What Classic Comic Have You Read Lately? Pt. 2

[Cei-U!]

Just read Avengers vol1 #120 through to 178. And to be honest, they seemed an awful lot better when I was 12-15!

... snip ...

an awful lot of the art is really poor: Bob Brown inked by Don Heck, Rick Buckler at his worst, even John Buscema mismatched Don Heck.

Now, see, I think that period is Buckler's best, if only because I can read 'em without stopping every other panel and thinking "Oh, there's a Kirby figure from FF #39" or "That one is Adams from Spectre #4." I'm also on record as really liking the Brown/Heck team and Buscema/Heck teams (though the latter is far from my favorite version of Big John).

Cei-U!
I summon the opposite POV!

[Paulie]

I'll lend a vote of support to mid 70s Avengers... I do think the ever changing roster of artists might have given the series a choppy feel but the stories were good and you got some good efforts from the Buscemas, Cockrum and Perez.

I read The Bride of Ultron last night... still awesome, and I think I'll read The Count Nefaria issues tonight.

[Simon Garth]

Now, see, I think that period is Buckler's best, if only because I can read 'em without stopping every other panel and thinking "Oh, there's a Kirby figure from FF #39" or "That one is Adams from Spectre #4." I'm also on record as really liking the Brown/Heck team and Buscema/Heck teams (though the latter is far from my favorite version of Big John).

I'm interested to know what you find attractive about them - to me, the completel inability to draw facial expressions of any kind just jars so badly that I find it really unpleasant to read.

[Simon Garth]

No offense, but I think you're slightly daft. While I'm not as big a fan of Englehart's work as some of my fellow Avengers fans, The Shooter/Perez (and company) era from, say, #158-177 is totally awesome. One of the best runs in superhero comics, period, in my opinion. Grim Reaper's trial in #160, the best Ultron story ever in #161-162, the fantastic Nefaria story with Byrne art in #164-166 (which is basically "what if the Avengers fought Superman?") and the all-time great Korvac Saga in #167-168 and #170-177. Top notch.

The Shooter ones are OKish, certainly better than most of the Englehart ones, and definitely better than Conway, who is one of my least-favourite writers, but they all seem horribly over-written and contrived to me - the Avengers are always arguing with each other for no logical reason other than it advances the plot, the dialogue is wildly unrealistic and everything groans under the weight on narrative captions.

It's no worse than a lot of 70s comics, but my sensibilities have turned more towards modern sparser writing.

[Judomaster]

Now that the federal gov't has forced strikeing Canada Post workers back to the job, I'm pleased to have finally received a recent MHC order.

I read and thoroughly enjoyed the Boyette Blackhawk revival. Great story and great art. A new favorite.

I also received and read Super Ritchie #1. This is the first comic book I have ever seen with a full page ad on the first interior page. Odd. Was this common for Harvey?

[dan bailey]

I also received and read Super Ritchie #1. This is the first comic book I have ever seen with a full page ad on the first interior page. Odd. Was this common for Harvey?

I actually meant to ask about that myself after receiving, via an eBay seller, a copy of Harvey's Bunny #21 earlier this week. I don't ever remember seeing it done in any of the Harveys I doted on as a kid; Bunny #21 didn't come out till mid-'76, or 5 years after #20 (& about a year after that Super Richie of yours).

[Jezebel Bond]

Got my hands on some reading copies of Fantastic Four and read #62 (And One Shall Save Him) while stuck in traffic in the rain. I didn't have either the issue preceding it or the subsequent one either.

[MatthewP]

I also received and read Super Ritchie #1. This is the first comic book I have ever seen with a full page ad on the first interior page. Odd. Was this common for Harvey?

This reminded me I'd noticed some ads on the first page of a couple recent purchases, so I took a look. Sure enough Joe Palooka #20 has ads on the first 2 pages of the book. I checked some of my other Palookas, and it looks like they did this at least on #19-33 (at least on the issues I have in that range). #35 goes back to no ad at the begining, so it looks like they may have done this approximately April '48 to June '49, although that period doesn't include your Super Richie.

Harvey wasn't the only company to do this - I also recently got Atomic Comics #1, and it has an ad on the first page. That just seems a horrible way to start a new series, or any book for that matter. You open the cover and get hit with an ad right away - even if some of those old ads are kind of amusing.

[shaxper]

Finally read Sgt. Fury #18 today.




This was my first time reading A pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury story, as well as my first time reading a Silver Age Marvel book pencilled by Dick Ayers (love that dynamic pop art! I wish we could still get this in comics today). Incidentally, when did Marvel retire that pop-art style?

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this issue. I've never bothered with a Marvel war title before and was blown away to discover that the art and writing could be just as striking (if not moreso) than in the sister superhero titles. I think Stan Lee took writing this issue a lot more seriously than in most of his larger than life superhero stories which, while serious at times, also felt tremendously campy. I suspect I'm going to have to seek out a lot more Lee non-superhero stories now, especially the rest of this series.

Which leads me to my disappointment with this issue. I picked up this issue based upon several of your assertions that the death of Pam Hawley was one of the most moving moments in comic history. It's for that reason that I feel I approached this issue all wrong. It's a bit like reading only the final chapter of The Dark Phoenix Saga -- I missed all the development of Pam Hawley and her relationship with Nick. I didn't really feel her importance (and thus, her loss) here. Perhaps more disappointing, I don't have the next issue where Stan Lee promises that we'll see a dramatic change in Nick's character as a result of this loss.

I get the historical importance. This was a full decade before Gwen Stacey died and thus must have been one heck of a shock. The issue is even structured in such a way that Pam's death comes as a complete surprise (first, Lee sets it up like she'll be the one to die, then shows her safe and shifts focus for the rest of the issue, taking her out of the equation, while we watch Nick endanger himself and his colleagues while trying to get back Pam's ring later on). In fact, there's a commonality here with the death of Gwen Stacey in that, both times, the reader is told upfront that someone is going to die in this issue, and we don't really suspect who until the very end. Anyway, I get it with my mind; I just didn't feel it with my heart. I really should have read more issues before getting to this one. Maybe I still will. How is #19? I think I might pick it up to see how Nick is changed by all this.

Another random question: When does Nick get the eye patch?

[Paulie]

Finally read Sgt. Fury #18 today.




This was my first time reading A pre-S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury story, as well as my first time reading a Silver Age Marvel book pencilled by Dick Ayers (love that dynamic pop art! I wish we could still get this in comics today). Incidentally, when did Marvel retire that pop-art style?

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this issue. I've never bothered with a Marvel war title before and was blown away to discover that the art and writing could be just as striking (if not moreso) than in the sister superhero titles. I think Stan Lee took writing this issue a lot more seriously than in most of his larger than life superhero stories which, while serious at times, also felt tremendously campy. I suspect I'm going to have to seek out a lot more Lee non-superhero stories now, especially the rest of this series.

Which leads me to my disappointment with this issue. I picked up this issue based upon several of your assertions that the death of Pam Hawley was one of the most moving moments in comic history. It's for that reason that I feel I approached this issue all wrong. It's a bit like reading only the final chapter of The Dark Phoenix Saga -- I missed all the development of Pam Hawley and her relationship with Nick. I didn't really feel her importance (and thus, her loss) here. Perhaps more disappointing, I don't have the next issue where Stan Lee promises that we'll see a dramatic change in Nick's character as a result of this loss.

I get the historical importance. This was a full decade before Gwen Stacey died and thus must have been one heck of a shock. The issue is even structured in such a way that Pam's death comes as a complete surprise (first, Lee sets it up like she'll be the one to die, then shows her safe and shifts focus for the rest of the issue, taking her out of the equation, while we watch Nick endanger himself and his colleagues while trying to get back Pam's ring later on). In fact, there's a commonality here with the death of Gwen Stacey in that, both times, the reader is told upfront that someone is going to die in this issue, and we don't really suspect who until the very end. Anyway, I get it with my mind; I just didn't feel it with my heart. I really should have read more issues before getting to this one. Maybe I still will. How is #19? I think I might pick it up to see how Nick is changed by all this.

Another random question: When does Nick get the eye patch?

Lotsa fun stuff in this series... it hits a real peak when Gary Friedrich starts writing and John Severin starts finishing Dick Ayers pencils. But that comes later...

There are still quite a few good stories prior to that... The two-parter that Nick loses the woman he loves is quite poignant and my favorite. It was reprinted in a king-size special with a framing sequence that features Fury hanging with the Marvel Bullpen.

If you keep reading you'll hit the Freidrich-Ayers-Severin classics, some solid early work from Roy Thomas, and some solid Stan Lee scripts that people can't entirely credit to Ditko or Kirby.

[dan bailey]

Perhaps more disappointing, I don't have the next issue where Stan Lee promises that we'll see a dramatic change in Nick's character as a result of this loss.

Let's just say that he & Percival Pinkerton become really, really close.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I summon the conspicuous omission from Cei-U!'s otherwise encyclopedic Sgt. Fury index!

[shaxper]

Let's just say that he & Percival Pinkerton become really, really close.

Okay, you're joking, right?


not that there's anything wrong with that...

[dan bailey]

Okay, you're joking, right?

Don't ask, don't tell.

[dan bailey]

Another random question: When does Nick get the eye patch?

Check back 9 months later, True Believer!

[dan bailey]

In any event, as many of you know Sgt. Fury happens to be my favorite series of all time, & this of course was a landmark issue. If I'd read it when I was a kid (I didn't start reading the comic till #48, & I didn't get ahold of #18 & a number of other & subsequent issues for another 9 years or so), it would probably would've laid me on the floor, especially if (unlike, as you note, you) I'd read the issues building up the Pam-Nick relationship, as I believe I was able to do with the aforementioned back-issues acquisition when I was a high school senior.

That lack of really early exposure is the only reason it's not among my top 10 issues, I'm sure; even so, it's certainly among my 2nd 10.