Super-Villain Team-Up #3 (Marvel, December 1975, 25 cents)
"If Vengeance Fails!" Writer: Jim Shooter, Artist: George Evans, Inker: Jack Abel, Letterer: Ray Holloway, Colorist: Ellen Vartanoff, Editor: Marv Wolfman.
While I understand that Prince Namor, the Savage Sub-Mariner, is an antihero and occasional foil for other Marvel heroes, I can't quite buy that he is a super-villain, per se. So a book featuring super villains—and starring Namor—seems a bit strange to me. As does a team-up book pairing him with Dr. Doom, who is definitely a super-villain. So I'm curious about the business reasons inspiring this book—because the creative inspiration isn't entirely clear. The series lasted 17 issues.
After killing Billy Dean, Namor's lover, Dr. Dorca becomes the object of the Sub-Mariner's ire. Tiger Shark and Attuma attack Namor in turn before Dr. Doom arrives. Doom downs the trio of foes ("I... had forgotten! You seek to ally yourself to the Prince of Atlantis!") and the two retreat to Doom's amphibious skycraft—and then Castle Latveria—to regroup. Healed and refreshed by a chemical brine-bath, Namor discusses an attack on Hydrobase with Doom.
They attack, and the Sub-Mariner frees the hostage amphibians before tracking down Tamara, who was being questioned. The battle is hard fought, and p. 26 is quite impressive. Evans's artwork is decent enough, but it is Abel's inks that make the issue worthwhile visually. The issue also includes a one-page letter column, "Bad Tidings."
Read Also: Super-Villain Team-Up #2.
Showing posts with label 1975. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1975. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics #378 (DC, March 1969, 12 cents)
"Twelve Hours to Live!" Script: Jim Shooter, Layouts: Jim Shooter, Pencils: Win Mortimer, Inks: Jack Abel, Letters: Joe Letterese, Editor: Mort Weisinger.
A tale of the Legion of Super-Heroes, this comic book features Superboy and other members of the LSH. It is Brainiac 5's birthday, and because of some undetected poison—Rakurga—Karate Kid, Superboy, Duo Damsel, Princess Projectra, and Brainiac 5 himself have only 12 hours to live.
They spend their remaining time in different ways. Brianiac uses his twelfth-level brain to find an antidote. Superboy visits Smallville before saving a Martian city from a glacier, rescuing a Space Roc, and otherwise "devoting even the last hours of his life to the good of the galaxy!" Duo Damsel second guesses the value of her powers and spends time with her mother and father in the suburbs. Karate Kid goes on a suicide mission against the Fatal Five—a team of villains worth revisiting, perhaps. Pp. 11-17 are pretty incredible.
Princess Projectra moons over Karate Kid before going to a senso-theater. In Metro Square Park, she meets Myron Marks, park-bench philosopher, who shows her how to face death calmly. The group reconvenes to write their will on a steel tablet, bequeathing various items to the Legion before sinking into comas. The issue also features a one-page letter column, "The Letter Outpost," which features correspondence as prose rather than as discrete letters.
"Twelve Hours to Live!" Script: Jim Shooter, Layouts: Jim Shooter, Pencils: Win Mortimer, Inks: Jack Abel, Letters: Joe Letterese, Editor: Mort Weisinger.
A tale of the Legion of Super-Heroes, this comic book features Superboy and other members of the LSH. It is Brainiac 5's birthday, and because of some undetected poison—Rakurga—Karate Kid, Superboy, Duo Damsel, Princess Projectra, and Brainiac 5 himself have only 12 hours to live.
They spend their remaining time in different ways. Brianiac uses his twelfth-level brain to find an antidote. Superboy visits Smallville before saving a Martian city from a glacier, rescuing a Space Roc, and otherwise "devoting even the last hours of his life to the good of the galaxy!" Duo Damsel second guesses the value of her powers and spends time with her mother and father in the suburbs. Karate Kid goes on a suicide mission against the Fatal Five—a team of villains worth revisiting, perhaps. Pp. 11-17 are pretty incredible.
Princess Projectra moons over Karate Kid before going to a senso-theater. In Metro Square Park, she meets Myron Marks, park-bench philosopher, who shows her how to face death calmly. The group reconvenes to write their will on a steel tablet, bequeathing various items to the Legion before sinking into comas. The issue also features a one-page letter column, "The Letter Outpost," which features correspondence as prose rather than as discrete letters.
Friday, December 01, 2017
Lush and Lovely
Rima the Jungle Girl #2-5 (Marvel, June-July 1974 to December-January 1974/1975, 20 cents)
Writer: Robert Kanigher, Artist: Nestor Redondo, Cover and layouts: Joe Kubert.
This has got to be one of the most perfect, under-appreciated comic books in the history of DC. Published in the mid-'70s and based on W.H. Hudson's 1904 novel Green Mansions, which was made into a movie starring Audrey Hepburn in 1959, the comic features jungle heroine Rima, who even later appeared in the cartoon The All-New Super Friends Hour. Green Mansions was also adapted by Classics Illustrated in 1951 (#90).
The heroine and storyline have more in common with weird fiction and writing by authors such as H. Rider Haggard, at least in the initial issues, than with other jungle adventure regulars such as Tarzan.
#2: "Flight from Eden" In Venezuela, John Abel, injured by a snake bite, muses over the "beautiful apparition" of Rima. Brought into the forest by her grandfather Nuflo after her mother died, Rima is able to communicate with animals. Clothed in spiderweb, she is angered by her grandfather's eating of meat, After Abel returns to an Indian village, she welcomes him back to her grandfather's hut, indicating she wants to return to her mother's home.
Redondo's art is lithe and nimble, and some pages—4, 8, and 12-13 in particular—are breathtaking. The issue also includes a one-page Li'l Brontosaurus gag by Henry Boltinoff, as well as a five-page Space Voyagers backup story. Written by Kanigher and drawn by Alex Nino, "The Delta Brain" is science fiction comics at their finest: sense shattering, inventive, and threatening. Editorial Assistant Allan Asherman contributes a one-page text piece, "The Riddle of the Didi," which contextualizes Rima.
Writer: Robert Kanigher, Artist: Nestor Redondo, Cover and layouts: Joe Kubert.
This has got to be one of the most perfect, under-appreciated comic books in the history of DC. Published in the mid-'70s and based on W.H. Hudson's 1904 novel Green Mansions, which was made into a movie starring Audrey Hepburn in 1959, the comic features jungle heroine Rima, who even later appeared in the cartoon The All-New Super Friends Hour. Green Mansions was also adapted by Classics Illustrated in 1951 (#90).
The heroine and storyline have more in common with weird fiction and writing by authors such as H. Rider Haggard, at least in the initial issues, than with other jungle adventure regulars such as Tarzan.
#2: "Flight from Eden" In Venezuela, John Abel, injured by a snake bite, muses over the "beautiful apparition" of Rima. Brought into the forest by her grandfather Nuflo after her mother died, Rima is able to communicate with animals. Clothed in spiderweb, she is angered by her grandfather's eating of meat, After Abel returns to an Indian village, she welcomes him back to her grandfather's hut, indicating she wants to return to her mother's home.
Redondo's art is lithe and nimble, and some pages—4, 8, and 12-13 in particular—are breathtaking. The issue also includes a one-page Li'l Brontosaurus gag by Henry Boltinoff, as well as a five-page Space Voyagers backup story. Written by Kanigher and drawn by Alex Nino, "The Delta Brain" is science fiction comics at their finest: sense shattering, inventive, and threatening. Editorial Assistant Allan Asherman contributes a one-page text piece, "The Riddle of the Didi," which contextualizes Rima.
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