avengers 267: time and time again

Tags

Avengers, big box of comics, John Buscema, kang, Roger Stern, Storm, time travel, Tom Palmer

One of my favorite Avengers stories features the time-traveling psychopath known as Kang The Conqueror. He sports a ridiculous outfit that only John Buscema and Tom Palmer could make cool.

What kind of evil plan can a person hatch in striped purple thigh-high boots? Stripping to pay his way through college? But don’t judge Kang by his fashion sense, because he rocks hard in this minor masterpiece.

I was 13 when this issue appeared on the comic book rack at the Walgreens on Manchester Road in Ballwin, Missouri. The opening sequence blew my mind, and I still get a thrill reading it years later. The complete three-issue story is one of the few mid-80s superhero yarns that still holds up for me as an adult reader, and though I no longer have the complete Stern/Buscema run, I’ve read it a bunch of times. These days, I just reserve a little space for my absolutely favorite Avengers stories, including this one.

It begins the day Colossus joins the Avengers, and opens with Storm descending from the sky like the weather goddess she is. Goddess and, as we discover, an Avenger.

I love the mood and tone of Stern’s captions on that page and generally for the entire run. Despite some typical comic-book clunkers such as expositional thought balloons, his prose always made me feel like I was reading a book for adults, not children. But back to our story.

The President of the USA escorts Colossus onto the scene to induct him into the Avengers and become an American citizen.

What’s that? You don’t remember Storm and Colossus being Avengers in the 1980s? Pay attention!

Iron Man flies onto the scene to give a gift to the POTUS on this momentous occasion. And gosh, isn’t Tony Stark such a great guy?

Just tug a little harder, sir! But suddenly…

Wait, what? The whole team just got nuked into oblivion? Is the series cancelled? What do you do after THAT?!

If you’re a super-villain, you gloat.

The nuke was just a warm-up. Now, it really starts to hit the fan. It turns out that Kang’s time-traveling adventures are creating all kinds of alternate timelines, and each has its own Kang. A mysterious council has summoned our nuke-loving Kang to their secret chamber in a limbo outside of time. When Kang questions the council’s authority to tell him what a massive screw-up he is for getting his entire planet destroyed, they reveal themselves to be a trio of alternate Kangs!

They kill him then adjourn and vanish. But one Kang comes back to snoop around the building, and who does he run into? One of the other Kangs! John Buscema gives the Jack Kirby treatment to the wonders inside the secret chambers inside the secret chamber, and Kang gives Kang a tour of his time-monitoring operations.

In fewer than ten pages, Stern gave the Avengers new members, nuked an entire planet, discovered alternate realities, hatched a nefarious plot of betrayal and murder spanning centuries and multiple universes, and plumbed the depths of grief, greed, and evil in the human soul. And the real Avengers, the stars of the series, haven’t even appeared yet!

The heroes show up soon enough, and the adventure is a solid one with plenty of twists and turns and mysteries to solve. Despite his goofy outfit, Kang is a strong villain with a plan he seems entirely capable of pulling off, and he steals the show in a way usually reserved for Dr. Doom. Fitting, I suppose, since Kang originally came from the future using Doom’s time-machine and, after becoming an Egyptian Pharaoh in the past, patterned himself after Doom. As far as alternate timeline stories go, I’d rather re-read this classic than re-watch Avengers Endgame any day.

Collector’s Guide: The full story appears in issues 267, 268, and 269 of the original Avengers series, and they cost about $3 to $6 each, depending on their grade.

A big “thank you” to this blog’s readers for making it possible to get these issues as part of my ongoing big box of free comics series.

Son of Big Box of Comics: Turtles, Surfers, and Science-Fiction Mayhem

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Avengers, big box of comics, color classics, comic books, deeper and stranger, John Buscema, Paul Chadwick, Roger Stern, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, world below

The big box of comics series is a tribute to the fun things I wouldn’t have in my life without the readers of this blog who help me earn store credit at MyComicShop.com or Amazon.com every time they use my handy “Collector’s Guides” links to make a purchase.

It’s a symbiotic relationship — much like when an alien symbiote bonds to your nervous system and drinks your adrenaline for survival.

Actually, it’s nothing like that, but you could read that story in the Spectacular Spider-man TPB #1 by Paul Jenkins and Humberto Ramos.

This month, thanks to readers’ generosity, I put together a run of inexpensive reprints of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2–5, courtesy of IDW’s “Color Classics” versions of early TMNT. A few months ago, readers helped me reunite with the ridiculous majesty of TMNT #6, and I couldn’t go on without reading the preceding issues at least one more time!

Was it fun? Oh, hell yes. But maybe not as great as I remember from my black-and-white collections or the original colorized graphic novels from First. IDW’s coloring is part of that, since they put dark colors over the original Zip-a-Tone midtones, and obscuring the mid-range tends to flatten the artwork and make it less dynamic. Also, one of the pages in one issue seems to be a misprint that duplicates a page from earlier in the story.

AND BRING THE ROBOT TO THE BRIDGE!

But in terms of being an affordable way to read the Turtles’ earliest adventures, these reprints did the job admirably. Because #6 is one of my all-time favorite comics, I enjoyed reliving the outrageous plot that led up to it, and seeing how the storytelling evolved and improved in the early days. As a bonus, I got a few issues from the second volume of Color Classics, including a solo Michelangelo adventure in a kind of Lone Wolf & Cub fantasy of feudal Japan mixed with mystic lizard demons from hell. That issue includes one of my favorite Turtles pages:

Also from the second volume, a color version of an issue of the Return to New York story that’s a favorite of mine. In the black-and-white original, a brain-damaged, dying Triceratops with some kind of plamsa gun kills and burns his way through the New York sewer system for his new friends: a quartet of mutated, intelligent reptiles who are also armored killing machines.

If that doesn’t sound like the greatest scene ever, then you are at the wrong blog!

Along with the batch of ninja nostalgia, I picked up some bargain-priced Fine copies of Paul Chadwick’s The World Below. It’s no secret I love Chadwick’s Concrete series. World Below and its sequel, the four-issue Deeper and Stranger, don’t have the same depth of storytelling and lush rendering as Concrete, but they are a fun romp through Chadwick’s science-fiction imagination.

I like the sequel better than the first series. The sequel uses black and white art with no color, which is almost always how I prefer to see Chadwick’s art. And, the first series suffered from too many flashbacks trying to make me care about characters I never properly met, since the story started right in the middle of the action. Each time a character faced a crisis I wasn’t invested in, the character flashed back to a similar situation in their early life to beat me over the head with how huge an emotional deal it all was. That didn’t work for me.

Also, I could have lived without seeing the characters say, “eff this” and “eff you, you effing effer” instead of using the actual profanity. Those pages in World Below #3 were physically painful to read, and even old-school characters like F@%$ would have been preferable.

It seems to me that if your dialogue depends on using the word “fuck”, then you should just say “fuck”.

The narrative problems (mostly) smooth out in the sequel, which has my favorite issue of the series and an unexpected ending that blew my mind. Deeper and Stranger fulfills the promise of the first World Below and the tagline on those covers: the deeper you go, the stranger it gets!

Finally, this month’s box of comics included a favorite from my Avengers collection that I sold off a few years ago. Recently, someone commented on my old post about the Stern/Buscema/Palmer run on Avengers in the 1980s. It reminded me that while I basically memorized those issues after reading them so many times, Avengers #266 featuring the Silver Surfer really needed to come back to my modest “Avengers favorites” collection.

Let’s get this out of the way right now: the issue is a post-script to one of the most god-awful, tragic dumpster fires Marvel produced in the 1980s: Secret Wars II. Don’t even get me started.

But this issue focuses on two powerful beings—one a respected hero, and one a reviled villain—who need to work together to heal a cataclysmic wound in the Earth before the planet falls apart and kills everyone. All in 32 ad-free pages, in which the fate of the world might depend on one total nerd’s desire to watch sitcom re-runs with his girlfriend instead of letting the disaster take its fatal course. It’s so insane!

This issue has many examples of Stern’s dialogue that endeared me to his Avengers. Namor and Hercules bust each other’s balls like only gods can do, but below their arguing I sense a mutual respect born of the knowledge that they are both beings of power, and maybe they need each other to call each other out sometimes to help keep their rages in check.

She-Hulk isn’t turned off at all by Hercules’ temper tantrums; she flatters him and straight-up asks him to dinner, which is almost as awesome as that time she hooked up with Juggernaut. Jennifer’s a being of great power, too, and she seems perfectly comfortable and relaxed about it.

Hercules’ thoughts on nobility and heroism after the villain supposedly “loses his powers” while saving the Earth — also a lovely piece of internal dialogue.

But my favorite part is the final scene where the villain reveals he never lost his powers at all, and that the hero was complicit in this deception.

But why?

I simply allowed your courage to inspire mine!

The Silver Surfer’s comment on courage and vulnerability really sums up what I love about this Avengers run. Sure, it’s all fun and games in spandex with lots of punching and the fate of the universe at stake, and there’s no shortage of expositional thought balloons. But every now and then, Stern’s humanistic and thoughtful depictions of his characters meld with John Buscema’s and Tom Palmer’s artwork to create peaks of visual literature.

You know what? I might need to reclaim a few more of my favorite story arcs from this run — especially the Kang saga and the assault on Avengers Mansion.

That’s it for September’s big box of free comics, and I am excited to tell you about the October box that is on its way!

The Avengers by Stern, Buscema, & Palmer

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Avengers, collection, John Buscema, Marvel Comics, Roger Stern, Tom Palmer

Tom Palmer’s painted cover kicks off our favorite years of the Avengers. Roger Stern, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer would collaborate from #255 through #285 in a number of powerful story arcs and historical events. Stern would hand over the writing reigns to Ralph Macchio and subsequently Walter Simonson while Buscema and Palmer stayed on through #300.

The creative team begins with a brutal destruction of the primitive but beautiful Savage Land, a hidden ecosystem in the Antarctic regions where dinosaurs still roam tropical jungles. While the Avengers take down the bad guy, it comes at a heavy cost, and Stern makes no effort to put a silver lining on the tragedy.

The storytelling in the next arc of deep-space intrigue continues to fire on all cylinders for several issues. Then we get derailed by the hokiest ending possible. Why? All I can type without raising my blood pressure is “Secret Wars II.”

The stories bounce back quickly when Sub-mariner comes on stage. The X-Factor tie in of #263 makes a much better read than the Secret Wars II debacle. Some may revile this issue for cheapening the death of Jean Grey by bringing her back, and they’ve got a point.

After the last unsavory Secret Wars II tie-in, #266 comes as a surprise: one of the highlights of this run.

Maybe it’s that opening splash page of the Silver Surfer zooming through a seething gouge in the earth’s crust, magma and stone implacably raging all around him. Buscema draws the Surfer like no one before or since, and it’s a treat to see him in these pages. Stern gives us an intimate character study of the Surfer and the Molecule Man against a background of geologic ferocity.

The stories kick back into high gear with a totally off-beat Kang story. Stern takes us wandering with lost Avengers in a misty maze of limbo as a madman with a time machine tries to kill off every version of himself except the one living now. This was the story that originally got us into the Avengers, and we may show it some undue favoritism. It still kicks ass.

Just seeing this opening splash panel where Storm joins the Avengers brings a smile to my face. Oh, this is going to be good!

The Sub-mariner gets a very sympathetic treatment in these tales. Stern portrays him as arrogant and hot-headed, yes, but he’s also grown up a lot. Public outcry about crimes he has committed in the past saddens him. He knows he has acted rashly and been in the wrong. Captain America and Hercules know what the score is with Prince Namor, though, and they stand by him. The entire team has his back when he needs to set things right in Atlantis, and many readers recall this as a highlight of the series.

The brutality of the next big story arc is all the more disturbing in light of how unflinchingly the team handled the devastation of the Savage Land twenty issues earlier! The Avengers get beat down, and we mean beat down. They suffer.

Since the writing of this arc, many mainstream comics have topped it for sheer shocking brutality. But you would be hard pressed to find an Avengers fan that wasn’t blown away at this particular point in the series. It has a certain subtlety to it, like when we see a character’s face reacting to the horrors we never see.

In the aftermath of this battle, we get a few issues of character studies, shake up the membership roster, and have a quiet moment with Jarvis the Butler in the hospital after his terrible beating. Stern ends this run by pitting the Avengers against the Gods of Olympus in another action-packed confrontation.

The Figure According to John Buscema

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anatomy, art, drawing, figure drawing, how to draw comics the marvel way, John Buscema, lessons, Stan Lee

Let’s have just one more look inside in How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way for some helpful figure drawing lessons. In an earlier chapter, John Buscema addressed basic anatomy and proportions: the breakdowns of the human figure into formal shapes: cylinders, spheres, and so on. That chapter is quite detailed and well worth reading. This shorter chapter compares that approach to a much more loose and relaxed — even sloppy — method: scribbling.

The Human Head According to John Buscema!

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anatomy, art, drawing, figure drawing, head, how to draw comics the marvel way, John Buscema, lessons, Stan Lee

The following pages from How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way demonstrate all the essentials of drawing the human head. These breakdowns resemble the ones we looked at in yesterday’s Bad Girls figure drawing lesson. But, they go more in depth: more poses, more character types, and more comparisons of the highly idealized male and female faces.

Dan-Thing Archives: Mighty Thor 200; Ragnarok!

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beware if this be ragnarok, end of the world, essential thor, Gerry Conway, John Buscema, Len Wein, Marvel Comics, Mighty Thor, ragnarok, Thor

Up from the primordial muck slithers… the Dan-Thing! In his oozing fist he clutches a time capsule: Marvel comic books from 1972! Our muck-stomping friend the Dan-Thing asked that we share these bronze-age beauties with you for education and inspiration.

Today we have the most awesome issue of Thor ever produced: #200, from 1972. Beware! If this Be… Ragnarok! John Buscema unleashes the full destructive power of his Jack Kirby influence to render the total end of everything. Is it madness – or prophetic vision?!

Sometimes we lack enough superlatives to describe books like this one. We had never read this story before Dan-Thing mailed it to us earlier this year. We expected another ho-hum issue of Thor: the usual confounding of science and mysticism and really big headgear. But LO! I say thee NAY, mortal! This issue doth kickest the mightiest ass there be!

Collector’s Guide: From Thor #200; Marvel, 1972. Reprinted in Essential Thor #5 in black-and-white; Marvel, 2011.

A Time to Die!

Tags

Don Heck, John Buscema, Stan Lee, Tower of Shadows

In this 1969 tale, Stan Lee and John Buscema bring to the page the magic that would make their Silver Surfer collaboration so memorable.

Collector’s Guide:
– from Tower of Shadows #1; Marvel, 1969.

Strange Tales 68

Tags

Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnot, John Buscema, Steve Ditko, Strange Tales

Let’s set the time machine for 1959! Take a look this week at a stack of Marvel’s Strange Tales. You’ll find fast-paced science fiction stories with an occasional occult theme thrown in for good measure. (Strange Tales ran more horror in the early 1950’s, before the Comics Code Authority nonsense began.) Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby feature prominently alongside other masters of these classic short-form comics.

Collector’s Guide: From Strange Tales #68; Marvel, 1959.

“Last Warning–Evacuate Earth!” with art by Joe Sinnott; “The Creatures From the Bottomless Pit!” with art by Steve Ditko; “Test Pilot!” with pencils by Jack Kirby; “Next Stop–Mars!”; “Trapped in Tomorrow!” with art by John Buscema; Kirby cover pencils.

Man-Thing’s Second Appearance!

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Astonishing Tales, John Buscema, John Romita, Ka-zar, Len Wein, Man-Thing, Neal Adams, Roy Thomas, Zabu

As Zabu fans, our favorite part of this comic is Zabu kicking major alligator ass. He needs no help from any human brother! But listen, this comic is also important for being the second appearance of Man-Thing.

Manny first appeared in Savage Tales #1 in 1971. Len Wein and Neal Adams created a second Man-Thing story that didn’t make it into Savage Tales. That story is integrated in its entirety right into the middle of this two-part Ka-zar story by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. It’s fitting, because Thomas wrote that very first Man-Thing story.

Len Wein went on to write the first issues of Swamp Thing for DC Comics with Berni Wrightson. The star-studded “Terror Stalks the Everglades!” also features inker Dan Adkins and John Romita, Sr., who provided retouches to the original black-and-white Neal Adams artwork.

Collector’s Guide: From Astonishing Tales #12 Featuring Ka-Zar; Marvel, 1972. Story continues in Astonishing Tales #13.

The Origin of the Silver Surfer by Stan Lee and John Buscema!

Tags

Fantasy Masterpieces, first issue, Galactus, John Buscema, Norrin Radd, origin, Silver Surfer, Silver Surfer Omnibus, Stan Lee, Zenn-La

The story of Norrin Radd’s abandoning a life of luxurious complacency to wield the power cosmic remains our favorite Origin of all time. If you ever have a chance to be the herald of Galactus, don’t think about it — just do it! We’ll see you in the spaceways.

Dig this slightly abridged version of Silver Surfer #1. We kept in all the origin parts, don’t worry! A nicely recolored version from one of the more recent reprints, it truly does justice to the all-powerful artwork of John Buscema.

Collector’s Guide: If you need a copy of Silver Surfer #1 for yourself — and believe us, you do — then here is a list of every time Marvel has printed it. Have fun shopping!

– From Silver Surfer #1; Marvel Comics, September 1968.
– Reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces Vol. 2, #1; 1979.
– Reprinted in the Silver Surfer Omnibus Vol. 1
– Reprinted in the HardCover Silver Surfer Masterworks #1, a 2003 Paperback version, and a 2010 Paperback.
– Reprinted in black and white in Essential Silver Surfer, Vol. 1, Edition 1 and in Edition 2.

The Lizard Has Only One Desire that Will Never Die!

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Amazing Spider-man, Jim Mooney, John Buscema, lizard, Marvel Tales, Spider-man, Stan Lee

Being a super-villain must be awesome. You never have an existential crisis. Every day when you wake up, you know exactly what you want most in life. One purpose. One plan. One desire that will never die.

Collector’s Guide: Reprints Amazing Spider-man #76. From Marvel Tales #57.

KISS: 1977 Marvel Comics Super Special #1

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Alan Weiss, blood, Dr. Doom, first issue, John Buscema, KISS, Latveria, Marvel Comics Super Special, Steve Gerber

Blasting into your reality from the Summer of 1977, it’s a double-sized KISS Super Special from Marvel Comics! This Bronze-Age treasure compiles interviews, a discography, and pics of the band with a multi-part Marvel Comics adventure penned by Steve Gerber.

As you appreciate the vivid red ink in this twisted tale, realize that the band mixed their own blood with the red ink at the print shop. If you own this book, you really do own a piece of KISS! Now THAT is rock’n’roll.

Our favorite thing about Marvel Comics Super Special #1 is the advertisement for Air Latveria. It promises you a visit to the land of Latverian enchantment to enjoy, among other things, “the famous outdoor gladiatorial robot matches.” YES! Where do we book the next flight out of here?!

Collector’s Guide: From Marvel Comics Super Special #1; 1977.

See more historic rock comics we’ve shared: Alice Cooper in Marvel Premiere; Led Zeppelin in Rock and Roll Comics, and KISS: Psycho Circus from Image.

Silver Surfer #3: The Power and the Prize!

Tags

Essential Silver Surfer, Fantasy Masterpieces, John Buscema, Mephisto, Power and the Prize, Silver Surfer, Silver Surfer 3, Silver Surfer Masterworks, Silver Surfer Omnibus, Stan Lee

We recently tuned into a podcast at Stash My Comics to hear Paul “Longbox Graveyard” O’Connor review one of our favorite comics: Silver Surfer Vol. 1, #3. Paul extolls the virtues of Silver Surfer in his review. He also points out that the Surfer’s series lost its direction after the first few incredible issues. An interview with John Buscema in Jack Kirby Collector #18 confirms that Stan Lee knew this. John recalled, “Many years later, Stan told me at lunch one day, ‘John, I just didn’t know what the hell to do with the damn thing. I didn’t know what direction we were going.'”

Read the whole Buscema interview at TwoMorrows Publishing. It also includes Buscema’s recollections on copying layouts from Kirby’s panels, and Stan’s furious deconstruction of Buscema’s masterful work on Silver Surfer #4. (Later, Stan would tell John it was the greatest thing they ever did!)

But the answer was right in front of Stan the whole time: Get the “Sentinel of the Spaceways” back into outer space where he belonged! It wasn’t until 1987, nearly twenty years after this landmark issue, that Steve Englehart worked out the solution to give the Surfer direction once again. In Silver Surfer Vol. 2, #1, Englehart and Marshall Rogers got the Surfer past the barrier of Galactus for good.

Astute collectors will find that the original pages 6, 7, 26, and 30 are missing from the Fantasy Masterpieces reprint. The missing pages include this awesome splash page of demonic lovelies.

Despite losing direction, Stan Lee and John Buscema would unite once more for one of Marvel’s greatest visual accomplishments: The Silver Surfer graphic novel, Judgment Day. Judgment Day (also available in paperback) features splash panel after splash panel of glorious Buscema artwork. It pits the Silver Surfer against Mephisto once again. And, just to top the hellfire-and-brimstone extravaganza of Silver Surfer #3, this time Galactus gets involved! Satan versus the Big G? We’re there! You can read a fun review on Take Back What You Said About Thor.

Collector’s Guide: If you need a copy of Silver Surfer #3 for yourself — and believe us, you do — then here is a list of every time Marvel has printed it. Have fun shopping!

– From Silver Surfer #3; Marvel Comics, September 1968.
– Reprinted in Fantasy Masterpieces Vol. 2, #3; 1979. (missing 4 original pages)
– Reprinted in the Silver Surfer Omnibus Vol. 1
– Reprinted in the HardCover Silver Surfer Masterworks #1, a 2003 Paperback version, and a 2010 Paperback.
– Reprinted in black and white in Essential Silver Surfer, Vol. 1, Edition 1 and in Edition 2.

He Stands Triumphant in the Very Center of Pangea!

Tags

Avengers, Holocaust in a Hidden land, John Buscema, Ka-zar, Roger Stern, Savage Land, Terminus, Tom Palmer, Zabu

Remember when the Savage Land was totally destroyed by a giant alien in space armor? Dinosaurs on the run, Terminus looking mighty creepy, and the Avengers flexing in the jungle. Not to mention Hercules making friends with a sabretooth tiger, a little Kirby Krackle, and Shanna trying on her new leopard bikini. It’s all part of one of our favorite runs on the Avengers. We posted two excerpts: Part One.

Collector’s Guide: From Avengers #256-257: “Holocaust in a Hidden Land.”

Roger Stern plotting and scripting, John Buscema handling layouts and breakdowns, and Tom Palmer’s finishes bringing it all together! This team rocked the Avengers for thirty issues in #255-285, from 1985-1987.

You are Mine to Do with as I Choose!

Tags

Avengers, Holocaust in a Hidden land, John Buscema, Ka-zar, Roger Stern, Savage Land, Terminus, Tom Palmer, Zabu

Remember when the Savage Land was totally destroyed by a giant alien in space armor? Dinosaurs on the run, Terminus looking mighty creepy, and the Avengers flexing in the jungle. Not to mention Hercules making friends with a sabretooth tiger, a little Kirby Krackle, and Shanna trying on her new leopard bikini. It’s all part of one of our favorite runs on the Avengers. We posted two excerpts: Part Two.

Collector’s Guide: From Avengers #256-257: “Holocaust in a Hidden Land”

Roger Stern plotting and scripting, John Buscema handling layouts and breakdowns, and Tom Palmer’s finishes bringing it all together! This team rocked the Avengers for 30 issues #255-285, from 1985-1987.

Wolverine Gallery 21: John Buscema and Klaus Janson

Tags

John Buscema, Klaus Janson, Marvel Comics Presents, Wolverine

Welcome to the Wolverine Gallery! It’s an ongoing project, so just click Wolverine Gallery to see everything in this virtual exhibition!

Collector’s Guide: From the very first page of Marvel Comics Presents #1. Published September 1988, the serialized Wolverine stories kicked off the “Patch” adventures in Madripor. These would form the basis of Larry Hama’s 1988 Wolverine series.

Yet Another Vile Tentacle Hath Encircled Me!

Tags

John Buscema, Thor

John Buscema draws the God of Thunder and some blue Mongolians battling an alien serpent monster inside of a… a… a… Man, this is so far out there, we don’t even know what the hell is going on! SKKAR-KOOM!!!

Collector’s Guide:
– From The Mighty Thor #256

By the way, if you’re geeked about Thor and you like Jack Kirby, visit Diversions of the Groovy Kind for THOR WEEK. It rocks hard, and there’s headgear like there’s no tomorrow. See you there!

Caught by One of the Many-Fanged Demons of the Deep!

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John Buscema, Roy Thomas, Sub-Mariner, Tiger Shark

Nobody has ever drawn the Sub-Mariner as radically awesome as John Buscema. NOBODY. Too bad Buscema only did issues 1-8 back in 1968!

If you want the goods but think original Sub-Mariner issues cost too much, you can always get the far less expensive reprints in the second volume of Tales To Astonish featuring Sub-Mariner.

Now dig these crazy sea monsters, evil villians, and foxy underwater babes in true Buscema style! IMPERIUS REX!!!

Wolverine Gallery 10

Tags

Bill Sienkewicz, John Buscema, Sabretooth, silver samurai, Wolverine

Welcome to the Wolverine Gallery! It’s an ongoing project, so just click Wolverine Gallery to see everything in this virtual exhibition! Today’s featured Wolvie portraits by John Buscema and Bill Sienkewicz come from two of our favorite covers of the first solo Wolverine series from the 1980s. (The ongoing series, not the Frank Miller/Chris Claremont series!)