Howard the Duck (1976) #29

Howard the Duck 29

Gerber writes the script from a Mark Evanier plot.

It starts with Howard in Cleveland again, though it doesn’t look like Howard. Will Meugniot and Ricardo Villamonte’s art is strange; Howard’s reality is gone. It’s a comic strip. Meugniot’s got fine enough composition, but zero detail.

The story doesn’t have much Cleveland–Howard almost immediately ends up in Las Vegas where he’s going on television because some idiot Vegas lounge act thinks Howard’s a kid with a strange disease. You know, a disease where he looks like a duck.

How did this one not get turned into the movie? Maybe it did. I don’t think I’ve ever finished the movie.

Anyway… it’s not exactly bad. The art’s not good. Gerber’s dialogue is funny but detached. And the satire is pretty tepid. There’s no great diatribes, no passion, just easy targets.

It feels like a pitch for a TV show.

Howard the Duck 29 (January 1979)

Howard the Duck #29 Gerber writes the script from a Mark Evanier plot.

How did this one not get turned into the movie? Maybe it did. I don’t think I’ve ever finished the movie.

Anyway… it’s not exactly bad. The art’s not good. Gerber’s dialogue is funny but detached. And the satire is pretty tepid. There’s no great diatribes, no passion, just easy targets.

It feels like a pitch for a TV show.

CREDITS

Help Stamp Out Ducks!; writers, Mark Evanier and Steve Gerber; penciller, Will Meugniot; inker, Ricardo Villamonte; colorist, Michele Wolfman; letterer, Joe Rosen; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Star Trek 8 (November 1980)

Martin Pasko writes the heck out of this comic book. He’s got a really complicated plot and it makes for a fantastic, lengthy read. Pasko doesn’t just come up with a great reveal for the aliens, he’s also got the really cool subplots going. He runs two subplots through the comic, resolving one and then introducing the next. And those run under this intriguing main plot.

It shows why, for once, a licensed property comic can excel. The comic only works because it’s a Star Trek comic yet Pasko so profoundly transcends the norm in plotting ability, it becomes something singular.

Unfortunately, Ricardo Villamonte is the apparently worst possible inker for Dave Cockrum in the world. Forget the characters looking too photo-referenced, they don’t even look the same between panels. And there’s no depth. Villamonte didn’t put in any shadows. None.

But that Pasko script is a wonderful thing.

A-

CREDITS

The Expansionist Syndrome; writer, Martin Pasko; pencillers, Dave Cockrum and Ricardo Villamonte; inker, Villamonte; colorist, Carl Gafford; letterer, Ray Burzon; editor, Louise Jones; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones 31 (September 1985)

22363 For a few pages, I thought maybe Villamonte had improved. Not really. Especially not at the end when a character is supposed to fall off a cliff and instead just isn’t around anymore. Villamonte’s terrible at establishing shots.

The story’s a doozy and not particularly digestible. Grant tries real hard though; she doesn’t seem to understand Villamonte is butchering her scripts. His incapable of pacing out the story visually. Or maybe Further Adventures was done Marvel-style, which would be even stranger given all the content.

Indy finds himself crashed in Washington state where he runs across a great white hunter–a female great white hunter–her Native American sidekick and a bunch of unpleasant townsfolk.

Grant writes a lot of dialogue for the issue. It’s a mystery and someone needs to explain it all. But Grant has maybe four people do that explaining.

It’s a mind-numbing comic book.

C-

CREDITS

Big Game; writer, Linda Grant; penciller, Ricardo Villamonte; inker, Danny Bulanadi; colorist, George Roussos; letterer, Diana Albers; editors, Craig Anderson and Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones 30 (July 1985)

22362 Villamonte’s apparently sticking around with his terrible pencils.

The writing’s decent, but it’s hard to say how the issue should read with so much terrible composition. There’s a lot of talking about Villamonte can’t break out the conversations well. He does small panels–sometimes stylized, which is worse–and can’t fit all the dialogue. Letterer Diana Albers must have been thrilled.

The plot isn’t great either. Grant doesn’t bother with much of the archeology or even history (there are nods to it) and concentrates on the action. Given Villamonte is terrible with action–he’s entirely incapable of composing a comprehensible action panel–the issue is a chore.

The most lively moment has to be when Indy’s annoying young Scottish lad sidekick meets Marcus Brody and appears to flirt with him (given Grant’s use of an ellipses).

Otherwise, it’s a cruddy comic. Grant’s script deserves better. Not lots better, but better.

CREDITS

Fireworks!; writer, Linda Grant; penciller, Ricardo Villamonte; inker, Danny Bulanadi; colorist, George Roussos; letterer, Diana Albers; editor, Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones 29 (May 1985)

22361 Whew, I thought something happened to Dikto and since the previous issue he forgot everything he knew about composition completely and replaced it with the inept angles of someone without dimension vision.

But it’s a new penciller–Ricardo Villamonte–and he’s awful. He ruins a bunch of good action set pieces in Grant’s script. She’s got a lot of material in the issue. Not enough for two but enough for one and a half easy. Indy meets up with an old flame, an old friend, dueling gangsters–it’s practically Yojimbo. It’s not, but it’s closer to it than I’d have expected from Grant.

Villamonte can’t do the talking, he really can’t do action, he can’t do much of anything. He can’t even draw Indy’s face the same size from panel to panel. It’s a shame Marvel is giving up on the book once they’ve got an okay writer in place.

CREDITS

Shot by Both Sides; writer, Linda Grant; penciller, Ricardo Villamonte; inker, Danny Bulanadi; colorist, George Roussos; letterer, Diana Albers; editor, Ralph Macchio; publisher, Marvel Comics.

The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones 13 (January 1984)

22345 What a difference a penciller makes… Ricardo Villamonte really doesn’t cut it. Indy’s always got a befuddled look.

Still, Villamonte isn’t responsible for the lame story. Michelinie send Indy out west on a field trip from the university. He and his students are on a dig, he runs awful bad guys. The plot contrivances are lame for even a done-in-one licensed comic; Michelinie wastes all his opportunities.

Michelinie opens with Indy’s female students talking about him being cute. One might think the issue would explore his professional life… But, no, it turns into this boring desert investigation thing with a truly silly explanation.

The comic actually shows the most life when Indy’s on the phone talking with the regular cast. Michelinie tried something new and it clearly didn’t work so much he had to remind the reader it’s not the norm.

It’s too bad, he usually does fine.

CREDITS

Deadly Rock!; writers, Archie Goodwin and David Michelinie; penciller, Ricardo Villamonte; inker, Sam de la Rosa; colorist, Bob Sharen; letterer, Joe Rosen; editor, Louise Jones; publisher, Marvel Comics.

Ka-Zar the Savage (1981) #30

Ka Zar the Savage 30 crop

Well, after a couple good issues, Carlin’s Ka-Zar is starting to unravel.

The issue also has major art problems; some of these problems might even make Carlin’s script worse, but he still makes some awful choices.

He tries to keep up the high level of content, sending Ka-Zar and Shanna through a battle, imprisonment, another battle, an escape, another imprisonment… You get the idea.

Carlin loses track of characters a couple major times, with the character conveniently popping in to save the day, and he also makes a terrible antagonist decision. The bad guy this issue is a pterodactyl man. He thinks to himself a lot and he’s a big meanie. It’s a goofy villain, made goofier by Mary Wilshire and Ricardo Villamonte’s questionable pencils, and the issue sinks thanks to it.

The art looks dated, like a bland sixties comic.

Luckily, the strong cast still makes it throughly readable.

Ka-Zar the Savage 30 (February 1984)

Well, after a couple good issues, Carlin’s Ka-Zar is starting to unravel.

The issue also has major art problems; some of these problems might even make Carlin’s script worse, but he still makes some awful choices.

He tries to keep up the high level of content, sending Ka-Zar and Shanna through a battle, imprisonment, another battle, an escape, another imprisonment… You get the idea.

The art looks dated, like a bland sixties comic.

Luckily, the strong cast still makes it throughly readable.