Ain't Nothin' Like Halloween in Rutland, Vermont! Part 2012

Amazing Adventures #16 (January 1973)
"And the Juggernaut Will Get You... If You Don't Watch Out!"
Steve Englehart-Bob Brown/Marie Severin/Frank McLaughlin

Doug:  Hey, we're back to New England for our 4th annual visit to the Halloween parade that was featured in several Marvel and DC comics in the Bronze Age.  Today we're dropping in on the Bouncing Blue Beast, who Karen and I will tell you never looked better than when rendered by George Perez.  Unfortunately, Sir George isn't the penciller on this ish -- he doesn't do the honors for a couple of years and in the pages of the Avengers.  In Amazing Adventures you were dealt the usual hand of Tom Sutton; today we get a fill-in from Bob Brown.  Now I generally find Brown to be serviceable.  I have liked his work in Daredevil, the Avengers, and the Batman books.  But here...

Karen: I don't know what's going on here; I found Bob Brown acceptable if unexciting on Avengers but this is not his best work, particularly his version of Juggernaut. 

Doug:  If I was driving in some heavily wooded area and a huge blue ape-looking fellow lumbered out into the road, I'd assume I'd just had a sasquatch sighting.  Not so in this case, as it's our hairy hero Hank McCoy who jumps across the pavement in front of a Mustang being driven by none other than our scribe Steve Englehart!  Along for the ride are Len and Glynis Wein and Gerry Conway.  You might notice Marie Severin credited as one of this book's artists -- on the splash page credits, she is listed as the "caricaturist".  Our creative crew leaps from their ride to see the Beast leap off into the brush beside the road.  Marvel's stalwarts are on their way to Rutland, Vermont to meet Tom Fagan and participate in the All Hallow's Eve goings-on.  As for the Beast?  He bounds to a spot where his civvies have been stored -- complete with his mask (OK, don't get us going on that again...).  His lady friend Vera has been left by the side of the road, waiting for her man to return (Hank, there are bears in Vermont).  He does, and tells her that there's a car just up the road in which they can hitch a ride.

Karen: OK, what the heck are Hank and Vera doing just sitting by the side of the road? There's no real explanation as to how they got there. And don't get me started on the super-life-like masks again! I'm reading this out of the Marvel Masterworks edition and Steve Englehart mentions in the foreword that this story was part of a three-way cross-over between this title, Thor, and believe it or not, Justice League (unofficially of course)! I do have Thor #207, which is the second part of this tale. But I've never seen the JLA that finishes it all off.

Doug:  Hank and Vera run up to our friends from New York, and curiously Englehart tells them that the muffler fell off the car and the heater doesn't work -- yet he's wearing a tank top!  They allow Hank and Vera to get in, and away they go.  But what's that big red circle opening in the sky in their wake?  Why it's the Juggernaut's means of dropping back to terra firma.  We get a recap of Juggy's whereabouts -- seems he's been trapped in oblivion, cast there by Eternity after having been confined in Nightmare's realm (sheesh -- Juggy's been on the wrong side of some heavy hitters!).  Now the premise for the remainder of the plot is pretty thin:  the Juggernaut's holder will drop our big baddie on Rutland, VT -- a place where Dr. Strange was a year ago and where the Beast is this day.  The Juggernaut will be able to follow the Beast's emanations and basically do to our hero what he will -- hatred and revenge are front and center.  Nice guy.

Karen: OK, you brought it up in our little editorial post last weekend: Juggy is a big fat blob! I don't know what Brown was going for here, but I'm not feeling powerful and unstoppable here. More like, where's the couch and the Fritos. He looks like a friggin' blimp, for Pete's Sake. The drawing above is actually one of the better ones. 

Doug:  Once the car arrives in Rutland, everyone piles out.  Englehart tells Hank and Vera that they are heading to Fagan's, but that it's invite-only.  Hank says no sweat and asks Vera if she wants to check out the parade.  She replies that they have to get to Canada, and cryptically tells Hank that she needs the very best scientist experienced in mutations.  We then get one of the treats found in these sorts of stories, and that's seeing all of the Marvel and DC character costumes.  By the way, if you want a little retrospective on the real goings-on at Rutland back in the Bronze Age, we'd encourage you to purchase yourself a copy of the current Back Issue.  As the parade kicks off, the Bullpen meets back up with Hank and Vera and tells them that they can go to Fagan's party after all.  But as more smalltalk commences there's a commotion just over Hank's left shoulder -- it's the Juggernaut!

Karen: I'm glad you mentioned that Back Issue article. After reading the comics about the Rutland parades for so many years, it was great to see actual photographs from the parades and parties over the years.

Doug:  The Juggernaut destroys a float while he moves toward Hank -- and the Beast's emanations.  Again, hate and revenge are the agenda of Juggernaut's day, but as he gets close the red circle in the sky opens again and abruptly removes him from the scene.  Somehow in the melee, though, Glynis Wein went missing.  As the Marvel boys fan out to search for her, Hank orders Vera to go check into the motel.  This frees him to go full-on Beast mode and search for the Juggernaut.  He doesn't have to search long, as that mysterious red circle drops Juggy right in front of ol' Hank.  Hank tries to attack by chucking a bunch of rocks, but you know how effective that is.  What follows is a 7-page slugfest where lots of trees, a few boulders, and -almost- a dam are shredded.  But Hank fortuitously falls off the dam and gets himself a breather.

Karen: Yeah, Hank knows he can't beat the Juggernaut, so he leads him away from the town, and tries to figure out what to do. That makes sense.

Doug:   Then Hank does something unexplainable.  He gets back into his civvies and heads up to Tom Fagan's party -- I don't know, drawing the Juggernaut right into the midst of a bunch of innocent bystanders??  We see that Roy and Jeannie Thomas have joined the crowd, but before Hank can find out anything about Glynis the Juggernaut bursts through the wall.  Hank runs, knowing that somehow Juggy can sense his whereabouts.  Heading up the staircase and into the attic, Hank decides to cower on the floor.  But as the Juggernaut draws closer, Hank whirls, whipping his mask off (ah, the mask again) -- and scares the bejeezus out of the Juggernaut!  This creates an opportunity for Hank to launch himself at his foe and rip the Juggernaut's helmet off.  And you know what that means -- a quick and definite decline in mystical power.

Karen: Yeah, it made absolutely no sense that Hank lead Juggernaut back to a house full of people! That was just nuts. Almost as if there had been a miscommunication between writer and artist.Also, perhaps I misunderstood the reason Juggernaut needed the helmet. I thought it protected him from a mental attack by Professor X. I didn't think he lost his might when it was removed.

Doug:  Now it's the Juggernaut who makes tracks.  He runs right out of the house and hops into Englehart's Mustang!  Needless to say it gets destroyed and Hank pours on the attack.  The Juggernaut's no match and succumbs quickly, aging rapidly and getting visibly smaller and weaker.  As the Beast finally lays a hand on him the red circle in the sky appears and whisks the Juggernaut away -- to die, he says!  Back with the Bullpen, Glynis has been discovered and when asked where she was tells that she was in a place she doesn't remember, but had a pretty good time.  Huh?  What are we to make of that?  Anyway, the Beast saunters away, to the forest where he stands in front of a full moon -- until the dawn of the next day.  Vera?

Karen: Obviously the Juggernaut recovered. I think maybe Glynis might have gone over to the DC universe in that JLA issue, but I'm not 100% sure about it. Anybody know for sure? I thought this was a pretty weak story, that was not helped at all by the art.

Doug:  "Mixed bag" would be putting it mildly on this one.  The art ended up being serviceable on all characters except the Juggernaut who just looked fat.  I didn't care for the coloring in the Masterworks, as the Beast was way too dark a shade of blue.  But Bob Brown brought to the table what I'd generally expect.  As to Englehart's script... the inclusion of himself and the Bullpen, while not unusual in these stories, seemed a distraction and a useless plot vehicle.  And Glynis Wein's disappearance?  Your guess remains as good as mine.

St. Patrick's Day: Leprechauns Revisited!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of St. Patty's Day, we are re-running the only Leprechaun story in the history of BAB reviews. Enjoy! Or... re-enjoy! Doug and Karen

This post originally ran September 27 2010
X-Men #103 (February 1977)
"The Fall of the Tower"
Chris Claremont-Dave Cockrum/Sam Grainger


Karen: We're back with the next part of our X-Men review. Last issue, Juggernaut and Black Tom had rather handily defeated the all new, all different X-Men (minus Cyclops). All of the team except Nightcrawler were captured. Kurt was whisked away by- wait for it - leprechauns. I don't know why, but I still find myself irritated by the leprechauns. They just seem sort of unnecessary and kitchen sink-like.

Doug: Yeah, I know we commented on the little fellows last issue. And I'm like you -- trolls and elves in the pages of The Mighty Thor, all sorts of Inhumans, aliens, etc. But my first impression when I read last issue was "What the...??"

Karen: Kurt meets Eamon O'Donnell, the caretaker of the castle. He explains that Juggernaut and Black Tom are holding the rest of the little people captive, and he's been unable to act against them. In the meantime, Black Tom has taken the other X-Men to the laboratory (do all castles have one?) and is about to torture them.

Doug: Laboratories, yes -- but I did not, however, notice any spying-eyes portraits like ol' Doc Doom has!

Karen: Nightcrawler gets a chance to shine here, as he uses his "image inducer" to appear as Xavier and strike out at the villains. I think it's pretty well known that Nightcrawler was Cockrum's favorite X-Man -and later artist Byrne's least-liked character. I often wonder how popular Nightcrawler might have become if Cockrum had stayed on the title, and what would have become of Wolverine?

Doug: It's a great "what if?", isn't it? The Cockrum issues really showcased Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus. Wolverine was a player, but certainly took a backseat to the other three new heroes. I always thought the image inducer was a great tool for Kurt, and really helped to humanize him lookswise. The situation was somewhat akin to what Ben Grimm was experiencing at about the same time with his exo-skeleton. He was able to be human, yet do his thing when necessary. I wish, in both cases, those particular plotlines had been continued longer.

Karen: Kurt has a good go but eventually the two bad guys figure out what's going on. However, the fracas does create a hole in the castle walls, which brings Storm out of her claustrophobic funk. She summons a tremendous hurricane and breaks free. This also frees up Colossus and Wolverine, who are still bickering with each other. However, Black Tom and Juggy escape to one of the castle ramparts and take Banshee with them.

Doug: Storm's powers and power levels were really being explored in these early issues, weren't they? Had Phoenix not come along, it's interesting to think about just how much more status she'd have been given.

Karen: I think Storm was probably the most powerful heroine at Marvel at that time. Claremont certainly made it clear that she was a force to be reckoned with! We get a couple of nice pages of the team trying to get to the villains -I especially liked when Colossus threw Wolverine up to the top of the tower! When he lands, he runs into one of the leprechauns. There's an interesting exchange here, where the leprechaun tells Wolverine he "doesn't believe in talking Wolverines" - while it could be a joke, I wonder if Claremont and Cockrum were still thinking that our lovable psycho was actually an evolved, mutated wolverine? I've read in several different interviews that this was one of the original concepts for Wolverine's origin.

Doug: Didn't you love the exchange, after Storm had dumped Wolverine and Peter on their heads, when Wolverine referred to her as a broad and Colossus threatened him to never use that term again... and then called Wolverine "shorty"?? I also thought it was a nice touch, and one Claremont and Byrne would touch on later, to show Storm's lockpicking abilities. A couple of questions, and I'm asking simply because I don't have my X-Mens in front of me: Was that the first instance of a "fastball special" (the first time we ran this post, commenter Robert McKinney reported: There was an earlier Fastball Special in # 100.), and also -- was it the first time we learned that Wolverine's real name was Logan? Oh, and one more thing about Wolverine's encounter with ol' Paddy the leprechaun -- just an observation about the "mutated wolverine" idea: Byrne tended to draw Logan with much hairier arms than Cockrum ever did.

Karen: That might have been the first fastball special, although it was a vertical one! I'm pretty sure it was the first time the name "Logan" was used with Wolverine. I loved how Claremont just kept feeding the readers little bits of info, issue after issue. This is how you write a team book! Back to the story -Banshee is freed, Nightcrawler makes it to the top of the castle, and we have a splendid free for all going. But when Banshee knocks Tom over the castle wall and into the sea far below, Juggernaut freaks out and jumps over the castle wall to try to save his friend. As the raging sea swallows them both, it appears that things will get back to normal -whatever that is for the X-Men! However, the last panel shows that all of these events are being watched by a mystery figure, one who promises to bring the X-Men's "oldest, deadliest foe" back into the picture. Can you say...Magneto?!

X-Men 103: It Was A Dark and Stormy Night....

X-Men #103 (February 1977)
"The Fall of the Tower"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Dave Cockrum
Inker: Sam Grainger


Karen: We're back with the next part of our X-Men review. Last issue, Juggernaut and Black Tom had rather handily defeated the all new, all different X-Men (minus Cyclops). All of the team except Nightcrawler were captured. Kurt was whisked away by- wait for it - leprechauns. I don't know why, but I still find myself irritated by the leprechauns. They just seem sort of unnecessary and kitchen sink-like.
Doug: Yeah, I know we commented on the little fellows last issue. And I'm like you -- trolls and elves in the pages of The Mighty Thor, all sorts of Inhumans, aliens, etc. But my first impression when I read last issue was "What the...??"

Karen: Kurt meets Eamon O'Donnell, the caretaker of the castle. He explains that Juggernaut and Black Tom are holding the rest of the little people captive, and he's been unable to act against them. In the meantime, Black Tom has taken the other X-Men to the laboratory (do all castles have one?) and is about to torture them.

Doug: Laboratories, yes -- but I did not, however, notice any spying-eyes portraits like ol' Doc Doom has!

Karen: Nightcrawler gets a chance to shine here, as he uses his "image inducer" to appear as Xavier and strike out at the villains. I think it's pretty well known that Nightcrawler was Cockrum's favorite X-Man -and later artist Byrne's least-liked character. I often wonder how popular Nightcrawler might have become if Cockrum had stayed on the title, and what would have become of Wolverine?

Doug: It's a great "what if?", isn't it? The Cockrum issues really showcased Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus. Wolverine was a player, but certainly took a backseat to the other three new heroes. I always thought the image inducer was a great tool for Kurt, and really helped to humanize him lookswise. The situation was somewhat akin to what Ben Grimm was experiencing at about the same time with his exo-skeleton. He was able to be human, yet do his thing when necessary. I wish, in both cases, those particular plotlines had been continued longer.

Karen: Kurt has a good go but eventually the two bad guys figure out what's going on. However, the fracas does create a hole in the castle walls, which brings Storm out of her claustrophobic funk. She summons a tremendous hurricane and breaks free. This also frees up Colossus and Wolverine, who are still bickering with each other. However, Black Tom and Juggy escape to one of the castle ramparts and take Banshee with them.

Doug: Storm's powers and power levels were really being explored in these early issues, weren't they? Had Phoenix not come along, it's interesting to think about just how much more status she'd have been given.

Karen: I think Storm was probably the most powerful heroine at Marvel at that time. Claremont certainly made it clear that she was a force to be reckoned with! We get a couple of nice pages of the team trying to get to the villains -I especially liked when Colossus threw Wolverine up to the top of the tower! When he lands, he runs into one of the leprechauns. There's an interesting exchange here, where the leprechaun tells Wolverine he "doesn't believe in talking Wolverines" - while it could be a joke, I wonder if Claremont and Cockrum were still thinking that our lovable psycho was actually an evolved, mutated wolverine? I've read in several different interviews that this was one of the original concepts for Wolverine's origin.

Doug: Didn't you love the exchange, after Storm had dumped Wolverine and Peter on their heads, when Wolverine referred to her as a broad and Colossus threatened him to never use that term again... and then called Wolverine "shorty"?? I also thought it was a nice touch, and one Claremont and Byrne would touch on later, to show Storm's lockpicking abilities. A couple of questions, and I'm asking simply because I don't have my X-Mens in front of me: Was that the first instance of a "fastball special", and also -- was it the first time we learned that Wolverine's real name was Logan? Oh, and one more thing about Wolverine's encounter with ol' Paddy the leprechaun -- just an observation about the "mutated wolverine" idea: Byrne tended to draw Logan with much hairier arms than Cockrum ever did.

Karen: That might have been the first fastball special, although it was a vertical one! I'm pretty sure it was the first time the name "Logan" was used with Wolverine. I loved how Claremont just kept feeding the readers little bits of info, issue after issue. This is how you write a team book! Back to the story -Banshee is freed, Nightcrawler makes it to the top of the castle, and we have a splendid free for all going. But when Banshee knocks Tom over the castle wall and into the sea far below, Juggernaut freaks out and jumps over the castle wall to try to save his friend. As the raging sea swallows them both, it appears that things will get back to normal -whatever that is for the X-Men! However, the last panel shows that all of these events are being watched by a mystery figure, one who promises to bring the X-Men's "oldest, deadliest foe" back into the picture. Can you say...Magneto?!

X-Men 102: Juggernaut - n. A force considered as unstoppable.

X-Men #102 (December 1976)
"Who Will Stop the Juggernaut?"
Chris Claremont-Dave Cockrum/Sam Grainger

Doug: If you are a full-peruser of our site, you have probably seen our teaser on the left side, boldly announcing where we're going to head topic-wise. Well, if that's you, then you've seen our interest in taking a look at the All-New, All-Different X-Men versus none other than Magneto! And we'll get to that. But, we thought it might be fun to back up just a bit and continue where we left off, back when we were evaluating the Sentinels/Phoenix storyline.

Doug: The only problem with that last issue (#101) was that it was a split story and we only looked at the first half. The latter half goes like this: After Jean had stabilized in the hospital, Professor X decided that the rest of the team needed some time away to recover. In the days since the new team had formed, they'd gone from one death-defying adventure into another. This would be some time to bond as a team and to simply relax. So Banshee offered his ancestral home, Cassidy Keep, in Ireland as their place of refuge; Scott chose to stay behind with Jean. Once there, the time was indeed refreshing and author Chris Claremont used the absence of Cyclops as an opportunity for more character development. All did not end well in that story, though, as the team was ambushed by Banshee's cousin Black Tom Cassidy and cohort, the Juggernaut! As that book ended, the cards were definitely stacked against our band of merry mutants, as the opponents were formidable and Storm had collapsed to the floor in an acute attack of claustrophobia!


Doug: So we pick up right where we left off, with the Juggernaut launching a violent attack against the team. Banshee moves against his cousin, leaving Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus alone. But mysteriously, Peter turns from the fight to attempt to help Storm. Wolverine chastises him (insults him, actually), and in the midst of this brawl which could certainly kill them all, they begin to argue! This was just great -- we all know Marvel was built on dysfunctional relationships and this is a great legacy from Stan and Jack.

Karen: We're thrown right into the action here. One thing I always wondered about: Black Tom says he's immune to Banshee's sonic powers. Why? Because they're related? How does that work? That just never made sense to me. But this opening sequence is a lot of fun, especially when Wolverine flings Colossus into the Juggernaut! This really was a throw-back fight, with Wolvie and Colossus yelling at each while Juggernaut takes advantage of the situation to pound on both of them! Interestingly, our little buddy's adamantium claws seem to have no effect on Juggernaut -I doubt this would be the case today!

Karen: Choosing a wiser course, Nightcrawler tries to get Storm into the fight, but it appears hopeless. Kurt knows that without Storm they haven't the power to face Juggernaut. I really liked Nightcrawler as a kid, and one of the reasons why (besides his appearance) was that Claremont always portrayed him as a very thoughtful character.
Doug: As the battle rages, Storm gets introspective, hating her paralysis. Memories begin to flood back to her and we see her origin for the first time. I have to say, this is one of the highlights of the issue. Claremont weaves a very believable tale that is anchored in historical events. Now, what might be problematic for some is the old Marvel time/Real time paradox. Claremont chooses 1951 as Ororo's birth year -- in 1976 that would have made her 25, and it had been understood from the beginning that this team was older than the original X-Men. But it's just a great backstory that ends with Xavier's recruiting trip to Africa (which we were privy to in Giant-Size X-Men #1).
 
Karen: Storm's origin story is just terrific. I understand from reading others' commentary that many elements of her past were apparently borrowed from other sources, but as a kid, I knew none of this. It was just an amazing journey, from the streets of New York -yes, Ororo is an American! - to Egypt and on into Africa. Cockrum draws a beautiful picture of the young Ororo -in fact, the entire sequence is wonderfully drawn. Of course, as time has gone on, I'm sure any thought of Storm being born in 1951, and the events which surrounded her becoming an orphan, have been swept under the rug!

Doug: Two other interesting bits of foreshadowing take place. In the first, after Xavier has ordered Cyke to get over to Ireland and help the team (which Scott flat-out refused, drawing a quite-inflamed retort from the professor), he sees a vision in the mirror -- a very alien vision. The second tidbit comes in the form of Nightcrawler, knocked out by the Juggernaut and landing in the shadows. For the first time we see that he becomes invisible when in the dark. His limp body is then dragged through a trap in the wall by... leprechauns?

Karen: Cyclops standing up to Professor X was unexpected but worked perfectly, as we knew (after all the events of the preceding issues) that Scott had finally realized that Jean was more important to him than anything else. Professor X has always been a bit of an enigma: at times kindly, at time imperious. But his mysterious visions were intriguing and created a storyline for him, which was a nice change.

Karen: Then we come to the leprechauns...Okay, I don't know why I can believe in mutants, aliens, and mystic forces, but start to feel annoyed when leprechauns are brought into the picture! But I did think this was one step too far.
Doug: That's funny that you brought up the unbelievability of the leprechauns because I was thinking the exact same thing! Yep, my suspension of disbelief only goes so far...

Doug: Near the end of the story, there's a great half-splash of Colossus and the Juggernaut in final combat. Alas, it's the Juggernaut who comes out on top, and coupled with Black Tom's besting of Banshee, the stage is set for a not-so-good opening to issue #103!

Karen: Colossus comes back and gives Juggernaut his best shot, but it's not enough. Seeing Peter go down, Storm starts to come out of her stupor, but it's too little, too late. Juggernaut takes her down and triumphantly hoists Storm and Colossus over his head while Black Tom proclaims that Xavier will be next!