Tom DeFalco – In My Not So Humble Opinion

It Came from the 1990s: Wild Thing

Although it only lasted five issues, Wild Thing from Marvel Comics was a fun, underrated series that I really enjoyed. Coming in at the very end of the 1990s, the last two issues of Wild Thing had January and February 2000 publication dates although, as per t h e GCD, the actual release date for #5 was December 1, 1999. So, this series just makes it into the criteria I’ve set for the It Came from the 1990s feature here on my blog.

Wild Thing was part of Marvel’s short-lived MC2 imprint, which spun out of What If…? #105 (cover date Feb 1998) by Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz, which introduced a reality in which Peter & Mary Jane Parker’s newborn daughter was rescued from the Green Goblin. A decade and a half after her birth May “Mayday” Parker becomes the costumed crime fighter Spider-Girl, following in her father’s web-slinging footsteps.

What If…? #105 was an unexpected success, and it led Marvel to launch MC2 in the summer of 1998 with three titles: Spider-Girl (featuring Mayday’s further adventures), A-Next (a new generation of Avengers) and J2 (starring Zane Yama, the son of the original Juggernaut). Spider-Girl continued for a good long run, becoming a cult classic. A-Next and J2 both ended after their initial planned 12-issue runs. There was a poll for readers to vote on which MC2 characters should replace them with new series. The winners were the Fantastic Five and Wild Thing.

J2 had been written by DeFalco and penciled by Ron Lim. In issue #5 DeFalco & Lim had introduced Rina Logan, aka Wild Thing, the teenage daughter of Wolverine and Elektra. Wild Thing then appeared in nearly every issue of J2 from that point on, and she clearly made an impact on readers, given that she was one of the winners of the poll.

Wild Thing actually launched with a special issue zero co-published by Marvel and Wizard magazine. Wizard was, in its way, the quintessential comic book trade magazine for the 1990s, as it encouraged the worst trends of the decade, such as “hot” artists, bad girls, ultra-violent anti-heroes, and speculating on “hot” books. Wild Thing #0 came packaged with an issue of Wizard, which explains how I missed it, since I only occasionally picked up the magazine. It was such a superficial publication, but for a while there, for better or worse (usually worse), it really was a trend-setter.

It took me quite some time to finally find a copy of Wild Thing #0. “Curse of the Wendigo” was co-plotted by Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz, scripted by DeFalco, penciled by Frenz, inked by Sal Buscema, colored by Tom Smith and lettered by Jack Morelli. The cover was a homage to Incredible Hulk #181, the first cover appearance of Wolverine, with Rina taking her father’s place in facing off against the green goliath.

Wild Thing #0 is basically a big long fight scene between Rina, her father, the Hulk, and Doctor Strange against a horde of Wendigos in the Canadian wilderness. Frenz & Buscema are both what I’d describe as “old school” superhero artists, and they do an excellent job with the action. This is one of the earlier pairings of Frenz & Buscema, who went on to have a lengthy run on Spider-Girl, and to work together on several other series.

There’s also four pages of developmental sketches by Ron Lim, showing his designs for Rina and the Uncanny X-People, and his cover roughs for J2 #5. I found the material to be pretty interesting, especially as I’m a huge fan of Lim’s work.

Zero issue aside, the Wild Thing series gets going properly with issue #1. Interestingly, the writer was not DeFalco, who had scripted the entire MC2 line up to this point. Instead, it was Larry Hama, who had previously written a Wild Thing back-up story in J2 #11.

At first, I was surprised at the choice of Hama, but with some consideration I realized he was actually an ideal choice. Hama had written the ongoing Wolverine series for seven years, from 1990 to 1997, during which time he penned one of the definitive versions of the character. Hama had also written Elektra as a guest star in Wolverine establishing a connection between the two characters, followed by several issues of the ongoing Elektra series in 1998. So, at that exact point in time it made perfect sense for him to be the one to write the adventures of their teenage daughter.

Hama makes a couple of interesting choices with Wild Thing. He focuses as much on Rina’s school life as he does her superhero adventures. And he chooses to make Rina a rather shy, introverted social outcast who really comes alive when she puts on her Wild Thing costume. It’s a bit like early Amazing Spider-Man comics, where donning the costume allowed a young Peter Parker the freedom to be a wisecracking smartass.

Of course, it’s still jarring that the first issue opens with snobby trust fund brat Cameron Bryce-Jones slamming the door of a locker into Rina’s head. If anyone did that to her father, well, they’d no doubt quickly find themselves disemboweled. And given what we’ve seen of Wild Thing to this point in the pages of J2, I expected Rina to follow in her father’s berserker footsteps. Instead, she just shrugs it off, telling her friend Colin that she’s a fast healer.

A decade ago The Unspoken Decade, a blog dedicated exclusively to comic books from the 1990s, had a post about Wild Thing. I commented on the seeming incongruity of Rina not eviscerating Cameron over the locker door incident. Unspoken Decade big cheese Dean Compton offered his thoughts on this:

“Why isn’t Rina more of a hellraiser? It makes little sense. Then again, I suppose we all do rebel against our parents, and if our parents were two of the biggest and loudest baddasses in Marvel Universe history, mayhap we would also decide to be lowkey.”

Ha ha, that’s as good an explanation as any! Somebody send Dean a No-Prize!

In fact, that incident with the locker aside, mean girl Cameron is probably the most ineffectual school bully ever. Rina may not be her school’s queen bee, but in general her classmates appear to like her, and it seems like everyone just finds Cameron’s attempts to insult Rina’s family to be silly. Plus, after Cameron gets kidnapped by an armored supervillain who wants to ransom her off for $25 million, and her greedy father tries to negotiate it down to $10 thousand in cash plus $20 thousand in stock options, everyone’s basically just embarrassed for her.

Given that he’s best known for G.I. Joe, writing a teen comedy may seem to be out of left field for Hama. But he’s a creator who’s much more versatile than he’s typically given credit for. After all, as he’s recounted in interviews, Hama only wrote G.I. Joe in the first place because literally no one else at Marvel wanted to do it, and he saw it as his chance to finally break out of being pigeonholed as an artist (he likes to describe himself as “a penciler with a word processor”). In the process he made that title into a certifiable hit that four decades later is still going strong.

Hama also co-created Bucky O’Hare and Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham, and wrote a Howard the Duck Holiday Special, which shows how multifaceted he can be. So, yeah, I definitely see him possessing the faculty to do a superhero series with one foot set in the teen comedy stylings of Archie Comics.

Hama appeared content to write a series of fun stand-alone stories for Wild Thing. The second issue sees Rina at the mall with her mother, the latter of whom is targeted by an old enemy of hers Hama previously introduced when he was writing the Elektra series. Rina’s obsession with playing a VR video game ends up leading to a really unconventional team-up with her mom against the Hand assassin who is out to get her. The third issue has Rina having to save Cameron from a cyborg Sentinel sleeper agent left over from Operation: Zero Tolerance. Issue #4 has Rina and her father hanging out in Central Park at night, where they’re attacked by a member of the demonic N’Garai. And in issue #5 Rina has to fight a giant alien robot that crash-lands on Earth.

Reportedly the decision to cancel Wild Thing was very last minute, and issue #6 was at least partially completed when the ax fell. When the Wild Thing series was finally collected in a digest format as Spider-Girl Presents Wild Thing: Crash Course in 2008, it included the cover for the unreleased issue #6. It’s unfortunate that Marvel didn’t take the opportunity to complete that sixth and final issue for inclusion in the trade paperback.

Probably the strongest issue of Wild Thing was the fourth one. Hama had previously done a fantastic job writing the father-daughter dynamic between Logan and Jubilee throughout his Wolverine run, so it makes sense he’d also prove adept at scripting the character’s interactions with his actual daughter. I feel like that’s one of the great missed opportunities of Wild Thing getting canceled so quickly, we missed out on seeing Hama continue developing Rina’s relationship with her father.

Ron Lim is the penciler on Wild Thing. As I’ve previously recounted, I’ve been a huge fan of his work ever since he penciled Captain America in the early 1990s. As with everything else he’s worked on, Lim did really solid work on Wild Thing. He really is such an underrated artist. Lim’s storytelling and characters do a great job bringing to life the more comedic elements of Hama’s scripts.

Lim has always been extremely strong at rendering dynamic superhero action. That was one of the qualities that first made his Captain America work stand out for me. Lim really captured Cap’s athleticism. That skill served him equally well first on J2 and then on Wild Thing, where he depicted Rina leaping at & dodging around a variety of foes. The above page from Wild Thing #4 featuring Rina tangling with the N’Garai is an excellent example of Lim’s work.

Inking Lim on the first issue is the legendary Al Williamson. Cover inks on are by Al Milgrom, who becomes the interior inker starting with the next issue, although Williamson hangs around long enough to contribute a fantastically detailed variant cover. Lim and Milgrom had previously worked together on Infinity War and Infinity Crusade, and they made a good art team. Milgrom’s inking was a nice fit for Lim’s pencils.

As I explained in that prior blog post, the one time I met Lim, the only book I had on hand to get signed by him was Wild Thing #1. Lim was definitely surprised by that choice, but I was happy to get his signature on it because, as I’ve just finished elaborating, it was a fun series, and he did good work on it.

I had the opportunity to meet Hama this week when he did a signing at Forbidden Planet in Manhattan to promote the relaunch of G.I. Joe at Image Comics. I brought along a few older books to also get autographed, among them Wild Thing #1, adding his signature to it. I told Hama that I’d liked the series, and he indicated he enjoyed working on it.

Maybe Wild Thing didn’t set the world on fire, to say the least, but I still enjoyed it. Re-reading it again earlier this month, I found it was still a fun book. If you happen to come across the digest collection or the back issues, definitely give it a try.

The Daily Comic Book Coffee, Part Five

The challenge by Comic Book Historians group moderator Jim Thompson: Pick a subject and find a different artist every day for that subject.

I chose “coffee” for my subject. From the work of how many different artists can I find examples of people drinking coffee? I guess we will just have to see. I posted these daily on Facebook, and now I’m collecting them together here. (Please click on the “coffee” tag to read the previous parts of the series.)

coffee pot

21) John Buscema & John Romita

The art team of penciler John Buscema and inker John Romita join with scripter Stan Lee to tug on those heartstrings in “I Love Him – But He’s Hers!” This tale of torrid passions appeared in Our Love Story #2, published by Marvel Comics with a December 1969 cover date.

With her father having died unexpectedly and her brother serving in Vietnam, young Anne must work as a waitress to pay for college. Anne’s difficult circumstances are constantly rubbed in her face by her rich snob doom roommate Cynthia. Soon cruel Cynthia ups her taunts by showing off her handsome boyfriend at every opportunity. “This is Art Nelson, little woman – and he’s all mine! So you may look — but don’t touch!” Anne is, of course, instantly attracted to Art, but she dares not make a move, fearful of Cynthia’s temper. Cynthia’s taunts eventually back fire on her as Art, realizing what a horrid person she actually is, dumps her for the sweet, down-to-Earth Anne.

John Buscema has been referred to as “the Michelangelo of comics.” He was incredibly talented, one of the top artists at Marvel Comics for three decades, from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Buscema was, however, not actually fond of drawing super-heroes, something he admitted to on several occasions throughout the years. He much preferred drawing Conan the Barbarian to any of Marvel’s spandex-clad crimefighters.

Given his dislike for super-heroes, perhaps he saw romance stories as a refreshing change of pace. It definitely drew on one of Buscema’s strengths, namely his ability to render beautiful women. He certainly does a damn fine job on this splash page, drawing Anne waitressing in a coffeehouse populated by a colorful crowd of hip java-drinkers.

Of course, Buscema was also vocal about his dislike for most of the inkers / finishers he was paired with, as he felt most of them overwhelmed his work with their own styles. So we can only guess how he felt about being inked by John Romita on Marvel’s romance stories, especially as the later’s style is very much in evidence.

Having acknowledged all that, from my perspective as a reader, this really looks stunning. I feel the combination of the two Johns results in a deft, effective blending of their signature styles.

A big “thank you” to colorist supreme José Villarrubia, who spotlighted this page on his FB feed.

Our Love Story 2 pg 1

22) Ron Frenz & Sal Buscema

Amazing Spider-Girl #15, penciled by Ron Frenz, inked by Sal Buscema, written by Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz, lettered by Dave Sharpe, and colored by Bruno Hang, published by Marvel Comics, cover-dated February 2008.

Her name is May “Mayday” Parker, and she is the daughter of Spider-Man.

Yes, it’s a “Mayday” post, which would have been absolutely perfect for May 1st. Instead I posted this on FB on May 2nd. Oops. As the man used to say, “Missed it by THAT much!”

AHEM! Spider-Girl is the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, from a reality where their newborn baby was rescued from the clutches of the diabolical Norman Osborn. Now a teenager, Mayday has inherited both her father’s powers and sense of responsibility. Assuming the identity of Spider-Girl, Mayday attempts to fight crime and save innocent lives while juggling high school classes, an active social life, and a pair of parents who are understandably very concerned that their daughter is following in her father’s web-swinging footsteps.

Spider-Girl is the little comic book that could. Originally making her debut in a one-off story by DeFalco & Frenz in What If #105 (Feb 1998), Mayday graduated to her own ongoing series just a few months later. DeFalco, first paired with penciler Pat Olliffe, and later reunited with Frenz, did a great job developing Mayday and her supporting cast. Spider-Girl gained a relative small but very enthusiastic fanbase and ran for 100 issues, followed by Amazing Spider-Girl, which lasted another 30 issues. Mayday then migrated to several issues of Spider-Man Family and Web of Spider-Man, and then a Spectacular Spider-Girl miniseries, with DeFalco & Frenz bringing her story to a close with the Spider-Girl: The End special in October 2010. Of course, that was still not the curtain for Mayday, who has continued to pop up here and there. You can’t keep a good Spider-Girl down!

Mayday and her friends often hung out at Café Indigo, a coffee shop in Forest Hills, Queens. As per Ron Frenz:

“Café Indigo was introduced by Pat Olliffe, as a tribute to his wife’s architectural design business at the time.”

In Amazing Spider-Girl #15 the gang gathers at Café Indigo to welcome back their pal Moose, who had to move away for several months due to his father’s illness. Frenz does a great job with this sequence, giving it moments of both characterization and comedy. I love the facial expressions. Frenz is such a strong storyteller, as this page demonstrates.

Inking is provided by the legendary Sal Buscema, who has been working with Frenz regularly since 2003. They make a great art team.

Amazing Spider-Girl 15 pg 7

23) Bill Sienkiewicz & Klaus Janson

May 3rd was artist Bill Sienkiewicz’s birthday. To celebrate the occasion, I took a look at two coffee-themed pages of artwork by Sienkiewicz featuring Moon Knight.

The first page is from the Moon Knight back-up story in the The Hulk magazine #17, penciled by Sienkiewicz, inked by Klaus Janson, written by Doug Moench, and colored by Olyoptics, published by Marvel Comics with an October 1979 cover date. The second page is from Moon Knight #23, drawn by Sienkiewicz, written by Moench, lettered by Joe Rosen, and colored by Christie Scheele, with a September 1982 cover date.

On the first page we have Moon Knight stopping in at Gena’s Diner, the Manhattan coffee shop he frequents while sniffing out info on illegal activities in his guise of cabbie Jake Lockley. Sienkiewicz was only 21 years old when he drew this story. His work here definitely brings to mind Neal Adams, who Sienkiewicz has cited as a major influence.

Even with the obvious stylistic similarities, we can see that Sienkiewicz was already starting to utilize some interesting layouts in his storytelling. Janson’s inking goes well with Sienkiewicz’s style here, giving it a grittier edge that suits Moench’s writing.

Moon Knight Hulk Magazine 17 pg 50

On the second page we have Moon Knight, Frenchie, Marlene and her brother Peter having fled to Maine in the dead of winter, hiding out in an isolated house in the woods Moon Knight owns in his Steven Grant persona. They are fleeing from Moon Knight’s old foe Morpheus, the so-called “Dream Demon” who has the ability to possess people in their sleep, and to create horrifying nightmares. In order to stay awake and prevent Mopheus from controlling them Moon Knight and the others are gulping down copious amounts of black coffee.

Morpheus utilizes his psychic connection to Peter to learn their location. He invades the house and seizes control of both Marlene and Peter. Moon Knight and Frenchie are unaware of any of this, as they are busy trying to rig up a generator in the basement as a defense against Morpheus. Marlene comes down to join them, ostensibly to bring them some much-needed coffee. Too late they realize that Marlene is now in Morpheus’ thrall. Eyes ablaze with madness, Marlene strikes a match and tosses it onto the generator, with explosive results.

This issue of Moon Knight was drawn by Sienkiewicz only three years after that story in The Hulk magazine and, WHOA, what a difference! Sienkiewicz’s work grew by absolute leaps and bounds in that short period of time. This page is a really good illustration of how much he developed. His work has become very stylized and atmospheric. His layouts are striking, and he utilizes inking and zip-a-tone to superb effect. You can see here that Sienkiewicz has begun his evolution to the stunning abstract artwork that he would soon be creating in the mid 1980s.

Credit must also go to the coloring by Christie Scheele on this story. Her work complements Sienkiewicz’s art so very well.

Moon Knight 23 pg 10

24) Wallace Wood

This artwork is from the story “The Probers” in Weird Science #8, drawn by Wallace Wood, written by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines, lettered by Jim Wroten, and colored by Marie Severin, published by EC Comics with a July-August 1951 cover date. I scanned this from the hardcover The EC Archives: Weird Science Volume Two, issued in 2007 by Russ Cochran and Gemstone Publishing.

Growing up in the early 1980s, I discovered the classic EC Comics via reprints. I was never overly fond of EC’s horror titles, since I found the pun-slinging hosts sort of cheesy. But I was absolutely enthralled by the sci-fi stories in Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, with their insightful examinations of the human condition, their grimly ironic twist endings, and their realistic, detailed artwork. Looking back on these, I realize that many of the EC stories that made the biggest impression on my young self were those drawn by Wallace Wood.

Wood, known to his friends as “Woody” (reportedly he disliked being called “Wally”), was an absolutely incredible artist, with his intricately detailed spaceships & technology, bizarre aliens, and stunningly beautiful women. Wood is rightfully remembered for his brilliant work, and the word “classic” is deservedly used to describe the stories he drew for EC.

“The Probers” is a typical EC tale of cosmic karma. Interestingly the story takes nearly a page detour to showcase young Lawrence Cavips’s futile attempt to drink coffee in outer space. Captain Scott provides us with a demonstration of the correct way do things, using a straw to sip up the free-floating bubbles of coffee. Scott guesses this must be Cavip’s first mission, which the young man confirms, telling him “Right! I just graduated two months ago!”

What? Just graduated? Cavip went to Astronaut Academy (or whatever they call it) and no one there bothered to explain to him the behavior of liquids in zero gravity? What are they teaching kids these days? Ehh, the young punk was probably slacking off, too busy hanging out with girls and listening to that newfangled rock & roll. Why in my day…

Weird Science 8 coffee

25) Gilbert Shelton

“I Led Nine Lives!” written & drawn by Gilbert Shelton, appeared in the underground comic The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers #3 published by Rip Off Press in 1973. It was reprinted in Fat Freddy’s Cat #1, released by Rip Off Press in 1988.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers are a trio of San Francisco potheads: Freewheelin’ Franklin Freek, Phineas T. Phreak and Fat Freddy Freekowtski. Fat Freddy has an orange tabby cat, the so-called “Fat Freddy’s Cat,” although the cat is (unsurprisingly) much smarter than his human, and often poops on Freddy’s possessions, especially if he’s late getting fed.

Fat Freddy’s Cat occasionally recounts his supposed adventures to his three nephews, and “I Led Nine Lives!” he regales them with his time as F. Frederick Skitty, federal agent. Skitty is assigned by “the Chief” to stop a nefarious plot to poison the nation’s water supply with a drug nicknamed “Hee Hee Hee.” When asked what exactly “Hee Hee Hee” does, the Chief gravely replies “It turns you queer!”

Skitty parachutes into to the mountain headquarters of the “Hee Hee Hee” manufacturers. After accidentally shooting up the nudist colony next door, Skitty confronts the flamboyant terrorists, who inform them that he is too late, because “We already mixed the drug in the nation’s coffee supply!” Skitty guns down the terrorists and races back to Washington DC to warn everyone, only to find the Chief already drinking his morning coffee and softly giggling “Hee Hee Hee” to himself. Skitty shoots the Chief, reasoning “It was my patriotic duty.” He then realizes that by now everyone else in the country has probably also had coffee. “So I shot myself, too” he tells his nephews. However he quickly assures them that everything turned out fine because “I still had eight more lives.”

Fat Freddys Cat 1 pg 7

Of course that extra-long nose we see Fat Freddy’s Cat sporting in the last panel hints that perhaps his thrilling account might not have been entirely accurate, to say the least!

I scanned this from my girlfriend Michele Witchipoo’s copy of Fat Freddy’s Cat #1. She was probably my intro to Gilbert Shelton. Michele is very much into independent and underground comics, and she’s broadened my knowledge & interests considerably.

2020 Visions: Machine Man and Iron Man

Happy New Year! To celebrate the occasion, today I am taking a quick look at the comic book adventures of Machine Man and Iron Man in the distant, far-off future year of, um, uh, 2020 AD… Okay, yeah, I can’t believe it’s 2020 already, either!

Machine Man was created by none other than the legendary Jack Kirby himself, debuting in, of all places, the 2001: A Space Odyssey comic book series, which had been inspired by the film / novel by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. First known as Mister Machine, aka X-51, he appeared in 2001: A Space Odyssey #s 8-10 published in mid 1977.

Mister Machine was a robot who gained sentience, with one of the mysterious alien Monoliths from the movie playing a role in his evolution towards becoming almost human. Following the cancellation of the 2001: A Space Odyssey comic book, the character, renamed Machine Man, received his own ongoing series in early 1978. Kirby wrote & penciled Machine Man for nine issues, with Mike Royer providing inks.

By late 1978 Kirby had become disenchanted with mainstream comic books, and he left Marvel Comics to go into the animation field. The storyline begun by Kirby in Machine Man was concluded by writer Roger Stern and penciler Sal Buscema a few months later in Incredible Hulk #s 234-237. This was followed by a revival of the Machine Man ongoing series, picking up from the original numbering, with another Silver Age legend, Stave Ditko, as the artist. Issue #s 10-14 were written by Marv Wolfman, with Tom DeFalco then writing #s 15-19.

In the early 1980s Machine Man made the occasional guest appearance here and there. He was once again given the spotlight in 1984 with the Machine Man four issue limited series, set three and a half decades in the future, in the year 2020. Tom DeFalco returned to wrote X-51’s future adventures. The first three issues had pencils / breakdowns by Herb Trimpe, with finished art & colors by Barry Windsor-Smith, an unusual pairing that nevertheless worked very well. BWS took over the full art chores for Machine Man #4, also co-plotting that final issue. Michael, Higgins, Diana Albers, Janice Chiang and Jim Novak lettered an issue apiece, and the whole thing was edited by Larry Hama.

DeFalco’s story is set in a dark industrialized dystopia where corrupt corporations have seized political power (so, yeah, not too different from our actual real-world 2020, amiright?) and bands of anarchist scavengers hope to find a free, independent existence under the radar. One of these groups of Midnight Wreckers, searching through a dumping ground belonging to Baintronics Inc, discovers a box containing the dismantled Machine Man. Evading the Baintronics security forces, the Wreckers return to their base and re-assemble Machine Man.

Baintronics is run by Sunset Bain, an industrialist & socialite who moonlighted as the masked arms dealer Madame Menace, clashing with Machine Man on more than one occasion back in the day. Now in 2020 she is allied with Miles Brinkman, a former US Senator who is another old foe of X-51. Brinkman had previously waged a McCarthy-esque campaign of fear-mongering against Machine Man, hoping to ride a wave of robotphobia to greater political power.

DeFalco has an interesting approach to the future incarnations of Bain and Brinkman. At this point they have basically won, having amassed tremendous political & financial power, yet they are seemingly unable to enjoy their spoils, having grown old & tired, reduced to worn-out shadows of their former selves. And once they learn that Machine Man has been reactivated they are consumed by uncontrollable paranoia that this former adversary will seek to destroy them. The pair are defeated as much by their own failings as they are by Machine Man and the Midnight Wreckers.

DeFalco shows that Machine Man is actually more human than either Sunset Bain or Miles Brinkman, who in their fear and panic project upon him their own ugly motivations of hatred and vengeance. Machine Man, as well as his onetime love, the silver robot Jocasta (rebuilt by Bain to be her aide, but ultimately serving as her conscience), are more capable of feeling compassion and expressing forgiveness than their human foes.

The miniseries introduced Arno Stark, descendant of Tony Stark, the Iron Man of the year 2020. Arno is an amoral mercenary, and he is more than happy to accept an assignment from Sunset Bain to hunt down & destroy Machine Man. Iron Man clashes twice with Machine Man, and in both encounters he is defeated by his robot opponent.

This leads into the events of the Iron Man 2020 special, which was published a decade later, in 1994. It was co-plotted, by Bob Wiacek & Walter Simonson, scripted by Simonson, penciled & inked by Wiacek, with Will Rosado penciling the second half of the book over Wiacek’s layouts. This was one of the all-too-infrequent penciling jobs by Wiacek, who is best known for his work as an inker / embellisher. Rosado, who was early in his comic book career, also did good work here. The special was lettered by John Costanza and colored by Christie Scheele.

As a tie-in, Marvel re-issued the Machine Man miniseries as a two double-sized issues. That was certainly helpful to me, as I hadn’t been reading comics regularly in 1984, and so missed the original release.

The Iron Man 2020 special opens very soon after the events of the miniseries. Much like Bain and Brinkman before him, Arno Stark is a haunted man: haunted by his defeat at Machine Man’s hands, haunted by the burden of keeping the financially weakened Stark Enterprises afloat, and haunted by the seeming impossibility of living up to the legend of his ancestor, Tony Stark, the original Iron Man. As the old saying goes, heavy hangs the head that wears the crown.

Desperate to save his company, Arno accepts an offer from Marcus Wellington, one of his biggest competitors. Arno is hired to rescue Wellington’s daughter Melodi, who has been kidnapped by terrorists and is being held for ransom. Arno dons his Iron Man suit and sets course for the terrorists’ island stronghold. Of course, as is often the case with corporate machinations, the situation is much more complicated than it initially appears, and Arno soon finds himself in the middle of more than one double cross.

The end result of these events are that they push Arno Stark towards, well, not necessary becoming a hero, by any means, but at least to start walking a slightly less avaricious, brutal path.

Hey, everyone loves a good redemption story. Certainly Wiacek & Simonson make this one more believable than most by showing that it’s only just the beginning of Arno Stark’s path away from villainy.

I’ve met Bob Wiacek on a few occasions at comic book conventions. A decade ago at a February 2010 show he did a drawing of Iron Man 2020 in my villains sketchbook. It is a distinctive costume, a sort of retro future look, almost steampunk with those big gears, and he renders it well.

I didn’t want to get into too many specific details about either the Machine Man miniseries or the Iron Man 2020 special, because I think they are both worth tracking down and reading. Marvel published an Iron Man 2020 trade paperback in 2013 collecting both, along with several other stories.

Also, for those interested in Machine Man’s various Bronze Age incarnations (the original Kirby stories, the Ditko-drawn revival, and the 1984 miniseries) I recommend checking out Back Issue #25 from TwoMorrows Publishing. “Call Me Mister… Mister Machine!” written by Allan Harvey is offers a wealth of behind-the-scenes info concerning Machine Man’s adventures in the 1970s and 80s.

And of course, since it’s now 2020 in the real world, Marvel Comics is bringing back Arno Stark. It seems that Tony Stark is going to die (what, again?!?) and Arno, who in “mainstream” Marvel continuity is Tony’s long lost twin brother (yes really!), will become the new Iron Man… at least until the inevitable resurrection. Still, with writing by Dan Slott & Christos Gage, it sounds like it could be a fun ride.

Once again, happy new year to all of you. Let’s hope 2020 is a good one. Or, as the Midnight Wreckers might have put it, “YAH-ZOO!”

Thor by Joe Sinnott: a birthday present

I never thought I would get a Joe Sinnott sketch. I had met the legendary and talented comic book artist on several occasions, but somehow the opportunity to get artwork from him just never came up. When he announced his retirement earlier this year I figured that was it, whatever chance there might have been had passed.

Earlier this month, on June 8th, my girlfriend Michele Witchipoo had a table at IncrediCon in Middletown NY. I would have gone with her, but our cat Squeaky wasn’t feeling well and we decided I should stay home to keep her company (sadly Squeaky would pass away a week later). Michele took along my Avengers Assemble theme sketchbook because a friend of hers who was going wanted to see it, and just in case she met anyone there who might want to do a drawing in it.

Joe Sinnott was going to be a guest at IncrediCon. Michele said she could ask if he was drawing, and if he was she would try to get me a sketch for my birthday. I shrugged and replied “He’s 92 years old and he retired a few months ago. I doubt he’s going to be sketching. But if you want you can ask him.” Michele asked me what character I wanted and I said something like “Thor or anyone from the Fantastic Four.”

A few hours later I get a text from Michele: “You’re getting a Thor sketch.” My jaw hit the floor. I honestly did not expect that Sinnott would be drawing. Then about 15 minutes later she sent me a photo of the sketch. Whoa!!!

Thor sketch by Joe Sinnott

I’m really thrilled to get this. Joe Sinnott inked Jack Kirby’s pencils on the very first Thor story in Journey Into Mystery #83 way back in 1962, and then drew the full art, pencils & inks, for a few more of the early Thor stories in Journey Into Mystery. For most of the 1970s Sinnott was the regular inker on the Thor book, usually over John Buscema’s pencils, but also working with Rich Buckler on several issues, and even on a couple penciled by Neal Adams. Sinnott returned to Thor from 1989 to 1991, this time paired with penciler Ron Frenz.

That was when I first began reading comic books regularly, in 1989. The Tom DeFalco / Ron Frenz run on Thor remains a favorite of mine, especially the issues that were inked / embellished by Sinnott.

The first time I met Sinnott was at a comic book convention at the Westchester County Center in White Plains NY in 1992. I was in awe at meeting an artist who had worked on so many amazing comic book stories for Marvel Comics over the years. Sinnott was a very nice, patient, down-to-Earth person who took the time to answer all the questions posed to him by a gushing teenage fan. I’ve met Sinnott on subsequent occasions and gotten several books autographed by him. Nevertheless, I will always treasure that copy of Thor #414 he signed for me back in 1992.

Thor 414 pg 1

In any case, Sinnott possesses a long, historic association with the character of Thor. So it’s wonderful to have obtained a sketch of the Norse god of thunder and founding member of the Avengers from him. And, as I said above, when I saw the piece he drew in my sketchbook I was seriously in awe. At 92 years old Sinnott is still an incredible artist. The detailed pencil work on this piece is amazing. Also, I like how Sinnott added birds (seagulls?) in the sky behind Thor in this sketch. Nice subtle bit that adds a little atmosphere to it.

Today is my actual birthday. So, once again, a very big “thank you” to Michele for this birthday present, to Joe Sinnott for the wonderful sketch, and to Joe’s son Mark Sinnott for all his help in making it happen.

Remembering comic book artist Paul Ryan

Comic book artist Paul Ryan passed away on March 6, 2016 at the much too young age of 66. Ryan was a prolific artist whose career spanned from 1984 until the time of his death.

Fantastic Four 358 cover

A lifelong comic book fan, Ryan did not made his professional debut until the age of 35. He submitted a story to Charlton Comics which was originally scheduled to see print in the anthology title Charlton Bullseye, but the company folded before it could be published. Much of Charlton’s unused inventory was acquired by AC Comics head honcho Bill Black, and Ryan’s debut finally saw print in the AC title Starmasters #1.

Shortly after Ryan met professional artist Bob Layton at a comic book convention. Layton had recently moved to the Boston area and was looking for an assistant. Layton recounted on his Facebook page…

“I trained him as my apprentice, inking backgrounds for my various Marvel projects. All that time working together, Paul worked on his penciling samples for Marvel.”

Eventually accompanying Layton on a trip to the Marvel Comics offices in Manhattan, Ryan was introduced to the editorial staff. This led to Ryan receiving assignments from the company. His first job was inking Ron Wilson’s pencils on The Thing #27 (Sept 1985).

Shortly afterwards Ryan was tapped to take over as penciler on the 12 issue Squadron Supreme miniseries written by Mark Gruenwald. Ryan penciled issue #6 (Feb 1986) and then issues #9-12. Ryan was paired with inker Sam De La Rosa, and also had the opportunity to work with his mentor Layton, who inked four of his five covers.

After completing Squadron Supreme, Ryan again worked with Gruenwald, co-creating D.P. 7 which debuted in November 1986. D.P.7 was considered one of the high points in Marvel’s very uneven New Universe imprint. Ryan was the penciler for the entire 32 issue run of D.P.7. It was on D.P.7 that Ryan was first paired with Filipino artist Danny Bulanadi as his inker. I really appreciated the rich, illustrative quality that Bulanadi’s inking gave Ryan’s pencils. They made a great team.

During this time, in 1987, Ryan penciled Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, the historic marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.

Avengers 330 cover signed

After D.P.7 came to an end, Ryan became the penciler of Avengers with issue #305 (July 1989). He was teamed with writer John Byrne and longtime Avengers inker / embellisher Tom Palmer. After Byrne departed, Ryan worked with succeeding writers Fabian Nicieza and Larry Hama. Ryan and Hama introduced the African American teenage hero Rage who, after a short stint as an Avenger, joined the New Warriors.

In late 1989 Ryan also penciled the first six issues of the ongoing Quasar series written by Gruenwald. Ryan was inked by Bulanadi on these.

Ryan was an incredibly fast artist, and in 1990 at the same time he was penciling Avengers he was also working on the Avengers West Coast spin-off series. Ryan inked Byrne’s pencils on issues #54 -57. He then penciled issues #60 – 69, working with writers Roy & Dann Thomas, with Bulanadi once again inking him.

After departing AWC in early 1991, Ryan was once more paired with Byrne, this time on Iron Man. Bob Wiacek inked Ryan on these issues.

Later that year Ryan & Bulanadi joined writer Tom DeFalco to become the new creative team on Fantastic Four. Their first issue was #356 (Sept 1991). Two months later, in the giant-sized FF #358, the series celebrated its 30th anniversary. Among the numerous features contained in that issue, Ryan & Bulanadi illustrated an amazing double-page pin-up featuring many of the heroes and villains of the Marvel universe.

In an 1997 interview Ryan stated that FF was his favorite Marvel title. He had bought the very first issue when it came out back in 1961 when he was 11 years old, and was “very excited ”to be working on the series 30 years later.

Fantastic Four 358 Marvel characters

Ryan began co-plotting Fantastic Four with DeFalco beginning with issue #260. He remained on the series until issue #414 (July 1996). He penciled 59 consecutive issues, one month short of a full five years. Ryan would undoubtedly have stayed on FF even longer if he and DeFalco had not been given the boot to make way for “Heroes Reborn.”

Reader reaction to DeFalco & Ryan’s time on Fantastic Four was decidedly mixed. I personally enjoyed it, but I understand why others were less enthusiastic. Looking back, it is obvious that DeFalco & Ryan wanted to emulate the classic Lee & Kirby era, but they were also attempting to make the book competitive at a time when X-Men was Marvel’s hottest property, and everything else was falling by the wayside. They wanted to give FF a retro Silver Age feel and make it appealing to teenage readers, i.e. sexing up the Invisible Woman and making her more ruthless, giving the rest of the team a more gritty look, generating numerous long-running subplots & mysteries, introducing a younger “next generation” of FF-related heroes, and tossing in lots of stuff involving time travel & alternate realities. At times perhaps those styles did not mesh well, but DeFalco & Ryan were clearly giving it their all.

Understandably annoyed at being tossed off Fantastic Four, Ryan left Marvel and went to DC Comics. He worked there from 1996 to 2000. His main assignments at DC were the quarterly Superman: Man of Tomorrow and the monthly Flash series. He also penciled issues of Superboy, Aquaman and Batman: Gotham Knights, as well as a four issue Legion: Science Police miniseries.

Superman Man of Tomorrow 9 pg 6

One of my favorite DC issues that Ryan penciled was Superman: Man of Tomorrow #9 (Fall 1997), written by Roger Stern and inked by Brett Breeding. As Superman is busy adjusting to his new energy powers, Jonathan & Martha Kent recollect on their son’s life. This provided Ryan & Breeding with the opportunity to illustrate many of the key moments in Superman’s post-Crisis history up to that point in time.

Notably, Ryan was one of a number of artists to work on the Superman: The Wedding Album in 1997, penciling 11 pages of this giant-sized special. By his involvement in this, he had worked on both the wedding of Clark Kent & Lois Lane and the wedding of Peter & Mary Jane.

I was glad to see Ryan receive work at DC. I was a regular letterhack back then, and I wrote in to the Superman editors with the following…

“Paul Ryan is a superb penciler, and I’m glad you guys got him to work on this book. It’s nice to see that you guys can appreciate true talent.”

Yes, that was something of a swipe by me at Marvel for their treatment of Ryan the year before.

After his time at DC concluded, Ryan penciled a handful of fill-ins for CrossGen. He worked on several issues of Crux and Ruse.

Phantom newspaper strip 04 13 2007

In 2001 Ryan began working on The Phantom comic books published by the Swedish company Egmont. This was the start of an association with Lee Falk’s legendary comic strip hero that would last for the next decade and a half. Ryan was tapped to take over The Phantom weekly comic strip in 2005, working with writer Tony De Paul. Two years later Ryan also assumed the art duties on the Sunday comic strip.

Ryan was a longtime fan of The Phantom. He produced quality artwork on both the comic books and the newspaper strip. He was still working as the artist on the daily strip at the time of his passing.

(For fans of The Phantom, the comic strip is archived online going back to 1996 on The Phantom Comics website.)

I really feel that Ryan was an underrated talent who was too often eclipsed by the “hot” artists of the 1990s. Unlike many of those guys, Ryan was a very good penciler with strong sequential illustration skills, an artist who turned in quality work while consistently meeting deadlines; in other words, a true professional.

Paul Ryan 2000 photo

I was a fan of Ryan’s work ever since I first saw it in the late 1980s. Over the years I corresponded with him by e-mail on Facebook. I was fortunate enough to meet Ryan once, back in 2000. He was a guest at a major comic convention held at Madison Square Garden that was organized by Spencer Beck. Ryan drew an amazing color sketch of Beautiful Dreamer for me at that show. I had always hoped to one day meet Ryan again so that I could obtain another sketch from him. Sadly that is no longer possible. But I am grateful that I had that one opportunity to meet him all those years ago.

Shannon Carter is living the American Dream

The last couple of years for the Fourth of July I’ve blogged about the most prominent patriotic comic book superhero, Captain America. This time I wanted to do something a little different. I’m taking a look at a character who was inspired by Cap: Shannon Carter aka American Dream, who was created by Tom DeFalco & Ron Frenz.

American Dream was introduced in A-Next, one of the titles that comprised the short-lived “MC2” line at Marvel Comics. These all spun out of What If #105 (Feb 1998), the debut of May “Mayday” Parker, the teenage daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in a reality where she was rescued after being abducted by Norman Osborn. What If #105, which was set approximately 15 years in the future, had Mayday becoming Spider-Girl.

What If #105 was a big hit, and in late 1998 the MC2 books started. Most of them unfortunately did not last long, although the Spider-Girl series written by DeFalco had a very lengthy run.

A-Next introduced “the next generation of Avengers.” In this timeline, after a catastrophic battle in a parallel reality (yeah, another one) the Avengers disbanded. A decade later, due to the scheming of the Asgardian god of evil Loki, a new team of Avengers assembles. Yipes, that is always happening to Loki!

Shannon Carter is first briefly seen in A-Next #1 by DeFalco, Frenz & Brett Breeding as an unnamed tour guide at Avengers Mansion. Two issues later we learn her first name and see her assisting Edwin Jarvis in setting up the support network for the new Avengers. At the end of that issue Shannon returns to her apartment where three figures wait in the shadows. She tells them “I have good news, my friends! Our long wait is over! We’ll make our move tomorrow – and these new Avengers will never know what hit them!”

Well that sounds ominous! However, in A-Next #4 by DeFalco, Frenz, Breeding & Paul Ryan, we find out that these four actually intend to join the Avengers. For the first time we see Shannon in costume as American Dream and properly meet her comrades Freebooter, Bluestreak and Crimson Curse. This is also where we find out Shannon’s last name, and it is immediately apparent that she is intended to be a relative of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter.

DeFalco & Frenz intended the “Dream Team” to be a tribute to the “Kooky Quartet” introduced way back in Avengers #16 in 1965. The cover to A-Next #4 is even a nice homage by Frenz & Breeding to the Jack Kirby cover of that classic issue.

By the way… Bluestreak really needs watch those wandering hands! Maybe the Avengers should be required to attend a seminar on sexual harassment in the workplace?

I immediately took a liking to American Dream. Frenz did a superb job designing her, effectively modifying the classic style of Captain America’s uniform into an eye-catching, dramatic costume for a female character.

So who exactly is Shannon Carter? A few issues later DeFalco confirms that she is a relative of Sharon, who at this point is deceased. DeFalco would briefly touch upon her origin in Spider-Girl #32 (May 2001) before elaborating upon it in detailed flashbacks within a five issue American Dream miniseries (2008) illustrated by Todd Nauck & Scott Koblish.

Shannon’s father was a cousin of Sharon Carter. When she was only a child Shannon’s parents were killed in a horrible car accident, and Shannon herself was seriously injured. The orphaned Shannon was adopted by her aunt, Sharon’s older sister Peggy. Peggy, hoping to motivate the mourning, depressed Shannon, gave her Sharon’s diaries to read. Shannon, inspired by reading the experiences of Sharon and her boyfriend Captain America, finally entered physical rehabilitation and began the long, arduous road to recovery.

When she could once again walk, the diaries also motivated Shannon to train relentlessly, and she eventually became a skilled athlete. Shannon wanted to follow in the footsteps of both her Aunt Sharon and Captain America. Seeing her niece’s determination, Peggy introduced her to Clint Barton, formerly Hawkeye, who began instructing her. It was at Clint’s dojo that Shannon would meet the other future members of the Dream Team.

Clint originally envisioned Shannon taking on the identity of Nomad, but she informed him that she wished “to evoke the image of Captain America.” Clint warned her that “Wearing the flag is like painting a bullseye on your chest” but Shannon was undeterred. She assumed the role of American Dream, which would soon lead to her joining the new Avengers.

Back in the present (well, the MC2 present, which is a decade and a half ahead of the regular Marvel Earth, but whatever) in the pages of A-Next #4, on their first mission as Avengers, the Dream Team encounters the Soldiers of the Serpent. A new incarnation of the white supremacists the Sons of the Serpent, the terrorist Soldiers are as fanatical as their predecessors in their racist mission to “cleanse” the country. American Dream proves herself a worthy successor to Captain America, defeating the Serpents’ leader while delivering a passionate rebuke:

“It’s over, Serpent! You’ve lost! Your cause is a sham, and you’re a disgrace to this country! You preach hatred, claiming to represent true Americans, but nothing could be further from the truth! America has always embraced its diversity! Our very differences help make us all stronger! I, for one, am proud to help defend this country from monsters like you!”

It is definitely a stirring speech worthy of Steve Rogers himself. DeFalco’s scripting for Shannon in this scene is of course still extremely relevant to our country, especially in light of the events of the past month.

American Dream quickly becomes a mainstay of these new Avengers. Several issues later, in A-Next #10-11 by DeFalco, Frenz & Al Milgrom, the team journeys to the dystopian nightmare world where the original Avengers fought their final battle. In this reality the Red Skull assassinated Hitler and led the Nazis to victory in World War II. In the present day the Skull’s successor Doctor Doom seeks to expand this fascist empire to all other alternate realities.

After helping to thwart Doom’s plans a decade before, Captain America stayed behind to organize a resistance movement against the totalitarian regime. At first Cap is unhappy to meet these new Avengers and orders them to return home, fearing they will be killed. American Dream and the rest of the team refuse and they join Cap in his assault on Doom and his super-human Thunder Guard.

Doom is narrowly defeated, with Crimson Curse apparently sacrificing her life. Before returning home, these new Avengers are finally given a nod of approval by Cap. America Dream gains the shield of that Earth’s Cap, who was killed decades before by the Skull.

A-Next ended with issue #12, but American Dream has continued to pop up since then. Like many other denizens of Earth-982, she and her teammates would show up from time to time in Spider-Girl. One noteworthy story was the six part “Season of the Serpent” by DeFalco, Frenz, Pat Olliffe, Al Williamson & Sal Buscema that ran in issue #s 54-59 (Jan to June 2003). During that arc Spider-Girl, who has been fighting against the Soldiers of the Serpent and their leader the death-god Seth, joins American Dream on a brief trip back to the alternate Earth to enlist the aid of Thunderstrike and the original Captain America.

American Dream is among the numerous characters to appear in the miniseries Last Hero Standing (2005) by DeFalco, Olliffe & Koblish, and its follow-up Last Planet Standing (2006). She is one of the heroes who plays a vital role in preventing Galactus from destroying the entire universe. This led into the Avengers Next miniseries (2007) by DeFalco, Ron Lim & Koblish. Months before, during Last Hero Standing, Captain America had been killed by Loki, and Shannon finally realized the enormity of following in his footsteps. A major theme of Avengers Next is her uncertainty if she and the rest of the team are capable of living up to the original Avengers.

A year later Shannon received a solo outing in the aforementioned American Dream miniseries, which I enjoyed. DeFalco did a good job delving into Shannon’s past. He also showed her present-day attempts to establish a private civilian life while also serving as an iconic member of the Avengers, something that Cap himself also struggled with often.

I know that among certain readers DeFalco’s writing is an acquired taste. He has a very Silver Age style to his work. At times he tries a bit too hard to make his dialogue humorous or dramatic, resulting in rather corny or stilted scripting. Nevertheless, considering how many writers want to do superhero comic books that are “realistic” or “dark,” often with variable results, there is definitely a refreshing, fun quality to DeFalco’s more traditional approach.

The art by Nauck & Koblish on American Dream was fantastic. I was already a fan of both artists before this miniseries came out, so it was great to see them work together.

American Dream has also popped up in stories by other writers. She was one of the literally hundreds of alternate reality Avengers to make cameos in the sprawling, epic twelve chapter Avengers Forever series (Dec 1998 to Feb 2000) by Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino.

A decade later Stern had the opportunity to write a story that properly co-starred American Dream when Captain America Corps was published in 2011. It was illustrated by Phillippe Briones with covers by Phil Jimenez. This five issue miniseries featured several incarnations of Cap from various time periods, namely Steve Rogers from 1941, U.S. Agent and Bucky Barnes / the Winter Soldier from the present day era, American Dream from Earth-982 and Commander A from the 25th Century. The Elder of the Universe known as the Contemplator gathered them together in order to thwart Cap’s old foe Superia, whose reckless attempts to alter history threatened to unravel all of reality.

I have always enjoyed Stern’s work on Captain America. Stern’s short run with John Byrne & Josef Rubinstein on Cap’s solo series is justifiably referred to as classic, and his longer run writing Avengers in the mid-1980s is also extremely well-regarded. Since then Stern has occasionally had the opportunity to return to the character, such as in this Captain America Corps miniseries. It was a really exciting read. It was great to see Stern team up American Dream with Steve and Bucky.

Offhand I don’t recall if American Dream has appeared in the last several years. Hopefully at some point she will show up again. I would certainly be happy if DeFalco had another opportunity to write her and the other Avengers of Earth-982. Of course, sooner or later Marvel ends up reviving any & every character that they have ever published (just look at all of the parallel universes and old crossovers that are being revisited within the current Secret Wars mega-event). So cross your fingers that one day we will see Shannon Carter return.

Happy birthday to John Romita

Here’s wishing a very happy 85th birthday to legendary comic book artist John Romita, who was born on January 24, 1930. The prolific Romita has had a long association with Marvel Comics over the decades, at one time or another drawing many of the company’s major characters, as well as having a hand in designing a number of them.

Romita’s first regular assignment at Marvel was Daredevil. He worked on issue #s 12-19 (cover dates Jan to Aug 1966). It was while on Daredevil that Romita first drew the character of Spider-Man in a two-part guest appearance in #s 16-17. This actually led to Romita becoming only the second artist to draw Amazing Spider-Man, after co-creator Steve Ditko departed from Marvel. Romita’s first issue was #39 (Aug 1966), teamed up with writer & editor Stan Lee.

During his time working on Amazing Spider-Man Romita designed several new villains, most prominently the Rhino, the Shocker, and the Kingpin. Romita also made his mark as an artist who was talented at rendering beautiful women. He revealed what Mary Jane Watson actually looked like, and he gradually transformed Gwen Stacy from Ditko’s ice queen into more of a sweet girl-next-door type. He also completely redesigned the look of the Black Widow, giving Natasha her now-iconic long red hair, leather jumpsuit and wrist-blasters in issue #86 (July 1970).

Before his time at Marvel, Romita had spent nearly a decade at DC Comics working on their romance titles. This definitely made him very well-suited to working on Amazing Spider-Man. During this time Stan Lee’s stories were as much soap opera as super-heroes. Romita was the perfect artist to illustrate Peter Parker’s personal life and rocky romances with Mary Jane and Gwen.

Confession time: I am not an especially huge fan of Spider-Man, although there are certain runs and storylines featuring the web-slinger that I have enjoyed. Consequently, I do not have all that many issues of his various comic titles and most of those that I do own are from the 1980s onward. So sadly I don’t actually have many of the issues Romita worked on. I really need to pick up some trade paperbacks!

One of the Spider-Man books by Romita that I do have, though, is from much later in his career. Published in 1997, the Spider-Man/Kingpin: To the Death special was a reunion Romita in more than one way. It was his first full-length Spider-Man story in a number of years. It also saw him once again drawing the Kingpin and Daredevil. The book also reunited him with Stan Lee, who scripted over a plot by another long-time Spider-Man writer, Tom DeFalco. Romita’s pencils were effectively inked by Dan Green. I thought it was a nice collaboration. Green’s embellishment seemed to bring out the Milton Caniff influence in Romita’s style.

Although certainly not nearly as prominent as his association with Spider-Man, Romita also contributed a small but impressive body of work featuring another of Marvel’s iconic characters, Captain America. Actually some of Romita’s earliest professional work was on the very short-lived revival of the Captain America title in 1954.

After Romita became firmly established at Marvel in the mid-1960s, he illustrated Captain America on a few occasions. He drew the Cap stories in Tales of Suspense #76-77 (April-May 1966). The second of those tales, on which Romita penciled over Jack Kirby’s layouts, introduced Cap’s wartime love interest & ally Peggy Carter, the older sister (later retconned into the aunt) of his current girlfriend, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter.

Tales of Suspense was re-titled Captain America with issue #100. Romita guest-penciled issue #114 (June 1969) and a couple of years later briefly became the book’s regular artist, working on #s 138-145 (June 1971 to Jan 1972). Although the writing on some of these issues was a bit underwhelming, particularly the ones featuring the Grey Gargoyle, the art by Romita was nevertheless very good.

Towards the end of this brief run, under writer Gary Friedrich, the stories got a bit better. Africa-American social activist Leila Taylor was introduced as a love interest for the Falcon who would frequently challenge his political views. Cap’s arch-foe the racist Red Skull was unmasked as an agent provocateur who was attempting to discredit Leila’s militant civil rights group by inciting them to violence. Romita’s final issue of Captain America was the first chapter of an exciting story arc that saw Cap, Sharon Carter and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. pitted against the hordes of Hydra. His cover to #145 was incredibly striking, with a rage-filled Cap standing over the fallen Sharon, swearing vengeance against Hydra. Romita subsequently worked on a number of additional covers for Captain America throughout the 1970s.

I mentioned before how adept John Romita is at drawing beautiful women. This was very well encapsulated on the cover to Marvel Age #111. Romita drew himself day-dreaming, surrounded by a bevy of the lovely ladies he had rendered over the decades, among them Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and the Black Widow. In a humorous, self-deprecating touch, in the upper right hand corner Romita has his wife Virginia popping in to his studio to ask him if he’s finished drawing the cover yet!

Marvel Age 111 cover

Romita’s son John Romita Jr also went into the comic book biz, himself becoming an equally prolific artist who worked on numerous titles. There are similarities between the styles of father and son, although I would describe John Jr’s work as more gritty. The two have worked together on occasion, with Romita inking his son’s pencils.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet Romita on a couple of times at comic book conventions, where I was able to get a few of the books he worked on autographed. I didn’t have much of an opportunity to speak with him, but he seemed to be a polite, pleasant individual.

Although mostly retired nowadays, Romita does from time-to-time dip his toe back into the waters of the biz, drawing the occasional cover here and there. It’s always nice to see new work from such a talented legend.

Strange Comic Books: Spider-Ham in Marvel Tails

This installment of Strange Comic Books, my occasional look at the more odd & offbeat comics in my collection, was indirectly inspired by the recent news that the original artwork for two complete Amazing Spider-Man issues drawn by Steve Ditko had resurfaced after nearly half a century. Specifically, those two stories are “The Coming of the Scorpion” from ASM #20 and “The Final Chapter” from ASM #33. That later issue features the iconic sequence by Ditko & Stan Lee where Spider-Man struggles to lift up the massive pile of wrecked machinery that he is buried under. This, in a very roundabout way, brings us to Marvel Tails #1 and only, published by Marvel Comics in 1983.

Marvel Tails #1 saw the introduction of probably the most famous, as well as clever, Spider-Man pastiche ever, namely Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham. This porcine parody of Spider-Man was devised by Tom DeFalco and Larry Hama. DeFalco would, of course, soon after become well-regarded for his work on the actual Amazing Spider-Man title, as well as Thor and the long-running cult classic Spider-Girl. But Spider-Ham was one of his earliest associations with all things arachnid. As for Hama, though best known for his writing on G.I. Joe and Wolverine, he is also a huge fan of Carl Barks’ work, so it’s quite natural that he was involved in devising Marvel’s first funny animal character.

The title Marvel Tails is itself a pun on Marvel Tales, a long-running series which reprinted the Silver and Bronze Age Spider-Man stories. In the days before Marvel had any sort of trade paperback program, Marvel Tales was the best way for younger readers such as myself to get caught up on the Spider-Man comics of the 1960s and 70s.

“If He Should Punch Me” is written by DeFalco and edited by Hama, with artwork courtesy of penciler Mark Armstrong and inker Joe Albelo. In addition to introducing Peter Porker / Spider-Ham, we meet Steve Mouser, aka Captain Americat, and their boss, curmudgeonly Daily Beagle publisher J. Jonah Jackal. Porker and Mouser are sent by Jackal to cover the story of the Masked Marauder, a mysterious figure who is sabotaging the massive Video City arcade. There they meet Bruce Bunny, the arcade’s chief electrical engineer. While Peter and Steve are busy touring Video City, the Masked Marauder locks Bruce Bunny inside a broken “Gamma Gambit” video game. The rays from the game transform Bruce into the Incredible Hulk-Bunny, who bursts out and embarks on a rampage.

The exploding video game attracts the attention of Peter and Steve, who slip into their Spider-Ham and Captain Americat costumes. Cap comes across the Masked Marauder, while Spidey tangles with the Hulk-Bunny. During the battle, the Hulk-Bunny knocks out a support beam, causing a bunch of video games and soda machines to topple onto him.

And, yes, this is where that sequence by Ditko from “The Final Chapter” comes into the picture. DeFalco, Armstrong & Albelo give us a playfully humorous parody of that classic scene, as Spider-Ham, pinned down by the huge pile of rubble, is inspired by his sense of responsibility and finds the strength to free himself. Of course, in this version of events, after lifting up all of that wreckage, the weight causes the floor under him to collapse, dropping him on top of Captain Americat. (Click on the above scans to enlarge for maximum humorous effect.)

The story soon wraps up, as the Hulk-Bunny is defeated and the Masked Marauder is, well, unmasked. I won’t give you all the details, since it’s worth reading the story for yourself. Marvel Tails was collected in the Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man digest-sized trade paperback published in 2010. So go get it.

Rounding out Marvel Tails is a five page back-up starring the supernatural cyclist Goose Rider written & drawn by cover artist Steve Mellor. It’s a ridiculously bizarre yet humorous set of gags that make absolutely no sense, but in a good way.

A year and a half after Marvel Tails hit the newsstands, Spider-Ham graduated into his own ongoing series. Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham ran from May 1985 to September 1987, lasting 17 issues. After that, Spider-Ham became a periodic back-up feature in, appropriately enough, Marvel Tales. And then there was the story in What The–?! #3 which featured Spider-Ham facing off against Raven the Hunter in a send-up of “Kraven’s Last Hunt.” More recently Spider-Ham and his daughter Swiney-Girl showed up in Spider-Man Family, and there was a 25th Anniversary Special in 2010.

For an in-depth look at Spider-Ham’s creation and publishing history, I recommend picking up Back Issue #39 published by TwoMorrows and edited by Michael Eury. Incidentally enough, Eury was one of the writers of Spider-Ham during his time in Marvel Tales. BI #39 is topped off by a cool cover penciled by the late, great Mike Wieringo and inked by Karl Kesel.

I don’t think the first Spider-Ham TPB sold especially well, since there unfortunately haven’t been any subsequent volumes. In the absence of further collections, I think that Spider-Ham is definitely worth tracking down in the back issue bins. It was a funny, clever series that offered some witty, good-natured Marvel self-parody.

By the way, getting back to our starting point, you can view scans of the original Ditko artwork from Amazing Spider-Man #20 and #33 on the website of Mike “Romitaman” Burkey. It’s really fantastic to see.

Comic books I’m reading, part one: DC and Marvel

Back when I was a teenager and in my twenties, I read a lot of books published by DC and Marvel Comics. I was very much into the mainstream superhero titles. Over the last several years, though, my tastes have gradually changed. Additionally, comic books have become more and more expensive, now costing around $2.99 to $3.99. I don’t have as much disposable income as I used to, so I cannot afford to buy as many books. Additionally, a lot of titles have become very decompressed and long form in their story arcs. That means it takes more issues to tell a story while, conversely, much less time to read each actual issue. I don’t see the point in spending three to four bucks for a ten minute read.

So, what ongoing series am I picking up? From DC, I’ve been following Justice League International, Wonder Woman, and Blackhawks, and the last of those three was just canceled. That leaves just two.

JLI is a pretty decent book. I decided to give it a try because I liked the creative team of Dan Jurgens & Aaron Lopresti. Also, the cast of the book contained Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, and various other so-called “second-stringers” who do not have their own solo titles, enabling Jurgens to engage in character development. I also enjoy the interaction between Booster and Batman, which is almost of a student/mentor relationship. So far, it’s been pretty entertaining. The main ongoing subplot concerns a group of superhuman anarchists. I’ll be sticking with JLI for the immediate future, to see what happens. Lopresti’s art is very nicely done. I just wish that he was also drawing the covers, but I guess David Finch is a hotter creator.

(I am somewhat curious about the main Justice League title, but seeing as it’s penciled by Jim Lee it is inevitably going to end up collected in trade paperbacks, so I can always check it out later.)

On Wonder Woman, the major draw, so to speak, has been Cliff Chiang’s stunning artwork. It really is beautiful. I am not nearly as much sold by Brian Azzarello’s writing. Something about it doesn’t quite click with me. He is one of those writers who play a very long game, so the plotlines he’s set up could take years to resolve. I’m not sure I want to stick around that long to see it all pan out. The major distinction for the Wonder Woman revamp has been Azzarello & Chiang re-imagining the Greek gods. Instead of a bunch of people in white togas standing around spouting pseudo-Shakespearean dialogue, they are a dysfunctional group of freaks with murky motivations. They really feel like mysterious, dangerous deities who could do some serious damage with their manipulations.

For me, the two best books DC has released lately have been miniseries. I absolutely loved The Ray, which I initially picked up for Jamal Igle’s artwork. Igle is an incredibly talented creator, and his artwork on this four issue miniseries is stunning. What made The Ray such a great book was that the writing by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti was of an equally high standard. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend tracking down back issues of this series. I don’t know if there is going to be a TPB collection of this, but if DC has any sense, they will collect it.

The other miniseries I enjoyed was Legion: Secret Origin written by Paul Levitz. He does an excellent job setting down the post-Flashpoint origin of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Levitz introduces the characters and the world of the 31st Century in a manner that will please long-time Legion fans such as myself, yet is accommodating to newer readers. Legion: Secret Origin is also an excellent example of how to set up a miniseries in such a way that it is self-contained and stands on its own, but at the same time plants the seeds for future storylines elsewhere. Also, the series boosts superb artwork by Chris Batista & Marc Deering.

Over at Marvel, well, there’s not much I’m picking up, either. I used to be such a HUGE fan of both Captain America and the Avengers. Nowadays, they are hotter than they have ever been but, ironically, I’m just not as interested. Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Avengers just never did much for me, so it has been several years since I followed any of the titles regularly. (I did really enjoy Mighty Avengers when Dan Slott was writing it.) As for Captain America, well, Ed Brubaker has been doing excellent work but, like Azzarello, he sets up storylines that take a long time to pan out, plus his writing style is definitely decompressed. When the Captain America: The First Avenger movie came out last year, Marvel re-started the book with a new issue #1. I was sort of underwhelmed by the first five issue arc, “American Dreamers.” I’ve bought the next five issues, the “Powerless” arc, and read the first two chapters, but just haven’t gotten around to finishing it, despite some gorgeous artwork by Alan Davis & Mark Farmer. The thing is, I’ve religiously bought every issue of Captain America since 1989, but now I’m actually wondering if I want to continue with it.

I’ve been somewhat more entertained by the original Captain America volume one, which continued the original series numbering, but was re-titled Captain America & Bucky for nine issues, before switching over the second spot to a rotating co-star. Right now it’s Hawkeye sharing the spotlight with the Sentinel of Liberty. The two Bucky-related stories were both very good. Part of that had to do with them being self-contained. I wish Brubaker would write more stories of that nature. A new creative team came on-board with Hawkeye. So far, I’m not especially impressed, but I will wait to see how the entire story plays out. But again, I am uncertain if I will stick around after that.

After a very long time away, I have started picking up Avengers, at least for a few issues. The legendary Walter Simonson is penciling a six issue arc that ties in with the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover. I am a huge fan of Simonson, and I have long wanted to see him draw Avengers. He is doing an absolutely stunning job. I was blown away by the first two issues out, #s 25 & 26. In the later, we see Thor in combat with the Phoenix Force out in space. It is just beautiful work.

Avengers #26 page 17: Thor vs the Phoenix Force!

Mention definitely has to be made of Scott Hanna’s contribution. He is one of the absolute best inkers in the comic book biz today. I often think he does not receive anywhere near the credit that is due him. This is his first time inking Simonson, and the results look fantastic. I also have to point out the vibrant coloring by Jason Keith, which really stood out in that sequence with the Phoenix.

The writing by Bendis is pretty good, but he could do a bit of a better job making this portion stand on its own. I realize this is part of a huge crossover, but in the middle of #26, there’s a sudden jump forward in the action, with the explanatory caption “For details, see Secret Avengers #26-28 on sale now!” That was jarring.

Anyway, despite this, Bendis does have a nice scene earlier between the Protector (not familiar with the character, but I think he’s a Kree agent and a new Avengers recruit) and his cute punk rock girlfriend. Bendis is usually better at penning more personal character moments like this than monumental superhero spectacles, so it plays to his strengths. That said, if you are going to do big & cosmic, Walter Simonson is your go-to guy, and Bendis gives him plenty to play with in the issue’s second half. I would complain that it only took ten minutes each to read Avengers #s 25 & 26, but they both look so amazing thanks to Simonson & Hanna. So I’m on-board for the next four issues, which they are also illustrating.

Other than that, the only Marvel book I’m following right now is the five issue limited series Hulk Smash Avengers. It takes place during different eras of the team’s history, and examines their contentious relationship with the Hulk. Topped off by beautiful covers from Lee Weeks, each issue has a different creative team.

The main reason why I decided to get this miniseries is because the first issue is by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz & Sal Buscema. I have really enjoyed DeFalco & Frenz’s work on Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, Thunderstrike, A-Next, and Spider-Girl. Buscema is one of my all time favorite comic book artists. Nowadays mostly retired, he still breaks out the old pen & brush to ink Frenz on various projects. They go together extremely well.

Their issue is an homage to the early Avengers stories by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Dick Ayers. In it, the Masters of Evil join forces with the Hulk against the original Avengers team. DeFalco is very much going for a Silver Age vibe with his scripting, which makes it a bit goofy, but a lot of fun. It was fun seeing DeFalco & Frenz do a story with Thor once again. And, yay, it actually took longer than ten minutes to read this issue! DeFalco, like Paul Levitz, really knows how to script a story full of substance.

I haven’t had an opportunity to read the next two issues of Hulk Smash Avengers yet, but they’re written by Joe Casey and Roger Stern, so I have high expectations. And I’ll be buying the final two installments when they come out.

That’s really about it. Aside from picking up an occasional issue of a title here or there, right now I’m not really committed to any other specific series from either DC or Marvel. My interest has been shifting more and more over to releases from “independent” companies such as Image, IDW, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, and others. I will be discussing those in an upcoming post on this blog. Keep an eye out for it.