Unstable Molecules: Better than pants?

Absorbing Man usually just wears an old pair of stripy prison pants. But there was a time when he was taking briefings from disco balls and wearing a proper super villain costume.

It was a yellow costume.

--Andrew Sorohan

(This is from Incredible Hulk #209 by Len Wein and Sal Buscema.)

Thugs can't tell it's not bacon.

Seriously, don't.

You guys remember the Punisher Armory, right?  Ten issues of loving descriptions of every firearm, edged weapon, and explosive device in the Punisher's arsenal.  Jeez, ten issues.  People sure loved the Punisher in the '90s.  But even that exhaustive tome didn't cover one of the most devastating weapons in Frank Castle's one-man war on crime. Read on to learn more.

Sal's Sunday Punch #23

Oh right, we still have this blog.  So hey, let's get our punch on.

It's Memorial Day weekend in the States, so this week we're paying homage to America's top super-soldier...times two!  See, after Steve Rogers ended up in the deep freeze, America still needed a Captain America...and there were a few of them.  One in particular, William Burnside, the Captain America of the '50s, didn't lead the charmed existence that Rogers did.  He wasn't the sanest of individuals to start with, and when a botched Super-Soldier process damaged his sanity, he went super-crazy.  Eventually the government had to put him in cryo-stasis, but eventually he got out and went on a rampage. In Captain America #156, by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema, he and Rogers have their big throwdown.  As could be expected, it's the real Cap who delivers the Sal Buscema Punch:

Wait, that's not Ultimate Captain America!  He'd be making fun of the French or something.

Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting paid it a nifty homage in 2012's Captain America #19, in an issue that recounts Cap #156 while Steve has another encounter with Burnside.

I guess we forgive you for giving the Avengers leather jackets now, Steve.

Sal's Sunday Punch #22

Incredible Hulk #195 Writer Len Wein, artist Sal Buscema.

 You know who my favourite Hulk villain is? It's the Abomination. I love watching the big green Russian monster fight the Incredible Hulk. So today's Sunday Punch is the Abomination and the Hulk fighting each other, from two different eras (in terms of writer) of the Incredible Hulk -- though actually it's all from the same run of Sal Buscema on the Hulk book.

Ode to a Sibilant Serpent

The rarely-seen Sal's Monday Punt.
(Pin-up from Marvel's G.I. Joe #150;
art by the fantastic Sal Buscema.)

Cobra Commander is by far my favorite character from the G.I. Joe franchise. Part of that affection is due to his versatility; yeah, he can be written as calculating, cold and ruthless, as a threat to not only American national security but world peace as a whole... but that's not the Cobra Commander I love. The Marvel/Sunbow G.I. Joe cartoon and later issues of the Marvel comic (following his "resurrection," long story) vividly crafted this vision of a petulant, cowardly egomaniac whose brand of petty evil ranged from kicking stray dogs to etching his face on the moon with a giant laser.

Even with those personality traits, though, Cobra Commander was not a nonthreatening gag-villain: he had an uncanny knack for smooth-talking his way out of bad situations, and in the comics, at least, he was not above sealing traitors to die in landlocked cargo ships - uh, another long story - or shooting political prisoners on random whims. Alas, poor White Clown and Magda...

This absurd, over-the-top brand of villainy makes Cobra Commander the perfect counterpart to the Joe team in my mind, who often have trouble coming across as individuals (unless they're Shipwreck, of course). In short, I care about Cobra Commander way less when he's trying to be Darth Vader and more when he's acting like a paramilitary version of the Joker. I can't help but wonder if some more of this kind of "embracing the ridiculous" attitude might get the G.I. Joe line out of its current funk... but that is a pretty tall order, particular character portrayals or otherwise.

Sal's Sunday Punch #21

Today's Sunday Punch comes from the dynamite duo of Sal Buscema and J.M. DeMatteis, who teamed for a memorable run on Spectacular Spider-Man in the early '90s - but this comes from almost a decade earlier, in 1983's Marvel Team-Up #133!

Reed Richards has had a bad day.  After fighting the Everyman, a populist super villain who was also Larry Ekler, the son of one of Reed's old friends, he traced Larry back to the Fennhoff Institute.  Once he arrived there with Spider-Man, he found the Thing, the Human Torch, the Invisible Girl, and even his own son, Franklin, physically and mentally broken by the Institute's director - the sinister psychologist Doctor Faustus!  He's trying to drive Reed mad - the FF and Franklin were androids, and Spider-Man a henchman in a Halloween costume.  Of course, the doctor isn't entirely all there himself, given that he spends the entire issue being yelled at by his dead mother.  Reed's a little better at determining fantasy from reality...

The puncher lecturing the punchee seems to be a recurring theme here.

Sal's Sunday Punch #20

And now it's time again for your favourite pal Sal to demonstrate why no one could draw a punch like him. 

This time how about we raid the pages of Rom Spaceknight again, huh?

Pow!!

This beauty comes from the pages of Rom Spaceknight #31, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by our Pal, Sal Buscema. The basics? In this issue Rom fights (and defeats pretty handilly, I might add) the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. It's the lineup with Rogue, Mystique, Blob, etc. My favourite part in the entire issue is this fight with Blob.

As you know, Blob is immoveable, can't even be harmed when he plants himself in one spot. Unfortunately for him Avalache (another one of the evil mutants) caused an earthquake that sent Blob flying through the air. Well... you've already seen how that ended.

This issue leads into Rom's second fight against his nemesis Hybrid. Remind me to tell you about him some time.

--Andrew S.

Spider-Man, Nobody Knows Who You Are

A full-body suit, complete with a voice-muffling mask, is a pretty good disguise, given that it's protected Spider-Man's identity from all but a handful of other people - in fact, it must be a great disguise, given that Spider-Man's constantly meeting people who know Peter Parker, and vice versa.  But sometimes he has to venture into places where neither Spider-Man nor Peter Parker are welcome.  What to do?

His clone, Ben Reilly, had a simple solution - since he never had to go back to looking like Peter Parker, he could opt for a semi-permanent solution and bust out the peroxide:

Okay, I'm a little gay for Ben Reilly now.
(Sensational Spider-Man #0, story and art by Dan Jurgens, inks by Klaus Janson)

Spider-Man: The Anniversary Syndrome

Next week, Spider-Man celebrates his 50th anniversary, and Marvel's commemorating it with the giant-sized Amazing Spider-Man #692, by Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos, and a bevy of other creators.  Obviously, Spider-Man's celebrated a few anniversaries before.  For his 25th, he met Venom for the first time; for his 40th, Amazing Spider-Man returned to its original numbering just in time for #500.  But the biggest deal Marvel's ever made over a Spider-Anniversary was back in 1992, for his 30th.  Of course, in 1992, Marvel would take any possible excuse to add on a shiny cover and some extra features, so it's perhaps no surprise that this was such an event.  There were four-count-'em'-four ongoing Spider-Man books at the time, so each one got a super-sized anniversary issue, complete with backup stories, a pull-out poster, and a holographic cover.  Holograms get a bad rap, but these are actually very nicely done, although as can be seen below, they don't actually scan very well.

All of the covers look like this, with varying background colours, so I'm just gonna scan this one.

Sal's Sunday Punch #19

It's a very special herpetological edition of Sal's Sunday Punch!  I've just seen Amazing Spider-Man for the second time, so I'm in the mood for some Lizard!  In 1996's Spectacular Spider-Man #237, written by Todd DeZago and drawn by Sal Buscema and John Stanisci, a now-powerless Peter Parker is in the hospital, and a certain Curt Connors has dropped by to offer his services to his old friend.  But where Connors goes, the Lizard will surely follow!  And he's looking a little...finnier than usual.  Unfortunately for Ben Reilly, he still hits as hard as he always did.

Clever girl.

Making matters worse, the Lizard's arms and legs aren't the only limbs at his disposal...

Sal's Sunday Punch #18

Well now, let's talk about Sal Buscema punches in terms of degrees. See sometimes it's a full-on massive group of monsters getting bitch-slapped by the Hulk. Like so:

From Incredible Hulk #248 by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema.

It's violent, it's explosive, but it's also kinda justified. After all these monsters are threatening Jarella and stopping the Hulk from getting to the real threat...

The Metamorphosis of Dr. Kafka

With issue 185, J.M. DeMatteis took the reins of Spectacular Spider-Man, kicking his run off with the dark, creepy The Child Within, a story that focused on Harry Osborn becoming the Green Goblin again, and on the escape of the cannibalistic rat-man, Vermin.  In the first few pages, we're introduced to Vermin's therapist, Dr. Ashley Kafka.  As seen here, Dr. Kafka is pretty clearly middle-aged.

" - get six figures worth of plastic surgery before my next appearance!"
(Spectacular Spider-Man #184, written by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Sal Buscema)

She kept turning up beyond that story, and became a full-blown Spider-Man supporting character.  And it is not a good thing to be a Spider-Man supporting character.  All sorts of things can happen to you; you could become a supervillain, or you could marry a supervillain, or your son might become a werewolf, or maybe you'll just get chucked off a bridge and die.  But something even stranger happened to Dr. Kafka.

Sal's Sunday Punch #17

Hey there, fight fans.  A special treat today - it's Marvel's artistic soul of the '70s clashing with their hottest new heroes of the '90s in 1997's Spider-Man Team-Up #7, brought to you by Kurt Busiek, Sal Buscema, and Dick Giordano.

The scientific no-goodniks at the Enclave (creators of, among other things, Adam Warlock), have created a super-robot to steal stuff.  It kinda-sorta-maybe-if-you-squint looks like Spider-Man, so when it kills a security guard during one of its heists, the hunt is on for the wall-crawler!  This is after the Avengers and the Fantastic Four sacrificed themselves to destroy Onslaught, though, so who's left to bring him to justice?  Why, the Thunderbolts!  But, of course, as we know and Spider-Man doesn't, the Thunderbolts are the villainous Masters of Evil, masquerading as heroes to gain the public's trust.  Thus, they're really excited to have a good reason to pound on Spidey - especially MACH-1, who is secretly former Spider-Man punching bag the Beetle.  But while he and Songbird fight Spider-Man, his teammates Techno and Meteorite find the robot, and it's none too friendly.

Due to recent events in Thunderbolts, at this point that may be the present incarnation of this guy, mind-wiped and altered to resemble his past self...meaning this is the second time he's been punched that hard.

Sal's Sunday Punch #16

It's been a while, and I have left you without the gloriousness of a Sal Buscema punch. To make up for that I thought I'd post something a little bit special. There's been something of a Hulk/Spider-man bias so far with the Sal Buscema punches. The reason for that is simple -- Sal had a very long relationship with both Spidey and the Hulk, with long runs on Incredible Hulk, Spectacular Spider-Man and the Defenders.

So let's look at a different character with whom Sal had a long and eventful relationship. Rom: Spaceknight!

From Rom #21 by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema.

Oooo! ouch, Rom!

Sal's Sunday Punch #15

Like ASM #407, today's Sunday Punch comes from the Complete Ben Reilly Epic volume 2.  In Spectacular Spider-Man #230, from Todd DeZago, Sal Buscema, and Jimmy Palmiotti, rookie Spider-Man Ben Reilly's on the trail of David Kalen, an environmental consultant who ran afoul of a booby-trapped toxic waste dump.  Because this is comics, Kalen survived, of course, and become a horrific purple goo-man, capable of decaying anything he touches.  He's not too happy about this state of affairs, given that his brother died in that same explosion, so he's terrorizing the crooked CEO behind it.  Spider-Man is sympathetic, of course, but he's not about to let Kalen (who now goes by DK, because those are his initials and also it sounds like "decay") just kill this dude.  So DK punches him really hard.

I guess nothing can stop the Smooze.

Sal's Sunday Punch #14

 Man, it's just been way too long since we had a Sunday Punch from our old pal Sal. So how can we possibly make it up to you? Hmmmm... how about Namor punching a bunch of medieval knights?

Welcome to Defenders #4.

Avengers #90 And the Stream of Consciousness.

Spoiler: This cover references
the LAST PAGE of the comic!

Avengers #90 is a Silver Age Super Hero comic. In fact it's probably one of the most Silver Age Super Hero comics I've ever read. A lot of people try and describe what makes a Silver Age comic. They usually use words like "Goofy" or "Silly" or even "Unrealistic", and I think that's missing the point, really.

Silver Age Super Hero comics had a certain style of writing to them which for various reasons is very stream-of-consciousness. Reading a lot of old DC and Marvel comics is like reading an Axe Cop story. Things flow from one idea to the next without even a sign of how the ideas connected in the writer's mind. Things travel from point to point at breakneck speed, and if you don't keep up you'll be completely freaking lost.

This can be the most glorious thing ever, or it can be horrible.

So, before we talk more about the origins of this writing style, and the differences between Marvel and DC let's take a little looksee at Avengers #90.

Sal's Sunday Punch #13

Long time no see, pugilism devotees!  At long last, it's time for another Sal's Sunday Punch!  And since I'm busy reading Maximum Carnage to complete the long-awaited (long-awaited by me, and possibly my mother) third instalment of Who Watches the Nightwatch, here's a little chin-music from Spectacular Spider-Man #202, part nine (of fourteen) of that terrible, terrible crossover.  For a little context, Carnage broke out of prison and is terrorizing New York City with some c-list supervillains, and Spider-Man's teamed up with Venom and various other guys to fight him...and that's pretty much it. It's disappointing, because it features a ton of creators I normally like (J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Bagley, David Michelinie, and of course Sal), but just doesn't earn its hefty pagecount, although the Spectacular issues, by Sal and DeMatteis, come closest to being good.  But anyway, that's a topic for another day.

For a series that's 90% fight scenes, there is a disappointing paucity of Sal Buscema Punches, even though Sal drew three issues of it.  Maybe his heart wasn't quite in it - and who could blame him?

You and me both, Spidey.
(Spectacular Spider-Man #202, written by J.M. DeMatteis, art by Sal Buscema)

Sal's Sunday Punch #12

Boy it's been way too long since we watched someone punch someone as drawn by the glorious Sal Buscema. So you know what that means, don't you? That means... IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!

Yup that's an evil Atlantean warlord in there! Is it Attuma?
It's not Attuma!

Oh yeah, baby! The Thing punching Nazis, Atlanteans and Nazis with sharks on their chest! It don't get any better than that.

Sal's Sunday Punch #11

It's a special pugilistic Sal's Sunday Punch!  It's 1995, and Peter Parker is accused of murder most foul!  (Unsurprisingly, the murder was committed by one of Peter's clones.)  And even though he's Peter's friend, Bugle reporter Ben Urich has to look into Parker's past.  As written by Titanic Tom DeFalco, penciled by Our Pal Sal Buscema, and inked by...uh, Ginormous Jimmy Palmiotti in Spectacular Spider-Man #225, Ben interviews Peter's high school principal about a little boxing match between Parker and his nemesis Flash Thompson...

It's the eye of the spider, it's the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rival...

What a jab!  Now, this is a flashback to Amazing Spider-Man #8, written by Stan "The Man" Lee and drawn by Sturdy Steve Ditko.  Let's see how the original stacks up...

Prediction: pain.

Well, Sal's rendition was more dynamic, but on the other hand, I love that goofy Ditko expression on Flash's face.  Let's call this one a draw.