Adventure into Fear 10 (October 1972)

Adventure into Fear #10 Of the three stories this issue–the first two are original, the third is a sixties reprint–Man-Thing is the easy winner. The other two aren't any competition.

The reprint is a Stan Lee and Larry Lieber (probably) written tale of greed. Don Heck gets some moody art in, but nothing particularly good. The writing's lame.

Ditto for the second story, which is sort of a tale of greed. Bugsy Malone versus pirates. Allyn Brodsky's script is terrible. Jack Katz and Bill Everett contribute indistinct art.

But as for Man-Thing… the art, from Howard Chaykin and Gray Morrow, is pretty good. And Gerry Conway's script has a couple moments. Not enough, but a couple. The problem seems to be his pacing. He front loads the story setting up Man-Thing and then doesn't have enough room for a good finish. It's creepier with the bad finish… maybe Conway intended that reading of it.

CREDITS

Man-Thing; writer, Gerry Conway; penciller, Howard Chaykin; inker, Gray Morrow. The Spell of the Sea Witch; writer, Allyn Brodsky; penciller, Jack Katz; inker, Bill Everett. There Is Something Strange About Mister Jones; writers, Stan Lee and Larry Lieber; artist, Don Heck. Letterer, Artie Simek; editor, Roy Thomas; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Batman Family 17 (April-May 1978)

3140 This issue has a neat thread running through its three feature-length stories. The Huntress (from Earth-Two) comes to Earth-One for a visit. In the Batman story, she meets him and Robin. Then she teams up with Batgirl and Batwoman. For the finale, her going home sets off the events for Man-Bat and the Demon’s story.

Gerry Conway and Jim Aparo’s Batman story is okay. Conway pauses on some character stuff–Batman meeting his “daughter”–but ignores other obvious moments, like Robin’s girlfriend being a shallow mean girl. Dick’s upset most of the issue, so his Aparo brow fits. And the ending twist’s decent.

Bob Rozakis writes a lot better than Don Heck draws the three female superheroes teaming up. Lame villain characterizations, but great stuff with Batgirl.

The winner is the Man-Bat and Demon story. Rozakis’s script is fun and Michael Golden’s artwork is breathtaking.

CREDITS

Scars; writer, Gerry Conway; artist, Jim Aparo; colorist, Adrienne Roy. Horoscopes of Crime!; writer, Bob Rozakis; penciller, Don Heck; inkers, Bob Wiacek and Vince Colletta; colorist, Jerry Serpe; letterer, Clem Robins. There’s a Demon Born Every Minute; writer, Rozakis; artist, Michael Golden; colorist, Serpe; letterer, Jean Simek. Editor, Al Milgrom; publisher, DC Comics.

Creatures on the Loose 17 (May 1972)

For some inexplicable reason, probably because he liked to read himself (I don’t think Marvel paid by the word in the seventies), Roy Thomas has his protagonist spouting expository dialogue every panel.

Thomas and Gil Kane do the feature, Guillvar Jones, and it’s beautiful to read. Kane eventually does have some weak panels, but most of them are fantastic. Lots of fluid movement. Just great.

And Thomas doesn’t do bad with the first person narration. It’s fine. All the expository dialogue (protagonist talking to himself) is terrible and narratively pointless, if not incompetent.

The issue also has some old reprints. There’s a pretty good giant sea monster one from Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. The twist is the sea monster is intelligent, but Lee doesn’t explore that point enough. Nice art.

The other reprint is sci-fi (from Lee and Don Heck). It’s fine until the moronic ending.

Thor: Tales of Asgard (2009) #1

Tta1

Stan Lee writes these stories with such enthusiasm, it’s hard not to get involved with them… even when there are glaring continuity errors (Lee has Heimdall taking the assignment of guarding the Rainbow Bridge after Thor’s come of age, when just a few stories earlier, young Thor is on the bridge with an already assigned Heimdall).

The first couple stories feature Odin, which is a bit of a problem, since he’s all powerful and isn’t much fun to watch. His fight with Surtur, however, is fun to see. Kirby’s art’s strongest in that story. Maybe because the outfits aren’t so silly yet.

The young Thor stories, those featuring Loki, are annoying, as Thor is constantly duped by his evil brother. That infinite gullibility is one of the things, I think, I didn’t like about the character as a kid (and therefore, didn’t read much Thor).

Again, Lee makes it work.

Thor: Tales of Asgard 1 (July 2009)

Again, Lee makes it work.

CREDITS

Tales of Asgard; inker, George Roussos. Odin Battles Ymir, King of the Ice Giants; inker, Don Heck. Surtur the Fire Demon!; inker, George Roussos. The Storm Giants; inker, Paul Reiman. The Invasion of Asgard!; inker, Roussos.“Death” Comes to Thor!; inker, Reinman. Thor’s Mission to Mirmir!; inker, Chic Stone. Heimdall, Guardian of the Mystic Rainbow Bridge!; inker, Heck. Writer, Stan Lee; penciller, Jack Kirby; colorist, Matt Milla; letterer, Art Simek; editor, Mark D. Beazley; publisher, Marvel Comics.