The New Defenders (1972) #152

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Um. I never read The New Defenders so I don’t really know what the deal is with this issue, given it’s the final issue and it resolves a bunch of New Defenders stuff–is Valkyrie still dead and was Manslaughter supposed to be gay? I also didn’t know there were so many X-Men in the New Defenders. Where are all the regular Defenders? You’d think they’d make an appearance.

It’s a double-sized issue, which works, from a plotting standpoint. The issue never feels rushed. The Secret Wars II crossover is idiotic.

The real surprise is the Don Perlin art. I didn’t realize he worked into the eighties. I’d sit there and read it and be shocked by the awful artwork, then remember it was Perlin. The art’s awful, something the cover tries to hide.

It’s okay, I guess, for eighties Marvel, but I’m not the one to ask.

The Micronauts: The New Voyages (1984) #16

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People actually read this comic? I mean, I couldn’t understand a single word of it. It’s got an insane continuity to follow, but you also have to be able to translate Gillis’s writing into narrative. It’s just a bunch of events, without any connecting scenes, over and over again. All in one comic book. It’s nuts.

In fact, it’s so confounding, I don’t even know how to talk about it. What do they call those issues now? “Jumping on points”? Micronauts–even with the Secret Wars II crossover–clearly did not care about new readers or even casual readers (I thought I had some idea who the Micronauts were–still don’t know if it’s correct, but was that Ambush Bug in the issue?).

But it does have Kelley Jones on–not just mainstream art–but Marvel art. It’s crazy; almost worth looking at for his contribution alone.

I said “almost.”

Doctor Strange (1974) #74

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What can make the Beyonder whole? Why, sitting through a partial retelling of Dr. Strange’s origin, of course!

Every once and a while I’ll come across a comic where I’m completely unfamiliar–so far as I know–with the creative team. I’ve never heard of Peter B. Gillis, though maybe I’ve heard of Mark Badger, but certainly not in terms of mainstream work (maybe something at Dark Horse?).

I’ve never really read Dr. Strange so I don’t know if this issue, which opens after him helping free some kingdom in another dimension, is the norm. Strange talks a lot, uses a lot of mystical sounding proper nouns–all of them with threes, note, this of that, that of this–while remaining upbeat about the human condition, if acknowledging its problems.

This issue didn’t really make an impression.

Badger’s somewhat okay. He’s kind of safely indie, still mainstream enough for Marvel.