Manic Monday Triple Overtime--And You Thought Sideshow Bob Was Bad!!

Some astronauts have just come back from a mission, and Namor had to rescue them. And they're none too happy about it!

And so...

Well, what kind of show will two famous ex-astronauts give America?

A kiddie show?!? A Krusty The Clown style kiddie show?!?

With a special sidekick that the kids are sure to love!

Xemnu proves to be a real hit...

And he full of comedy hijinks!

Ohh, Xemnu!!

Uh-oh!

Saturday mornings?!? I never saw an ad for The Astro-Nuts with Xemnu The Living Titan in those network Saturday morning line-up ads that filled our comic books!!

Nonetheless, Xemnu is a hit!

But after a month, the time comes for Sideshow Bob Xemnu to spring his trap:

Yeah, it's a Pied Piper scheme to steal Earth's children so he can rebuild the population of his own planet.

Don't worry, the Defenders stop him.

But how did the network ever replace that hit series?

Oh, those were the days...

From Marvel Feature #3 (1972)

Floating Heads--Defenders Style!!

We had fun with the Avengers and floating heads on the cover the other day, so I thought, why not continue the merriment with the Defenders?

Memory is a tricky thing. I would have bet you 50,000 quatloos that the Defenders had featured floating heads almost as often as the Avengers. I could swear I remembered that...

But not so. In fact, the Defenders didn't have their first floating head cover until #26!!

Maybe it's because this was one of the first comics I owned, so repeated exposure to this cover made my mind falsely remember that the Defenders did this a lot more often then they actually did.

It wasn't until #51 that they resorted to the floating heads again...apparently they were waiting for the greatest menace possible!

Another year+ went by until...

Almost 5 years passed until...

Them, merely a year later, they pulled out all the stops!

And that was it for the classic Defenders run.

But unlike the Avengers, the 21st century was much kinder to the Defenders, floating head-wise:

And this:

And while you can argue that this is not strictly your classic floating heads, it's clever enough a conceit that I'll count it!

Let's hope Marvel brings back floating heads to the new Defenders series...

Revealed: The Plot Of The Defenders Netflix Series!!

The Avengers are trying to track down the latest incarnation of The Sons of The Serpent...

Wait...one more time, Cap?

Oh, SNAP, Cap!! Rip the "non -team" for their non-record keeping!!

So, that's gotta be the plot for Netflix's Defenders, right? Steve Rogers shows up and puts them through filing boot camp!!

Hey, it beats fighting the Hand (again)...

From Avengers #342 (1991)

I'm Certain This Is What The Netflix Defenders Series Will Be Like!

I think I'm going to read me some Defenders comic books today!! Yup, Doc Strange, the Sub-Mariner, Hulk, Valkyrie...

No, no, not those Defenders!!

I've got nothing against Robert Reed and E.G. Marshall and what the Museum of Broadcasting called "perhaps the most socially-conscious series the medium has ever seen."

But I wants me some Nighthawk! Some Hellcat!! Some Gargoyle!! Here we go!!
 

Nooo......

I've really got to work on a better filing system for my comics.

Man, those Dell adaptation covers really knew how to draw a reader in with action and drama, didn't they?

The Defenders #1 is from 1962, and #2 is from 1963

Manic Monday Triple Overtime--RESPECT!

You know who never gets enough credit?

Sal Freakin' Buscema never gets enough credit.

'Nuff said.

From Defenders #2 (1972), inks by John Verpoorten.

snell's Actual Firsts

Yesterday I set a new standard for lazy posts by showing a bunch of covers from the 1st new issues of various Marvel comics that I bought on my own.

Well, it's still a lazy weekend, so let's see if I can continue the trend.

Today, we're going to look at the first issues that I actually read of these titles.

Let's start, as always, with:

Reed & Sue breaking up? Thing vs. Sub-Mariner? Medusa as a member of the FF? Holy heck!! As with most of these, I don't remember exactly where or how I got this comic.

There is a story behind this next one...For a family vacation in Florida, we took a long, long car drive form Michigan, with me jammed into the back of a crappy wood-paneled station wagon, with a Kool-Aid backpack full of comics & books to read to keep me out of trouble. And the only one of those books or comics I remember?

I read THE LIVING HELL out of this comic book. I read it so much the cover came off, and then I read it some more. I had no idea who Gwen Stacy was, or who the Green Goblin was, or what the hell was going on. I wasn't old or experienced enough to understand the impact of a major character being permanently killed, or to get pissed at Gerry Conway. All I know is, this was one heckuva read.

I'll always be a Fantastic Four guy at heart, but Amazing Spider-Man #122 may be the one book most responsible for my being hooked on comics.

And then there's this:

Uhhh...a "Demon-Druid" forcing Cap to fight a bunch of SpongeBob Squarepants rejects?  No wonder it took me so long to get into Captain America...

Speaking of not terribly memorable...

Toad-Men? The Shaper? An all-obscure fest!!

And then there's the Avengers:

Not, not this actual issue, but a coverless copy of Marvel Triple Action #10 (1973), that reprinted The Old Order Changeth.

I wrote about that issue more extensively here, but I'd like to reiterate that this issue kind of proves that "continuity" isn't necessarily off-putting to new readers: "As a 10-year-old I got thrown into the deep end of an Avengers story that referenced at least 20 other comic books and didn't try to hold my hand by dumbing everything down for newbies. I still enjoyed it, and wanted to read more."

As for the first non-reprint issue of Avengers I read?

Good old Klaw! And right in the middle of the Celestial Madonna saga...

Here's another one from Zayres' famous 10¢ bins:

Man, that was a lame issue...

My first exposure to All-New, All-Different?

Boy, that was a crazy good issue. I think I'm going to look at that comic in some depth, at a later date. For now, just enjoy this:

As for Daredevil, it was one of two issues, and my memory can't untangle which I owned first:

[SPOILER ALERT: Circus spelld sideways is NOT death!]

Five super-villains? What, are they the Emissaries Of Evil??

And for our obligatory "heads of cast looking down upon action" 70s cover:

Proof, again, that there is no comic so convoluted that a 10 year old's brain can't decipher it and want more...

And Then There Was That Time The Lady Defenders Were Walking The Streets Of Las Vegas!

What happens in Vegas...

Yeah, that was the actual Defenders line-up for like 10 minutes...

Man, I miss the Defenders...

Isn't about time Marvel takes another crack at them...?

Panel from Defenders #77 (1979). Great Sal Buscema pin-up from Defenders #6 (1973)

The True History Of The Future, According To The Guardians Of The Galaxy!

Before we all go gushy over these new-fangled imposter Guardians Of The Galaxy, perhaps we should recall the history of Earth's future, as relayed to us by Vance Astrovik--who's from the future, so he would know!!

It's true!!! I remember the Skin Cancer Epidemic Of 1982!! And it was still worth it to keep my aerosol deodorant!!

Hey, I was proud of my mechanical limbs!!

I remember tearing up at The First Manned Interstellar Space Launch Of 1988...one giant leap for mankind!

Oh, geez, don't get me started on The Bionics Wars Of The 1990s!! It made my commute hell for weeks!!

NOOOOOO, not dear, sweet, innocent Canada!!!

Ah, the Formation Of The Confederation Of Nations Of 1995--most of you were too distracted by the O.J. Simpson trial to pay attention, but I remember it vividly!

Yeah, 2001 kinda sucked. The Martian Invasion put a damper the celebration of our futuristic architecture!!

So remember--if this so-called GOTG movie doesn't tell you about those things, than they're cheap imitations!!

100% true future history from Defenders #26 (1975)