The Stop Button

Marshall runs into some big problems here.

First and foremost, he writes a big complicated action issue and Burles can’t draw it. There are fight scenes, there are battles scenes; they’re completely incompressible. And there’s even a climatic finish to one of the fights. Again, the awful art kills the dramatic intent.

The second problem is a minor continuity one. Marshall’s ignoring of the final two Apes movies is even more acute here. Either he didn’t see them, or he did and forgot them. Given Marshall’s not writing to suit his penciller’s absolute inabilities, I imagine he just forgot the movies’ contents.

Finally, he changes the mood of the comic. This issue’s end is practically upbeat. It makes the comic seem light and slighty naive.

The comic, even with the awful art, should have been much better. It’s too bad Marshall fell off the quality wagon, though his dialogue’s fine.

CREDITS

Battle; writer, Charles Marshall; penciller, Kent Burles; inker, Barbara Kaalberg; letterer, Clem Robins; editors, Dan Danko, Chris Ulm and Mickie Villa; publisher, Adventure Comics.