If I Had a Buck... Mirthful Marie Severin!

Doug: Well, if I don't have egg on my face. And lots of it! Our buddy Martinex1, famous inventor of the $1 Challenge (hey, maybe he's The Man!) alerted me to my senility -- like he had to go and do that... Anyway, today's post was actually emailed to us waaaaaaay back at the end of November. Who knows what I was doing then -- it obviously wasn't readying this post for publication! So today we rectify that, and I think you'll enjoy it. Public apologies to ol' Mike S. -- you'll find this worth the wait!

Guest Post – If I Had a Buck…MARIE SEVERIN 

 

Mike S.: Last fall in a couple of posts and comments, Marie Severin’s name was mentioned as an underappreciated artist, a great talent on the Incredible Hulk book, and as a go-to mainstay of the Marvel Bullpen.   

So here is a challenge of “If I Had a Buck”, highlighting the varied work of Ms. Severin’s career.  Not only was she a fantastic superhero penciler, but she also handled comedy, mimicry, satire, adventure and horror genres extremely well.   It is actually surprising how many different high level Marvel characters she touched.  The art always reflected the classic house style but often also contained interesting perspective and layouts.   She started as a colorist at EC and headed the color department at Marvel for a time, all the while pitching in on so many aspects of comic art and production along the way.   She was very prolific and I believe she should be listed along with many of the Silver Age greats.  

Take a look at the 14 covers below, all with Marie Severin art, and I think you will get a small taste of a very big talent.   Spend your dollar wisely; there are plenty of 15 cent masterpieces to choose from.  

Why Can't We Be Friends? Tales to Astonish 100

Tales to Astonish #100 (February 1968)
"Let There Be Battle!"
Stan Lee-Marie Severin/Dan Adkins

Doug: You don't mind if I submit Exhibit A in the conversation of "The Cover Was Way Better Than the Book", do you? Today's review has as its subject a comic I've long wanted to read -- the cover does it for me, right? About a year ago I picked up the second paperback volume of the Marvel Masterworks Incredible Hulk. I now have reprints of the original 6-issue series as well as the entire Tales to Astonish run. What I'd love to do is get my hands on affordable reprints of the Hulk ongoing that commenced during Marvel's expansion on the cusp of the Bronze Age. Anyway, I read this story around a week ago in preparation for today's presentation. I think we have a case here of the cover being so enticing that it really would be tough for the interiors to hold up. So why...?

Doug: To begin, my judgement of the book is framed not by any first impression. The title is typical late-Silver Age bombast from Stan Lee, and the splash page is interesting if overly crowded by text boxes (a whopping seven of them -- count 'em!). Hey, here's a great comic book question for you, that sort of ties into current events: You know how there's political talk that Americans (and citizens of other nations, too) have ceded some of their civil rights in the post-9/11 world, what with all of the surveillance cameras that permeate our public spaces? That cannot be a 21st century phenomenon, can it? Here we see Namor checking out the Hulk in the American southwest, and you know Dr. Doom, Reed Richards, the Avengers, and lord knows who else were always on some visi-screen creeping on a guy (good or bad). My impression of this mag was really carved out by the first half of the story. It's just such a fabricated story -- it certainly smacks of "Hey, it's our 100th ish, and what would you think of having the stars of both halves of the book tussle in a full-length brouhaha?!" Let me give those of you who've not read it a few specifics --

Doug: Namor decides to ally with the Hulk, basically because he'll be twice as menacing with the Green Goliath beside him. He swims off in search of ol' Greenskin, but encounters an experimental hydrofoil that fires on him. Game on. The ship's crew radios their "master", and we don't have to wait to see who it is -- it's none other than the Puppet Master. And what a rendition of Phillip Masters Mirthful Marie Severin gives us! Wow, man -- imagine if Mr. Clean, Lex Luthor, and Wilson Fisk somehow had a child (I know...blech!!). And to make it worse, the get-up he wears, with the big "P" on the front. Oh, my. So Masters is mad that Namor mixed it up with the sailors and ended up wrecking the hydrofoil he was in the process of stealing. Revenge, revenge, revenge -- because that's what super-villains do. Masters decides, since the Hulk is on the news, that he'll craft a puppet of that beast and use him to pay back the Sub-Mariner. So long story short, this is how our two combatants are brought together. The cover touts this yarn as an epic 22 pages (double-sized from the usual 10-pagers enjoyed by Hulk and/or Sub-Mariner fans); Namor and the Hulk fight for 16 of those pages! If I was 10, I'd be beside myself. But as a stodgy middle-aged connoisseur of slugfests, not so much. I should mention that as the Puppet Master gains control of the Hulk, Rick Jones gets mildly knocked around by the purple pantsed one. This of course continues the running subplot of "Thunderbolt" Ross and Major Glenn Talbot needing just one more reason to persecute the Jade Giant.

Doug: OK, so what was not to love? Severin's art was fine. She was never one of the top shelf talents in Marvel's bullpen, at least to my eyeballs. But she was solid and steady -- certainly capable and she delivered the goods here. The fight scenes have some power, emotion, and even a little tension. A criticism I'd make is that she draws the Hulk on the small side -- in fact I'd argue that she draws him smaller here than even the Thing should be drawn. If the accepted tale-of-the-tape for Monster-Banner was 7 feet tall and 1000 pounds, then this Hulk looks closer in size to his alter ego. She also does a nice job of conveying that Namor is generally out-classed by his adversary, and thus does a good job of changing locales of the battle, being sure to incorporate some water scenes. Her various facial expressions are nicely rendered.

Doug: So it's not Marie. It must be Stan's script then. And here is where I think my problem rests. We have a 22-page story with a 10-page plot. I really think that this possibly could have been designed for one half of the book and then Stan decided to fill it out to a cover-to-cover clash of titans. I'm not keen on the Puppet Master as the catalyst, either. C'mon -- a grade-Z baddie? Why bother? All Namor would have to do is look at the Hulk wrong and they'd start fighting. So that the Puppet Master was employed didn't get it with me. Stan's script overall just wasn't up to his Silver Surfer, or Fantastic Four or Amazing Spider-Man that he'd have been writing at the same time. Nope -- this effort seemed like it came from a guy who viewed the assignment as perhaps down his list of things to do. So while this wasn't the worst story I've ever read, I think I'm just so colored by my expectations of the potentiality.

Doug: But that's a sweet cover, isn't it?

This Cover Made Me Buy This Book runs head-on into That's Just Dumb

Doug: Occasionally a comic book cover would be so freaking awesome that 10-year old me could not avert mine eyes. Morbius going at the throat of Bashful Benjy? What the heck is not to love? That is, until adult you ponders the physical, nay the universal order, ramifications of the power of the Living Eraser. Then I'm left with "that's just dumb".

Doug: If you didn't know, the Living Swipe-meister has been around for awhile:

Memorable Covers

Karen: The cover of a comic book is the entry point, and frequently, the selling point of the book. A cover used to display an image that was representative of what you would find inside. Sure, it might have been a bit misleading at times, but it gave you a sense of what the book was about. But it also had a chance to dazzle you, to entice you with its art.

Karen: Every comics fan can rattle off the covers that have really stuck with them, for whatever reason. I'll get the ball rolling with a few. One of the earliest covers I saw that really blew my socks off was Tales to Astonish 93, by Marie Severin and Frank Giacoia.Take a look -I still think it's fantastic! The Surfer, hurtling towards the reader; the Hulk, grabbing him; and those flames all around them -if that isn't dramatic, I don't know what is! I first saw this in my uncle's collection and it's been ingrained in my noggin ever since. There's a real sense of power and majesty to it.

Karen: Another cover that's burned into my brain is the cover of New Teen Titans 13, with Robotman hanging apparently lifeless and damaged in an old ruin, with a warning sign hung around his neck, as Robin, Kid Flash, and Cyborg look on in shock and dismay. There's just something very visceral about that cover, seeing this old time hero hung up like that. Sure, he's a robot (cyborg? He has a human brain...) but even so, it's alarming and makes you wonder immediately what happened to him. It's a great way to hook someone into buying the book!

Karen: So what are some memorable covers for you?

 

Finding Silver in Bronze: Marvel Super-Heroes 43

Marvel Super-Heroes #43 (May 1974)
From Tales to Astonish #88 (February 1967)"A Stranger Strikes From Space!"
Stan Lee-Bill Everett
"Boomerang and the Brute!"
Stan Lee-Gil Kane

Doug: Hey, look -- two days in a row with the Hulk! I know we've been really weak on ol' Jade Jaws on the BAB blog, but as I think I've remarked in the past -- I just don't have much Hulk! If I had the dvd-rom, I'd be much more inclined to review more issues. But alas, until that comes to pass, you're going to have to make-do with guest appearances, etc. Today's fare comes from a Bronze Age lot I won on eBay over a year ago.

Doug: Our first story features Namor and is drawn by his creator, Bill Everett. The story has a real Golden Age feel to it -- in fact, on the splash page Stan quips: "Just for kicks we thought we'd try something different... an action-oriented Subbie tale with little or no psychological hang-ups or subliminal social significance! In other words, just a plain, fast-moving mystery yarn... like we used to do in the so-called "Golden Age of Comics"! It won't win any Nobel prizes, but we're hopin' that it grabs you!" Now, if that isn't a preemptive apology, I don't know what is. And to be honest, this story plays (and looks) like just that -- a story 20 years out of its time.Doug: Here's the gist of the story: Namor whups Attuma yet again, so the barbarian sulks away with his tale tucked between his legs. He goes to his lair, where his lackeys egg him on to come up with a better plan to lay waste to Atlantis. Well, if fortuity is what you're looking for, you can't get much better than some advanced aliens who just happen to be speeding by the Earth when an engine of destruction falls out of a hatch and plummets to the Earth, landing right in Attuma's territory. I did not make that up. So the robot makes its way toward Attuma and the boys, they can't beat it, but do manage to subdue it long enough for Attuma -- the dumbest barbarian under the sea -- to monkey around with the control panel conveniently located on the robot's chest and reprogram it to attack Atlantis. Uh huh. Nice one, Stan. I'm telling you, this one wouldn't even have been worth Stan doing all of his jumping around his office acting it out. It's so lame, a one-sentence plot summary to Everett would have sufficed.

Doug: Next we come to the Hulk's portion of the book. You know, when I got this out to read, I'm thinking Gene Colan on Subby and either Marie Severin or Herb Trimpe on the Hulk. Nope -- Everett and Gil Kane. Don't get me wrong -- I appreciate the work of each man, and respect their contributions to comic book history. But given my druthers...

Doug: As the Hulk story kicks off, he's been declared a hero after defeating the deadly Hulk-Killer in the previous issue. The entire cast is assembled around him -- "Thunderbolt" Ross, Betty Ross, Glenn Talbot, and Rick Jones. But lurking in the shadows beyond the throngs of media is a garishly-dressed super-baddie -- the Boomerang! OK, exclamation aside, he's not that scary or interesting. Truth be told, his power is no different than 100 other guys -- he throws projectiles that explode.

Doug: Boomerang launches one of those discs near the Hulk, startling him and setting him off; the environment had already been tense, and it didn't take much to get ol' Greenskin going. Of course Ross is all fired up and immediately flies off the handle. There's a very minor subplot involving none other than Tricky Dick himself -- Richard Nixon! Seems the President wants to pardon the Hulk if it's warranted, and cables Ross to inform him that if, under his authority, he feels that the Hulk should be acquitted of all charges the President will approve it. Fat chance!

Doug: The Hulk leaps away, but Boomerang follows. What basically happens to the end of the story is a slugfest, but with a twist. As they battle into the desert, Boomerang destroys a large dam, hoping to drown the Hulk. Only problem is, Boomerang had subjected Hulk to a strong tranquilizer gas. Hulk sent Boomie reeling up against a mountainside, breaking his leg and destroying his boot jet. As Boomie yelped for help, Hulk/Banner was able to leap to save him, but couldn't hold him long enough to pull him to safety. As Banner took control, Boomerang seemingly fell to his death in the churning waters below.

Doug: I am pretty positive that if I'd seen this on the spinner rack when I was 8 I would not have bought it. The art is really bad, and even though I'm much more of an art aficionado, these stories are so lame it's really inexcusable. By 1968, there were a few writers in the Bullpen to take some pressure off of Stan Lee. He should have used them.