Amazing Adventures - Something Inhuman This Way Comes!

This is a most curious reprint package. The Inhumans have a most curious publishing history and no small part of that was their stint as the front half of Amazing Adventures which was an early 70's attempt to recapture the magic of the classic split books of the Silver Age. It was somewhat successful, but eventually gave way as one feature, in this case the Inhumans eventually took over. The Inhumans were the creation of Jack "King" Kirby and he'd wanted to do a feature with them for a long time. Just before he left Marvel he got his chance to both write and draw these intriguing characters. The problem was that ten pages was a small space to tell a large story. After four issues he was gone. 

And for a brief time, the great Neal Adams drew the feature, replacing Kirby just as he had done on Thor. Those Roy Thomas-Neal Adams adventures are the focus of this reprint as the story blends weirdly into the Kree-Skrull War being waged at that time in mighty pages of The Avengers. This skirmish informs our understanding of that greater conflict in a small way, and this collection will go nicely next to a gathering of that now famous Marvel epic.

Neal Adams gave way eventually on this saga handing the art chores to longtime DC pro Mike Sekowsky. Sekowsky did very little work for Marvel, this stuff along with a few issues of Super-Villain Team-Up as I recall. But with covers by the likes of Adams, John Buscema, and Gil Kane, the artwork on this storyline in Amazing Adventures looks impeccable. 

(John Buscema and John Verpoorten)

In the very first issue Black Bolt leaves his Royal Family members inexplicably. They find Maximus in a weird box and both Gorgon and Karnak work to free him. But Maximus has a new secret power and immediately on his release sends a mental bolt which robs Black Bolt of his memory just as Black Bolt was reaching civilization in the form of San Francisco. Black Bolt takes off his costume to blend in and that proves to be a terrible mistake. 

(Neal Adams)

Realizing their mistake Gorgon, Karnak, Medusa and Triton battle against Maximus who has taken mental control of the rest of the small Inhuman population. Robbed of his memory Black Bolt has hooked up with a boy he rescued from abuse. Later, not knowing his immense power begins to speak and destroys a ship in the harbor. Neal Adams does a great job of rendering this chaotic event with the help of inker John Verpoorten. Verpoorten does some outstanding work on the work of Adams in all these Inhuman stories save the first one inked by Tom Palmer, and I'm sorry they didn't do more together. 

(Neal Adams)
The Royal Family has crashed on a remote island where they have stashed a ship. They get the ship. Black Bolt and the boy Roscoe are taken prisoner by a black man name "Mr. Dibbs".  The Royal Family gets to America and land on the beach, but an attack by humans causes Triton to run interference while his family escapes and seek disguises. The story ends when Mr. Dibbs leads an uprising with the seeming assistance of Black Bolt. 

(Neal Adams)
In the last issue by Neal Adams (four just like Kirby), the Avengers look to intervene but Thor waves them off and takes on the Royal Family and Mr. Dibbs. It's a hectic battle and in the end the imposter in Black Bolt's costume is killed by lightning. The real Black Bolt and Roscoe watch on TV. 

(John Buscema and Joe Sinnott)

(Mike Sekowsky and Bill Everett)

In the next issue Thomas and Adams are gone. Replacing them is the team of Gerry Conway and Mike Sekowsky with Bill Everett on inks. The chaotic storyline is made even more confusing when Magneto and a weird gang of mutants take on the Family. He also kidnaps Black Bolt and reunites the family save for Triton. 

(Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott)
This confusing mish-mash rumbles along with Frank Giacoia inking this time. Black Bolt gets his memory back and finally he and the family are able to stop the deadly schemes of Magneto. Having put the threat down, they prepare for the next assault. Meanwhile Triton is missing and Roscoe got swallowed up by three weird lights called the Trikon. 

(John Buscema and Tom Palmer)

(Neal Adams and Tom Palmer)

Neal Adams and Roy Thomas welcome back their old partner Tom Palmer to take the Inhuman story back again in the pages of The Avengers. Triton finally returns and Maximus is still up to no-good, and we are presented with a strange event for Marvel when the Conway-Sekowsky issues are ignored, and the story picks up from when Thomas and Adams left the series. But more on that tomorrow. 

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Santa The Barbarian!

This clever Christmas send-up takes a fan-favorite familiar comic book cover and gives it a holiday theme. This is truly an iconic image. 

The intoxicating cover by Barry (Not-Yet-Windsor)Smith and the late John Verpoorten for Conan the Barbarian #1 has been featured here at the Dojo more than a few times. I love how Smith approached this project with gusto and panache. He's unafraid to throw all his youthful vigor into an image which, while it might lack grace in some places, is not shortchanged in action or drama. In a wonderful variation of the classic Frazetta pose which decorated the first Lancer Conan paperback, this image of Conan is active, but nonetheless stands astride a beautiful woman who lingers around his knees. The action around him is furious and chaotic. This scene might in fact be a moment before the classic sedate and ominous Frazetta image.

The closest we'll likely get to seeing Barry Smith's original artwork is this cover for Marvelmania Magazine minus the Verpoorten inks. Here there is a  a raw energy to the black and white presentation which is seen in full.

The classic cover has been reprinted countless times by Marvel and other publishers around the world. Here are some I have been lucky enough to gather up from across the globe. 

Here's a painting which uses Smith's art as its inspiration for a new piece of art. 

Here's a different take on the pose by Marvel themselves, some years later. 

And here is an homage by John Romita Jr. for a cover of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.

Tomorrow an annual holiday tradition returns to the Dojo! I hope Santa will be good to one and all, even if you've been a wee bit naughty! 

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Captain America's Bicentennial Battles!

It's the Fourth of July! In these United States of America that means a birthday celebration of sorts. Not for a person, but for a nation. The USA is 247 years old today. I've been on board for 66 of those years and what a ride it's been. There are lots of ways to celebrate a birthday, and certainly one is with pomp and pageantry, fireworks and flowery speeches. But that's not the only way. 

When these United States turned 200 years old in that long ago year of 1976 Marvel Comics decided to celebrate in a few ways. First they tapped one of Captain America's creators to tell a sprawling epic of a yarn which had the good Captain traverse time and space and so encounter America in many ways over many years. This time I'm reading the 2021 reprint of the massive tabloid comic which is chock full of extras. 

His odyssey had a conductor named "Mister Buda", a heretofore unknown character who seemed to offer serenity with knowledge, but that knowledge was hard won. (Mister Buda was later revealed to be one of the many Elders of the Universe and these days is called the "The Contemplator".) Mister Buda first sends Cap back to WWII and yet another opportunity to save his partner Bucky Barnes from the clutches of Hitler and the Nazis. 

That mission accomplished Cap finds himself part of a grand tableau of struggle from across American history. He travels back in time to meet Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross who takes inspiration from Cap's uniform to weave a singular flag for General George Washington. Then he slips forward to the early days of the depression and assists a rough and tumble newsboy who might someday grow to become a renowned comic book artist. 

Then it's back to the olden days of the West and Cap finds himself in among the Apaches led by a noble man named Geronimo. Cap cannot stop the cavalry charge which is the destiny of these noble savages. Instead, he finds himself in a Kentucky coal mine, buried alive with tough-minded miners and he finds a way to save them. A quick dash to WWI and the skies over the battlefields aboard a biplane before landing hard back on Earth to trade fisticuffs with John Sullivan. 

Then Cap must confront the horror of slavery and try to save a runaway slave with the help of the son of John Brown. Then with a snap of the fingers he finds himself on the testing ground for the first atomic bomb blast. That conflagration becomes the Great Chicago Fire and Cap tries to help before finding himself in the water battling a shark outside an underwater research base. 

He finds himself confronting Mister Buda again who tells him his odyssey is nearing its end. And then the Moon, in the future where unknown forces (presumably one of them American) battle for hegemony over Earth's luminous mate. And just as quickly it's back to Earth and Hollywood to be precise where Cap finds himself part of a patriotic production number for a movie from a Golden Era. One final peek at a young black man studying hard to make something of himself and Cap is confronted with children. It turns out these young people are the source of America's greatness, the notion that they are full of limitless possibilities is the reason the United States ought to be celebrated each year. 

Throw in three images of Cap as a Minute Man, a cowboy, and an astronaut, along with a portrait of the man beneath the mask Steve Rogers and all that remains is the back cover. Cap gives Uncle Sam a hearty handshake and that's a wrap. 84 pages of glorious Kirby artwork and a story unlike any other. History on the move, quickened with that relentless "King" Kirby energy. Kirby was inked by many talents in this story. Barry Windsor-Smith kicked things off, with Herb Trimpe, John Romita Sr., John Verporten and Dan Adkins turning in lavish pages as well. 

In this 2021 reprint we also are treated to Marvel's other attempt to celebrate the bicentennial and that's a calendar featuring most of Marvel's brightest. The calendar is reprinted in full with artwork by Frank Robbins, John Buscema, Frank Brunner, Sal Buscema, Bob Brown, Herb Trimpe and many others. The late great John Romita Sr. did the cover and a portrait of Captain America which shines to this day. I own the original tabloid still, but it was fun to read this story once again with the bright colors on good paper and be treated to the calendar which I've only ever seen online. 

Captain America's Bicentennial Battles is a delightful read and now 47 years after its first publication it still holds many messages of great value. In 1976 the United States was recovering from a great political scandal in which the President was shown to be a criminal and was driven from office. The country and the world was staggering under a great need for oil to power the modern societies built after WWII. According to the President of the time, the country was suffering a "malaise". Sadly, all these years later things have changed in many ways and in some ways not at all. Once again these United States have suffered under a President who is a criminal. The woes of seeking power resources remain, but the biggest threat to the democracy is a runaway technology which allows the most vicious aspects of society to find one another and band together to undermine the great promise of these United States. Racism has never gone away and now again rules the minds of too many leaders of states all too ready to restrict the rights of their own citizens. Women are under assault and have to fend off constant efforts to reduce their rights and their roles as meaningful parts of the society. 

I was a young man in 1976, just married and full of promise for myself and my bride. Decades later, I've lost my mate of so many years, but still I find pride in my two daughters now grown to adulthood and doing what they can for children in schools which are daily under threat of outrageous violence. I am proud of them, but despair that my country cannot see fit to make sure they and their charges are secure. I am angry when I see attempts to alter the understanding of history, to deny the darker aspects of American history, one rife with racism and sexism. It all happened, and we need to see to it that it stops here with us today. Today I am an old man, retired after a long career in the classroom and I look for signs of hope that the future will be better for not those of us in these United States but for folks all across the globe. 

Happy Birthday America! Here's to many more, if you deserve them. 

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Dojo Classics - Ajak Ascendant!

Lost in the Andes we find arguably my favorite Eternal, the friendly Ajak. Ajak has been missing for a thousand years and it turns out he was waiting patiently as disassembled atoms for the arrival of the Fourth Host of the Celestials. He and his human Incan mates function as a ground crew of  sorts for the Celestials as the slide in from the vastness of outer space.

Ajak is that typical secondary character in a Kirby epic, the "hail fellow well met". His open demeanor stands in contrast to the more dour Ikaris just as Lightray's did to Orion in the New Gods saga. Circumstances will keep these two heroes apart for most of the story, but I've always gotten that sense from Ajak, that he was like Sersi, an Eternal with a soft spot for humanity.

Ajak rates only three small cover appearances,and he's never really featured. He almost was though.

Here is a mock-up for a projected cover for the second issue of The Eternals. It features Ajak with Ikaris taking a background role for a change.

And here are the pencils for this lost gem.

For whatever reason, that cover was replaced with this one, an action shot showing Ikaris, Kro, and the Damians running for their lives from the impending landing of the Celestials craft.

It's a dynamic cover and works well, but I'd have loved to have seen Ajak get his due, at least once.

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