strikeforce morituri 1: the last stand of the black watch

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Black Watch, Brent Anderson, Marvel Comics, Peter B Gillis, Scott Williams, strikeforce morituri, wilce portacio

Strikeforce Morituri shows up on comic book nostalgia blogs every once in a while. The series had a great premise, one that would bear re-imagining at today’s Marvel. You get some random superpowers as an experimental soldier to combat an alien invasion of earth, and the powers kill you within one year.

Our favorite aspect of the first issue is the contrast between a heroic comic book adventure the protagonist reads and the harsh realities of a film he views. In the comic book, the Black Watch confront and heroically destroy some aliens with their Morituri powers, their last act alive. This inspirational piece of propaganda turns out to have little to do with the final tragic moments of the Black Watch.

Below, we have an abridged version of the pages from this issue. You can buy it as Strikeforce Morituri #1, Marvel Comics, 1986. In 2012, Marvel collected the series as Strikeforce Morituri trade paperbacks. The third paperback includes the Undertow series, which took place ten years after the end of the story in the original series. Undertow had artwork by Mark Bagley in 1990, long before he set the record for longest-running Spider-man artist on Ultimate Spider-man.

Brent Anderson & Scott Williams on pencils and inks, with Peter B. Gillis scripting. Wilce Portacio provides the artwork for the comic-book-within-a-comic-book story of the Black Watch.

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Doctor Strange: The Tongues of Men and Angels!

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alien, Chris Warner, Doctor Strange, Peter B Gillis, Peter Gillis, Randy Emberlin

The second volume of Doctor Strange went out with a bang in 1987. Strange fights one of his most outrageous, cosmic-light-drenched battles of all time against a really evil alien.

Back Story: This alien fascist came to earth, stole all of the Doctor’s mystical doo-dads and his house, kidnapped his friends just to torture them, and mortally wounded Strange’s body. What a dick! Aliens really suck sometimes.

While his body recovers, Strange finds an ally: a really nice alien who was fixing his Cloak of Levitation. The nice alien plays host to Strange’s astral body, so they can fly across the universe to kick alien ass together. And – cue the mystical light effects!

Collector’s Guide:
– From Doctor Strange #81; Marvel, 1987.

We threw in a few panels of the evil alien fascist world from issue #79 for you!

Man-Thing Vs. Swamp Thing!

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Man-Thang, Man-Thing, Peter B Gillis, Peter Gillis, Swamp Thang, Swamp Thing, What The

Whatever knows fear, blogs at the touch of Man-Thing! Here he is, Marvel’s mucky monstrosity in some of our favorite swamp stories. We bet you never knew injecting yourself with chemical mutagens and fatally wrecking your car would be so much fun!

It’s a time-honored geek pasttime to debate who is better: Man-Thing or Swamp Thing. Our favorite take on it comes from Peter Gillis in the pages of What The?!. Dig Swamp Thing as tuber-tripping swamp hippy!

Collector’s Guide:
– From What The–? #6; Marvel, 1990.

Something’s Screaming out There! I Can Feel It!

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Acroyear, Huntarr, Kelley Jones, Micronauts, Micronauts New Voyages, Peter B Gillis, Scion

Why did the Micronauts breach the space wall? To get to the other side! This is the issue we picked up randomly off the the news stand at the drugstore when it first came out. It blew our minds with cosmic art and the incredible pathos of this freaky Huntarr dude. Micronauts: New Voyages quickly became one of our favorite stories, a complete space epic in 20 issues.
You may want to read Part One of this scene first.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Micronauts: New Voyages #12

If you missed a post, don’t mutate into an superhuman fascist who grows bodies in laboratories – Just activate your subatomic universe by clicking Micronauts Gallery.

Descent into the Maelstrom!

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Acroyear, Danny Bulandi, Huntarr, Kelley Jones, Micronauts, Micronauts New Voyages, Peter B Gillis, Peter Gillis, Scion

Why did the Micronauts breach the space wall? To get to the other side!

This is the issue we picked up randomly off the the news stand at the drugstore when it first came out. It blew our minds with cosmic art and the incredible pathos of this freaky Huntarr dude. Micronauts: New Voyages quickly became one of our favorite stories, a complete space epic in 20 issues.

When you’re done here, read Part Two of this cosmic scene!

Collector’s Guide:
– From Micronauts: New Voyages #12.

If you missed a post, don’t mutate into an superhuman fascist who grows bodies in laboratories – Just activate your subatomic universe by clicking Micronauts Gallery.

Micronauts – The Acroyears Bonus Poster!

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Acroyear, Bill Mantlo, Kelley Jones, Micronauts, Peter B Gillis

The Acroyears: A Mighty Marvel Bonus Poster
– From Micronauts #52 by Marvel Comics.
Art by Jackson Guice and Kelley Jones.

If you missed a post, don’t mutate into an superhuman fascist who grows bodies in laboratories – Just activate your subatomic universe by clicking Micronauts Gallery.

The original Micronauts series from the 1970s is a mixed bag. Writer Bill Mantlo involves the Micronauts in the super-hero filled “Marvel Universe” and plays on the fact that they would be toy-size in “our reality.” Those are great ideas when writing for 8 year olds. And when we were 8, it was a lot of fun!

But Bill Mantlo acheived literary high points in the series when he left all that “Marvel” stuff behind. He began to delve into the reality of the Micronauts in their own home universe, and develop them as characters – as opposed to developing a toy franchise. The best part of the series is the saga of Acroyear, king of the warrior species of Acroyears. If only Bill had kept the series on this vibe, it would have been masterful.

How do we know? Because that’s exactly what Peter B. Gillis did in 1984 with these characters. Mantlo’s potential became fully realized as Gillis took our adventurers on an epic space saga that explored the depths of their universe and their own depths as characters.

Now many years ago, it might have cost you a pretty penny to get the early Micronauts issues. But these days, you can get the whole series for about a buck a piece.

Is it worth it? We think so. There’s a lot to love about the series. You can also get the entire Micronauts The New Voyages by Peter B. Gillis. If you love science fiction adventure with absolutely cosmic themes, Micronauts New Voyages is a winner!