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silveragelovechild · 2 years

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The Long and Complicated History of Captain Marvel(s)

I’m fascinating by the history of Captain Marvel and all the lawsuits spawned by his ownership. You can find bits and pieces of the story all over the internet, but here’s my summary.

1938 - Superman was first published in Action Comics #1

1939 - Captain Marvel appeared in Whiz Comics #1. Over the years National made threats to Fawcett over copyright infringement. Today I don’t think Cap was a copy of Superman, but at the dawn of the Comic industry maybe is wasn’t quite so black & white.

1940s - Captain Marvel sold better and spun off sidekicks Cap Jr and Mary.

1950s - Sales dropped and many superhero titles were canceled. In the dwindling market National sued Fawcett for copyright infringement. Because of lower sale, Fawcett decided it wasn’t worth the fight and stopped publishing Captain Marvel.

Meanwhile a company in England had been republishing Captain Marvel comics. Without new stories they contracted with Nick Andros to develop something new. He created a thin imitation of Captain Marvel called MarvelMan (but with blond hair). He used the word KIMOTA (atomic backwards) to transform. His sidekicks were Marvel Man Jr. And Kid Marvelmen. This comic continued thru the early 1960s

1961 - Stan Lee reinvented Timely/Atlas Comics into Marvel Comics with Fantastic Four #1.

1966 - Publisher MF Enterprises released a comic called Captain Marvel about an android who could detached pieces of his body by saying “Split!” It only ran 4 issues. Stan Lee must have notice!

1967 - Stan Lee created his version of Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and trademarked the name. This would prevent other publishers from using the name.

1972 - DC licensed the right’s of Fawcett’s Captain Marvel (then later bought the rights). BUT because Marvel had the trademark, DC couldn’t use the name as title of the comic. After a false star using the name Captain Thunder, DC started using Shazam as the comic title (and eventually renamed the character Shazam).

1977 - Marvel introduced Ms Marvel featuring Carol Danvers. It would take 35 years until Danver’s got the Captain Marvel name in 2012!

1982 - Back in England Alan Moore started using the (Nick Andros) MarvelMan in a new more adult themed comic - published in a B&W monthly called Warrior. In this update version a middle aged man discovers he was once a superhero.

1985 - US publisher Eclipses Comics publishes reprints of Moore’s Marvelman run, BUT because of Marvel’s trademark, they renamed him MiracleMan.

Ownership of the newly named MiracleMan got a little murky. Moore and the original artist gave their rights to the writer/artists who followed them. They eventually were given to writer Neil Gaiman with issue #17 in 1990.

1990 - aiman wrote two story lines in the next 7 issues - The Golden Age and The Silver Age.

1994 - Before Gaiman’s issue #25 was published, Eclipse Comics went bankrupt and the last issue of The Silver Age story was never published.

(During the period from Moore to Gaiman, MiracleMan became a cult hit. That’s when I read the comic. If you haven’t, I highly recommend it.).

1996 - Todd McFarlane bought the rights to Eclipse Comics assets and in 2001 claimed he owned all rights to MiracleMan. He planned to introduce the character in his Spawn comic line. The character appeared in one issue and McFarlane created some action figures and a statue called Man of Miracles.

2002 - Neil Gaiman sued McFarlane. (He agreed to write “Marvel 1602” an alt-Avenger miniseries to fund his lawsuit against McFarlane). Gaiman won the case.

2009 - Curiously it was also determined that Nick Andros still owned the rights to his original MarvelMan. So McFarlane didn’t own any piece of the character.

2010 - Marvel Comics bought the rights from Nick Andros for his MarvelMan and republished some of his old 1960s stories.

2013 - Marvel bought Neil Gaiman’s rights to MiracleMan.

2014 - Marvel started republished Moore’s through Gaiman’s stories. They even hired Gaiman to finish his long lost story. BUT when they reached issue #22 it stopped due to another undisclosed legal issue!!!

2021 - In December Marvel announced the issues were resolved and new MiracleMan comics would resume in 2022.

#Captain marvel #Superman #fawcett comics #dc comics #Shazam #copyright infringement #lawsuits #alan Moore #Todd McFarlane #Marvel Trademark

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thebibliomancer · 2 years

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Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #12: THE ATTRACTION BETWEEN TWO BODIES!

September, 1986

Zzzax!

Quantum!

Halflife!

TROUBLE!

Oh ho, ah ha! I see we’re still doing random super goons for the West Coast Avengers to fight.

I won’t lie, I kinda like it.

Considering the meta plot is ‘Tigra needs to kill Master Pandemonium so the cat king will make her less horny,’ this string of random tricky goobers for the team to fight is entertaining. The wheels sure are spinning on the meta plot but we’ve got some good, dumb fights. It feels like a throwback to the simpler storytelling of the silver age Avengers.

Meanwhile, Stern’s Avengers is killing it on the more serialized style.

I know Zzzax as ‘when an electricity guy is needed but Electro is busy’ but the other two are new to me. Although Quantum looks like he should fight Captain Mar-Vell. He has the look of the kind of guy Mar-Vell would punch.

Halflife is clearly a bride of Frankenstein.

So let’s get into it.

Last times in West Coast Avengers: The Thing almost joined the team but then didn’t. The team fought Griffin and Headlok. Then, Mockingbird and co went to visit Nick Fury so she could give her sympathies for the poor, maligned intelligence community which was even then being compromised as hell. Then the team fought Shockwave, Zaran the Weapons Master, and Razorfist. And now, this:

I take back every nice thing I’ve ever said about Simon Williams.

That costume is an abomination.

The fact that the rest of the team repeatedly reassure him that it’s a great change proves that the West Coast Avengers have no taste whatsoever.

Shame on all of you.

Shame.

This isn’t a situation where I’m going to go ‘lol jk’ under the fold.

That costume bad.

Apparently one of the designers (costume designers? Set designers?) for Bladerunner (legally distinct from Blade Runner?) designed this outfit for Simon.

Bladerunner is probably a shit movie if this is what unnamed designer came up with.

I do like that Simon is just flaunting his Hollywood connections though. He wanted a new costume, he just went up to a guy who worked in movies and told him to design him one.

I hope you paid the man for his eyesore, Simon.

There’s some other bits that go in this discussion of his new costume.

Simon was letting his hair gray without much complaint. Now he’s dyeing it black again. He claims that his hair is prematurely gray because of that time he spent dead and anyway, he’s in movies now. Its an industry of vanity.

He also ditched the goggles or glasses because he’s not going to hide his eyes anymore.

Wonder Man: “I’m not Cyclops of the X-Men! The ionic energy in me isn’t dangerous! And once I decided to make that change, I figured -- why shouldn’t I look my age?”

... What IS your age though? You were the CEO of your own company before you drove it into the ground by being less good than Tony Stark and also embezzlement.

How old are you, Simon? How old are ANY of you??

Actually, my favorite part in this parade of bad taste is Tigra asking if moving the jets up to his shoulders will toast his buns.

Tigra: “But won’t the jet-flames shoot down your back and burn your, uh ---”

Wonder Man: “Not if your ‘uh’ is invulnerable!”

Fair point, fair point ipreferredthebeltjetspersonally but fair point.

Is the ass of your pants fire-proof?

I guess we’ll find out one way or another soon.

Mockingbird tells everyone to hold that thought and runs off.

Because Simon isn’t the only one that has a new costume to show off.

God. I don’t like, love, or tolerate Wonder Man’s new costume but I kinda love all these idiots just proudly showing off their fashion disasters to each other.

Anyway, Hawkeye points out that he and Mockingbird have been using the costumes they wore in New York but whoops New York climate is not L.A. climate.

So Hawkeye removed the sleeves from his costume to rock the sun’s out, guns out look.

Wonder Man: “Yes, and we’re glad you stopped there!”

Iron Man: “Just as we’re glad Tigra didn’t!”

Iron Man, please. If you make the West Coast Avengers need an HR department, you know its just going to be Hank Pym and that’s going to be awkward for everyone.

Also, I can’t prove it but I’m like 52% sure that somehow Wonder Man found out about that time Hawkeye’s costume had no pants and he’s been waiting to bust his chops about it.

Speaking of no pants,

Mockingbird’s new costume doesn’t have any pants.

Her fighting style requires the long, wide sleeves, I think. So, yeah, off go the pants.

Also, she’s letting her hair grow out a little. The never ending drama of her haircut continues.

Iron Man refuses to change his armor because this is his new iconic armor dammit. This isn’t the modern age where he can just slap on a new suit every time there’s a new run. The Silver Centurion has to last a while!

Speaking of looks, Iron Man says changing the subject, Tigra has a magical amulet that lets her look like her old human self that she never uses.

Why is that?

Tigra, looking confused at the question: “Huh!”

It’s something she hasn’t thought about lately! She’s just super comfortable in her Tigra skin.

Wonder Man asks if she’s changing her mind on which of her two souls she’s going to keep.

Tigra: “Me? Don’t be silly! But with all this glorious sun, I can’t stop with uncovering just one part of my glorious bod! Might as well be comfortable, right? Changing my mind -- ? No... I’ve made my decision...”

Good for you, Tigra?

It might be an empowering affirmation but this book is gonna be a creep about it.

Also, this creep is gonna be a creep about it.

Using mysterious superpowers to bend reflected light so you can creep from a distance is sure putting a lot of effort into being a creep, mysterious creep.

Mysterious creep is so horny that he decides “I can wait no longer! I must have her, and I must have her now! The plan begins at once!”

So, that’s going somewhere.

Back at the West Coast Avengers Compound, Mockingbird asks to speak to Tigra who agrees “just so long as we stay outdoors!”

Mockingbird reminds that Tigra asked her to help with her two-soul problem however long ago but recently she seems pretty contented sooooo....

Tigra yells at Mockingbird to get off her back about it.

Which is an interesting reaction considering Mockingbird hadn’t even gotten around to asking her question yet.

Tigra: “Everything’s okay with me, Mockingbird! The cat-people promised they’d cure me, no strings attached!”

And then she storms off.

Leaving Mockingbird suspicious that Tigra mentioned strings unprompted. Using her keen intelligence work training, she now suspects that Tigra isn’t telling them everything!

Very insightful, Bobbi.

But Tigra is sure that the Avengers may suspect that there is a string attached but they’ll never guess that she has to do a murder on Master Pandemonium.

Tigra: Not that killing a crook like Master Pandemonium is anything to be ashamed of -- he’s tried to kill us twice -- but they might not understand! They don’t share my sense of the hunt -- for prey, or for passion!

So Tigra goes to try to make out with Wonder Man.

Tigra: “Long time no petting, big man!”

Whoa!

Pretty forward!

But Wonder Man tells her that though he really enjoyed making out with her on the beach, there can be no more casual petting between them.

He thinks that he might have a chance with Christy, from the movie set. Since they’ve been working pretty closely.

And Wonder Man was under the impression that Tigra was with Hank...?

Tigra: “What about me and Hank? We’re not an item, if that’s what you mean!”

Wonder Man: “He thinks you are -- !”

Tigra: “Pfui on what he thinks! NOBODY OWNS ME!”

And she storms off again, yelling that women with glasses aren’t attractive.

It’s a matter of opinion, really.

So, Tigra finds Iron Man instead.

He wanted to relax in the sun as much as everyone else but the most he could muster is... just taking the helmet off.

I don’t remember whether Tony has a secret identity here or not. I know that Tigra knows who he is. And he was walking around with Hawkeye and Mockingbird out of costume so they could visit Fury.

Okay, so probably the team knows.

Don’t know why he’s only taking off his helmet. Because he says he wanted to duck into his personal bungalow so he could take off his helmet. Like he’s hiding his identity.

Whatever.

Anyway, Tigra tries to hit on him too.

But despite all of Tony’s light inappropriate comments during his time on this team with Tigra, he was just being friendly.

Apparently Tony is one of those people who is just always flirty.

But he still feels too guilty over dating Jan after she divorced Hank. He could never do anything with Tigra while she’s with Hank or while Hank thinks she is (because of her making out with him). Especially when Hank is still messed up over losing his robot son.

Since Tony tried to soften the blow by saying he’d be all over Tigra if Hank weren’t involved, Tigra storms off to break up with Hank.

Geez.

She finds Hank inside the main compound building talking to Joachin, apparently the manager of the grounds crew.

Huh! The West Coast Avengers have a support staff!

Anyway, Tigra basically yells ‘beat it nerd!’ and Joachin excuses himself.

Tigra doesn’t get the chance to give Hank a piece of her mind because Hank “aware of what women are thinking” Pym sees her mad face, assumes that it’s because he hasn’t been paying enough attention to her, and asks if she wants to kiss.

And she does.

Tigra: “Sure! Who could turn down a kiss...?”

Tigra, this is just kicking the problem down the road...

Anyway, IN SPACE

Near THE SUN

That Quantum dude from the cover who looks like he should fight Captain Mar-Vell pops out of the Sun and heads for Earth.

In fairness, the Earth shot first.

He’s not the only introduction.

At Horesham Nuclear Plant, alarms suddenly go off, signaling a meltdown or maybe a meltout.

Does that make any sense? No? Too bad.

The bride of Frankenstein like lady melts out of the reactor and kills the nuclear technicians with a touch as she strolls out of the plant.

As she’s on her way out, the high-voltage lines leading from the plant snap, revealing Zzzax, the man-shaped electromagnetic energy field. He was introduced in the Hulk book and has apparently died at the end of his every appearance.

Doesn’t seem to have slowed him down.

Anyway, he joins bride of Frankenstein (Halflife) and the two hike south towards Los Angeles.

Huh. Weird.

Seems like some kind of gathering of some kind of group.

But whyyyy?

Also, according to marvel wiki, this group is sometimes called Trouble, as on the cover, and that’s a stupendously stupid name.

Back at the West Coast Avengers Compound, Hank Pym briefs Hawkeye on his findings on the deed book that was mysteriously burned.

Annnd he doesn’t have a lot to report. There were heavy sulfur compounds and evidence of extremely high heat which didn’t singe the adjacent pages. So its obviously magic nonsense.

Hawkeye: “Sounds like Master Pandabear, all right!”

But Hank has some other ideas.

Since Master Pandemonium was a movie star, Wonder Man could ask around the studios to see if anyone knows anything. And Hank can pick up where Firebird left off and check with any local occult bookstores.

Business out of the way, Hawkeye asks how Hank and Tigra are doing.

Hank, a poor dolt, thinks things are going just great!

Unaware that elsewhere, Tigra is kicking herself “why do I melt any time any man wants me?”

Cat soul, probably.

Maybe you should see about having that looked at?

But she suddenly decides that she doesn’t care about self-control (which is saying no, self-control is saying that’s enough) and that when she kills Master P and gets one of her souls yanked out, she’s going to stick with being Tigra and just Tigra. Goodbye human worries and inhibitions.

And then while jumping around the trees, she comes up short and painfully bellyflops to the ground.

Tigra, if you’re still alive, I want to ask what good is a cat soul if you can’t even reliably land on your feet?

... I’m pretty sure she’s still alive.

She has so many more degrading plot points to be part of.

Anyway, Quantum appears above the city yelling in an alien language and blasting out heat.

The goofy bystanders guess that what he’s yelling is probably a challenge and probably for the (West Coast) Avengers since they’re the only superhero team “this so-called town’s got!”

Oh, and Zzzax and Halflife show up too.

Unlike Quantum, they can speak.

Zzzax apparently wants to eat the electrical energy in people! That’s distressing!

The LAPD calls the (West Coast) Avengers (and gets Hank since he answers the phones) because “this is what you’re supposed to be for!” and Hank summons the (West Coast) Avengers.

Tigra doesn’t show up, due to her probably non-fatal bellyflop but Hank says there’s no time to wait for her.

Hank Pym, non-superhero: “There are three major menaces on Sunset Boulevard!”

Iron Man: “Sounds like a set-up for a punchline -- but I still don’t know L.A. well enough to know what it is!”

... Hah.

Anyway, the West Coast Avengers minus Tigra pile into the Quinjet and about seven minutes later, Iron Man and Wonder Man are jumping out of the Quinjet over Sunset Boulevard.

Wonder Man: “Every time I go into action, I get to be a real, live Wonder Man! What could be better than that?”

He punches Quantum and whoops now there’s lots of Quantum.

Wonder Man assumes that lots of Quantum won’t be strong but whoops, he made an ass out of him and him.

Iron Man: “I think that was the set-up to a punch line, Wondy!”

Wonder Man: “I know! I know!”

With Iron Man and Wonder Man dealing with excessive Quantums, Mockingbird squares up against Halflife (designated girl fight?) and Hawkeye against Zzzax.

In fairness to that last one, Hawkeye has fought and beat Zzzax before. He’s pretty sure he can beat him in no time flat just by shooting an arrow with a wire through him into a water source.

Except... Hawkeye doesn’t know where to find water in Los Angeles.

I think there’s an ocean somewhere westward. Does that help, Hawkeye?

Mockingbird similarly thinks she’ll be done with her opponent “this refugee from Frederick’s of Hollywood” pretty quickly and then she’ll come help Hawkeye find water.

Halflife: “Quiet, woman! Your raucous bravado disturbs the tranquility of -- Halflife!”

Huh, so that’s what she do.

That answers one question about this bridge of Frankenstein. But her statement here raises more questions.

Why is she getting involved in superhero fights if she doesn’t like raucous bravado and would prefer the tranquility of living in a nuclear reactor? Also, why was she living in a nuclear reactor??

(For the tranquility, probably)

Anyway. She makes people age. Probably halves their life, if I had to guess.

A Quantum knocks Wonder Man to the road and Hawkeye asks if he’ll find (and break) a water main while he’s at it.

Wonder Man rips up a water main and sprays the water all over. Hawkeye shoots a wired arrow and shorts out Zzzax just like he said he would.

Wow, Zzzax lasted no time and got to do zero things.

That’s why when villains with a super easy way to beat them come back, they’ve usually made some personal changes so that super easy way doesn’t work anymore.

Otherwise you wind up like Zzzax here.

With Zzzax there taken care of, Hawkeye runs to help Mockingbird who has aged terribly but Iron Man lands between Halflife and Mockingbird and Hawkeye, figuring he’s better suited to take her on.

Halflife: “And you think Halflife cannot speed the process of decay within you, metal man? My touch takes you halfway to your death -- and each subsequent touch takes you half the remaining distance!”

That makes me curious whether she can age Iron Man’s armor or not but probably not but it doesn’t matter, even touching Iron Man’s armor is aging the man inside.

Iron Man still has a point that he’s better suited to fight Halflife though because he can up the power of his armor to compensate as the man inside ages.

But he’s not actually... doing anything with keeping his power up. He’s not fighting back because he’s spending all his effort adjusting the armor’s power.

So now three Avengers are tied up with Halflife which is fairly non-ideal when the other villain in the fight is a lot of guys.

Wonder Man actually realizes this. That Quantum is strong and numerous but that Halflife is taking Avengers out of the fight.

So he just swoops down and whisks her away from his three teammates.

She threatens that she’ll just age him the same she did his teammates but whoops. Can’t age energy.

Wonder Man: “I’m not flesh and blood! I’m ionic energy -- I don’t ever have to age or die -- and you can’t take me halfway to nowhere!”

And then he knocks her out in one punch. I guess she doesn’t have a lot going for her other than that aging trick.

Wonder Man: All those years of fearing death -- and all the time, I was essentially immortal!

Irony!

Anyway, there’s no ontological inertia here. As soon as Halflife was knocked out, the aging effects vanished from Mockingbird and Iron Man.

Speaking of easy victories once you figure out their deal...

Hawkeye just pulls a theory out his butt that Quantum is solar-powered and uses a smokescreen arrow to make him take a beddy-bye.

I seriously have no idea how he came to this conclusion but I guess I shouldn’t discount the archer.

Remember, he’s the scientific genius who invented anti-gravity just for fun.

With all three Troubles down for the count, Hawkey congratulates the team for good teamwork.

They did a less obvious CHANGE PLACES “and fought what would have seemed the other guys’ enemies!”

I mean. Kinda.

Wonder Man fought the girl who had been designated for the girl fight. And Hawkeye fought the flying brick enemy. But Hawkeye also took out the electrical guy which was his opponent at the start. Mockingbird got olded and then didn’t get to do anything. And Iron Man didn’t do much at all except buy time.

Geez, I keep getting the feeling that Iron Man doesn’t do a lot in this book.

Hawkeye: “We really are what I’ve always wanted us to be -- a team!”

He says as Tigra is missing.

‘Wow, we’re really clicking today for some reason!’

I joke. But its a weird thing to pat yourself on the back for when the team isn’t all there, isn’t it?

With all the back patting accomplished, Iron Man realizes something is poking his brain about the specific guys that they just fought. Poking his SCIENCE brain.

And as waves of gravity bring the team to their knees and then flat on their asses, Iron Man realizes too late what the group theme was.

THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FORCES!

Graviton, you giant nerd.

... And he was the one creeping on Tigra and now has her on a leash. Graviton, you consistent creep.

Now, I’m not a very science person, unlike Tony Science-Brain Stark.

But the four fundamental forces are gravity, the weak atomic force, the strong nuclear force, and electromagnetism.

I don’t think Zzzax was very magnetic but was very electric. But he’s dispersed so this group never got to be all four forces together.

Do Halflife and Quantum represent the weak and strong forces?

The weak force is responsible for particle decay and Halflife talked about decay a lot but it was more aging decay so... did Graviton just go ‘wtfe close enough’?

And the strong force is what holds an atom’s nucleus together. Does it make sense that the guy that represents it splits like an RPG slime if hit?

Science side of my audience, let me know.

The important thing though is that Graviton is back even though the last time he tangled with the West Coast Avengers, they drugged his drink and then kicked his ass.

Can’t wait for them to kick his ass again and I hope Tigra doesn’t make out with him.

Follow @essential-avengers because. Like and reblog too. Going minimalist this time.

#avengers #west coast avengers #essential avengers #Trouble!#Zzzax #Halflife #Quantum #a fourth person #Hawkeye #Mockingbird #Iron Man #Tigra #Wonder Man #WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO GET A SIXTH MEMBER ITS BEEN A YEAR #essential marvel liveblogging #a fun issue because i love weird powers and weird power interactions

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elgaberino-mcoc · 3 years

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MCOC Wishlist Poll Snapshot: Entire Rankings

001 Mystique 002 Quicksilver 003 Beta Ray Bill 004 Sandman 005 Adam Warlock 006 Kitty Pryde 007 Lizard 008 Morbius the Living Vampire 009 Kraven the Hunter 010 Cloak & Dagger 011 Spider-Man 2099 012 Black Cat 013 Bullseye 014 Jessica Jones 015 Ares 016 Shang-Chi 017 Gladiator (Kallark) 018 Baron Zemo 019 Lady Deathstrike 020 Enchantress 021 Valkyrie MCU 022 Knull 023 Morgan le Fay 024 Scorpion 025 Captain Britain 026 Galactus 027 Dazzler 028 Silver Samurai 029 Black Knight 030 Dracula 031 Hobgoblin 032 Pyro 033 Fantomex 034 Spider-Woman 035 Jean Grey 90s 036 Silk 037 Polaris 038 Silver Sable 039 Sif 040 Anti-Venom 041 Mister Negative 042 Crystal 043 Legion 044 Shocker 045 Malekith the Accursed 046 Destroyer Armor 047 M'baku the Man-Ape 048 The Mandarin 049 Emplate 050 Multiple-Man 051 Shuri 052 Banshee 053 Onslaught 054 Warpath 055 Sunfire 056 Cannonball 057 Dark Phoenix 058 Blue Marvel 059 Prowler (Aaron Davis) 060 Okoye 061 Mockingbird 062 Spiral 063 Madame Hydra / Viper 064 Hydro-Man 065 Red She-Hulk 066 Agent Anti-Venom 067 Blackheart 068 Gorr the God-Butcher 069 Songbird 070 Quasar 071 Absorbing Man 072 Whiplash 073 Armor 074 Daimon Hellstrom 075 Wendigo 076 Nimrod 077 Graviton 078 Gwenom 079 Deathlok 080 Firestar 081 Vulcan 082 Wonder Man 083 Selene 084 Blob 085 Klaw 086 Rachel Summers 087 Thor (MCU Stormbreaker) 088 Shadow King 089 White Tiger 090 Tombstone 091 Jack O'Lantern 092 Valkyrie Classic 093 Toad 094 Moonstone 095 Weapon H 096 Jocasta 097 Dani Moonstar 098 Monica Rambeau 099 Wolfsbane 100 Franklin Richards 101 Ancient One 102 Arnim Zola 103 Exodus 104 Forge 105 Supergiant 106 Madelyne Pryor 107 Hank Pym 108 Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) 109 Negasonic Teenage Warhead 110 Spider-Man Noir 111 Phantom Rider 112 Blink 113 Sebastian Shaw 114 Clea 115 Black Tom Cassidy 116 Kurse 117 Danger 118 Daken 119 Omega Sentinel 120 Grim Reaper 121 Radioactive Man 122 Shatterstar 123 Darkstar 124 Werewolf by Night 125 Hope Summers 126 The Magus 127 Union Jack 128 Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) 129 Crimson Dynamo 130 Pixie 131 Conan 132 Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly) 133 Azazel 134 Jigsaw 135 Boom-Boom 136 Swarm 137 Xorn 138 Machine Man 139 Black Widow (Yelena Belova) 140 Madame Masque 141 Misty Knight 142 Chamber 143 Mistress Death 144 Skaar 145 Morlun 146 Thanos (Endgame) 147 Leader 148 Sleepwalker 149 Deacon Frost 150 Black Swan 151 Agent 13 (Sharon Carter) 152 Fin Fang Foom 153 Ka-Zar 154 Arcade 155 Iron Spider 156 Dust 157 Gorgon 158 Lash 159 Namora 160 A-Bomb (Rick Jones) 161 Ikaris 162 Nick Fury (Classic) 163 Rescue 164 Nico Minoru 165 Volstagg 166 Weapon Hex 167 Stingray 168 Maximus the Mad 169 Cyttorak 170 Skurge the Executioner 171 Doc Samson 172 Maverick / Agent Zero 173 Sauron 174 Baron Blood 175 Captain America Falcon 176 Wong 177 Mantis 178 Whirlwind 179 Firelord 180 Magma 181 Molecule Man 182 White Fox 183 Nova (Sam Alexander) 184 Satana 185 Dum Dum Dugan (LMD) 186 Holocaust 187 Shiklah 188 Valkyrie Moonstar 189 High Evolutionary 190 Bloodaxe 191 Magus (Technarch) 192 Nighthawk 193 Punisher: War Machine 194 Goliath (Bill Foster) 195 Nova (Frankie Raye) 196 Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) 197 Dr. Cecilia Reyes 198 Sentinel X (Shogo Lee) 199 Thena 200 Hellcat 201 Cosmic Spider-Man 202 Attuma 203 Shroud 204 Doctor Nemesis 205 Siryn 206 Nate Grey 207 Iron Monger 208 Black Mamba 209 Agent Carter 210 Kluh 211 Tiger Shark 212 Purple Man 213 Snowbird 214 Ice-Thing 215 Lilandra 216 Superior Spider-Man 217 Thane 218 Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur 219 Jackal 220 Jean Grey (X-Men Red) 221 Punisher: Frankencastle 222 Puck 223 Rockslide 224 Red Ghost and his Super-Apes 225 Deathbird 226 Hydra Supreme 227 Strong Guy 228 Zarda the Power Princess 229 Sage 230 Quentin Quire (aka Kid Omega) 231 Prowler (Hobie Brown) 232 Slapstick 233 Stardust (Lambda Zero) 234 Titanium Man 235 D'spayre 236 Colleen Wing 237 Thunderbird (John Proudstar) 238 Iron Maiden 239 Gorilla-Man (Kenneth Hale) 240 Jack of Hearts 241 Titania 242 Avalanche 243 Toxic Doxie 244 Death’s Head 245 Impossible Man 246 Worthy Captain America (Mjölnir/Endgame) 247 Outlaw (Higgins) 248 Scarlet Spider II (Kaine Parker) 249 Beetle 250 Typhoid Mary 251 Bloodscream 252 Serpent (Cul Borson) 253 Ms. America Chavez 254 Ghost Rider (Reyes) 255 Hummingbird 256 Mercury 257 M (Monet St. Croix) 258 Black Tarantula 259 Spitfire 260 Wizard 261 Superior Octopus 262 Maria Hill 263 Minotaur (Dario Agger) 264 Echo 265 Morph 266 Karolina Dean 267 Zarathos 268 Thundra 269 Smasher (Kane) 270 Hyperstorm 271 Boomerang 272 Stature (Cassie Lang, AKA Stinger) 273 Meggan 274 Caliban 275 Hollow 276 Abyss (Styger) 277 Silverclaw 278 Red King 279 Doctor Druid 280 U.S. Agent 281 Sersi 282 Molten Man 283 Zzzax 284 Singularity 285 Agatha Harkness 286 Blastaar 287 Korvac 288 Citizen V 289 Carter Slade the Satan-Stomper 290 Post 291 Shuma-Gorath 292 Sin 293 Triton 294 Quasar (Kincaid) 295 Martinex 296 Iron Man (Mark I) 297 Wiccan 298 Speedball 299 Paladin 300 Amanda Sefton 301 Overmind 302 Diamondback (Rachel Leighton) 303 Feral 304 Charlie-27 305 Rom: Spaceknight 306 Juggerduck 307 The Uranian 308 Blazing Skull 309 Starfox 310 Living Laser 311 Hiro-Kala 312 Namorita 313 Jack Flag 314 Stormborn 315 Doctor Bong 316 Crescent & Io 317 Gamora mcu 318 Wave 319 Ironheart 320 Venom Rocket 321 Doctor Spectrum 322 Davos the Steel Serpent 323 Lady Hellbender 324 Falcon classic 325 Bloodstorm 326 Tempus (Eva Bell) 327 Voyager 328 No-Name the Brood 329 Demon Bear 330 Moondragon 331 Arachne 332 Aero 333 Andromeda 334 Speed Demon 335 Phyla-Vell 336 Xemnu the Living Hulk 337 Aleta 338 Araña 339 Human Torch (Jim Hammond) 340 Constrictor 341 Iso 342 Arkon 343 Genis-Vell 344 Shanna the She-Devil 345 Volcana 346 Batroc the Leaper 347 Arclight 348 Scientist Supreme 349 Yukio 350 N'kantu the Living Mummy 351 Gentle 352 Caiera the Oldstrong 353 Beetle (Janice Lincoln) 354 Penance (Baldwin) 355 Super-Adaptoid 356 Ajak 357 Future Colossus 358 Moses Magnum 359 Vampire by Night 360 Superia 361 Puppet Master 362 Chimera 363 Count Nefaria 364 Stick 365 Hellion 366 Agent May 367 Mister Hyde 368 Spot 369 Cobra 370 Doop 371 Lyja 372 Wrecker 373 Stargod/Man-Wolf 374 Stilt-Man 375 Machinesmith 376 Spider-Bitch 377 Madame Web 378 Corsair & Sikorsky 379 Thor (Groot) 380 Balder 381 Random 382 Power Man (Alvarez) 383 Starhawk 384 Sun-Girl (Selah Burke) 385 Arcanna 386 Scream 387 Kree Sentry 388 Agent Phil Coulson 389 Thunderstrike (Kevin) 390 Talos 391 Carmilla Black 392 Uatu 393 Jennifer Kale 394 Warwolf 395 Enigma (Aikku Jokinen, AKA Pod) 396 Belasco 397 Swordsman 398 Trevor Fitzroy 399 Dazzler Thor 400 Hepzibah 401 Atlas 402 Ogun 403 Yellowjacket (DeMara) 404 Hala the Accuser 405 Entropy 406 War Machine (Infinity War) 407 Animax 408 Captain Universe 409 Whizzer 410 Hogun the Grim 411 Cottonmouth (Clemens) 412 Blizzard 413 Storm (Queen of Wakanda) 414 Silhouette 415 Immortus 416 Beast (Hex-Men) 417 Solo 418 White Rabbit 419 Aurora 420 Equinox 421 Hellcow 422 Owl 423 Arsenic & Old Lace 424 Beetle mk iii 425 Valeria (Age of Conan) 426 Trapster 427 Throg 428 Mimic 429 Hulkling 430 Iron Lad 431 Angel (Black Vortex) 432 Marionette 433 Phastos 434 Hobgoblin 2099 435 Razor Fist 436 Asp 437 Baymax 438 Captain America (Peggy Carter) 439 Sp//dr 440 Tarantula (Kaine) 441 Silver Scorpion (Barstow) 442 Midnight Angels of Wakanda 443 Demolition Man 444 White Wolf (Hunter) 445 Synapse 446 Kingo 447 Grey Gargoyle 448 Gilgamesh the Forgotten One 449 Justice 450 Atlas Bear 451 Iron Fist (Orson Randall) 452 Victorious 453 Lincoln Campbell 454 Luna Snow 455 Zadkiel 456 Crystar 457 Husk 458 Gravity 459 Kaecilius 460 Marrina 461 Ghost Rider (Circle of Four) 462 Nighthawk Supremeverse 463 Fixer 464 Cardiac 465 Capwolf 466 Kull the Conqueror of Atlantis 467 Noh-Varr 468 Korath the Pursuer 469 Miss America (Joyce) 470 Blackjack O'Hare 471 Bi-Beast 472 Vance Astro 473 Bushmaster (Quincy) 474 Krugarr 475 Poundcakes 476 Yo-Yo 477 American Son 478 Mister M 479 Cottonmouth (Stokes) 480 Manphibian 481 Infamous Iron Man 482 Paibok the Power-Skrull 483 Shatter 484 Daredevil Shadowland 485 Nakia 486 Garrison Kane 487 Makkari 488 Elloe 489 Northstar 490 Spiderling 491 She-Hulk (Lyra) 492 Proteus 493 Grey Hulk 494 Doorman 495 Toro 496 Nuke 497 Acroyear 498 Blonde Phantom 499 Drax MCU 500 Orrgo 501 Marvel Girl NPC 502 Fandral the Dashing 503 Spider-Girl 504 Ms. Thing 505 Captain America 2099 506 Veranke 507 Haechi 508 Mulholland Black 509 Mighty Destroyer 510 Eclipse 511 Powell McTeague 512 Druig 513 Copycat 514 Terror 515 Ahab 516 God-Emperor Doom 517 Doombot (V Series) 518 Sword Master 519 Cyclone 520 Black Mariah 521 Zenzi 522 Thor: Herald of Thunder 523 3-D Man 524 Hulk Endgame 525 Tetu 526 Doctor Octopus (Liv Octavius) 527 Margali 528 Molly Hayes 529 Sinara 530 Aldrich Killian 531 Goldballs 532 Mindless Ones 533 Nikki Gold 534 Foolkiller 535 Darkwing Duck 536 Thunderstrike (Eric) 537 She-Thing (Ventura) 538 Killmonger (Emperor Symbiote) 539 Iron Duck 540 Ms. Marvel II (Ventura) 541 Spymaster 542 Scalphunter 543 Spider-Man (Miles Morales Movie) 544 Karn 545 Gun-R 546 Terminus 547 Achebe 548 Llyra 549 Bushmaster (John) 550 Sugar Man 551 Great Lakes Avengers 552 Xarggu 553 Human Fly (Deacon) 554 Shogun 555 Plantman 556 Brawn 557 Elixir 558 Litterbug 559 Smasher (Rokk) 560 Bug 561 Mammomax 562 Synch 563 Anaconda 564 Wolvie 565 Dirk Anger 566 Captain [****] 567 Ezekiel 568 Diamondback (Stryker) 569 Unworthy Thor 570 Master Mold 571 Masked Marauder 572 M.O.D.A.M. 573 Hellsgaard 574 Hulkbuster 2.0 575 Forgetmenot 576 Ghaur 577 Arcturus Rann 578 Ultimate Green Goblin (Movie) 579 Dragoness 580 Porcupine 581 M-11 582 Taskmaster MCU 583 Dansen Macabre 584 Lady Bullseye 585 Harpoon 586 Unicorn 587 Bushwacker 588 Loki variant 589 Night Nurse 590 Psyklop 591 Mack 592 Eel 593 Water Snake 594 Chaos King 595 Red Hulk (Maverick) 596 Kaluu 597 The Russian 598 Geena Drake 599 Jimmy Hudson 600 Slayback 601 Mentallo 602 Skull the Slayer 603 Karkas 604 Dominic Fortune 605 The Buzz 606 Doctor Crocodile 607 Ox 608 Dorrek VII 609 Needle 610 Krang 611 Dino-Thor 612 Stegron 613 Zeitgeist 614 [VACANT] 615 [VACANT] 616 [VACANT]

#the poll #poll update #entire poll #recent rank #poll snapshot #top ten

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webshootersandwingdings · 2 months

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Captain Marvel (1968) #4

#these aren’t consecutive panels fyi #carol danvers #mar vell #captain marvel #captain mar vell #marvel comics #marvel comic art #silver age comics #marvel silver age #comics #comic books #comic book art #comic art #namor #namor the sub mariner #the sub-mariner #captain marvel (1968)

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thecomicsnexus · 4 years

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Did You Hear The One About Scorpio?

AVENGERS #72 JANUARY 1970 BY ROY THOMAS, SAL BUSCEMA AND SAM GRAINGER

The Avengers are ambushed by Scorpio and the organization known as Zodiac.

SCORE: 7

This story has so many clichés it is sometimes hard to read... but for the most part I have to agree that the interaction between Rick Jones and the rest of the team is a little entertaining. By the way, Mar-Vell is not in this comic (at least, not in the main battle), like the cover suggests. This is the time period when Rick Jones would swap places with him. But Rick decided to not let Mar-Vell take over.

Also, Scorpio here is actually Nick Fury. The original Scorpio was his brother. Couldn’t he have told the Avengers of what he was about to do? I know spies are supposed to be paranoid, but these are the Avengers. He could have get them killed with this trap.

The whole Zodiac organization thing is kind of ridiculous. But hey, this is technically in that gray area between the silver age and the bronze age.

#avengers #marvel comics #comics #review #1970 #bronze age #sal buscema #sam grainger #captain america #captain marvel #vision #yellowjacket #the wasp #goliath #hawkeye #rick jones #zodiac

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f4liveblogarchives · 4 years

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Fantastic Four Vol. 1 Annual 1980

Tues Apr 27 2020 [10:15 PM] Bocaj: Ah annuals [10:15 PM] Bocaj: My bane [10:15 PM] Wack'd: The first story is called "Time for the Prime Ten" and I have to suspect someone came up with that title and then worked backwards to a story [10:16 PM] Bocaj: Ah, like silver age DC with that and covers [10:17 PM] Wack'd: Alicia is taking Franklin for the weekend while the Four finish up one of Reed's inventions [10:17 PM] Bocaj: Do you really want Johnny helping with that, Reed? [10:18 PM] Wack'd: I mean counterpoint: would you rather trust Johnny with menial construction work or supervising a child [10:18 PM] maxwellelvis: Hmm... [10:19 PM] Bocaj: That’s tough [10:19 PM] Mousa The 14: Kid fixes cars, he has at least some mechanical know how [10:19 PM] Wack'd: Hilariously, just as Alicia and Franklin leave, Reed finishes his project! So, like [10:19 PM] Mousa The 14: ... WHY BOTHER [10:19 PM] Wack'd: Honestly unless that project was child-proofing your lab I dunno what the point was [10:20 PM] Bocaj: 😐 [10:20 PM] Wack'd: But the project was not childproofing the lab! It was wirelessly transmitting energy! Reed got Franklin's toy car to move with no batteries and he's quite pleased [10:20 PM] maxwellelvis: Well of course the real reason is to make sure Franklin and Alicia are helpless when something bad happens, but... [10:20 PM] Mousa The 14: That’s cute I guess [10:21 PM] Mousa The 14: And a useful invention [10:21 PM] Wack'd: Especially, as Reed points out, in an energy crisis [10:23 PM] Wack'd: Reed is hoping this leads to grants to work on faster-than-light travel, as he's always wanted to go to do that [10:23 PM] Mousa The 14: Ummm [10:23 PM] Wack'd: Chew over that one for a bit [10:24 PM] Mousa The 14: But... [10:24 PM] Mousa The 14: But... [10:24 PM] maxwellelvis: YOU'VE ALREADY- [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Then stop chewing because someone's at the door! [10:24 PM] Mousa The 14: I don’t even... [10:24 PM] Wack'd: And the alarms didn't go off! [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Egads! [10:24 PM] Umbramatic: i [10:24 PM] Bocaj: Is it wacky neighbor Namor? [10:24 PM] maxwellelvis: He's been to other planets [10:25 PM] maxwellelvis: I... just... GAAAAHHHH [10:25 PM] Wack'd: @Bocaj Close

[10:26 PM] Bocaj: Does he just [10:26 PM] Bocaj: Wiggle his ears as he walks around [10:27 PM] Wack'd: Sometimes you've just got to amuse yourself [10:28 PM] Bocaj: Mm, true [10:29 PM] Wack'd: Anyway it hasn't been that long since we saw Willie [10:30 PM] Bocaj: How long? [10:30 PM] Wack'd: His most recent listed appearance date is #191 in 1978, and it's 1980, so [10:31 PM] Bocaj: Willie is back from Hollywood Kansas [10:32 PM] Wack'd: Especially for a character who is barely more than a cameo to begin with those are pretty good numbers [10:32 PM] Mousa The 14: Good point [10:33 PM] Mousa The 14: But hey, Willie is a staple. A rock. [10:34 PM] Wack'd: So anyway Reed makes his excuses to go check the Baxter's security systems. He can't find anything wrong [10:34 PM] Wack'd: And then a portal opens in Reed’s energy transmitter to Captain Mar-Vell having a fight scene involving a lot of falling rocks [10:34 PM] maxwellelvis: Like he just pops up? [10:34 PM] Mousa The 14: What he never thought maybe he built in a security exception for good ol’ Willie? [10:36 PM] Wack'd: Reed is now very concerned because it was not supposed to be doing that [10:36 PM] maxwellelvis: And he accidentally opened a portal to wherever Captain Marvel was at that very moment? [10:36 PM] Wack'd: His theory is Mar-Vell--or his combatant--accidentally opened a portal to him [10:37 PM] Wack'd:

[10:38 PM] Aleph Null: Skrull Cops Are Bastards [10:38 PM] Wack'd: Willie's a postman! [10:38 PM] Aleph Null: he looks like a cop! [10:38 PM] Wack'd: Sure [10:39 PM] Wack'd: Anyway that "package" "Willie" brought was an alarm canceler and also a stun...thing, so Sue, Johnny and Ben are out of the picture for the moment [10:40 PM] Wack'd: "LET ME EXPOSIT, DAMMIT"

[10:41 PM] Wack'd: Wow, your device has three whole purposes, that's impressive! But if you'll me a moment, I need to take a moment to check the weather on this device I'm using to read comics, duplicate portions of them, and instantaneously send them to friends

[10:42 PM] Mousa The 14: Man, Skrull technology is really behind. They just can’t seem to keep up with humanity’s advances [10:42 PM] Umbramatic: alas [10:43 PM] Wack'd: Okay so, basically [10:44 PM] Wack'd: Skrulls want to win the Kree/Skrull War [10:44 PM] Wack'd: To do this, they want teleportation [10:44 PM] Wack'd: Reed's device can do this, but with energy instead of matter [10:45 PM] Wack'd: "Willie" wants to exchange the lives of the Four for Reed's transmitter so the Skrulls can get it up to code [10:45 PM] Wack'd: Hell he even promises not to bring the fight to Earth [10:46 PM] Wack'd: He's slightly-to-moderately surprised when Reed refuses on ethical grounds [10:47 PM] Mousa The 14: “What do you know of ‘Ethics’, Richards.” [10:48 PM] Wack'd: Reed catches him monologuing and BUSCEMA-PUNCHES HIM FROM BEHIND WITH HIS BALLED-UP ANKLE

[10:48 PM] Bocaj: Amazing [10:48 PM] maxwellelvis: He punched him with his leg! [10:48 PM] Umbramatic: impressive [10:48 PM] Bocaj: Now here's the nonsense stretching that I"m here for [10:48 PM] Umbramatic: creative power use i like that [10:48 PM] maxwellelvis: He PUNCHED the Skrull with his LEG [10:49 PM] Mousa The 14: Gave him the boot [10:49 PM] Umbramatic: a boot to the head [10:49 PM] maxwellelvis: He found the proper ankle of attack [10:50 PM] maxwellelvis: He really put his foot down [10:50 PM] Mousa The 14: And one more for Jenny and the wimp [10:49 PM] Wack'd: Anyway Reed wins easily and knocks the Skrull cold. And then Captain Marvel steps through the portal and is like "hey, I hate Kree and Skrulls, give me the transmitter and I'll clean all this up for you" [10:50 PM] Wack'd: It was. Probably too good an offer

[10:51 PM] Mousa The 14: Yeah even with that ask I wouldn’t have given it to him [10:51 PM] Mousa The 14: On the other hand. If it’s in the hands of Captain Marvel it would be completely useless and go absolutely nowhere [10:52 PM] Wack'd: Mar-Vell is like "you need to kill that guy now, no questions asked" and Reed is like [10:52 PM] Wack'd: "Okay just because I'm the one who gave myself the title smartest man alive doesn't mean it isn't true" [10:53 PM] maxwellelvis: "C'mon, be a pal! Pretty please?" [10:53 PM] Mousa The 14: Mar-Vell: “You gave yourself that title? You know what? Keep it.” [10:53 PM] Wack'd: I'm kidding, he talks about how Mar-Vell isn't bloodthirsty. But how do I know? I've never read a book with him [10:54 PM] Mousa The 14: Really, coulda swore showed up in FF previously [10:54 PM] Bocaj: He's a super saiyan [10:54 PM] maxwellelvis: From what I know the only thing that sets Mar-Vell off is Thanos. [10:54 PM] maxwellelvis: But then, who isn't? [10:54 PM] Wack'd: Anyway turns out bloodthirsty "kill him now" Mar-Vell is the imposter [10:54 PM] Wack'd: Stunner [10:54 PM] Mousa The 14: Shock above all shocks [10:55 PM] maxwellelvis: "Would you like me to shoot him now or wait til you get home?" [10:55 PM] maxwellelvis: "SHOOT HIM NOW! SHOOT HIM NOW!" [10:55 PM] maxwellelvis: "You keep out of this, I don't have to shoot you now." [10:56 PM] maxwellelvis: "Well I say you DO have to shoot me now! I DEMAND you shoot me now! ....mother!" [10:56 PM] Wack'd: Reed, smartly, also asks this Mar-Vell for proof of identity, and Mar-Vell has him stare into his eyes and see the whole of existence [10:56 PM] Wack'd: And Reed believes him and doesn't notice the syringe full of alien hallucinogens that I've just been plunged into his arm nah I'm kidding [10:56 PM] Wack'd: It's the real deal [10:57 PM] Umbramatic: alien hallucinogens are the good stuff [10:57 PM] Wack'd: This story still isn't over though! More Skrulls show up! Eight of them! Plus the other two makes Ten [10:58 PM] Wack'd: They're the ten prime Skrulls chosen for this mission [10:58 PM] Umbramatic: and that's terrible [10:58 PM] maxwellelvis: Even with the other three KO'd, that shouldn't be a problem. [10:58 PM] Wack'd: So, you know, I know we've all probably forgotten about that awful pun in the title, but here's our evidence it was reversed engineered [10:59 PM] Wack'd: Anyway the other three of Four miraculously wake up and return from being stunned earlier [10:59 PM] Wack'd: Fight fight fight [11:00 PM] Bocaj: ACTION SCENE NOW [11:01 PM] Wack'd: I guess this was all a parable about ethics and science? Seems to me like it was mostly about dumb imposter reveals but okay

[11:01 PM] Bocaj: its like action league now is the joke [11:01 PM] Wack'd: I understood that reference [11:01 PM] Bocaj: Ok but why is it that the work can't be precisely repeated [11:02 PM] Bocaj: Reed. You do understand that’s the definition of the scientific method, right? [11:02 PM] Bocaj: The fuck you doing if its not that? [11:02 PM] maxwellelvis: I'd have to assume it's the portal aspect he means. [11:02 PM] Umbramatic: "dumb imposter reveals" are just what happens every time you involve skrulls [11:02 PM] Wack'd: If I had to take a wild guess his funding was conditional on results, he had only gotten a result like two hours ago, and then it immediately got blown up [11:03 PM] Wack'd: Whoever gave him the money to build this thing is not going to accept "Skrulls ate my homework" [11:03 PM] Wack'd: But this story also says that Reed had never done faster than light travel before so who fucking knows [11:04 PM] Bocaj: What a bafflement [11:04 PM] Wack'd: Speaking of bafflements [11:04 PM] Wack'd: There is an epilogue [11:04 PM] Wack'd: In which it turns out Sue, Johnny and Ben had been gotten out of the way by sent back in time two hours [11:05 PM] Wack'd: And now there are duplicates who need to imminently depart to go fight Skrulls [11:05 PM] Bocaj: huh. [11:05 PM] maxwellelvis: I'm surprised Aleph Null hasn't chimed with a remark about a resonance cascade [11:07 PM] Aleph Null: "It's not- it's not shutting down!" [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Anyway there's a second story! [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Normally I wouldn't bother because the Four aren't in it [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Buuuuuut [11:09 PM] Wack'd: Well [11:09 PM] Wack'd: When last we saw Latveria, Doom had been institutionalized and Zorba had taken over as an interm leader while elections are set up [11:10 PM] Aleph Null: love democracy! [11:10 PM] Wack'd: So we should. Probably find out why it's not like that going forward [11:10 PM] Mousa The 14: One might say the democracy was doomed to fail in Latveria [11:10 PM] Wack'd: Ha! [11:10 PM] Aleph Null: like in america [11:10 PM] Mousa The 14: There can only be one victor in the contest of ruling that nation [11:11 PM] Wack'd: I like that Moench is actually, like, giving time to this. I feel like in the modern comics climate a lot of folks would just quietly ignore previous runs or dismantle them offpanel [11:11 PM] Wack'd: But also this is a dumb status quo reversion so like [11:12 PM] Umbramatic: welp [11:12 PM] Aleph Null: there are smart status quo reversions? [11:13 PM] maxwellelvis: Ending the Clone Saga [11:14 PM] Wack'd: So the first two pages of this are heady political debate! Zorba's tax policy is coming under protest since Doom preferred to fund things with, you know, crime, so taxes are kind of a new thing for folks [11:17 PM] Wack'd: Zorba feels it's unfair that people are ignoring his civil liberties reform but his advisor points out that since most people never had direct contact with Doom, their day-to-day lives weren't much impacted by what a huge shithead he was [11:18 PM] Wack'd: His advisor also points out that if you give people the right to protest, well, sometimes middle-class assholes who don't want higher taxes are going to be the ones waving signs [11:19 PM] Umbramatic: oh great lavertia still has republicans [11:20 PM] Wack'd: The advisor however also reminds Zorba that, at one time, he was the protestor, and he should be cautious of that worm turning [11:20 PM] Wack'd: Especially with most of Doom's inner circle being mysteriously unaccounted for [11:20 PM] Umbramatic: 🤔 [11:20 PM] Wack'd: (Doom having an inner circle is kind of a surprise to me but, like, he runs a country, a cabinet is probably necessary) [11:21 PM] Umbramatic: the cabnet is just a bunch of doombots [11:21 PM] maxwellelvis: He's got Boris, and he's got... his national superhero, forgot her name [11:21 PM] Bocaj: Victorious. She's newer [11:22 PM] maxwellelvis: She's there to do the stuff he's can't be at, because even DOOM cannot be everywhere. [11:22 PM] Wack'd: Anyway Zorba is like "please, for any real resistance to happen, Doom himself would have to have escaped, but he's still in his cell--" [11:22 PM] maxwellelvis: "Oh no! OH NO!" [11:22 PM] Wack'd: I'll give you three guesses what is actually in Doom's cell right now [11:23 PM] Bocaj: Doombot? [11:23 PM] Wack'd: Yep [11:23 PM] maxwellelvis: A vaguely Doom-shaped dummy with a broom, a bucket, and his old cloak? [11:23 PM] maxwellelvis: Oh. [11:24 PM] Bocaj: The thing about many latverian citizens not being directly oppressed really lines up with my grand theory of statesman doom [11:24 PM] Aleph Null: wait so this actually has things to say about politics? [11:24 PM] Wack'd: Yeah! Whoda thunk [11:24 PM] Wack'd: Zorba's advisor, whose name is Starn, thank you comic [11:24 PM] Wack'd: Starn is like "we need to infiltrate the Doom loyalist underground to find out how this happened" [11:25 PM] Wack'd: And Zorba's like "spying is against civil liberties so, uh, no" [11:25 PM] Wack'd: Given how the story ends I'm really hoping that the moral isn't "civil liberties are bad sometimes actually" [11:26 PM] Bocaj: Good hustle though, zorba [11:27 PM] Bocaj: In the sports sense [11:28 PM] Aleph Null: the only way to beat a bad guy with a fascist security state is a good guy with a fascist security state [11:28 PM] Wack'd: Zorba awakes from a PTSD nightmare to the realization that if the loyalists have spirited away Doom, well, he's kinda fragile right now, he'd need his armor [11:28 PM] Wack'd: And arrives in its vault just in time to be ambushed by loyalists [11:28 PM] Bocaj: Womp womp [11:29 PM] Wack'd: *sigh* Goddammit Zorba

[11:29 PM] Wack'd: Also that "crucial minutes too late" remark makes me think Starn is in on it [11:31 PM] Wack'd: Doom is revived but, when the captured soldier appears mere minutes later, Doom realizes it's a trap and a shootout ensues [11:32 PM] Wack'd: Zorba barely manages to escape, and Doom decides that before he can return to power he needs to make sure he has no more challengers. Ever. [11:32 PM] Wack'd: And that's where we leave things. [11:33 PM] Wack'd: Oh also max mentioned Boris earlier so here's a Boris

#1980 #Doug Moench #George Pérez #(pencils; first story)#Tom Sutton #(pencils; second story)#The Main Book

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classicmarvelera · 5 years

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The Marvels of Roy Thomas

2018 saw revival of an era that was known for Roy Thomas’ writings and co-created characters that go back to the late 60s. At first, in September of 2018 it was announced that Marvel would start or re-start publishing three ongoing Conan titles and in the same month came the 1st trailer of Captain Marvel (starring Carol Danvers/Brie Larson), a character created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan

Buy Marvel Legends Captain Marvel Wave here

Carol would become Ms. Marvel in late 70s (thanks to Gerry Conway, Carla Danvers, John Buscemi and Joe Sinnot) as part of drive to launch more superheroines but she would recieve her powers much earlier in Captain Marvel no. 18 (1968) when Thomas was writing the title

Co-Creations

For those who don’t know much about Roy Thomas, he not only succeeded Stan Lee as Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief but is also someone who co-created many of Marvel’s most popular characters, many of whom have graced the silver-screen along with TV. It is hard to imagine anyone other than Stan Lee who has co-created more characters than him. To name a few of Thomas’ co-creations, they include (but not limited to) Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Valkyrie, The Defenders, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Morbius the Living Vampire, Black Knight, Vision, Adam Warlock, Yellow Jacket and.......Ultron (Defenders is the only team that was solely conceived by him)

Buy Marvel Visionaries: Roy Thomas

When Diversity became the new norm

If the concept of an Anti-Hero was introduced by Timely Comics in the Golden Age with Namor the Sub-Mariner, its popularity reached new heights in the 70s thanks to Thomas’ co-created characters. In fact, the Bronze Age of comics began with the introduction of anti-heroes such as Wolverine, Punisher and Ghost Rider followed by Hollywood inspired characters such as Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Morbius and Shang-Chi that were Marvel’s approach to meet the demands of Blaxploitation, Kung-Fu and Vampire fans at the time

Gone were the days of a major super-hero with his/her own title being a White male or female nor were they a reflection of a WASP-ian world which DC Comics couldn’t get out of. Of course, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby laid the foundation for such a universe but during Roy Thomas’ tenure at Marvel; the horizon was broadened. This new approach paved the way for Marvel to launch standalone titles for characters like Black Panther written by Don McGregor with art by Billy Graham and Rich Buckler

Roy Thomas’ Imagination...second only to Stan

As a writer, Roy was Stan’s true successor. His uncanny ability to take storywriting and character creation to a whole new level makes it popular among today’s readership much like Stan and Jack’s work. When we compare him with his successors, they were mainly “leaders” who took Marvel to new heights due to their superb Editorial skills/leadership but their level of creativity couldn’t match with what Thomas had delivered. Joe Quesada comes a close second but his Editorial tenure is more about redefining characters and injecting Indy blood into mainstream comics. In case of Thomas, achieved success as a writer, editor and a co-creator similar to Stan

But what makes his contributions to Marvel unique from the rest are highlighted below:

Marvel’s 1st Inter-Galactic War

Buy Avengers: Kree/Skrull War here

Galactus came to devour Earth. the Skrulls infiltrated life on Earth only to end up as cows but the Kree/Skrull War was different. This was the first Space Opera of EPIC proportions. In this story, Earth is caught up in an Inter-Galactic war between the Kree and Skrull empires

The arc involed Avengers, Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and Fantastic Four as protagonists and such an excercise at a grand scale at the time was never done before. Yes there were guest appearances by fellow heroes but having something that would be the foundation for future cross-over events to come was the first of its kind. This series was way ahead of its time to the extent that it served as a foundation for Brian Michael Bendis’ Secret Invasion arc in 2008. This just shows the richness of the content

Enter Retcons

Both Marvel and DC had practically shelved much of their Golden Age characters that weren’t first tier superheroes. It was Roy who still saw potential in them and had cross-overs in which the Golden Age characters would time travel to meet their future selves or their Silver Age replacements. Of course this just didn’t give birth to the new, ground breaking concept of Retroactive Continuity (Retcon) but it also gave birth to new characters that would keep Golden Age continuity fresh for Silver Age audiences

Buy Invaders’ collection here

What Ifs & Team-Ups

DC Comics had an on-going series called Imaginary Stories which served as the pre-cursor to Elseworlds imprint in the late 80s. Marvel didn’t have a title that would have stories of its flagship characters that weren’t part of its mainsteam continuity. Again, this gap was filled by Thomas with the What If title that continued till 1984

Buy What If Classic collection here

Another successful title was Marvel Team-Up which mostly starred Spider-Man. The series co-created by Thomas and Ross Andru continued till 1985, explored various superhero combos within the mainstream continuity of Marvel Universe

Buy Marvel Team-Up collections here

The Deal Maker & a Savior

While working as an associate Editor in 1970, Thomas proposed to the then publisher of Marvel (Martin Goodman) to license Robert E. Howard’s Conan. The reason for doing so that Marvel was recieving requests to have literary properties adapted into comics and Conan was the most requested by the fans. It wasn’t easy to get it done as the budget was limited for licensing. But Roy was so dedicated to his work that he was even willing to knock a couple pages off his rate “to even things out"

The deal happened, Barry Windsor-Smith was hired to do the art and the rest is history. Conan The Barbarian continued till 1993 making it one of Marvel’s most successful title in the 70s

Buy Conan the Barbarian: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1

Another licensing feat for Thomas was of Star Wars. In his blog post entitled “Roy Thomas saved Marvel”, former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter (who was an associate Editor in the mid-70s) recalls the struggle Marvel was enduring due to weak titles suffering from bad content strategy that resulted in declining sales. As a way out of financial misery, Roy had suggested to license an upcoming science fiction movie called Star Wars and publish an adaptation thereof

While Jim and Roy didn’t see each other eye-to-eye and due to their disagreements Roy ended up writing exclusively for DC Comics in the early 80s, the following excerpt from Jim’s blog post says it all about Roy’s initiative and its success that continued well into the next decade:

“There was a lot of opposition to Star Wars. Even Stan wasn’t keen on the idea.

Even I wasn’t. I had no prejudice against science fiction, but wasting time on an adaptation of a movie with a dumb title described as an “outer space western?”

I was told—don’t know for sure—that George Lucas himself came to Marvel’s offices to meet with Stan and help convince him that we should license Star Wars. I was told that Stan kept him waiting for 45 minutes in the reception room. Apocryphal? Maybe. Roy would know. But if so, it still reflects the mood at the time.

I don’t know how Roy got it done. I was just the associate editor, and not privy to much of the wrangling that went on. But, Roy got the deal done and we published Star Wars.”

- Jim Shooter: Roy Thomas saved Marvel

This was a time when Disney didn’t own Marvel and Star Wars. Just imagine where Marvel would be today had it not been for this deal worked out by Roy

End Note

It is fair to say that his work at Marvel has had a cult following over the years but now its going mass considering the the successes witnessed at the box office and Netflix

The re-launch of Star Wars comics in 2015 saw a million copies sold of its first issue, Marvel in 2018 won the rights to re-publish Conan titles, the What If title has also been re-launched

All of this begs the question: What was the secret behind Roy’s successes at Marvel? He may be the only writer/creator one can think of who was able to gauge popularity of Hollywood’s entertainment genres with comic book readership at the time. In most of his works, Hollywood’s reflections cannot be ignored. In the 60s, it was the Star Trek & Space Odyssey inspired space opera, in the 70s it was Kung-Fu, Blaxploitation, Anti-Heroes and Crime-fighting duos

In the year 2019, with the release of Captain Marvel movie in March; the superhero fans are being entertained with comics and movies that owe a great deal to this man. It wouldn’t be odd to name 2019 as ‘The Year of the Roy’

➡️ Get the entire Roy Thomas’ Marvel collection here

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