Mighty World Of Marvel

70 Years of Marvel - 2009

2009-11-20T07:05:00.002Z

So, the Secret Invasion's over, and the Skrulls have had their backsides kicked back to Skrullos. Good news for our heroes, right? Wrong. For whatever plot-serving reason, Norman Osborn, formerly the Green Goblin, formerly dead, and formerly a world-renowned supervillain, is now the hero of the world, and has been placed in charge of SHIELD (or HAMMER, as it's now known), and, as you can see from the picture above, he's brought along a few of his pals.

Osborn's "Cabal" is made up of Loki, the Hood, Emma Frost, Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom. Apparently, Norman is the only person alive who doesn't know how well it goes when supervillains team up: Acts of Vengeance, anyone?

Whilst we wait for the inevitable decline and fall of Osborn and his friends, comic readers in 2009 can choose to look away from the mainstream Marvel universe, and look out to the stars, where the Kree, conquered by the Inhumans, are at war with the Shi'ar. The War of Kings, as it's dubbed, has drawn in any number of Marvel's cosmic characters, from Nova to the Guardians of the Galaxy, and, like most Marvel successes, shows signs of being over-exploited. Still, it's more fun that the grimness of most Marvel books these days, so enjoy it while it lasts.

70 Years of Marvel - 2008

2009-11-19T07:52:00.000Z

The department of the UK government which deals with supernatural and metahuman affairs, had been around since 1996, under one name or another, but in 2008, Paul Cornell used MI13 as the setting for the latest attempt at giving Captain Britain his own book again. Cornell had Cap heading up a team of superhumans, including the Black Knight, vampire-hunter Blade, and golden age heroine, Spitfire. One of the few books not to be directly tied to any of the major franchises, the title lasted just over a year, after which the good Captain and friends slipped back into limbo. We look forward to the next revival attempt, in a year or so.

Captain Britain & MI13 spun out of the events of Marvel's big event of 2008: Secret Invasion. This jolly romp showed the Skrulls, wiped out almost to a man a couple of years back by the Annihilation Event, still more than capable of infiltrating human society , kidnapping and replacing vital figures such as Hank Pym, Spider-Woman and Elektra, before launching a mass attack on New York, and presumably, London. Another classic from Bendis, this just seems to have been intended to tidy up the mess left after Civil War, whilst leaving things in more of a mess than before. But we'll get to that tomorrow.

Other new comics of 2008? Well, there were some. After being around for, depending on your opinion, 43 years 3000 years, Hercules finally got his own ongoing title, inheriting his book from the Hulk, who, turfed out of his book, immediately got a new one, restarting from issue #1. If you think that was confusing, you're right, and it'll take a finer man than me to explain it. Sorry.

70 Years of Marvel - 2007

2009-11-18T07:41:00.001Z

One of the highlights of 2007 was this little gem, MODOK's 11, in which the Big Giant Head recruits a couple of fistfuls of followers, including second-stringers like Mentallo, the Armadillo, and the Chameleon, to commit the ultimate robbery. With the rest of the Marvel Universe getting increasingly grim and gritty, this was a nice lighthearted little romp, and got Fred Van Lente his first start in the Marvel Universe proper.

Other than this, most books in 2007 revolved around either the fallout from Civil War, the consequences of the Annihilation Event, or the Hulk's invasion of New York. The Spider-Books were being culled left, right, and centre, whilst Spidey himself was making a deal with the devil to save his Aunt May. Elsewhere, JMS was being recruited to revamp Thor, Captain America was getting shot, and Iron Man was being appointed Director of SHIELD. The world was getting weirder, that was for sure.

Professor Xavier Is A Jerk!

2009-11-17T07:15:00.000Z

As mentioned before, many of the current woes in the Marvel Universe are a result of Professor X's misusing of his mutant students. The whole War of Kings thing currently being played out between the Shi'ar and the Inhumans might have been prevented, had Xavier happened to mention to anyone that there was a third Summers brother, one with a bit of a grudge against the Shi'ar. So, what other misdeeds can we accuse the X-Men's mentor of?

1. Whilst still in the womb, killed his own twin.

2. On the US Army's dollar, shagged his way across Europe, leaving at least one pregnant woman in his wake.

3. Used his psychic powers to put the whammy on any woman not taken in by his "charm".

4. Forced one of his students to take a job working at a club where she would regularly be expected to dress in fishnets and bodices.

5. Fancied a bit of peace and quiet from his students, so faked his own death.

6. Sent a group of novice mutants to rescue his original team of X-Men, got them killed, and then never mentioned it to anyone ever again!

7. Went evil.

8. Again.

9. And again.

10. Buggered off into space with his latest girlfriend, leaving his school and students in the hands of their arch-enemy.

11. Wanted his school and students back, so lobotomised the aforementioned arch-enemy.

12. Went evil, again...

13. Outed himself as a mutant, at the same time dropping his students in it.

14. When his ex-girlfriend, Moira McTaggart, was murdered by the mutant terrorist, Mystique, responded by - hiring Mystique to carry out black ops missions for him.

15. Used his experience of faking his own death, to help Magneto fake his own death.

Make no mistake, this man is not a nice guy. If you see him, do not approach. Unless it's to kick his wheelchair over and kick him in his bald head, that is...

(This cheap inventory post previously appeared in my other blog, February 2006.)

70 Years of Marvel - 2006

2009-11-16T07:41:00.001Z

By 2006, "event comics were rampant at Marvel. We had, in no particular order:

X-Men: Deadly Genesis - in which Ed Brubaker finally answered the question of who Cyclops and Havok's mystery brother was, about a decade after anyone had last expressed an interest in finding this out. The third brother, Vulcan, believed dead, and erased from the memories of everyone who met him (by that good guy, Professor X), came back from the dead, kidnapped the X-Men, killed Banshee, then went off into space to conquer the Shi'ar Empire.

Civil War - in which Mark Millar spins a yarn in which the New Warriors accidentally blow up a school, and the superhero community is torn in half, with factions arguing for and against superhero registration led by Iron Man and Captain America respectively, Spider-Man reveals his secret identity to the world, and Hank Pym builds a clone of Thor.

Planet Hulk - in which Mr Fantastic, Iron Man, Black Bolt and Dr Strange decide to exile the Hulk into space, accidentally sending him to a planet of enslaving insects, whom he proceeds to conquer. Planet Hulk's writer, Greg Pak, would subsequently return the Hulk to Earth to kick some arse, but this was a far superior tale.

Annihilation - in which Annihilus and his Negative Zone pals try to conquer the "Positive" Universe. Used by Keith Giffen and others as a means to jumpstart Marvel's "cosmic" characters, who had been somewhat underused in recent years.

Additionally, 2006 saw the Black Panther marry the X-Men's Storm, Warren Ellis launch Nextwave, comedy misadventures of some b-list heroes, and Neil Gaiman relaunch the Eternals. In all, a busy year for Marvel's marketing department.

70 Years of Marvel - 2005

2009-11-15T07:35:00.000Z

2005 was the year of the Marvel Zombies. Introduced as part of the Ultimate Universe, they quickly graduated to their own mini-series, written by noted zombie comic writer, Robert Kirkman. A smash hit, Marvel Zombies has spawned numerous sequels, although Kirkman has long since moved on.

2005 also saw the debut of the Young Avengers, Allan Heinberg's book about teenage heroes with various tenuous connections to the Avengers. Somewhat delayed by the dreaded deadline doom, the Young Avengers have made sporadic reappearances over the years, although Heinberg has long since moved on.

Also in 2005, Brian Bendis brought us House of M, an alternate dimension where Magneto rules a world dominated by mutants. Sort of like Age of Apocalypse, but less bleak. He also brought us three little words: No More Mutants. All sorts of dire consequences followed, mostly involving there being yet more X-Books. The House of M has been revisited numerous times since 2005. Brian Bendis, thus far, refuses to move on.

Everything Old Is New Again

2009-11-14T07:45:00.004Z

Of course, 2004 wasn't just about Brian Bendis. It was also the year of optimistic relaunches:

3rd time out for Alpha Flight, and a return to Marvel for 90s X-writer, Scott Lobdell. A humorous spin on the Canadian superteam, this lasted all of a dozen issues, and most of the team were subsequently exterminated, in order to establish the badass credentials of the latest Avengers foe. As for Cable and Deadpool, this was was a buddy book, written by Lobdell's former partner in X-crime, Fabian Nicieza, and, for the first few issues, even featured covers by Rob Liefeld, who'd brought Cable and Deadpool to comics in the first place.

Keith Giffen, J.M DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire had made comedy names for themselves with a relaunch of the Justice League at DC Comics, in 1987. 17 years on, they decided to have a crack at the Defenders, applying similar comedic principles to the title. Meanwhile, J. Michael Straczynski decided to have a crack at making Dr Strange popular again, mostly by retelling his origin. Neither limited series did much for the ongoing popularity of their cast, but neither did a great deal of harm either.

On the other hand, these two books did no good at all for anyone. Chris Claremont launched a new Excalibur book, not related to the previous team book, but instead starring Professor X and Magneto, mostly so that Claremont could retcon the evil Magneto who had been showing up in Grant Morrison's New X-Men. There followed a great deal of to-ing and fro-ing between Morrison fans and critics, none of which made Excalibur a good book. Still, compared to James Mullaney's brief revival of Iron Fist, a book so bad that, despite being the biggest fan in the world of Danny Rand, I have been unable to reread, Excalibur was a classic.

Dan Slott made his first venture into the Marvel Universe with a new She-Hulk book, in which Shulkie joins a law firm and engages in all sorts of superhero litigation. Imagine Boston Legal with super-types. In one form or another, this book was still going until quite recently. Meanwhile, having killed off the original Thunderbolts concept, and replaced it with a supervillain wrestling book, Marvel persuaded series originator Kurt Busiek to come back one more time. The relaunch lasted until Warren Ellis came along and kicked out the existing team, in the midst of 2006's Civil War, to my somewhat dissatisfaction.

Yeah, on the whole, actual ideas were pretty much on the way out over at the House of Ideas that year.

70 Years of Marvel - 2004

2009-11-13T07:09:00.002Z

In 2004, Norman Osborn was finally exposed as the Green Goblin, and sent to prison for a good long time. Who would have thought he'd now be acting as the head of SHIELD? Not anyone rational, that's for sure.

2004 also saw the Avengers Disassembled, courtesy of the Scarlet Witch, who went mad after her best friend, the Wasp, inadvertantly reminded her that she'd once had children who were erased from history. I feel that the Wasp perhaps ought to bear some measure of blame for this fiasco: was it too much to hope that she wouldn't, after one too many gins, rub in Wanda's face her inability to produce children?

Also in 2004, we were presented with Secret War (no relation), in which Nick Fury decides to overthrow the Latverian government, hypnotising half of his friends in order to do so. When this plan goes tits up, Fury runs away and goes into hiding. None of what happens is particularly explicable.

All of the above books were written by Brian Bendis, who was rapidly becoming a master of sacrificing realistic behaviour in his characters, in order to service his stories.

In other news, Russia and Chechnya were having serious fallings-out in this year, while (and I can't believe I never read about this), Marvin Heemeyer, was building himself a homemade tank out of a bulldozer and getting ready to rumble in Colorado.

70 Years of Marvel - 2003

2009-11-12T07:17:00.000Z

Another year, another new brand. 2003 was the year of Tsunami Comics, a line of books aimed at appealing to the Manga market, a source of prime dollars of which Marvel was thus far not getting a slice. The idea of the line was to produce books which would be reprinted in the digest format of Manga books, rather than the full-size trade paperbacks normally used.

We got some good books out of it. Sentinel (above) was the Iron Man / Iron Giant with a mutant-hunting robot instead of a a big friendly robot, whilst Runaways was the story of a group of teenagers who discover their parents are eeeviiiillll! Other than those sparks of originality, though, mostly it was just the same old, same old: a relaunch of New Mutants; an attempt at a solo book for bad / good mutant, Mystique; the teenage adventures of Emma Frost; and new books for Venom, Sub-Mariner, and the Human Torch. The line wasn't a great surprise: most people can presumably tell the difference between real Manga and Marvel's pseudo-Manga, and those that couldn't just weren't gripped by what they saw.

2003 also saw the legendary Neil Gaiman doing his first work for Marvel, with 1602, which had the Marvel Universe transposed to Elizabethan times. A fine tale in its own right, I'm sure the numerous non-Gaiman sequels, prequels and sidequels, haven't detracted from its impact at all.

Finally, 2003 also saw the definitive origin of Spider-Man, in the Mark Millar-penned Trouble. Or maybe it didn't. After all the hype about this book, no-one really seems sure what the point of it all was.

In the real world, 2003 saw the Columbia shuttle disaster, the downfall of Saddam Hussein, and the return of Dirty Den, all of which kept the internet chattering.

February 2002 Was A Quiet Month

2009-11-11T08:21:00.002Z

(Today's post delayed due to all sorts of franticness. Back tomorrow...)

70 Years of Marvel - 2002

2009-11-10T07:23:00.002Z

2002 was the year of MAX Comics. OK, technically, that's not true. The first MAX comics were launched the previous year, but 2002 saw Marvel's 18-certificate comics line get well and truly established, to the consternation of the internet (and, if wikipedia is to believed, to the consternation of Stan Lee as well).

MAX Comics is probably most renowned for having introduced Jessica Jones to the Marvel Universe. Hard-bitten private eye / ex-superheroine, Jessica was the creation of Brian Bendis and Michael Gaydos, swore a lot, and shagged Luke Cage, before being watered down sufficiently to appear in the pages of Bendis' Avengers. MAX's other big creation has been the Hood, created by Brian K. Vaughan, but hijacked by Bendis to act as one of the main protagonists (read: most overused characters) of his recent Dark Reign storyline.

MAX also produced a fair amount of character revivals. Not just Luke Cage, reinvented as a non-costumed swearing machine, but also War Machine (now actually able to kill people), Nick Fury (rewritten by Garth Ennis as a burned-out Cold War veteran looking for one last war), Shang-Chi (reuniting 70s fan faves Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy), Howard the Duck (from original creator Steve Gerber), Blade (launched to cash in on the movie franchise), Black Widow (the blonde one, not the good one), Apache Skies (featuring some of Marvel's Western heroes). And that was just in 2002! The MAX line is still going, if not strong, than at least surviving, with a series featuring the 40s hero, Destroyer, recently out, and Howard Chaykin's revival of his Dominic Fortune character.

2002 also saw the release of the first issue of Kevin Smith's Daredevil / Bullseye miniseries. Optimistic people are still waiting for the release of issue 2.

In the real world, the Euro entered common currency, the US Government was setting up the Department of Homeland Security, and Britain, the US, and various allies were looking forward to invading Iraq.

70 Years of Marvel - 2001

2009-11-09T07:39:00.001Z

Fans of parallel universes got a boost in 2001, with the introduction of the Exiles. Dimension-hopping mutants from various different worlds, the Exiles were led, mostly, by Blink, who was a throwaway character from a mid-90s X-Crossover, who, after being killed off, had proved unexpectedly popular with the readers. The Exiles, although a standalone book, had enough ties to the Marvel Universe proper, to keep the fanboys happy, at least until the book was killed off earlier this year.

2001 also saw the Powers-What-Be at Marvel decide to tell the origin of Wolverine, apparently in order to prevent the X-Movies from beating the books to the punch. Although, some might argue, that since Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada and Publisher Bill Jemas each got a writing credit on the book, it might just have been in order to make them some ready cash, helping to tell a story that some fans had been waiting 30 years for.

Finally, it was all change at the X-Books this year, with Grant Morrison taking over the reigns of the Adjectiveless X-Men, henceforth renamed New X-Men, and Peter Milligan relaunching X-Force with an entirely new, entirely bonkers, set-up. Chris Claremont found himself turfed off Uncanny X-Men, again, but got a new book out of it: X-Treme X-Men. Most other titles found themselves facing the axe, as part of a plan to reduce the number of X-Books to a manageable level.

Incidentally, for those of you who care, in January 2001 there were 12 ongoing X-Books (Bishop, Deadpool, Gambit, Generation X, Mutant X, Uncanny X-Men, Wolverine, X-Force, X-Man, X-Men, X-Men: Hidden Years, and the quarterly X-Men Unlimited), whilst December had 8 (Deadpool, Exiles, Uncanny, Wolverine, X-Force, New X-Men, X-Treme, and Unlimited). The solicitations for January 2010 show the following regular X-Books: Dark Wolverine, Uncanny, X-Force, X-Men Legacy, Cable, New Mutants, Deadpool, Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth, Deadpool Team-Up, Wolverine: Weapon X, Wolverine: Origins, X-Factor, Uncanny X-Men: First Class, X-Men Forever. 14 in total. So much for progress.

In the real world, of course, 2001 was the year the World Trade Centre came down.

70 Years of Marvel - 2000

2009-11-08T07:22:00.005Z

One of DC Comics' biggest names took his first step into Marvel waters this year, with Grant Morrison's Marvel Boy, a Kree soldier who fell to Earth and fell out with pretty much everyone he met. Morrison would make a bit more of a name for himself in the years to come, whilst Noh-Varr would vanish without trace for the next few years, until he was recruited to work for Norman Osborn, adopting the Captain Marvel identity. But, you may ask, what happened to the previous Captain Marvel, the one who was Mar-Vell's son? Well, in 2000, he was just being launched in his own title, bonded with Rick Jones, and being written as a comedy drama by Peter David. His book would last a few years, and on its cancellation, he'd join the Thunderbolts, change his name to Photon, and be killed by Baron Zemo. Oh, the indignity.

The British were coming in 2000. In addition to Morrison's debut, 2000 also saw Warren Ellis take control of several of the X-Books, and Garth Ennis start writing the adventures of the Punisher. Additionally, fellow Brit Paul Jenkins' introduced the Sentry, his amnesiac hero from the dawn of the Silver Age.

It also saw the release of Marvel: The Lost Generation, an interesting, misdirected, and fairly futile attempt to bridge the ever-growing gap between the end of World War II and the start of the modern age of superheroes. Presented by Roger Stern and John Byrne, the characters introduced in the book vanished without trace as soon as the last issue of the series hit the stands.

Somewhat more long-lasting was Ultimate Marvel, another new brand, this one existing solely to relaunch the adventures of Spider-Man, the X-Men, and others in a new universe, unbound by all that annoying continuity. In time, these books would become as convoluted as the mainsteam Marvel Universe, but for a while there, new comic fans could dive into comics without needing an encyclopedia.

In other news, 2000 was the year we lost Charles Schultz and gained George Bush Jr. I'm sure there was some good news, but buggered if I can find any.

70 Years of Marvel - 1999

2009-11-07T07:06:00.001Z

By 1999, Natasha Romanova had been around for 35 years, a beloved institution. Never big enough to support her own title for long, the Black Widow was nevertheless a big part of the Marvel Universe, either adventuring with the Avengers, superspying with Nick Fury, or snogging the face off Daredevil. So why exactly anyone thought we needed a replacement, is anyone's guess. In any case, Yelena Belova, younger and blonder than Natasha, showed up in 1999, featured in the occasional mini-series for the next few years, then got blowed up good and proper in the Avengers. There's only room for one Black Widow, luv.

1999 also saw the debut of yet another Spider-Woman. This one was Mattie Franklin, a previously-unmentioned niece of J. Jonah Jameson, with the ability to sprout extra legs and stuff. Not a big hit, Mattie's own book didn't last long, and you don't even want to know what happened to her later.

In the real world, 1999 was the year that George Lucas, against all that is decent, made a new Star Wars film, while ex-KGB man, Vladimir Putin, took over in Russia. The world was becoming a scary place, especially for Star Wars fans.

70 Years of Marvel - 1998

2009-11-06T07:05:00.000Z

By 1998, Peter David had been writing the adventures of the Incredible Hulk for over a decade. In that time, the character had gradually evolved, from a character which no-one was really interested in, to one of the company's most complex books, with a main character whose motivations we could never really be sure of, and whose next move we'd rarely be able to guess. The book being a big success, Marvel editorial naturally wanted to tamper. Unfortunately, by 1998, Peter David was nearly as big a success as the Hulk, so when he was asked to alter his plans for the character, restoring the ~~Dumb~~ Savage Hulk who'd been so preeminent before his takeover, he walked off the book. It wouldn't be the last falling out PAD would have with Marvel Editorial, but it would be the biggest, with the Hulk wandering undirected for the next few years.

1998 also saw Marvel experiment again with outsourcing their work, this time to Event Comics, a little company run by an up-and-coming writer / artist called Joe Quesada. Rather than handing over their prime properties to Quesada and co, Marvel instead gave them free reign with some of their second-tier titles: Black Panther, Daredevil, the Inhumans, and the Punisher. The Marvel Knights books, as they were branded, were aimed at an older readership, 15 up, and, other than redefining the Punisher as a fallen angel, didn't miss a beat. In particular, Daredevil's fortunes took an upswing, transforming a character that no-one had known what to do with in years, into a grim and gritty street vigilante, under the authorship of first Kevin Smith, then Brian Michael Bendis. As with every successful idea in comics, the first idea of editorial is that more of what is successful, will automatically be more successful. Which is why pretty much every book this decade has been aimed at older readers. Comics aren't for kids, folks, not anymore.

Or maybe they are. After all, 1998 was also the year in which Spider-Girl gained her own title. Created as a one-off for an issue of What If?, May "Mayday" Parker is the daughter of Spidey and ~~wife~~ former bidey-in, Mary Jane (a daughter never born in the "real" Marvel Universe), and her adventures, provided by Tom DeFalco, have been ongoing ever since, despite numerous well-documented attempts to kill the title off. Let's hear it for the little book that could.

Elsewhere in 1998, Bill Clinton was denying having had relations with "that woman", whilst George Michael was admitting trying to have relations with "the man".

In The Interest Of Balance

2009-11-05T07:14:00.000Z

In case anyone feels I was unfair in claiming that my favourite book of the past 12 years was also the most important debut of 1997, here's a quick rundown of the other continuing books which had their debut in that year...

Steve Seagle was tapped to bring back Alpha Flight, a book that had limped along for a decade before being put to sleep in 1994. Mostly a conspiracy book, with Alpha working for the sinister forces of Department H, the book lasted 20 issues before dying off again.

A bit player in the X-Books since the early 90s, Maverick was given his own book, so that those who wanted to read the adventures of a mutant spy with a terminal disease, could do so. Since it lasted all of a dozen issues, I'm guessing Marvel overestimated the popularity of the character.

If T-Bolts was my favourite book of 1997, Heroes For Hire came a close second at times. Obstensibly a reunion for Power Man and Iron Fist, this book, devised by Roger Stern and delivered by John Ostrander, felt at times more like a reboot of the Defenders. The heroes didn't do a lot of work for hire, and there was that rotating team that Defenders fans were so familiar with. Unfortunately, although it was a good concept, it didn't catch on, and was canned after 19 issues.

Never one to let an old idea die, Marvel have resurrected MTU a few times now, but this was the first attempt, itself spinning out of a quarterly Spider-Man Team-Up book. Written by Tom Peyer, who's mostly worked for DC over the years, this was another one which barely made a dozen issues.

Another book from Peyer, Quicksilver featured the mutant speedster in one of his more heroic moments, working for the High Evolutionary and fighting against such foes as Maximus the Mad and Exodus, and was axed after 13 issues, after a team-up with the equally doomed Heroes For Hire.

Having been turfed off Captain America in the Heroes Reborn event, Mark Waid could have had his pick of characters to write. Bizarrely, he chose Ka-Zar, a second-stringer since 1965, and who, despite Waid's best efforts, would remain a second-stringer well after the 20 issues of this title.

Yeah, ok, you got me. They can't all be losers, and by any definition, Deadpool's been a big success, to the extent that, as of 2009, he stars in two ongoing titles, and he's probably the second most overexposed mutant out there. But in 1997, no-one really expected Joe Kelly's stab at an ongoing book for the Merc-With-A-Mouth to make it big. And, to be honest, I'm still astonished at the longevity of what is basically a one-dimensional character. Go figure.

So there you go. Seven books launched in the same year as Thunderbolts, of which one can be classed as a success. T-Bolts doesn't seem so lame now, does it?

70 Years of Marvel - 1997

2009-11-04T08:00:00.008Z

C'mon now, did you really think I was going to spotlight any other book?

The 90s were not a golden decade for Marvel, but there was the occasional highlight, and none more than the introduction of the Thunderbolts. With apologies for spoilering 12 year old book, Kurt Busiek's concept of having Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil pose as superheroes in order to take over the world was pretty damn cool. But the idea that, having pulled off the initial deception, some of these long-standing bad guys (Goliath, Screaming Mimi and the Beetle) might decide that they actually quite like the respect that they're receiving, and might decide not to go through with the whole going bad and inevitably getting their heads handed to them element of the scheme, now that was genius.

In a time when there was a noticable decline in the quality of most of Marvel's product, Thunderbolts stood head and shoulders above the rest. For years, the original team trod the line between heroism, opportunism, and villainy, being at times, outlaws, acknowledged heroes and saviours of the world. Then Warren Ellis took over, and the whole concept of wannabe heroes was ditched, in favour of outright villains and psychopaths working for the government in return for a pardon. All well and good, but nothing we hadn't seen twenty years ago in Suicide Squad over at DC.

July '97 was notable for being Marvel's Flashback Month, in which Stan Lee (or a reasonable facsimile) showed up in pretty much every book, in order to introduce a tale from the past of the protagonists of the book: Daredevil's college days, Baron Zemo's childhood, Cable's first time-journey. A novel idea, but pretty much inconsequential in the long term,

1997 also saw Roger Stern and Ron Frenz return to Spider-Man, to give the definitive answer to the question: who is the Hobgoblin? The question had already been answered, a decade previously, but it had been an unsatisfactory conclusion, and Stern took advantage of the new, post-Clone Saga regime to write "his" ending to the mystery he'd started 15 years ago.

New blood was introduced to the X-Men, in the shape of Maggot, Cecelia Reyes and Marrow, all of whom were introduced during the latest X-Crossover, Operation Zero Tolerance. The first new members of the team introduced in nearly a decade, all three proved less than popular, and all three were gone from the team by the end of the millennium.

Outside of comics, New Labour swept to power on the UK in this year. A decade of national mourning was declared, following the ascension of Saint Diana, the People's Princess. And the world gasped at the majestic wonder that was Jim Cameron's Titanic. If any of this seems familiar, then I can only assume you are suffering from deja vu, and not that, for some reason, I looked up 1997 when writing the entry for 1996. Move along, move along.

70 Years of Marvel - 1996

2009-11-03T08:18:00.002Z

1996 was a crunch year for Marvel. While the X-Titles were doing ok, the Spider-Books were embroiled in the seemingly-everlasting Clone Saga, and the Avengers were just emerging from The Crossing, a crossover event which had seen Tony Stark go evil, the Wasp turned into a real giant-size woman-bug, and many readers jumping ship. Captain America, written at the time by Mark Waid, was well-regarded, but nothing spectacular, sales-wise. And the Fantastic Four had been lumbering along under Tom DeFalco's guidance for years. With sales crashing all over as a result of the end of the speculator boom, Marvel wanted to try something radical.

Their answer was Onslaught, an ultra-powerful mutant (with a dark secret) who tried to destroy the world. A couple of months of group-wide crossovers led to a final battle, in which the Avengers and the FF sacrificed themselves to stop Onslaught. The public, seeing their heroes killed, blamed mutantkind, and the X-Men's lives got that little bit more difficult.

But the Avengers and the Fantastic Four weren't dead. Oh no, not at all. Instead, they faced a worse fate: outsourcing! Marvel hired Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, founders of Image Comics, to "reimagine" the two teams, in the Image style. So it was farewell to the classic Marvel style, and hello to this...

It worked, after a fashion. Sales went through the roof, and everyone was talking about Marvel again. And that the the books weren't very good didn't really matter. After a year, the books would revert to being written and drawn in-house, with yet another set of #1 issues. And because each restart was accompanied by a bump in sales, we could henceforth look forward to pretty much every Marvel title restarting every couple of years.

In other comics news, the Clone Saga did eventually finish, at the end of this year, accompanied by the return of Norman Osborn. It says something for how much people were tired of the whole clone thing, that the resurrection of Spidey's most famously dead arch-nemesis seemed like a pretty neat idea. 13 years on, and with Norman appearing in pretty much every comic pretty much every month, it doesn't seem like such a winning plan.

1996 was also the year of Amalgam Comics, in which Marvel and DC Comics collaborated on a shared universe, with characters made up of blends of both companies' heroes and villains.

A novel idea amongst a sea of detritus, Amalgam Comics managed two runs, in '96 and '97, before vanishing without trace.

Oooh! Shiny!

2009-11-02T07:18:00.003Z

The mid-90s saw the comic speculator boom reach its crescendo, as a whole bunch of stupid people decided that, because Amazing Fantasy #15 and Detective Comics #27 were worth a fortune, then all comics would eventually be worth a fortune. These stupid people went forth and bought a shedload of comics, which they then either bagged and tagged, to sell in the future once said comics had become valuable, or, hilariously, sold them to even more stupid people, who believed that because the comics were being bought in large numbers, they must be worth lots of money NOW. Before anyone could realise these spectacular profits, the bubble burst, the speculators went on to the next big thing (pogs, probably, or trading cards), and comic sales dropped like a stone, taking most of the comic shops with them. Before you laugh, bear in mind this sort of "logic" is pretty much exactly what caused the house-buying boom of the last few years, and you saw how well that turned out.

The rise and fall of the speculator market can be symbolised by looking at the use of foil covers in comic books. Bear with me.

In 1991, Silver Surfer #50 came out. This book featured a battle between Surfy and the reborn dark titan, Thanos, and was a prelude to the Infinity Gauntlet, a cosmic event which touched on most of the Marvel Universe (except the X-Books, which for some reason managed to dodge such things). Some bright spark at Marvel decided to celebrate this milestone issue, by issuing the book with a silver foil cover.

I imagine it did well, I recall friends being excited by the (really not done justice by scanners) cover. In any case, Marvel followed this up the very next month with a glow-in-the-dark cover on Ghost Rider #15.

Nice enough, I'm sure you'll agree, but, really, why the need for a gimmick cover? This issue did feature a confrontation between the 90s Ghost Rider and his 70s equivelent, but it was the concluding part of a three parter, and not even a particularly good three parter at that.

1992 saw Marvel issue a few more books promotional covers Most of them seem justifiable enough:
Amazing Spider-Man #365, Spider-Man #26 and Spectacular Spider-Man #189 all celebrated Spidey's 30th anniversary with neat little holographic panels.
Hulk #393 commemorated the Hulk's 30th anniversary and revisited his origins.
Guardians of the Galaxy #25 featured the 31st century heroes battling Galactus.
Spider-Man 2099 and Ravage 2099 introduced the world of tomorrow.
And, er, Silver Sable #1 celebrated the bounty hunting blondeshell getting her own book at last.

In 1993 , Marvel were churning out the gimmick covers, on, by my count, 44 comics. Some, such as the Avengers and the X-Men's 30th anniversary, were reasonable. Then there were such "essentials" as Namor #37, which celebrated Subby getting a new costume. Or Fantastic Four #371, in which the Human Torch accidentally set fire to Empire State University. Or Venom: Funeral Pyre, in which the world's most overrated supervillain takes on the Punisher (spoiler: nobody dies). By 1994, just about every comic had a gold, silver, platinum, 3D, die-cut, prismatic cover, or it felt like it. Every anniversary, no matter how trivial, every first issue, every "landmark" issue, had a pretty cover, and an inflated cover price to match. Sales were spiking all over the place, based not on how good the books were, but on the relative "buzz" generated by Excalibur #75 or Nova #1.

By 1995, the speculators were getting tired, and by 1996, most of them had vanished off in search of the nearest shop selling Magic: The Gathering cards. Other than a couple of Marvel 2099 books, the foil cover phenomenon vanished without trace virtually overnight.

It would be a good long while before Marvel would try another attempt at getting those speculator dollars, through the use of variant covers on books. A glance at the shelves of your nearest comic shop will show that Marvel doesn't really seemed to have learned any lessons from the 90s speculator boom, as just about every comic out at the moment is available with at least two covers. Disaster lies ahead...

70 Years of Marvel - 1995

2009-11-01T07:11:00.002Z

Some new looks last longer than others. In 1995, Dr Strange changed from his Jason King look (one which pre-dated Jason King by several years) to this rather stylish persona. This was the tail end of a run on Strange by David Quinn, which had seen the good doctor lose the title of Sorcerer Supreme, become split into three seperate people, and fall out with most of his friends - who would presumably have warned him off adopting such a terrible look. By the end of the year, Quinn was out, and Warren Ellis was in, briefly, to restore Strange to his classic look. This wouldn't be enough to save the book from cancellation. Strange fans are still waiting for him to get another shot at headlining his own book.

1995 also saw the Spider-books dominated by the Clone Saga, with Peter Parker "revealed" to be a clone, and Ben Reilly "revealed" to be the real Peter Parker. By year's end, the saga had outlived its usefulness, but as long as sales remained good, the clone story would drag on. Fans of the original Spider-Man could still get their fix of him, but only in flashback tales, such as the Untold Tales of Spider-Man, a lovely little book from Kurt Busiek, which filled in gaps in Spider-Man's first couple of years.

The X-Books took a four month break this year, with the Age of Apocalypse displacing the "real" universe. A neat concept, showing a world in which Professor X had died, and the consequent changes to the world. Unfortunately, as with all neat ideas, it's a well which successive writers have gone back to, again and again. The AoA was responsible for the introduction of Nate Grey, a parallel version of the character with the most confusing backstory ever, just to make things a bit more opaque.

Finally, this was also the year in which Nick Fury was really, truly, incontravertrally, killed off. Not a dream, not an imaginary story, not a clone, and absolutely, definitely, not a robot duplicate. Gone for good. Or, at least, until 1998, when editorial fiat demanded he be brought back to life. And their clever explanation for this resurrection: he was never dead, it was a robot duplicate. God bless the revolving door of death, and the boundless ability of comics readers to accept this sort of nonsense.

In the real world, the Manic Street Preachers lost their muse. The millions of pounds they would make in the next few years may have softened the blow. In Oklahoma, Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building, killing 168 people. And OJ Simpson was definitely not guilty of murdering his ex-wife and her boyfriend.

70 Years of Marvel - 1994

2009-10-31T07:16:00.001Z

Can you believe there was a time when we weren't all just a bit tired of Alex Ross' painted artwork? Or when hardly anyone had heard of Kurt Busiek? Marvels made stars of both men, and deservedly so. A retelling of some of the most iconic moments from the 60s and 70s of Marvel Comics, through the cynical eyes of a photojournalist, Marvels managed to make events like the coming of Galactus and the death of Gwen Stacy come to life in a way that even Jack Kirby and Gil Kane could only dream. Like all classics, it's probably a bit overrated, but it holds up a damn site better than most modern classics, much like the source material that Busiek and Ross were studying.

1994 was also the year that saw Avengers West Coast shut down and replaced with the much more EXTREME Force Works. It featured some of the earliest Marvel US work by the 2000AD team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who would do much better on books to come. Mostly made up of disaffected ex-Avengers, Force Works handled cases too EXTREME for other super teams. I'd take the piss out of this more, but it doesn't really deserve it. Not compared to the awful terribleness that was Fantastic Force, an attempt to create an FF franchise. This starred mysteriously grown-up Franklin Richards leading a team of heroes so obscure that they arrived without trace, and vanished the same way a year or so later. Interestingly, the team was brought together by the Black Panther, who somehow managed to wriggle out of membership. Good choice, T'challa.

Less terribly awful, at least at first, was Generation X, an attempt at the whole "mutant kids learning to adjust to their powers in a school environment" concept, that the New Mutants had tried a decade or so back. This saw the transformation of Emma Frost from White Queen of the Hellfire Club to the sarcastic schoolmistress we've all come to know and love.

Another new book, and one which whilst somewhat better regarded, would vanish without trace after barely a handful of issues, was Clan Destine, Alan Davis' follow-up to his Excalibur work. Quirky does not usually equate with longevity, and this was no exception.

Oh, and was there something else? I'm sure there was some other event. Oh, yes, of course. Spider-Man began to share book space with a young man calling himself Ben Reilly. Disaster lay ahead...

In the real world, or close to it, Kurt Cobain broke teenage grunge hearts all over the world, Ayrton Senna crashed into a wall at 135mph, and John Smith died, giving God's Gift To Labour a chance to rule Britain in a couple of years.

70 Years of Marvel - 1993

2009-10-30T07:53:00.003Z

The line had kicked off at the tail end of the previous year, but 1993 was the year that the Marvel 2099 line really kicked off. Set in a dystopian future world run by mostly evil corporations, 2099 dealt with the introduction of super-types to that world. Notably, the line featured Ravage, a character created and written by Stan The Man, in what I'm pretty sure was his most recent, and at this rate, probably last, creation for Marvel. Other books in the line featured future incarnations of Spider-Man and the Punisher, and a version of Dr Doom about whose true identity there was some mystery.

Subsequently, these initial books were followed up by X-Men, Ghost Rider, and Hulk titles, as Marvel attempted to squeeze every last buck out of their cyberpunk / dark future fans. By the time the Fantastic Four arrived in the world of tomorrow, the 2099 cash cow had pretty much been bled dry. To be fair, this was 1996, so the concept had had a good innings.

Finally killed off in 1998, with the arrival in the future of Captain America, there have been occasional attempts to revisit the 2099 line, most recently this year with the Timestorm book, and who knows, we may yet see the line spring back into life, sometime in the next 90 years.

1993 also saw the Avengers get a new member, the Shi'ar, Deathcry, and also saw the arrival of yet another Captain Marvel. This one was Genis-Vell, the son of the original Kree hero, and used the title, Legacy, before eventually taking over the mantle of his father. Genis-Vell first appeared in an annual, as did Adam-X, who for a while, was nearly someone important in the X-Books.

Finally, this was also the year in which, after keeping the same outfit for almost all of the 30 years of his existence, the Powers-What-Be decided to give Daredevil a new costume, one that only a blind man could love.

Yes, folks, it really is that hideous. Thankfully, this was kicked into touch pretty swiftly, banished to the land of Nineties Nightmare Costumes, where it belongs.

In the real world, 1993 saw Slicky Willy Clinton take over as President. On TV, the X-Files were out there, Frasier Crane was moving to Seattle, and Andy Sipowicz was becoming the best loved cop on telly.

70 Years of Marvel - 1992

2009-10-29T07:57:00.000Z

1992 started out as a good year for Marvel. They had a bunch of superstar artists working on their biggest X-Books: Whilce Portacio on Uncanny X-Men, Jim Lee on the Adjectiveless X-Men, and of course, Rob Liefeld on X-Force. Over in the Spider-Books, Erik Larsen had just taken over the writing and drawing on Peter Parker: Spider-Man, replacing Todd McFarlane, who'd gone off in a bit of a strop. They even had a successful relaunch of Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Jim Valentino. Good times, eh?

It wouldn't last. Turns out that strop that Todd was having was a bit more serious than expected. Rather than going over to DC, or coming back, cap in hand, McFarlane persuaded Portacio, Lee, Leifeld, Larsen and Valentino to go start up their own company with him. Thus was Image Comics born. And while the Image boy's departures did allow new talent like Andy Kubert to get a regular artistic gig, there wouldn't be the superstar mentality of the early 1990s for a good long time.

1992 also saw the Rise of the Midnight Sons, in which Marvel decided to make a group out of all of its darker books. Since, at that point, it only actually had one "darker" book - Ghost Rider - that meant launching a whole line of new books:
Darkhold: Pages From The Book Of Sins - in which dark forces take an ancient grimoire, cut it up, and give pages out of it to unsuspecting bystanders, unleashing all manner of evil.
Spirits of Vengeance - a team-up book between the 1970s Ghost Rider and his 1990s replacement.
Morbius The Living Vampire - the not-quite-a-vampire occasional Spider-Man foe.
Nightstalkers - former Tomb Of Dracula stalwarts, Hannibal King, Frank Drake, and Blade, who teamed up to fight evil. Imagine Angel Investigations, but with less hair product.
Eventually, Dr Strange would be brought into the Midnight Sons fold, but by that time, (1994), the line was dying on its arse, and Marvel would be moving onto its next good idea. More on that later.

As if that wasn't enough, 1992 was also the year in which Tony Stark constructed what would non-ironically be called the War Machine armour. Golly.

70 Years of Marvel - 1991

2009-10-28T07:56:00.003Z

Having been pretty much solely responsible for turning Wolverine into the biggest star Marvel Comics had, Chris Claremont must have been delighted when, deciding to give the feisty Canadian some sort of origin story, Marvel decided to ask someone else to write it. That it was comics legend Barry Windsor-Smith who was tapped to write and draw the book may have been of some comfort, as it at least guaranteed that the book would look beautiful. Thankfully, BWS turned in one of the best X-Minis ever, certainly the best one of the decade, and for a few brief months, Marvel Comics Presents - generally the home of inventory stories and worse - became the most exciting book on the shelf.

1991 also saw the debut of annoying wisecracking assassin, Deadpool, as Rob Leifeld and Fabien Nicieza transformed the cute and fluffy New Mutants into the grim and gritty X-Force. Darkhawk, currently enjoying a revival as part of Marvel's cosmic line, made his first metal-armoured appearance, as did Sandman-lite, Sleepwalker. X-Factor got a new line-up, the X-Men got a second core title, and mutant from the future, Bishop, showed up to kick arse and take names.

In the real world, Operation Desert Storm was kicking off in Kuwait, Boris Yeltsin was taking charge in Russia, and another Gandhi was being assassinated. Everyone was going to see Terminator 2 at the pictures, while on tv, Dallas was limping to a conclusion.

11 of the Best: Cosmic Sagas

2009-10-27T07:39:00.002Z

Since we're talking about cosmic comics, here's what I regard as the most unmissably unmissable space tales. Long-term readers of comics may find little to surprise them here...

The Coming Of Galactus, Fantastic Four, 1966 (Lee & Kirby)
Jack and Stan had already introduced us to the world beyond, with the introduction of the Skrull Empire in the early issues of FF, but this was the biggie. A god-like being turns up, heralded by a cosmic-powered sentinel, the Silver Surfer, and the Fantastic Four know this is bad news, because the sworn-never-to-interfere Watcher shows up to warn them. Marvel's first truly epic storyline.

The Kree-Skrull War, Avengers, 1971-72 (Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, and Neil Adams)
Also introduced in the pages of the FF, the Kree were the great space power of the galaxy, with the Earth considered too remote to interest them. That changed when the Kree's centuries-old conflict with the Skrull Empire spread to the Earth's solar system. The Avengers were drawn, via their ally, Captain Mar-Vell, into the war, and fought to prevent the Earth itself being an innocent bystander of the battle.

The Thanos War, Strange Tales, Avengers and Marvel Two-In-One, 1977 (Jim Starlin)
The mad god, Thanos, had been lurking on the fringes of the Marvel Universe for a few years, and had even gotten hold of a Cosmic Cube once, but this was his big play for universal domination. Obsessed with death, Thanos had obtained the Infinity Gems, which he intended to use to destroy the universe. The Avengers, Captain Marvel, and Adam Warlock would stand against him, and one of them would not be walking away from this battle.

The Phoenix Saga, X-Men, 1977 (Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, and John Byrne)
This was the X-Men's first big space adventure, in which Professor X's latest floozy, Princess Lilandra, was kidnapped by her insane brother, the Shi'ar Emperor, D'ken, and the team went to rescue her. Notable for the first appearance of the Starjammers, and the first time Jean Grey was allowed to unleash the power of the Phoenix, this also saw the introduction of the Shi'ar as the other great star empire, one powerful enough to give even the Kree pause in their expansionism.

The Trial Of Galactus, Fantastic Four, 1983-84 (John Byrne)
After being saved from certain death by Mr Fantastic, Galactus finds the Skrull homeworld, and eats it. As well as incurring Reed Richards the displeasure of pretty much every sentient being in the universe, this throws out the balance of power in the galaxy, crippling the Skrull Empire, and setting the stage for...

Operation: Galactic Storm, various Avengers books, 1992 (Bob Harras, Steve Epting, Roy and Dann Thomas, Dave Ross, Mark Gruenwald, Rik Levins, Greg Capullo, Gerard Jones and Jeff Johnson)
In which the Kree and Shi'ar Empires go to war, with the Avengers stuck in the middle. Condemned at the time as a cheap attempt to cash in on Operation: Desert Storm (why, and how, anyone would "cash in" on a war is a bit of a puzzler, I have to say), O:GS is notable for the uncompromising attitude of some of the Avengers, an attitude for which the editorial staff have to be commended: no bottling the tough issues here. Of course, this uncompromising attitude is probably where the current "dickish" Iron Man comes from, so it's not all good...

The Troyjan War, Incredible Hulk, 1994 (Peter David and Gary Frank)
Maybe Peter David was hoping to create the next big alien race, or maybe he was just looking for a villain who could give the Hulk a run for his money. Either way, this wasn't the most successful launch, since the Troyjans haven't (to the best of my knowledge) showed up anywhere since the Hulk led his then-allies, the Pantheon, against the Troyjans and their warlord, Arm’chedon (Armageddon, get it?). However, there's a lot going on in this serial, with appearances by both the Silver Surfer and the Starjammers, not to mention a battle royal between the Hulk and the Troyjan's champion, Trauma. Great stuff.

Maximum Security, various titles, 2001 (Kurt Busiek and Jerry Ordway)
One of the wackier storylines of recent years, Maximum Security saw various alien governments, led by the Shi'ar, turn Earth into an impromtuo penal colony and exile their worst criminals there. The prisoners, regretably, include Ego, the Living Planet, who proceeds to try to take over the world. Bizarre, but great fun, which is all you can ask for in a comic, particularly a 21st century comic...

Fall And Rise Of The Shi'ar Empire, Uncanny X-Men, 2006-07 (Ed Brubaker, Billy Tan, and Clayton Henry)
In which Havok pursues his long-lost brother, Vulcan, into deep space, to try to stop him from taking his revenge on the Shi'ar for killing their mother. Another run which disrupts the balance of power in the galaxy, with Vulcan declaring himself Shi'ar emperor and threatening to cause chaos. Mind you, perhaps the Shi'ar can count themselves lucky; after all, they at least managed to avoid...

Annihilation, 2006-07 (Keith Giffen and Andrea Divito)
A dark power strikes in the galaxy, sparking an interstellar war, which sees the Skrull Empire crushed, the Kree severely weakened, and the Silver Surfer once again swearing loyalty to Galactus. Just about every one of Marvel's cosmic powers showed up in this maxi-series, a title which has done more to open up the expanded Marvel Universe than pretty much anything else in the past forty years.

War of Kings, 2009 (Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Paul Pelletier)
Abnett and Lanning have been building on Annihilation for some time now. They used that title as an opportunity to bring Nova back in his own title. They wrote the sequel, Conquest, in which the Phalanx, a long-forgotten X-Men foe, conquer the Kree, and they used that story to launch their own version of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a book which has made a star of a talking raccoon. Finally, they had the Kree, now led by Black Bolt and the Inhumans, go to war with the Vulcan-led Shi'ar, bringing together pretty much all the cosmic events of the past few years. Since Marvel seem to have worked out that there's money to be made out of these cosmic events, expect Abnett and Lanning, and others, to continue mining this seam for some time to come.

(This post mostly recycled from an earlier post on my other blog.)

70 Years of Marvel - 1990

2009-10-26T07:05:00.000Z

In 1990, Jim Starlin was back with a vengeance. Starlin had been out of the superhero game for most of the 80s, concentrating on his science-fiction work, but his killing off of Robin over in the BatBooks had brought him back to the attention of Marvel Editorial, who hired him to take over the Silver Surfer book. Within a couple of issues, Starlin had brought his most famous creation, Thanos, back from the dead, along with Thanos' nemesis, Drax the Destroyer. For the next couple of years, Starlin would take Marvel Comics in a more cosmic direction, with the Infinity Trilogy, the return of Adam Warlock, and the formation of the Infinity Watch. The cosmic revival didn't last long after Starlin lefr Marvel for other shores, and it would be a long time before we'd see Marvel do "cosmic" again.

In other comics, 1990 saw the introduction of Gambit, terrible accented cajun thief, and Cable, the mutant with the most complicated secret origin ever. I'd explain what was so confusing, but Quarter Bin, a much-missed comics website from ages past, did so much more consisely.

In the Avengers, Spider-Man nearly joined the team, whilst Sersi the Eternal and Rage the street vigilante did so. Danny Ketch became a new Ghost Rider, and Sub-Mariner, Nomad, and the Guardians of the Galaxy all got a new series.

Meanwhile in 1990, Nelson Mandela was out of jail, the USSR was coming apart at the seams, and Mrs Thatcher was being turfed out of her seat. On tv, we were being baffled by Twin Peaks, and Paul Merton and Ian Hislop began taking shots at those making the news, while at the pictures, Macaulay Culkin was becoming a child star.

70 Years of Marvel - 1989

2009-10-25T07:57:00.000Z

The X-Universe was getting busy by 1989, with 5 full-time books: Uncanny X-Men (under the control of Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri); Excalibur (Claremont and Alan Davis); Wolverine (Claremont, again, and John Buscema); X-Factor (written by Louise Simonson, and drawn mostly by husband Walt); and New Mutants (Simonson, again, and mostly Bret Blevins, although the issue above was drawn by John Byrne). Of course, had we known what was ahead of us, in terms of the apparent exponential expansion of the X-universe, we'd have counted ourselves lucky to just have five books.

The New Mutants themselves were pretty busy too. They started 1989 by being embroiled in the Inferno saga, with Magik going crazy and turning into a demon. They lost the school and their headmaster, Magneto, turned back into a villain, and they finished the year stranded in Asgard, trying to save the 9 Realms from Hela. By this point, the book had abandoned any of the notion of being a story about school kids who just happened to be mutants, in favour of standard superhero stuff. We weren't quite at the annual "event" stage yet, but we were getting there.

Speaking of events, 1989 saw the "Acts of Vengeance" storyline, where some of Marvel's biggest bad guys decided the best way to beat their foes was to trade opponents. This led to such fights as Doctor Doom versus the Punisher, Daredevil versus Ultron, and the Fantastic Four versus Plantman. That storyline also saw the introduction of the New Warriors, another team of teenage superheroes, whilst, back over at the X-Books, future X-Woman, Jubilee, made her first appearance. Thor had a new secret identity, in the person of Eric Masterson, who'd later become the pseudo-Thunder God, Thunderstrike.

The real 1989 saw author Salman Rushdie get into a spot of bother, the introduction of the somewhat unpopular Poll Tax in the UK, and the decline and fall of the Berlin Wall. Yay!

70 Years of Comics - 1988

2009-10-24T07:28:00.001+01:00

Excalibur had been devised in 1987, in the aftermath of the two X-Events: the Morlock Massacre, which had seen Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler injured and forced to retire from the team; and The Fall Of The Mutants, in which the rest of the X-Men had been apparently killed (in fact, they hadn't died, they'd just gone to Australia, but that's another story). For no particularly good reason, Kitty and Nightcrawler, along with Cyclops' daughter from a possible future, Rachel, teamed up with Marvel UK's Captain Britain, and his girlfriend, Meggan, moved to London and embarked on a series of trans-dimensional adventures. The best of these adventures were written and drawn by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis, and no-one else really seemed to have a feel for how to write this book, which mostly turned into just another X-Book, except for a brief stint where Warren Ellis tried out some of the superhero noir stuff which would make him a name on Image's Stormwatch a few years later.

Elsewhere, in '88, Speedball the Masked Marvel was making his debut, courtesy of Tom DeFalco and Marvel legend, Steve Ditko.

In the real world, 1988 saw the Lockerbie Disaster, and George Bush Sr winning the US Presidential Election. On TV, tiresome sci-fi show, Red Dwarf, was using up money which might have been better spent elsewhere, and Roseanne Barr was making a star out of John Goodman, whilst Roger Rabbit was the talk of Hollywood.

70 Years of Comics - 1987

2009-10-23T07:51:00.000+01:00

1987 saw Walt Simonson bring to a close his four-year run on Thor, a run which he'd used to reestablish Thor's godly credentials. Simonson had used ever Norse legend out there, up to and including Ragnarok. In the process, Thor had been mostly pulled out of his usual interactions with the rest of the Marvel Universe, although he would still be involved in major events like the Siege of Avengers Mansion and the Morlock Massacre. For most of the run, Simonson was both writing and drawing the book, though for the later issues the art was handled by workhorse Sal Buscema, who showed he was just as capable at handling the epic stuff as he had been the day-to-day activities of Peter Parker and Bruce Banner. Like Frank Miller's run on Daredevil, Simonson's run on Thor has never been matched; unlike Miller's run, no-one's even come close to matching Simonson.

1987 was the year that Steve Rogers was replaced in the Captain America suit by John Walker, who would later be better known as the U.S. Agent. It also saw Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson ~~marry~~ move in together, setting a fine example to the youth of America.

1987 also saw Terry Waite kidnapped in Beirut, where he'd spend the next 4 years in captivity. Ronald Reagan and Oliver North were embroiled in the Iran-Contra Affair. And despite Michael Fish's assurances to the contrary, there was a hurricane coming to the south of England.

"Expect The Unexpected!"

2009-10-22T07:59:00.001+01:00

So, as we've previously seen, 1986 saw the introduction of Jim Shooter's New Universe line, which was, I think, the first attempt by any comics company to launch, from scratch, a whole new universe, with heroes and villains gaining their powers as a result of a mysterious "White Event". We'd later see this sort of thing, again from Jim Shooter at Valiant Comics, from the launch of Image Comics, and indeed from Marvel with the 2099 and Ultimate lines. But this was, in 1986, a relatively revolutionary idea.

One of the controversies of the New Universe was that, according to legend, Marvel wiped out a swathe of its existing titles to make way for the new books. In actual fact the only books which I can see as being canned in the months before the launch were Power Man And Iron Fist, a title which had (and I speak as a big fan of Iron Fist) seen better times; Star Wars, which had lasted several years after the release of Return of the Jedi; Doctor Who, something of a niche product (in those days); and The Thing, despatched, at least in part, so that Jim Shooter could bring Ben Grimm back into the Fantastic Four fold. Other than that, and a couple of mini-series finishing up, there wasn't much in the way of dead wood being cleared in the months up to the launch of the first New Universe books.

Famously, Shooter fell foul of Marvel's new managment team, and so his plan to hire top talent to launch his new line was thwarted: oddly, no-one who was anyone wanted to write or draw a brand new, untried-out book, especially as there was no money to pay anyone. What we ended up with was a host of books written by Marvel's editorial team, and drawn by those who really needed the work.

Star Brand
Shooter himself wrote, whilst John Romita Jr, one of the few willing volunteers for the project, drew this, a tale of an ordinary man who suddenly gains superpowers. One of the more criticized books, described as a wish fulfilment book for Shooter himself, Star Brand was nonetheless one of the more lasting concepts, being picked up in the Marvel Universe proper long after the New Universe was long gone.

Spitfire And The Troubleshooters
Gerry Conway and Herb Trimpe came up with this one, based around the adventures of a group of MIT students and their battle suit

D.P.7
Mark Gruenwald and Paul Ryan wrote the entire 32 issue run of this one, concerning a group of suddenly-superpowered folk who, rather than be cut up like lab rats, go on the run. If you're a fan of the X-Men and The Fugitive, this might be your kind of thing.

Justice
Brought to us by Archie Goodwin and Geoff Isherwood, Justice concerned the exploits of an alien who came to Earth to hunt down the evil. At least it did, until Peter David was hired to retcon Justice into a delusional government agent instead. Amazingly, this book lasted 32 issues.

Kickers, Inc.
At the same time that Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz were building a rep for themselves as the creative team on Amazing Spider-Man, they were also working together on this book, about a team good samaritans, led by a superstrong ex-footballer. As good as it sounds, this book managed 12 issues, before being put to death, by which time DeFalco and Frenz had left the book to take on the adventures of a golden-haired Asgardian.

Mark Hazzard: Merc
Written, at first, by Peter David, and drawn, at first, by Gray Morrow, this dealt with, as you may guess, the adventures of an appropriately named mercenary. Certainly different to normal superhero fare, it was barely related to any of the other New Universe books, which may explain why it lasted only the dozen issues.

Nightmask
Another book by Archie Goodwin, with a rotating cast of artists that included future workhorses, Ron Lim and Mark Bagley, among many others. Lasting just the twelve issues, this one began with Keith Remsen, comatose since an explosion, being awoken by the White Event, and gaining the power to enter people's dreams, like the Sandman, only wearing a domino mask, for some reason.

Psi-Force
A group of telepaths on the run from American and Russian secret service agents, Psi Force was the creation of Archie Goodwin (again) and Walt Simonson, though neither of them showed up to produce an issue. Notably, this did see some very early comics work from top 90s talent, Fabien Nicieza, who wrote half of its 32 issues.

After various attempts at tinkering, including the departure of Jim Shooter, the slimming down of the books, and a couple of "event" books, the New Universe line was somewhat unceremoniously killed off in the summer of '89, its titles replaced with a swathe of new books: Quasar; a second volume of What If?; and new titles for She-Hulk, Nick Fury and Moon Knight. The age of experiment was over, and it was back to stripmining Marvel's history, for the next few years, at least.

70 Years of Marvel - 1986

2009-10-21T08:43:00.000+01:00

In 1986, rising comics superstar Frank Miller was just finishing up his second run on Daredevil. The "Born Again" saga, by Miller and David Muzzicchelli, began with the Kingpin discovering the secret identity of his blind foe, and ended with Daredevil teaming up with Captain America to battle a deranged supersoldier. along the way, Miller took us into the hearts of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk, as well as their numerous friends and associates, and set a standard that successive writers, try as they might, have never quite been able to match.

Elsewhere in 1986, Magneto was taking charge of the New Mutants. Jean Grey was back from the dead, prompting the original X-Men to reunite as the mutant-hunting X-Factor Investigations. Private investigator, Dakota North, was introduced to the Marvel Universe, as was Sharon Ventura, the new Ms. Marvel. The Scourge of the Underworld was wiping out hordes of second and third-tier villains, whilst the Marauders were wiping out hordes of Morlocks. And Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil were doing a decent job of destroying the Avengers. But all this would pale into insignificance in the face of the coming of the New Universe titles. More on that later.

Outside of comics, 1986 was the year of the Challenger Disaster, and I don't really have anything else to say about that year.

"Slay Your Enemies, And All You Desire Shall Be Yours!"

2009-10-20T07:22:00.009+01:00

As mentioned yesterday, in 1985 (and indeed 1984) comic fans were getting all excited over Secret Wars. It was, while by no means the first mini-series published by Marvel, certainly the first one to have line-wide consequences. These days Marvel would call it an "event", publish a line of related titles, and you'd be sick of the thing before it was halfway finished. In the mid-80s though, Marvel just had many of their top heroes whisked away via a mysterious portal to another world, where they were forced to battle villains, with the promise of the ultimate prize for the winners. Jim Shooter took a year to tell the story of what had happened, but whilst these days, we'd face 12 months of comics featuring stand-in heroes in the missing characters' books, in those days, they simply showed the heroes returning the next month, and the radical changes which the as yet untold Secret Wars had wrought.

Spider-Man appeared with a new, black and white costume, which changed between civilian and super-duds depending on what was needed, and which never ran out of webbing. Later he'd discover that the costume was actually an alien symbiote, trying to take him over. Later still, the symbiote would be reborn as the villainous Venom, and later still, we'd all be sick of the sight of the black costume. But at the time, for all that it was just a change of look, we were quite excited by it.

The Incredible Hulk came back from Battleworld with a broken leg and a bad attitude. The broken leg was courtesy of a fight against Ultron, whilst the bad attitude came, at least in part, from the manipulations of old Dr Strange foe, Nightmare, out to get at the Sorcerer Supreme via one of his fellow former Defenders. Of course, a week of fighting the Absorbing Man and having mountains dropped on him probably didn't help the Hulk's disposition either.

The Vision, newly recovered from a near-death experience, took advantage of the disappearance of most of the Avengers to launch a bloodless coup. Naming himself chairman, he cosied up to the government and got them to approve setting up a new West Coast branch of the team. Had anyone realised that he was suffering from the android equivalent of brain damage after his time spent in a coma, he'd probably have encountered slightly more resistance.

Ben Grimm, in contrast to most of the heroes, quite enjoyed his time away from Earth. He discovered that he was able to turn back into his human form at will, and decided that, on the whole, he'd sooner spend his future riding around on pteradons than go home and be a monster again. So he chose to stay on Battleworld, leaving the Fantastic Four a man short.

The FF didn't waste time replacing the Thing, offering his place in the team to the first superstrong person they saw. In this case, the She-Hulk, who, although a member of the Avengers, was happy to cross the street to the Baxter Building. Later, the Human Torch would take advantage of the Thing's absence to shag his girlfriend. Classy. Secret Wars would also tease the readers of the FF with the mystery of how Doctor Doom, killed the previous year, could be alive on Battleworld. A somewhat convoluted explanation would eventually be given, accompanied by a somewhat gratuitous appearance by the Beyonder.

And the X-Men? Well, they stood around a hill in Japan talking a lot. Well, it was the 80s, and it was Chris Claremont, so perhaps we shouldn't have expected anything too revolutionary. In Claremont's defence, he did use Secret Wars to promote his agenda of Magneto as an extreme activist, rather than as an out-and-out supervillain, to break up Kitty Pryde and Colossus as a couple, and to justify Professor X deciding to take a more active role in leading the X-Men, but what we really remember is the constant talking...

70 Years of Marvel - 1985

2009-10-19T08:30:00.000+01:00

1985 saw the conclusion of the original Secret Wars series, a particularly well-received mini-series, in which the Beyonder, an all-powerful alien, kidnapped Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men, and sent them to a planet to fight a variety of supervillains, including Galactus, Kang, Doctor Octopus, and of course, Doctor Doom (pictured, above, getting a kicking from the Beyonder). The series, written by then editor-in-chief, Jim Shooter, was followed up by Secret Wars 2, in which the Beyonder came to Earth to study humanity, meeting pretty much every hero along the way. Secret Wars 2 was pretty much universally reviled, which shows that even in the 80s, Marvel didn't know how to quit while they were ahead.

Secret Wars 2 did have one long-term effect, that of the introduction of Tabitha Smith, who, under the alias, Boom Boom, would become one of the New Mutants. Also, Longshot, hollow-boned alien mutant X-Man, made his first appearance in this year, whilst Firestar, who'd been one of Spider-Man's Amazing Friends on tv a few years previously, made it into the Marvel Universe proper.

In the real world, 1985 was the year of Live Aid, in which the great and the good of pop music sang their little hearts out for famine relief. Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR. Coca Cola released New Coke; it didn't last.

On the telly, Eastenders, an ordinary tale of simple London folk, had its debut, as did the Australian soap, Neighbours. Action hero, MacGuyver, made his first appearance, Bruce Willis was becoming a star in Moonlighting, and Elmo joined the cast of Sesame Street. In the cinema, Out of Africa was scooping up Oscars like candy, but Back to the Future was the film people actually wanted to see.

70 Years of Marvel - 1984

2009-10-18T07:39:00.000+01:00

Introduced in the pages of X-Men as former allies of Wolverine who were keen to bring him back to Canada, Alpha Flight got their own book despite the reservations of their creator, John Byrne. Byrne claims he never really knew what to do with the book when he had it, but despite that, Alpha Flight's first 28 issues are remembered with some fondness, particularly compared to the numerous failed attempts at relaunching the team and the title ever since. The issue above featured Alpha's leader, Guardian, taking on the evil Omega Flight, with unfortunate consequences.

1984 also saw the New Mutants gain four new members: Magik, Magma, Cypher and Warlock. Pre-school super group, Power Pack, also turned up, as did sometime X-Man, Forge. Transformers became the latest, and some might argue, greatest, toy tie-in comic, and Hawkeye formed his own West Coast Avengers team, as the Avengers became Marvel's third franchise.

in the real world, 1984 saw Ronald Reagan announce "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes". Despite, or possibly because of this epic mispronounciation, he was later re-elected President. Go figure.

My First Comics

2009-10-17T07:07:00.002+01:00

I may never know which Borders comics fan's mum decided to turf out his November and December-dated Marvel comics, but it was my good fortune that, rather than binning them, she instead donated them to one of the stalls at the Liberal Party's pre-Christmas Bazaar. At the event, where I was dragged by my mum and dad, not only did I get to meet the impressively-statured Cyril Smith, I was confronted with a selection of comics of which, until then, I was sadly unaware.

Alpha Flight #4 & #5 (both by John Byrne)
Alpha Flight #4 featured the tail end of a multi-parter in which the so-called Master of the World attempted to conquer the world, using Marrina the Fish-Girl. It also featured the Invisible Girl and Sub-Mariner, and introduced the idea of Aurora's multiple personality disorder. Issue #5 featured the dwarf, Puck, investigating a drug-smuggling ring based out of a hospital. For a comic featuring only one character I'd even heard of, Alpha Flight had me hooked from the start.

Fantastic Four #260 & #261 (both also by John Byrne)
FF #260 introduced me to the FF's nemesis, Doctor Doom (I may have been aware of him from things like the Spider-Man cartoons, but it would be a very vague awareness), and, before the end of the issue, had killed him off, in a battle between the Silver Surfer and Tyros. This was also the end of a multi-parter, but was also reasonably straightforward to fathom. Alpha Flight #4 was set immediately between #260 and #261, introducing me to the idea of crossovers between titles. #261 had the FF off in space, bumping into the Watcher, and had the team trying to justify not having let Galactus die in an earlier issue. This was a bit of a mystery, but by the end of the book, I pretty much understood what it was all about. The issue also featured a recap of the FF's origin, which was handy for newbies like me.

Amazing Spider-Man #246 & #247 (by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr)
ASM #246 was, essentially, an imaginary story, in which J. Jonah Jameson, Mary Jane Watson, the Black Cat, and Spidey himself daydreamed about their perfect day. Oddly, whilst Jameson and the Cat's dreams ended well, neither Mary Jane or Peter Parker were able to sustain their delusion, suggesting that both have some psychological issues to deal with. #247 featured Spidey teaming up with the fabulous Frog Man, a hunt for the Hobgoblin, and a mystery villain, Thunderball (of the Wrecking Crew). It would be years before I would find out who Thunderball is, and I have no idea to this day about Frog Man. The Hobgoblin was another story, of course.

Spectacular Spider-Man #84 (by Bill Manto and Dave Simons) and #85 (by Mantlo and Al Milgrom)
PPTSSM #84 featured Spidey hunting down a gang of child abductors, and was a purely self-contained story. #85, on the other hand, had the Hobgoblin show up to take on Spidey and the Black Cat. It also, handily, showed the story so far of the Hobgoblin, and featured Peter Parker having a get together with his old college friends, including Harry Osborn, which in turn introduced me to the history of the Green Goblin, which made Spider-Man's obsession with the Hobgoblin a lot more explicable.

Avengers #237 & #238 (both by Roger Stern and Al Milgrom)
Avengers #237 featured Spider-Man trying out for the team, an event alluded to in Spidey's own book, and had the Avengers fighting a whole load of supervillains in Project Pegasus. Looking back, I'm not sure why I accepted supervillains being imprisoned with their costumes on, but it's not something that gave me cause for concern at the time. Issue #238 had the Vision, in a coma due to an earlier battle, recover unexpectedly, showed the She-Hulk househunting, and featured a last-page appearance by Tigra and the ghost of Spider-Woman, the last of which confused the heck out of me.

Captain America #288 (by JM DeMatteis and Mike Zeck)
Set in the future world of 1993, this featured Cap teaming up with the cyborg, Deathlok, to take on the ruler of a destroyed New York. This was pretty much double-dutch to me at the time, and since I didn't have the next issue, it would be a long time before I'd find out how Cap stopped the imminent destruction of the world.

Daredevil #202 (by Dennis O'Neil and William Johnson)
This book had Matt Murdock's firm hired by an African tribe do do PR for their boss, Micah Synn. Micah turns out to be a nutjob, prone to dangling policemen out of windows. As a one-shot, it does a fine job of introducing DD and his significant others, and as an introduction to Micah Synn, it made me want to read more about him, which handily was what Denny O'Neil intended.

Defenders #125 (by JM DeMatteis and Don Perlin)
My first issue of Defenders featured the departure of the original team, the wedding of Patsy Walker and Daimon Hellstrom, and a new team being formed. it also featured an Elf. Much of this made little sense, but thankfully, there was a handy letters page which clarified some of what was going on.

The Thing #5 (by John Byrne and Ron Wilson)
This book had Ben Grimm getting beaten up, for no readily apparent reason, by Wonder Man, She-Hulk, and Spider-Man, before being possessed by his old foe, the Puppet Master. I didn't know at the time who the Puppet Master was, nor why he was out to get the Thing, so this was a less successful introduction to the book, but since the book was essentially an FF spin-off, it wasn't too much of a problem.

Incredible Hulk #289 (by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema)
The Hulk was intelligent at this point in his history, which seemed odd at the time, less so now. It had MODOK setting the Abomination to attack Bruce Banner, who was working for the government on gamma ray research - which with hindsight seems less logical than the Hulk's intelligence. Mostly the issue involved Hulk beating up the Abomination, which for a Hulk book is pretty much what you'd expect.

Marvel Team-Up #135 (by Bill Mantlo, again, and Ron Frenz)
This issue featured Kitty Pryde (note the lack of codename) rescuing some kidnapped children from the Morlock tunnels, with the help of Spider-Man. I didn't know who the Morlocks were at the time, and I'm not sure why they were kidnapping people, but it was a decent enough tale, at the time.

The Mighty Thor #337 (by Walt Simonson)
This was a flummoxer. Thor lost his powers, whilst an alien invader gets them. Nick Fury turns up, with little explanation of who he is and why he has a flying car and a helicarrier. And out in space, someone is forging something big. Now, having read the succeeding two years worth of issues, I know this is a classic, but at the time, it was not a good first issue. Not at all.

Uncanny X-Men #175 (by Chris Claremont, Paul Smith and John Romita Jr)
Speaking of confusing first issues, this issue features the wedding of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, the return of Dark Phoenix, and Mastermind looking for revenge against the team for what Phoenix had done to him. Confusing stuff, but with enough exposition (this was a Claremont book) to make it explicable.

So there you have it. My first 18 Marvel books. Some classics, and some, less than classic, but enough to get an 11 year-old me hooked on the things, if not for life, then at least for the forseeable future. To my bank manager's horror.

70 Years of Marvel - 1983

2009-10-16T07:43:00.000+01:00

1983 was a big year for Iron Man. Tony Stark, the original party animal, had always liked a drink, but this was the year that a business rival, Obadiah Stane, took advantage of Stark's weakness for the sauce, creating a set of circumstances to push him deep into a bottle. Consequently, Stark became bankrupt, losing his company, and his pilot / sidekick, Jim Rhodes, was forced to take over using the armour. Stark spent most of 1983 in various states of drunkenness, and it would a couple of years before he'd be back in the Iron Man suit. Rhodes, meantime, would get his own suit of armour, dubbed War Machine, and spend the next 25 years participating in the storylines deemed too racy, adult, or violent for Iron Man.

Meantime, 1983 also saw Starfox, half-brother of Thanos, make his debut as superhero, and saw Jack Monroe, retconned sidekick to the retconned Captain America of the 1950s, back in action as the new Nomad. Over in the UK, Captain Britain's sister, Betsy Braddock, was starting out on a path that would end up with her becoming the X-Men's Psylocke. Beta-Ray Bill was being given the power of Thor. Colossus' little sister, Illyana, was becoming ruler of Limbo, in the Magik mini-series. And Rogue, member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, ditched her old gang and went off to join the X-Men.

In the real world, NATO decided to pretend to start World War 3, an exercise known as Able Archer 83, and as a result, the Soviets nearly launched a real one. Whoops.

70 Years of Marvel - 1982

2009-10-15T08:05:00.005+01:00

Cloak and Dagger were introduced in the pages of Spectacular Spider-Man, courtesy of Bill Mantlo and Ed Hannigan. Teenagers who were experimented on by gangsters, who gave them a synthetic version of heroin, which inexplicably gave them super powers. As someone once said, "Your secret origin is drugs? That doesn't set a very good example to children." That may explain why, despite being a neat concept, with a neat name, and a neat look, Cloak and Dagger have never really made it big.

1982 was also the year of the Death of Captain Marvel, in which Mar-Vell died of cancer. Not very superheroey, but a decent read, nonetheless. Before comics fans could get too depressed, or any trademarks could elapse, there was a new Captain Marvel, the amusingly-named, big-haired Monica Rambeau. Another recycled hero name arrived, with the debut of the new female Nova, in the pages of Fantastic Four. More imaginative was the arrival of Rocket Raccoon, a talking animal who, against the odds, continues to be (minor) player in the Marvel U. Marvel was launching its first limited series, Contest of Champions, which featured everyone beating everyone else up. And the New Mutants (don't call them the X-Babies!) made their first appearance.

In the real world, Argentina and the United Kingdom were going to war over a tiny island somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The USSR had a new gaffer, Yuri Andropov. And the Mary Rose, sunk 450 years earlier, was back.

TV fans could choose between Knight Rider, TJ Hooker and Remington Steel, depending on how they liked their leading man. Meanwhile, at the movies, everyone was going to see ET, The Extra Terrestrial. Suckers.

10 Toy Tie-Ins

2009-10-14T07:12:00.001+01:00

Having looked yesterday at Rom, a toy robot licenced to Marvel in 1979, why not join me as we take a glance at some of Marvel's other licenced publications over the years? Whilst Rom, the comic, as introduced by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, outlived the toy which spawned it, other books, as we'll see, were not quite so successful...

Micronauts (1979) was, like Rom, written by Bill Mantlo, and illustrated, at first, by Michael Golden. Introduced into America in 1976, and vanished from toy shops by the 1980s, the Micronauts comic, telling the tales of a team of outlaws living in the Microverse, lasted until 1986, with the Marvel-owned members of the team appearing in other books ever since.

Shogun Warriors (also 1979) was based on a line of toys from Mattel, for fans of giant robots armed with spring-loaded missiles. Cool. The comics, by Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe, lasted 2 years, by which time most people had lost their plastic battleaxes under the sofa.

G.I Joe (1982), by Larry Hama, was by far the most long-lasting of Marvel's licensed books. Hasbro had brought out G.I Joe in the early 60s, but it took until the 80s for them to really start capitalising on the popularity of the Real American Hero. They've got the hang of it now, with one or other comics firm producing tie-in books pretty much constantly since 1982. But it was Marvel's book which showed the potential appeal of Joe and his pals to the comics reading fraternity.

Transformers (1984) was another Bill Mantlo creation, at least for its first issue, before it was taken over by Bud Budiansky. Another Hasbro toy, Transformers, like G.I Joe, had a good run, lasting well into the 90s, under the stewardship of Marvel UK's Simon Furman. And like G.I Joe, Transformers has had a new lease of life, via the world of cinema. Not bad for giant robots who, for no very good reason, can disguise themselves as cars and trucks.

Sectaurs (1985) was, you guessed it, another book from Bill Mantlo. Based on a toy line from Coleco, the people who had brought us Cabbage Patch Dolls, Sectaurs told tales of a planet of super-evolved insects. Like the toys, the comic book vanished off the face of the Earth about a year after it was launched.

Care Bears (1985) was a title based on a range of sickeningly cute stuffed teddy bears from Kenner. Sadly, I've never had the pleasure of reading the book, produced by old-timer writer / artist, Howard Post, so I can only imagine how sickly sweet it must have been.

Zoids (1985) was a back-up strip featured in a couple of Marvel UK titles, the first one reprinting Secret Wars, and the later one printing issues of Amazing Spider-Man. The Zoids were giant robots dinosaurs waging an eternal war, with the Marvel tales featuring a group of humans stuck in the middle. Later featuring the work of a very young Grant Morrison, even his presence wasn't enough to save the Zoids from cancelation.

Masters of the Universe (1986) had been around since 1981, when Marvel began publishing stories based on the adventures of He-Man and his pals, under their Star Comics brand, and featured some of the first comics work from Mike Carlin, who would later make more of a name for himself at DC Comics. The book only lasted 13 issues, but for my generation, the scars remain fresh: "By the power of Grayyyyyyskulllll!"

Mega Morphs (2005) were produced by Marvel's own Toy Biz, and were robots who were patterned after superheroes like Wolverine and the Hulk. The books, featuring the robots as being the work of Tony Stark, were written by Sean McKeever, who's a talented writer and who really should have known better.

And, to get right up to date, Marvel Super Hero Squad is a comic based on a line of Hasbro toys, featuring cute little action figures, which are themselves based on Marvel's own characters. That sound you can hear is that of a snake eating its own tail...

So there you have it. 10 of the best toy based comics out there. Well, ok, maybe 8 of the best. Seven? Surely five, at least....

70 Years of Marvel - 1981

2009-10-13T08:34:00.000+01:00

By 1981, Rom was firmly entrenched in the Marvel Universe, taking on such heavyweights as the Mad Thinker, Jack of Hearts, and, above, the Space Phantom. Rom, here to stop an invasion by the dreadful Dire Wraiths, would himself turn up as a guest star in pretty much every title at some point before his book was wound up, presumably as part of Marvel's plan to trim its booklist in preparation for the launch of the New Universe, of which we'll hear more later.

1981 also saw the debut of Elektra, ninja assassin and agent of the Kingpin, who would go on to become Daredevil's lover, before being killed and resurrected about a hundred times over the next 30 years. It also saw the demonic Gargoyle joining the Defenders. X-Man to be and daughter of Banshee, Theresa Cassidy, made her first appearance, battling Spider-Woman, whilst future Avenger, Firebird, turned up to fight the Hulk alongside the wild-west Rangers. And in the X-Men, Caliban turned up, heralding the first appearance of the Morlocks.

In the world beyond comics, 1981 saw the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as US President. The Space Shuttle Columbia took its first trip into space. Britain was entranced by the excitement of a Royal Wedding. And the Yorkshire Ripper went to jail. For ever, one hopes.

At the pictures, Indiana Jones was raiding the lost ark, whilst over in Britain, Vangelis was scoring Chariots of Fire. On tv, Dynasty was attempting to cash in on the Dallas phenomenon, and Only Fools And Horses, the most overrated show on tv, began its 900 year run.

70 Years of Marvel - 1980

2009-10-12T08:04:00.001+01:00

Ghost Rider, the flaming-skulled motorcycle stuntman-demon, had been around since 1972, when he met the original Ghost Rider, in a time travel crossover stunt. The other Ghost Rider, the one in the white cloak and hat, had only predated the modern one by about 5 years, and was one of the later additions to the Marvel Western genre. With the arrival of his modern-day replacement, the 19th century of version started calling himself the Night Rider. Then, later, after he died, his brother became the Phantom Rider, and subsequently drugged and raped Mockingbird, before she threw him off a cliff. Who said comics were more wholesome back in the day?

All this is a long way of saying I have nothing to say about the 70s incarnation of Ghost Rider. Not really into bikes. Or Satan. Instead, let's see what else 1980 brought the world of Marvel Comics, shall we? Well, for starters, there was the disco-roller-skating Dazzler, notable for being one of the first "created by committee" Marvel characters. Then there was the Savage She-Hulk, cousin to Bruce Banner, who was the first new Stan Lee creation in a good long time, and pretty much the last new Stan Lee creation to appear. We also saw the introduction of Emma Frost, then a member of the naughty Hellfire Club. Oh, and speaking of Mockingbird, after years hanging around on the periphery of comics, SHIELD agent Bobbi Morse got her own costumed identity. Finally, 1980 also saw the first appearance of future X-Man, Kitty Pryde, and of future New Mutant, Karma.

There may well have been some male heroes introduced in 1980, but darned if I could find any.

70 Years of Marvel - 1979

2009-10-11T07:15:00.000+01:00

By 1979, Brian Bendis' favourite superheroine was in the hands of editor-turned-writer, Mark Gruenwald, in what, I think, was his first regular writing gig at Marvel. Gruenwald would become something of a legend in the Marvel offices, with an ability to maintain continuity which would put the hordes of the internet to shame. He was teamed up with Carmine Infantino, a DC artist (and indeed former publisher) who'd recently crossed the street. Despite their best efforts, Spider-Woman never really rose above being just another 70s hero book, although that said, the book did survive into the 80s, so I guess it had something going for it.

1979 also saw Marvel expand its titles based on licenced properties, with the introduction of Rom (Spaceknight), Shogun Warriors, and the Micronauts. Canada's favourite super-hero team, Alpha Flight, turned up to take on the X-Men. Spider-Man got himself another love interest, with the arrival of the morally challenged Black Cat. And there was a new man in the Ant-Man costume, with the introduction of ex-burglar-turned-hero, Scott Lang.

In the real world, 1979 saw the Iron Lady elected British PM, bringing with her harmony, truth, faith, and hope. The Shah of Iran was turfed out, and Ayatollah Khomeini was back in charge. And Three Mile Island got a bit more radioactive than usual.

On the tv, the Dukes of Hazzard were entertaining the masses, whilst the more sophisticated members of the audience were watching the Antiques Roadshow. At the pictures, Sigourney Weaver was being terrorised by an Alien, Martin Sheen was in Vietnam hunting for Marlon Brando, and the cast of Star Trek started making movies. Yay...

70 Years of Marvel - 1978

2009-10-10T07:48:00.006+01:00

What do you do when you have a pair of second-string super-heroes, neither of whom is able to support their own book? Why, you combine them into one of the finest books of the late 70s, that's what! Despite having little in common (Iron Fist is a martial artist from the fabled city of ~~Shangri La~~ K'un Lun, and has a habit of fighting dragons, whilst Power Man is a troubled kid from Harlem with a habit of beating up drug dealers), the two found common ground as Heroes For Hire, where in theory, they rented out their services for cash. In practice, they still spent more time fighting bad guys for good reason, rather than for money. Although their partnership was dissolved (under rather contentious circumstances) in 1986, both heroes are still big players in the Marvel U, with Luke Cage part of the Avengers, and Iron Fist's latest title limping towards cancelation. Ah well, some things never change.

In other comics news, Devil Dinosaur made his debut, courtesy of King Kirby, whilst Canadian superhero, Guardian, made his first appearance, using his original Weapon Alpha codename. In the pages of Captain America, there was a new Marvel Boy out (one patterned after the Golden Age hero), who would subsequently be known as Quasar, Protector of the Universe. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet year.

Outwith comics, Pope John Paul I became, in quick succession, head of the Catholic Church, dead, and subject to numerous conspiracy theories. In America, the Unabomber began making a name for himself. And in London, spies were killing each other with poisoned umbrellas. Whatever next.

70 Years of Marvel - 1977

2009-10-09T08:21:00.002+01:00

Alas, the Champions. They never get the love. Everyone's all "X-Men this" or "Avengers that". People get all nostalgic for the Defenders. But the Champions? Even the members of this particular team don't seem to talk about those days. They were a bit of an odd mix, to be fair: ex-X-Men Iceman and Angel, ex-Avenger and current spy, Black Widow, the demigod Hercules, and the flaming-skulled Ghost Rider, all brought together by an invasion by Hercules' godly brethren. The Champions hung out in LA, fighting all the bad guys who preferred a sunnier climate than New York. Eventually they added Darkstar, a former bad guy, to their line-up, but that wouldn't be enough to save their book from cancellation. There was talk recently of a new Champions book, before someone pointed out to Marvel that they don't actually own the rights to that title anymore. Doh.

Elsewhere in 1977, Jack Kirby continued his revival, with the introduction of Machine Man, a new series of Black Panther, and the introduction of such foes as Arnim Zola in the pages of Captain America. Meanwhile, the Star Wars comic was wowing audiences. Dr Druid, a character from the pre-FF Marvel Universe, showed up to fight the Hulk. Film-star Godzilla was being featured in his own comic, while longtime Avengers foe, Ultron, was making himself a bride, Jocasta, who would, like all robots turn on her creator. The X-Men's universe was being expanded with the introduction of the Starjammers. Jessica Drew was making her first appearance as Spider-Woman, whilst long-time supporting character, Carol Danvers, finally got her turn in the spotlight, as Ms. Marvel. And the worlds of infinite possibility were explored for the first time, with the launch of What If?

In the real world, Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, died on the toilet. We also lost Groucho Marx. On television, the Hulk was starring in his own tv show. And at the pictures, George Lucas was releasing his adaptation of the Star Wars comic (shurely shum mishtake? - ed).

70 Years of Marvel - 1976

2009-10-08T07:28:00.002+01:00

In 1976, the Defenders were the antidote to superhero comics. Steve Gerber had taken over the book a year or so back, and what had been just another team book rapidly became something else, with bodyswaps, self-help gurus, possessed deer, and the Hulk dressed as a clown. And all that , just in the issue above! These weren't your dad's comic books.

In the same year, Captain Britain was making his debut, in the pages of his own Marvel UK title. Richard Ryder was gaining the power of Nova. The Shroud was turning up for the first time, in the pages of Super-Villain Team-Up. In the X-Men, Jean Grey was transforming into the Phoenix. Third-string super hero, Jack of Hearts, was appearing in the pages of Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. And, with Kirby back at Marvel, he was taking over the reigns at Captain America, adapting the 2001: A Space Odyssey movie, as well as launching a new team of god-like beings, the Eternals.

In the real world, 1976 saw Jim Callaghan become British PM, Jimmy Carter become American President, and Chairman Mao dead.

On television, children were watching Rentaghost and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, whilst the grown-ups were watching Reginald Perrin and I, Claudius. Sylvester Stallone was making a name for himself as Rocky Balboa. And vampire literature got a boost, with the publication of Interview With The Vampire, introducing the "vampire rock star" subgenre of horror fiction.

70 Years of Marvel - 1975

2009-10-07T07:51:00.000+01:00

By 1975, Marvel had a raft of horror magazines out on the racks: Haunt of Horror; Dracula Lives; Tales of the Zombie; Monsters Unleashed; and Vampire Tales. These were black and white books aimed at an older market. But, since there was money to be made, Marvel also had a few horror books set in the mainstream Marvel Universe, of which Tomb of Dracula was both the most famous and, at 70 issues, the longest-running.

In the course of ToD, the lord of the vampires would encounter many Marvel heroes, including Dr Strange, who, after the book was cancelled, would wipe out Dracula and his brethren. It wouldn't take, of course, and Dracula still shows up every so often, most often in the pages of Captain Britain's latest title.

1975 also saw the creation of Madrox the Multiple Man, a mutant who, after appearing with the Fantastic Four, skulked around the corners of the Marvel Universe for over a decade, before turning up as a regular character in the Peter David version of X-Factor. Batman-a-like, Moon Knight began haunting the pages of Werewolf By Night. In the pages of the Avengers, the Scarlet Witch married her android fiancé, the Vision. The Fantastic Four became the Fantastic Five, with the birth of Franklin Richards. Spider-Man had his first encounter with his clone (yes, that one). Meantime, sometime allies, Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner were back together, in the pages of Super-Villain Team-Up. And, with Hank Pym chopping and changeing between his Ant-Man and Yellowjacket costumes, the Goliath identity was being taken on by Pym's former partner, Bill Foster. A new team of Champions was born. Most notably, however, 1975 saw the revival of the X-Men, or rather the New X-Men, as Len Wein and Dave Cockrum introduced a new team of international heroes. Marvel Comics would never be the same again.

On tv, Saturday Night Live and Fawlty Towers were making their debut. At the pictures, Jack Nicolson was faking it in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. At the theatre, audience were witnessing the first performance of the Rocky Horror Show. And in the real world, a young man called Bill Gates was going into business.

10 Second-Stringers

2009-10-06T07:45:00.002+01:00

Following up on yesterday's post, I thought it'd be nice to take a closer look at these guys, a posse of criminally underexposed characters introduced in 1974, who, if not for the cult of Wolverine, might well be far more respected in comics circles. Or they might not. You judge...

Nuklo was the son of a couple of golden age heroes, and briefly, the brother of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Created by Roy Thomas in the pages of Giant-Size Avengers, Nuklo, unfortunately, possessed the power of being highly radioactive, which probably scuppered his chances of joining any of the big-name teams. So naturally, he ended up appearing in the pages of Thunderbolts later on.

Created by Jim Starlin and Steve Englehart, Nitro's proved one of the more successful of the class of 1974. Not only was he indirectly responsible for the death of Captain Marvel, who died as a result of an illness contracted during this very issue, but, depending on your viewpoint, he was either indirectly or directly to blame for the disaster which led to Marvel's Civil War a couple of years back.

No, your eyes are not deceiving you, unfortunately. That really is a man dressed up as a giant chicken. To be fair, he is a voodoo priest, so a chicken costume is not entirely inappropriate, but I'm not sure most comics readers are discerning enough to take that look seriously. Time remains to tell whether Black Talon ( a creation of Len Wein and Gene Colan) will once again show up as a foe of Brother Voodoo, now that he's the Sorcerer Supreme.

Oh, my... Mid-70s Marvel was many things, but subtle it wasn't. Mahkizmo, the Nuclear Man, came from an alternative future world where men enslaved women, a world at war with another alternative world, this one the female-dominated world of Thundra. Created by Gerry Conway and Rich Buckler, Mahkizmo disappeared after his first appearance, only resurfacing when She-Hulk author John Byrne was looking for some bottom of the barrel villain to make fun of.

OK, so they can't all be winners. Marv Wolfman and George Tuska brought the Piranha into the pages of Sub-Mariner, as they were beginning to seriously run out of good ideas. Originally, a real piranha fish, this chap was mutated by radiation during one of Subby's many battles, and, rather than count his blessings, Piranha decided to hunt down Namor. Other than a couple of guest shots in the Defenders, alongside other fish-based foes, he's never been seen since. Good.

And talking of the Defenders, here's Nebulon. Introduced by Len Wein and Sal Buscema, Nebulon made a couple of half-hearted efforts to conquer the Earth, before vanishing into the mists of time.

Luke Cage had some wacky bad guys in the early days of his title. Created by Len Wein (him again) and George Tuska (and him again), Cottonmouth was a drug-dealer with ambition, a taste for snake skin shoes, and, when the occasion demanded, a bazooka. Like so many other animal-themed characters, he seems to have been a one-shot character, with his name being pinched later by a member of the Serpent Society.

From the mailbox: "It had to happen. Marvel was first among comics publishers to feature black superheroes - and villains. Marvel was first to recognise the women's movement in comics with characters like the Black Widow. And now, in this issue of STRANGE TALES, we're proud to introduce the comics' first Jewish monster-hero. Needless to say, we're looking forward to your reactions[]. So ... grab a sheet of paper or a post card or last week's leftover bagel and WRITE!!" I think you can guess how filled-to-the-brim the Mighty Marvel Mailbag was that week. Brought to the world by Len Wein (it's that man again) and John Buscema, the Golem lasted all of three months, before vanishing for the rest of the century.

Jeez, Len Wein gets about, doesn't he? Equinox, a curious blend of the power of fire and ice, turned up a few times in the pages of Marvel Team-Up, and even showed up a couple of years ago during the Secret Invasion, but despite having one of the more interesting visual looks of the era, never really seems to have found his groove.

Brought to us courtesy of Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, Grizzly must be the character who must resents the ol' Canucklehead. I mean, look at the guy. With that surly attitude, coupled with the ridiculous costume, he must have reckoned he had at least as good a chance as Wolverine of making the big time. If not for a quirk of fate, Grizzly could have found himself on the cover of Giant-Sized X-Men #1, and we might now be reading three or four monthly books about the exploits of the world's favourite ex-wrestler. There's no justice.

So there you have. Ten of the, er, best creations of 1974 who didn't go on to become superstars. I like to think that in some parallel universe, these guys are world-famous, with legions of fans. Well, except for Piranha. That guy sucks.

70 Years of Marvel - 1974

2009-10-05T07:20:00.008+01:00

1974 saw Jim Starlin at the height of his cosmic powers, as writer of the Captain Marvel comic books, in which Mar-Vell was taking on the evil titan, Thanos, who would haunt most of Starlin's Marvel work for the rest of the century.

Other comics-related events included the first appearance of The Punisher, Gerry Conway's assassin to the stars, hired to kill Spider-Man, and at this point, lacking any sort of defined origin. We also so the debut of Iron Fist, Marvel's attempt to combine the superhero and martial artist genres, as well as Doug Moench and Rich Buckler's cyborg sensation, Deathlok. 1974 also saw the Marvel Universe being brought a little bit closer, as ex-Avenger, Quicksilver, married ex-Fantastic Four member and full-time Inhuman, Crystal. Oh, and I suppose it would be a sin not to mention that Incredible Hulk #180 and #181 saw the debut of everyone's favourite shortarse Canadian.

In the real world in 1974, Tricky Dicky finally gave in and resigned. Fortunately, his immediate successor pardoned him for any crimes which he may have committed. It's a good life, eh?

70 Years of Marvel - 1973

2009-10-04T07:52:00.013+01:00

1973 saw the Black Panther, after guest-starring in pretty much every title out there, finally get a shot at his own book. This was the start of "Panther's Rage", a 13-parter which, these days, is recognised as ground-breaking in terms of being a very early example of a graphic novel. "Panther's Rage" was written by Don McGregor, in virtually his first work for Marvel, and, like a lot of Panther books, was able to push the creative envelope, safe in the knowledge that most people wouldn't be reading it anyway.

Elsewhere in 1973, the Titan priestess-turned-hero, Moondragon, was making her presence felt, although for reason best know to herself, was dubbing herself Madame MacEvil at this point. Meanwhile, her father, Drax the Destroyer, was also turning up, as another new writer, Jim Starlin, began introducing more and more cosmic elements to Marvel's books. Vampire-slayer, Blade, began hunting down Dracula, and martial-artist Mantis, Celestial Madonna-to-be, debuted in the pages of the Avengers. In the newly-revived Strange Tales, Len Wein and Gene Colan were introducing Brother Voodoo, a young man with a big future, whilst in the pages of Adventure In Fear, a book starring the monstrous Man-Thing, a duck named Howard was making his debut. The Son of Satan was making his first appearance, in the pages of Ghost Rider. Another famous son, this time, Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, and son of Fu Manchu, was making his first appearance. And Marvel was bringing one of its first big crossovers, as Steve Englehart brought us the Avengers-Defenders War! Yoinks!

In the real world, 1973 saw Nixon, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, "I am not a crook." Meanwhile, his VP, Spiro Agnew, was being convicted of tax evasion. Happy days.

On the tv, Last of the Summer Wine started, bringing the hilarious exploits of three ancient Yorkshiremen to anyone too lazy to change channels. We were also treated to the almost equally hilarious exploits of the cast of Are You Being Served, while over in America, the Six-Million Dollar Man was making his debut. Meanwhile, at the pictures, The Exorcist was terrifying witless teenagers, and Yul Brynner was a psychotic android in Westworld.

70 Years of Marvel - 1972

2009-10-03T08:20:00.003+01:00

Spoiler: no he didn't.

Amazing Adventures had been launched a couple of years earlier, as a vehicle for the Inhumans and the Black Widow, but by 1972, they'd been turfed from the title, in favour of the X-Men's Beast, now transformed into a furry monster. Written first by Gerry Conway, then by Steve Englehart, who would later introduce him to the Avengers, the furry Beast has fluctuated between furry and human ever since. Currently he's a big cat. Go figure.

Amazing Adventures itself would shortly become home to post-apocalypse hero, Killraven, who would be the book's star for the remainder of its run. More on him later.

1972 also saw the first appearance of Werewolf By Night, the launch of a new Ghost Rider, and the arrival of Dracula in the Marvel Universe, as the 70s Horror Onslaught began. As if that wasn't enough, that year also saw the debut of (Sweet Christmas!) Luke Cage, Hero For Hire. Marvel also introduced 3 more girl heroes: Ka-Zar-wife-to-be, Shanna the She-Devil, Night Nurse, who , after a four-issue run in her own title, would vanish into obscurity for the remainder of the 20th century, and the Cat, who would become better known in later years as Tigra.

In the real world, some important stuff probably happened, but since it was also the year that I was born, damned if I'm letting anyone else share my day.

70 Years of Marvel - 1971

2009-10-02T07:30:00.004+01:00

1971 saw the start of one of Marvel's most famous sagas, the cosmos-spanning Kree-Skrull War, in which the Avengers - aided by the Kree exile, Captain Marvel, learned of a centuries-long conflict between the two most prominent alien races in the Marvel Universe, and, in their efforts to avoid Earth being devastated by the war, found themselves being drawn deeply into it. On the way, Roy Thomas got to bring back (albeit briefly) a number of golden age heroes:

Clockwise, from Captain America, we have the Fin, the Human Torch, the Angel, the Blazing Skull, perpetual sidekick Rick Jones, the Patriot, the original Vision, and of course the Sub-Mariner, all serving as a reminder of the glorious (by this time 32 year) history of the Marvel Universe.

Elsewhere in comics, 1971 saw the introduction of super-psychiatriast, Doc Samson, who would spend the next few years hunting the Hulk. It would also see Spider-Man briefly transformed into a literal man-spider, and the debut of the not-quite-a-vampire, Morbius and the not-quite-Swamp-Thing, Man-Thing, as Marvel chanced their arm to see what the Comics Code Authority would allow. But possibly most earth-shattering of all, 1971 saw the arrival of the world's greatest non-team, the Defenders, as the Hulk teamed up with the Sub-Mariner and Dr Strange to face Yandroth's greatest challenge: the Omegatron! Ooh, scary!

In the real 1971, Britain dropped the old pounds-shilling-pence system, in favour of something which people could actually understand. The World Trade Center, then the tallest building in the world, was completed. The UK government launched Operation Demetrius, interring people suspected of being members of the IRA. And DB Cooper became a legend.

Entertainment-wise, one could pick from buying Led Zeppelin IV, reading The Day of the Jackal, watching The Two Ronnies on the telly, or, if one was quick, catch A Clockwork Orange at the pictures.

70 Years of Marvel - 1970

2009-10-01T07:33:00.000+01:00

By 1970, Roy Thomas was challenging Stan Lee as Marvel's pre-eminent writer of books. The nostalgia king was writing the Avengers, Daredevil, Hulk, and of course, Sub-Mariner. While a lesser man might have been threatened by this hot new talent, Stan was quite happy to hand over the reigns, as long as he got a mention in the credits...

Bravo. Anyway, elsewhere in 1970, Sunfire was becoming Japan's first costumed hero, the Valkyrie was becoming Asgard's second cosmic hero, and the X-Men were limping towards cancelation.

In the real world, Ted Heath was becoming British PM, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix were taking too many drugs, and the Baader-Meinhoff Gang were making a name for themselves in West Germany.

At the pictures, childrens' classic, The Railway Children was out, whilst the Goodies were livening up British tv. Simon and Garfunkel were going their separate ways, and Black Sabbath were releasing their debut album. Rock on!

70 Years of Marvel - 1969

2009-09-30T08:02:00.001+01:00

As you can see from the picture above, 1969 saw the first appearance of Havok, who was the long-lost brother of the X-Men's Cyclops. Well, one of them anyway.

1969 also saw the arrival of the 31st century Guardians of the Galaxy, as opposed to the 21st century whom I've come to love in recent years. In the pages of Captain America, a new hero was appearing, the Falcon, which gave the Marvel universe the grand total of 2 black heroes. (DC fans needn't gloat, since it'd be the mid-70s before they managed even one black hero.)

Meanwhile, in 1969, Tricky Dickie was being sworn in as President. The Beatles were splitting up. And man was landing on the moon. On the television, kid's icon, Scooby Doo made his debut, as did Monty Python's Flying Circus, as well as the endlessly-popular Benny Hill. At the pictures, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were Easy Riders, whilst Michael Cane was embarking on The Italian Job. Meanwhile, on the novel front, The Godfather was doing good business, and Billy Pilgrim was spastic in time.

70 Years of Marvel - 1968

2009-09-29T08:08:00.004+01:00

The third of Marvel's late-60s twin-books was Strange Tales, in which Nick Fury shared the spotlight with Dr Strange. The issue above, the Fury portion of which was created by Jim Steranko, featured all sorts of super-spy hijinks, with Fury taking on the Yellow Claw, or a reasonable fascimile, whilst Dr Strange was entering the domain of Yandroth, under the watchful eyes of Denny O'Neil (in one of his few jobs at Marvel) and Dan Adkins.

1968 also saw the arrival of Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, as well as the Vision, two heroes who would henceforth appear as second-stringers within the pages of the Avengers. Over in the X-Men, Polaris was being unveiled as the daughter of Magneto. That wouldn't last.

Elsewhere in 1968, Bobby Kennedy was, briefly, standing for President of the USA. Czechoslovakia was invaded by its next-door neighbour. And Enoch Powell became the most notorious politician in England.

At the pictures, Oliver! was winning the Best Picture Oscar, while Planet of the Apes and 2001 were becoming sci-fi cult classics. On TV, Dad's Army was gearing up for its 9 year run, whilst Philip K. Dick was writing sci-fi cult-classic-to-be Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?.

70 Years of Marvel - 1967

2009-09-28T08:08:00.006+01:00

Marvel's other two-hander book of the 60s was Tales of Suspense, in which arch-conservative hero, Iron Man, shared the headline with democratic poster-boy, Captain America, forging a friendship which would last the next 40 years...

Elsewhere in comics, 1967 saw the first appearance of the future X-Man, Banshee, begorah bejesus, as well as the Kree supersoldier, Captain Marvel, and fellow cosmic hero, Adam Warlock, or, as he was known in them thar days, Him. Yes, even by then, all the good names were taken.

In the real world, 1967 saw both America and Russia suffer space-related tragedy, with the destruction of Apollo 1 and Soyuz 1. Most of the Middle East was getting briefly embroiled in the Six Day War, and Concorde was unleashed.

On the telly, Patrick McGoogan was stranded in a Welsh village with a load of posh spies and a giant balloon, in The Prisoner, whilst wheelchair-bound Ironside was cracking San Francisco murders aplenty. At the movies, Mowgli was learning the bear necessities in The Jungle Book, Lee Marvin was leading the Dirty Dozen, and Dustin Hoffman was fending off Ann Bancroft in The Graduate. And on the radio, BBCs 1 through 4 were launched.

70 Years of Marvel - 1966

2009-09-27T07:53:00.000+01:00

By 1966, everyone who was everyone in the Marvel Universe had their own title. Even headliners of previously-cancelled books, like the Hulk, or remnants of the golden age, like Namor, were being given the chance to co-pilot a book - in this case, Tales to Astonish, which had starred Ant-Man, until Stan saw sense and put a couple of remotely ineresting characters into the book instead.

1966 would also see the first appearance of the Silver Surfer, herald to Galactus, and of the Mimic, another sometime hero / occasional villain. The Black Panther battled the Fantastic Four in his hidden kingdom of Wakanda.

Outside of comics, Rhodesia was becoming independent of British rule, after a fashion. Nigeria was in the midst of civil war. Oh, and England won the World Cup. Guess which one of these three events is constantly harped on about by the British press, and which ones have been quietly forgotten.

On the small screek, American geekdom was born with the birth of Star Trek, while superhero fans could watch the not-yet-a-cult-classic Batman show. Meanwhile, the world of children's movies was impoverished, with the death of Walt Disney; the Disney empire would, however, continue to grow.

70 Years of Marvel - 1965

2009-09-26T07:31:00.001+01:00

By 1965, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko were collaborating (the depth of that collaboaration depends on whom you believe) on what is arguably the strongest run anyone's ever managed on any Marvel book. The issue above is one of many high points, with the Green Goblin (before he become obsessed with destroying Spider-Man, dead, reborn, or head of Homeland Security) falling out with the Crime-Master over who will rule New York's criminal gangs.

1965 saw the first appearance of Tarzan-knock-off, Ka-Zar, and the Swordsman, who, like Namor and the Hulk, would spend most of his career chopping and changing between heroism and villainy. Hercules would make his debut, taking on Thor, not for the last time. The Inhumans would make their entrance into the pages of Fantastic Four, another title which was setting a standard which later writers would struggle to even approach. Romance fans might like to note that this year also saw the introduction of Gwen Stacy, who would play something of an important part in the next few decades of Spider-Man.

Elsewhere in 1965, the Civil Rights movement was in full swing in America, with the events of Bloody Sunday heightening tension somewhat. In Britain, the Moors Murderers were arrested, and England's finest, Winston Churchill, was dead.

At the movies, the hills were alive with The Sound of Music. Omar Shariff was portraying Dr Zhivago, while Christopher Lee was camping it up in The Face of Fu Manchu. On the tv, Dr Smith was also camping it up in Lost In Space, while Larry Hagman was becoming a star in I Dream of Jeannie. Meanwhile, bookish types could thrill to the first of many Dune novels.

70 Years of Marvel - 1964

2009-09-25T08:11:00.001+01:00

Yes, Thunderbolts fans, that is the self-same Baron Zemo who would go on to become Captain America's WW2 nemesis, who would subsequently go on to found the Masters Of Evil, and whose son would in turn found his own team of Masters, start up the Thunderbolts as the biggest con in history, and eventually become an almost-good-guy. In his first appearance, though, Doctor Zemo was merely one of many Nazi stooges who took on Sgt Fury and his Howling Commandos, and lost.

Famously, Sgt Fury was the result of a bet at the Marvel offices, in which Stan Lee wagered that he could make a war comic in the Marvel manner and make it a success. It worked, for at least the next couple of decades, thriving throughout any number of successes and failures at the House of Ideas.

Making a return to regular appearances in 1964 was Captain America, albeit only as a member of the Avengers. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver made their first appearance in this year, as did Daredevil, the Black Widow, Wonder Man, and Hawkeye.

1964 also saw the US Government suggest (god forbid) that smoking cigarettes might be harmful to ones health. The Beatles were conquering America. And IBM were unleashing the S360 mainframe! Meanwhile, the war was hotting up in Vietnam.

At the movies, Clint Eastwood was scowling his way through A Fistful of Dollars, while Santa Claus was Conquering the Martians. Meanwhile, on the telly, Top of the Pops was not yet tragically unhip. The Munsters and the Addams Family were both tearing up the airwaves, as was the Man From UNCLE. And a generation of kids were thrilling to the adventures of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

70 Years of Marvel - 1963

2009-09-24T07:30:00.001+01:00

By 1963, Marvel was promoting the Human Torch as its breakout character, giving him his own spotlight title, Strange Tales, a holdover from the pre-superhero horror days, in which Johnny Storm fought such terrors as the Plantman - who would be lame in one form or another for the next. Eventually, Stan would work out that all the cool kids wanted to be the Thing, but for now, the Torch was the most over-exposed character in Marvel's books.

1963 would also see the first appearance of Iron Man, Nick Fury (in both his WW2 and 60s incarnations!), the Wasp, the Avengers, Dr Strange, and the Uncanny X-Men. Yowza!

1963, of course, also saw the death of JFK, and the first episode of Doctor Who, two events which would shape the remainder of the 20th century. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton were playing Anthony and Cleopatra, whilst Steve McQueen was practicing bike skills in the Great Escape. Meanwhile, Peter Sellers was stealing the show in the Pink Panther.

70 Years of Marvel - 1962

2009-09-23T08:14:00.002+01:00

1962 saw the expansion of Marvel's new superhero line, with the introduction of the never-quite-not-lame-no-matter-which-identity-he's-using-this-week Hank Pym, seen here getting his arse kicked by a man who's only power is baldness (see also Lex Luthor, Wilson Fisk, Iain Duncan Smith, among others).

'62 also saw the arrival of the Hulk, Thor, and Spider-Man, the pillars of the Marvel Universe, as well as the return of the Sub-Mariner, albeit as a bad guy who would pester the FF fir the next couple of years.

In the real world, 1962 saw us dodge nuclear apocalypse, during two weeks in October known to history as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Elsewhere, the military siezed power in Burma, sparking a new socialist paradise which has thrived ever since, according to the Burmese Tourist Board.

At the movies, a plethora of all-time classics were making their first appearance: Lawrence of Arabia; To Kill A Mockingbird; Cape Fear; How The West Was Won; Dr No; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; Samson vs. the Vampire Women; need I go on? On the small screen, Z-Cars made its first appearance, whilst Roger Moore was polishing his halo as the Saint. Elvis was top of the music charts, and the Beatles were releasing their first single. Good times.

70 Years of Marvel -1961

2009-09-22T07:27:00.002+01:00

And then, in November 1961, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four. And nothing would ever be the same again.

Other things happened in 1961 as well. The Bay of Pigs, for instance. The raising of the Berlin Wall. The birth of the new South Africa. But all these things pale into insignificance compared to the arrival of the FF, don't you agree? Thought as much.

70 Years of Marvel - 1960

2009-09-21T08:22:00.001+01:00

Some days I'll write a long screed of junk regarding the subject of the day. And some days I'll just post a picture of a monster named "Shagg" and let the material speak for itself. This is one of those days.

Elsewhere in 1960, Ricardo Klement fell into the hands of Mossad, beginning a slow but certain trip to the gallows. Francis Gary Powers literally fell into the hands of the KGB, and would spend a couple of years in a Russian prison before going home. (Incidentally, his wikipedia entry is worth a visit, if only to read about his hilarious death). And Kennedy was beating Nixon to the Presidency.

At the movies Kirk Douglas was playing games as Spartacus, while Yul Brynner was leading the Magnificent Seven. On tv, the Flintstones were debuting, and perpetually-running soap, Coronation Street, began.

70 Years of Marvel - 1959

2009-09-20T07:44:00.000+01:00

Kid Colt, wikipedia tells me, is "the longest-running cowboy star in American comic-book publishing, featured in stories for a 31-year stretch from 1948-1979". Although, as it hastens to add, it was pretty much a reprint book from 1966. Observant viewers may note that the issue above, #87, features cover art by one Jack Kirby, who was about to become something of an overnight sensation.

Like other early Marvel characters, Kid Colt was introduced into the Marvel Universe, once again by Steve Englehart, who seems to have made a career looting past glories of Marvel:

Kid Colt's appearances have been sporadic over the years, but he's not going to complain. Not after what happened to his pal, the Rawhide Kid.

So, other than Kid Colt celebrating 11 years in publication, what else happened in 1959? Well, Castro was taking over in Cuba. Whatever happened to that guy? Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash. And the international community decreed that Antarctica should become a protected region, thus saving the world forever.

In France, Asterix turned up. Meanwhile, William Burroughs was writing the Naked Lunch, and Robert Bloch was writing Psycho. Juke Box Jury was starting up on tv, as were Bonanza (in colour, no less!) and the Twilight Zone. At the movies, Chuck Heston was starring as Ben-Hur. Cary Grant and James Mason were opposing forces in North by Northwest. But more important than that, Ed Wood's soon-to-be-the-most-famous-bad-film-in-history, Plan 9 From Outer Space, was out!

70 Years of Marvel - 1958

2009-09-19T08:08:00.000+01:00

War comics were big business for Marvel-Atlas, but by 1958, they were on the way out, with Marines In Battle one of the last hold-outs. Atlas itself was in trouble by this point, as its distributor had gone to the wall, forcing it to use the distributor owned by DC Comics instead. Funnily enough, DC weren't keen to give too much shelf space to their rival, so Marvel-Atlas was henceforth restricted to (depending on which figure you believe) 10, 12 or 16 titles, which may also help account for the sudden diminishing number of Atlas war comics.

Elsewhere in 1958, NASA was being born, the Busby Babes were dying in Munich, and Saint Clare of Assisi was being pronounced the patron saint of television. Oh, and Air Force Captain Bruce Kulka accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina.

Speaking of television, Gareth Jones severely inconvenienced the producers of Armchair Theatre, by dying (off camera, thankfully) halfway through a live show, while in America, the producers of several prime-time quiz shows were being equally inconvenienced by allegations of show-rigging. 1958 also saw the premiere of two British institutions, Grandstand and Blue Peter.

At the movies, Gigi was winning Best Picture at the Oscars, whilst in the world of books, Lolita was causing something of a stir.

70 Years of Marvel - 1957

2009-09-18T07:46:00.005+01:00

Created by ex-EC staffer, Al Feldstein, the Yellow Claw was a fairly unsubtle personification of the American fear of Communist China. Based on Fu Manchu, Yellow Claw had his own Nayland Smith equivelent, in the person of Jimmy Woo, an FBI agent whom he battled in the four issues of Yellow Claw in the mid-50s.

Yellow Claw made a return to the Marvel Universe in 1973, when Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema brought him to the pages of Captain America, in which he and his army of giant spiders attempted to destroy New York. Yikes!

Later, the Claw, accompanied by an army of ex-Nazis, would battle Nova and Nick Fury.

And later still (1993) he siezed control of super-terrorist crew, HYDRA, and had another go at taking on Nick Fury and SHIELD.

And then he vanished into obscurity, until 2006, when God's gift to Marvel Comics, Jeff Parker, introduced a new team of ex-Atlas heroes, fittingly titled Agents Of Atlas, with the Yellow Claw acting as the antagonist against whom the was brought team together.

If you're not reading Agents Of Atlas, then you really, really should be.

At the movies in 1957, Alec Guinness was helping build the Bridge on the River Kwai, and Henry Fonda was on a jury along with another 11 Angry Men. Meanwhile, b-movie fans could thrill to the adventures of the Incredible Shrinking Man. On television, a nearly-young Patrick Moore was presenting the first edition of the Sky at Night, whilst an also-nearly-young Jim Garner was set to play Maverick.

In books, Jack Kerouac had written On the Road, whilst for younger readers, Dr Suess was producing not one, but two, classics: Cat In The Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Score!

Oh, and in Liverpool, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met. Wonder would ensue.

70 Years of Marvel - 1956

2009-09-17T07:58:00.000+01:00

Patsy Walker has been around since 1944, and began as an attempt by Timely-Marvel to copy the success of their Millie the Model title. It worked: Patsy had her own book well into the 60s, through the whole Atlas era and into the Silver Age of superheroes. She clearly had her own fan base in the 60s Marvel bullpen, as Lee and Kirby gave her a cameo appearance at the wedding of Reed Richards and the Invisible Girl.

Even after her own book ended, she wasn't finished, as Steve Englehart brought her, and her husband, back, as guest stars in his run on Amazing Adventures in 1972.

A couple of years later, Englehart reintroduced Patsy, having her help out the Avengers against her soon-to-be-ex-husband and his employers. Along the way, Patsy somehow gained a costumed identity.

A couple of years after that, Gerry Conway, in pretty much his last act as writer of the Defenders, would bring Patsy / Hellcat to the team, where she would spend the remainder of the 70s and half of the 80s, before leaving the team to settle down with her new husband, Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan.

Patsy and Daimon languished in obscurity together, until 1993, when Hellstorm got his own book (it was the 90s, pretty much everyone in the Marvel Universe had their own book. I'm surprised Irving Forbush didn't have his own book). Fans of Patsy would probably be disappointed by her first appearance in Hellstorm...

Then later, Warren Ellis got hold of the book. And killed her off.

But this being comics, even that didn't stop the Powers-What-Be from using the character. Firstly, she was rescued from hell by the Thunderbolts.

And then, courtesy of long-time fan, Steve Englehart (it's that man again!), she got her own book again, albeit briefly.

And now, in 2009, in these days of Civil Wars and Secret Invasions, when everything's grim and gritty, and just when you think Patsy has nothing to offer anymore, she's back in a thinly-veiled "homage" to Sex and the City.

Honesty, whatever next?

Anyway, elsewhere in the real world in 1956, the people of Europe were thrilling to the first Eurovision Contest. Sadly, no Terry Wogan. Two planes collided in mid-air above the Grand Canyon, Egypt nationalised the Suez Canal, and frogman "Buster" Crabb vanished in Portsmouth harbour, sparking a flurry of conspiracy theories.

In the world of entertainment, Elvis was staying at the Heartbreak Hotel, Invasion of the Body Snatchers was on at the pictures, David Niven was going Around the World in 80 Days, and musical fans could go see The King And I with Yul Brynner. But only if he wasn't busy. Boom boom.

On the small screen, Tony Hancock was making the move from radio to telly, and Hughie Green was introducing Opportunity Knocks, without which we might well be spared half the tripe on Saturday night tv. At the library, one could pick up a copy of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, whilst theatre-goers could see a very young Alan Bates starring in Look Back in Anger. Something for everyone there, I'm sure you'll agree.

70 Years of Marvel - 1955

2009-09-16T07:59:00.000+01:00

Casper the Friendly Ghost had been around for a few years, when Marvel-Atlas started producing its own "tribute" title, Homer the Happy Ghost. Created by that paragon of originality, Stan Lee, Homer lasted for five years before they pulled the plug on him. Although what good pulling the plug on a ghost would do is anyone's guess.

To their credit, Harvey Comics didn't sue Marvel over Homer the Happy Ghost. Maybe they realised there was worse to come.

Elsewhere in 1955, two women were making history. Ruth Ellis was becoming the last woman to be hanged in the UK, whilst Rosa Parks was refusing to sit at the back of the bus.

At the movies, James Dean was making a name for himself in East of Eden, Alec Guinness was taking the lead in the Ladykillers, and Marilyn Monroe was fending off a man with a Seven-Year Itch. On television, British viewers (or at least those in London) could now choose between the BBC and ITV. Benny Hill was beginning a very long career on our screens, as was Dixon of Dock Green. Eamonn Andrews was being presented with his big red book, and about to become presenter of This Is Your Life. In the States, James Arness was starring in Gunsmoke, whilst Jackie Gleason was heading the cast of the Honeymooners. In music, Colonel Parker was becoming Elvis' manager, and Bill Haley was rocking around the clock.

70 Years of Marvel - 1954

2009-09-15T08:10:00.001+01:00

By 1954, horror comics were doing good business, with the example above a somewhat tame version of the sort of thing which youngsters might be bringing home from the drug-store. Such books had drawn the attention of Dr Fredric Wertham, a psychiatriast, who contended that comics such as these were unsuitable material for kids. The comic publishers of America, pressed to take action, hastily threw together the Comics Code, which among other things, did away with most of the horror and crime books, putting more than one publisher out of business in the process.

Elsewhere in 1954, the first Burger King was opening its doors. At the movies, one could relive the heroic adventures of the Dam Busters, or, if one were in Japan, could choose between watching Gojira terrorise Tokyo or the Seven Samurai saving some oppressed villagers. On television, viewers could see future Catwoman, Lee Meriwether, winning the Miss America pageant. Book fans could enjoy William Golding's first novel, Lord of the Flies, or Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Young fans could thrill to Horten Hears A Who. Oh, and the first two volumes of Lord Of The Rings were available in all good bookshops.

70 Years of Marvel - 1953

2009-09-14T08:11:00.000+01:00

Young Men #24 saw the return of the superheroes, as Marvel-Atlas tried another throw of the dice. The return of Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch would be short-lived, since no-one seemed much interested in superhero books. In a couple of years, DC Comics would start a big push on superhero titles, and things would turn around, but for now, super-books were very much on the periphery.

1953 saw the end of the Korean War, but the Cold War was in full swing: America had made the first hydrogen bomb, the Rosenbergs were being executed as Russian spies, and Stalin was dying, or depending on who you believe, being assassinated. Britain and the US were overthrowing the government of Iran

At the movies, Burt Lancaster was starring in From Here To Eternity, Brando was playing Julius Caesar, and more importantly, Daffy Duck was starring in Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century. On the telly, Patrick Troughton was playing Robin Hood, The Quatermass Experiment was in progress, and topical news prog, Panorama, was beginning a run on BBC tv which continues to this day. Meanwhile, Ian Fleming was writing the first adventure of a certain well-known British secret agent. And the first issue of Playboy was out.

70 Years of Marvel - 1952

2009-09-13T08:14:00.001+01:00

By 1952, Timely Comics was gone, with the Timely branding replaced by the Atlas one. As you can see, by 1952, Red-bashing was in full swing at Atlas Headquarters, and acts of violence were fine, so long as it was a Russian or a Chinaman at the business end of the bayonet.

Meantime, in the real world, Mrs Elizabeth Mountbatten was ascending to the throne of the United Kingdom, Eisenhower was becoming President, and Eva Perón was dead.

At the movies, Charlton Heston was running the Greatest Show On Earth, while Gary Cooper was facing High Noon. On telly, Ozzie and Harriet were beginning a 14 year sitcom run, and Bill and Ben were making their debut on BBC childrens' tv. Bernard Malamud was writing The Natural, which would one day be a not-very-good film, and EB White was writing Charlotte's Web, which would one day be another not very-good-film. Oh, and Agatha Christie's Mousetrap was hitting the stage.

70 Years of Marvel - 1951

2009-09-12T07:55:00.001+01:00

Millie the Model was one of the big successes of Marvel-Timely, lasting from 1946 right through the Timely and Atlas era, until 1973, by which time anyone not wearing a spandex costume could forget about having their own title. She still shows up every so often, when Marvel are looking for a little Golden Age nostalgia kick, but I think one can safely say her best days are behind him. Still, that doesn't stop Sub-Mariner staging a comeback every few weeks, so who knows?

Meanwhile, in 1951, in the world of media, Search for Tomorrow, America's first television soap opera, was debuting, as was The Archers on BBC radio. Sit-com fans could enjoy the first episode of I Love Lucy, and Dragnet made the transition from radio to television. In comics, Dennis the Menace (both of them) was making his dirst appearance, whilst The Catcher In The Rye was hitting the bookshelves. Disney was releasing Alice In Wonderland, Ronald Reagan was starring with a chimpanzee in Bedtime for Bonzo. The Thing From Another World was terrorising America. Oh, and the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" was born.

70 Years of Marvel - 1950

2009-09-11T07:23:00.000+01:00

I can't help but observe that that appears to be the woman from yesterday's entry, about to be eaten by the Shaggy Man. Anyway, by 1950, superhero comics had had their day (although Timely's Distinguished Competition were still producing a few superhero books), and Captain America had suffered the indignity of being turfed out of his own book. Which, as readers of Captain America since 2007 be able to testify, would not be the last time that would happen to him. Horror comics, exemplified by EC Comics, were the next big thing, and Timely wanted some of those comics dollars. After all, nothing could be more wholesome than horror comics, right?

In the real world, 1950 saw the start of the Korean War, as well as the Chinese invasion of Tibet. It also saw the first publication of the Eagle, the introduction of the Peanuts newspaper strip, and the publication of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, all of which are more fondly remembered these days.

70 Years of Marvel - 1949

2009-09-10T07:37:00.000+01:00

In 1942, Lev Gleason Publications had started publishing Crime Does Not Pay, ushering in a new genre of crime fiction. Naturally, Martin Goodman, Marvel-Timely's publisher, wasn't slow in picking up on the potential of the brand, and barely 5 years later, Official True Crime Cases was launched, becoming in time All-True Crime, in which blondes lured unsuspecting car drivers to their doom. Although seeing as the driver above doesn't seem to have noticed the cop hanging off the side of his car, I'm amazed he noticed the femme fatale at all.

At the movies, Orson Welles was talking about cuckoo clocks in The Third Man, and Mighty Joe Young was the terror of Hollywood. Meanwhile, up in the Highlands of Scotland, a boat was running aground, and the locals were enjoying Whisky Galore. On television, Clayton Moore was starring as the Lone Ranger, and the BBC was launching Come Dancing, which has, in one way or another, lasted forever. In the world of books, Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four was out, as was Nevil Shute's A Town Called Alice. And on stage, Death Of A Salesman was premiering. What a year!

70 Years of Marvel - 1948

2009-09-09T08:24:00.001+01:00

Superheroes might have been on the way out, but super-strong boxers? Another matter entirely. Marvel-Timely's answer to Popeye the Sailor, Powerhouse Pepper was a good-natured strongman (who it appears the Sandman would later base his look on), created by Basil Wolverton, a cartoonist who would spend much of the 40s and 50s working for Timely on various scary books, but who is best remembered for his work on this character.

Elsewhere in 1948, Olivier was back with another Shakespeare adaptation, Hamlet, which would win him an Oscar or two. John Wayne and John Ford were teaming up for Fort Apache. Bogie was starring in Key Largo and the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Good times. And Milton Berle was becoming a tv star.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Gandhi was being assassinated and Israel was declaring statehood and fighting with its neighbours, forever at this rate.

70 Years Of Marvel - 1947

2009-09-08T08:18:00.002+01:00

By 1947, the superhero books were in a decline, evidenced by the renaming of All Winners Comics to All Teen Comics, with accompanying dancing teenagers dressed in outfits that were almost as garish as those worn by the superheroes. Namor, Cap and the Torch still had their own books, but Timely had sensed that things were changing, and the remained of the 40s would see a move away from super-books to more family-orientated fare.

Meanwhile, at the pictures, adventure fans could see Danny Kaye living the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Those of a more arty disposition could watch Blanche Dubois depend on the kindness of strangers. Oh, and in the real world, aliens were turning up in Roswell. Or were they?

70 Years of Marvel - 1946

2009-09-07T08:03:00.000+01:00

With the war over, new comics characters no longer found themselves on the front lines. New heroes, like the Blonde Phantom, took to fighting more conventional battles, against gangsters and jewel thieves, all the while draped in the finest frocks that post-war austerity could muster.

One of Stan's creations, the Blonde Phantom would have, in all likelihood, have vanished into the mists of time, had she not been chosen by John Byrne to be sidekick to She-Hulk, in his 80s relaunch of that title. Here she is, folks!

He's a wacky guy, that John Byrne. Anyway, if comics weren't your thing in 1946, you could perhaps enjoy a visit to the picture house, to see Larry Olivier thesping it up in Henry V, or Jimmy Stewart getting all schmaltzy in It's A Wonderful Life. Meanwhile, British children were faced with the spectacle that was Muffin the Mule...

70 Years of Marvel - 1945

2009-09-06T07:54:00.000+01:00

Created by Simon and Kirby, who would shortly thereafter head over the street to DC Comics and create the spookily similar Newsboy Legion, the Young Allies were a group of children who decided to join in the war effort. Consisting of "the fat kid", "the smart kid", "the tough kid" and, um, "the black kid", the Allies were joined by teen superheroes, Bucky and Toro for most of their adventures, which saw them beat merry hell out of any number of Axis leaders. Good on you, lads!

In the real world, of course, WWII was reaching its conclusion, Hitler was killing himself, Roosevelt was winning a 4th term as President, before dying, and America was demonstrating the power of the atom in order to persuade Japan to give up.

70 Years Of Marvel - 1944

2009-09-05T08:28:00.000+01:00

Miss America was one of the more successful Timely heroines, though given how few of them there were in the '40s, this perhaps isn't saying very much. Created by Otto Binder, who who would go on to do a power of work for DC, Miss America gained her powers through a not-yet-a-trope lightning strike. She would go on to be a member of the All-Winners Squad, before disappearing at the tail end of the decade.

Years later, Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Roy Thomas, would make use of Miss America in one of his continuity-establishing exercises. According to Rascally Roy, Miss America had married fellow hero, the Whizzer, and the two of them had gone on to have children, two of which were now famous superheroes: Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Later, of course, the Maximoff twins' parentage would be revised somewhat, and the Miss America connection would be severed.

Since then, Miss America's been pretty much gone, other than a brief reappearance, in the pages of X-Statix, a couple of years back. God bless Pete Milligan, for remembering a little bit of Marvel history.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the war was going badly for the Axis Powers, the Normandy invasion and the Battle of Guam among several setbacks. Terrible things continued to happen in various concentration camps, and Anne Frank was on her way to one of them.

July 6th saw the Hartford Circus fire, which killed several hundred members of the audience, when the big top they were, which was waterproofed by means of parrafin and gasoline, caught ablaze, Nasty stuff.

Film fans may note that 1944 saw the release of Double Indemnity, a nice bit of film noir, in which she-vixen Barbara Stanwyck persuaded Fred MacMurray to participate in a spot of mariticide. More related to our topic, Captain America was starring in a Republic serial, which by all accounts was terrible.

70 Years Of Marvel - 1943

2009-09-04T08:01:00.002+01:00

In 1943, Germany was losing the Battle of Stalingrad, Italy was giving up the fight altogether, and Josef Mengele was arriving at Auschwitz, where some extremely unpleasant activities were being perpetrated.

Meantime, Timely Comics was publishing All Winners Comics. The All-Winners Squad was, as you may know, Marvel / Timely's first super-hero team. Perhaps confusingly, however, the All-Winners Squad wouldn't actually get together until 1946, 5 years after the launch of All Winners Comics, which, for the moment, would be just another anthology book, albeit one featuring the cream of Marvel / Timely's talent.

In the world of movies, the war was on everyone's minds, with Casablanca taking home the Best Picture Oscar. A very young Roddy McDowell was starring with a dog in Lassie Come Home. Basil Rathbone was churning out a new Sherlock Holmes movie every ten minutes or so. And Frankenstein was meeting the Wolf Man.

70 Years Of Marvel - 1942

2009-09-03T08:21:00.001+01:00

By 1942, America was firmly involved in WW2, and so were its superheroes. In addition to Cap, Namor and the Torch, there was a second wave of heroes turning out to help fight the Axis hordes. Let's see, who have we got here..?

First, on the left, we have Captain Daring, who, according to the link, fought the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler in the 31st century. I promise I didn't just make that up, although I suspect International Hero did...
Next up, we have the Fin, an American sailor who discovered that sinking to the bottom of the ocean gives you super-strength. Not one of Bill Everett's finest creations, the Fin vanished without trace at the end of the war. Shame, that.
In the centre, we see the Thunderer, so named because his costume contained a built-in microphone, which he used to amplify his voice, "thundering" at his enemies. So, sort of like Black Bolt, but far lamer than Black Bolt could ever dream of being.
Alongside the Thunderer is Citizen V, who longtime readers of my other blog may recall I have something of an affection for. A British soldier who adopted a secret identity, and who went on a one-man rampage across occupied Europe, striking terror into the enemy, Citizen V vanished without a trace at the end of the war, and was unheard of until 1997, when Kurt Busiek chose to use him, or a version of him, as the centrepiece of the Thunderbolts, a different sort of superhero team. In one form or another, he's been around ever since.
Next to Citizen V is Blue Diamond, a terribly obscure hero powered by a super-magical diamond, who made his one and only contemporary appearance in this very issue, spent the next 30 years in limbo, before being revived (albeit in flashback) by Golden Age aficionado, Roy Thomas.
And lastly, in that box down there, we have the Silver Scorpion, another hero who was plucked out of obscurity to be a member of the V-Battalion, courtesy of a 21st century retcon.

And there you have it, a genuine bona fide Golden Age legion of substitute heroes. Of course, most people were choosing to read about Cap, Namor or the Torch, which is why Ed Brubaker isn't currently writing about the exploits of the Thunderer, or, God help us, the Fin.

70 Years of Marvel - 1941

2009-09-02T08:58:00.001+01:00

Years before Quentin Tarantino played fast and loose with the history of the Second World War, American comics were presenting youthful readers with the imaginstive sight of Captain America punching out Der Fuhrer. Take that, Fritz!

Captain America, almost the longest-standing Marvel hero, and almost the most successful, was the creation of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, a couple of youngsters with a promising career in front of them. Both Simon and Kirby would soon fall out with Timely publisher, Martin Goodman, quit the company, which in turn would give another promising youngster his big break. Yes, true believers, 1941 was the year that Stanley "The Manley" Lieber broke into comics. The rest, as they say, is history, with a smidgeon of hype.

Meanwhile, in the real world, America wasn't quite ready to enter the war. That would change, in November, when Japanese forces attacked a US naval base in Hawaii. Pearl Harbour would finally provoke America into taking sides, which would make things a lot harder for the Axis powers.

Meantime, in showbiz news, Citizen Kane and Dumbo were out at the pictures, as was The Maltese Falcon. And Woody Woodpecker was making his first appearance.