Top 20 Bronze Age Superhero Comic Runs - Part 1

I was recently looking for a nice list of the all time great Bronze Age Superhero Comic Runs by given creative teams. While I found a few lists that were pretty good, I felt like I should throw my hat in the ring and present one of my own. Conferring with my friends Trey Causey and Scott Simmons, and using the dates given by wikipedia for the start and end of the Bronze Age (1970 to 1985) this is what we came up with. With each entry, I will try to provide a link to a site that provides more information.

Here are entries 20 - 11:

20: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes issues 241 to 245

When this arc was orginally published, I didn't remember being particularly impressed with it. I think I took issue with Staton's art which clashed with what I was used to in the series (Cockrum/Grell). However, it was pointed out that the cosmic war between the Earth and the Khunds was one of the first times the Legion had ever been engaged in such an action packed epic.

• Fanzing which gives an excellent rundown on the story arc.
• Comixology has the full storyline for 1.99 an issue

19: Captain America 261 - 300

JM DeMatteis is one of the great writers to emerge during the 80's. He was able to blend deeper philosophical and sociological commentary into his stories (Moonshadow, Blood: A Shadow) as well as deliver innovative action/adventure stories (I, Vampire, Kraven's Last Hunt) Teamed up with Mike Zeck who was making a big name for himself at Marvel, they produced a fantastic run on Captain America.

• Reading Captain America has more information
• Amazon has some of trades from this era

18: Jungle Action 6 - 24

This entry was nominated by Trey and seconded by Scott, but I'm sad to say unfamiliar with it. Here is what wikipedia says about this run:

Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "The scripts by Don McGregor emphasized the character's innate dignity." Unusually for mainstream comics, the Panther stories were set mostly in Africa, in the Panther's fictional homeland Wakanda rather than in Marvel's usual American settings. As with the futuristic stories of Killraven, McGregor's settings were enough outside the Marvel mainstream that he was able to explore mature themes and adult relationships in a way rare for comics at the time.

• Factual Opinion has a thoughtful analysis of the stories
• Marvel Masterworks: The Black Panther

17: Avengers 167 - 168, 170 - 177

This run begins with an amazing battle between the Avengers and Ultron and ends with the one of cataclysmic Korvac Saga guest staring the Guardians of the Galaxy. Jim Shooter and Roger Stern provide a fast paced storyline that is propelled into your eyes by stunning George Perez art. The saga is also notable for its poetic denouement.

• SuperMegaMonkey has good write up of arc
• Avengers: The Korvac Saga (Marvel Premiere Classic) on Amazon

16: Green Lantern 76 - 85

While this series may appear quaint or goofy by todays standards, when it first appeared, it successfully stretched the boundaries of traditional superhero comics at DC in a much needed way. O'Neil was a gifted writer who was more in touch with the times than most of his peers at DC during this time. And Neal Adams was introducing a sense of photorealism to the comics unlike anything seen at the time.

• Bronze Age Babies has a great write up on this era
• 70s Green Lantern/Green Arrow on Amazon

15: Strange Tales (SHIELD) 153 - 168

Before he became that guy who is always dissing on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD television series, Jim Steranko was bringing an artistic style to comics never seen before (and not seen much since). Writer Steven Ringgenberg says it best:

Steranko's Marvel work became a benchmark of '60s pop culture, combining the traditional comic book art styles of Wally Wood and Jack Kirby with the surrealism of Richard Powers and Salvador Dalí. Steeped in cinematic techniques picked up from that medium's masters, Jim synthesized http://www.FlashbackUniverse.com/. an approach different from anything being done in mainstream comics, though it did include one standard attraction: lots of females in skintight, sexy costumes.

Interesting side note: So reverred is the art and covers from this run that I actually had a hard time finding the ACTUAL covers from the run admidst the horde of homages.

• SuperMegaMonkey has a nice write up on the series
• Marvel Masterworks: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Amazon

14: The Invaders 1- 29

Set against the backdrop of WW II, this series gave comics fan turned comics pro Roy Thomas the playground he most likely always wanted as he took long forgotten Golden Age heroes from Marvel's Timely era and let the stand shoulder to shoulder with Captain America, The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner. Golden Age artist Frank Robbins provided the art with a style that set it well apart from some of the more generic superhero comics of the time.

• I covered this series a ways back in a Bronze Age Spotlight
• Marvel Artist Alan Kupperberg also has a nice page on the series
• I wish there was an Omnibus of this series, but unfortunately, all there are a few Invaders Trade Paperbacks on Amazon

13: Fantastic Four 164 - 192

This was a tough one to add to the list as many issues are by other artists (though most of them are outstanding like John Buscema) but the issues by Perez make it a classic run. Some of the highlights:

• The return of the Golden Age Crusader
• The FF come to the aid of the High Evolutionary as Galactus sets his sights on Counter Earth
• The return of the Impossible Man
• The Frightful Four return and hold auditions for a new member in the Baxter Building
• Power Man joins the FF

This was a string of beautiful action paced stories not scene since the old Lee/Kirby days. Bonus: Power Man joins the FF for a bit as a replacement for The Thing.

• When Galactus Calls has nice write up on the Counter Earth Arc
• Fantastic Four by George Perez on Amazon

12: Master of Kung Fu 100 - 120

This is a series where picking the classic run is tough because several fantastic artists worked on the series (Jim Starlin, Craig Hamilton and Paul Gulacy) However the one that got the critics talking back in the Bronze Age was Gene Day.

• Jim Shooter has an interesting post on his blog about Gene Day
• Sadly, this series will most likely never be reprinted as it uses liscensed characters from the Sax Rohmer estate.

11: Legion of Super-heroes 184 - 224

In 1973, Jim Cockrum redesigned the Legion of Super-heroes costumes kicking off the rebirth of the series for many fans. Cockrum would stay on the series until his roommate Mike Grell took over with issue 203. The one, two punch of Cockrum and Grell was exactly what the long in the tooth franchise needed. Aided by seasoned writers Cary Bates and Jim Shooter, the Legion was able to reclaim much of the popularity it had lost over the years.

• The Legion Files has an excellent write up on Cockrum's work on the LOSH
• And Comics Should Be Good has an interesting story about how Grell was instrumental in introducing the first black character into the Legion.
• You can find Legion of Super-Heroes Archives on Amazon

Since I started with a Legion entry, it seems fitting to end with one, so I'm going to stop here and will try to continue the list new weekend.

Stay tuned for a shorter post later this week.

- Jim

Secret Origins: The Fantastic Four

Editor's Note: Today, FBU is pleased to bring you an interesting find.  Trey Causey brought to my attention a magazine article that appears to be from the Marvel Universe itself…

---

In 1961, to all appearances, the Soviet Union was winning the space race.  After a string of firsts, Yuri Gagarin officially became the first human in space on April 12.  The next month, NASA, playing catch-up, would launch Alan Sheppard on a suborbital flight.  Sheppard would be proclaimed as the first American in space.



The official story is wrong.  What is not widely known is that the first Americans in space were civilians, flying an unauthorized test of an experimental spacecraft designed to take humans to Mars before the end of the decade.  What’s more, their flight pre-dated Gagarin’s by months.  This was a secret part of America’s space program—the strange twin to the more conventional and image-conscious Apollo program.  It was an attempt not only to beat the Communists but also to send a message to the alien species that had taken an interest in the Earth over the past decade.

These pioneers would become publicly lauded heroes but of a different sort.  Their strange adventures are widely celebrated, though not always believed.   Their true contributions to history would be publicized predominantly in the pages of a comic book.

This is the true story of how it began: the real story of America’s first space flight and the heroes it created.

“MAYBE WE OUGHTA DO SOME SUPERHEROES”
In May of 1961 (as the story goes), Jack Liebowitz, publisher of DC Comics, had a golf game with Martin Goodman, his counterpart at Atlas (soon to be Marvel) Comics.  Liebowitz bragged about the success of the Justice League of America, a comic book presenting the exploits of fictional superheroes (Or so it was widely believed.  Gardner Fox, and eventually Julius Schwartz knew better).  The Justice League was part of a string of titles DC had that exploited the renewed interest in superheroes.

Goodman’s company, like most comic book companies, had no superhero-theme titles at the time.  Superheroes had fallen out of favor in the early 1950s at the height of the Cold War.  The anti-superhero climate had lead to congressional hearings on the subversive influence on America’s youth of superhero comics themselves, instigated by Dr. Frederic Wertham.

What Goodman’s company specialized in was schlocky horror tales of monsters and aliens.  Some of these were based on news reports or rumors.  Others were completely fictional.  Almost all exaggerated the size and destructive nature of the unusual creatures involved.  The company had westerns and romance comics as well, but all of these added up to only moderate commercial success.

When Leibowitz told Goodman the sales figures on his first two issues of the Justice League, Goodman decided superheroes might be just what his company needed.  At the soonest opportunity, Goodman summoned his cousin-in-law and comic book editor-in-chief, Stan Lee, to his office and told him: “maybe we oughta do some superheroes.”

Lee’s first attempt rushed into print the fictionalized exploits of a sorcerer and monster-fighter he called “Dr. Droom.”  This unlikely nom de guerre was necessary to help fictionalize the adventures of Dr. Anthony Ludgate Druid, whose permission Lee had not obtained before using his likeness.  Lee reportedly got what real information he had on Dr. Druid from an eavesdropping employee of the exclusive club where Druid and the other self-styled “Monster Hunters” met.  Never particularly popular, the Dr. Droom series came to an end around the time Lee introduced the world to the group that would form the nucleus of the nascent Marvel Comics empire.

A newspaper article from Los Angeles would suggest to Lee a superhero comic to rival the Justice League.  The now-famous photo shows a group of four non-costumed but obviously superhuman individuals in action against a monster, bursting up through the street.  A striking image to be sure—but what particularly got Lee’s attention was that one of these superhumans was a flying man with a body of flame.  A human torch.

The adventures of the original Human Torch had been published by Goodman’s company (then called Timely).  Goodman had, at the time, paid an honorarium to Phineas Horton for inside information on (and the rights to) stories about his creation.

Goodman still held the rights to the name since the original bearer had disappeared, and in any case, was an android with unclear legal standing.  Lee decided “The Human Torch” was the perfect name for this new superhuman—and with that idea, he had a plan.  Lee called a journalist contact he had in California to see what he could find out about these new heroes.

It only took a couple of days for Lee to find out the identities of some of the people in the picture.  The man with the stretching powers was well-known, at least in scientific circles.  He was Reed Richards.  The monster-man wasn’t easy to recognize, but the reporter told a Lee that this was Benjamin Grimm, former test pilot.

Lee was shocked.  He had heard of both these men!  Richards he had read about in magazines.  Ben Grimm he had heard about from a sometime Atlas employee—one who had actually met the man.

Jack Kirby, who would become the artist for Lee’s new comic, had grown up in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.  At a high school party, Kirby had met another Jewish kid from the neighborhood—a football star named Ben Grimm.  Though the two had only a chance meeting, but Kirby had followed Grimm’s football exploits at State U, and his wartime adventures in the South Pacific through the neighborhood grapevine.

Lee and Kirby managed to get in touch with Grimm, and through him Richards, and the Storm siblings.  Lee proposed a deal to help the new heroes and his comic company.  The Four would be paid for the use of their likenesses and exploits in what would be billed as “The World’s Only 100% Authorized Comics Magazine.”  Lee, with his gift for alliteration, even came up with a title—the Fantastic Four.

The association with Lee and Kirby may have benefited the newly minted superhumans in ways beyond the financial.  Perhaps it was the writer Lee, or maybe it was Kirby who had worked on the strangely parallel Challengers of the Unknown for the competition, who proposed that the four become a superhero team.  It certainly seems likely that the duo suggested the idea of costumes and codenames—as the quartet’s costumeless debut suggests.

There was just one problem.  The four had experienced some major financial difficulties in the first months of their career (the recession of 1960-61).  Casting about for funding, they had just signed a deal with S-M Studios to make a documentary film about their exploits.  This contract had turned over all media rights to S-M.

In a twist worthy of a Lee/Kirby yarn, S-M was owned by Namor, the Sub-Mariner.  Though Namor was an enemy of the four, perhaps he was more positively disposed towards Atlas, the successor to Timely, publisher of fictionalized accounts of Namor’s War World II exploits.  Whatever his motivations, Namor signalled his subordinates that they could make a deal with Lee.  The Fantastic Four was coming to comics.
NEXT WEEK: The Real Four…

The Kirby Krackle Konspiracy

How many times have people commented on the indosyncratic technological designs during the Silver Age?



Many people attribute this to stylistic choices made by Jack Kirby as he chronicled the adventures of various characters, but I think I know the real truth. What we think of as the Kirby style with huge terminating dots and metal inlays that swoosh in wild directions on machines with seemingly no purpose are actually a barely understood form of arcane runic designs which have been integrated with the technology.


The source of these designs all stem back to early magic/technology integrations Victor Von Doom made while at college. It was only Jack Kirby who dared show us how these items really looked!

Some theorize that Doom was combining the long forgotten power of ley lines and Nazca designs to make technology do things more efficiently and faster than ever before.  Doesn't this Nazca Whale does look similar to designs Kirby uses in some of his art?

He was already experimenting with such innovations prior to his scholarship to college, but he made his real progress while working on experiments there. That is what amazed Reed Richards so much when he stumbled upon Doom's notes. Reed was so impressed with the theories, that he would later use of them in his own inventions, so much so that people now associate their origin with him.

After Doom was expelled, the government seized his notes and his work would later appear in some of the tech used by SHIELD.

Of course agents of both HYDRA and AIM would get their eyes on these notes which is why we see it in Captain America.


Now the question arises, Did Doom come up with this himself? The answer is no. We see this form of technology appearing in ancient lost civilizations

in Attilan:


and in Wakanda, 


Some people suggest the true origin of this Rune Tech is the home of the Eternals brought here from space by the Celestials...


But that doesn't explain how how this technology shows up even in alternate dimensions and parallel universes...


Others argue that it is simply a stylistic attribute of Kirby's art, but that can't be right because this style shows up in other artists renderings as well.



Obviously, Jack Kirby was onto something!

Bronze Age Killers

Which hero was the first the break the unspoken comic book rule that heroes don't kill? And I'm not counting gun waving Batman or Machine Gun Bucky.

Those instances are from the somewhat surreal Golden Age when many heroes were soulless Nazi killing machines. The cleansing combination of Comics Code conduct and Silver Age sensibilities did an effective job of keeping the violence in GA comics from having  either a spiritual or literal impact on Bronze Age heroes. In more modern comics, the Golden Age violence has been referenced quite a bit. In some cases resulting in interesting stories, like Ed Brubaker's Captain America run. Others, like DC's failed First Wave line, not so much.

Still, in today's modern world of violent comics, you sort of have to wonder how we got here. Which heroes in the bronze age crossed the line first?

Normally, we associate this paradigm shift with Wolverine and Punisher, and rightfully so. (and possibly Deathlok to some degree.) But were they really the first heroes to mae killing in the Bronze Age acceptable? In those cases, they were seen as sort of antiheroes or rogue heroes whose exceptional behavior proved the rule. I believe nightly news era accounts of the Vietnam War have more to do with violence in comics than the Punisher's rubber bullets. Also, you can see this trend slowly creeping in if you look at other comics from the era. Here are a few examples.

In Avengers 117, during the classic Avengers/Defenders War, the Swordsman (albeit a hero who was once a villain) kills a man:

 

When I was a kid, this scene made quite an impact on me, and I have to wonder if it didn't play some small role in the Swordsman's death later on in the series (much in the same way that the Phoenix's burning of an entire planet caused Jim Shooter to demand she pay for the crime.)

Next is a death scene I dare you to have forgotten. The classic Cap/Baron Blood showdown from Captain America 257:

When I originally read that scene, I was really shocked by it. Still, the explanation that Captain America was originally a soldier who had most likely killed people during the war was satisfying enough that I didn't have the fan freakout that some people did.

My final example is one a lot of people either haven't read or don't remember, and that's when Princess Projectra makes Nemesis Kid pay the ultimate price for killing her husband Karate Kid.

  

At the time, I felt she was totally justified in her actions, but looking at it today, I have to sort of quibble with her excuse that she has the she can take the law into her own hands because she was born into the right family. :\

Again, I think we can all agree that the real leaders in the bloody revolution in comics were Wolverine and the Punisher, but I believe these examples indicate other writers were picking up on the climate change as well.

If I missed a similar death scene from the era, please let me know.

Have a great weekend!

- Jim

The Bronze Age: Part Deux?

FRIDAY'S EDITOR'S NOTE: Continuing my theme of New Columnist Week, today we have a guest column by MattComix, a name many of you may recognize from the comments section of this blog. If the name is unfamiliar to you, then read on for a true introduction...

My name is Matt. I write, I draw, and I dream of heroes. ...and who disguised as a mild-mannered bookseller for a major retailer fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and other cool stuff!

Seriously though, as a child in the hazy days of the late 1970s my Grandpa would walk to the corner store every morning and while getting the morning paper he would pull a random comic book off the ol' spinner rack to bring to me. So before I could really even read I had begun to develop this insatiable admiration of superheroes and a love of animation, movies and of course comic book art. It was not only the idea of having that freedom to summon power that would break the bonds of our earthly limitations, but also having the courage to use such power to protect life.

When it comes to superheroes whether they are classic American heroes or from other shores like the dynamic henshin-heroes of Japan, my adventures within these wild and colorful fantasy worlds always remind me to do one thing in real life: look up in the sky.

...Welcome aboard Matt! - Jim

---

The Bronze Age: Part Deux?
In comics fandom, it can be very difficult to have a conversation about current comics or the direction the genre has taken over the course of the past few decades. If you disapprove of what's going on in comics now, people will tell you that you hate change and just want nostalgia. This argument has heated up more than ever thanks to the resurrection of popular Silver Age characters like Hal Jordan and Silver Age status quos like an unmarried Peter Parker. I think changes like this strain believability beyond any reasonable limit, even by the standards of superhero comics, but other people would say that DC and to a lesser extent Marvel are just doing whatever shameless thing it takes to appeal to the nostalgia of older fans like me.

Honestly, I'm not sure who is supposed to find this stuff appealing. Guys like me, who grew up at the end of the Bronze Age and saw the early days of "modern" comics or the current fans, who've been taught since their comic-reading birth that everything was like Superfriends until Miller and Moore descended from the heavens to bless our undeserving world with serious superhero books? It doesn't make sense either way.

I think the big superhero publishers do assume fans that came out of the Bronze Age of comics want these resurrections to work and are against any form of change whatsoever. I think the publishers believe the easiest way to get back in a Silver or Bronze Age fan's good graces is to reverse everything that happened after the 70s or 80s. At the end of the day I can only speak for myself, but I don't think this is true. I think the issue is not that things changed too much but rather that publishers weren't careful about how they transformed characters and status quos. As Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker in the first Spider-Man movie, "Be careful what you change into."

I think any Bronze Age fan is well aware that some degree of change is inevitable. The problem is when the changes we're asked to accept in our favorite characters are just stupid or require silly explanations mired in boring corners of continuity. These clumsy fixes could be avoided if writers asked themselves some simple questions:

• Does an idea for a character change make sense?
• Is it a good idea on its own merits?
• Does it add something to that character over the long-term instead of being a gimmick?
• Is this a change being made just because its "different or "edgy," something to gain cheap heat that might generate a temporary sales boost that'll go away quickly enough.
• Does killing a character truly have any storytelling benefit past the shock and angst of their demise? In fact, is there really anything wrong with a given characters status quo in the first place?

Put simply, I think many Bronze Age fans recognize that tradition and innovation don't have to be mutually exclusive. I think that’s the heart of what Bronze Age fans really want. I don't think many of us necessarily wanted to see Wally West dethroned in favor of Barry Allen, especially since all things considered Barry got one of the better write-outs in comics.

For all that various Silver or Bronze Age characters and concepts may be re-appearing in modern comics, it's still the same bands playing the same song. We're still under the same editorial regimes that green-lighted questionable projects like Identity Crisis and Civil War. Marvel can talk about a Heroic Age all it wants, but its output is still full of bloated event stories, pornographically detailed violence, and pretentions of "realism" and "relevance"

Isn't that just the same old grim n' gritty nonsense? It feels like business as usual. The big superhero publishers act like they want to do the time warp again, but are still ashamed of a simple three-letter word that at some point became verboten in the comic industry: fun.

In my view, one of the cooler things about Bronze Age comics had a lot to do with how the stories were approached. Superhero comics had come out of the (arguably) more comedic style of the Silver Age thanks to Marvel, but the industry and the fandom were not yet required to worship at the First Church of Watchmen. Bronze Age books took on a more dramatic tone and had a greater focus on action, but they were still bright, bold, and... well, comic booky as ever. Superhero comics of that era had what I like to refer to as equilibrium, something that won't come back just by resurrecting old characters or resetting your continuity.

Have a great weekend

- Matt

The Villains of Ross Andru

A few weeks ago, Pierre posted an tribute to Ross Andru which caused a bit of back and forth comments between regular commenter RKB and Pierre wherein the called into question that all the villains created during that time were bad. As RKB put it while discussing a particularly good story featuring the Grizzly...

With a good enough story no villain has to be crappy. :)

There is no doubt that the Lee/Ditko run created most of Spider-man's A list villains. However, just like Flash's Rogues, the original Sinister Six get overused again (most recently, in the Gauntlet storyline), while many of the Andru Era villains get completely ignored, There are a few notable exceptions, who'll I'll mention in a the end of this post, but let's look at the list of forgotten villains.


The Gibbon - Seemingly born a mutant with an apelike build and agility, The Gibbon later joined a circus where he excelled as an acrobat. His powers were later enhanced by a potion given to him by Kraven the Hunter to "Unleash the Beast within".


The Grizzly - Maxwell Markham was a professional wrestler whose brutal tactics caused J. Jonah Jameson to write a scathing editorial calling for an investigation by the wrestling commission. As a consequence of the hearings, his license was revoked. Later, he obtained a suit that augmented his strength from the Jackal.


The Kangaroo - As a boy growing up in Australia Frank Oliver used to spend his vacations studying Kangaroos. He would live with the Kangaroos, going where they went and eating what they ate. Then he became a boxer but was banned after seriously injuring another.


Cyclone - He was a N.A.T.O engineer who created the Cyclone a weapon of war, and was told that N.A.T.O didn't need the weaponary because it was purchased solely from America.Not long after N.A.T.O fired him and from his device he created a costume and became a criminal.


Mindworm was a superhuman mutant with limited telephatic powers who was briefly a minor enemy of Spider-Man. He had an oversized cranium and was naturally extremely intelligent. Eventually, Mindworm attempted to reform but his problems were too difficult for him to control and he allowed himself to be killed by common street thugs to end his great suffering.


Mirage was a Holographic technician who always wanted to become a costumed criminal. First appearance involved him and his gang robbing weddings including that of Betty Brant and Ned Leeds where he was defeated by Spider-Man.


The Disruptor was a charismatic politician with ties to the underworld and possibly a criminal past. With the help of the Man-Monster, a creature created by Dr. Thaxton, he tried to get elected as Mayor of New York. He was defeated in that bid by Spider-Man and was killed when the Man-Monster took revenge on him.


The Smasher - I've got nothing on this guy. Anyone care to help me out and clue me in as to who this guy was?


Rocket Racer aka Robert Farrell was originally a criminal. He snatched a courier's bulging briefcase. Spider-Man couldn't stop him because he was moving too fast on his rocket powered skateboard. However, a car pulled out in front of him suddenly and Spider-Man was able to defeat him and leave him with the police.
And here is one of my favorites from this era...


Will O The Wisp - Jackson Arvad was the chief scientist for electromagnetic research at the Brand Corporation. During a laboratory mishap, a gravitic energy surge shattered the "magno-chamber" in whose vicinity Arvad was working. The accident plunged Arvad's body directly into the magno-chamber's self-sustained electromagnetic field, and the residual high frequency field weakened the electromagnetic attractions between the molecules of Arvad's body This caused the molecules of Arvad's body to gradually disperse. Arvad soon discovered, however, that he possesses a certain degree of mental control over the dispersion of his body's molecules. Unfortunately, every time he relaxed control over his molecular cohesion, it was more difficult for him to resume a solid state.

Here are the villains from this era that have managed to move off the D list.


The Jackal - Prof. Miles Warren was once a professor of biochemistry at Empire State University. At some point, he studied genetics under the tutelage of the High Evolutionary, but was expelled from the Evolutionary's headquarters when he proved to be unstable. He received further training and equipment from Maelstrom. Warren fell in love with one of his students, Gwen Stacy, who was the girlfriend of Peter Parker. After Gwen was killed by the original Green Goblin, Warren turned his attention towards methods of cloning, inspired by the creation of a full-grown frog to attempt to clone humans. When he killed his lab partner Anthony Serba (who had discovered the truth) Warren became completely insane, developing the personality of the Jackal as he tried to convince himself that someone else had killed his assistant, rather than he himself.


Man-Wolf - John Jameson, son of newspaper mogul J. Jonah Jameson, was one of the youngest applicants to ever be accepted into NASA's astronaut program. During his first mission, in which he orbited Earth, Jameson's capsule developed a faulty guidance module which caused the craft to spin out of control. The fledgling adventurer, Spider-Man, who had just begun his career weeks earlier, managed to rescue Jameson by getting a replacement guidance module to the plummeting capsule. This incident, which Jameson's father construed as a publicity stunt to upstage his son's accomplishment, provoked the one of elder Jameson's first editorial denouncements of Spider-Man.

And of course, this guy...



Do I really need to remind who this guy is? ;)

Have a great day!

- Jim

A Bronze Age Alphabet (Part 4)

Today Trey Causey brings us Part 4 of his Bronze Age Alphabet. Check out Parts One, Two and Three if you missed them.

Q is for Questions: On covers, that is. While never has common as the simple declaration— “Back Off, Batman!” (The Brave and the Bold #122), for instance—questions have been an important part of selling comics to perspective buyers throughout the Silver and Bronze Ages. These range from the quotidian (“Where Are You, Girl?” (Conan #67)), to the highly pertinent (“I Know Kraven is Nearby—Waiting—Lurking—But? Where? Where?” (Daredevil #104) or “Can Anyone Save My Husband Before It’s too Late?” (Avengers #154)), to the quasi-philosophical (“What Is the Fine Line…Between Flesh and Fantasy?” (Weird War Tales #95), or “From Whence Came…The Enemy?” (Avengers #175), or “How Could Primitive Savages Overwhelm the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes?” (Justice League of America #84)), but they always served to make you want to pull issues off spinner-racks.

Now, of course, covers are treated more pieces of art, and very little text is employed (except perhaps to say what part of what massive crossover an issue might be). The hyperbolic entreaties of the Bronze Age are seen as a somewhat cheesy relic of the past. And so I’ll pose one last question: The Lack of Cover Copy! Will It Save Comics—Or Destroy Them?

R is for Religious Overtones: Brothers and sisters, have you ever stopped to consider the way religious imagery, themes, and references emerged in comics of the Bronze Age? Please turn your attention to the gospel of Thomas and Kane found in Marvel Premiere #1 (1972) and eight issues of The Power of Warlock, and reaching its conclusion in The Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #176-178 (1974). This, dear friends, is the Passion of Adam Warlock, as he strives to deliver Counter-Earth from evil. Also consider the Apocalypse of Jim Starlin, as he takes the erstwhile messiah figure of Warlock through the tribulations of the “Magus Saga,” beginning in Strange Tales #178 (1974). Here Warlock confronted an evil doppelganger of himself who had established an oppressive intergalactic church. Starlin would again prophesize a church gone wrong in the form of the Instrumentality, the antagonists of Dreadstar. Marvel Premiere #13-14 (1974) offer us further revelation with Doctor Strange bearing witness to the "shaggy god" story of the anagramic Sise-Neg. And can not we all take solace in “the friend” who came to that sinner Johnny Blaze in his darkest hour (Ghost Rider #9, 1974)? We must, however, not fall prey to the false message of Ghost Rider #19, which proclaimed the friend to be a demonic lie--in conflict with Brother Tony Isabella’s original intention.

The Distinguished Competition was more on preaching fire and brimstone than longhaired, spiritual friends. The power of good was not as much apparent, but the snares of Satan were revealed in lurid detail in their various horror titles. Even amidst this darkness, however, there are glimmers of hope. Steve Englehart was so moved by the good news of the coming of the celestial messiah that he took the tale of Mantis, an earthwoman who becomes the Celestial Madonna, from the pages of the Avengers, to Justice League of America #142 where she appears under the name Willow! In Christmas-themed, Batman #219, the Dark Knight singing “Silent Night” is shown to have the power to stop crime. Hallelujah!

S is for Swords: Sometimes with sorcery, sometimes without. The pro-(or anti-, I guess)-sorcery pulp adaptation crowd got their roll-call in a previous BAS, but then there are the original comics creations. DC’s Showcase #82 (1969) threw its lot in with the S&S camp with its cover blurb for the debut of Nightmaster. Jim Rook, the titular Nightmaster, basically lived Ronnie James Dio’s fondest dream, as he transformed from rock ‘n’ roll front-man to heroic wielder of the Sword of Night in the world of Myrra. Nightmaster played a new riff on the “fighting man transported to exotic world” Burroughs standard. Heroes to follow would cut closer to the John Carter type. Air Force Captain Travis Morgan was certainly a more likely hero--but not necessarily one you’d expect to wear fur loincloth. Yet that’s exactly what he attached his scabbard to as the Warlord. John Jameson was another military man who became the champion of an Other Realm, only he got a wolf-man makeover and a sword as Stargod (Marvel Premiere #45). Major Christopher Summers, yet another member of the USAF, got abducted by aliens, and became a swashbuckling space-pirate with the Starjammers, debuting in X-Men #104. Arak, Son of Thunder, took a shorter trip that these other guys-- only going from pre-Columbian North America to the Court of Charlemagne--but he was every bit a man in a world not his own—and just as much the sword-swinging hero.

Then, there were the swordsmen (and women) that didn’t have to leave home. Ironwolf’s whole improbable, wooden-spaceship-flying civilization buckled swashes in the pages of Weird Worlds #8-10. Starfire swung her sword for her world’s freedom from the alien Mygorg and Yorg for exactly 8 issues of her self-titled series. Claw the Unconquered had a demon’s hand from another world, but he mostly wandered around his native Pytharia—which turns out to be Starfire’s world in a different era.

Most these of these swords-people, and others I didn’t mentioned, succumbed to a foe swifter than their blades--and deadlier, too. Ever-fickle reader tastes sheathed many a sword, and sent their wielders to the comics Valhalla of back-issue longboxes.

T is for Team-Ups: Throughout politically turbulent Bronze Age seventies, people were coming together for a cause—to beat up super-villains. We’d had social clubs before (the Justice Society), formal teams (the Justice League, the Avengers), and buddies hanging out (Batman and Superman in World’s Finest), but the Bronze Age real perfected the more egalitarian, one-off formula. The Brave and the Bold got the ball rolling pre-Bronze Age with issue 50, and shifted to its “Batman plus one” formula by #67. By the 70s though, Batman was dealing out justice with anybody and everybody, from a dream team-up with Scalphunter, to multiple tours with Sgt. Rock, to brief alliances with members of his rogue’s gallery (the Joker and the Riddler).

Spider-Man, never a team player (well, not until recently) was perfectly willing to get by with a little help from his friends—for 150 issues in Marvel Team-Up. The strangest of these might be issue #74 (1978) where Spidey fought the Silver Samurai with the cast of Saturday Night Live, but I think another strong contender would be issue #79, when he takes on Hyborian Age heavy, Kulan Gath, with Mary Jane Watson—who’s been turned into Red Sonja by a magic sword! After Team-Up, Marvel went team-up crazy. It was clobberin’ time for two with the Thing and a new guest star every month in Marvel Two-in-One. Starting in 1975, Super-Villain Team-Up doubled your pleasure (and your dose of pontification) with Dr. Doom and Sub-Mariner. The first superhero was a little late to the Bronze Age team-up game. DC Comics Presents, featuring Superman, started in 1978 and closed out the era in 1986. In that 97 issue and 4 annual span, Supes joined forces with everybody from Ambush Bug (#81) to Mattel’s He-Man (#47). Leave it to Superman to get little “me” time in a team-up book--with two outings with Clark Kent (#59 and #79) and his Earth-Two counterpart (Annuals #1 and 3)!

In the Bronze Age team-ups like these were a monthly regularity. Now they’re often billed as capital “E” events, and seem more geared to boost sales with a walk-on than catch us up on what Kamandi’s up to in Earth After-Disaster. Team-up comics often didn’t make much sense, but they were always fun.

U is for Underworld: As crime-rates soared in New York and other American cities in the seventies and early eighties, film began to reflect this reality, and so did comics. A greater emphasis was put on somewhat more “realistic” criminal types rather than cackling mad scientist and soliloquizing monarchs. But it took a while. Marvel introduced the Maggia—their version of the mafia (were they afraid of having to pay royalties?)—in 1970, which were mostly Prohibition-era organized crime stereotypes and costumed cronies. Hammerhead, debuting in Spider-Man #113, was the very definition of cartoonish, with his Dick Tracy rogues’ gallery physiognomy. The gritty, Mack Bolan-inspired Punisher first appeared in 1974, but he was initially squaring off against super-villains. In 1976’s Spider-Man #162, though, he took aim at Jigsaw--who was still a little on the Dick Tracy side, but filtered through a smudged, seventies lens. When Frank Miller took over Daredevil in the early eighties, the gritty modern age was almost ready to kick in the door. The Kingpin returned in Daredevil #170, and started acting more like a “realistic” crime boss. In 1982, a little over a year later, the Punisher appeared with more Taxi Driver or Death Wish portrayal, putting Daredevil between his guns and the criminals.

DC had a different approach, but saw similar changes. The Black Spider from Detective Comics #463 (1976) was a former small-time crook and heroin addict that waged a vigilante war against the “Pusher-Man.” Six issues later, Rupert Thorne, a Boss Tweed-style corrupt city boss, became a—uh, well you know—in Batman’s side. Just a month earlier, Black Lightning #1 had introduced DC’s own kingpin of Metropolis, Tobias Whale.

Editor's Note: If you enjoyed that, be sure to check out more of Trey's musings over at the From The Sorceror's Skull.

Have a great weekend!