They Came In Peace For All Mankind

Karen: I know we've covered it before, but it deserves to be repeated: it's July 20th, which means it's the anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, the first time humans ever walked upon the moon. It's a momentous occasion and one that I think has a special resonance for us Bronze Age kids. After 46 years, it still shines as a tremendous example of our potential for greatness as a species. While I marvel at the pictures coming back from Pluto (it's a planet, dammit!), it doesn't come near the excitement of those manned space missions.

I came across the video below featuring Walter Cronkite covering the mission. He seems so inextricably linked to those early missions it's hard to imagine the space age without him. I hope you enjoy it. 

The Spinner Rack - November 1979

Doug: So cover dates of November, 1979 would have come to our hot little hands as school was beginning, hmm? That would have put me in the 8th grade, only several months before I'd leave the hobby for a five year hiatus. As we do with these posts, I'd encourage you to jump to Mike's Amazing World of Comics to see the month's offerings. You can also click on the date below to go to the Comic Book Database and see more details on any of the books.

November 1979

Guest Post - If I Had a Buck... Barbarians

Doug: Here we have another of Mike S.'s budgetary nightmares -- picking and choosing Bronze Age goodness, but armed only with a dollar! Today's fare -- the animal loincloth crowd!

I Need to Buy Some Pants But Only Have a Buck!  A Barbarian Shopping Spree!

Mike S.: Back in the height of the Bronze Age, it seemed the comic choices were well balanced with Super Heroes, Funny Animals, Teenage Jokesters, Richie Rich (in a category all his own) and of course the Barbarians and Warriors. 

It was not uncommon at all to find a fine selection of loin clothed, weapon wielding, long maned combatants in the comic rack. Savages, warlords, destroyers, and she devils armed with sword, sorcery, and sometimes just their bare hands battled wizards, creatures, and even dystopian futures.

Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard seemed to have invaded the industry as their numerous creations came to life in four glorious colors. Their success was of course followed by numerous copycats armed with knives, battleaxes, and broadswords.

In my youth, in my assessment of what to buy, I lumped these many characters together. From Tarzan to John Carter, from Conan to Killraven, from Kull to Kamandi, I considered these adventure series to be secondary to those of their powered and costumed super heroic counterparts. I dismissed them as cavemen of no interest (even if they battled Martian technology). But I was wrong. Later in life, I found joy in seeing John Buscema’s depiction of the Hyborian Age in Conan, and the kookiness of Kirby’s impending animal rule in Kamandi, and the drama of Joe Kubert’s jungle action in Tarzan.   

So I offer to you another $1 challenge of “If I Had A Buck…” With no competition from other genres, if the comic rack was limited to only adventurers, warriors, and barbarians, who would you choose? There are nine titles, nine stories to choose from, but you only have one measly dollar.  Make your selection wisely or you may lose your head (metaphorically speaking of course). This was a difficult list to assemble, as there were so many titles and great covers to choose from and I am honestly no expert. Titles like “Turok, The Dinosaur Hunter” and “Skull, The Slayer” didn’t make the cut.  Nor did “Ironjaw” or “Wulf, The Barbarian”. But that does not mean you can’t discuss them if they interest you. 

What were your favorite titles in this genre? What did you like about the characters and stories? Did you get drawn in and did you collect these series? Or were you like me and only picked up issues here and there? Do you lump the futuristic fighters with their ancient equivalents, like I do? Is there a storyline that you would recommend? How did you choose to spend your dollar? And most importantly, why were these characters so averse to wearing shirts and why did so many of their names start with a hard “C” sound?

Have fun and here is the list of choices:

Amazing Adventures featuring Killraven, Warrior of the Worlds #32; $0.25

Conan the Barbarian #72; $0.30

John Carter, Warlord of Mars #13; $0.35

Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #17; $0.20

Lord of the Hidden Jungle, Ka-Zar #13; $0.25

Korak, Son of Tarzan #58; $0.25

Kull the Destroyer #18; $0.30

Red Sonja, She-Devil With a Sword #11; $0.35

Tarzan #222; $0.20

Spotlight On...Sal Buscema

Karen: Perhaps the patron saint of Marvel's Bronze Age, Sal Buscema was a true go-to guy, handling the penciling chores on numerous titles, such as The Incredible Hulk, Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man, The Defenders, The Avengers, Captain America, Marvel Team-Up, and many more. Buscema brought solid story-telling and a dynamic style to his work (the famous 'Sal Buscema Blast' has frequently been referenced here at the BAB). Sal was also a terrific inker, and was one of his big brother John's preferred inkers.  Thoughts on this Bronze Age mainstay?

Buscema-blasted!!

Discuss: Time Travel in Films

We Have All Been Here Before - Nova 2

Nova #2 (October 1976)
"First Night of the Condor!"
Marv Wolfman-John Buscema/Joe Sinnott

Doug: I was in on The Man Called Nova from the first issue. What a great inaugural cover, and this one's certainly no slouch, either. Yeah, it might be busied-up a bit, but a new hero and two new baddies... and some Kirby Krackle? Take the money right out of my 10-year old paw, please! I chose to review this issue rather than the first because I felt that most of you have either a) read that ish or b) at least know that if someone put the origin stories of Green Lantern and Spider-Man into a blender and mixed them up, you'd get Nova. So the second issue seemed like it might be more interesting for a revisiting. And honestly, I've not read this since I bought it almost 40 years ago. But this time 'round I'm reading and scanning from the Nova Classic tpb.

Doug: We open at a bank robbery in progress. Who draws thugs better the Big John Buscema? I say to thee -- no one! Nova blasts through the huge plate glass window and makes very short work of the goons, using his "Nova speed" to weave in between the bullets until he can pummel each and every one of them. But young Richard Rider, the teen beneath the helmet, is a bit miffed that all the bank manager can worry about seems to be who will replace the now-broken window! Welcome to a riff frequently played by Spider-Man, friend. And maybe as we get off and running this morning we can discuss why this series was short-lived (25 issues of its own, and then continuing into the pages of the Fantastic Four for the tying up of loose ends). As I said a minute ago, that it obviously rips off (yep) GL and Spidey probably didn't help. While that's a proven formula for success, fans are onto that sort of "borrowing" right away. The writers and artists had better do something nifty right away to gain some separation -- and I'm not sure Nova creator Marv Wolfman did that. Great super-suit, however. The Nova costume has always been one of my favorites. So why wasn't this mag must-read? Let's continue.

Doug: As Nova arrives home on Long Island, he swoops in his bedroom window undetected (see?) and then recaps his origin from the previous issue. He's full of self-doubt (see?), unsure of what his full power-set is and the backstory of the centurion who'd gifted him his powers. But as he'd been in flight home, we the readers were introduced to an African-American gentleman calling himself the Condor. He spoke in mysterious tones, and flew off to meet his partner. We watch him arrive to a rather mountainous region on Long Island. As he flies into his hideout, he muses to himself how soon his plans will be in place and he'll be some crime overlord. But then he wonders about another referred to only as "him" or "he" (the oldest "mysterious" writing trick in the book), and how "he'll" not like his territory being compromised. But there's a partner to the Condor -- who is not where he's supposed to be. Quickly flying back out of the cave, the Condor finds a young man on a cliff, deep in his own thoughts. The Condor, angry, swoops low and knocks the youngster off his feet. But as his partner falls and begs for rescue, the Condor abides. Taking him back into the cave that is their base, the Condor chides the yet-unnamed youth for his disobedience. The Condor gestures to his partner to put on his costume, and in a rather garish display we are introduced to our second antagonist -- Powerhouse. In a two-panel origin the Condor reminds Powerhouse how he was found on a merchant ship as the sole surviving crew member -- everyone else drained of their life force by said sole survivor. We don't know why the Condor was not similarly affected, but this is apparently why he controls Powerhouse as basically his slave.

Doug: We get a brief interlude in the cafeteria of Truman High School, where Peter and... er, Richard and his friends are in the lunch line when Flash... er, Mike Burley and his girl push on through. It's textbook Ditko-era Spider-Man casting (or even Archie Andrews and the gang) as everyone pretty much plays a part that you'd expect to find. Suddenly Richard spies the Condor outside the school, apparently just winging by. You know the routine -- find a closet in which to change. As he charges away, he clips Mike and flips his spaghetti all atop his dome. Penance will be paid later, for certain! Rushing outside, now in full Nova gear, our hero engages the Condor. But why? How did he know the guy was a baddie? Although we'd been looking in on our villain-of-the-month, there was nothing about him in flight that suggested any malice. It could just as easily have been the Angel or the Falcon. But of course, then we wouldn't get a slugfest. The one element that Wolfman employed that was welcome was that Richard Rider had not clue #1 how to use his powers. This made for a little comedy but also a bit of frustration on the part of the reader, as we really aren't used to seeing our heroes as incompetent. The Condor more or less makes a fool of Nova, long enough for Powerhouse to slip into position. But once engaged in the battle, Powerhouse shows why his name can have two meanings -- super-strength, but also energy absorption! Nova manages to break his grip, but not before he's severely weakened. Powerhouse gets one last big punch in, and he and the Condor take off.

Doug: Back at the Rider household, Richard sits alone at the kitchen table, still stinging from his big-league stink-up against his new nemeses. Suddenly he smells smoke coming from his brother's basement laboratory. Descending the stairs, he finds an experiment gone wrong and the house ablaze. Quickly grabbing a fire extinguisher, Richard puts out the flames. His brother goes into some Reed Richards-like explanation, which Richard largely ignores. But later that evening, as Nova, he heads out on patrol. As he zips around New York City, he soon spies the Condor, about to break into the Museum of Natural History. You and I, the readers, have just been let in on the next dastardly plan of our winged wingnut -- steal some parchments from a mummified wizard in the Egyptology section. Condor had told Powerhouse that they needed to get it, before He did (bro-therrrrrr). So of course a fracas breaks out again, and in the process of the fisticuffs Powerhouse launches Nova into the mummy's sarcophagus, destroying it before Condor could locate and remove the parchment. That pretty much destroys the Condor's world, so he beats it out of the museum fast -- because you know, now He will be mad and be after Condor. Whatever. Nova, still battling Powerhouse, thinks back to the fire at his house. Grabbing an extinguisher off the wall, Nova rifles it at Powerhouse, who catches it and crushes it. Well, that releases all of the carbon dioxide which #1, chokes the breath out of Powerhouse and #2 shuts off his power-dampening prowess. Fight over. So is the story.

Doug: OK, so I've been pretty harsh on this one. Which is pretty curmudgeonly, because when I was 10 this was a can't-miss book. By then I was aware of what a back issue was, and of Marvel's history. So the opportunity to get in on a book with the inaugural issue was significant in my young brain. I recall thinking both of these baddies were pretty colorful, and that next issue's foe -- Diamond-head -- was pretty cool as well. But I'll admit to not having the historical knowledge then that I do now, and so my lens has altered. Now I see the aforementioned Green Lantern and Spider-Man tropes all over this book. But I don't think Marv Wolfman put forth much effort in trying to be original. And c'mon -- no one in the history of America has ever exclaimed "Blue blazes!" Certainly no teenager in the 1970s that I ever knew. Oh, and the whole "He/Him" deal? I thought the Sphinx storyline eventually paid off, and the culmination of the battle with Galactus in the pages of the Fantastic Four was memorable (but then, the Big G usually is!). I'll add a comment on the art: John Buscema is more than solid as usual, and I noticed that this issue features full pencils by Big John. I say that as it's pretty obvious in some of the faces that more Buscema shows than does the tendencies of Joe Sinnott. Certainly when we moved into the 1980s, specifically on the Avengers, we can see Tom Palmer much more in charge of the finished product than Buscema. But here it's my contention that we're getting Buscema's lines. At any rate, please leave a comment -- am I right, off base, you loved this book/hated this book/never read this book... You know the drill. And thanks in advance.



PS: In thumbing through the trade while I was reading for this review, I noticed in the very next issue what may be the single best example of what Karen and I refer to as "Buscema-blasted". You know how Sal Buscema draws a guy who just gets jettisoned by another guy? Check out this panel, from Nova #3. Dude... Inks are by Tom Palmer.

I Like T-Shirts And I Cannot Lie

Karen: Hello, my name is Karen, and I have a t-shirt problem. OK, maybe not a problem. But I have to admit, I have acquired a lot of t-shirts. And by a lot, I mean way, way too many. 

Karen: I began wearing t-shirts at a very early age, as the photo below demonstrates (hey, it's Peanuts, so it's comic-related and demonstrates good taste). Now back in those days, t-shirts were not nearly as ubiquitous as they are now. They were still more occasional wear, and selection was fairly limited. You might see t-shirts for a few tremendously popular comics characters -like the Peanuts gang, or Batman, who was huge after his TV show -but by the time of this photo, circa 1970, pickings were still limited, especially for a little kid.

Your host circa 1970

Karen: But in a few years, t-shirts had expanded on the scene, and by the time I was 10 or 11, I was thrilled to have several t-shirts featuring Marvel characters, which I had ordered from advertisements in the comics. Exhibit A shows me around 11 years old on a couch with my grandparents and brother (I'm pretty sure my brother has just said something goofy, based on our expressions). I'm wearing a shirt with the cover of Incredible Hulk # 152 (and  as a bonus, a Planet of the Apes rifle is resting on my lap -ah, the 70s).  Soon I would also have a sweatshirt with the original Star Trek cast standing in the transporter room, and when Star Wars hit, well, I had to have a t-shirt, and there were tons of them to choose from.  I got one with Luke Skywalker and C-3PO. It was so cheaply made the applique began peeling off after the first wash.

Karen: The love of t-shirts continued on. Heck, in my old job, working  as a research scientist in a wet lab, t-shirts were almost expected attire. But things began to change several years ago. Around about the time I hit forty, I started to feel that perhaps it was not proper for a woman my age to wear t-shirts any more. Perhaps that was for the kids. So I got rid of many of my shirts, gave some away, used others only for night shirts. I had to be an adult, I told myself. I had to dress respectably.

Karen: Well, that didn't last too long. I dress respectably at work now, but as soon as I am away from there, the t-shirts come out! I just love them too much.

Exhibit A

Karen: There is so much variety now - I really can get a shirt for almost any comic, movie, tv show -anything I can think of. It is mind-boggling. I think that is the reason they are so popular (that, and they are just so comfortable). The t-shirt is a medium of expression -it tells people what you like and/or what you think in a passive way, but sometimes solicits a response from others. When I was younger that response was often negative -"Star Trek is stupid" - but today I am often complemented on my shirts, even when I am not in a geek-populated area, and I've had people ask me where I got my shirts. Yes, things have changed.

Karen: I have looked through my shirts and decided to name (and show) a few favorites. I've sort of broken my "collection" (Ye Gods, not another collection) down into categories. So there are the comics shirts, the monster shirts, the Star Trek shirts, the Star Wars shirts, the Disney shirts, the sports shirts, the music shirts, the sci-fi shirts, and finally, the Bruce Lee shirts. There's some miscellaneous ones in there too but not really of interest to this blog.

Karen: One of my favorites is one I picked up a couple years ago at Rob Zombie's Halloweentown in Burbank, and have shown it here before -it's the Captain Kirk vs. the Gorn shirt. It's just an awesome shirt, designed so well, like a classic boxing poster. However, in this picture, I have achieved some sort of cosmic balance by wearing the shirt to Vasquez Rocks in southern California, where the actual Star Trek episode "Arena" was filmed! This is the very spot where the Gorn heaved a (styrofoam) boulder at an outmatched Kirk, although the captain ultimately used his chemistry skills to create a cannon to shoot diamonds at the Gorn and defeat the big lizard. Unfortunately we did not find any diamonds lying around, but we did get to tour the place, and the ladies volunteering at the park were delighted -"you're Trekkies!" -and they told us a bunch of stories about the actor who played the Gorn (Bobby Clark), who sometimes does signings at the park.

At Vasquez Rocks, 2015

Karen: Bruce Lee has always been an icon of mine, and I found the Bruce Lee store through the Facebook page run by his daughter. They have a lot of great t-shirts there, although they are a bit pricey. But I really wanted to have a nice shirt with Bruce, so last year I ordered one. I have since purchased two more...

Bruce and Dr. Funk!

Karen: I want to share some representative shirts that I think the BAB crew will like. First up, this Planet of the Apes design from the Famous Monsters online store. The artist, Jason Edmiston, is very talented and a super-nice guy. I met him this year at Monsterpalooza and bought a Planet of the Apes print from him and spoke with him for a bit about his art and his process. You should check out his site -he has a lot of great stuff!

Karen: This Star Wars Tee was from the 2007 San Diego Comic Con and so is somewhat rare. I don't wear it too much now because it is starting to fade, but what a cool shirt. Illustration by Adam Hughes.

Karen: Probably my favorite Marvel shirt. All-new, all-different X-Men. Classic Dave Cockrum illustration. I can't recall if I got this at target or from an online store like Superhero Stuff or Stylin Online. But a great look, one that I've had several people comment on.

Karen: Most of my Disney shirts are from the parks, but this one was a special order. For a limited time a few years ago, they had this Hatbox Ghost shirt available online. Now that the spook is back in the Haunted Mansion, I am sure there's a ton of merchandise for him, but at the time, it was pretty rare!

Karen: Finally, this one is an oldie but a goodie. It seems like everyone digs it, from the old farts to the youngsters. When I first got it, I thought it seemed a bit odd, with the slightly off-center positioning and all, but I think that makes it more dynamic. But really, it's just because the Creature is eternally cool.

Karen: I'd love to hear your thoughts on the role of the t-shirt in pop culture, as a tool for self-expression, or just some of your own favorite t-shirts!

POST-SCRIPT: We got a great follow-up to this post from our pal Humanbelly. We post it here a bit late but hope that all of you will enjoy it, nonetheless. Take it away, HB:

HB: My first superhero t-shirt.  Or its remains, to be more precise.

There was a big, rather crumbling warehouse clothing "outlet" store in nearby Elkhart, IN when I was a kid, and apart from TONS of irregular designer jeans, they also were set up to do cut-rate iron-on t-shirt transfers.  This was in the early/mid 70's, just as that craze was kind of coming into vogue for adolescents and young teens (at least, small-town, mid-western young teens) as a personal fashion-statement option.  They had Spidey, Cap, and the Hulk available.   Got Cap for Bryan and Spidey for his little brother while I was there.  I made the mistake of choosing appropriately colored shirts for each (blue for Cap, Red for Spidey), rather than white.  And if you look at this image, you can see that the design(s) assumed the white of your average t-shirt would take care of any necessary white in the image.   I had to use fabric paint on the other two to make them look even remotely correct... 

But I loved this shirt to DEATH, regardless.  It was really big on me when I got it at (probably) 13 years old-- and I may have not fully given up on it until high school.  Man, those transfers never laundered well-- and the thing shrank after the first wash (my Mom wasn't so careful about cold-water items-- she shrank everything).  I think I may have used it as an off-beat track/X-Country shirt once the sleeves came off.  It ended up in the rag bag more than once. . . ended up in the bottom of a memorabilia trunk for several years. . . and is now safely stapled to the wall as part of the Hulk Corner in the comic book room downstairs.

The image is one that, for some reason, has had enduring popularity-- Hulk #123, with the Leader and the, heh, Murder Module.  

I had a couple of those ubiquitous poly/silk paisley disco shirts that were all the rage in the late 70's.  One of them was purple and orange, so this is the shirt I would wear underneath, with the silk shirt unbuttoned to just above navel-height.  (And the T was plumb ragged and faded at that point, make no mistake.)

I have no idea how anyone dated me during that period.  The list of Well-He's-Kinda-Cute-In-Spite-Of's must have been absurdly long.   Or perhaps I just posed no threat whatsoever...