the Avengers are all-too-easily subdued. Jarvis returns to find the team splattered all over; his initial fears are for naught, however, as Mantis begins to stir. Once everyone's up and about they notice a tape recorder (hah! A little history lesson, ya young punks!) and play what is a challenge from van Lunt. The Zodiac has a star ray powerful enough to kill every Gemini in NYC and they plan to use it. I'll tell you how impactful this story was to me as a child -- I asked my mom what the Zodiac was all about. After she told me, I began reading my horoscope every day in the "Green Sheet" -- an insert in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, as I lived in that city for a couple of years back then.

Karen: Growing up in California, 'Zodiac' had a whole different meaning! The Zodiac Killer was on everyone's minds, and even as a young kid, I had heard about him. But I digress. I really enjoyed the segment with the Swordsman collapsing, and the team discovering that his wound suffered during the Avengers-Defenders War was never properly treated; the police took him to jail, not a hospital, because they thought he was a crook. The poor bastard mutters about trying to earn the team's trust, while his team-mates assure him that he already has. Swordsy was just so tragic!

Karen: I have a hard time buying that souped-up ray gun knocking out Thor! But it's a plot device, to move the story along. The tape recorder did make me chuckle though.

Doug: Our bad boys (and girl) put their giant star-ray doohickey way up on the World Trade Center (hey, Englehart -- the Sears Tower was open by this time, dude, and was the tallest building in the world, not the WTC). The Avengers deduce where the set-up will be and crash the party. While the ray is destroyed, it's not totally put out of commission and Taurus uses it to blast Mantis. As her body teeters on the roof's edge, Taurus issues a final challenge -- to be continued!

Stop! Identify Yourself!

Doug: So it occurred to me the other day while I had my middle-aged self on the Nordic Trac, and looking at the nifty comic cover wallpaper border (see below) that encircles the walls in my comic room, that Marvel's had a few different ways of splashing their name on the covers of their wonderful mags over the years.

So, today's exercise in cover love will be a romp through the years, using www.coverbrowser.com as my source material. We'll start with #1, and move on forward. Here we go!

Avengers #1 (September 1963) -- Only a year earlier, Marvel identified themselves with only a small white box on their covers that had an M over a C. By this time the Marvel Universe had begun to take shape, and so had their boldness... and why not?


Avengers #19 (August 1965) -- Ah, the Pop Art era...




Avengers #24 (January 1966) -- ...didn't last long.



Avengers #32 (September 1966) -- Combining the issue info. with the logo.



Avengers #59 (December 1968) -- Yeah, I know this is #63, but Cover Browser had a lousy image of #59, which is when this motif appeared -- so I went to the first best duplicate, and this is it. This really just reorganizes what had been on the covers since #32. You'll also note that the mag's title appears near the top of the book. Perfect for those of us who, in our youths, pulled down on the corners of books on the spinner racks, looking to see what gems might lie behind!






Avengers #93 (November 1971) -- The Marvel Comics Group logo that all Bronze Age babies know and love. This would last through the decade of the 1970's and into the 1980's.


Avengers #156 (February 1977) -- For a short time, the magazine's title was highlighted in a white box; between #93 and this issue, the title had just been printed in black ink with no separate background coloring that would distinguish it from the masthead.

Avengers #199 (September 1980) -- For issues # 199-200, this logo was used due to the fact that a big honking advertisement was splashed atop the magazine's cover!




Avengers #223 (September 1982) -- Note that the price and issue number have now occupied the space formerly designated for the book's title. Additionally, the masthead would now be outlined in a separate color -- here we have sky blue set off by black; there were several different color combinations in this era.

Avengers #236 (October 1983) -- Similar to what we'd seen in the Silver Age, sans the "-Comics Group" lettering.









Avengers #237 (November 1983) -- Same artwork and general layout, but with the big M for the price and issue number. This would only show a couple of times, and then be used intermittently afterward. I always liked it...









Avengers #239 (January 1984) -- Yep, Assistant Editors' Month, and the David Letterman issue. I like the homage to DC's late Silver Age books, with the go-go checks and the bullet in the right corner. This lay-out was a one-time deal.


Avengers #314 (February 1990) -- Marvel's corporate logo for a few years.



Avengers #392 (November 1995) -- Can you remind me again why I was still buying comics in the mid-'90's?









Avengers #398 (May 1996)









Avengers #487 (November 2003) -- Counting down to Bendis. Ugh...



So, just a little cover artwork for you -- we hadn't done that in several months, and I know some of you (our pal Andrew Wahl in particular) dig this sort of thing. I love the changing logos, corner boxes, etc. that Marvel used throughout the Silver and Bronze Ages. Seeing some of this just takes me back to certain periods -- funny how we "anchor" ourselves with this stuff.