Iron Man (1968) #197

I think, seeing the cover, I had this issue as a kid. I don’t remember any of it–it’s a bunch of electrical engineering mumbo jumbo after a certain point–but I certainly hope I didn’t like it. Marvel always prides itself on that shared universe idea, but this issue, despite some lip service, certainly doesn’t show it.

While Rhodey’s off fighting a Beyonder-powered supervillain (a disgruntled television writer–I guess doing a disgruntled comic book writer would have been too New York at this point), Tony’s worried about his ex-girlfriend. Instead of sending, I don’t know, the Avengers to help her, he goes himself and fails. Only then does he save the day for Rhodey, who isn’t smart enough to take out the villain alone.

Then there’s the painfully mediocre artwork and the bickering techie siblings.

It’s a painful read; Tony’s characterization as a jerk doesn’t help.

The Uncanny X-Men (1981) #196

I thought this issue was going to be a mystery, but it’s not. It doesn’t even have the pretense of one, except for Professor X asking the X-Men to investigate something. It’s too bad, since it might have been a better comic book with that approach.

It’s an X-Men book so I can identify the more popular ones, but when it comes to all the girls, I’m lost. What’s the difference between Kitty Pryde, Rogue and Rachel Summers? How do people keep up with this stuff? And do X-Men readers make fun of soap opera fanatics; they really shouldn’t.

Claremont packs the issue, which is impressive, I suppose, and desirable for its audience. I just couldn’t wait for the damn comic to end.

The artwork is incredibly loose and uninteresting.

The Secret Wars tie-in is all red skies.

I don’t get X-Men comics at all.

Captain America (1968) #308

Reading old DC comics–well, not old, but late seventies and early-to-mid eighties, I’m taken aback by the lame one issue villains they sometimes have. Gerry Conway did a lot of these on his Batman run, as far as I can tell. This issue of Captain America shows Marvel did it a lot too and, well, worse.

This issue opens with Cap breaking into the West Coast Avengers mansion or compound or whatever–it’s a chance to hype the coming West Coast Avengers series presumably–and then he gets into this long fight scene with a new villain, the Mexican-American Armadillo, who works for a super-mad scientist who no one seems to have heard of before and it kicks off some melodrama.

The writing’s competent (the end’s lame though, real lame) but the art’s awful. Cap’s face is often incomplete (no nose).

What a strange comic.

The New Mutants (1983) #30

I don’t think I’ve ever read a Sienkiewicz comic before. I know, I know. I was a DC guy in the eighties for the most part and, even if I did, I was a kid and probably wouldn’t have appreciated it. Sienkiewicz did mainstream books? It’s incredible to think about it–his work’s design oriented but also has a narrative flow. It’s absolutely great.

The comic itself, a Secret Wars II crossover, is all right if unspectacular. Even though I’m completely unfamiliar with the title, I could figure some things out (though not all the character names, besides Dazzler and Kitty Pryde), maybe because Claremont is the wordiest comic book writer I think I’ve ever seen.

I wonder if the title was produced “Marvel style” (Sienkiewicz illustrating off a plot, then Claremont filling in text)–there’s a lot of art covered up here with exposition.

It’s a decent enough comic.