Take A Seat

 

As I was compiling subject matter for this post, the first thing that came to mind was this guy:

Who looks like he's traveling through space seated on some kind of contraption--at least that's what I'd assumed, having never read the story. Except that this character, Orion, isn't seated on anything, but simply hunched over, gripping what he calls his "power rods." Yet there is a seated character among those Orion mingles with in New Genesis--Metron, who appears to be persona non grata among the others and flits about time-space in his "Mobius Chair" advancing his own agenda.

And thus, the New Gods have unknowingly summoned us to hear another

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Marvel Trivia Question

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What Marvel characters look to chairs for their status, and/or their power?

(Or, in Ben Grimm's case, their life??)

The Death Chair of M.O.D.O.K.!

 

The 1977 Iron Man Annual, written by Bill Mantlo with art by George Tuska and Don Perlin, could be viewed for all intents and purposes as a Hail Mary pass to benefit the mid-'70s super-team the Champions, who co-star with the title character in a battle which would involve the forces of Advanced Idea Mechanics (aka A.I.M.) and M.O.D.O.K., their creation which has once again imposed his will on the organization. At this point in time, the Champions book was two issues away from cancellation, which, taking into account its bi-monthly publication status, gave the book four months to reflect any sales bump which it might have received as a result of the group's appearance in the annual. We know in hindsight that such a sales increase either didn't occur or was negligible--yet for Iron Man, the pairing of himself and the Champions made for a decent story, while also serving as a last hurrah for a team which never quite resonated with readers.

Most of that likely has to do with Mantlo playing to one of Iron Man's strengths which is separate from his armor--specifically, his status as a member of the old guard who at times throws his weight around with those he considers less seasoned than himself, who then tend to fall in line and defer to his better judgment. We get a look at such character dynamics up front in this issue when Iron Man realizes he could use backup in this affair--particularly when he investigates a deserted AIM base in Nevada and discovers evidence of MODOK being close to achieving a threat level that could endanger the world.

Feast Your Eyes Again on... The Blood Brothers!

 

It's a disturbing trend that we've seen developing in regard to the bruising, bloody threat of the Blood Brothers, who first appeared in 1973 as enforcers of the will of Thanos of Titan--but even more disturbing concerning the invincible Iron Man, who in consecutive battles has needed to be paired up with additional muscle from a second party in order to hold his own against these brutes. First, in responding to a telepathic distress call, he joined forces with Drax the Destroyer against their mutual foes; and in a second encounter with the pair later that year, he and the Thing successfully derailed their threat, after which a wrathful Thanos used the Cosmic Cube to (presumably) eliminate his thralls.

But in mid-1976, the Blood Brothers resurface, having escaped whatever fate Thanos had consigned them to when he met defeat himself at the hand of Captain Marvel--only to now find themselves acting in accordance with the commands of the Controller, who needs their assistance in freeing his trapped form from tons of rubble he found himself beneath at the site of his own clash with Mar-vell. Fortunately for the Blood Brothers, securing transportation isn't much of a problem, after stopping for a quick bite.

k

And so these two head for New York, and a third encounter with Iron Man (who, coincidentally, goes way back with the Controller), crashing their way through police blockades en route. The prospect of Iron Man finally heading into a battle with the Blood Brothers on his own could certainly be a clash that we readers would be down with--after all, writer Archie Goodwin wouldn't have him being forced to enlist the help of another hero, right? Right?

WRONG!

The Deadly Hunger of... The Blood Brothers!

 

Two Hulk-sized, super-strong alien bruisers whose name is partially derived from the fact that they feast on blood--wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Jim Starlin pieced together that character concept, which saw print in 1973 in the form of the Blood Brothers, enforcers of the will of Thanos during the time the villain held Drax the Destroyer prisoner in his base located in the Arizona desert. It was Drax who would reach out to Iron Man and provide him with knowledge of the rise of Thanos of Titan--as well as a hurried warning about the Blood Brothers, who were sent to retrieve the golden Avenger when Drax's telepathic contact had been detected, and return with him to Thanos's base. As we'll see, despite his confidence, Iron Man's resistance to the unexpected might of the Blood Brothers comes to naught (which is putting it mildly)--but at his destination, he successfully breaks away in order to conduct his search for Drax.

It's at the point when Iron Man attempts to free Drax that we're present for Starlin's introduction of... well, let's just say a character whose name came to be known in years to come by thousands of readers and moviegoers alike and who helped to make Marvel Studios and the folks at Disney a lot of money. Kudos to you, Mr. Starlin.

Battleground: Detroit!

 

We've come to the conclusion of a five-part story arc in the pages of Invincible Iron Man that has a lot riding on the outcome--specifically, the fate of two worlds, threatened by the actions of a rogue Rigellian commander who will stop at nothing to gain power for himself and the empire of his own he craves. To that end, he has set his sights on Wundagore II, a planet which the New Men of the High Evolutionary have once again claimed as their own, but which the Colonizers under the command of the self-serving Arcturus have set their sights on.

With the two sides now in a state of war, the conflict has drawn in both Iron Man and his young apprentice, the Jack of Hearts, who have been separated in the exchange of hostilities: Iron Man having since joined the forces of the New Men, while Jack, on board the Rigellian flagship, has only recently learned the extent of Arcturus's perfidy regarding his betrayal of the Rigellian Grand Commissioner and the fact that he intentionally deceived those under his command. And now, Arcturus has threatened to attack Earth unless Jack supports him; but instead, Jack threatens to expose Arcturus's duplicity to his crew. It's at that point that the command ship is rocked by the combined attack of Iron Man and the New Men, and the battle to decide Wundagore's fate erupts.

Yet as this issue's cover reveals, Iron Man will have a greater part to play--against a pulverizing brute that once served as the enforcer of the will of Galactus!

War For A World!

 

Given their extremely long life span, it was inevitable that the population of the planet Rigel would come to realize that at some point their numbers would begin to threaten their existence due to the finite space available on their world. And so they turned to colonization of other worlds in order to survive--and in time, that pursuit became their preoccupation, eventually leading them to Earth where one of their operatives, Tana Nile, laid claim to it. It was the intervention of Thor which foiled that plan, and, in so doing, led to the confrontation of the menace of Ego in the bio-verse of the Black Galaxy which the Rigellians feared would expand to engulf their own planet.

It was the encounter with Ego which inadvertently led to the Rigellians' attempt to use that being's unique properties to evolve heretofore unsuitable worlds into habitable planets that would ensure enough space for their ever-growing race in perpetuity. Yet that effort ended in disaster--and, months later, the Rigellians' greatest fears were realized when their home world was destroyed by the approach of the Black Stars (a coincidental play on words in light of their past dealings with the Black Galaxy), leading the Rigellians to undertake the most massive evacuation in their history in spacecraft that collectively housed nine billion of their people in close quarters. For a pioneering race, such a fate no doubt amounted to living their worst nightmare.

Which brings us to a six-issue arc of Invincible Iron Man from 1978, written by Bill Mantlo and featuring art by Carmine Infantino, Keith Pollard, Fred Kida, and Alfredo Alcala, which begins with the discovery of the Growing Man on Earth:

And since the Growing Man's former master, Kang, was believed to be deceased at the time, the search for its point of origin leads to the moon (thanks to the calculations of the Jack of Hearts, whom Iron Man has agreed to take on as an apprentice), where Soviet super-agents had previously arrived to investigate signals being emitted from a mysterious egg-shaped object now present on the surface.

When the same piercing sound that downed both their craft reoccurs, Iron Man and the Jack of Hearts race toward and penetrate the object, which transports them into deep space and a confrontation with Rigellian colonizers of unknown intent who react preemptively.

Uh oh--it seems Mr. Pollard has joined the ranks of Messrs. Buckler, Frenz, et al.!

Anyway, since Thor had no difficulty escaping from his own Colonizer-induced proton particle casing...

...Iron Man proves he's no slouch at the task, either, as we arrive along with himself and his card-motif companion at this story's third installment--hopefully to learn just what the Rigellians are up to!

These Odds and Ends Approved by Princess Zanda

 

Recently, I had occasion to go through a lot of graphics files that have been collecting dust over the years--looking them over after so long, clearing out the chaff, that sort of thing. Many of them consisted of content for old blog posts long since completed; some were curated as fodder for framework ideas for either home or office; and there were a few curiosities in the mix that evoked my earliest days of collecting comics memorabilia, a sort of digital "scrapbook" I hadn't even realized I was contributing to. By contrast, however, there were also a few such images that had me wondering just what I'd intended for them, but for whatever reason decided not to pursue or preferred to put on the back burner indefinitely.

Yet there were enough of these to share with Peerless Power readers and perhaps convey the same mixture of nostalgia and curiosity that I still have toward them--a sort of "grab bag" of comics tidbits that will hopefully evoke some thoughts on your part, as well.

We can start off with a montage of Alex Ross renderings that never made it to a wall hanging, but were most suitable for throwing together a desktop wallpaper montage:

(And if you're wondering why there's a Batman/Green Hornet graphic among the Marvel scenes, the only explanation I have is that it was too awesome not to have on my desktop! :) )

A Smattering Of Smashers

 

There's no doubt that comics have had no shortage of recycled character names over the years, the circumstances varying depending on whether it was thought there would be potential sales reader interest in introducing another character who had taken on the name of a previous hero or villain. The short list of examples would include Captain Marvel... Thor... Spider-Man... Dr. Strange... Captain America... and on the villain side, so far we've taken a look at some Slashers and a few Crushers.

And since villains are known for choosing names for themselves that imply the threat they pose, what's another name that tends to be at the top of the list for bruisers who want their reputation to precede them?

THAT'S RIGHT, they're

Something Daredevil thought he was pretty good at, until he ran into a brawler who laid claim to the actual name.

The Many Operatives of Mister Kline!

 

From late 1971 to early 1972, writer Gerry Conway introduced the nefarious Mister Kline, a character who for reasons unknown sought to upend the lives of Matt Murdock, Tony Stark, and Franklin Nelson, and whose hidden agenda would by extension draw in Daredevil and Iron Man. It's hard to say whether Kline's primary focus on Murdock and Stark had anything to do with Marvel's soon-to-be-launched large format books that would offer an increase in story length for selected titles at a cost of 25¢, given that both Invincible Iron Man and Daredevil were reportedly to be merged into a single book; otherwise, Murdock and Stark would seem to be worlds apart as far as gaining the interest of a figure in shadows who would go to any lengths to cause them trouble, to say nothing of the time and effort taken to conscript others to do that figure's dirty work.

And speaking of which, since Kline himself is due for a PPC post of his own, let's spend our time here running down the list of those whom he enlisted to further his plans--some willingly, some not so much, but all in one way or another complicating the lives of our heroes.

Which calls for a not too complicated

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Marvel Trivia Question

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Which characters were compelled to serve the enigma named... Mister Kline?

The Annuals of '83!

 

What do these seven Marvel Annuals appear to have in common?

For one thing, they were all published in 1983; but more to the point, it looks like they're all depending on their lead character(s) to sell the book on the stand, in a solitary pose with nothing and no one else pictured that might help in that regard--a curious decision on (presumably) Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter's part that banks on the titles' readers and nonreaders alike to make a purchase without having an idea of what the story is about or what antagonists are involved. We do see, however, that three of the annuals make exceptions in that regard, if minimally:

• The background of the Captain America annual, for instance, cube-shaped to accompany the caption that tells us of the Cosmic Cube's involvement (as well as its UPC symbol appropriated to indicate who else is in the issue);
  
• Wording on the Iron Man annual indicating that the Eternals are featured, while we can make out in the collection of facial outlines that their foes, the Deviants, are also involved;
  
• Thor's caption is vague but gives off a Tales Of Asgard vibe; and
  
• The Marvel Team-Up issue gets around the problem by virtue of the fact that it is a team-up book and can feature any and all characters who are joining forces with Spider-Man.

It's the only year that I recall seeing this sort of thing done across the board in this way, as opposed to isolated instances (e.g., the '81 Cap and the '94 Iron Man annuals). Interestingly, there were some notable absences of annuals that year, including The Avengers and X-Men, along with Daredevil (no surprise there, having lapsed from 1977-88) as well as Marvel Two-In-One, which gets a pass since the series came to an end in June of that year.*

*I've been corrected on the Avengers and X-Men annuals--see the info from alert reader David P. in the comments section!

And so in terms of what's left, how did these particular annuals do with you at the store? Were you tempted to browse the issue based on its star power, or even pay your buck and take it home on faith? Or did you decide it was better to just wait a few decades and let the PPC size them up for you? No problem, friend, we've got your back.

Redemption, Interrupted

 

Having covered the 1988 Armor Wars storyline in detail, in addition to its epilogue, we turn our attention now to a scenario where Tony Stark, who instigated the campaign whereby he sought out and neutralized all of his stolen armor technology whether in use by friend or foe, instead sees his mission aborted prematurely and his life brought to ruin by the tenacious enemy who was responsible for putting this drama in motion. And given that the narrator of this new chain of events is the Watcher, you just know we're about to see how bad bad can get for the man whose famous suit of armor proved to be his downfall.

Yet the "Armor Wars" as we knew them is a misnomer in the sense that here, those battles are curtailed for Stark shortly after he sets out on his mission--though we'll see the phrase take on new meaning when this story reaches its turning point.

The Dragon Seed Saga!

 

In 1991, John Byrne, the writer for the Invincible Iron Man title, began a one-year story arc which focused on essentially three things: the deteriorating condition of Tony Stark, his entire nervous system compromised by an aggrieved engineer using the resources of a ruthless corporation... the ascendance of one of Iron Man's oldest and deadliest foes, the Mandarin... and establishing the origin of a Marvel character which dated back thirty years. And while all of these things cross paths either indirectly or otherwise, we begin with the latter two characters who meet due to the involvement of one other: Chen Hsu, by all appearances an aged wizard who helps the Mandarin to recover his memories and subsequently brings him to the Valley of the Sleeping Dragon in southeastern China, in order to awaken a dreaded creature the PPC has only recently profiled.

Whatever passed between the Mandarin and Fin Fang Foom from that point was presumably not for our eyes and ears, but it was apparently convincing enough to rouse the dragon from his chamber and meet in force an army of 3,000 soldiers sent in response to the Mandarin's incursion into the dragon's resting place--even as the Mandarin and Chen Hsu, calmly observing the death and devastation which followed, come to an understanding between them.

And "romp" our dragon most definitely will during this saga.

The Fiery, Blustering History of Fin Fang Foom!

 

One has only to look at Marvel's "spec sheet" for our featured character today to get an idea of the long history and hidden appeal of Fin Fang Foom, a sentient dragon which dates back to 1961 (specifically, one month before the launch of Fantastic Four #1) and who went on to become a powerful threat as well as displaying an unexpected talent for comic relief. You never knew which you were going to get in picking up a Fin Fang Foom story, but you could count yourself lucky if you ended up with both.

Fin fittingly found his first footing (if writer Stan Lee can find a use for alliteration, it's fair game for all of us) in Strange Tales, one of Marvel's late-'50s/early-'60s mags tasked with churning out monster/mystery stories with covers designed to sell fear and danger to the comics browser--yet you can't help but wonder if Fin creators Lee and Jack Kirby were even then seeing Fin's potential for more, given the story's absurd "catch me if you can" theme which had this dragon lumbering after a taunting human he aimed to slay, a ludicrous premise when we're talking about a monster that can not only cover more ground with a single step than its quarry can with fifty but whose wings also give him the power of flight.

The issue's colorist (reportedly Stan Goldberg) also appears to be in on the joke, seemingly undecided on what Fin's coloring should be and giving the reader both at no additional cost:

Fin's predecessor, Grogg, had a similar affliction regarding his covers:

As to Fin's story, it focuses on a young man, Chan Liuchow, whose home on the island of Formosa is facing imminent invasion by the red Chinese and who declines to follow his brother's example of suiting up for military service in favor of investigating and making use of an old legend that could drive back the enemy--providing he survives the encounter.

Intimate Enemies

 

As an epilogue to the 1988 Armor Wars storyline in Invincible Iron Man, the sole purpose of "Intimate Enemies" by David Michelinie, Barry Windsor-Smith and Bob Layton appears to be to provide closure to an ugly chapter in the life of Tony Stark, after undertaking a mission that ran roughshod over ethics and the rule of law in favor of doing what he believed to be right. A fair recap of the situation is presented when Stark is called on by his teammates in the West Coast Avengers to explain his recent actions that have seen him waging a series of unprovoked attacks--including a refusal of a call to stand down, made by one of his oldest comrades.

The "wars" end with Iron Man being hunted down by a government-sponsored bruiser named Firepower, resulting in a deception which made it appear that the rogue Iron Man had been eliminated, along with his threat--a very tidy arrangement for Stark, since he's held blameless for his former bodyguard's illegal actions and is free to design a new suit of armor for a "replacement" who will hopefully once again inspire trust in Iron Man.

As for Stark, he certainly seems to be at ease with the situation--putting the entire episode behind him and resolving to press on as Iron Man (or, as far as the public is concerned, the all-new, all-different Iron Man):

But if the following issue's cover is any indication, Stark's sleep will be anything but restful, as his subconscious mind apparently still has unresolved issues where the former Iron Man is concerned.

Fifty Years of Marvel Comics

 

What were some of you doing five decades ago? It's funny when you reach certain points where you find yourself recalling the world as it was then, and the realization hits that you lived during that period of time and lived through many of the events and changes which took place. For those of you in high school right now, you'll experience your own reflections of today's world in the year two-thousand seventy-two (!) -- and if you're like the rest of us, you're understandably not looking that far down the road, nor can you have a true conception of how your world, its people, its advances, and your own way of life will change.

Regrettably, it's safe to assume that by 2072 the price of a comic book will probably be around the cost of a monthly house payment, so be sure to factor that into your budget.

Fifty years ago, my own calendar would have put me at the year 1972, fourteen years old and looking forward to starting high school the next year. Here's a little of what my world looked like at the time:

• NASA was one flight away from closing out its Apollo moon mission, where America established itself as a pioneer of a sort but eventually realized it was spending a lot of money just to collect moon rocks;
  

• The SX-70 Polaroid camera was introduced, giving us film prints which developed themselves "right before your eyes"--an alternative to dropping your film off at "photo marts," but still too slow for those who reasoned that shaking the print feverishly would speed up the process (a reminder to think twice before following a wacky trend);
  
• Born in April of that year: actresses Jennifer Garner, Jenni Garth and Carmen Electra;
  
• The United States was nine months away from withdrawing its forces from Vietnam;
  
• The world's first law to officially recognize change of gender passed in Sweden;
  
• Winners of the 44th Academy Awards included The French Connection, Jane Fonda, Cloris Leachman, and Gene Hackman;
  
• The price of gas was at $0.55/gallon; the cost of a new home was around $30,000; a new car, $3,800; average rent, $165/mo.
  
• The home videogame industry took its first baby step with inventor Ralph Baer's patent for "A Television Gaming Apparatus and Method" (i.e., the home video game console).

But if you were a Marvel Comics reader in April, 1972, your focus away from school was probably on the comics stand at your local drugstore, shopping mart or whatever distributor carried comic books in your town, thanks to the Bullpen Bulletins page which often included the Marvel Checklist. If your comics collecting was in full swing, here's a "snapshot" of what Marvel Comics readers were plunking down their 20¢ for.

(WARNING: Please don't try shaking this image in the air for faster loading.)

It's All In the Wrist: Gladiator vs. Iron Man!

 

If you weren't impressed by the debut of the bruiser named Gladiator in the pages of Daredevil, including his performance as part of Electro's Emissaries of Evil, you might have shrugged when you spotted him on the covers of a two-part Iron Man story published at the end of 1968:

Yet other aspects of this story help to bring it alive for Iron Man fans and make it a good all-around read, with the Gladiator also managing to stand out in an ambitious bid to wrest control of the criminal organization known as the Maggia for himself. For instance, we're seeing some early work on the title by artist George Tuska, who is now the book's regular artist (off and on) after previous penciller/inker Johnny Craig shifted over to handling inks exclusively. We also learn of the origin of Whitney Frost, the Maggia's current "Big M," who is putting together a raid on Stark Industries to seize Stark's secret weapons reserve even as she seeks to protect her lover, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell, who acts as Stark's head of security--an origin which includes the revelation that her real father is the notorious Count Nefaria. In addition, Archie Goodwin continues as the book's writer to chart a course for Tony Stark and Iron Man in this new title.

At this point in time, Stark is beginning to have romantic feelings toward Janice Cord, who took over her father's plant but on the advice of her attorney, Vincent Sandhurst, is considering selling it to Stark. We would eventually learn that the days of both Cord and the shifty Sandhurst are numbered in this book, with Iron Man being involved in each case--but for now, he'll have his hands full with Gladiator, when the villain decides to take Sandhurst, Cord, and Stark hostage in an effort to force Iron Man to come to their defense and thereby leave Stark's factory vulnerable to the Maggia's raid. (Not to mention giving Gladiator a chance to wipe away the stigma of past defeats at Daredevil's hands and thus raise his profile to gain the support he needs to become Big M.)

As for Stark, he improvises a desperate escape in order to gain an opportunity to become Iron Man; but in the meantime, the furious Gladiator places Sandhurst and Cord under heavy machinery and begins to slice away at its support while demanding Stark surrender in order to save their lives. Luckily, Iron Man returns in the nick of time, though it may cost him when he must turn to face Gladiator.

Favorite Scenes: Doctor Doom!

 

This new series came about from doing what any comics reader might find him- or herself doing when a certain character comes to mind--reminiscing about those scenes in which that character appeared, which often led to pulling out those issues and thumbing through those pages once more. In the case of Dr. Doom, arguably one of the most memorable characters in this medium, it seems like he and I are thinking along the same lines. (Though the comparison stops there.)

This armored man, once called a "living enigma" by the Sub-Mariner, became shaped by the tragic and harsh events of his past, going on to become one of the most dangerous figures in Marvel's line of comics. Following are some of the more memorable moments of his nefarious life which stood out for me, though you'll no doubt have a few of your own to add to this digital "scrapbook" of the good Doctor's exploits.

When Firemen Fear The Man Without Fear

 

With crowds of civilians often playing a major role in comics stories, you'd think that comics covers would be just as generous in featuring spectators witnessing a battle, or a face-off, or even engaging in an occasional "Look! Up in the sky!" sighting. But as we found in the PPC's initial exploration of this subject, covers all too often have elbowed crowds out of the picture, given a cover's emphasis on sales and the presumption that the casual comics browser isn't going to be particularly interested in anyone on an issue cover but the story's main characters. In Part 2 of this impromptu series, we search out more of those covers where crowds were injected into the scene presented--and why not start out with two heroes who were often forced to confront a threat during what appeared to be a busy workday for the average New Yorker?

Don't Touch That Phone!

 

OR: "Hi-yo, Silllver...!"

 
After spending I don't know how much time configuring my new phone recently (remember when we only had to buy a phone off the shelf, take it home, and plug in the phone line?), I later began to think back to how often in the comics world phones had frustrated our favorite characters or otherwise been the bearer of bad news. It's the type of bits-and-pieces post that can wrack your brain in trying to recall from memory the scenes that would fall into such a category--but the diversion made for good fun, and part of the enjoyment of a scavenger hunt is the hunting, after all.

Here, then, are a few scenes where "Ma Bell" reigned supreme, and whoever was on the other end of the line wasn't very happy about it. In short, compared to spending a little time adjusting our phone settings, you and I are getting off easy.  (Unlike our friend, the Wizard.)