Articles with the Tag Fifty Essentials in Fifty Days

Fifty Essentials in Fifty Days 46: Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 02

books and books review, Comix
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Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 02
Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, Joe Staton, Ron Lim and friends
Reprints: Silver Surfer Vol. 2 #1, Silver Surfer v3 #1-18, Annual 1
Get this for: the Silver Surfer is back in space — three stars

From one classic Steve Englehart series to another, not quite as classic one. The Silver Surver’s second series would be quite different from the original Stan Lee & John Buscema one, if only because Englehart freed him from his imprisonment at Earth in the very first issue. But the main difference was best summed up in an Amazing Heroes observation, that whenever in his original series the Surfer would wax philosophically about man’s inhumanity to man, in his new series he waxes hornily about Shalla Ball, Nova or Mantis…. Englehart made the Surfer more lighthearted, more cosmic than he had been in his old series, while, as the mention of Mantis suggests, also revisiting his own personal obsessions. Joined by his old Batman partner Marshall Rogers on the art, the 1987 Silver Surfer series is quite different from its 1968 predecessor and to me much more interesting.

But Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 02 does not quite start there. While sensibly not including the myriad guest appearances of the Surfer over the years, this volume does start with two stories featuring the old Surfer: a short story from Epic Illustrated and the Stan Lee scripted, John Byrne plotted and pencilled 1982 Silver Surfer one shot. The latter saw Reed Richards freeing the Surfer from his cosmic imprisonement on Earth, return to Zenn-La and his old love Shalla Ball, only to discover his planet almost destroyed and Shalla Ball a prisoner of Mephisto. He manages to free Shalla Ball and revitalise Zenn-La, but at the cost of his freedom, yet again. It’s a good story, but typical of everything that made the original series a failure in the end: the Surfer doesn’t work on Earth.

Englehart understood that and also understood the potential of having a proper space based series, something not really seen at Marvel before. In issue one he got the Surfer off Earth and free of Galactus, in issue two he cut his ties to Zenn-La and Shalla Ball and by issue three he had reintroduced Mantis, seen for the first time since she became the Celestial Madonna, as well as set up the storylines that would drive the series for its first year and beyond. Building on the loss of the Skrulls’ shape-shifting power established in the 1985 Avengers and Fantastic Four annuals, Englehart has the Skrull empire descend in chaos, with one of the pretenders of the throne launching the second Kree-Skrull War. Meanwhile the Elders of the Universe are gunning for the Surfer, wanting to keep him from helping Galactus, who they wanted to kill.

Why they wanted to kill him does not become clear until a few more issues along, as Englehart also draws in the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree and the Infinity Gems, here still called the Soul Gems, into the Elders’ plot. This seems to have run out of steam with #109, as Galactus eats five of the Elders while the other three are drawn into a black hole, but this turns out to be premature. In issue fifteen Ron Lim replaces Marshall Rogers and Joe Staton on the art, while Sue and Reed Richards are recruited by the Surfer to help Galactus recover from his “cosmic indigestion” caused by the Elders of the Universe he ate…

Ron Lim is well suited to the Silver Surfer, which was his breakthrough series as well. He has a good style for cosmic battles and I’ve always liked his art, buff as it is. Not that Marshall Rogers was bad, with his more gracious, elegant style. Inbetween them is Joe Staton, who cut his cosmic teeth on Green Lantern, including a long run with Englehart. I like his art, but not here.

Essential Silver Surfer Vol. 02 ends with a curiosity, an issue of Marvel Fanfare that published what was going to be the first issue of a twelve issue, double sized Silver Surfer limited series, before that metamorphed into a ongoing series. That limited series was also going to be written by Englehart, but with art by John Buscema and with the Surfer left stranded on Earth, but still meeting with Mantis and getting drawn in cosmic developments. It’s an interesting view of what could have been, but fortunately never came to pass.

Fifty Essentials in Fifty Days 45: Essential Avengers Vol. 06

books and books review, Comix
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Essential Avengers Vol. 06
Steve Englehart, Sal Buscema, David Cockrum and friends
Reprints: AVengers #120-140, Giant-Size #1-4, Fantastic Four #150 Captain Marvel #33 (February 1974- October 1975)
Get this for: the Celestial Madonna — four stars

It’s probably a bit dim of me to only notice it now, but The Avengers after Lee had left was really a writer’s comic, wasn’t it? Sure, we remember Neal Adams doing the Kree-Skrull wars, or those couple of issues Barry Smith did, or John Buscema’s work, but if you look at it honestly The Avengers for long stretches at a time made do with good enough artists, all its pizzaz in its stories. In this volume, you got people like Rick Buckler, Bob Brown and Sal Buscema on the art, all doing a reasonable job, but never doing anything that stops you in your tracks. The writing on the other hand, which is all Steve Englehart (with some influence from Roy Thomas as editor), is doing its utmost to amaze and dazzle you. If it doesn’t quite succeed, this is not entirely its own fault, but as much due to the years that have passed since these stories were originally published. The style in which they were written has dated, not badly, but enough that they lose some of their impact. It feels overwritten, which was always Englehart’s weakness anyway, as it was of that whole generation of Stan Lee and Roy Thomas influenced Marvel writers.

Steve Englehart already got started on the epic stories in the previous collection, but here he goes all-out. Issue 129 to 135 and including Giant-Size Avengers #3-4 are one continuing story, the seeds of which were already sown half a dozen issues before. It is of course the saga of the Celestial Madonna, starring the Englehart created Mantis and featuring the Avengers, Kang, Rama Tut, Immortus, a host of long dead heroes and villains as the Legion of the Unliving, the Kree and their origin, the origin of the Vision and how he was related to the original Human Torch, why the Kree-Skrull war got started, the death of the Swordsman and the return of Hawkeye, who build the Blue Area on the Moon, the menace of Dormammu and the weddings of Mantis and the Swordsman, reanimated by an alien plantlike intelligence as well as the wedding of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch.

It’s a mess of a story, with a great many disparate elements dragged into it, but Englehart ties it all together beautifully. I had never read it before, knew about it, but never realised how much of what Englehart did here would influence The Avengers for decades to come. Englehart created the definitive Kang, clarified his relationship with Rama Tut and tied in old Avengers villain Immortus as well. He also provided a proper origin for the Vision, which must have been influenced by Roy Thomas considering its use of the original Human Torch, tying up a lot of old plot threads from The Fantastic Four and The Avengers and creating a new mess for others to “improve on”, or not. He also tied in the Avengers with wider Marvel mythology, with his use of the Kree and Skrulls as well as that mysterious blue area on the Moon that the Fantastic Four had found years ago.

On the whole The Avengers had never been so much at the heart of the Marvel Universe as under Englehart, participating in the Thanos War in a crossover with Captain Marvel, then crossing over with The Fantastic Four for the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver. There’s also, in the last few issues collected here, the coming of the Beast to the Avengers, fresh from his own solo adventures and with plotlines continued from there. It’s the sort of continuity I grew up with from Marvel and the sort I like best, where there is always evidence of a wider universe beyond The Avengers, but out and out crossovers are rare and don’t last more than one or two issues.

As said, the art here is servicable to good, but you need to read this for the writing. Englehart would go on to do better work on other titles since he wrote the Celestial Madonna Saga, but this is perhaps his first great work.

Fifty Essentials in Fifty Days 44: Essential Spider-Man Vol. 06

books and books review, Comix
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Essential Spider-Man Vol. 06
Gerry Conway, John Romita, Ross Andru, Gil Kane and friends
Reprints: Amazing Spider-Man #114-137 and more (November 1972- October 1974)
Get this for: the death of Gwen Stacy — four stars

Yes, just as happened with Essential X-Men and Essential Fantastic Four, I missed out on volume five of Essential Spider-Man. Annoying, since volume four ended on a cliffhanger as Doctor Octopus seemed to have the upper hand on Spider-Man. And how does volume six start? With a battle between Spidey, new villain Hammerhead and Doc Ock. You can see why I got a bit confused in the shop…

Anyway, this volume sees Gerry Conway firmly established as Spidey’s writer, though Stan Lee does return for a few issues halfway through. Conway used to be an incredibly prolific writer in the seventies and eighties, working for both Marvel and DC on all their headline acts, including a forty plus issue run on Amazing Spider-Man partially collected here. He may as much as anybody else be responsible for Marvel’s Bronze Age house style, that mix of superhero adventure and soap opera, with stories usually lasting one or two issues but subplots carried forward for much longer, a style he would also export to DC. Despite this he has never really been a fan favourite, has he, unlike a contemporary like Len Wein, let alone Steve Gerber. This may be because his writing was so familiar, so omnipresent that it could never surprise you like Wein or Gerber could. You won’t get anything experimental with Conway at the helmet.

For Spider-Man Conway is the ideal writer, as this volume shows. He has a good grasp of what makes Spider-Man tick, does well with the soap opera and while not as creative as his predecessors on the title, here still creates two classic Spider-Man villains: Hammerhead and Tarantula, not to mention the Punisher. But what he will be mostly remembered for is something else entirely: the Death of Gwen Stacy.

Gwen Stacy was of course Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s great love, not quite his first, but his first serious relationship. Gwen’s death was as much a turning point for him as Uncle Ben’s death was for making him Spider-Man in the first place. It cast a shadow over the rest of his life, though this is not always noticable even in this volume. Before her death, Spider-Man could always be certain that his powers could save himself and his loved ones from any danger. After it, he would always worry whether he would’ve to go through it a second time. For superhero comics as a whole Gwen Stacy’s death is a turning point as well, the first time (if I remember correctly) that such a prominent supporting cast member was killed off. As Kurt Busiek has argued, Gwen’s death could be seen as the end of the Silver Age, so great was its impact.

It’s interesting to see the differences in how Conway treats Gwen’s death with how it would be dealt with in modern comics. There is literally no lead-up. In the previous issue Spidey is still in Canada fighting the Hulk, he returns to New York, Norman Osborn remembers his past as the Green Goblin as well Spider-Man’s secret identity, kidnaps Gwen and lures Peter to the top of the George Washington bridge. They fight, the Goblin throws Gwen off the bridge, Spidey catches her with his web, but is too late: she’s already dead. It’s over and done with in one issue, while Norman Osborn himself dies in the next. Had it been written today, it would’ve needed a six issue story arc at least.

The art in this volume is by John Romita, Gil Kane and Ross Andru, in that order. These are all artists working in a roughly similar style, especially Romita and Andru, who also use many of the same inkers: Jim Mooney, Romita himself, Frank Giacoia. Of the three I prefer Kane, who has just that little bit more bite to his art. Ross Andru on the other hand I’ve always found a bit bland…

Many of the stories here I’ve read before, especially those leading up to the death of Gwen Stacy and those dealing with its aftermath, not in the least in the old Dutch Spider-Man Klassiek series, which provided a sort of “extended highlights”. To read them in context has been interesting: Gwen may death, but Spidey still has to fight a new villain month in month out. Various subplots continue to develop and come to fruition, the soap opera continues and one month doesn’t differ that much from another. There’s never been a period in Spidey’s where this relentless grind was so clearly visible..

Fifty Essentials in Fifty Days 43: Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 03

books and books review, Comix
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Essential Doctor Strange Vol. 03
Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman, Jim Starlin, Frank Brunner, Gene Colan and friends
Reprints: Dr Strange #1-29, Annual 1 and Tomb of Dracula #44-45 (June 1974- June 1978)
Get this for: Englehart and co trying to recapture the Ditko magic — three stars

I think it’s fair to say that every writer on Doctor Strange has tried to get out from under the shadow of Steve Ditko. In the first volume of
Essential Doctor Strange they did not succeed, but perhaps the writers in the third volume will fare better. They’re certainly not the least writers: Steve Englehart, Marv Wolfman, Jim Starlin and Roger Stern all have a go at Doctor Strange here.

Of the writers featured here, Englehart has the best chances. He was after all responsible for getting Dr Strange his own series again, together with Frank Brunner, through their work on Marvel Premiere. He starts strong, introducing Silver Dagger, a Catholic cardinal turned magician hunter, who in the first issue kills Doctor Strange and kidnaps Clea, his lover and disciple. Strange gets better of course, but it takes him five issues to put Silver Dagger away. In the sixth issue Gene Colan returns on the art duties, as do longtime Strange villains Umar and Dormammu in a plot to not only restore the latter one’s powers, but to make him master of Earth. In the end he’s only defeated by the powers of Gaea and every living creature on Earth — including the people reading the story…

The threats only get bigger for poor old Doctor Strange, having to face off against Eternity next for the fate of the Earth, failing to stop the destruction of the world in #12, only for it to be recreated the next issue. Everybody literally died that time, but was reborn a second time, something that would later in the volume be retconned by Marv Wolfman. It’s not the last time the universe is seemingly destroyed only to be recreated again — Wolfman does it as well, as does Jim Starlin in his Creators saga. This is no coincidence, as each writer has their own cosmic epic story to tell and what is more epic than the end of everything and only Doctor Strange remaining to put things right?

Yet lesser threats can work as well, as the crossover with Tomb of Dracula shows. When Strange’s servant Wong is bit and killed by Dracula, Doctor Strange goes looking for revenge only to fall victim to the vampire himself. He manages to escape in his astral body, but still has a hard time getting both himself and Wong cured and fails in destroying Dracula. After that it’s back to the big, existential menaces however, as Doc fights Satan, timetravels through America’s colonial history in honor of the bicentennial and confronts the menace of the Quadriverse and the Creators saga.

Reading this volume in one setting, rather than having read the individual issues spread out over four years, it’s not hard to see some patterns emerging — it’s not just the periodical destruction and recreation of the universe. There’s also the frequent depowering of Doctor Strange, as each writer finds reasons why he cannot use his magic this time. It is of course always difficult to write an almost omnipotent character like Doc Strange, who could end most threats with a handy spell or two. So either the villains need a power up or Strange needs a power down. Personally I feel either is a lazy choice and that’s the difference with the Lee/Ditko Doctor Strange; they didn’t take the easy way out. It takes effort and skill to keep Strange’s powers consistent and not cheat in getting him out of plot holes.

Another common plot device here is seeing Doc Strange being killed only to discover later that he managed to flee his body first in his astral form. I’ve got fewer problems with this, it is one of his established powers after all, but when used to much it can again be a crutch. The same goes for the eye of Agamotto, which is less used here however.

Frank Brunner starts out as the artist here and he’s is well suited to the title, as are his main succesors, Gene Colan, Jim Starlin, Ruby Nebres and Tom Sutton. Each of those artists is on the atmospheric end of the scale rather than the realistic, especially Colan. Lovely work by all of them and gorgeous to look at, even if some of it is hampered by the transition to black and white, as is the case with the P. Craig Russel drawn annual.

Some good tries, but the Ditko Doctor Strange is not equalled here.

Fifty Essentials in Fifty Days 42: Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 06

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Essential Fantastic Four Vol. 06
Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, Roy Thomas, John Buscema and friends
Reprints: Fantastic Four #111-137 (June 1971 – August 1973)
Get this for: The Fantastic Four within Kirby or Lee — three stars

Curse my luck! Just as with the Essential X-Men yesterday, I never managed to get volume five of Essential Fantastic Four either, which means I missed the end of the Lee-Kirby run. Instead volume six offers Big John Buscema on art duties, with Stan Lee, Archie Goodwin, then Lee again and finally Roy Thomas handling the writing. Good though these gents are, their work can’t compare to what Jack Kirby brought to The Fantastic Four. Even though Stan Lee himself is still around for a while here, the chemistry he had with Kirby is gone. Kirby and Lee could always spark ideas of each other, now Lee had to do it all himself.

It’s not all bad though. For a start, this volume contains the first Fantastic Four comic I ever read, #113, translated in Dutch as Vier Verdedigers Classics #59 which an uncle had in his collection — and I have now. That issue was the start of the Overmind saga and its cover is burned in my memory. It was not just the first FF comic I read, but must have been one of the earliest superhero comics I ever saw and it fascinated me. It’s a typical late Silver Age Marvel issue, continuing directly from the previous issue, with cameos from the Hulk and Agatha Harkness and a guest star appearance by the Watcher, while the action never stops, all drawn in that wonderful expressive, larger than life John Buscema style and it’s just crack to a certain kind of geek boy (or girl) like me. It may not have been half as good as what Lee and Kirby had been up to before, but I didn’t know anything about that.

The whole Overmind story showed that some of the creativity of that earlier run was still present in The Fanastic Four, as the Overmind turned out to be the last living survivor of an ancient alien race, the Eternals, scource of the cosmos, who had conquored all before them until they reached the planet Gigantus, which dwarved Galaxies and was their doom. As the Eternals’ own planet died beneath them, they put all their mental power into the Overmind and send him into the universe to sleep and wait until the time was right for the Overmind to come from beyond the stars and crush the universe! The Fantastic Four are helpless before him, even need to teamup with Doctor Doom to fight him but even that is not enough, though Doom does get his crowning moment of awesome as he fights an unequal battle with the Overmind but keeps standing for he is … DOOM! In the end though it’s the Stranger, revealed to be the combined might of the people from Gigantus who tames the Overmind.

The Overmind is however the only original villain to fight the Fantastic Four this volume, as for the most part they fight old enemies and even menaces originally introduced in other series. Diablo and Galactus return for rematches, they get involved with the Inhumans again, the Frightful Four come back with a new member, and so on. There are other changes in the status quo though. Roy Thomas lets Sue Richards quit the FF and makes Medusa of the Inhumans her replacement, while the relationship of Johnny Storm and Crystal also ends, as the latter falls for Quicksilver, the mutant Avenger. On the whole The Fantastic Four is much more soap opera orientated then before, less interested in exploration as well, more going for fighting “conventional” villains. It’s not as wild as the Lee-Kirby runs, but it’s far from bad either.

As for the art, John Buscema is as great as Kirby in his own right and I do like the grandeur he gives a character like the Watcher, as well as the body language he gives his characters. A more conventional artist than Kirby perhaps, but you can hardly fault him for that. I love how he poses his characters, the stances he gives them which betray their emotions and character. Every now and again, often in just some small throwaway panel I just have to stop and study his art, bask in it.

A letdown after the sheer mastery of the first four Essential Fantastic Four volumes? Perhaps, but Buscema’s art and the efforts of Lee, Goodwin and Thomas make up for a lot.