Showing posts with label Mike Zeck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Zeck. Show all posts

Friday, 4 December 2015

Essential Defenders volume 7

Essential Defenders volume 7 comprises New Defenders #126 to #139 plus the two four-part limited series Iceman and Beauty and the Beast. Bonus material includes various adverts for the series and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe entries for the Angel, the Beast, Gargoyle, Iceman, Moondragon and Valkyrie. The main series is written by J.M. DeMatteis and then Peter Gillis. Most issues are drawn by Don Perlin with others by Alan Kupperberg, Sal Buscema and Mike Zeck. A brief comedy piece in #127 is co-written by Ann Nocenti and Marie Severin and drawn by the latter. The Iceman limited series is written by DeMatteis and drawn by Kupperberg and the Beauty and the Beast limited series is written by Nocenti and drawn by Perlin.

Were the New Defenders created even a decade later it's very likely that the existing title would have been cancelled and replaced with a new series starting from issue #1 in spite of some continuity of personnel, as happened with later examples such as the New Mutants/X-Force or the Avengers/New Avengers. And in turn it's probable that it would have been reprinted in a different format so I wouldn't actually be writing this post. (Indeed the early issues have also been collected in the Classic-in-all-but-name format but so far there hasn't been a second volume.) But instead at the time it was more standard to continue the existing title and numbering through a bold new direction rather than rebooting the numbering and creating yet more issue #1s and volumes to confuse us all.

The New Defenders differ from the previous incarnation in having a more formalised and institutionally recognised team, though it takes some time before they sort out matters such as a leader, a fully resourced base and government clearance. By this point none of the founding members are around and instead the team is initially made up of the Valkyrie, Gargoyle, Beast, Angel, Iceman and Moondragon, with newish character Cloud subsequently joining them. Even by the standards of the Defenders this is a rather bizarre line-up drawing characters from all over and it helps to explain why this team is one of the most obscure and forgotten in Marvel's history despite having no less than three former X-Men on the team. This is also a series that tries to continue to explore the weird and offbeat rather than battling big name supervillains. It also seeks to do some things with the characters that are quite different from the norm, though it doesn't always do so in the best way.

The early issues resolve the ongoing Secret Empire saga, with the newly organised New Defenders battling alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. against a succession of agents and robots. Much of the situation is mundane apart from Professor Power now occupying the body of his son whose mind was destroyed in a battle with Professor X, fuelling a desire for vengeance against Xavier's children at the same time as wider plans for global destruction and conquest. The real emphasis is on how the team is still coming together, with the members learning the hard way that they need to co-ordinate their actions whilst the question of leadership is still unsettled. At the same time their traditional New York home is destroyed and the team relocate to the Angel's remote mountain home in New Mexico. The resolution is also a brutal introduction to the very different ethics amongst the team with Moondragon demonstrating the complexity that will recur throughout the run.

Subsequent issues have a variety of foes from the surreal to the wacky. Gargoyle is captured by a middle eastern wizard and grown to enormous size in order to battle his teammates whom the wizard mistakenly believe are demons. A visit to San Francisco sees the team working with a hard arse private detective in a run-in with drug smugglers that's fairly mundane in itself but as revenge the assassin Manslaughter is sent to their base to dispose of them and his powers and skills make for a tense issue as he sneaks through, picking off the team one by one. The base is also invaded by a set of mutant plant spores that prove nearly impossible to destroy. The nearby town harbours a criminal whose body is invulnerable to fire, making him the perfect arsonist for hire. On the sillier side is the introduction of the Walrus, a man endowed with the proportionate ability and strength of his namesake. His attack is damaging to the Beast's slowly developing career as a lecturer, with the situation made worse by the intervention of would-be hero the Fabulous Frog-Man. In times past Frog-Man would wind up on the list of Defenders members but instead the new organisation means he becomes the first costumed hero to truly ally with the team. The second is Red Wolf, who works with the team in investigating the many deaths around a silver mine that turns out to be a portal to the realm of the Asgardian trolls.

But at times it seems the biggest threat is within the team's own midst. Moondragon previously took over a whole world and as part of her rehabilitation Odin has assigned her to the Valkyrie and placed a metal band around the telepath's head to restrict her from using her power too much for personal gain. Throughout the run Moondragon frequently declares her available power is insufficient to deal with the problem at hand and urges the others to remove the band. Gargoyle eventually sees inside her mind during a link and discovers how in the past her mind was invaded by the ancient Titan demon known as the Dragon of the Moon. In fighting off the demon she has become like it, even taking its name. Eventually the trolls offer to remove the headband, bringing Moondragon's struggle to learn humility and control to the fore. There are also hints that Moondragon has used her powers to influence other team members to fall for her. Early on both Iceman and the Angel fall for her and repeatedly think exactly identical thoughts but this disappears after a change in writers.

In general the rest of the existing members are developed slowly with hints more than anything else. The Beast launches a career as a lecturer that takes him away from the team at times, though not always from danger. Valkyrie continues her mission to watch over Moondragon but also demonstrates that she still performs her mythological role when she guides the spirit of a dying heroic sheriff to the afterlife. Gargoyle continues his friendship with the Defenders' housekeeper Dolly Donahue. The Angel continues worrying about how the Champions fell apart and determining that it won't happen to this team. Iceman finds himself drawn to not only Moondragon but also Cloud, with confusion as a result. The team's eventual leader is a surprise as she's not active in the field but instead a manager who is good at organising the team and getting the base's facilities sorted, Candy Southern. It's a change from the normal type of superhero team leader, showing how things are done differently. The team is a little more conventional in having a cute pet in the form of Sassafras the dog.

Cloud, the newest member, throws up some of the most promising but also frustrating developments. A young woman with the ability to turn into a cloud (when she changes back naked there's always conveniently enough vapour covering up exactly the right places), she has been used as an agent by the Secret Empire who killed her parents and deceived her into believing Seraph was her sister. The fact that Seraph was a Soviet double agent just compounds the confusion and so it seems only the Defenders can offer a place where Cloud can truly belong. She settles in well and finds herself attracted to Moondragon, declaring her feelings for her at the end of one issue. Then it gets seriously messy. Cloud is torn between wanting to go with her feelings and her instinct that they are wrong, a dilemma many who've struggled with their sexuality will recognise. But then Cloud decides the only way to make things right is to change her human form to male. This in turn makes Iceman very uneasy as he had been drawn to Cloud, and Cloud's subsequent switching between male and female forms does not help the situation.

It's incredible that a regular Marvel comic was willing to go anywhere near these subjects in 1984 and it shows the advantages some of the more obscure titles had in being able to push boundaries. But the combination of both sexuality and transgender issues feels less like a pushing of the boat as far as possible and more like a cack-handed, and possibly editorial driven, attempt to back away from having a lesbian relationship storyline. Cloud's transformation feels not like an embracing of true identity but rather an attempt to conform to societal norms by changing gender to avoid a same sex relationship. It feels uncomfortably close to a practice that even today is still carried out in parts of the world whereby lesbians, gays and bisexuals are forced to undergo gender reassignment surgery to "cure" them of their sexuality by making them the opposite gender to those they have feelings for. Further issues try to undo some of the damage with a revelation that Cloud's true self is somehow two separate beings, one female, one male, but the precise implications of this aren't explored before the end of the volume. What's left is a bold step forward and two chaotic steps back.

Issue #127 fell in "Assistant Editors' Month" when all the Marvel editors were supposedly out of the office for a month and their assistants were able to run loose with wacky ideas. But here the sole contribution (bar a comedy figure in the cover box) is a two page comedy strip in which Ann Nocenti daydreams about having all power and transforming the line - before the production manager appears in the dream with a load of mundane tasks that need address, shocking her back to reality. Given that this really only the second issue of the new incarnation of the team (issue #125 may have sported the "New Defenders" series title but was as much about out with the old as anything else) it would have been foolish to suddenly switch away from the norm for a month, showing the problems that come with line wide events that have no respect for individual series's autonomy.

The Iceman limited series is very bizarre. It was presumably published to capitalise on the character's popularity from his co-starring role in the cartoon Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends but it really doesn't seem to know just what audience it's pitched at or just what it's trying to do. There's a basic theme of parents and children coming to understand one another but otherwise we get a turbulent adventure that goes from a Drake family party in a small town on Long Island to a city during the Second World War to the realm of the mysterious Oblivion. There's time travel, dreamscapes, self-doubt and conflict amidst what at first promises to be a bold solo adventure but turns into an introspective psychological analysis. It feels as though the basics of the story and the entity Oblivion were originally drawn up for some other character but were then used for Iceman without too much thought. The character has a long history of outwardly being the goofy light-hearted member of successive teams whilst inwardly being full of self-doubt and wondering if superheroing is the right thing for him or if he should complete a conventional education. This history is respected and expanded upon through exploring his parents' attitudes to his career choices, whilst he's once again drawn to a woman, this time literally the girl next door, Marge. However it starts going weird when she's attacked by the duo of White Light and the Idiot, goes seriously off the rails when he's flung back to the 1940s and meets his parents in his youth whilst under attack from Kali, before finally becoming a complete mess when Iceman's father is killed in the past, causing him to fade out of existence and into the realm of Oblivion. Iceman simply isn't the right character for a cosmic introspection adventure. On more than one occasion in the series he's confused with the Silver Surfer and one has to wonder if this was on the writer's mind as well. The dedicated limited series was in its early days when this was produced so it may not have been clear if this was meant as a one-off piece of character development or a test run to see if there was both creative and sales potential to support an ongoing title. But whatever the aims, the result is a complicated mishmash which can hardly have appealed to readers lured in by the character's cartoon appearances. It's presumably been included here in order to make up the page count to allow the whole New Defenders era fit two whole volumes, an unfortunate move in hindsight, but it frankly could easily have been left in a pile of long forgotten limited series that don't get dug out for complete sequential reprint runs.

So too could Beauty and the Beast. This is a very odd series that seems to have started with the title and then tried to find appropriate contents. It doesn't really succeed and winds up having to distort both title characters in order to fit into the roles required of them. The Beast takes some time out from the team and goes to Los Angeles where he surprisingly falls for Dazzler despite nothing in their histories together suggesting this and they break up at the end with no real mention of it again. Dazzler is at a low point in her career having been recently outed as a mutant and now finding her work all dried up as a result of prejudice. She foolishly accepts a job in a strange underground theatre that turns out to be a modern gladiatorial arena where she's being drugged to lose control of her powers and dispel notions of leaving. The Beast tries to convince her to leave and there's further complications with the alleged son of Doctor Doom trying to use the set-up for his own purposes plus his father making his own plans despite being dead in other Marvel titles at this time. About the only decent concept in the whole story is the Heartbreak Hotel where a number of mutants with quite ineffective powers have found a safe haven. But otherwise this limited series is a turgid mess of scenario, characterisation and continuity that really should have been completely forgotten rather than being given not one but two reprintings across the Essentials (the other is in Essential Dazzler volume 2).

The inclusion of the two limited series was presumably to help fit the whole New Defenders era into two standard size Essential volumes but with the ending of the line the result is this incarnation only gets halfway and the series as a whole stops tantalisingly close to the final issue. Consequently this volume feels somewhat insubstantial as it only gets part of the way through developing the characters and team, not helped by the change of writers midway through and the limited series having no noticeable impact in the regular title. That's a pity as, numbers aside, this is effectively the first volume of a new title and it could have used some more issues. As a result, what we get is a protracted formalisation of the Defenders that nails down the membership but is still sorting through the rest of the set-up. Some of the characters get more attention than others and the developments with Moondragon are especially strong. Unfortunately the handling of Cloud's feelings for Moondragon starts off well but is then handled in a terrible manner that suggests a sudden change order from on high. Overall this is a title that really tries to do things differently from before but isn't yet hitting stellar heights.

Friday, 3 July 2015

Essential Defenders volume 5

Essential Defenders volume 5 consists of issues #92 to #106 plus Marvel Team-Up #101, #111 & #116 and Captain America #268. Absolutely everything is written by J.M. DeMatteis bar one back-up story in Marvel Team-Up by Mike W. Barr and all the Defenders issues are drawn by Don Perlin. The Marvel Team-Up issues are drawn by Jerry Bingham, Steve Ditko and Herb Trimpe whilst the Captain America issue is drawn by Mike Zeck.

This is one of the thinnest of all the Essential volumes and by some way the shortest of the seven Defenders releases, making it all the more noticeable that it only carries fifteen issues of the regular series (even though one of them is double-sized). Half the additional issues are frankly non-essential, with Marvel Team-Up #112 seeing Spider-Man join with Devil-Slayer to battle the Serpent Men and recover an artefact from the temple of the Spider-People, whilst the rest of the Defenders are held captive. It's all rather convoluted and has no bearing on the regular series; worse still it ends on a cliffhanger that is unresolved here (or for that matter in Essential Marvel Team-Up both because that part of the line hasn't got this far yet and also because issue #112 features King Kull, a licensed character whose adventures are now restricted by rights issues). Issue #116 is a Spider-Man team-up with Valkyrie that's a follow-up both to a previous team-up with Thor and also to some revelations in then recent issues of Thor's own title that showed Valkyrie and he to have had a past together which they have now forgotten. Whilst it's hard to dispute the strong Defenders nature of either issue, especially as they're written by the same writer as the regular series, they are simply not necessary for following the ongoing storylines and feel as though they were only included here to make up the page count.

The same cannot be said of the other two extra issues included here. The Captain America issue is the first half of a two-part crossover that serves as a memorable climax to the volume and so is best discussed later. But Marvel Team-Up #101 opens the volume and quickly sets a theme that will recur throughout it. It features Spider-Man teaming up with Nighthawk as the latter comes under attack from a robot modelled on his university girlfriend Mindy, leading him to discover she is still alive. This causes the start of a long crisis of confidence for Kyle that is depicted throughout this volume as he comes to doubt himself and his successes, despite at one point literally saving the universe through the power of argument. A temporary paralysis during the daytime adds to his problems and the result is that he drifts away from the Defenders in the hope of either discovering a cure or coming to terms with his disability, finding himself and helping Mindy overcome both her mental health problems and her very mixed feelings about him. Over the course of the volume Kyle drifts in and out of the Defenders' orbit, showing how integral he has become to the group and how one can never truly leave one's friends no matter how oppressive one's own demons are.

Indeed demons are a recurring theme throughout this volume, both without and within, and it's not only Nighthawk who has to face up to them. Over the course of these issues Hellcat, Daimon Hellstrom the Son of Satan, Devil-Slayer and new character Gargoyle all have to confront one aspect of their past or another. Patsy faces up to her hatred of her mother only to be confronted with further revelations that suggest her paternity is not what she was previously led to believe and gets transformed more than once into a more literal Hellcat. Worse comes when she and Daimon Hellstrom are increasingly admitting their feelings for each other only for Satan to claim her as his daughter, making such a relationship incestuous if the claim is true - and its veracity is not settled within this volume. Daimon has to face down his father in final confrontation but in doing so discovers that despite everything his father cares for him and cannot destroy him. Giving in to his darker nature, Daimon embraces his heritage and departs for Hell. Left on Earth, Patsy rejects all dark magic, symbolically folding her Shadow Cloak in upon itself until it disappears. Daimon spends several issues trying to purge his humanity through various torments before he can be accepted into Hell but ultimately is unable to slay an innocent child and so rejects his father, who nevertheless accepts this as part of necessary balance.

The main new Defenders in the volume are Gargoyle and the Beast, with Daimon Hellstrom the Son of Satan and Devil-Slayer also returning for an extended time. Gargoyle comes with a tragic backstory, as Isaac Christians is the last of the line that founded the small town of Christianboro. As Mayor he watched the town in a seemingly permanent downward spiral and turned to black magic to save it, entering into an alliance with the demon Avarrish only to wind betrayed and trapped in the body of a gargoyle. There's a strong element of tragedy to his tale as he seeks to come to terms with both his new body and his past, whilst also slowly earning the respect of his fellow Defenders. A touching moment comes in a hospital visit when a child pulls away his disguise and accepts his appearance. Christianboro is ultimately bedevilled by Null the Living Darkness, a creature that has been manipulating the ghosts in the town. Gargoyle saves it, nearly at the cost of his own life but he is healed by the forgiveness of his family's spirits.

Devil-Slayer also arrives with backstory aplenty, starting with his ex wife's turning to a faith healer in Israel called the Messiah who has been tricked by demons from the Six-Fingered Hand. Devil-Slayer's past also comes back in another way as we learn how he came home from Vietnam only for his life to descend into ruins and he ended up a mob assassin. However his attempt to kill a reporter, Ira Fate, instead only got Fate's wife and child and now Fate wants revenge, with help from demons. In the showdown Devil-Slayer is about to take revenge for the kidnap of his own wife until he's reminded of his own responsibility for the chain of events. The Beast also shows up at the end of the volume, briefly bringing along Wonder Man when extra help is needed. Initially the Beast seeks help to restore his old girlfriend Vera Cantor from poisoning and the destruction of the Resurrection Stone, with Mr Fantastic also lending a hand to face the Giver of Life who resides within the remains of the Stone. After this, the Beast decides to hang around, finding the atmosphere of the Defenders to be the most pleasant of any of the groups he has been a part of. There are also brief returns by various past Defenders, most notably Namor the Sub-Mariner with the Silver Surfer also showing up in time for the issue #100 celebrations.

There's less of the out and out wackiness of early periods of the title but the group still finds itself caught up in many fantastical situations, starting with an adventure in which Eternity has temporarily given three parts of himself mortal existence to better understand life but now the parts are refusing to be reabsorbed despite their prolonged absence meaning the destruction of the universe. It's a tale that combines both a very traditional formula of splitting a group in three to deal with individual parts of the problem and then reunite them for the showdown with a pretty fantastical situation that is ultimately resolved by words not action. Nebulon returns in an attempt to conquer the world via a disguise to seduce Namor and use the armies of Atlantis but the ruse is soon exposed.

The major storyline involves the "Six-Fingered Hand" but instead of a literal giant hand with six fingers, it is in fact the name of a coalition of demons named Avarrish, Fashima, Hyppokri, Puishannt, Unnthinnk and Maya. Over successive issues, they put the Defenders through the wringer with a series of battles including one to restore Dracula's control of his kingdom in Transylvania. Another sees them take on Asmodeus Jones, a satanic heavy metal musician who has Johnny Blaze the Ghost Rider amongst his support crew. The Man-Thing also shows up when possessed by Unnthinnk in Citrusville as a prelude to the transformation of the whole Earth into Hell. Maya is soon revealed as being actually Mephisto, working with Satan, Thog and Satannish. This is, I think, the first time Marvel made a concerted effort to sort out the various characters who are all based on the Devil but appear under wildly different names and in varying forms, making any semblance of continuity impossible to follow. Here we have the revelation that the various demons are all separate manifestations of Satan, thus allowing each to exist separately though it leaves open the problem that particular stories and characters haven't always been clear just which manifestation appeared. The battle with the demons occupies the double-sized issue #100, with former Defenders the Hulk, Namor and the Silver Surfer all brought in to up the excitement and add to the anniversary feel.

The last main storyline revolves around Nighthawk, or rather Kyle as he appears mainly out of costume, and the mysterious agency called the Central Information Bureau that has captured Mindy and others to harness their latent psychic powers. The sinister head of the agency, August Masters, takes steps to manipulate Kyle's life by both ending the long-running government investigations but also preventing any meaningful action being taken in time against the C.I.B. The climax comes in a crossover with Captain America as most of the Defenders and Cap get captured with Masters revealing himself as a rogue "patriot" seeking to start a new world war by using the psychics to attack the Soviet Union. With the aid of Daredevil the remaining Defenders come to rescue the others but the C.I.B. base's self-destruct sequence has been activated and Kyle winds up using the psychic powers to save his fellow heroes but at the cost of his own life. The final page showing the other heroes alive but realising Kyle is not makes for a truly sad ending to the volume but a point of final redemption for Kyle.

This volume encompasses a fairly dark period for the Defenders with a clear emphasis on character building and demon confrontation over and above the out and out bizarre and wacky situations that have been more prevalent in earlier years. But it shows a strong grasp of the main characters whilst at the same time effortlessly absorbing the likes of Gargoyle or Devil-Slayer to make them feel completely at home in the title. Although some of the group members are not given the strongest of attention here, making the Marvel Team-Up issue's throwaway references to Valkyrie and Thor's shared past frustrating as they're not explored here, each of Nighthawk, Hellcat, Daimon Hellstorm the Son of Satan, Devil-Slayer and Gargoyle gets a strong character arc that explores what makes them tick, shows them confronting their past and/or their heritage and making each of them a much stronger character as a result. The situations and threats function well to advance these developments, making for a very strong and coherent volume. It's just a pity it's padded out by two Marvel Team-Up issues that are at best unnecessary and at worst irritatingly for what they leave out. Otherwise, this is one of the best periods for the Defenders.

Thursday, 7 May 2015

A single Captain America preview

As is becoming a standard, whenever I complete a full set of Essential volumes for any particular series and character I take a look at any later issues reprinted in other volumes. For Captain America there is just one such issue.


Captain America #268 written by J.M. DeMatteis and drawn by Mike Zeck, reprinted in Essential Defenders volume 5

This is the middle part of a crossover with Defenders that sees Captain America drawn into the team's struggle with August Masters of a shady organisation that works with psychics and is try to start a world war. The Defenders have been captured and Steve gets a psychic jolt after a date with Bernie ends badly. He investigates as Captain America, recognising the telepath, and infiltrates the complex, only to get captured.

Reading this issue in isolation shows how confusing this can often be since, as is so often the case with later issues reprinted elsewhere, it's part of a wider crossover. Although there are some elements drawn from earlier Captain America stories it really could have been told completely in the pages of Defenders, a title that was hardly unknown for heroes guesting for an adventure or two and it would probably make more sense than intruding upon another series. There are, however, some nice scenes of Steve and Bernie that show how his old fashioned outlook persists and how he is just clueless at realising how each feels for the other. But overall this issue on its own is forgettable.

Friday, 1 August 2014

Essential Power Man and Iron Fist volume 1

Essential Power Man and Iron Fist volume 1 contains issues #50 to 72 & 74 to 75, comprising the first third of the merged series. Issue #73 is absent, due to it featuring a guest appearance by Rom whom Marvel no longer holds the rights for. Bonus material consists of a couple of in-house adverts for the series but it's clear from the advertised prices that these come from later on. The writing sees the end of Chris Claremont's run on the characters, a brief stint by Ed Hannigan and then an extended run by Mary Jo Duffy with the odd plot contribution by Bob Layton or Steven Grant. The art takes a while to settle down with a brief run by Trevor Von Eeden before an extended one by Kerry Gammil; other issues are drawn by a mixture of John Byrne, Sal Buscema, Mike Zeck, Lee Elias, Marie Severin and Alan Weiss.

The idea of merging one weak selling title into another series has been common place throughout the history of publications, not just comics. However, often "absorption" would be a better term because one title would make little contribution beyond a small addition to the cover logo and maybe the odd feature that wouldn't last long. But occasionally the fusion would be on equal terms, with both halves at the forefront throughout the rest of the series's life. Power Man and Iron Fist was one such series.

Taking a streetwise product of the blaxploitation genre and pairing him with the rich but other worldly product of the martial arts craze was not the most obvious of moves. Indeed I'm not certain who came up with it, though as the merger coincided with a run on Power Man by the Iron Fist creative team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne there's an obvious place to start looking. But whoever had the idea, there was little to lose as both characters were slumping in sales as their respective crazes were dying and the alternative was most likely cancellation. Instead an odd couple teaming up permanently was tried. It wasn't without precedent at Marvel - there were some similar themes and half of the locations in the teaming of Captain America and the Falcon, whilst Iron Fist's solo title had already teamed up a practitioner of oriental fighting methods with a streetwise black in the form of Colleen Wing and Misty Knight, the Daughters of the Dragon. But it was still an awkward pairing. What makes it credible is that it takes a number of issues before the two are in permanent partnership and even then the differences between them are brought up from time to time. But wisely the series isn't played for laughs even though odd couples from very different backgrounds with all the problems and conflicts that arise from them are staple fare for sitcoms. We get the odd lighter moment, such as Power Man having to crash at Iron Fist's place whilst his own home is rebuilt, only to find his partner's place just makes him uncomfortable. Or when we see how Iron Fist's upbringing as first a pampered rich child and then a member of a hidden civilisation have left him lacking some basic knowledge about and skills for life such as the value of money or how to control a vehicle. But these are individual aside moments and instead the focus is invariably serious. Indeed this is a book that doesn't shy away from pain, with some especially brutal maimings and deaths shown with all their consequences. The Heroes for Hire have noble motives but they inhabit an increasingly gritty world.

The early issues in the volume are surprising in that it takes a while, and several writers, before a permanent partnership is established between the two. I'm informed that the legally registered name of the series did not switch from Power Man to Power Man and Iron Fist until issue #56 (although the legal info on the inside front cover of this collected edition draws no such distinction; either I'm misinformed or whoever prepared the Essential's information made a mistake), which almost matches the fictional solidification of the partnership. Were Marvel's editors nervous about the combination even after the launch and so hedged their bets so that they could quickly return to a solo Power Man series if needs be? That's more plausible than it being a deliberately planned story arc running over seven bimonthly issues and a variety of creative teams. But once Mary Jo Duffy arrives the series quickly finds a firm footing for the rest of the volume, cementing the series as her defining title.

If there's one particularly awkward aspect to the series, it's the whole "Heroes for Hire" concept. It made sense for Power Man on his own to be working as a mercenary as he was a man of limited means and whose criminal status meant it was impossible for him to find a sufficient paying day job that would supply the funds needed to be a hero - in particular to keep up a constant supply of shirts. But Iron Fist is independently wealthy and the co-owner of a business even if he hands over the day to day running to his co-owner Joy Meachum once they've resolved some personal matters. He has so much money he never wants for anything and indeed at times just doesn't know the meaning of it. So why does he need to earn money through super heroics, a vocation traditionally provided for free, and where the jobs can wind up as being little more than glorified security guards? It's an aspect to the series not really cleared up - perhaps this is why Power Man is initially placed working instead for Colleen and Misty's agency, Nightwing Restorations - but as the series progresses there's a steady diminution of focus on big corporate hiring, although as Power Man maintains his old office above the cinema there is still an outreach to the ordinary person on the street. They also make a point of going off duty at 5pm each day to maintain their principles.

The series maintains many elements from both characters' solo titles, starting with the supporting casts. Because Power Man maintains his office above the cinema, we still get to see D.W. Griffith and Toby, and even the occasional appearance by the notorious soft drinks machine or its replacement. Iron Fist is still seeing Misty Knight and in turn her partner Colleen Wing is also around a lot. Misty was a police officer before losing her arm to a bomb and the impact of having a cybernetic arm is explored several times, including when she chillingly relives the moment. Her former police partner Rafael Scarfe is the series's most regular cop, and he often works in conjunction with Assistant District Attorney Bill Hao under DA Blake Tower. Elsewhere Iron Fist often works out with Bob Diamond, formerly of the Sons of the Tiger. He and Colleen eventually become an item but they seem to rapidly going from tensions hiding attraction to dating that I wonder if the missing issue #73 has a key scene that resolves this. Colleen also gets a memorable reunion with her father as he recovers his memory. Meanwhile the Heroes for Hire business is managed by lawyer Jeryn Hogarth, creating tensions over some of the contracts he accepts, with the office itself managed by executive secretary Jennie Royce. The most notable character to disappear is Power Man's girlfriend Dr Claire Temple who has been kidnapped one time too many and decides that she can no longer handle Luke Cage's life and he cannot give it up so they go their separate ways. Luke subsequently settles with fashion model Harmony Young. Also dropping away is Dr Noah Burstein who no longer has to give Luke support but he returns when his honeymoon is interrupted by an old foe. Then there's the return of Power Man's lawyer Big Ben Donovan, but now trying to steal drugs for himself. Another Power Man ally to reappear is Thunderbolt, only to die from accelerated growth. Also dying is Tony, the projectionist at the cinema. This is a much darker world than that inhabited by the average Marvel series from this time.

The enemies are drawn from a mix of each characters' solo titles, other Marvel universe books and some new creations. Old Power Man foes who reappear include Stiletto and Discus, plus some new incarnations of foes such as Senor Suerte. Coming from Iron Fist's side are Princess Azir, caught up in intrigues related to her home country of Halwan, Sabretooth, now allied with the Constrictor from the Incredible Hulk and many other titles, the Golden Tigers under the leadership of a new Chaka, and then a variety of longstanding foes in the return to K'un-Lun storyline. And the two jointly contribute Bushmaster, who seeks a cure for his condition only to turn to metal and crumble away in a chilling sequence. Meanwhile from other titles we see Boss Morgan, Nightshade, the mobster Bull, all from Captain America and the Falcon or the earlier Tales of Suspense stories, the Living Monolith from the pages of X-Men, complete with much of the team as well, or Maggia boss Caesar Cicero and his henchman Man Mountain Marko, both from Amazing Spider-Man. New foes include the Incinerator, a bank robber in a flame suit, Senor Suerte, the vengeance seeking younger brother of Power Man's old foe, El Aguila, a vigilante who later allies with the Heroes for Hire, Colonel Eschat, a mercenary wiping out his old colleagues, Supremo, a would be military dictator of a Latin American country who actually hires the heroes to locate the existing regime's money supply via the drugs trade, and Montenegro, a mountain climbing crime boss pursuing a piece of technology hidden on a coin.

The final couple of issues feature probably the most obvious Iron Fist storyline not yet done - a return to the lost civilisation of K'un-Lun with a number of old foes returning. Rather than waiting ten years in real time, he and Power Man get there when transported in battle with the wizard Master Khan, who is also the deity of K'un-Lun. In the mystical city Iron Fist discovers and relearns a number of key points about his life and family, clarifying for certainty that his father was originally from outside the city but found his way there, and that Miranda was his half-sister. In conflict with variously the plant race the H'ylthri, the mysterious Ninja, Iron Fist's uncle Nu-An and Master Khan, Iron Fist proves himself worthy of his legacy, and Power Man as a worthy ally. But it also leads to Iron Fist standing up to all the strange customs and practices of K'un-Lun and taking the opportunity to return to the outside world. It's a journey of self-discovery that reinforces the character and the partnership, boding well for the future.

On paper this is a series that shouldn't work. Taking two heroes who had been created to jump on the bandwagon of passing fads and sticking them together should have resulted in a mess that either got demerged or cancelled within a handful of issues. But instead something happens to make it work. The two characters with their very different resources and background prove to be a highly effective odd couple, with the partnership being one of true equals and both heroes getting their fair share of focus. The differences between the two make for some fun asides and occasional disagreements but don't prove insurmountable and so the pairing is fully dynamic, helped by a gradual build-up before the two formalise their partnership. Add in a strong supporting cast that makes use of the best of both books and the series is rapidly firing on all pistons. But what's also a surprise is just how gritty and dark the series is, with some quite brutal deaths and dark psychological moments. It is a much more gritty and down to earth series than many of its contemporaries and a surprisingly strong read even today.

Friday, 26 April 2013

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars

By far the most popular post on this blog is the one briefly outlining Secret Wars and Secret Wars II. And it's about time to share my thoughts on the original series. As previously noted this hasn't yet been collected in the Essentials, but has had several other collections over the years. Most use a recoloured version of issue #1's cover but the 1992 tradepaperback has an original piece of art.

All of the original Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars twelve issue series is written by Jim Shooter. Almost all of it is drawn by Mike Zeck bar issues #4 & #5 which are drawn by Bob Layton. The project was a tie-in to support a now generally forgotten line of action figures from Mattel which was the first time the Marvel heroes had appeared in this form. Mattel requested a special comic event bringing all the key characters together to promote the line and this was the result. Shooter writing the series was a little controversial at the time because as Editor-in-Chief he had generally avoided writing actual series. Depending on what you read he made this an exception either because he felt the last-worst way to handle clashes between creative personalities was to have the already hated Editor-in-Chief handle the task of someone else writing "their" characters, or because he was aware each issue would be included in the comic bags then sold at toystores and thus attract royalty level sales. The toyline wasn't much success but the comic series was a huge seller and set a trend that would last for many years.

The cast of Secret Wars says something about importance at Marvel in the mid 1980s but I'm not entirely sure what. The heroes' ship arrives carrying:
  • Mr. Fantastic
  • The Human Torch
  • The Thing
  • Spider-Man
  • The Incredible Hulk
  • Professor X
  • Cyclops
  • Wolverine
  • Rogue
  • Storm
  • Colossus
  • Nightcrawler
  • Lockheed
  • Captain America
  • Thor
  • Iron Man
  • The Wasp
  • Hawkeye
  • She-Hulk
  • Captain Marvel
  • Magneto
This selection was, and remains, very much the traditional big guns of the Marvel Universe. There are many obvious omissions from the next tier - Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Namor the Sub-Mariner, the New Defenders (in this era a defined team based around the Beast, the Angel and Ice-Man), the Silver Surfer, Dazzler, Alpha Flight, Power Man, Iron Fist or Moon Knight. (Ghost Rider's story had ended by this point.) But instead it's limited to the biggest guns. I guess it was difficult enough juggling characters who between them had eleven regular titles without throwing in yet more.

The need to tie in with ongoing continuity resulted in several notable omissions and changes from the norm. The Hulk isn't the rampaging beast most often seen up until now, but instead has the mind of Bruce Banner (although the series coincides with him steadily losing control). The Invisible Girl was in the later stages of pregnancy and so out of action. Sprite (aka Kitty Pryde, later Shadowcat - in this era she suffered the burden of not having a clear single standard name) was planned to be in the series as late as when the artwork for the first cover was drawn (it was also used for adverts with her on it) but was reportedly dropped to allow certain plot developments with Colossus (part of an editorial struggle over her relationship with him). Cyclops was suddenly dropped back into the X-Men despite having recently withdrawn and got married. Less clear is why other active Avengers like the Vision, the Scarlet Witch and Starfox were left out. But perhaps the biggest change from the expectations of those not reading the relevant series is that Iron Man is not Tony Stark but rather his temporary replacement Jim Rhodes (later War Machine) who finds himself working alongside many of Stark's regular comrades for the first time without knowing just how much they know.

Magneto's reason for being included on the heroes' ship is a mystery not answered until the final issue, when the Enchantress consults a water spirit as a means to fill out several gaps the narrative has failed to cover. Otherwise the villains arrive on a separate ship and consist of:
  • Dr. Doom
  • Kang the Conqueror
  • Dr. Octopus
  • The Lizard
  • Ultron
  • The Absorbing Man
  • The Enchantress
  • The Wrecker
  • Bulldozer
  • Piledriver
  • Thunderball
  • The Molecule Man
  • Galactus
It's a rather shorter list making for some unequal battles, but also it's rather lopsided with nearly half the villains being from the pages of Thor. Of the Spider-Man foes, Dr. Octopus is a natural choice, though he doesn't get to do much in the story, but the Lizard is an odd choice for a collection of supposedly greatest foes. Many of Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery may not be suited for such a collection and setting, but for sheer strength how about the Scorpion and for raw power perhaps Electro could have fulfilled such a role. And there are no doubt many other foes of the various heroes who could have made for a broader line-up. Indeed the limitations were such that three extra foes were added - two new ones in the forms of Volcanna and Titania, and the return of Klaw after he was seemingly killed by Dazzler.

There's also a new hero who shows up, having been living in a part of Denver that was snatched for the patchwork of the Beyonder's world. I've written previously about how Marvel created the original Spider-Woman to shore up their intellectual property, but then were never able to get a clear direction and purpose for her, with each new writer dramatically changing things. Having finally retired off the Jessica Drew character, a new Spider-Woman was introduced here. But beyond living in Denver and having only fought a few fights nothing is revealed about her background, leaving her open for future writers to sketch out without needing convoluted retcons. One can sense the company's intellectual property lawyers once again forcing the existence of a character to whom insufficient thought had been given, but at least this time they didn't leap in an awkward direction.

What of Spider-Man's involvement? Well to be honest the series rather set a trend for his involvement in subsequent grand events whereby all too often he's relegated a background role for much of the story, only stepping forward for the odd scene here and there. He doesn't even get a one-on-one confrontation with Dr. Octopus. However it does show Spider-Man can fit quite easily into the ad hoc combined team of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four and the Hulk (and in the later stages Spider-Woman) without much conflict or dissenting from orders (though admittedly Captain America is probably the easiest leader to follow of all the assembled heroes). Indeed in the various splits within the heroes he ultimately stays by the side of the Avengers when the X-Men break away and later when the Fantastic Four briefly decide against fighting Galactus.

During the middle part of the series Spider-Man is without his webs, after Mr. Fantastic cannibalises them to make an energy charger. But even without webs he fights on, with his most prominent one-on-one battle coming in issue #8 as he takes on and defeats Titania. Of course, issue #8 also sees a big change for him. With his costume badly torn in battle, he is naturally interested to learn of a machine that makes new costumes. So he wanders into a room, goes to the first machine that seems to ft the description and "thinks" into it. Not the smartest of moves for him. Out comes a black ball that expands into a new costume, one with its own built in webs and the ability to adjust and retract according to his thoughts.

But what of the story itself? In some senses Secret Wars reflects the nature of its creation - a powerful being gathering up lots of toys and pitching them against one another. All the characters are away from their comfort zone and their supporting casts, which has the benefit making it easier to follow if one isn't familiar with a particular title from the era. But it does also mean that at one level the adventure could descend into just one long endless fight. Wisely the series is structured in stages that allow at first for battles between the various sides, but for the last third it moves up a gear with first a battle against Galactus and then Dr. Doom's quest for ultimate power and the problems of holding it. Some characters get more attention than others, with Doom particularly benefiting. I'm not an expert on them all at this period in comics so I can't say for sure how well everyone is portrayed, but I did particularly find the portrayal of the Wasp a mess. She was at this time the Avengers' leader (although she deferred leadership of the whole group to Captain America as he was better known by the others) but here she's portrayed as the light headed, image obsessed wealthy kid that her caricature sometimes descends to. The plot provides for many moments of tension too, with perhaps the biggest when the heroes have to fight to stop Galactus from consuming the planet and there's a divide as Mr. Fantastic comes to the conclusion that not fighting may be the best thing for the universe whilst the others go to fight even though the odds are overwhelmingly against them. The heroes are not all united - the X-Men temporarily break away and even within their ranks Wolverine's methods are opposed by others whilst Rogue has crises of conscience. Elsewhere the Hulk is finding his intelligence slipping away, leading to self-doubt and angry moments with others as he fears for his future. (There's a myth that he holds up a whole mountain range in this story. Actually it's the Molecule Man who uses his power to lift one up and drop it on the heroes, and the Hulk just holds up the roof of the cavity the heroes quickly carve out.)

Secret Wars may be more about action and the excitement of bringing all the big guns together than about intricate character development and philosophical explorations, but it was inherently limited by its format and purpose. The plot may also be hackneyed - just how many times in science fiction have all powerful entities forced heroes and villains to fight in some special arena or other? - but it serves the main aim of the story. If I do have criticisms it's that there are times when the plot contorts slightly to cover points - the final issue sees the Enchantress consult a water sprite to find out more about the Beyonder, largely filling in gaps the narrative has missed out, and then a combination of her magic and the residual effects of the Beyonder's power inadvertently cures Curt Connors of the curse of the Lizard. But the series does not explain how Dr. Doom is alive and back in his existing body when it had recently been destroyed in an issue of Fantastic Four, or how Kang the Conqueror had survived his seeming destruction in the Avengers nearly a decade earlier (this was before time travel really distorted Kang's timeline as Kang). However the series is normally fast paced enough to evade such moments and the result is a good old action adventure that brings the top tier of the Marvel Universe together in an exciting battle. It served its purpose then and it remains a good read to this day.

Sunday, 22 July 2012

Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 2

The most recent Spider-Man Essential volume, both chronologically and in order of publication, is Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 2 which contains Web of Spider-Man #19-32 & Annual #3, plus Amazing Spider-Man #293-294 and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #131-12, the latter four issues being part of the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” story which ran across all three titles. In addition, we get the original pencils for the covers to issues #31 & 32.

Given Web’s reputation for very short runs and umpteen fill-ins, once again I’ll give a full breakdown of the writers and artists:

Writers:
  • 19-20. David Michelinie
  • 21. Larry Lieber
  • 22. Plot: Jim Shooter (although he denies it) Script: Len Kaminski
  • 23-24. Plot: David Michelinie Script: Len Kaminski
  • 25. Larry Leiber
  • 26. Plot: Stefan Petrucha Script: Len Kaminski
  • 27. Dwight Jon Zimmerman
  • 28. Bob Layton
  • 29-30. Jim Owsley (now Christopher J. Priest)
  • 31. J.M. DeMatteis
  • (Amazing 293. J.M. DeMatteis)
  • (Spectacular 131. J.M. DeMatteis)
  • 32. J.M. DeMatteis
  • (Amazing 294. J.M. DeMatteis)
  • (Spectacular 132. J.M. DeMatteis)
  • Annual 3. Danny Fingeroth & Roger Stern
Artists:
  • 19-20. Marc Silvestri
  • 21. Larry Lieber
  • 22. Marc Silvestri
  • 23. Jim Fern
  • 24. Del Barras
  • 25. Larry Leiber
  • 26. Tom Morgan
  • 27. Dave Simons
  • 28-30. Steve Geiger
  • 31. Mike Zeck
  • (Amazing 293. Mike Zeck)
  • (Spectacular 131. Mike Zeck)
  • 32. Mike Zeck
  • (Amazing 294. Mike Zeck)
  • (Spectacular 132. Mike Zeck)
  • Annual 3. Lots. Rather than tell any stories the annual is full of short descriptive features.
(Issue #20, #22 & #32 carry no credits themselves. It’s my understanding that subsequent letters pages revealed them, and they’re listed on the contents pages of the volume. As noted above Jim Shooter denies plotting issue #22 so either this plot credit is inaccurate or it only refers to emergency orders from the editor-in-chief to drastically alter the issue for reasons I’ll come to or he’s misremembering.)

(Once again that's a lot of creators so some of the labels have been placed in a separate post.)

It says a lot about the creative instability on Web that the longest continuous run in this volume by either a writer or an artist, let alone a team, is a crossover that the title contributed only two issues to. Otherwise David Michelinie had written seven issues in a row (#14-20) whilst Marc Silvestri had done five in a row (#16-20) and these would remain the records for each until Alex Saviuk drew the sixth of eight issues in a row with #43 whilst the writing record would be broken by Gerry Conway on #57, part of a run of twenty continuous issues. So regardless of whether the title later managed to turn the corner, at this stage Web’s reputation for no stable creative team was unfortunately well deserved.

As you might expect this is very much a volume of bits and pieces, exemplified by the annual not actually carrying a story but instead being full of features. Coming out when Spider-Man had a major publicity boost due to his wedding to Mary Jane, the annual feels a bit like one of the [Something] Files one-shots that came out in the 1990s designed to introduce new readers to the detailed continuity of a character. Half the annual is taken up introducing various Spider-Man, most of his supporting cast, his regular locations such as his apartment, the Daily Bugle building and the Empire State University campus, and three of his biggest current foes – the Hobgoblin, the Kingpin and the Rose. The other half is aimed much more at the long term reader with “A Gallery of Spider-Man’s Forgotten Foes!”, presenting one page pieces on such memorable villains as the Big Wheel, Cyclone, Drom the Backward Man, the Grizzly, the Man Killer, the Men-Fish, Midas the Golden Man, Rocket Racer and more (but no Hypno-Hustler). About half the foes listed first appeared in Marvel Team-Up and several had never returned. It’s an odd feature to devote so much space to, especially as it’s the sort of thing that appeals to the complete opposite of the presumed target for the other half of the annual. Overall the annual sums up the mess the series is in with a few good ideas pulling in different directions and absolutely no overall coherence.

The regular series begins with reasonable promise, starting with the debut of Humbug, another entry in silliest villains stake (he’s recorded lots of insect sounds and amplifies them as a weapon!), but it’s largely a interlude as Peter make preparations for an overseas assignment. Then issues #20-22 see Peter and Daily Bugle reporter Joy Mercado in the United Kingdom, being sent to cover a speech on terrorism by Margaret Thatcher but in the process they run into the Provisional IRA and follow the trail to Belfast. Or rather what the story presents as the Provos, but it gets so much wrong people could and did get seriously offended.

Where to begin with all the mistakes? Some are the straightforward poorly researched portrayal of countries that owe more to clichéd stereotypes than reality, particularly the portrayal of London. It would be nit-picking to go through all the errors, so suffice it to say that it just shows the writer and artist did not do proper research. Offensive on a totally different level is the presentation of the Northern Ireland conflict. The idea that it’s all down to sixteenth century fear of Spain is... interesting to say the least. Equally so is the idea of an IRA unit fighting for the “Red Hand”, a symbol of Ulster/Northern Ireland that is normally used by loyalist terrorists. And contrary to the implication of Joy Mercado’s explanation, the Republic of Ireland did not sponsor terrorism during the Troubles or try to take over Northern Ireland by armed force. And she’s supposed to be a top journalist! And as for the opening scene where a bomb detonates prematurely in an airport and two terrorists whip out sub-machine guns, fatally wounding a six year old child? Was this story trying to cover all bases to ensure that no-one was left unoffended?

The idea of putting Spider-Man into a grim, real world situation is not a bad one. But it’s the sort of thing that should be handled delicately and with proper research to have a clear understanding of the characters and situations. This is doubly so when writing for an audience who can easily form opinions on subjects about which they know only a little. Major mistakes were made with this issue and there’s a lot in issue #20 that can offend a lot of people. At the time it led to a bomb threat at the Marvel offices. (Jim Shooter: Untold Tales tells of the incident.) This is presumably the reason for the bizarre course taken in the next couple of issues. First we get a scene on the Liverpool-Dublin ferry (yes Dublin, rather the direct route to Belfast; another sign of writers not doing their research properly) where Peter starts sneezing, leading him to reminisce about a previous time a cold nearly proved disastrous for his activities. Cue a flashback to a rather lame fill-in story about Spider-Man back in New York having to deal with an attempt to frame him by two brothers who blame him for the death of their father, who was a bystander shot when Spider-Man foiled a bank raid. The general concept is quite good, but the execution poor. Then issue #22 sees a change of writing team as Peter and Joy arrive in what is presented as Belfast, though part of it is likened to Berlin at the end of the Second World War. Whilst someone has now actually done a bit research and realised that the “Red Hand” is not a term to use for a group around the IRA there are still plenty of stereotypes. And there’s a total shift in direction as the focus shifts to the “Black Hood” gang, who turn out to be agents of Roxxon, Marvel’s regular Dastardly Evil Corporation, stirring up trouble as part of a grand plan to hoodwink the British government and sell laser weapons to them. What began as an attempt to put Spider-Man into a gritty real world situation ends up as a rather wild piece of silliness that detracts from moments of pathos such as when a man finds the Black Hood he’s just killed is his brother.

And the timing of this reprint hasn’t been the best either. This volume was originally published on 11th July 2012. However because of the time to transport copies across the Atlantic the UK gets its comics a day later. So the story dealing with the Troubles in Northern Ireland first hit the shelves here on no less than the 12th of July. What fantastic timing. (I know someone’s going to point to a 25th July date listed on the likes of Amazon, but as far as I am aware booksellers get their supplies of Marvel trades via a different route from the Diamond distribution that supplies comic shops and the former often take a little bit longer than the latter.) But I don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories when coincidence and cock-ups are more likely – the volume’s timing probably owes more to The Amazing Spider-Man movie’s release than anything else.

The sudden change in direction and writer also has an effect on two ongoing subplots. Successive issues had seen Joy investigating the Roxxon corporation as part of a planned big exposure but the plotline is suddenly rushed forward to bail out the mess in Northern Ireland and the wider matters are forgotten under the replacement writers. And with Peter so often accompanied by Joy on his trips outside New York there was the growing question of whether she’d deduce his identity. But as they fly back across the Atlantic at the start of #23 they have a confrontation in the aeroplane toilet about her view that he lacks professionalism, and she assumes that he only takes assignments when tipped off by Spider-Man about the opportunities for easy photos. It’s bizarre that she reaches this conclusion rather than the more obvious one, but it’s a result of a hasty approach to ditching Web’s brief direction, and after this Joy is relegated to occasional guest cast appearances with so much of the development (and Peter’s growing feelings for her) ignored.

Then from issues #23 until #30 the series becomes a succession of fill-in issues and never really attempts to take the title in any direction at all. Occasionally it tries to feed off the crumbs of Amazing and Spectacular by following up on events there, but rarely to any great success. And this amplifies a problem with the way the Essentials have been released as all the issues in this volume post-date the most recent Amazing and Spectacular ones, so at the moment the Essential reader is seeing the follow-ups to adventures they can’t easily access.

This is most prominent with issues #29 & #30, which are the most important for wider Spider-Man continuity as they serve as the epilogue to the saga of the first Hobgoblin (which at the time was assumed complete). Issue #29 is a very awkward issue, taking place simultaneous to events in Amazing #289 and trying to expand on the Rose’s role in everything. It also serves as a mini-sequel to the Spider-Man vs. Wolverine one-shot which I hope will be included when the Amazing reprints reach this period. But if you haven’t read either of those issues then this one is just convoluted and confused, trying to wrap up loose ends from another series. Issue #30 is similar as it tries to make sense of the Hobgoblin and Rose saga. In it the Rose goes into a church confession booth and tells the story of how Richard Fisk, Alfredo and Ned Leeds sought to bring down to the Kingpin but instead found themselves consumed by the world they were in. We’re given the supposed origin of how Ned Leeds became the Hobgoblin, but it just doesn’t match up well with the villain’s portrayal in his early issues. Whilst I can buy the idea of the Daily Bugle’s crime reporter wanting to do his bit to bring down the city’s leading crimelord, there was nothing in the original Hobgoblin stories that implied this. Nor is it easy to reconcile the calculating criminal who used and discarded aides with the noble crusading journalist presented here. And when the Hobgoblin first met the Kingpin his reaction was one of complete shock, the opposite of one who’s primary motivation was bringing down this man. There’s a big “end of an era” feel to this story as it tries to tidy things up before the marriage and Kraven’s Last Hunt, and the result is a confused rush job. Most of the Hobgoblin saga, including the revelation, hasn’t yet been Essentialised but it did have a feeling of the resolution being written by joining a messy series of dots, rather than working to a single plan. This wrap-up similarly tries to join up the dots and reconcile stories that were taking the characters in a very different direction, and it just doesn’t answer all of the problematic questions.

The series also meanders through a series of fill-ins, with issues #26 & #27 appearing to have come straight from inventory as they feature Spider-Man in his red and blue costume when this had been destroyed in favour of the black suit back in Web #17-18. Issue #26 carries the caption “An untold tale of Spidey’s past, in the Mighty Marvel Manner!”, perhaps trying to limit the problem. Issue #28 features the black suit and starts in the present day but the main action is told in flashback as Spider-Man crosses the country in pursuit of the Statue of Liberty’s torch and his clothes hidden on it. With three issues in a row telling stories from Spider-Man’s past, was there perhaps a plan to make Web into a series with a rotating creative team presenting stories set anywhere during his career? This format was later used by DC’s Legends of the Dark Knight and then by Marvel’s Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man and (with a more consistent team) Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, but I’m not aware of it having been done before. Had one of the Spider-Man titles tried this it could have broken new ground and also eased the problem of having three monthly titles without distinct raisons d’être. But it would have been a bold move and I suspect the real reason for these stories was an attempt to clear out the standby fill-ins before the major status quo changer came with the wedding.

The six months of fill-in see Spider-Man in quite a mix of situations. In one issue we get a rematch with Slyde, the frictionless thief, then we get a trip to Atlantic City where Spider-Man gets into a fight with the Vulture only for the Hobgoblin and Rose to show up in a totally needless appearance. Then we get one of the silliest of all in “Beware the Stalker from the Stars!” in which an incredibly powerful alien device that can change the course of an intergalactic war accidentally lands on Earth and rival rulers come in person to recover it. I guess an outline for an issue of Fantastic Four wound up in the wrong office. The past set stories then see Spidey facing two backstabbing brothers who’ve stolen a huge sum of charity money, then Head-Hunter the enforcer for an organised crime preying on a car magnate, and finally pursuing the Liberty torch. Only the alien issue stands out and that’s for all the wrong reasons. None of the issues in this volume introduces any long lasting foes of significance and indeed the only new foe with any recurring potential is Humbug, and even he’s only good for a Legion of the Losers style gathering of the deliberately silly foes. There are a few more indications of something coming as Spidey has a second encounter with a mysterious arm that doesn’t set off his Spider-sense, and there’s a one page introduction to Solo, an anti-terrorism vigilante, in issue #19. I’m guessing that Solo may have been intended to appear in the Northern Ireland story but both he and the mystery arm subplot disappear along with David Michelinie.

The final two issues of Web in this volume see all three Spider-Man titles embark on a bold new venture. Previously crossovers between the different books almost never happened and when they did there was usually some external factor as well. But now we get a storyline by a single writer and artist told over all three books, taking just two months instead of running over six months in a single title. This was followed up by another such storyline “Mad Dog Ward” which lasted a single month (but which will be in the next Essential Web volume). At the time this was a dramatic change of pace but it also symbolised the way that the distinctions between the Spider-Man titles were breaking down and risking over-exposure and burn out. And since the other two books had regular writers at the time, it would have been to Web’s great advantage for this story (recently voted the best Spider-Man story ever over at Comic Book Resources: 50 Greatest Spider-Man Stories #5-1) to have run in this title alone. Yes it would have meant the story lasting six months instead of two, but it would have given the series a tremendous talking point and perhaps helped to set a clear direction rather than leaving it as just the third Spider-Man title.

As for “Kraven’s Last Hunt” itself, it’s easy to see why this story is so revered. This is the point where the grim and gritty deconstructionist movement of the mid 1980s hit Spider-Man and gave us one of the most sophisticated stories yet seen. But one thing that stands out when reading it via the Essentials is that it’s in part a sequel to an issue of Marvel Team-Up, #128 which hasn’t yet been Essentialised. Without knowing the contents of that issue (a team-up with Captain America; it also has a photographic cover), it’s hard to take as definite the assertion that Vermin is Spider-Man’s most unsurpassed challenge, and thus Kraven’s defeat of the rat-man truly represents a surpassing of the real Spider-Man. Otherwise we get a complex, dark tale that takes Kraven, one of the lamest of the big name villains from the Lee/Ditko years, and finally makes him a threat to be reckoned with. Throughout the story we probe deep into the minds of both Kraven and Spider-Man as they each seek to conquer their foes both without and within. The entire superhero genre is replete with conventions and clichés that on the face of them don’t make a great deal of sense and this is rarely more true than with the conflicts between heroes and villains where motivations are often weak and rarely explain just why the villain comes after the hero only to get defeated time after time after time. Here we get a portrayal of Kraven as a man seeking completion in his life, driven by values that he finds are unfashionable in the modern world and who has been driven mad by his failure to defeat Spider-Man. He seeks to achieve his goal and show that he is the better man by temporarily taking Spider-Man’s place and succeeding where his adversary failed. Then when he has found fulfilment he takes his life. This must have been shocking at the time, though today it’s more commonplace to see villains given intense finales that take them to places they cannot return from. It’s a strong piece that finally gives Kraven the credibility and respect he had for so long lacked, and it’s easy to see why so many consider it one of the best Spider-Man stories of all time. However I feel it’s somewhat over intense, betraying its origins as a Batman story and doesn’t completely fit into Spider-Man’s world.

(Incidentally I noticed the name “Kraven’s Last Hunt” doesn’t actually appear in this volume and I wondered where it came from. J.M. DeMatteis says the following:
The Kraven epic was originally called FEARFUL SYMMETRY, Tim. Editor Jim Salicrup (the same guy who decided to run all six parts of the story through all three Spider-Man titles, something that had never been done before) came up with KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT. I think the very first reprint had both titles as one: FEARFUL SYMMETRY: KRAVEN'S LAST HUNT; but over time most folks just called it KLH.
Many thanks for that enlightenment.)

Overall this volume is generally rather poor with only “Kraven’s Last Hunt” standing out and yes that may take up a third of the space (and isn’t yet available in any other Essential volumes) but it’s a crossover and not representative of the typical Web issue. There may have been an idea for a direction at the start to take Spider-Man out into the wider world and deal with grittier, more down-to-earth menaces, but this direction disappears with the mess of the Northern Ireland story and all that replaces it are a string of fill-ins and workings from the crumbs of the other Spider-Man titles. Frankly this made it a title for completists who already had both other Spider-Man books and not much more. This is most emphasised at the end of this volume by an annual that contains nothing but back-up features. In terms of both publication and chronology this is the most recent Essential Spider-Man volume and it’s a pity that the run currently ends with such a dire entry.

Friday, 20 July 2012

Essential Punisher volume 1

As a little side step I'll now turn to Essential Punisher volume 1. This is one of the most unusual of all the Essential volumes as it is made up of many of the Punisher's appearances across multiple Marvel titles prior to getting his own ongoing series. Since over half the issues in this volume come from the various Spider-Man titles I've decided to include it in this series as another special. For what it's worth the volume originally came out before any of the issues in it had been reached by the other Essentials (and whilst all the Spider-Man issues have now been caught up with, at the time of writing the Captain America and Daredevil issues are still later than the most recent Essential volumes).

The issues contained here are:
  • Amazing Spider-Man #129, #134-135, written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru
  • Giant-Size Spider-Man #4, written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Ross Andru
  • Marvel Preview #2, written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Tony Dezuniga
  • Marvel Super-Action #1, written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Tony Dezuniga
  • Amazing Spider-Man #161-162, #174-175, written by Len Wein and drawn by Ross Andru
  • Captain America #241, written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Frank Springer
  • Amazing Spider-Man #201-202, written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Keith Pollard, & Annual #15, written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Frank Miller
  • Daredevil #182 (part) & 183-184, written by Frank Miller & Roger McKenzie, drawn by Frank Miller
  • Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #81-82, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Al Milgrom, and #83, written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by Greg LaRocque
  • The Punisher (limited series) #1-4, written by Steven Grant and drawn by Mike Zeck, & #5, plotted by Steven Grant, written by Jo Duffy and drawn by Mike Vosburg
Also included is the Punisher's entry from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. This appears to be from the Deluxe Edition. Because there are so many creators, some of the labels have been placed in a separate post.

This is a very different approach from the standard Essentials. Whereas most of the other volumes focus on a particular series and present an absolutely sequential run, only including issues from other series if they constitute the build up for the series or carry a crossover, this one is closer to a more conventional tradepaperback drawing together appearances from multiple titles, and also willing to present only the pages relevant to a character or storyline from a particular issue. It's a style that doesn't seem to have been repeated, probably because it steps a bit too far from the normal Essential approach. Nevertheless it's an interesting one-off, showing the Punisher over the years before he got his own ongoing series. (By all accounts for a long time a lot in Marvel had severe reservations about an ongoing series featuring a gun wielding protagonist who kills his opponents, despite having printed many Western comics in earlier years. But then that was a different age.)

In terms of continuity, reading this on its own can be a little confusing as it jumps through some ten years worth of Spider-Man developments. Some of them are mentioned in passing, such as taking a leave of absence from graduate school, or Jonah's breakdown, or twice we see people about to become the Green Goblin, but without the wider context it may confuse at first. Similarly the Daredevil issues overlap on Matt Murdock proposing to Heather Glenn whilst there are dark developments in her company, and the Captain America issue comes from a now forgotten period with Steve Rogers was working as a commercial artist. But this is par the course for crossovers and it's to the volume's credit that it (generally) didn't follow the pattern of early trade paperbacks that sought to cut out subplots and even rearrange the artwork in order to focus just on the reason for being collected. Instead it's nice to see the whole issues altogether, which better suits the collector that the Essential line appeals to. There is an exception with Daredevil #182 which only has the eight pages featuring the Punisher. This may have been part of a bigger Daredevil storyline but on their own the pages stand out. Still they are necessary for explaining the Punisher's escape after his previous capture.

But what about the Punisher himself? Well reading through these issues altogether it's clear that he was at times a victim of the Comics Code Authority rules, forcing Marvel to present a rather tamer version of the character than he could be, seen most notably with his use of "mercy bullets" that merely stun. The contrast is starkest between his 1970s appearances in the Spider-Man titles, printed with CCA approval, and those in Marvel Preview & Marvel Super-Action, both of which were part of Marvel's non-CCA approved magazine line aimed at somewhat older readers. Going into the 1980s issues, which start with Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 there are signs that suggest the CCA rules were relaxed with the Punisher becoming harsher in his appearances, culminating in his first limited series where the character is more brutal and the violence more graphic than in anything previously seen with the CCA symbol on it.

This is also a sign of changing values in comics. The earliest superhero comics, and indeed the pulps that preceded them, emerged during a simpler era. Authority was good. Corrupt politicians, police officers and the like were rogues, not part of wider systemic failings. Heroes caught criminals but it was down to the system to deal with them. And the system invariably did, with many a villain's return mentioning either they had been released or they had escaped. Although it took a few years, heroes usually had a clear relationship with the law-enforcement community that gave their actions a stamp of legitimacy. And above all heroes were noble crusaders for the "right" values. Sometimes they even led the way - the first issue of Captain America had a cover showing him punching Hitler, months before the US entered the Second World War. The Silver Age broadly stuck to these conventions - Spider-Man might have been an outsider with a poor relationship with authority but there was never any doubt that he was on the side of right.

And then came the shocks of the late 1960s. American public opinion turned against the war in Vietnam. At home social changes and a backlash against them were causing ever more confrontation. And corruption was exposed at the very top of the system. Many of the old certainties fell away and the world was now a confused places. What was "right" now?

It was in this environment that both the Punisher, and his near contemporary Wolverine, were created. Both characters had an approach that was very different from the older generation of noble crusading heroes. Both took a much more dubious approach. Both characters enjoyed an early surge in popularity but also presented Marvel with a challenge given their nature. Consequently neither received an ongoing title until the late 1980s. But whereas Wolverine was in constant use due to his membership of the X-Men, the Punisher was used more sparingly.

Fundamentally the Punisher is a vigilante who serves as judge, jury and executioner. A soldier gone rogue, he perhaps reflected the 1970s belief that not all soldiers were noble crusaders and instead the military had produced monstrous killers who chose for themselves who would live and who would die. The Punisher might commit his atrocities on the streets of America rather than in the jungles of Vietnam, but he is a brutal killer never the less. His methods are such that at one stage he is shooting at any breach of the law no matter how minor - in one scene he shoots at a man merely for throwing aside a newspaper and missing a bin, and then when a taxi driver panics and jumps the lights he too is shot at. This particular storyline (Spectacular Spider-Man #81-83) focuses on the Punisher being apparently mad and ends with him being ruled insane. Later in the limited series it's revealed that he was in fact reacting to drugs he'd been unknowingly doped with, and once his system flushes them he reverts to normal - well for him that is.

Or perhaps not. The Punisher is an agent of justice, attacking only those who break the law. The law itself is not infallible - in the Daredevil issues we see Matt Murdock successfully get a man off a murder charge, only for his client to then calmly confess to the crime (Matt hadn't detected the lying because a pacemaker prevented a leap in the man's heart beat). As shown in his origin, the gangsters who killed the Punisher's family for witnessing an execution were able to evade prosecution by producing alibis, but weren't able to evade him. In such an environment the Punisher is a latter day cowboy, enforcing the law in places where the authorities fail and bringing justice to those who would otherwise be denied it. His victims have only themselves to blame for their fates and he is bringing those fats about efficiently. He is willing to work with other heroes and adapt to their values by using mercy bullets, and fundamentally is on their side.

Such are the two interpretations of the character. There are many wider issues flying around relating to the death penalty, to whether or not the police should be armed, to the efficiency of the legal system, to what rights law-breakers are still entitled, to the nature of a civilised society and so forth. Most of those questions are beyond the scope of this post but they do show how difficult the character can be to handle, especially when guest-starring in other titles. He can be a difficult ally of the lead hero or he can come into direct conflict over their values or somewhere in between. The conflict side is best shown in his encounter with Daredevil, whilst his alliance with Spider-Man is at its strongest in Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 when they work together to take down an arms dealer. With Captain America there's a curious reaction on each side. The Punisher admires Cap and finds he cannot bring himself to let Cap die, even if it means not blowing up a meeting of top mobsters. However Captain America is true to the traditional noble values including that even criminals have rights and is firmly opposed to the Punisher's methods, though stopping other criminals prevents him from taking the Punisher down. In many ways I think Cap and Daredevil make for the best characters to interact with the Punisher because they bring such a clash of outlooks and force it to the forefront.

That's not to say that Spider-Man has flawed values, far from it. But whereas Cap and Daredevil are both ultimately wedded to the system of enforcing both order and law, Spider-Man is wedded more to the responsibility to protect people and has always had a tense relationship with that system. He may never have resorted to the Punisher's methods, but he doesn't really serve as the best advocate for the system in this debate of contrasts. And so instead his encounters with the Punisher tend to downplay some of the harsher aspects of the latter, particularly with the widespread use of mercy bullets, and instead focus more on the adventures. In their early encounters the Punisher is willing to believe the word of criminals about Spider-Man's activities, but slowly he comes to accept the wallcrawler is seeking the same ends, if not quite the same means, and the two become reluctant allies in most of their 1970s stories. But two things change with the 1980s - there's both an increase in the bloodiness of the Punisher and also Spider-Man is now far condemning of his methods. A further contrast comes in the Spectacular issues which also involve Cloak and Dagger and contrast between their focused targeting of the drug scene and the Punisher's broad ranging approach to all crime.

When the Punisher gets his own solo slots the focus is invariably different. Curiously there's no attempt made to develop a supporting cast even though this could have helped to ground the character further. Perhaps all involved doubted there'd ever be an ongoing Punisher series (let alone the period when he had three!) and so didn't want to take up time building up things that would have no payoff. At the end of the Marvel Preview issue an FBI agent called Dave Hamilton does publicly declare a determination to bring down the Punisher but it's not followed up on in later appearances. The magazines do bring a personal edge to the Punisher, with the first one seeing him tracking down those responsible for turning ex-Marines into assassins and destroying them, whilst the second has a showdown with the gangsters who murdered his family. Whilst there's no clear chronology, the delay in the showdown is justified by the gangsters being inaccessible until they're moved, supposedly for protection from internal revenge killings for spawning the Punisher. Once that story is told the Punisher feels he hasn't had enough revenge as he didn't kill them all, so his mission continues.

The first solo series was a limited series in 1985-1986. On the face of it, it displays signs of changes midflow. Issues #1, 3 & 4 proclaim on the cover they are "in a four issue limited series", but #2 & 5 state "five issue". And the last issue has a change of creative team plus a caption on the first page thanking the new writer, artist and inker. Many wondered if this was a sign of a late in the day change of plans. However in researching this post it was apparently a combination of the printing department messing up, assuming the series would be the standard four issue length and requests for corrections were implemented then forgotten, and good old fashioned deadline problems. (Comic Book Resource: Comic Book Legends Revealed #196)

The story starts off with the Punisher (now given a name - Frank Castle - for the first time) escaping from jail and being offered help from a shadowy organisation known as "the Trust" which seeks to brainwash criminals into vigilantes modelled on the Punisher, even using his uniform. The Punisher initially goes solo but finds his plans spiralling out of control when he attempts to cause a gang war to make criminals wipe each other out. Eventually the Trust manipulate him into coming to them, in the hope of brainwashing him into their ultimate killer, but the Punisher manages to avoid the techniques and get Alaric, the leader in charge of the operation to leak all the information about the organisation. The ending is a surprise as the Punisher declines to kill Alaric, knowing that he's destroyed the organisation anyway, and sometimes it's best to walk away without killing. Then when he confronts Alaric's girlfriend, who had been using and manipulating him, and her car goes over the edge of a bridge the Punisher decides once again to walk away and do nothing. He also confronts the son of one his past kills who has been urged to take revenge and talks him out of it. It's an interesting ending suggesting that the Punisher is refining and reconsidering his methods beyond simply killing all criminals in sight, perhaps setting up the character to be a little more acceptable for an ongoing series. The limited series also brings back Jigsaw, the villain from Amazing Spider-Man #161-162 as the Punisher's first recurring adversary. Jigsaw survives largely because the Punisher has bigger fish to fry in each encounter, but does offer prospects of an ongoing conflict.

Overall the issues collected in this volume don't have a clear coherent direction, with multiple writers each doing their own thing with the character and some trying to undo previous developments. I doubt the Punisher was expected to be so popular when he was introduced - indeed I've read that co-creator Gerry Conway has said when he was writing Amazing Spider-Man he doubted the comics industry would last even a few more years - so there was never really a grand plan from the outset. As a result the character can oscillate between positions, pushed more by the Comics Code Authority rules than almost any other, but the limited series makes a good effort to find a happy medium between the extreme positions and make the character viable for further solo stories.

The decision to do the volume this way was a curious one, as it would have been far more conventional to lump together the two magazines, the limited series and the early issues of the ongoing series and not bother too much with the guest appearances. But instead an experiment was done in showing the development of the character, and it makes for an intriguing volume. I doubt they could have repeated this format too many times as it would lead to too many issues appearing multiple times, when many people buy multiple Essential volumes to build up an overall collection of classic Marvel runs and wouldn't react too favourably to being asked to keep buying the same material in new combinations. But as a one-off it's a nice approach.

Given this blog's primary focus it's fair to say that this volume's usefulness for the Spider-Man stories has rather diminished over time. When it came out it was the first time any of these issues had been Essentialised and so it offered an opportunity to get an advanced glimpse at them. Whilst this still applies for the Captain America and Daredevil issues, the volume now serves as a general sample of Spider-Man across ten years. The stories are generally good but the lack of the wider context to the many changes over the course of the decade means they can be confusing if one isn't familiar with the wider runs. However as an addition to those runs it serves as a good dip in and out.