Good Bye to Comics

 I have been contemplating exiting getting comic books for awhile. There will be exceptions and the occasional Omnibus or what not, but essentially saying goodbye to comic books once and for all.

My passion for collecting original art is one part of the equation. With comics at $5 bucks a pop, that adds up quickly and leaves a lot more money for buying original art. 

Next up is that I left Marvel years ago and can no longer even recognize their Universe. I picked up Dark Ages which is fun and Death of Doctor Strange which has been a decent read. Anything else I have tried from Marvel has left me cold. They missed out on doing legacy material years ago. They could have had the characters age slowly. This could have given us a Fantastic Four with Reed and Sue's kids, Johnny could have married Crystal and had a child, Ben could be still the muscle for the group. Instead we are left with the 400th iteration of "new" stories from Spider-Man on whomever. From afar it seems they also went go for broke or woke. So Clea being new Dr. Strange isn't a natural evolution of the character - but of course Dr. Strange is now a woman. I guess the Ancient One could be Stephen or he will be dead for a year or two. Daredevil is now Electra? No matter, Marvel comics is what made me fall in love with comics.  That love for Marvel is gone.

DC I was still getting a few stories and loved the DCeased stuff and Knights of Steel has been fun, but in continuity looks like woke virtue signaling to the nth degree. Gay Superman, Robin, Gay young Aquaman and who knows what else is just too much. Heck I don't really care who the characters are sleeping but it is more like LBQT etc romance comics. The heroic story is missing. So my love for DC has been lost.

My current love of comics is fueled by DC silver and bronze age more obscure characters and material like Reckless from Brubaker and Phillips. 

Really I'm okay with all of it as these are the characters owned by the corporations. The printed comic book has been circling the drain for decades and are really the vinyl records of today. Maybe this gets to a new market looking for this material and in a digital format. And as a 66 year old white heterosexual male I should not be your target audience long term anyway. Still I wouldn't mind a few books that harken back to a different era. I mean I loved Morrison's run on Batman and was disappointment when it was thrown in the trash immediately (actually during his run). I also would love DC to publish Space Ranger, later Challenger of the Unknown runs and that type of stuff. It appears that material has to await public domain status. 

So the couple pictures I have posted here are cover mock-ups by two artist who I consider to be masters of their craft Bo Hampton on pencil and inks and Tom Ziuko on colors. Both gentleman are very active and are open to commissions. 

All is this is outlining why I have decided to end getting comics by year-end. It is without animosity or any hue and cry of this is wrong, it is this is no longer for me. Not a good thing, not a bad thing. It is hard to leave behind getting new comics as it has been part of my life for 60 years plus and I even had a comic book store for 4 years in the 90's. 

I'm a little sad, but I prefer to look forward to getting new art, finding those special projects in comics that I will still want to get and read. I hope the industry survives with not just TV and movies as reading a story is still a great experience and is more engaging then any show or movie.

Are Old Silver Age Comic Pages Stolen Art?

 

Matthew and I are planning on doing a series of relatively short posts celebrating some of the artists we enjoy. I have gone down the original art rabbit hole and now admire artists whose comic books I may never have even read. That is a tale for a different time. Still it is my interest in original art, reading biographies and articles on creators and seeing certain pages out for sale in public have made me wonder about the legal ownership of some art.

To explore this point I am picking one single page. I choose Amazing Spider-Man #27, the splash page as it sold on Heritage Auctions for $239,000 in 2016. Steve Ditko died in 2018. I have read he never sold any of the art that Marvel returned to him. Furthermore, it is well known that Marvel never returned all of his artwork. It is also widely known that at least one artist stole art from Marvel to sell for his own gain (supposedly to make up for what he felt was too low of a page rate for his work).

So, who owned the art? Did Marvel own it or is it now considered rightfully Ditko’s property. Is the agreement that Ditko signed to get his art waive all his rights to any art not returned? If yes, then did Marvel own the art? Who originally had the art and sold it?  

My point is that if the art was “stolen” by an employee of Marvel or someone else and they sold it, then all the sales from the beginning are null and void – right? I mean if a Leonardo Da Vinci piece of art is lifted from a museum – no matter who buys it – they do not own it legally.

Does that mean Ditko’s heirs, Kirby’s heirs and all the rest of the artist who have heirs – all have a legal case to get the art back??? I mean there is a lot of original comic art from certain eras that I believe have legitimate ownership issues.  Recently I bought a couple of Murphy Anderson pages from a 1971 sci-fi story he drew, and it was part of the Murphy Anderson Collection, so hopefully sold by the family.

I keep thinking this would blow up the original art world like no one’s business because the high rollers and often myself are sometimes buying art with no clear ownership trail. This mainly applies to Golden and Silver Age art for the most part, but that is where there are big bucks involved. Happily, I have purchased most of my art from the artist or their agents.

Update - This blogger did a detailed post outlining the whole thing - Still think there is a lawsuit this as the price of the art makes it more and more likely someone will sue. 

https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2021/03/jack-kirby-and-art-of-theft.html

Stalker #1-#4 By Paul Levitz, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood - A Review

 

Over the years my love of comics has continued but has grown and changed over the years. Sixty years ago I was in love with mainly Marvel comics and some DC.  The early Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Strange Tales with the Human Torch and early Legion of Super-Heroes were my favorite. I was there for the stories and loved the marriage of words and pictures.

As time progressed, I went from being mainly a Marvel fan to being a DC fan. I think a big part of that was the Neal Adams / Denny O’Neil work on Batman. Art was a big part of that, but it was also the stories. DC’s emphasis on story grew my love of comics to make my focus more about the writers. Denny O’Neil, Marv Wolfman, Don McGregor, Chuck Dixon, John Ostrander and many more over the years were a key concern for making buying decisions. Art, no matter how good without a good story was an empty shell to me.

Of course, being a retailer for a few years in the 90’s changed my focus to how the business is run and how it all works together as a whole. I am not an expert but reading and being involved in comic my wealth of knowledge is greater than most people, but not as extensive as many harder core fans.  

One hell of a long preamble to get to why I am reviewing the short lived 1975 series from DC comics. My love for comics has now morphed into a passion for original art. My meager collection of a few pages has grown to over 200 pages over the last five to ten years, with a huge increase in the last few years. Like any addict my addiction has gotten more costly over time. Where I hesitated to pay $200 for a piece of art that amount is now for buying a piece on a whim. My high-water mark has broken the $1000 barrier, but I expect to never break the $10,000 mark and remain happily married. As I got further into collecting original art I found out that some people have mind blowing collections of many thousands of pages worth more money then I can possibly imagine.

That love of original art has led me to appreciate two artists I always enjoyed and now enjoy even more. The two are Steve Ditko and Wally Wood. Stalker represents some of my favorite work by these two men. Ditko’s pencils appears to be hard to find the right inker on his work. Ditko’s style has never really been matched and I feel like many inkers did his work a disservice. Wally Wood when inking often overwhelms the artist and the work ends up screaming Wally Wood’s style. The pencil artist while responsible for the layouts and storytelling is often lost to Wood’s inks. Stalker is a marriage where both Ditko and Wood shine through at the same time. Ditko’s style is highly evident and Wood’s touches and deft inks and use of blacks are also just as evident. Outside of pure Ditko pencil and ink work or pure Wally Wood pencil and ink work – this art is a stunning example of the two men. One day I would love to own a page from this work, but right now only three pages are out there that I can find and are owned by collectors who are not parting with them. The cover for issue #1 sold for $15,535 on August 12, 2017, and I’m sure it would sell for upwards of $25,000 today.

Original Cover of Art

All of that made me go out and buy the original issues again even though I have them in a collected Omnibus of Ditko’s work. The reason I went that route was it was cheap to pick up and often reprints are recolored. While the effort is to color them the way they were, technology and coloring has gotten so much better, the colors are often not quite the same or sometimes (Marvel Masterworks) are flat and garish.

The series is by Paul Levitz who was a very young writer at the time. He was given the assignment when DC jump into Sword & Sorcery books. Ditko and Wood were both unique and strong-willed individuals who accepted many assignments that in hindsight and given their talent you may wonder why they did the work/ It was simple they needed money. Comic artists were not highly paid and were contractual workers who received no benefits. They often never got the artwork back and the aftermarket for art was almost nonexistent at the time. So, the creative team was set, and we got four fun filled issues of the man without a soul.

For all intents and purposes, it was a mini-series / try out book to see if it was viable long term. This is based on the back matter in the book from Levitz. The story itself is not bad as we have a poor urchin wanting to have power in a world where he has none. After being betrayed by a person of power he made a deal with a devil for his soul. He felt the devil cheated him in their deal and fought his way thru that devil’s hell to reclaim his soul. He found out he could not get his soul back unless the devil died. The only way the devil can die is if he has no believers left.  The series ends with Stalker vowing to kill all the believers of the devil D’grth.

The story started with Stalker telling a Queen he would kill her in a year, as he blamed her for the deal he made with D’grth. She promised to train him as a warrior but instead made him a slave cleaning out stables and other such tasks. Then we flash back to how he made the deal with D’grth and have 3 issues of him fighting various creatures to get back to hell and try and get his soul back.

The story had tons of action and was set in a fantastical medieval style world with all manners of demons and other monsters. I do not know if the scripts were full scripts or more of an outline form, but given it was Ditko and Wood I’m guessing they were if nothing else acting as directors. They likely were following the story but making their own decisions on how to make said story work. If I was a better historian, I would search out Paul Levitz interviews and see what he said about the book.  The art was the true selling point as Ditko and Wood were still at the peak of their abilities. Some may argue that they were not as their earlier work was perhaps more detailed. I would point out the page rates being what they were I’m guessing they were cranking out a lot of work at the time as neither had any long term series they were working on.

Paul’s writing was not his best and oft times he overwrote the page instead of letting the art tell the story. The page with the 3 headed man is a perfect example where he could have backed off and let the art tell the bulk of the story. Paul certainly became a stronger writer over the years, and I thought he was a great asset for DC during his long tenure running DC with Jeanette Khan.

Comic Book Version

Original Art

Omnibus Version

The concept itself has great potential for philosophical undertones discussing what is a soul and what does it mean to not have a soul. Plus given Stalker’s tracking abilities and warrior skills the action potential for the series is there. I swear with the proper writer/artist team this could be a great series today.  

The bottom line this was and still is on second/third reading a fun book. It shows off a young writer, a great artist team and how coloring can sometimes mute great artwork.  Not the fault of the colorist, but the art in this case was so gorgeous the color could only hurt it. Plus there is no way in hell in 1975 that anyone was going to publish a black and white comic. Coloring is a funny thing as the technology and higher end paper have made the coloring better and better and better, but sometimes the pure back and white art is the best. I should write a column with my friend Tom Ziuko one day talking about coloring.

My review 4 stars out of five. The art carries the day, and the overall concept is loaded with potential.

Everything Wrong With Super Hero Comics - Adam Strange #10 and James Tynion Interview

I'm tired of woke crap, I'm tired of stories serving the writer's need to work out his own issues, I'm tired of no one allowing anyone to be a fucking hero.

Adam Strange #10 has the big reveal that Adam in fact sold out Earth, lied to his wife to save Rann and I guess his daughter. It is a horrible scar to put on a character that was the thinking man's hero. Adam was always a hero that would do the right thing and he would have done right thing no matter the personal cost. This has cast him as a traitor and really someone who has no chance to be redeemed as his crime is about as horrific as it could be given the cost to Earth. 

So what is the purposes of this story to show that some people given horrible choices make bad ones? That's fine but now you have taken a character that stood for 60 years as a cool hero and someone that I always loved and pissed on him and destroyed him to the nth degree. He is basically making him radioactive and irredeemable. Remember when Watchmen was being done DC stated to not use the Charlton characters as was the original intent  because DC was smart enough then to not to want to ruin characters forever that were fun and interesting.

King has insinuated Batman had suicide issues, that Mister Miracle committed suicide and has worked out I'm sure many of his own issues using characters from comic books. The problem I have is that the story needs to be front and center first. Instead the story is subservient to the message, which totally goes against good storytelling in my opinion. 

I see way too many current TV shows that want to preach about some social injustice or woke political viewpoint. I have no qualms with making your political views knows in the context of the story. The problem is that character development and story telling take second place destroys the entertainment value. I buy your product to enjoy your story, see how a character reacts or grows and if a political point is made during the course of the story fine. Just preaching to me leads me to other forms of entertainment. Add to writers' preaching and you have many artists drawing books for the after market sales of the artwork. Way too many beauty shots and not enough story telling.

Finally I read a quote from James Tynion - who said "I like taking things I am afraid of and turning them into monsters for my characters to deal with. Batman and Joker deal with a lot of the things that scare me right now about society." For me this is a smoking gun. It is not I have a good Batman story to tell; it is I have some social issue I want to address and I will use the characters to make my point. No concern of it's consistency with a character; it is simply the writer inserting his point into what ever character he is writing. 

It is a tougher search to find material I like from DC anymore, but I find plenty of stuff with books, independent comics and old collections to keep me amused.  

For me woke has broke the big two. 

2001: A Reading Odyssey

 Like many of you dear readers, I signed up for HBO Max prior to Christmas 2020 for the sole purpose of streaming Wonder Woman 1984.  And like many of you, I was colossally disappointed with the film.  In fact, I fell asleep in the middle of it!  However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I didn't abandon HBO Max to the streaming platform dung heap as if it were a fig tree in leaf with no fruit, cursed forever to wither and die.  No, instead I explored the site to see what else it had to offer and found that if you discount the latest Star Wars/Marvel Disney+ TV shows, it had some of the best content out there!

This platform has many of my favorite movies: Logan's Run*, The Omega Man*, Soylent Green [funded by Bill Gates], An American Werewolf in London, Bullit*, Escape From New York*, etc. (*I even own the soundtracks to these.).  I'm also watching Showa era Godzilla classics, most for the first time (I highly recommend Ebirah, Horror of the Deep [jazzy soundtrack - fun ensemble] and Godzilla versus Hedorah [stylistically filmed with epic smackdowns].)   I've reenjoyed films I liked before, but hardly remember in detail (like most things these days after hitting 50 last spring) such as Time Bandits, The Maltese Falcon, and A Hard Days Night.  Plus, I finally got around to watching movies I've always wanted to check out like Capricorn One, Jojo Rabbit, and the moody atmospheric Solaris (1972).  

This last one directly influenced my decision to revisit the Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey! (Incidentally, it guest stars Ed Bishop soon to be cast (in 1969) as Commander Ed Straker of S.H.A.D.O in the highly entertaining Gerry Anderson classic TV series, UFO, which I just finished at the close of the never-to-be-forgotten 2020 year.)  And just like the mysterious Monolith took Dave Bowman on "the ultimate trip" to becoming the Star-Child.  The movie was the springboard for my own (as U2's Bono sang it) "voyage of discovery" to delve into the a 2001 Reading Odyssey in 2021!

Fortunately, for me this was not an expensive* endeavor (not pronounced IN-DEE-A-VOR) as I had all of the material on hand in my collection**:

*I've spend less that $20 getting the novels, 2010: Odyssey Two & 3001: The Final Odyssey from the local used bookstore and ordering the 2010 comic adaptation in Marvel Super Special #37 from eBay.  I'll probably end up springing for the 2010 Blu-ray too for $6.

**"like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old" [Matthew 13:52]

A reading sequence in four parts where I ruminate my thoughts, impressions and remembrances:

#1: The Lost Worlds of 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke  (1972) [First Print!], Sidgwick & Jackson

I'm fairly certain I bought this for the beautifully painted cover.  Certainly I got it also because of my fondness of the film and comic, but I doubt I ever really expected to read it.  However, upon finishing the film, it was the first item that I sought out (and I didn't have to dig 40-feet under the Moon's surface to find it -- although it was at the bottom of a stack of books).  This is an account of Clarke's collaboration with Kubrick to develop the story (the novel and screenplay were being worked on somewhat simultaneously).  Clarke includes background to the film, but he also includes some of the original short stories that inspired it (such as The Sentinel) and backstory that was later dropped from consideration.  We get to learn more about the astronauts on Discovery and the birth of Hal.  Additionally, there are alternative endings, when he and Stanley were still figuring out where they wanted to go and how they wanted to finish.  You also get to read about the aliens behind the Monolith.  I definitely like having the Monolith be more mysterious, but this was all very enjoyable and it scratched my 2001 obsession-itch extremely well.

#2: 2001: a space odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, based on the Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke (1968) [First Printing paperback edition!], Signet Books

Speaking of mysterious, I was mystified when I couldn't find my copy of the novel.  I knew I had read it once upon a time, but it wasn't in the same place as Lost Worlds.  Finally, I remembered I have a whole shelf devoted to novelizations and there it was.  Again, a very good read with succinct chapters that made for excellent pre-bedtime reading.  It generally is the same as the movie, but they go to Saturn, instead of Jupiter.  You also get some extra exposition that helps you interpret the film better.  You're privy to the thoughts of Moon-Watcher (the bone wielding pre-Man).  I especially like the expanded parts with Dr. Heywood Floyd.  And unless I missed it, the classic, "Open the Pod Bay Doors, Hal" scene is ABSENT!  The film cuts it out, but Dave spends another few months piloting Discovery to Iapetus after lobotomizing Hal.  The only draw-back is that some sequences were understandably similar to what I had read in Lost Worlds.  I'm not deterred though, I'm on a mission to complete a 1000 years of reading by getting to the three sequels.  I've already started 2010 and I've had 2061 in my possession, borrowed from a friend, since 1989!  No, he's not getting it back.  Sorry, Yong!

Last spring I was on a James Bond kick and re-read Casino Royale up to Spy Who Loved Me where I got stalled. Still it was an excellent ride of the 007 wave I was on.  I switch gears so often on my interests at any given time, it's very rare that I finish a whole series.

#3:  2001: A Space Odyssey [Marvel Treasury Special] by Jack Kirby (1976), Marvel Comics Group

I remember getting this Very Fine + copy at Another Universe in the Columbia Mall in the mid-90s. It was only $20 and they had multiple copies.  I wish I had purchased more!  I've made similar investment blunders before.  Like when I only bought one NM/warehouse copy of Amazing Spider-Man #129 for $20 from Dave's Comics in Richmond.  I should have pressed and CGC'd that book before I sold it!

I don't think I was even aware of this books existence until I saw it at the Mall. I only knew about the comic series (see below), which was ultra confusing when disconnected from the film that I hadn't seen at the time.  But this . . . this . . . is a masterpiece!  Could it be the best representation of Kirby's mid-70's/post-DC work?  I absolutely believe it can!  It's a great adaptation of 72 pages.  Considering that the film lacked a lot of dialogue, this book probably has more words than the screenplay, but that just makes it a nice blend of the film and the novel to me.  Plus, 70's exposition is a lost art these days.  You've got dynamic panels, full-page spreads, photo-collages, and some two-page spreads all at the massive Treasury Edition Size!  Kirby couldn't recreate the spectacle of the film with the music and cinematography, but he captured the mood well enough and the size gives it just the extra "oomph" it needs!  Sure all the guys have that Kirby-face, but who cares, I'm not looking for Neal Adams here.  And you call tell that Jack must have been really jazzed to do this story, he's not cutting any corners.  This is a labor of love!  And let me say that Jack's depiction of the change from elderly man to child is BETTER than Kubricks!  No lie.

Alas, not everyone agrees with me . . . 

A copy on eBay will set you back around $150 to $200 these days.  And when you consider that it may never be reprinted.  Well, it's a book that's worth having whether you're a Kirby fan, a 2001 fan, or both!  I would enjoy a 2001 Marvel Masterworks, but really it needs to be one of those Monster-sized HC editions.  I skipped out on the Eternals one recently (cash flow issues).  Also, the Eternals is probably my LEAST favorite Kirby series, despite a really strong start.  Although, the new Marvel series seems to be promising.

#4:  2001: A Space Odyssey #1 thru #10; regular comic series "Based on the Concepts From MGM/Stanley Kubrick Production" (1976 Sep 28 [1976 Dec cover date] to 1977 Jun 21 [1977 Sep cover date], Marvel Comics Group

My first issues of the series were gotten off the stands, likely at the local 7-11, back during "Matthew Year One".  Those would have been issues #9 and #10.  But I'm not convinced the copies I own are my originals. #9 feels like a Slurpee was spilt and dried on it!  Somewhere along the way I got #1 -- I think in Kansas City, maybe the same time I got Star Wars #1 and #2 as back issues (still relatively early late 70s).  I didn't fill in my collection until many, many years later.  Having reread them now, I wish my issues were in better condition, but they're readable without giving you a mold allergy.  In this rereading I also devoured any text pages/letter pages, each Bullpen Bulletin with Stan's Soapbox, and all the tasty Hostess Ads!  Marvel was really adding some great new titles during this period from mid-1976 to mid-1977: Logan's Run, Godzilla, Star Wars, Human Fly, Nova, What If, Rampaging Hulk magazine, etc.   The famous Thanos versus the Avengers annual appeared along side the second series of Marvel character Slurpee cups.  Spidey and Howard also premiered in local newspapers.  What a great time to become a fan!

About the series itself, it started out fairly formulaic, but it's such a good formula!  Primitive man gets taught by the Monolith to advance to the next stage, then seque to 2001 where an astronaut encounters the black slab and turns into a Star Child, which Jack describes as the "New Seed".  Despite some genuinely positive letters, most were critical, some severely so, and some cautiously.  No one really knew what to make of the book, since it had no recurring characters.  They wished Jack had a better scripter, etc.  I will say Archie Goodwin is listed as "Admired by" in the Editor category, so he may have given Jack a fairly freehand, but trusted him to some degree.  You see that is some of the lettercol responses, encouraging readers to have patience, Jack's putting together a broader story, etc.  Can you believe that they're complaining about 30 CENTS!?!  With comics costing $4, $5, and $6 these days.  I know, time value of money/inflation and what not.  Still, 30 cents, what a bargain!  As a nearly/newly 7-year old, 30 cents wasn't necessarily easy for me to come by, but these writers could afford stamps!  

Thoughts on each issue:

#1 -- Probably the best cover of the bunch.  Nicely captures the whole theme in a beautiful design, even if the Monolith isn't drawn at the correct 1 x 4 x 9 dimensions (the squares of 1, 2, and 3).  And the corner box art, OUTSTANDING! I loved this issue, which as I mentioned before was way over my head as a kid (what off earth was happening to the astronaut at the end?).  Cave man learns to fight with a stone knife.  Nuff said!

#2 -- If the facial proportions were less exaggerated, this cover design would work better.  It's a great story.  Following the formula but with interesting differences.  Here you have a primitive woman create the first (wo)man-made religion by dressing up in old bones and scaring the locals into doing her bidding.  Honestly, she was just hungry.  The Astronaut scene is particularly good when the Monolith creates the character's pool side environment where she rapidly ages and dies to become the material needed to germinate the new seed.

#3 & #4 -- A two-parter!  Marak the conqueror encounters an old man who learned how to make Bronze swords. And wait until you see how the wheel is discovered!  Marak sees a neighboring ruling woman in a vision and must have her. Nothing and no land will stand in his way. When she sees him coming, she doesn't resist, instead they join forces, creating the first empire/stable government.

Then in the future a direct descendant of Marak, encounters the Monolith in a sacrifice play to save his fellow astronauts.  When the Monolith creates the perfect environment for him, he refuses to go though the evolution process and instead lives out an eternity in his own paradise.  Same formula, but with different results! It's a great story.

#5 & #6 --  Another two-parter!  It's the year 2040!  What?  Yeah, that's what the letter writers asked.  Norton of New York gets to live out his fantasy as super-hero in a pay-by-the-hour simulation.  Most of life is an escape since pollution is so bad. There's even a matte paining at the beach!  Norton learns from a brief encounter with the Monolith (he thought it was part of the "show" experience) that he needs to go to space for some real adventure.  Did I mention how much of a comic geek Norton is?  Well, he ends up saving an alien princess (who looks like one of Jack's Rigellians from Thor), but he just misses the "boat" himself, dying in spectacular fashion in one of the best splash pages of the whole series.  I found an image of the original art online (see below):

#7 -- The New Seed explained!  And what a gorgeous cover, it may be second best, but it isn't second-rate!  By my counting this is the fifth Seed we've seen (including the Treasury Edition) to date.  But this time we see where it goes and what it does!  The Seed is just exploring the galaxy and comes upon a planet it its death-throes.  It's a toxic and violent environment that will never get better.  But even on this world there are dying embers of love.  Unfortunately, it's doomed to die, tragically.  But maybe not!  The Seed takes the vanquished lovers, intermingles there essence and uses it to "create" the possibility of life in the ocean of a developing world.  I love this concept as science fiction, but as a strict Biblical 6-day Creationist, it can only ever be fantasy to me.

You know 2001 would end perfectly right here, but we still have three more issues to go . . .

#8, #9 & #10 -- A three-parter (and a back-door pilot to another series). It's the debut of X-51, aka Mister Machine, and soon-to-be rebranded as Machine Man long before he took up cussing.

Jack's thrown the "formula" out the window now.  X series robots are running amuck.  They all get homicidal at a certain point so the order is given to detonate them all.  X-51 is different he's been given a human face and has been raised as a son by his father.  Aaron Stack is his name.  The powers that be don't care if he's well adjusted, they want him destroyed.  His "dad" takes out his inner mechanism bomb, sacrificing himself, so Aaron can escape.  X-51 doesn't find out about his death until issue #10. He's captured and they remove his face. Uh-oh, that might cause him to go insane too -- luckily the Monolith gives him an idea for escape. (#8 picture at the end)

I was going to see issue #9 is my least favorite, but it's not as bad as I thought (the art is more rushed though) and serves as a good bridge to the excellent issue #10.  X-51 escapes and we get to see him strut his stuff.  He can mimic another's voice. He can extend his arms and legs.  A wise scientist realizes they can't beat him, so they give him his face back and release him into the world.  The Monolith meets him again, hints at a greater destiny (Earth-X maybe), but Aaron declines; he'll pave his own way as a free man (a recurring them in many of Kirby's books).  You get the sense that this story is contemporary (1977) and may take place in the Marvel Universe (which eventually it does in a mild retcon I think), but really there is just a kid that likes super-heroes and Marvel Comics, not evidence of the 616 universe.  Also includes the Godzilla #1 House Ad!!!!

I really enjoyed the final issue despite the worst name of any villain's henchman, Mister Hotline!  Yikes!  I like Mr. Machine's interaction with the small town family and constables --  gave me a Dark Shadows feel of every-day/everyman characters meeting the strange and unusual.  Hotline is a Devil worshiper or so he thinks.  The "devil" believes Aaron holds the key to free will and if he can subvert it like a deleted/censored social media post, he can control the world and all thought.  When Mister Machine is captured they dismantle him - head, arms, legs, and torso.  They bring the head to "face the heat" of the demon.  Meanwhile the other body parts, sprout TV cameras and start to mobilize to rescue Machine Man's head.  It's a nifty turn of events.  And it turns out the demon/devil is really a disguise for a super computer!  Mister Machine saves the family and is on his way to becoming a super-hero in issue #11, which never appears . . . and Machine Man #1 won't hit the stand for another six months!

I forgot to mention that all the series issues are inked and lettered by Mike Royer, who I've always thought complimented Jack's pencils the best.

As an extra bonus to myself, I realized I had a Marvel Legend's Machine Man figure (fairly accurate with telescoping arms) that I never had opened.  Well, what better time than now!  I only wish there were more 2001 toy related merchandise!

There's one more thing I have to read regarding the 2001 series.  There was a retrospective in TwoMorrows' Back Issue #89, which was glad to see I had in my collection.  I didn't want to read it before I wrote this post, otherwise, the whole idea of it may have been moot, having been relayed somewhere else (and perhaps more thoroughly and better written).  Oh well, I was thankful for the opportunity to put something together again.  It was fun and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

So until next time, enjoy your own personal Odyssey.  Mine is still going to be swimming in space and Monoliths during my leisure.  I've got three more novels to finish!

Take care.

 

Fantastic Four #25 (#670) -- A Review

Hello, dear reader.  It sure has been awhile hasn't it?  (And it's felt even longer.)  Although, my musings and ruminations have been absent from this blog, my thoughts and intentions often come back to the possibility of writing something for this forum from time to time.  I've actually had several posts brewing in my head recently, but alas there's no guarantee I'll ever get to them.  You really have to strike while the iron is hot.  (Does that cliche refer to blacksmithing or pressing your clothes?) 

For example:

• I started to write a post comparing the Casino Royale novel with the film.  I wrote one paragraph.  Instead, I ended up re-reading the Ian Fleming James Bond novels for the first time in 37 years (since I was 13) and managed to get through Thunderball (the 9th one of the original 14), before getting stalled on The Spy Who Loved Me.  I also read the British comic strip versions afterwards and re-watched the associated films.

• I'd like to discuss how cover variants have taken over the new comic market, largely surpassing the content of the books themselves.

• I finished watching the entire series of Dark Shadows (1225 episodes) in just under two years.  I then re-read the two comic series by Dynamite, which I wanted to write about.  One took place immediately after the show finished and the other was a slight reimagining of the classic 1795 storyline.  I love Dark Shadows so much that I immediately started re-watching it from episode one (usually watching at least one a day) and just finished episode 50 yesterday.

• After I finished Dark Shadows, I decided to pick up my pencil and start drawing again (to fill the "extra" time in my schedule more productively).  I largely gave up drawing in high school and stopped taking classes after 7th grade.  So far progress has been very slow, but my Dick Blick order just arrived, so we'll see how it goes with better supplies.  Actually, that's another reason for writing this blog post (during a sleepless time), since I've been frustrated creatively in the art endeavor, why not supplement it with some writing?

Anyway, enough background, let's get to the issue at hand:

I'm still getting a quite a number of  hardcover or trade paperback collections of classic comic reading material, but I also come home with a large stack of new comics every Wednesday (from the excellent Cosmic Comix).  Too many, truth be told.  As alluded to above, some I get mainly for the covers.  And in a rather new development, if an issue just isn't interesting enough to me, I may not even finish reading it.  So, it's a pretty special issue or series that cuts through the "noise" and stands out as memorable or blog-worthy.

Fantastic Four #25 (#670 in the legacy numbering) is such an issue! 

Writer: Dan Slott

Artist/Color Artist: R.B. Silva & Jesus Aburtov

"There Shall Come A Reckoning" (31 pages): 

Artist/Color Artist: Paco Medina & Marcio Menyz
"Sight Unseen" (8 pages): 

Artist: Will Robson

"Fantastic Forum" (1 page): 

I was super excited when the Fantastic Four came back again a couple of years ago, but I've got to admit, I stopped reading it consistently not long after the wedding of Ben and Alicia (#5).  That didn't mean I stopped buying it though. I either got behind or was just not very interested in the storyline, but I checked in here and there.  But I definitely started reading again for the Empyre tie-in issues, which makes this the fifth consecutive issue in a row. 

I'm interested in going back and reading those issues I skipped, but let me be clear, this particular issue is a great "jumping-on" point for new readers.  Beyond a little background that I'll briefly provide below, you don't need to read anything before this issue (more after the break). 

LAST DAY

Last Day

What if this was your last day?  How would you live it?

I’ve been thinking about this, because today, 2020 May 10, marks the 50^th anniversary of my Daddy’s death.  So yesterday would’ve marked his last full day on earth, 1970 May 09.  He was 31, married, and had three children: a 6-year old boy, a 4.5-year old girl, and another son in the womb soon to be born (me).  I know some details about that last day, which I recounted in my poem from Mother’s Day 10 years ago: http://comicsand.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-to-remember.html. And I asked Mama to write up a character portrait of Daddy, which is just wonderful and will be shared sometime today, if it hasn’t already. But while, thinking about Daddy’s final day of life is the inspiration of this message, it not really about him as you’ll see.

Last Day

What if this was your last day?  Would you accept it?

Just thinking about those two words automatically invokes images from one of my favorite movies, Logan’s Run from 1976.  In that film, in order to keep the population under control living in the sealed domed city, the citizens voluntarily went to Carousel on their 30^th birthday.  There they would don hockey/skull masks and white-body suits decorated with red flames, stand in a circle, and raise their blinking red life clocks (crystal palm flowers) to “Identify”.  Then they would float up into the chamber until they exploded in a fiery display while their fellow citizen onlookers shouted, “Renew, Renew!”  Why would anyone do this?  Well, they were taught to believe they would be reborn and just get to live another 30 years of fun and pleasure.  Those that didn’t believe the messaged lie realized that the people were actually going to their deaths.  So in order to live longer than 30, they attempted to flee the city seals, becoming Runners.  The City could not tolerate that sort of independent thinking, which would upset their control and delicate balance, so they enlisted Sandmen to terminate the runners. Logan was a Sandman, but later became a runner.  Anyway, it’s a great movie from story to music to costumes, but again not the real subject.