Number 1614: Blonde Phantom and the two-person triangle

Blonde Phantom, the forties heroine from Marvel Comics, was one of those costumed types whose secret identity was in competition with her civilian identity. Blonde Phantom, Louise Grant and Louise’s boss, Mark, were the self-contained triangle. Unless Mark was just kidding about not knowing that Louise, even in glasses and buttoned up to the chin, was the sexy, evening-dress wearing Phantom.

Blonde Phantom was one of the postwar heroes created to sell comics in a rapidly changing market. Apparently she worked out for Marvel for about three years, and then was no more until a revival many years later, outside of the scope of this blog.

According to Don Markstein’s Toonopedia website, Black Phantom was created by Stan Lee and artist Syd Shores. The Grand Comics Database says this story was drawn by Allen Bellman. It appeared in All Winners Comics Vol. 2 No. 1 (1949), which was the last issue under that title.

More about →

Review: The Twelve hardcover/paperback (Marvel Comics)

[Review by Doug Glassman, who Tumblrs at Hell Yeah '80s Marvel!]

I don’t think I realized how much I missed JSA until all of the recent talk of the upcoming omnibus brought up old memories. It might be surprising that a Marvel book was able to capture much of what made that classic title work, but J. Michael Straczynski and Chris Weston’s The Twelve hits all of the right notes. This wasn’t Marvel’s first attempt to ride the popularity of JSA; a variety of Invaders revivals over the last few years have sputtered due to a lack of fan interest. Fans love Captain America and Namor ... but as a team, there’s something lacking, especially since Marvel didn’t really have an equivalent to All-Star Squadron to map out its World War II-era adventures.

One of the core concepts of The Twelve is that the title characters really aren’t a team. Marvel likes to advertise the Defenders as a “non-team," but the Twelve go far beyond that: they’re literally a bunch of unrelated superheroes grouped together out of convenience since so many heroes came over to fight in Europe. All of them are extremely minor heroes, many with only a few classic Golden Age appearances. This obscurity actually helps move the plot along, as I’ll explain later. Perhaps the most notable is the original Black Widow; this version is more of a blonde version of DC’s Spectre than anything resembling Natasha Romanova. Many are just regular guys in capes with the courage to enter a brutal war.

As the name implies, there are a lot of characters. The cast could have been trimmed down to maybe ten with some reassignment of plot beats, but I think JMS will agree with me that The Twelve just sounds cooler than The Ten. Our narrator and lead is the Phantom Reporter; when the Twelve were put into a cryogenic freeze by a Nazi scientist and found in the modern day, he is one of the quickest to adjust upon awakening. The Reporter is a bit of a bland lead; he has no powers other than a brilliant mind. This lets the more dynamic personalities of his comrades come out over the story.

I can’t confirm this, but the story of the Twelve may have been intended to echo the fate of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Those DC heroes were catapulted through time during a fight with the Nebula Man and ended up adjusting fairly well. On the other hand, the Twelve were knocked out and reawakened in what to them felt like a few seconds. Most of the story revolves around them adjusting to their new environs; it’s not an easy task. One of the saddest fates is that of “Mister E," whose real name is allegedly “Victor Jay." Straczynski decided to turn this obvious pseudonym into a cover for his real name -- Victor Goldstein, changed so that he could advance in an anti-Semitic business world. His reunion with the remnants of his family -- a dying wife and a son who’s now older than he is and who hates him -- becomes even more heartbreaking when it’s established that he’s the few with any family left alive. Rockman and Captain Wonder both start to lose their sanity out of grief.

Much is made of how the world is different now, but neither the 1940s nor the 2010s are made out to significantly better or worse. A significant subplot follows the proto-Punisher Laughing Mask getting caught for killing a criminal during a robbery. His guns were on file as being used in his killing of gangsters back in the 1940s. (How he gets caught and the Punisher doesn’t is something I’m willing to ignore simply by pretending the Punisher doesn’t exist.) The Blue Blade, a washed-out actor looking to cash in on his war reputation, finds himself unable to get the attention of modern audiences. Mastermind Excello, who can read minds and intercept radio signals, finds himself overwhelmed by the onslaught of modern transmissions.

Perhaps the book’s most fascinating character is Dynamic Man, a hero in the mold of the Aryan übermensch. Not only is he blonde with blue eyes, but he also expresses nationalistic doctrine while spouting racism and homophobia. It’s implied that he’s covering for his own sexual desires ... but this is actually some of the greatest misdirection I’ve seen since Thunderbolts: Justice, Like Lightning. I’m not going to spoil what his real deal is, but I will say that if you want to read The Twelve, do not look up Dynamic Man’s origin. Marvel pointedly did not reprint his origin when they did so for some of the other characters; knowing his secret will spoil the plot, although it’s still certainly readable without the surprise.

It’s a feat that The Twelve is even finished. JMS and artist Chris Weston took a hiatus after issue eight to work on other projects. It finally concluded last year, and the wait was certainly worth it, especially art-wise. Weston’s art has a perfect use of shadows; he’s also very skilled in using block colors to illustrate flashbacks without losing details. Very little of the plot was affected by the hiatus; a few lines of dialogue at the start indicate that it takes place right after Civil War, but no superheroes appear in the modern segments. Perhaps the only thing that stands out as a possible change is Black Widow’s sexual orientation. JMS clearly implies her to be a lesbian in the earlier issues; later on, she starts returning the Phantom Reporter’s affections; maybe he intends she’s bisexual instead, though this wasn't clear to me.

At the very end of the Twelve collection is Spearhead, a fun romp written and drawn by Weston showing how the heroes got together in the 1940s. With James Robinson set to start a new Invaders series next year, I hope some of the characters from The Twelve can take part. Marvel has always had to deal with the huge publishing gap between the '40s and '60s and The Twelve is a major step in defining their past.

More about →

Number 1391: Kidnapped to the future!

Blonde Phantom, alter ego of mousy secretary Louise Grant, lusts after her boss, Mark. But like many comic book masqueraders, she finds herself in a love triangle with herself. Tsk tsk. My advice to Louise is to tell Mark — don’t keep secrets; they lead to mistrust. (Short lecture over.)

Louise and Mark are kidnapped by a group of future men who put them in a zoo to be studied by the thirtieth century citizens. If Louise had been a guy she would have just used brute force and whupped on the kidnapers. But Blonde Phantom uses her brain to overcome her adversaries...and she does it all in an evening dress and high heels. This entertaining story, from Marvel’s Blonde Phantom #21 (1949) is credited by the Grand Comics Database with art by Al Gabriele and Harry Sahle.

More about →

Review: Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe (Harper)

Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story goes on sale today. From someone who is primarily a DC Comics reader, I can commend the book to both Marvel and DC fans. Reading the book, I learned a considerable amount of history about Marvel, DC, and the comics industry in general (from when Marvel was Timely and DC was National, through to the founding of Image and Dark Horse and up to this past summer's Avengers movie). I also gained some context for the works of creators who, as someone who's mostly been on the DC side of things, were "new to me" -- Ann Nocenti, Fabian Nicieza, Scott Lobdell, Tom DeFalco, Bob Harras, and others.

Howe's Marvel Comics is an informative read for any comics fan, but not a comfortable one. Era after era and decade after decade, Marvel Comics is a page-by-page chronicle of unrelenting in-fighting. Jack Kirby feuds with the company against a backdrop of Mad Men-esque martini lunches in the early chapters, Steve Gerber feuds with the company in the disco seventies, Chris Claremont feuds with the company in the eighties, Rob Liefeld feuds with the company in the nineties, and on and on.

Someone is always angry. An overeager editor wrests control of a book from the writer. An oversensitive writer balks at the slightest change. The ever-changing management doesn't read comics. The business side incessantly pushes the editorial side to tell ridiculous, profit-driven stories. The mistakes of the past remain the mistakes of the present, through nearly seven decades of Marvel Comics.

The loser in all of this is the reader. There are heroes in the book, like Claremont at the beginning of his X-Men work and Frank Miller at the beginning of his Daredevil work -- creators with the pure intentions of telling good and innovative stories. But there are even more examples of creators creating for themselves and not for the readers -- John Byrne sticking a parody of Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter into DC's Legends; Jim Starlin satirizing Marvel's treatment of Roy Thomas in an issue of Warlock; Steve Englehart poking fun at Don McGregor in the pages of Avengers. Parody has its place, but there are times in Marvel Comics where the creators seem more interested in fighting their private battles on page than in telling a decent story.

Reoccurring in each era are Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They are the book's figureheads for the business and creative sides of the comics industry, often locked in perpetual struggle like Kirby's Darkseid and Highfather, or Magneto and Professor X. Lee's name and persona swiftly mean more to the company than Lee himself, who spends his time endlessly struggling to make money with the Marvel characters somewhere other than comics. Lee is out of the loop almost from the beginning and as portrayed by Howe, nearly never knows what's going on in the comics themselves. Kirby is the book's original poorly-treated creator, always ignored, never credited, and perpetually derided by the ones who emerge after. (Reading Marvel Comics from today's perspective, where Kirby's genius is recognized, it's astounding to see him teased away by the Marvel bullpin of the late 1970s.)

Lee and Kirby both appear impotent, fighting for a greater recognition that they don't achieve. They are both symbols of the mainstream comics industry over the last seventy years, only recently emerging as something more respectable than "just funnybooks."

DC readers like myself will find plenty of parallels in the book between Marvel over the years and the current DC Comics New 52 initiative. In the 1980s, Jim Shooter suggest a "Big Bang" that would wipe out Marvel's continuity and start over, an idea so universally despised that, through a series of bizarre twists and turns, it costs Doug Moench his job (Shooter, if Howe's presentation of events is correct, must see some irony in Marvel following DC down the reboot rabbit hole with Marvel NOW!). In the 1990s, Marvel's titles are so editorially-driven that writers begin to leave rather than continue to rewrite; Bob Harras turns to Scott Lobdell for help -- then as today -- but even Lobdell has a story that must be re-written four times before editorial agrees on the contents.

Also familiar to today's readers is this nugget from a 1994 speech by Frank Miller. "Marvel Comics is trying to sell you all on the notion that characters are the only important component of its comics. As if nobody had to create these characters, as if the audience is so brain-dead they can't tell a good job from a bad one." This is not far from Greg Rucka's recent explanation for why he's left both DC and Marvel, and certainly DC readers can see this in the revolving door of creators on some of DC's titles.

Marvel Comics is, simply, disheartening, a testament that what goes on day by day to make the comics we love is exactly what every fan hopes doesn't go on -- cynical creators, a hostile work environment, decisions based on squeezing the last dollar from readers rather than on telling the best story. Some of this is in the telling; Howe's Marvel Comics is devoutly a business book, focused on the corporate ins and outs (most evident in the final, excruciatingly detailed look at Marvel's bankruptcy court proceedings). Marvel Comics is the antithesis of Grant Morrison's Supergods -- in relating every stumble along the way, Marvel's focus is too close to see the larger picture, that Marvel Comics has lasted in one form or another for over seventy years, that the adventures of Spider-Man have been continually published in one form or another for over fifty years. This is a book about Marvel's problems, not about its successes.

Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story is a good book, but it describes a poor situation, and at its worst, it suggests signs that history is repeating itself. Those who love comics should read this book, but be warned that Marvel Comics may test that love a little bit.

More about →

Trade Perspectives: What Makes a Marvel Epic?

[Guest post by Doug Glassman]

With my Infinity Gauntlet review marking the last of my personal Marvel Epics and my review of The Dark Phoenix Saga coming up, I thought it might be a good idea to go back and identify the stories which define the spine of the Marvel Universe to me. My criteria are that the story redefines a character, team or universe; that it is limited to one story, even in a long run; that it is critically successful; and that it was published between 1979 and 1993. The following list is in roughly chronological order.

• X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga. This story introduced Shadowcat, set up the still-continuing plot thread of humans as the most powerful threat in the universe, and is arguably the most important story in comic book history.

• Thor: "Thor vs. Beta Ray Bill" (collected in Thor Visionaries: Walt Simonson Vol. 1). This was one of Thor’s most powerful defeats and one of the first times that the “if he be worthy” clause of Mjolnir was used.

• Full Marvel Universe: Secret Wars. This was Marvel’s first mega-crossover, and it led to major changes in team rosters and characters. It also brought the disparate “superhero” and “mutant” sides of the Marvel Universe together.

• Captain America: The Captain. This story features Cap resigning and a new, crazy replacement taking over. It explores Cap’s role in the Marvel Universe and a hero’s responsibilities.

• Daredevil: Born Again. This story tears down its hero even further than The Captain and barely restores him to glory. It marks Daredevil’s final slide into being one of Marvel’s darkest heroes.

• Avengers: Under Siege. This story features the villains uniting and achieving the Masters of Evil’s greatest victory. It also directly led to the Thunderbolts, perhaps the last of the great Marvel teams.

• Iron Man: Armor Wars. This has Tony Stark’s greatest fear—mass misuse of his technology—come true. He wages a war against both friend and foe, cementing his paranoia for decades to come.

• Spider-Man: Birth of Venom. This is the story of Spider-Man’s dark shadow coming back as perhaps his greatest villain. Venom would later become one of the key anti-heroes of the '90s.

• Cosmic Marvel: Infinity Gauntlet. This story sees the forces of the Marvel Universe gather in a complex strategy against an omnipotent foe. Few stories can match the escalation seen here.

The only major characters to not have such an epic are the Fantastic Four. While John Byrne’s run is the closest, there is no overall story, and the Four have had few major sticking changes since the 1960s. Of course, there are some other choices. Kraven’s Last Hunt might be considered an alternate for Spider-Man, while Daredevil also has the Death of Elektra. Feel free to discuss your own Marvel Epic choices in the comments.

So that’s my Marvel Epic Theory. Many have been reviewed for this site, both by me and by Chris Marshall. Along with The Dark Phoenix Saga, I also plan on reviewing Thor Visionaries: Walt Simonson Vol. 1 in the near future. The rest are definitely options for the future for me or another reviewer. All of these stories deserve examination, as they are the core of Marvel’s publishing history.

More about →

Review: Silver Surfer: The Rebirth of Thanos trade paperback (Marvel Comics)

[Guest review by Doug Glassman. Spoilers ahead for The Avengers movie.]

Shortly after Avengers came out, I sought a copy of Infinity Gauntlet, the likely source material for the film’s sequel. Upon reading it, however, I felt that something was missing. It opened as if it were the third act of an epic, with characters returning having been killed off-screen. As it turns out, there was a huge chunk of story missing … and thankfully, Marvel has collected this in Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos. Though the title has been out in hardcover for some time, it was recently put out in paperback just in time for readers to get ready for Thanos’s entry onto the big screen.

Collected here are two major stories: “Rebirth of Thanos,” which was told in the Silver Surfer series, and “The Thanos Quest,” a two-issue miniseries. The Silver Surfer isn’t one of my favorite characters. My favorite moments featuring him are smaller cameos, such as his epic fight with Cable in Cable and Deadpool or his turn as a gladiator in Planet Hulk. Perhaps the Surfer’s greatest issue is that he suffers from Superman Syndrome: the difficulty of coming up with a threat great enough to be serious for such a powerful hero. Jim Starlin sidesteps this problem in two ways.

Firstly, Starlin spends a lot of time humanizing the Surfer. In the first few pages, for instance, he gets to sleep for the first time in years. Unlike Superman, who can go from sleeping to flying off within seconds, the Surfer travels such great distances that he can’t afford to rest. His irritation at being saddled with Drax the Destroyer (who is basically Space Hulk) is palpable, and the Surfer gets rid of Drax not through strength, but through intelligence and patience.

But the key to Rebirth of Thanos is its title character. Thanos may have begun as Marvel’s rip-off of Darkseid, but his death and resurrection turned him into a new kind of conqueror. Where Darkseid wants to be worshipped, Thanos simply wants to be seen as an equal. The only problem is that he wants to be an equal of Death. If you saw The Avengers with a Marvel fan and they cheered when Thanos’ advisor says that he’s “courting death,” well, this is why. Marvel and DC both personify Death as a woman, but while DC’s Death is a perky Goth, Marvel’s death is a hooded, often skeletal figure who only speaks through others. In fact, Death’s refusal to speak directly to Thanos ends up as a major plot point at the end of “Thanos Quest,” and one that leads into Infinity Gauntlet.

Darkseid and Thanos also differ in how they relate with others. Darkseid is, for a lack of a better term, “personable.” He’s constantly surrounded by underlings, and even when they want to rebel against him, they fall back when he’s ready to launch a plan. Thanos, meanwhile, is very much on his own by his own choice. After his resurrection, he goes after Nebula, a dangerous warlord claiming to be his granddaughter. Where Darkseid would try to convince her into an alliance, Thanos just blasts her forces.

Thanos also has a cold sort of reason about him. His plan to “balance the scales” by killing half of the universe’s population is presented as not just a logical choice, but the only possible solution to the ills of existence. He takes the Surfer to the modern, polluted, and overcrowded Earth and tries to make his case that the entire universe would be better off if the Surfer helped him in his genocide. Starlin takes what would have been just a silly supervillain scheme and pushes it up a level by putting in the hands of an immensely powerful and incredibly intelligent planner who fully believes that he’s slaughtering populations for love. The cruel trick he pulls on an overpopulated, predator-less planet is just the start.

I’ve written about the difficulties about villain-driven series before, and how characters like Carnage and Venom couldn’t carry their own title. Thanos’ miniseries demonstrates that he can hold his own as a lead character. In his quest for the Soul Gems (rebranded the Infinity Gems in this title), he goes up against six of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe and outwits them. He accomplishes this by going in a very specific order, using each new gem to enhance the ones before them. When he uses the Gems in turn, you can get a sense of just how powerful the Infinity Gauntlet itself is. Starlin then goes the extra step and demonstrates the Gauntlet’s sheer might, and the threat is made all too real.

Ron Lim provides the art for both stories. Starlin and Lim are considered one of the best writer/artist teams in comic book history, and Rebirth of Thanos demonstrates just why this is. Lim consistently provides lush backgrounds and intricate panel layouts, allowing him to convey action-driven, large-scale stories with great clarity. He also adds to Thanos’ design through the removal of his eyes. Thanos had always been presented as having a huge brow, but the only time he has eyes in Lim’s artwork is when he has a manic gleam. Otherwise, they’re hollow sockets, a fitting touch for a lover of Death. Lim even makes background characters interesting. Death is accompanied by a rotting corpse and a humanoid rat, and I wanted to know more about both of them. (Perhaps they’re visitors from Discworld?)

If you’re interested at all in Infinity Gauntlet, then you must read Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos. This is Act I of the story, and I wish Marvel could find a better way to get word out about it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Thanos Omnibus in the future, but for now, pick this up for a fantastic supervillain’s rise. An extra story from Logan’s Run is collected as well, and it shows off just how far Thanos has come from.

More about →

Uncollected Editions: Top Uncollected Marvel Stories

[Guest post by Doug Glassman]

Here at Collected Editions, there’s a feature called “Uncollected Editions,” investigating comic book runs which have never been collected. DC Comics isn’t the only company behind on its collections, however.

Below are five runs which I think need to be put to trade. Naturally, there are others, so feel free to mention in the comments your favorite Marvel issues that you'd like to see in trade paperback.

During the research for this article, I discovered that a few of my suggestions, such as Untold Tales of Spider-Man, have finally been collected, to my relief.

5. Rom: Spaceknight Vol. 1 #1-75.

It may be a bit unfair to push Marvel to collect this, as Rom was a toy tie-in comic. Like the Transformers and G.I. Joe books, however, it transcended its toy roots and became a classic in its own rights. His supporting characters and the villains of the series, the Dire Wraiths, continue to make appearances, while Rom has even been turned into a human. The Rom character and design are owned by Parker Brothers, which is a subsidiary of Hasbro ... which now makes Marvel’s toys. There’s a chance that we may yet see Rom both in toy and comic book form in the near future.

4. The Rest of Thunderbolts Vol. 1 #15-41, #45-75.

The two Thunderbolts Classics editions have been mostly great, despite the first volume being just an expanded version of Justice, Like Lightning. I don’t want these Classics volumes to peter out before the whole series is collected. (Issues #42-44 are part of an Avengers crossover, The Nefaria Protocols, and are collected in that trade. Keep ‘em coming, Marvel!

3. Iron Man Vol. 1 #163-200.

A few years ago, I doubted that Marvel would ever collect the four-year-long Obadiah Stane saga in any convenient form. A few issues were collected in the Many Armors of Iron Man trade. However, the various omnibus editions and massive trades of The Clone Saga, Onslaught, and especially The Captain prove that Marvel has some interest in collecting longer stories. Though the Stane saga is somewhat padded out, it does feature Jim Rhodes’ first tenure as Iron Man and the classic Stark vs. Stane showdown. Two trades of The Captain’s length should do it.

2. Hellstorm Vol. 1 #1-21.

I mentioned in the Marvel Legacy Handbook review that this series was weirder than anything ever published by Vertigo. While Rafael Nieves and Len Kaminski both penned great stories, it really reached the heights of the bizarre under Warren Ellis’ tenure. I’ve been tempted to write a Hellstorm movie based on Ellis’ Armorer storyline. The artwork is extremely dark and gruesome, fitting the similar mood.

1. Iron Man Vol. 1 #300-318.

I’ve mentioned the Modular Armor era of Iron Man a few times before, so naturally, it’s at the top of my list. Len Kaminski’s run on Iron Man is often lumped into the 1990s Dark Age, but they actually precede the worst of the worst, although the art is of mixed quality. This run also includes the “Heart of Darkness” crossover between Iron Man, War Machine and Force Works. Issue #319 begins Tony’s descent into poorly-conceived villainy and the horror that is Teen Tony, but the issues before it deserve recognition.

Those are my picks -- what have you been waiting for Marvel to collect? [If it's the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover, you're in luck -- that's already on its way! -- ed.]

More about →

Review: Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook trade paperback (Marvel Comics)

[A new guest review from Doug Glassman]

Ever since I began collecting the Star Wars Essential Guides, handbooks and guidebooks have been on the top of my reading list. There’s something compelling about getting all of your information in one place, especially if it gives you an expanded view of its fictional universe. It’s also a great way to save money if you don’t want to search for expensive or hard-to-find works which may or may not have anything to do with what you’re reading.

When it comes to comic book guides, Marvel is at the forefront. Compared to DC’s paltry Who’s Who in the DC Universe (which hasn’t been updated since the early 1990s) and Secret Files issues (which are few and far between), the Marvel Official Handbooks are constantly updated.

One of the problems with these kinds of guidebooks is, naturally, that they’re covering a work in progress. The Star Wars books are already starting on Volume 3 of their guides, while Marvel has had at least half a dozen major revisions. Even as they published fourteen (!) definitive Handbook hardcovers, they had to put out update issues with character updates and minor things that they missed. As of the writing of this review, those hardcovers have now been published as softcovers with the updates collected within them ... and there are still monthly update issues. However, this has an upside: you can track the history of Marvel Comics through the various retcons and changes. The original Handbook, for instance, is collected as an Essential volume; read through its “Book of the Dead and Inactive” chapter and see how many characters have been resurrected since then.

The subject of this review, Marvel Legacy: The 1960s-1990s Handbook, takes this approach to the history of the Marvel Universe. While the original Handbook series comes from the 80s, the four issues collected here use era-specific entry designs; the '80s issue resembles the original, for instance, while the '90s issue uses the current design. The Avengers and Captain Marvel have entries in all four books to really see how much they have evolved; the X-Men, Iron Man and Spider-Man appear in three of them. Instead of lumping everything together, I’ll go through each book separately and point out some interesting bits.

The '60s book includes Bull’s Eye, Colossus, Dr. Strange, Death’s Head, the Exiles and the Wrecker. In this case, however, they are respectively a stealthy sniper (with a different spelling); a robot and a computer (two different beings); a evil sorcerer; a radioactive man on a radioactive horse; a bunch of old evil World War II veterans; and two different criminals. Name reuse is nothing new, but it’s interesting to see how far back some of the names go.

Many of the entries are for one-shot aliens and monsters, along with some of Marvel’s non-superhero women such as Patsy Walker (who later became Hellcat) and Chili Storm. At the end of each book, there’s a “Where Are They Now” featuring further appearances and retcons. If they never appeared again, they are listed at the top along with the authors asking where they went, almost as a challenge to writers out there. The Avengers entry is, naturally, very short, with the newest members being Black Panther and Hercules. Captain Marvel is in his original green-and-white costume.

The '70s book features profiles on a number of corrupt organizations, including the back-to-back Committee, Conspiracy and Corporation. (I’m surprised no one has retconned those into one giant evil group that's probably run by Hydra.) Watergate was the cause of many of these, as well as the infamous Royalist Empire of America, Marvel’s second-most insidious organization of people in funny anachronistic costumes; they can’t hold a candle to the Hellfire Club, of course.

There are also many entries dealing with the supernatural side of the Marvel Universe, centering around Dracula and Werewolf By Night. These include some great ideas, such as the mind-controlling Devil’s Heart, and some odd ideas, such as Steve Gerber’s brilliant Bessie the Hellcow. If Bessie can’t sell you on this book -- or on Essential volumes of Dracula -- then there’s little else I can do.

Here, the Avengers are in the “pick seven members” era, with new members such as the Falcon, Hellcat and the entire Guardians of the Galaxy. Again, I’m not making any of this up. Captain Marvel, meanwhile, is in his famous red and black costume, and is joined by Ms. Marvel in her own entry.

On the topic of name reuse, there’s a weird case when it comes to the name “Star Thief.” There’s one each from the '70s, '80s and '90s, and all of them have yellowish-green coloration, but they have no other obvious connection. Is it just synchronicity and a popular name, or was there an attempt to create a villain dynasty that just never went through? We may never know. [A secret invasion, perhaps? -- ed.]

On to the '80s book, from an era which was dominated by Secret Wars. As such, the Captain Marvel presented here is Monica Rambeau, an African American light-controlling woman best known from Nextwave. The Avengers introduced in this era include a personal favorite line-up: Captain America (as “The Captain”), Thor, Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman and Gilgamesh the Eternal. It’s not that I really enjoy those stories; it’s just such a bizarre membership, and it also makes Johnny Storm the only member of the original Fantastic Four to have never served on the Avengers.

Characters from Marvel’s New Universe imprint, such as Nightmask and DP7, have entries here, as do the main characters from Shogun Warriors and Rom: Spaceknight. These latter entries do a fairly elegant tapdance around Marvel’s lack of character ownership, with Combattra, Raydeen, Danguard Ace and Rom never even shown. She-Hulk and the famous Thor-Frog both appear in this book, which is only worth pointing out because I was sure that both took place in the '70s.

In my opinion, one important character missing from this volume is Venom. While he has a profile in other Handbooks and he is discussed in the Spider-Man entry as part of the black costume era, Venom helped define modern super-villains and the late '80s in comics in general.

Finally, we come to the '90s, which was even weirder than the '60s. The Captain Marvel here is Genis-Vell, who was killed a few years ago in Thunderbolts, which means he’ll probably be back by the end of whatever crossover comes after “Fear Itself.” While the Avengers entry is weighted more towards the excellent Busiek and Perez title, it would have been great to see a picture of the team-jackets era of the mid-'90s. Unfortunately, the entire Modular Armor era of Iron Man is ignored in favor of Teen Tony and “The Crossing,” a crossover which basically never really happened thanks to Avengers Forever. The entry on Force Works member Century is the only place which tells the story of my favorite Iron Man era.

Other '90s replacement characters include the female Dr. Octopus, Phil Urich as the Green Goblin, Lobo knockoff Lunatik, Lady Punisher, Paradox (half of Dr. Strange) and Vengeance, the Purple Warthog Ghost Rider. There’s some truly bizarre characters in here including Stunner, who was Otto Octavius’ overweight girlfriend piloting an Amazonian virtual reality body, and Stephen Loss, who … well, let’s just say he’s from Warren Ellis’ Hellstorm, which out-Vertigoed the weirdest Vertigo comics. That’s without getting into the time when the Punisher died and became an angel, which was so stupid that it doesn’t get mentioned at all.

One of the great advantages of the Marvel Legacy Handbook is that you don’t need to know anything about Marvel Comics. In fact, it almost helps to not know a lot, since you can learn so much about such interesting, little-known facets. The “Where Are They Now” chapters direct you to even more stories.

The only unique illustrations are three covers by Sal Buscema and one by Ron Lim (for the '90s book). All are group shots, and the title page is a great mash-up of Buscema’s '70s characters and Lim’s '90s characters. Otherwise, the art comes from the original comic books, for better or for worse. There’s art from Kirby, Perez, Adams, Liefeld and even Unknown, that classic '70s penciller for minor Spider-Man titles.

Twenty dollars might seem like a tall order for profiles of characters you’ve never heard of, but if you want to get into the history of the Marvel Universe, this book is a wonderful way to dive in head-first.

More about →

Number 1071


Ditko x 4


These four stories drawn by Steve Ditko were originally published in Marvel Comics' Journey Into Mystery just after Thor became the main feature. Ditko's pages are masterpieces of composition. I loved these stories when they were published, and while the stories themselves are typical for Marvel Comics at the time, the artwork makes up for any shortcomings in the plots.

Did Ditko work "Marvel-style" on these stories, getting a springboard plot from Stan Lee, drawing them, then Lee would step in and write the dialogue? Or did Stan give him a script? I've never known how he and Lee worked on these five-page shorts during that period.

From Journey Into Mystery #84, 1962:





From Journey Into Mystery #85, 1962:






From Journey Into Mystery #86, 1962:





From Journey Into Mystery #92, 1963:

More about →

Review: The Torch hardcover/paperback (Marvel/Dynamite)

[This guest-post comes from Timbotron, who (impressively) reviews a comic every day at Comic-Per-Day Reviews]

What a fascinating trade paperback! I am always a little leery of series produced by two publishers. Too often, they can lead to a muddied product that doesn’t stand out as belonging in either company’s catalog, but The Torch, this joint venture of Dynamite and Marvel, is really quite well done.

I’m not sure when Alex Ross became the go-to guy for all Golden Age characters, but since he has that role, it makes sense that he’s responsible for plotting and character design in this trade. Mike Carey's character-based scripting really brings this story to life.

[Contains spoilers]

Contrary to what you’d expect, the lead characters for this trade paperback are actually Toro and the Mad Thinker. While the Torch appears in every issue and has an important role to play, he’s basically a robot for most of the book, leaving the thinking and feeling to the more mortal characters. The Torch is one of those characters that doesn't have a strong personality to define him, and Alex Ross and Mike Carey embrace that fault in this story. The Torch only gets to be the hero he is because of his friendship with Toro.

Toro is recently returned to life after the recent Avengers/Invaders TPB, but really, the how and why doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Toro is struggling to find his place in the world. As this takes place during the Dark Reign event, he doesn’t think he belongs on the Dark Avengers and Bucky seems to have lost his number. So he spends his time drinking and remembering what life used to be like. Toro is a sympathetic character; I didn’t know much about him before this trade, but he does well in the spotlight.

I’ve always liked the idea behind the Mad Thinter but at times, this series seems to focus on him too much. We see the Mad Thinker obtain financing, set up his headquarters and eventually start on his experiments. The Thinker is a cold and cruel master; he relishes the opportunity to demean his lab assistants and employers whenever he can. Alex Ross’ character design in the back matter is excellent, and it includes an image of a nice Kirby-esque teleporting watch.

The Mad Thinker is excited at the opportunity to use AIM’s funding to create a new smart weapon to target at an Eastern European country. When the Torch falls into his hands, he relishes the chance to use his old foe as the smart weapon. The Thinker is jealous of the Torch’s creator, Dr. Phineas Horton, as someone who has created something lasting. The Thinker knows that until he creates something that everyone will remember, he is just a footnote in history. Instead of creating, the Thinker modifies the Horton Cells that make up the Torch’s blood into a new mind-control device. It lets him control the Torch, but even better, it lets him control anyone infected with the red cells themselves.

This leads to an exciting infection story setting up a rematch between fire and water. Of course, Namor is infected and taken over, leading to a throw-down between Namor and three flaming heroes, the Torch, Toro, and the Human Torch of Fantastic Four fame. This is a memorable sequence, only partly because of the challenge of identifying which fire-guy is which. All the while, the Mad Thinker is still pulling the strings.

Eventually, Ross and Carey bring things back to the Torch’s World War II roots with some good Nazi villains and a new “Inhuman” Torch. (Naturally, the Mad Thinker is heavily involved again.) This closing portion of the book not only sets up a possible arch-rival for the Torch and Toro, but a new locale for the Marvel Universe to play in. I haven’t seen a city like the sunken, forgotten New Berlin used as an ongoing location; I’d love to see more of it.

Patrick Berkenkotter’s art is reminiscent of Dougie Braithwaite, but he sticks to the Alex Ross designs nicely. Toro’s new suit doesn’t scream “fire guy” at me, but it is a distinctive suit. Maybe it’s the lack of logo that confuses me.

[Contains full covers, character designs, and cover layouts. Printed on glossy paper.]

Overall, The Torch plays to the strength of both writers. Alex Ross is great at rejuvenating Golden Age characters and leaving them in a place where someone else can use the character in modern times. Mike Carey is brilliant at dealing with identity and loss in his work. Both creators get to show off what they do best in this collection.

Thanks Timbotron. New reviews next week!

More about →