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.

My First Comic Book Subscription: Uncanny X-Men 193!

Tags

Chris Claremont, John Romita jr, Storm, subscription, Uncanny X-Men, Uncanny X-Men 193, Wolverine, X-men

Normally I forego lengthy exposition here on Mars. But every so often, the madness of a memoir overtakes me. Today is one of those days. So, if you’d like to skip all this nonsense and simply bask in the radiant glory of Uncanny X-men #193, then just scroll your way down, down, down…

Still here? Okay, then. In 1985, I was 12 years old. Early in the year, perhaps with a cash gift for my birthday, I filled out my first subscription form. In 1985, this meant cutting out a square of paper from a Marvel comic — an act of pointless desecration that pains me to recall. Given a time machine, my first stop would be in 1985 to give a young Martian a ride to the copy shop, where for 5 measly cents he could spare the life of a Marvel comic.

Marvel was always running a deal: 16 issues for the price of 12, for example. Considering that 65 cents got you a complete comic in those bygone days of the Reagan era, you could get a lot of comics for not too much money. And so, a few months went by until I received the first issue of my first subscription in the mailbox.

At the time, Marvel placed its comics inside a brown wrapper which resembled a paper grocery bag, only less sturdy. It was a good way to make absolutely certain your coveted book would be torn, bent, exposed to the elements, and otherwise degraded well below a NM- to a VF or worse. These days, if my retailer doesn’t put that book in a silver age bag with a board and tape it shut before shipping it in a fairly indestructible cardboard box with plenty of cushioned packing material, someone will be getting an unhappy customer on the phone!

But at age 12, I simply ran from the mailbox to the house as fast as I could to kick off my shoes, jump onto the couch, and dive into the world of superheroes! It would take two more years before I discovered the joys of real Comic Shops as opposed to the news racks at Walgreens and Magic Mart; two more years before I discovered weekend employment as a golf caddy and the subsequent joy of squandering my entire paycheck on bagged and boarded back issues.

And so, I slid the comic book out of the gnarly brown wrapper. It was Uncanny X-Men #193, a double-length adventure marking the 100-issue anniversary of the “New” X-men: Storm, Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and all the wonderful characters brought to us from the minds of Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. An occasion for rapturous thrills? A Mighty Marvel Milestone? A senses-shattering slab of superhero supremacy?

Actually, I hated it. Now, John Romita, Jr. has since earned my respect and affection as an artist, and many of his books hold places of honor in my collection. But, when I first saw his work, I felt dismay. I’d been brought up on the classic Marvel house style: Romita, Sr., John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Herb Trimpe, Steve Ditko, John Byrne — all tight, clean lines with boldness powerfully pounding the panels. The younger Romita’s light, sketchy style seemed to have little to do with all that — at least, to my 12-year-old eyes.

I finished the story and sincerely hoped that next month a different art team would be on the book. But the next month, it was the same artists! And the month after that — the same artists! This may sound stupid to you, this hope for another art team, but I had a lot to learn back then. I’d never had a subscription before. All the comics I read came from different time periods. I’d have a book I bought four months ago, and then a book I had at age six, plus a collected edition with 4 or 5 art teams, and then random books from 20 years out of Gramma’s garage. I’d never actually been with a book for any consistent length of time, but instead absorbed decades of comics’ history a la carte.

Now, with my first X-men subscription, I learned that creative teams stuck with books for a while! But my dismay grew worse. Before the subscription ended, my tender young brain received the horrifying classic Uncanny X-men #198. Although Romita Jr. gave my system a shock, he ill-prepared me for the work of Barry Windsor-Smith. Storm on the verge of death in Africa? A scene of live birth followed by the death of an old man? Realistic anatomy and humanized despair? I can appreciate this issue now, but it really was not “kid stuff.” Claremont and Windsor-Smith’s Life-Death was too intense — too adult — for a 12-year-old still accustomed to Herb Trimpe’s Hulk punching out a guy in brightly colored tights for 20 pages! It wasn’t exactly over my head so much as it was like switching from Kool-Aid to Jack Daniels without any notice.

Oh, but it got worse. Uncanny X-Men #205 showed up a few months later. What? This Windsor-Smith guy again? I don’t mind telling you that reading it gave me the most traumatic comic book experience of my entire life. It disturbed me. It unsettled me. It horrified me. Barry’s serpentine depictions of the terrifying bio-med transformation. The grotesque anatomy of Lady Deathstrike in her wires and fluids and weirdness. Do you know that feeling you get watching a really scary movie in the middle of the night with all the lights off during a storm? That’s nothing. I was ten times that troubled in the middle of a brightly-lit afternoon.

It would be many years before I could read that book without a severe case of the willies. In fact, I read it now and find it absolutely stunning! Along with Windsor-Smith’s work on Wolverine’s adamantium procedure from Marvel Comics Presents, it sets a very high bar for incorporating horror, science fiction, and superheroes. It was just a little more than I could handle back then!

In some ways, it reminds me of beer. (Fitting, as Wolverine really likes beer.) My first taste of beer proceeded my teens by a few years. It was the grossest liquid I ever put in my mouths — except maybe Nyquil. These days, I like to order the highest alcohol content beer the bar will serve me! Things change as you age, and that includes your tastes, and also what you can appreciate.

It also reminds me of calluses. When you first start playing the guitar, it hurts. Your fingers can’t take it for very long. But after time, you build up a protective layer of skin that keeps you from being so sensitive to pain. In time, it doesn’t bother you at all, and you can have loads of fun with it! Reading Uncanny X-men #205 at age 12 was like playing guitar with no calluses. I just had no protective barrier between my young mind and the pain Wolverine endured in that issue.

Shortly thereafter, my subscription to Uncanny X-men expired, and I did not renew it! But I learned a lot, and it shaped the future of my collecting. Understanding that creative teams stuck with books for a while made me much more attentive to who worked on a book, and when. I paid more attention to the artist and writer credits, and started to learn more about their work. I learned to identify what I liked, and find more of it. And while some people are loyal to characters or titles, I remain loyal to creative teams. Some readers may subscribe to X-men no matter who is producing the book, but I will always look for runs by creative teams who really “do it” for me. I also learned that just because I don’t “get” a book at first doesn’t mean it’s bad. Maybe I’m not just ready for it! The best stories age well with time, and the best of the best are almost timeless. So, don’t be too quick to dismiss something that doesn’t immediately grab you. You just might be overlooking a classic!

Now that you scrolled past all that reminiscing, enjoy the first comic book I ever got by subscription: Uncanny X-Men #193!

Black to the Future! Larry Stroman’s Black Panther Annual

Tags

Black Panther, Black to the Future, Larry Stroman, Reginald Hudlin, Storm

Larry Stroman of Alien Legion fame worked on Reginald Hudlin’s Black Panther Annual #1 in 2008. Hudlin focused on Wakanda as the most powerful and advanced nation on earth. Here he tackles questions of love, duty, politics, and how Wakanda could have allowed the slave trade to exist. It’s ambitious material that may not succeed in fully answering that question, but Stroman’s artwork makes it a blast to read. Here are a few samples, including Stroman’s vision of Storm.

Click for the Reginald Hudlin interview on World of Black Heroes.

Collector’s Guide: From Black Panther Annual #1; 2008, Marvel Comics.

He Wants to be Born!

Tags

Africa, Barry Windsor Smith, birth, birth scene, Chris Claremont, Storm, Uncanny X-Men 198, X-men

You know, we haven’t had a good childbirth here since we dug that issue of MiracleMan. Lots of carnage involving dinosaurs and mutants, but not many childbirths. Here’s one from artist Barry Windsor Smith and Chris Claremont. Remember when Storm lost her powers? She went on a trip to Africa to find herself. She used to be revered as a goddess in Africa when Professor X first found her. This time around she nearly dies — and helps bring new life into the world.

Collector’s Guide: from Uncanny X-Men # 198.

You can see Barry Windsor Smith’s cover art before coloring and lettering at Marvel 1980s.

This Must Be the Galactic Core – Storm Goes Alien!

Tags

alien, Classic X-men, Storm, Uncanny X-Men 165, X-men, X-men covers

Storm rocks hard — and not just because she used to wear a mohawk! Storm went toe-to-toe with Dr. Doom and won (Uncanny X-Men #145-147), even if she did get suckered into dinner with Doom first. Wearing only a bikini, she wrestled an alligator and knifed its a$$ good (Classic X-Men #22). If she weren’t married these days, we would totally ask her out.

Of course, being taken over by aliens tends to put a strain on a relationship. But it’s nothing Storm can’t handle! Behold how Ororo taps into the power of the galactic core to destroy the alien gestating in her body.

Collector’s Guide: From Uncanny X-Men #165.
– Also included here: the Mike Mignola cover from the reprint in Classic X-Men #69.

Storm Has Dinner With Dr. Doom!

Tags

Dr. Doom, Storm, Uncanny X-Men 145, X-men, X-men covers

Wow, Dr. Doom sure has a way with the ladies. He wines them, dines them, then furtively gropes them on the cover of the magazine while they’re passed out! No wonder everyone wants to kick his ass.

In this scene from Uncanny X-Men #145, Storm cooks up a plan, and Dr. Doom cooks up dinner! Ororo is not yet the awesome leader she would become by the time she took that title from Cyclops in Uncanny X-Men #201. Here, her inexperience leads her into making eyes with Doomsie over a cocktail, then falling victim to his treacherous plan!

Collector’s Guide: From Uncanny X-Men #145.

Merciful Mother, That Hurts!

Tags

Chris Claremont, Classic X-men, John Bolton, jungle, Savage Land, Storm, X-men

Storm has a scantily-clad adventure fighting a giant alligator underwater in the prehistoric jungle of the Savage Land. You either think that sounds like an awesome plot or you’re at the wrong web site!

Collector’s Guide: From Classic X-Men #22