Category: Marvel Superheroes

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Essential Amazing Spider-Man volume 7


By Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Len Wein, Ross Andru, Sal Buscema, Gil Kane & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1879-4

After a shaky start in 1962 The Amazing Spider-Man quickly rebounded, soon proving a sensation with kids of all ages and rivalling the creative powerhouse that was Lee & Kirby’s Fantastic Four. Soon the quirky, charming, action-packed comicbook soap-opera would become the model for an entire generation of younger heroes elbowing aside the staid, (relatively) old costumed-crimebusters of previous publications.

You all know the story: Peter Parker was a smart but alienated kid bitten by a radioactive spider during a school science trip. Discovering he had developed astonishing arachnid abilities – which he augmented with his own natural chemistry, physics and engineering genius – the kid did what any lonely, geeky nerd would do with such newfound prowess: he tried to cash in for girls, fame and money.

Making a costume to hide his identity in case he made a fool of himself, Parker became a minor media celebrity – and a criminally self-important one. To his eternal regret, when a thief fled past him one night he didn’t lift a finger to stop him, only to find when he returned home that his guardian uncle Ben Parker had been murdered.

Crazed with a need for vengeance, Peter hunted the assailant who had made his beloved Aunt May a widow and killed the only father he had ever known, finding, to his horror, that it was the selfsame felon he had neglected to stop. His irresponsibility had resulted in the death of the man who raised him, and the traumatised boy swore to forevermore use his powers to help others…

Since that night the Wondrous Wallcrawler has tirelessly battled miscreants, monsters and madmen, with a fickle, ungrateful public usually baying for his blood even as he perpetually saves them.

The Amazing Spider-Man was always a comicbook that matured with – or perhaps just slightly ahead of – its fan-base and this seventh exceedingly enthralling monochrome compilation of chronological web-spinning adventures sees the World’s Most Misunderstood Hero through one of the most traumatic periods of his career.

By the time of these tales Lee’s hand-picked successor Gerry Conway was giving way to fresher authorial hands. Nevertheless, scripts continued to blend contemporary issues (which of course often feel quite outdated from here in the 21st century, Man!) with soap opera subplots to keep older readers as glued to the series as the outrageous adventure and bombastic battle sequences beguiled the youngsters.

Thematically, there’s further decline in the use of traditional crimes and gangsters, overwhelmed by outlandish villains, monsters and capers, but the most sensational advance was a super-science plot which would reshape the nature of the web-spinner’s adventures for decades to come…

Nevertheless the Wallcrawler was still indisputably mainstream comics’ voice of youth; defining being a teenager for young readers of the 1970s, tackling incredible hardships, fantastic foes and the most pedestrian and debilitating of frustrations.

High School nerd Peter Parker had grown up and gone to college. Because of his guilt-fuelled double-life he struggled there too, developed a stress ulcer but found true love with policeman’s daughter Gwen Stacy…

This volume, spanning November 1974 to September 1976, collects Amazing Spider-Man #138-160, Annual #10 and incorporates team-up tales from Giant-Size Spider-Man #4-5. Eagle-eyed completists might notice the third Giant-Size issue has been omitted: that’s because there the Wallcrawler met Doc Savage and Marvel no longer hold the license to publish the magnificent Man of Bronze…

With no particular fanfare the action opens with Conway still very much in charge as ‘Madness Means… the Mindworm!’ – illustrated by Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia & Dave Hunt – finds Parker relocating downmarket to Queens in time to encounter a macabre psychic parasite feeding of the denizens of the district. Then issue #139 introduces a bludgeoning brute with a grudge against J. Jonah Jameson on the ‘Day of the Grizzly!’ When Spidey intervenes he is beaten and handed over to the costumed crazy’s silent partner the Jackal who melodramatically reveals he knows the hero’s true identity. Even though Peter escapes his diabolical trap in ‘…And One will Fall!’ the maniac flees and remains at large…

A long-running comedy thread ends as the ridiculous Spider-Mobile ends up in the river, but the Wallcrawler barely has time to care as an apparently dead enemy returns in #141’s ‘The Man’s Name Appears to be… Mysterio!’

Despite the psychological assaults escalating and Pete continually questioning his own sanity, the mystery is solved in ‘Dead Man’s Bluff!’ before Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 (April 1975 and inked by Mike Esposito) which sees an eagerly-anticipated reappearance of Marvel’s most controversial antihero in an expanded role.

‘To Sow the Seed of Death’s Day’ finds the Webslinger forced into one of the Punisher‘s cases when ruthless arms dealer Moses Magnum perfects a lethal chemical-weapon and begins testing it on randomly kidnapped victims.

Tracking down the monster in ‘Attack of the War Machine!’, the unlikely comrades infiltrate his ‘Death-Camp at the Edge of the World!’ before summary justice is dispensed… as much by fate as the heroes’ actions…

The Lone Gunman was created by Conway, John Romita Sr. and Andru; an understandably muted response to popular prose anti-heroes like Don Pendleton’s Mack Bolan: the Executioner: the cutting edge of a bloody tide of fictive Viet Nam vets who all turned their training and talents to wiping out organised crime in the early 1970s.

Although one of the industry’s biggest hits from the late 1980s onwards, the compulsive vengeance-taker was an unlikely and uncomfortable star for comicbooks. His methods were always excessively violent and usually permanent. It’s intriguing to note that unlike most heroes who debuted as villains (Black Widow or Wolverine come readily to mind) Punisher actually became more immoral, anti-social and murderous, not less: the buying public simply shifted its communal perspective; he never toned down or cleaned up his act…

That same month in Amazing Spider-Man 143 ‘…And the Wind Cries: Cyclone!’ saw Peter in Paris to deliver a ransom for the kidnapped Jameson and battling a hyper-fast French super-villain. The story was average but the real kicker was the overly-fond farewell casual chum Mary Jane Watson expressed: a kiss that finally shifted traumatised, depressed Peter’s thoughts from his beloved and recently murdered Gwen…

Conway, Andru, Giacoia & Hunt capitalised on the situation when Pete returned as #144 launched ‘The Delusion Conspiracy’ and #145 exposed a baffled girl’s confusion and terror at everyone’s reactions when she comes home and the entire world screams ‘Gwen Stacy is Alive …and, Well…?!’

With Gwen somehow resurrected and Peter on the edge of a breakdown, Aunt May was hospitalised just in time for another old foe to strike again in ‘Scorpion… Where is Thy Sting?’, but the real kick in the tale was irrefutable scientific reports which proved the increasingly bewildered Miss Stacy was not an impostor…

Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 (July 1975, inked by Esposito again) offers a strange yet welcome break from the mental tension as ‘Beware the Path of the Monster!’ sees Parker despatched to Florida to photograph the macabre Man-Thing only to discover the lethal Lizard is also loose and hunting ‘The Lurker in the Swamp!’ It takes all the web-spinner’s power and the efforts of a broken man in sore need of redemption to set things right in the climactic conclusion ‘Bring Back my Man-Thing to Me!’…

Back in the Big Apple for #147, Peter finds some answers as further tests prove Gwen is a clone – remember, this was new and cutting-edge stuff in 1975 – but all too soon he’s distracted by another foe bad-guy with a grudge and hungry to prove ‘The Tarantula is a Very Deadly Beast’ (Andru, Esposito & Hunt).

It’s all part of a convoluted revenge scheme and the hero is ambushed by a mesmerised Gwen at the behest of an archfiend as ‘Jackal, Jackal, Who’s Got the Jackal?’ at last shares some shocking truths about one of Peter’s most trusted friends before the Delusion Conspiracy explosively concludes with #149’s ‘Even if I Live, I Die!’ (Andru & Esposito).

Learning he and Gwen had been cloned by their biology teacher Miles Warren, the Amazing Arachnid has to defeat his alchemical double in a grim, no-holds-barred identity-duel, with neither sure who’s the real McCoy. The battles eventually results in the copy’s death… maybe…

That moment of doubt over who actually fell informs anniversary issue Amazing Spider-Man #150, as Archie Goodwin, Gil Kane, Esposito & Giacoia take the hero down memory lane and up against a brigade of old antagonists to decide whether ‘Spider-Man… or Spider-Clone?’ survived that final fight, before new regular scripter Len Wein joins Andru & John Romita Sr. to launch a new era of adventure…

After disposing of his duplicate’s corpse in an incineration plant, Spider-Man finds time to let Peter Parker reconnect with his long-neglected friends. However a jolly party is soon disrupted as blackouts triggered by a super-menace lead the Wallcrawler into the sewers for a ‘Skirmish Beneath the Streets!’, resulting in our hero almost drowning and nearly being ‘Shattered by the Shocker!’ (Andru, Esposito & Giacoia) in the conclusive return engagement…

A moving change-of-pace tale sees a blackmailed former football star give his all to save a child in ‘The Longest Hundred Yards!’ (Andru & Esposito) but it is left to Spider-Man to make the computer-crook culprits pay, after which #154 reveals ‘The Sandman Always Strikes Twice!’ (art by Sal Buscema & Esposito) – but with little lasting effect – until murder-mystery ‘Whodunnit!’ cunningly links three seemingly unconnected cases in a masterful “Big Reveal”…

A long-running romance-thread resulted in the oft-delayed wedding of Pete’s old flame Betty Brant to reporter Ned Leeds, but the nuptials are interrupted by a new costumed crook in ‘On a Clear Day, You Can See… the Mirage’ (Andru & Esposito), even as a sinister hobo who had been haunting the last few yarns came fully into the spotlight…

Much of the previous Essential Spider-Man volume was taken up with a protracted struggle for control of New York with Spidey and elderly May Parker caught in the middle. The devilish duel concluded with a nuclear explosion and the seeming end of two major antagonists but #157 exposed ‘The Ghost Who Haunted Octopus!’ when the debased long-limbed loon turned to Aunt May for his salvation.

With Peter in attendance, the many-handed menace seeks to escape a brutal ghost but their combined actions actually liberate a pitiless killer from inter-dimensional limbo in ‘Hammerhead is Out!’, leading to a savage three-way showdown with Spidey ‘Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm-in-Arm with Doctor Octopus’ to save the horrified Widow Parker…

A new insectoid arch-foe debuted in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #10, courtesy of plotter Wein, scripter Bill Mantlo and artists Kane, Esposito & Giacoia as ‘Step into my Parlor…’ depicts obsessed Spider-hater Jameson hiring unscrupulous biologist Harlan Stilwell to create a tailor-made nemesis to eradicate the Wallcrawler.

Elsewhere that detested hero is breaking up a vicious hostage situation manufactured by psychotic Rick Deacon, but when the killer escapes and breaks into a certain lab he is rapidly transformed into a winged wonder-man hungry for payback on the web-spinner in ‘…Said the Spider to the Fly!’

This copious compendium then concludes with the opening shot in an extended epic as a criminal inventor who is one of the web-spinner’s oldest enemies recovers Spidey’s ditched vehicle and tricks it out to hunt down its original owner if #160’s ‘My Killer the Car!’ (Wein, Andru & Esposito)…

Despite some qualifications this is still a superb selection starring an increasingly relevant teen icon and symbol. Spider-Man at this time became a crucial part of many youngsters’ existence and did so by living a life as close to theirs as social mores and the Comics Code would allow.

Blending cultural veracity with glorious art whilst making a dramatic virtue of the awkwardness, confusion and sense of powerlessness most of the readership experienced daily resulted in an irresistibly intoxicating read, delivered in addictive prime time melodrama moments, but none of that would be relevant if the stories weren’t so compellingly entertaining.

The tales in this again proved Spider-Man was bigger than any creator and was well on the way to becoming as real as Romeo and Juliet, Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan.
© 1974, 1975, 1976, 2011 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Essential Captain America volume 6


By Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Don Glut, Sal Buscema, Frank Giacoia & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5091-6

Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby in an era of ferocious patriotic fervour, Captain America was a dynamic and exceedingly bombastic response to the horrors of Nazism and the threat of Liberty’s loss.

He quickly lost focus and popularity after hostilities ceased: fading during post-war reconstruction to briefly reappear after the Korean War: a harder, darker sentinel ferreting out monsters, subversives and the “commies” who lurked under every American bed. Then he vanished once more until the burgeoning Marvel Age resurrected him just in time to experience the Land of the Free’s most turbulent and culturally divisive era.

He quickly became a mainstay of the Marvel Revolution during the Swinging Sixties but lost his way somewhat after that, except for a glittering period under scripter Steve Englehart. Eventually however he too moved on and out in the middle of the 1970s.

Meanwhile, after nearly a decade drafting almost all of Marvel’s successes, Jack Kirby had jumped ship to arch-rival DC in 1971, creating a whole new mythology and dynamics pantheon before accepting that even he could never win against any publishing company’s excessive pressure to produce whilst enduring micro-managing editorial interference.

Seeing which way the winds blew, Kirby exploded back into the Marvel Universe in 1976 with a promise of free rein, concocting a stunning wave of iconic creations (2001: a Space Odyssey, Machine Man, The Eternals, Devil Dinosaur). At the same time he was handed control of two of his previous co-creations – firmly established characters Captain America and Black Panther – to do with as he wished.

His return was much hyped at the time but swiftly became controversial as his intensely personal visions paid little lip service to company continuity and went explosively his own way. Whilst his new works quickly found many friends, his tenures on those earlier inventions drastically divided the fan base.

Kirby was never slavishly wedded to tight continuity and preferred, in many ways, to treat his stints on Cap and the Panther as creative “Day Ones”. This was never more apparent than in the pages of Captain America

This sixth Essential monochrome collection features the last contentious stories by “The King”, before Kirby quit writing, drawing and editing the Sentinel of Liberty; abruptly returning the patriotic paragon fully to Marvel’s restrictively overarching interlinked continuity.

Gathered within are Captain America #206-229 (cover-dated February 1977 to February 1978) and Captain America Annual #4 plus a bonus crossover tale from Incredible Hulk #232.

At the end of the previous volume the Fighting American had saved the nation from a conclave of aristocratic oligarchs attempting to undo two hundred years of freedom and progress with their “Madbomb”, visited another dimension and liberated its human abductee-inhabitants and spectacularly turned back an invader from the far future.

The non-stop nightmares resume here with Captain America and the Falcon #206 as ‘Face to Face with the Swine!’ (inked by Frank Giacoia) sees the Star-Spangled Sensation mistakenly renditioned to deepest Central America and toppling the private kingdom and hunting ground of psychotic sadist Comandante Hector Santiago, unchallenged monarch of the prison of Rio del Muerte…

Never one to go anywhere meekly, Cap escapes and begins engineering the brute’s downfall in ‘The Tiger and the Swine!!’ but soon finds the jungles conceal genuine monsters. When they exact primal justice on the tormentors, Cap’s escape with the Swine’s cousin Donna Maria down ‘The River of Death!’ is interrupted by the advent of another astounding “Kirby Kreation”… ‘Arnim Zola… the Bio-Fanatic!!’

The former Nazi geneticist was absolute master of radical biology, dragging Cap and Donna Maria to his living castle and inflicting upon them a horde of diabolical homunculi at the behest of a mysterious sponsor even as the Avenger’s partner Falcon was closing in on his long-missing pal.

Indomitable against every kind of shapeshifting horror, Captain America battles on, enduring a terrible ‘Showdown Day!’ (with Mike W. Royer taking over the inking) whilst back home his girlfriend Sharon Carter uses her resources as SHIELD’s Agent 13 to trace wealthy Cyrus Fenton and expose ‘Nazi “X”!’ as the Sentinel of Liberty’s greatest nemesis…

With his time on the title counting down, Kirby ramped up the tension in #212 as ‘The Face of a Hero! Yours!!’ finds Zola preparing to surgically give the Red Skull Cap’s form, resulting in a cataclysmic clash which leaves the hero bloodied and blind, but ultimately victorious…

With the hero recuperating in hospital, Dan Green steps in to ink #213 as ultimate assassin ‘The Night Flyer!’ targets the ailing Captain America at the behest of unfettered capitalist villain Kligger from the insidious Corporation, but inadvertently triggers the return of the victim’s vision in blockbusting – if abrupt – conclusion ‘The Power’ (Royer inks)…

Reading slightly out of sequence here, Captain America Annual #4 ‘The Great Mutant Massacre!’ ends the Kirby contribution to the career of the Star-Spangled Avenger: a feature- length super-shocker which again eschewed convoluted back-story and the cultural soul-searching which typified the character before and after Kirby’s tenure.

It saw America’s Ultimate Fighting Man strive against humanity’s nemesis Magneto and his latest mutant recruits Burner, Smasher, Lifter, Shocker, Slither and Peeper. This riot of rampaging action and end-of-the-world wonderment pitted the Sentinel of Liberty against a Homo Superior hit-squad aiming to take possession of a super-powered being whose origins were far stranger than anybody could conceive…

When Kirby moved on it left a desperate gap in the schedules. Captain America #215 saw Roy Thomas, George Tuska & Pablo Marcos remix the hero’s origin story for the latest generation with ‘The Way it Really Was!’: reiterating also the history of the heroes who also wore the red, white & blue uniform whilst Steve Rogers was entombed in ice and ending with our hero desperately wondering who the man beneath the mask might be…

For all that, #216 was mostly a reprint. With a framing sequence by Thomas, Dave Cockrum & Giacoia ‘The Human Torch meets…Captain America!’ was written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Kirby & Dick Ayers, rerunning November 1963’s Strange Tales #114. It featured the return of the third of Timely Comics’ Golden Age Big Three – or at least an impersonation of him by the insidious Acrobat – in a bombastic battle romp.

Here’s a quote from the last panel…

“You guessed it! This story was really a test! To see if you too would like Captain America to Return! As usual, your letters will give us the answer!” I wonder how that turned out?

‘The Search for Steve Rogers!’ by Thomas, Don Glut, John Buscema & Marcos began in #217 and with SHIELD’s record division, but the Falcon was soon distracted by a surprising job offer as Nick Fury, busy with the hunt for the Corporation, asked Cap’s partner to train the agency’s newest project: the SHIELD Super-Agents…

These neophyte wonders consisted of Texas Twister, Blue Streak, Vamp and a rather mature Marvel Boy, but the team was already flawed and deeply compromised…

Issue #218 saw Cap targeted by a Corporation agent and fed data which turned his legendarily-fragmented memory to his thawing from the ice. Heading north to retrace his original journey, Cap spent ‘One Day in Newfoundland!’ (Glut, Sal Buscema & John Tartaglione) and uncovered a secret army, an old foe and a colossal robotic facsimile of himself…

In #219 ‘The Adventures of Captain America’ (Glut, Sal B & Joe Sinnott) reveals how, during WWII, the hero and junior partner Bucky were ordered to investigate skulduggery on the set of a movie serial about them and exposed special effects wizard Lyle Dekker as a highly-placed Nazi spy.

Now in modern-day Newfoundland that warped genius has built a clandestine organisation with an incredible purpose; revealed in ‘The Ameridroid Lives!’ (inked by Tartaglione & Mike Esposito) as the captive crusader is mind-probed and dredges up shocking submerged memories.

When he and Bucky were chasing a swiftly launched secret weapon at the end of the war, the boy died and Steve Rogers fell into the North Atlantic and was frozen in a block of ice until found and thawed by the Avengers. At least, he always thought that’s how it happened.

Now as the probe does its devilish work, Captain America remembers that he was in fact picked up by Dekker after the spy was punished by the Red Skull and exiled for his failures. Deciding to work only for his own interests, Dekker then attempted to transfer Cap’s power to himself and it was only in escaping the original Newfoundland base that Rogers crashed into the sea and froze…

Now decades later, the vile scheme is finally accomplished: Cap’s energies are replicated in a fifteen foot tall super-android with the aging Dekker’s consciousness permanently embedded in its metal and plastic brain.

…And only then does the fanatic realise he’s made himself into a monster at once unique, solitary and utterly apart from humanity…

The deadline problems still hadn’t eased and this episode is chopped in half with the remainder of the issue giving Falcon a short solo outing as ‘…On a Wing and a Prayer!’ by Scott Edelman, Bob Budiansky & Al Gordon finds the Pinioned Paladin hunting a mad archer who has kidnapped his avian ally Redwing…

The remainder of the Ameridroid saga appears in Captain America #221 as Steve Gerber and David Kraft co-script ‘Cul-De-Sac!’, wherein the marauding mechanoid is finally foiled by reason not force of arms whilst ‘The Coming of Captain Avenger!’ (Edelman, Steve Leialoha & Gordon) provides another space-filling vignette with former sidekick Rick Jones being given a tantalising glimpse of his most cherished dreams…

Issue #222 sees Gerber fully in the writer’s seat as ‘Monumental Menace!’ (by Sal B, Tartaglione & Esposito) as “The Search for Steve Rogers” storyline moves to Washington DC.

As our hero examines army records at the Pentagon, the Corporation’s attempts to destroy him become more pronounced and bizarre. After escaping an animated, homicidal Volkswagen Steven Grant Rogers learns at last that he was once the son of a diplomat and lost a brother at Pearl Harbor (all these revelations were later rather ingeniously retconned out so don’t worry about spoilers). Soon however events spiral and Liberty’s Sentinel is attacked by the Lincoln Memorial, sacrilegiously brought to lethal life…

The madness continues as the hulking, monstrous horror responsible screams ‘Call Me Animus’ before unleashing a succession of blistering assaults which result in hundreds of collateral casualties before being finally repulsed…

The epic is again interrupted as Peter Gillis, Mike Zeck, Esposito & Tartaglione contrive a thrilling mystery with a battered Cap awakening in a river with partial amnesia and a new face. Forced to find out what happened to him, the sinister trail leads to guest-villains Senor Suerte and Tarantula in ‘Saturday Night Furor!’…

The Search Saga resumes in #225 as ‘Devastation!’ (Gerber, Sal Buscema, Esposito & Tartaglione) as Fury gives Captain America access to incarcerated mind-master Mason Harding (inventor of the “Madbomb”,as seen in Essential Captain America volume 5) who uses his embargoed technology to unseal the Avenger’s closed memories at long last…

Sadly the cathartic shock has terrifying repercussions: although Rogers regains many memories, the mind machines somehow denature the Super-Soldier serum in his blood and he is forced to ask ‘Am I Still Captain America?’ when his perfect warrior’s frame reverts to the frail, sickly mess it used to be.

New scripter Roger McKenzie begins his superb run of tales – with Sal B, Esposito & Tartaglione still illustrating – as SHIELD puts all its resources into restoring the One Man Army but is suddenly brought low by an invasion of body-snatching Red Skulls.

Back in fighting trim, the incursion is repelled by the resurgent Patriotic Paragon in ‘This Deadly Gauntlet!’ but the aftermath sees the too-often compromised Peacekeeping agency mothball many of its facilities. During the closure and destruction of the Manhattan branch, Cap is ambushed by the Constrictor in #228’s ‘A Serpent Lurks Below’ and subsequently gets his first real lead on the Corporation…

The trail leads back to Falcon and the Super Agents, and with ‘Traitors All About Me!’ the Cap exposes the rotten apples working for Kligger – and another enemy force – leading to a spectacular ‘Assault on Alcatraz!’ (McKenzie, Roger Stern, Sal Buscema & Don Perlin) to rescue hostage friends and end the Corporation’s depredations in Captain America #230…

While this solely unfolding epic was entertaining readers here, fans of the Hulk were reading of equally shady shenanigans in his title (and Kirby’s Machine Man) where the Corporation’s West Coast Chief Curtiss Jackson was ruthlessly enacting his own perfidious plans. This volume concludes as parallel plotlines converge into a bombastic action-extravaganza as the crossover conclusion from Incredible Hulk #232. ‘The Battle Below’ by Stern, David Michelinie, Sal Buscema & Esposito…

The King’s commitment to wholesome adventure, breakneck action and breathless wonderment, combined with his absolute mastery of the comic page and unceasing quest for the Next Big Thrill, always make for a captivating read and this stuff is as good as any of his post Fourth World stuff. However, it does make the collection a bit of a double-edged treat. Engaging and impressive as the last two thirds of this volume is, the stories are worlds away in style, form and content from the perfect imaginative maelstrom of Kirby at his creative peak.

Not better but very, very different.

You can hate one and love the other, but perhaps it’s better to try to appreciate each era on its own merits…

Fast-paced, action-packed, totally engrossing fights ‘n’ tights masterpieces no fan should ignore and above all else, fabulously fun tales of a true American Dream…
© 1977, 1978, 1979, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Mighty Avengers volume 3: Secret Invasion Book 2


By Brian Michael Bendis, Koi Pham, Stefano Caselli, Carlo Pagulayan, Lee Weeks, Jim Cheung, Danny Miki, Allen Martinez, Andy Lanning, Jeffrey Huet & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3650-7

The Skrulls are shape-shifting aliens who’ve bedevilled Earth ever since Fantastic Four #2 to become a pernicious cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. After years of humiliation and constant defeat, the metamorphic malcontents finally hit on a winning plan and to this end gradually and methodically replaced a number of key Earth denizens – most notably metahumans and their friends.

When the plot of the Secret Invasion (a colossal braided crossover which ran throughout all Marvel’s titles from Spring to Christmas in 2008) was first uncovered it led to a confrontation between Earth’s champions and a Skrull starship full of what appeared to be old comrades; many of whom had been accounted dead for years.

Were they truly escaped humans or yet another army of newly undetectable Super-Skrulls?

With no defender of the Earth knowing who to trust the planet almost fell to a determined massed onslaught…

Most worrisome is the fact that the cosmic charlatans have recently unravelled the secrets of Terran magic and genetic superpowers, creating amped-up equivalents of Earth’s mightiest. They are now primed and capable of defeating the world’s champions in face-to-face confrontations.

This fear-fomenting fourth volume – scripted as ever by Brian Michael Bendis – reprints Mighty Avengers #16-20 (September 2008-February 2009), offering more insights into the slow progress of the invidious infiltration.

The slow-burning saga really began when New Avenger Spider-Woman seemingly switched sides to bring Stark the corpse of a Skrull impersonating ninja assassin Elektra.

The Arachnid Amazon’s own team – outlawed by Stark’s diktat and fighting crime as illegal resisters of the government’s Super-Human Registration Act – believed they could handle the prospect and (rightly) feared Stark and his squad might also be compromised with alien shapeshifters. Jessica Drew – a triple agent simultaneously working for SHIELD, Hydra and Nick Fury as well as the rebel Avengers – felt however, that only by going to America’s Security Director could the situation be successfully handled…

Stark kept the creepy cadaver undercover and invited Drew to join his team in hopes that her presence might cause any Skrulls in his squad to betray themselves. However, no sooner had Stark officially welcomed Jessica into the squad over their very strident protests than it all kicked off …

Now Khoi Pham & Danny Miki illustrate the revelatory, cataclysmic clash which led to the human Elektra’s apparent demise and how her killer took over the criminal ninja cult The Hand. They follow up an issue later as a battalion of SHIELD agent-shaped Skrulls hunt one of their own. In the wilds of rural America the quarry fights manically to escape since his psychological deep-conditioning – used to protect the infiltrators from telepathic discovery – overwhelms the totally entrenched invader, making him believe he is the Avenger he mimics…

Next up Stefano Caselli limns another sidebar as Nick Fury assembles his Secret Warriors Hellfire, Phobos, Stonewall, Yo Yo, the Druid and Quake, putting them through torturous final training before despatching them to kidnap/save SHIELD’s head honcho Maria Hill just as the Secret Invasion goes terrifyingly public…

‘Back from the Dead?’ (Pham, Miki & Allen Martinez) then trains our attention on Thunderbolts HQ (a prison where super-criminals can join a covert government penal battalion to mitigate or reduce their jail sentences) as Kree captive Noh-Varr reacts with shock at the news that fallen legend and universal saviour Captain Mar-Vell has returned from the dead, just in time to be ambushed by a flight of murderous Super-Skrulls…

The displace neophyte and ancestral enemy of the scurrilous shapeshifters is naturally suspicious and doesn’t know how to react…

‘Epilogue’ by Carlo Pagulayan, Lee Weeks, Jim Cheung & Jeffrey Huet brings the in-filling episodes to an end in the aftermath of Earth’s bitter, hard-won victory as one emotionally-shattered, memory-taunted Founding Avenger prepares to bury the boon companion who saved the world and paid the ultimate price.

It would be hard enough even if he wasn’t trying to absorb the cacophony of terrible events which occurred in the relatively brief time he was a Skrull prisoner…

Rather than give too much away, let me just say that if you like this sort of thing you’ll love these yarns and a detailed familiarity is not crucial to your understanding. However, for a complete experience, you will want to see the other 22 “Secret Invasion” volumes that accompany this one, although at a pinch you could get by with only the key collection Secret Invasion. It contains the 8-issue core miniseries, one-shot spin-off “Who Do You Trust?” and illustrated textbook “Skrulls”, which claims to provide a listing and biography for every shape-shifter yet encountered in the Marvel Universe (but if they left any out, who could tell?).

With another tranche of superb pastiche covers by Aleksi Briclot & Marko Djurdjevic, this rollercoaster ride not only wraps up one crossover event but leads directly into the next one; a Dark Reign which is a tale for another time and place…

This is another splendid Costumes Drama which will delight insatiable Fights ‘n’ Tights thrill-chasers everywhere.
© 2008, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Mighty Avengers volume 3: Secret Invasion Book 1


By Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Koi Pham, John Romita Sr., Danny Miki, Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3010-9

Following the divisive and brutal superhero Civil War, Tony Stark (a staunch advocate of the draconian, nigh-totalitarian Super-Human Registration Act) formed a squad of Government-sanctioned heroes. His SHIELD-backed Mighty Avengers were designed to take care of business whilst he worked on his “Fifty States Initiative”, the objective of which was to eventually field teams of federally trained and licensed superheroes in every State of the Union.

Firstly, though, he had to restore public confidence, especially as the unregistered, rogue New Avengers continued to defy his orders to surrender to government authority: saving lives and crushing evil without his permission. Things never seemed to go Stark’s way however, and a series of catastrophic crises led inexorably to Earth succumbing to alien infiltration and conquest.

This seditious third volume is written throughout by Brian Michael Bendis and gathers Mighty Avengers #12-15 (June-August 2008), re-presenting some of the opening sallies in the major event dubbed Secret Invasion wherein the torturously unfolding plan by the shapeshifting Skrulls finally turns into a red-hot shooting war.

Since Fantastic Four #2 (January 1961), the Skrulls have been a pernicious cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. After decades of frustrating failure, the insidious intergalactic infiltrators were finally made the stars of a colossal braided crossover which ran from Spring to Christmas 2008 throughout all the company’s titles.

The premise? The aliens’ former all-encompassing empire had been crippled and scourged by a devastating catastrophe which destroyed much of their star-spanning power. Consequently the survivors underwent a mass fundamentalist-religious conversion: utterly resolved and dedicated to make Earth their new homeworld – just as their ancient scriptures foretold…

To this end they imperceptibly replaced a number of Earth denizens – mostly superheroes, villains and/or their close associates. When the plot was finally exposed no defender of the Earth truly knew who was on their side…

Moreover, the Skrulls had also unravelled the secrets of Earth magic and humanity’s unique genetics, creating legions of amped-up equivalents to the world’s mightiest heroes and villains. During this period they hid amongst us, primed and waiting to destroy mankind’s champions in head-to-head confrontations.

Not all Skrulls were fanatics however. Earth also harboured a few carefully hidden dissidents opposed to the new regime and non-fanatics simply unwilling to get properly involved…

The mysteries start to unravel in the ‘The Awakening’ from #12-13 (illustrated by Alex Maleev) where a fugitive and closeted Nick Fury – on the run for manipulating an Avengers squad into attacking the sovereign state of Latveria – discovers his current squeeze is actually a shapeshifting alien. Taking the appropriate steps, he sneaks back into SHIELD to warn his replacement Maria Hill that she can trust no-one…

Always playing a deeply convoluted game, he then contacts Spider-Woman – his mole in the Avengers, SHIELD and Hydra – to warn her of Skrull infiltration before activating his own plan B, gathering his long-cached cadre of super-powered non-entities and agents never on anybody’s radar. Then he sets all the pieces tumbling into turbulent motion…

The untitled issue #15 – illustrated by Khoi Pham & Danny Miki – returns focus to Stark’s Mighty Avengers team (field leader Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, Wonder Man, the Wasp, Sentry and Grecian war god Ares), all blithely going about their heroic business unaware that trusted major-domo Edwin Jarvis has been replaced by a high-ranking Skrull.

When the revelation day at last arrives the treacherous insider instigates a chilling plan to take incomprehensibly powerful superman Sentry out of action by attacking his mind and those he loves most…

The campaign of terror concludes with a chilling flashback illustrated by John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson & Tom Palmer, revealing how a dedicated proponent of the Super-Human Registration Act, a key component of Iron Man’s Fifty States Initiative and Founding Avenger was long ago replaced by a Skrull. What that augurs for humanity, only the coming weeks and months can tell…

To Be Continued…

With covers by Marko Djurdjevic and Bendis’ full script for issue #12 this slim tome offers another slick and stylish slice of breathtaking all-action entertainment which adds depth and weight to the impressive and appealing Secret Invasion main event but also reads perfectly well on its own merits.

Here is another Fights ‘n’ Tights “must-read” for insatiable thrill-chasers everywhere.
© 2008, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 3


By Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont, Bill Kunkel, Gary Friedrich, Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Dave Wenzel, Kerry Gammill & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-3068-0

The concept of team-up books – an established A-lister joining or battling (frequently both) less well-selling company co-stars – was not new when Marvel decided to award their most popular hero the lion’s share of a new title, but they wisely left their options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch. In those halcyon simpler times editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure and since super-heroes were actually in a decline at that time, they may well have been right.

Nevertheless when it launched in March 1972, Marvel Team-Up was the second official Spider-Man title (an abortive companion title Spectacular Spider-Man was created for the more respectable – and expensive – magazine market in 1968 but folded after two issues) and it immediately began bucking the downward trend for costumed crusaders.

Encompassing December 1976 to November 1978, this third mammoth monochrome Essential edition gathers the most consistently excellent period of the cathartic collaborations from Marvel Team-Up #52-73, 75 and includes the first Annual.

The thrills, spills and chills commence with ‘Danger: Demon on a Rampage!’: a rather rushed pairing of Spidey and Captain America from Gerry Conway, Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito which saw the heroes unite to take down Gallic mercenary Batroc and an enraged monster that had slipped out of an adjacent dimension.

This is followed by an epic length adventure from Marvel Team-Up Annual #1 by Bill Mantlo, Buscema & Esposito (from a plot by Mantlo, Chris Claremont & Bonnie Wilford). ‘The Lords of Light and Darkness!’ featured Spider-Man and the then-newly minted and revived X-Men, Banshee, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, Phoenix and Cyclops helping Charles Xavier combat a pantheon of scientists mutated in an atomic accident and elevated to the ranks of gods.

Like most deities, the puissant ones believed they knew what was best for humanity…

Mantlo then teamed with John Byrne & Frank Giacoia to bring closure to a tale begun – and left hanging – in Marvel Premiere #31.

MTU #53 revealed a ‘Nightmare in New Mexico!’ as The Hulk met troubled and AWOL gene-splicing experiment Woodgod whilst the tragic construct fled from corrupt Army Colonel Del Tremens. By the time the Wallcrawler dropped in, the monstrous fugitives had joined forces leaving him a ‘Spider in the Middle!’ (with Esposito inks).

As Tremens tried to suppress the calamitous crisis and his own indiscretions by killing everybody, the final scene saw the Web-spinner trapped in a rocket and blasted into space…

Marvel Team-Up #55 found our ‘Spider, Spider on the Moon!’ (Mantlo, Byrne & Dave Hunt) as cosmic Avenger Adam Warlock intercepted the ship and joined the Web-spinner and mysterious alien The Gardner in battling the Stranger for possession of the Golden Gladiator’s life-sustaining Soul Gem…

Back on Earth but still a trouble-magnet, in #56 Spider-Man – assisted by Daredevil -faced ‘Double Danger at the Daily Bugle!’ (Mantlo, Sal B & Hunt) after Electro and Blizzard took the entire Newsroom hostage, after which Claremont came aboard as full scripter, starting a complex extended thriller embroiling the Wallcrawler in a deadly espionage plot which began ‘When Slays the Silver Samurai!’ (art by Sal Buscema & Hunt).

After being saved from a lethal ambush by the Black Widow, Spidey takes possession of a strange statuette but is diverted aiding Ghost Rider against The Trapster in ‘Panic on Pier One!’ (Pablo Marcos inks) before he can investigate further. Another distraction comes when MTU #59 declares ‘Some Say Spidey Will Die by Fire… Some Say by Ice!’ (Claremont, Byrne & Hunt) as veteran Avenger Yellowjacket is apparently murdered by rampaging maniac Equinox, the Thermo-Dynamic Man and the Amazing Arachnid is hard-pressed to stop the traumatised Wasp exacting bloody vengeance in ‘A Matter of Love… and Death!’

The secret of the statuette is revealed in #61 as the Human Torch joins his arachnid frenemy in battle against Super-Skrull and learns ‘Not All Thy Powers Can Save Thee!’, before the furious clash escalates to include Ms Marvel in ‘All This and the QE2’…

Despite the very best efforts of Claremont & Byrne their Kung Fu fantasy Iron Fist never achieved the kind of traction of their collaboration on the X-Men, and the living weapon lost his circulation battle with issue #15 of his own title. The series ended in spectacular fashion, but the cancellation was clearly unplanned, as two major subplots went unresolved: private detective Misty Knight had disappeared on an undercover assignment to investigate European gang-boss John Bushmaster and Danny was suffering repeated attacks on his chi by the mysterious Steel Serpent…

Frustrated fans didn’t have to wait long for a resolution though: Marvel Team-Up was becoming the creative team’s personal clearing house for unresolved plot-lines. Issues MTU #63 and 64 (November & December 1977) exposed the secret of the sinister K’un Lun exile on the ‘Night of the Dragon’ before Rand and Spidey – with the assistance of Daughters of the Dragon Misty Knight and Colleen Wing – ended the threat in blistering martial arts manner in ‘If Death Be My Destiny!’

After a short and sweet flurry of original adventures in his own UK title, Captain Britain eventually succumbed to the English version of funnybook limbo – his title subsumed by a more successful one with CB reduced to reprints. Soon after, he pyrrhically debuted across the water in ‘Introducing Captain Britain’ by originating scripter Claremont in Marvel Team-Up #65, illustrated by Byrne & Hunt.

The story portrayed Brian Braddock on student transfer to Manhattan as the unsuspecting house-guest of Peter Parker. Before long the heroes had met, fought and then teamed-up to defeat the flamboyant hit-man games-obsessed Arcade with the transatlantic tale concluding in #66 as the abducted antagonists systematically dismantled the maniac’s ‘Murderworld’.

The mystery of a long-vanished feline were-woman warrior was resolved in ‘Tigra, Tigra, Burning Bright!’ as the Webslinger was targeted by Kraven the Hunter, using the Feral Fury as his enslaved attack beast until Spider-Man broke her conditioning, after which Claremont, Byrne & Bob Wiacek explored ‘The Measure of a Man!’ in #68 as the Arachnid philanthropically returned the captive Man-Thing to his swamp habitat and encountered horrific demon D’Spayre torturing benevolent enchanters Dakimh and Jennifer Kale. It took every ounce of courage from both man and monster to defeat the dark lord…

A clash with Egyptian-themed thieves drew Spidey into the years-long duel between cosmic powered X-Man Havoc and his nemesis the Living Monolith in ‘Night of the Living God!’ (inked by Ricardo Villamonte), but when the battle turns against them it needs the might of Thor to stop the ravening astral menace in ‘Whom Gods Destroy!’ by Claremont, Byrne & Tony DeZuñiga…

This epic clash signalled an end to the good times as MTU downshifted to short filler tales which began with #71 and ‘Deathgarden’ by Bill Kunkel, Dave Wenzel & Dan Green as Spider-Man and the Falcon rushed to secure an antidote from the perfidious Plantman for a poison killing Captain America whilst ‘Crack of the Whip!’ (Mantlo & Jim Mooney) found the Web-spinner and Iron Man battling Maggia stooges Whiplash and The Wraith, and in #73 Daredevil helped still ‘A Fluttering of Wings Most Foul!’ (Gary Friedrich, Kerry Gammill & Don Perlin) when the Owl set a trap for his most despised foes…

Due to contractual difficulties, Marvel Team-Up #74 – which featured a bizarre and hilarious pairing with TV’s Not-Ready-For-Primer-Time Players and Saturday Night Liveâ„¢ – has been omitted, but this collection of top-rate comics entertainment still end on a stellar high as Claremont, Ralph Macchio, Byrne & Al Gordon unite in tribute to the New York Fire Department with #75’s ‘The Smoke of That Great Burning!’ wherein Spider-Man and Luke Cage are caught up in a robbery and hostage crisis which soon turns into a major conflagration…

This epic tome is padded out with an art-lover’s dream: a run of Marvel Tales covers (#193-199, 201-207, 235-236, 255, 262, 263) by the likes of Dave Cockrum, Todd McFarlane, Sam Kieth and others, plus the cover of Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, and it also includes info pages from the Marvel Universe Handbook on Black Widow, Captain Britain, Havok, Living Monolith, Silver Samurai and The Stranger.

These stories here are of variable quality – ranging from the barely acceptable to utterly superb – but all have an honest drive to entertain and most fans of the genre would find little to complain about.

Although not really a book for the casual or more maturely-oriented enthusiast, there’s tons of great Fights ‘n’ Tights action here and younger readers will have a blast, so why not consider this tome for your “Must-Have” library…
© 1976, 1977, 1978, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Avengers: Hawkeye – Earth’s Mightiest Marksman


By Chuck Dixon, Nelson Yomtov, Tom DeFalco, Scott Kolins, Jerry DeCaire, Jeff Johnson, Dave Ross, Mark Bagley & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5939-1

Clint Barton is probably the world’s greatest archer: swift, unerringly accurate and augmented by a fantastic selection of multi-purpose high-tech arrows. Following an early brush with the law and as a reluctant Iron Man villain, he reformed to join the Mighty Avengers where he served with honour, yet always felt overshadowed by his more glamorous, super-powered comrades.

Long a mainstay of Marvel continuity and probably the company’s most popular B-list hero, the Battling Bowman has risen to greater prominence in recent years, boosted no doubt by his filmic incarnation in the Thor and Avengers movies.

This brash and bombastic hardcover collection assembles some of his lesser known solo appearances: the second Hawkeye Limited Series (January-April 1994), a brief serial vignette from anthological Marvel Comics Presents #159 -161 (July-August 1994) and one-shot Hawkeye – Earth’s Mightiest Marksman (from October 1998).

The wild happenings begin with a miniseries released after the cancellation of Avengers: West Coast – an offshoot team the Abrasive Archer led until his wife Mockingbird was killed. In his absence, the squad was forcibly disbanded by the East Coast parent division…

Crafted by Chuck Dixon, Scott Kolins & Tim Dzon, ‘Shafted’ opens in the freezing Canadian Rockies where the justifiably disgruntled and grieving bowman has retreated to lick his emotional wounds. Reducing his life to a primal daily battle against hunger and the elements, Hawkeye is dragged out of his depressive funk when he stumbles across a hidden scientific complex run by the malevolent Secret Empire and rescues a strangely vulpine yet intelligent victim from their ghastly bio-labs…

Guarding the facility are old enemies/merciless mercenaries Trick Shot and Javelynn, but they aren’t enough to stop Clint wrecking the base and fleeing with the severely wounded little werewolf. Sadly, his heroic incursion didn’t take out the base commander: one of the most ruthless and wicked terrorists on Earth…

Dubbing his dying companion Rover, Hawkeye carries his new hirsute pal to snowbound hamlet Dunroman and convinces harassed Doctor Avery to operate. The beast has amazing recuperative powers and a day later the frantic mute creature has convinced the archer to invade the fortress a second time.

They are too late: the ‘Masters of the Game’ have shut down their genetic experiments and cleaned up by exterminating the cages full of similar creatures which must have been Rover’s family…

As the horrified hero and the heartbroken man-beast rip their way out of the charnel factory, Hawkeye sees smoke on the horizon and realises the Secret Empire’s drive for secrecy has led to the eradication of Dunroman…

Vowing unholy vengeance, the archer then contacts old comrade War Machine from the defunct West Coast squad. The former military specialist offers the services of his personal armourer to upgrade Hawkeye’s bag of tricks and, once renegade engineer Mack Mendelson outfits the outraged archer with a new costume, transport and heavier arrowhead-ordnance, both bowman and human tanks clear a path into the heart of the Empire’s island HQ in ‘Run of the Arrow’.

However, despite wiping out the fortress, Hawkeye’s ultimate targets elude him and, following a Colin MacNeil pin-up, the savage saga concludes in ‘Rage’ as the archer and Rover track down the monstrous mastermind in time to stop her unleashing a brutal pack of the wolf-beasts’ totally weaponised descendents onto the mercenary market as unstoppable “Biological Combat Units”…

There is one last blockbusting battle before the bloody dust settles which turns on a knife edge and an unexpected betrayal…

A sort-of sequel to the miniseries appeared in the middle of 1994 as Hawkeye starred in a three chapter epilogue by Nelson Yomtov & Jerry DeCaire originally seen in Marvel Comics Presents #159 though 161. It begins with the insubordinate U.S.Agent trying tough love and a ‘Rocky Reunion’ to drag the morose marksman back to civilisation and into the ranks of newly constituted Crisis Management team Force Works.

Now haunting the backwoods of Tennessee, the archer is ferociously resistant to the notion and, with both masked mavericks displaying lethal levels of testosterone and ‘Bellies Full of Fire’, the argument quickly descends into all-out war which encompasses even more savage beasts before the stupid spat inconclusively concludes in ‘The Hungry Wolf’…

By the time Hawkeye – Earth’s Mightiest Marksman was released in 1998 the Avengers – Hawkeye included – had all been apparently obliterated by mutant menace Onslaught, spent a year outsourced to Image Comics as part of the Heroes Reborn sub-universe and then been dramatically reintroduced to mainstream Marvel in Heroes Reborn: The Return.

The impetus of the reunification and the sheer quality of the restarted titles (The Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor) ignited a mini-renaissance in quality – especially in the monumentally hero-heavy Avengers volume 3 – and as Hawkeye battled again beside his former comrades Clint Barton assumed a mentor’s position; giving the newest costumed neophytes admitted to the prestigious team the benefit of his vast experience…

It was in this role, teaching ex New Warriors Firestar and Justice, that scripter Tom DeFalco devised a triptych of interconnected tales to test Hawkeye that began – after a handy prose-and-picture recap feature – when the Astounding Archer agreed to help computer programmer Augusta Seer retrieve a stolen virus of catastrophic potential.

Sadly the mission was a set-up and led into a trap where Hawkeye was ‘Battered by Batroc!’ (art by Jeff Johnson & Kolins) and his henchmen Zaran and Machete…

Having trashed the terrible trio and set out after the fictive Dr. Seer, the bowman is then ‘Assaulted by Oddball!’ (Dave Ross & Tom Wegrzyn) – despite the best efforts of Justice and Firestar, in attendance for the educational experience – before the true villain is exposed and ultimately overcome in ‘Trounced by Taskmaster!’ (by Mark Bagley & Al Milgrom), with a final-act appearance by stalwarts of both the Avengers and New Warriors to cap and contribute to the furious all-out action.

This is a compendium of short, sharp, uncomplicated action thrillers that will test no one’s deductive abilities but will certainly set pulses racing: a straightforward big bag of Fights ‘n’ Tights romps to delight the hearts of ten-year-olds of all ages.
© 1994, 1998, 2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Essential Captain Marvel volume 2


By Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Mike Friedrich, Jim Starlin, Steve Englehart, Chris Claremont, Wayne Boring, Al Milgrom, Alfredo Alcala & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-4536-3

In 1968, upstart Marvel was in the ascendant. Their sales were rapidly overtaking industry leaders National/DC and Gold Key Comics and, having secured a new distributor which would allow them to expand their list of titles exponentially, the company was about to undertake a creative expansion of unparalleled proportions.

Once each individual star of “twin-books” Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales was awarded their own title the House of Ideas just kept on going. In progress was a publishing plan which sought to take conceptual possession of the word “Marvel” through both reprint series like Marvel Tales, Marvel Collectors Items Classics and Marvel Super-Heroes. Eventually showcase titles such as Marvel Premiere, Marvel Spotlight and Marvel Feature also proudly trumpeted the name so another dead-cert idea was to publish an actual hero named for the company – and preferably one with some ready-made cachet and pedigree as well.

After the infamous DC/Fawcett copyright court case of the 1940s-1950s, the prestigious designation Captain Marvel disappeared from newsstands. In 1967, during the “Camp” craze superhero boom generated by the Batman TV series, publisher MLF secured rights to the name and produced a number of giant-sized comics featuring an intelligent robot who (which?) could divide his body into segments and shoot lasers from his eyes.

Quirky, charming and devised by the legendary Carl Burgos (creator of the Golden Age Human Torch), the series nevertheless failed to attract a large following in that flamboyantly flooded marketplace and on its demise the name was quickly snapped up by Marvel Comics Group.

Marvel Super-Heroes was a brand new title: it had been reconfigured from double-sized reprint title Fantasy Masterpieces, which comprised vintage monster-mystery tales and Golden Age Timely Comics classics, but with the twelfth issue it added a showcase section for characters without homes such as Medusa, Ka-Zar, Black Knight and Doctor Doom, plus new concepts like Guardians of the Galaxy and Phantom Eagle to try out in all-new stories.

To start the ball rolling, it featured an alien spy sent to Earth from the Kree Galaxy. He held a Captain’s rank and his name was Mar-Vell.

After two appearances Captain Marvel catapulted straight into his own title and began a rather hit-and-miss career, battling spies, aliens, costumed cut-ups such as Sub-Mariner, Mad Thinker and Iron Man but most especially elements of his own rapaciously colonialist race – such as imperial investigative powerhouse Ronan the Accuser – all the while slowly switching allegiances from the militaristic Kree to the noble, freedom-loving denizens of Earth.

Disguised as NASA scientist Walter Lawson he infiltrated a US airbase and grew closer to security chief Carol Danvers, gradually going native even as he was constantly scrutinised by his ominously orbiting commanding officer Colonel Yon-Rogg – Mar-Vell’s ruthless rival for the love of the teeming starship’s medical officer Una…

The impossible situation came to a head when Mar-Vell gave his life to save the empire from overthrow from within and colossal hive-mind Supreme Intelligence inextricably bonded the expiring warrior with voice-of-a-generation and professional side-kick Rick Jones who, just like Billy Batson (the naïve lad who turned into the original Fawcett Captain Marvel by shouting “Shazam!”), switched places with a mighty adult hero whenever danger loomed.

By striking a pair of ancient, wrist worn “Nega-bands” together they could temporarily trade atoms: one active in our universe whilst the other floated, a ghostly untouchable, ineffectual voyeur to events glimpsed from the ghastly anti-matter Negative Zone.

The Captain was an alien lost on Earth, a defector from the militaristic Kree who fought for humanity three hours at a time, atomically chained to Rick by mysterious wristbands which enabled them to share the same space in our universe, but whenever one was active here the other was trapped in a terrifying isolated antimatter hell…

The book was cancelled soon after that… only to return some more! A series which would not die, Captain Marvel returned again in the summer of 1972 for another shot at stardom and intellectual property rights security.

This second stellar monochrome Essential compilation (spanning September 1972 to September 1976 whilst gathering Captain Marvel #21-35, 37-46, plus key crossover appearances from Iron Man #55 and Marvel Feature #12) finds him at his best and worst as mediocre tales by veteran creators were brushed aside and the hero was transfigured overnight by the talents of a very talented newcomer, making the directionless Kree Warrior briefly the most popular and acclaimed title in Marvel’s firmament.

It all began rather inauspiciously in Captain Marvel #22 where scripter Gerry Conway with artists Wayne Boring & Frank Giacoia reintroduced the cosmic crusader in ‘To Live Again!’ Bonded to Rick by the uncanny Nega-bands, Mar-Vell had languished in the Negative Zone for a seeming eternity as Jones tried to carve out a rock star career and relationship with new love Lou-Ann, but eventually his own body betrayed him and the Kree Captain was expelled back into our reality…

Luckily Lou-Ann’s uncle Benjamin Savannah is a radical scientist on hand to help Rick’s transition, but as the returned Marvel unsteadily flies off, across town another boffin is rapidly mutating from atomic victim to nuclear threat and #23 (by Marv Wolfman, Boring & Frank McLaughlin) sees the Kree Warrior calamitously clash with the rampaging Megaton resulting in ‘Death at the End of the World!’.

Wolfman, Boring & Ernie Chan then deal ‘Death in High Places!’ as Rick is targeted by lethal Madame Synn and felonious cyborg Dr. Mynde who need Mar-Vell to help them plunder the Pentagon…

After seemingly running in place, perpetually one step ahead of cancellation (folding many times, but always quickly resurrected – presumably to secure that all important Trademark name), the Captain was handed to a newcomer named Jim Starlin who was left alone to get on with it.

With many of his fellow neophytes he began laying seeds (particularly in Iron Man and Daredevil) for a saga that would in many ways become as well regarded as the epochal Fourth World Trilogy by Jack Kirby which it emulated.

However the “Thanos War”, despite superficial similarities, soon developed into a uniquely modern experience. And what it lacked in grandeur it made up for with sheer energy and enthusiasm.

The first inkling came in Iron Man #55 (February 1973) where Mike Friedrich scripted Starlin’s opening gambit in a cosmic epic that would change the nature of Marvel itself. ‘Beware The… Blood Brothers!’ (inked by Mike Esposito) introduced haunted humanoid powerhouse Drax the Destroyer, trapped by extraterrestrial invader Thanos under the Nevada desert and in dire need of rescue. That came when the Armoured Avenger blazed in, answering a mysterious SOS…

As much as I’d love to claim Marvel’s fortunes are solely built on the works of Kirby and Steve Ditko, I’m just not able to. Whereas I do know that without them the modern monolith would not exist, it is also necessary to acknowledge the vital role played by a second generation creators who enlisted in the early 1970s. Marvel’s invitation to fresh, new, often untried talent paid huge dividends in creativity and – most importantly at a time of industry contraction – new sales.

Arguably the most successful of the newcomers was Starlin. As well as the landmark Master of Kung Fu, which he worked on with equally gifted confederates Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom, his earliest and most fondly regarded success was the ambitiously epic cosmic adventure which unfolded here.

A month later in Captain Marvel #25, Friedrich, Starlin, & Chic Stone unleashed ‘A Taste of Madness!’ and the alien outcast’s fortunes changed forever.

When Mar-Vell is ambushed by a pack of extraterrestrials he is forced to admit that his powers are in decline. Unaware that an unseen foe is counting on that, Rick manifests and checks in with Dr. Savannah only to find himself accused by his beloved Lou-Ann of the savant’s murder.

Hauled off to jail Rick brings in Mar-Vell who is confronted by a veritable legion of old foes before deducing who in fact his true enemies are…

Issue #26 sees Rick free of police custody and confronting Lou-Ann over her seeming ‘Betrayal!’ (Starlin, Friedrich & Dave Cockrum). Soon, however, he and Mar-Vell realise they are the targets of psychological warfare: the girl is being mind-controlled whilst Super Skrull and his hidden “Masterlord” are manipulating them and others in search of a lost secret…

When a subsequent scheme to have Mar-Vell kill The Thing spectacularly fails, Thanos takes personal charge. The Titan is hungry for conquest and wants Rick because his subconscious conceals the location of an irresistible ultimate weapon.

Rick awakes to find himself ‘Trapped on Titan!’ (Pablo Marcos inks) but does not realise the villain has already extracted the location of a reality-altering Cosmic Cube from him. Rescued by Thanos’ father Mentor and brother Eros, the horrified lad sees firsthand the extent of genocide the death-loving monster has inflicted upon his own birthworld and summons Captain Marvel to wreak vengeance…

Meanwhile on Earth, still-enslaved Lou-Ann has gone to warn the Mighty Avengers and summarily collapsed. By the time Mar-Vell arrives in #28 she lies near death. ‘When Titans Collide!’ (inks by Dan Green) reveals another plank of Thanos’ plan. As the heroes are picked off by psychic parasite The Controller, Mar-Vell is assaulted by bizarre visions of an incredible ancient being. Fatally distracted, he becomes the massive mind-leech’s final victim…

Al Milgrom inks ‘Metamorphosis!’ as the Kree captain’s connection to Rick is severed and he is transported to an otherworldly locale where an eight billion year old being named Eon reveals the origins of life whilst overseeing the abductee’s forced evolution into the ultimate warrior: a universal champion gifted with the subtly irresistible power of Cosmic Awareness…

Returned to Earth and reconnected to his frantic atomic counterpart, the newly-appointed “Protector of the Universe” goes after The Controller, thrashing the monumentally powerful parasite in a devastating display of skill countering super-strength in #30’s ‘…To Be Free from Control!’

Iron Man meanwhile has also recovered and headed for Marvel Feature #12 to join the Thing in ending a desert incursion by Thanos’ forces before enduring ‘The Bite of the Blood Brothers!’ (Friedrich, Starlin, & Joe Sinnott), after which the story continues in Captain Marvel #31 with ‘The Beginning of the End!’ (inked by Green & Milgrom) wherein the Avengers – in a gathering of last resort – are joined by psionic priestess Moondragon and Drax – one of the Titan’s many victims and resurrected by supernal forces to destroy Thanos…

The Titan has been revealed as a lover of the personification of Death who wants to give her Earth as a betrothal present. To that end he uses the Cosmic Cube to turn himself into ‘Thanos the Insane God!’ (Green) and with a thought captures all opposition to his reign. However his insane arrogance leaves the cosmically aware Mar-Vell with a chance to undo every change; brilliantly outmanoeuvring and defeating ‘The God Himself!’ (inks by Klaus Janson)…

With the universe saved and restored, Starlin’s run ended on a relatively weak note in CM #34 as ‘Blown Away!’ – inked by Jack Abel and dialogued by Englehart – explored the day after doomsday.

As Rick tries to revive his on-again, off-again musical career, secret organisation the Lunatic Legion despatches Nitro, the Exploding Man to acquire a canister of nerve gas from an Air Force base where Carol Danvers is head of Security…

Although the Protector of the Universe defeats Nitro, he succumbs to the deadly toxin. From this exposure he would eventually contract the cancer that killed him, as depicted in Marvel’s first Graphic Novel, The Death of Captain Marvel… but that’s a tale for a different review…

Issue #35 finds Mar-Vell all but lifeless in ‘Deadly Genesis’ (Englehart, Friedrich & Alfredo Alcala), while simultaneously showing Rick languishing in the Negative Zone and attacked by Annihilus until a barely-remembered three-hour time-limit automatically switches his body with the comatose Kree hero.

Later, as Rick’s manager Mordecai Boggs drives him to a gig, Rick’s consciousness slips into the N-Zone and animates Mar-Vell’s unresponsive body to escape Annihilus, and discerns this new power is merely one tactic in a cunning plan devised by the duplicitous Supreme Intelligence…

Meanwhile on Earth, Rick’s vacated body has been taken to hospital where old friends Ant-Man and the Wasp are fortuitously visiting when the Living Laser attacks. The villain has been artificially augmented by his new masters, but it’s not enough to stop the former Avengers or prevent Rick reclaiming his body and using the Nega-bands to restore his bonded soul mate to their particular brand of normality…

At this time deadline difficulties caught up with the Captain and #36 was reduced to running a reprint of his origin from Marvel Super-Heroes #12. This Essential edition only includes the foreboding 3-page bookend ‘Watching and Waiting’ by Englehart, Starlin, Alan Weiss & friends before the saga properly relaunches in #37 with ‘Lift-Off!’ by Englehart, Milgrom & Janson.

Although Mar-Vell quickly discerns that the Lunatic Legion’s attacks stem from the Moon, Rick insists on playing a gig before they set off. After bidding farewell to Mordecai and his sometimes stage partner Dandy, they wisely prepare for their trip to the satellite by outfitting the boy with an advanced spacesuit before Mar-Vell blasts off.

He only makes it as far as the outer atmosphere before being attacked by another Lunatic agent. The cyborg Nimrod is no match for Kree firepower however and in the Neg-Zone the implacable Annihilus endures a painful defeat when he again assaults Rick and discovers the sheer power packed into his EVA gear…

Crisis averted, the bored, naive kid swallows the “vitamin” Dandy slipped him before departure and is transported on a trip unlike any he has ever experienced. Tragically, as Mar-Vell reaches the air-filled lost city in the “Blue Area of the Moon” he too begins to experience bizarre hallucinations and is utterly unable to defend himself when the all-powerful Watcher ambushes him…

The austere, aloof cosmic voyeur Uatu the Watcher is part of an ancient, impossibly powerful race of immortal beings who observe all that occurs throughout the vast multiverse but never act on any of it. Non-interference is their fanatical doctrine but Uatu has continually bent – if not broken – the adamantine rule ever since he debuted in Fantastic Four #13…

Now somehow, the Legion have co-opted the legendarily neutral astral witness. Once Uatu defeats Mar-Vell, he despondently dumps his victim with the Lunatic Legion who are exposed as rebel Kree plotting to overthrow the Supremor. Fundamentalists of the original blue race which assimilated the millions of other species, these colonially aggressive and racially purist Blue Kree plan to execute their captive who seemingly has ‘…No Way Out!’ but are unprepared for the closer psychic link which the hallucinations have forged between Earth kid and Kree captain…

With the insurgents defeated, Mar-Vell and Rick follow the repentant Uatu as he returns to his own distant world in #39 to voluntarily undergo ‘The Trial of the Watcher’…

In the aftermath of that bizarre proceeding Rick and Mar-Vell are finally liberated from their comic bond. With both now co-existing in the positive-matter universe and able to return and leave the Negative Zone at will, their troubles seem over. They couldn’t be more wrong…

CM #40 shifts focus as ‘Rocky Mountain ‘Bye!’ (inked by Al McWilliams) reveals how the space-farers return to an Earth which has no real use for them. As Mar-Vell battles a deadly beast possessing the body of his first love Medic Una, Rick finds his music career and even his beliefs are considered irrelevant and of no value. Equally heart-sore and dispirited, the former cellmates reunite and decide to travel to the stars together…

The first stop is Hala, capital of the Kree Empire as #41 reveals ‘Havoc on Homeworld!’ (Englehart, Milgrom, Bernie Wrightson, P. Craig Russell, Bob McLeod & Terry Austin) with the populace swept up in a race war against “Pinks” (human flesh-toned Kree mulattos like Mar-Vell).

Determined to warn the Supremor of the conflict and the schemes of the Lunatic Legion, the heroes are appalled to learn the strife has been actively instigated by the colossal mind-collective…

From his earliest moments in military service Mar-Vell has been groomed by the Supremor to be its ultimate foe, As the amalgamation of minds seeks to jump-start the development of the evolutionarily-stalled Kree it desperately needs an enemy to contend against and grow strong…

Distracting his baffled, betrayed opponents with Ronan the Accuser, the Supreme Intelligence places one Nega-band on Rick and another on Mar-Vell and casually banishes them to the farthest reaches of the empire…

Issue #42 sees them deposited in an insane pastiche of Earth’s wild west mining towns and quickly embroiled in interstellar claim-jumping and a ‘Shoot-Out at the O.K. Space Station!’ (inks by Giacoia & Esposito). As the Kree with a star on his chest lays down the law and has a showdown with the cosmically-charged Stranger, close by Drax the Destroyer is ravaging worlds and planetoids, slowly going insane for lack of purpose even as Rick goes his own way and is almost fatally distracted by a beautiful girl nobody else can see…

Drax was created to kill Thanos but since the Titan’s defeat the devastating construct has wandered the universe and slowly gone crazy. CM #43 shows how – unaware that Thanos still lives – the purposeless nemesis takes the opportunity to assuage his frustrations by attacking the hero who stole his glory in ‘Destroy! Destroy!’ (Englehart & Milgrom).

The epic bout ends in #44 as ‘Death Throws!’ sees the pointless conflict escalate until Rick’s imaginary friend intervenes and opens the Destroyer’s eyes…

With sanity restored Mar-Vell then voyages to a Kree colony world ravaged by cyborgs and Null-Trons and discovers the Supremor has been subtly acting to merge him and Rick into one puissant being to further his evolutionary agenda in ‘The Bi-Centennial!’ Forewarned, and with a small band of the most unlikely allies, the cosmic conflict then wraps up in blockbusting fashion as Rick and Mar-Vell unite by not combining to defeat the Supremor in a battle ‘Only One Can Win!’ (Chris Claremont, Milgrom & Austin)…

This bombastic battle book of cosmic conflict and stellar spectacle also includes a wealth of bonus pages beginning with a comprehensive cutaway ‘Map of Titan’ from Captain Marvel #27, three pages of new artwork from 1980s reprint series The Life of Captain Marvel Special Edition‘, and a copious cover gallery and pinups by Starlin from that series.

Captain Marvel has never claimed to be the company’s most popular or successful character and some of the material collected here is frankly rather poor. However, the good stuff is amongst the very best that the company has produced in its entire history.

If you want to see how good superhero comics can be you’ll just have to take the rough with the smooth and who knows… you might see something that makes it all worthwhile…
© 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 2013 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Fantastic Four: The Life Fantastic


By J. Michael Straczynski, Karl Kesel, Dwayne McDuffie, Mike McKone, Drew Johnson, Casey Jones, Lee Weeks & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1896-1

The Fantastic Four has long been rightly regarded as the most pivotal series in modern comicbook history, responsible for introducing both a new style of storytelling and a radically different manner of engaging the readers’ impassioned attentions.

More family than team, the line-up has changed many times over the years but always eventually returned to Stan Lee & Jack Kirby’s original configuration of Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing, who jointly formed the vanguard of modern four-colour heroic history.

The quartet are actually maverick genius Reed Richards, his wife Sue, their trusty college friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s obnoxious, impetuous younger brother Johnny Storm; survivors of an independent space-shot which went horribly wrong once ferociously mutative Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding.

When they crashed back to Earth, the foursome found that they had all been hideously changed into outlandish freaks. Richards’ body became elastic, Sue gained the power to turn invisible and form force-fields, Johnny could turn into self-perpetuating living flame, and poor, tormented Ben was transformed into a horrifying brute who, unlike his comrades, could not return to a semblance of normality on command.

The sheer simplicity of four archetypes – mercurial boffin, self-effacing distaff, solid everyman and hot-headed youth, uniting to triumph over accident and adversity – shone under Lee’s irreverent humanity coupled to Kirby’s rampant imagination and tirelessly emphatic sense of adventure.

Decades of erratic quality and floundering plotlines followed the original creators’ departures, but from the beginning of the 21st century Marvel’s First Family experienced a steady and sustained climb in quality which culminated in their own film franchise, currently experiencing its own radical reboot.

The return to peak quality was the result of sheer hard work by a number of “Big Ideas” writers and this slim hardback compilation – re-presenting Fantastic Four #533-535, spanning January to April 2006, supplemented by a selection of celebratory one-shots comprising Fantastic Four Wedding Special (January 2006), Fantastic Four Special 2005 and Fantastic Four: A Death in the Family (July 2006) – wraps up J. Michael Straczynski’s brief but splendidly entertaining tenure in the command chair.

Illustrated by Mike McKone (with inkers Andy Lanning, Simon Coleby & Cam Smith) the never-ending excitement opens with a bombastic three-part tale which is perhaps the ultimate clash between the Hulk and the Thing… and possibly the funniest yet most heart-rending FF story ever written…

‘What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas’ opens as the Hulk – now governed by Bruce Banner‘s intellect and working for SHIELD – dramatically fails to defuse a gamma bomb and is caught in the resulting blast…

In New York Reed and Sue are facing their greatest battle; trying to stop Simone Debouvier of New York’s Division of Child Welfare from placing their children Franklin and Valeria into State custody to protect them from the Fantastic Four’s life-threatening influence and circumstances. It’s almost a relief for the embattled parents to despatch their boisterous and understandably furious team-mates to Nevada so they can concentrate on navigating the tricky legal maze of the Social Services system.

When Torch and Thing arrive it’s too their worst nightmare: the gamma blast has seemingly devolved the Hulk’s mind back to his primitive, enraged and devastatingly destructive state and supercharged his body. The heroes are all that stand between the unstable juggernaut and the utter destruction of the city…

Utterly overmatched, Ben is pushed to his limits in ‘Shadow Boxing’ but even amidst the hurricane of shattering violence, he realises it’s not rage but guilt that is pushing the over-Hulk to such brutal excess, even as back in New York Reed and Sue take a desperate gamble to keep their family together…

The transcontinental confrontations crash into a pair of stunning victories for heart and brains over brawn in the climactic finale ‘To Be This Monster’…

The rest of this slim, sleek and celebratory volume concentrates on a wealth of special editions and follows up first with Fantastic Four Wedding Special where Karl Kesel, Drew Johnson, Drew Geraci & Drew Hennessy combine to venerate the past and offer tantalising glimpses of things to come when Sue and Reed go for a quiet meal and – thanks to the technological miracle of time travel – discover that every guest is the happy couple themselves, plucked from key moments of their fantastic past and incredible future…

That gloriously heart-warming spectacle is followed by a far more tense but no less intriguing yarn from Fantastic Four Special #1 with Dwayne McDuffie, Casey Jones & Vince Russell depicting ‘My Dinner with Doom’ as Reed opts to try fine dining and frank conversation as a way of finally ending the long-standing feud between him and the relentless and duplicitous Iron Dictator. If only Doom was as open-minded about the eventual outcome…

Focus shifts to Johnny for the last epic as Fantastic Four: A Death in the Family (Kesel, Lee Weeks, Rob Campenella & Tom Palmer) sees the frat-boy goof suddenly forced to wise up, man up and make a horrific choice to save his beloved, fractious family from certain doom in another time-travel flavoured adventure.

In this story however, there is no happy ending…

A stellar combination of apocalyptic action, heartbreak, suspense and hilarious low comedy, this exhilarating compilation also includes a stunning cover gallery by McKone, Gene Ha, Leinil Yu, Morry Hollowell and Weeks to provide a warm, fast-paced, tension-soaked Fights ‘n’ Tights chronicle which will provide all the thrills and chills a devoted Costumed Drama lover could ever want.
© 2005, 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Secret Invasion: Captain Marvel


By Brian Reed, Paul Jenkins, Lee Weeks, Tom Raney & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2422-1

The Skrulls are shape-shifting aliens who’ve bedevilled Earth since Fantastic Four #2, and they have long been a pernicious cornerstone of the Marvel Universe. After decades of use, abuse and misuse the insidious invaders finally proved their villainous worth as the sinister stars of a colossal braided mega-crossover event beginning in April 2008 and running through all titles until Christmas.

The premise of Secret Invasion is simple: the would-be alien conquerors, having barely survived a devastating disaster which destroyed much of their empire, subsequently undergo a mass, fundamentalist religious conversion. The upshot is that the majority of the survivors believe now Earth is their new Promised Land and ultimate holy homeworld.

They are now utterly resolved and dedicated to take the planet at all costs.

To this end they have ever-so-gradually replaced a number of key Earth denizens – most notably superheroes and other metahumans. When their plot is at last uncovered no defender of the Earth truly knows who is on their side…

Moreover the cosmic charlatans have also unravelled the secrets of Earth magic and genetic superpowers, creating amped-up equivalents to Earth’s mightiest. They are now primed and able to destroy the world’s heroic defenders in face-to-face confrontations.

Rather than give too much away, let me just say that if you like this sort of thing you’ll love it and a detailed familiarity is not crucial to your understanding.

However, for a more complete experience, you will want to see the other 22 “Secret Invasion” volumes that accompany this one, although at a pinch you could get by with only the key collection Secret Invasion – which contains the 8-issue core miniseries, one-shot spin-off “Who Do You Trust?” and illustrated textbook “Skrulls” which claims to provide a listing and biography for every shape-shifter yet encountered in the Marvel Universe (but if they left any out, who could tell?).

Back in 1968 Captain Mar-Vell was a dutiful soldier of the alien Kree empire dispatched to Earth as a spy. However due to interaction with humans – especially American Security Agent Carol Danvers – he subsequently went native, becoming first a hero and then the cosmically “aware” protector of the universe, destined since life began to be its champion in its darkest hour.

In concert with the Avengers and other heroes he defeated death-worshipping Thanos, just as the mad Titan transformed into God, after which the good Captain went on to become a universal force for good.

In the early 1980s, due to the long-lasting effects of a skirmish with super-maniac Nitro, Mar-Vell died of cancer.

That event was one of the major tragedies of Marvel continuity and the company has had a fair few stabs since at reviving the beloved warrior, as well as passing his name around a legion of legacy heroes – as much to keep fans happy as to retain the all-important copyright…

Gathering relevant sections of Civil War: The Return (March 2007) and subsequent 5-issue miniseries Captain Marvel from January-Jun 2008) this slim, sleek tome again addresses that need to restore the original and begins with a short tale set during the Civil War between Earth’s heroes.

Scripted by Paul Jenkins and illustrated by Tom Raney & Scott Hanna, ‘Captains Courageous: the Return of Captain Marvel’ finds the dead warrior inexplicably back and in command of America’s Negative Zone-situated prison for metahuman malefactors. However, as the penitentiary suffers a massive assault by the ravenous creatures that infest the anti-matter universe, flashbacks reveal that the troubled Kree has only been in situ for days.

Prior to that he had been calmly meditating in the Neg Zone before being irresistibly sucked into a time-warp and washing up in his own future. An astute sort, he quickly deduced from shocked friends in the Avengers and Fantastic Four that he had returned after his own death, and meekly acquiesced when they all suggested he stay out of sight by taking charge of the fortress quickly filling up with resistors of the Government’s new Super-Human Registration Act…

The saga skips neatly to after the Civil War for Brian Reed & Lee Weeks’ 5-chapter epic (inked by Stefan Gaudiano, Jesse Delperdang, Rob Campanella, Butch Guice & Klaus Janson), which commences with ‘I Am Here’ as American Security Chief and Director of SHIELD Tony Stark assigns Agent Heather Sante to keep tabs on the Kree Warrior.

Since returning to Earth Mar-Vell has spent most of his time quietly brooding – especially about Alexander the Great, who also died at 33 years old – and has become obsessed with a certain painting in the Louvre.

However, after a brief clash with European super-criminal Cyclone calls him back into action, word of Captain Marvel’s resurrection spreads. The biggest repercussion is upon fringe whacko cult “The Brotherhood of Hala” who are suddenly galvanised into massive expansion and propelled towards the realms of a genuine religion…

World-weary journalist Nathan Jefferson has been on the trail of the strange sect for years: ever since heiress Julia Starr renamed herself Mother Starr and turned all her financial assets to promoting the gospel of Mar-Vell.

The hero himself seems unaware of the cult but his desire for anonymous reflection is frustrated when a colossal robot almost slaughters the Avengers and he is forced to spectacularly save the day…

‘Reconstruction’ opens with Mar-Vell a reluctant global sensation and apparently only Nathan Jefferson worried that the public is treating a masked man like the Messiah Reborn.

Mar-Vell, as befits a potential Saviour, is taking constant stock of himself and is deeply worried that he has gaps in his memories. Most disturbingly he has somehow lost his greatest ability: the “Cosmic Awareness” which puts him in touch with the entire universe.

He still cannot stop staring at that painting either…

Stark is also concerned. Mar-Vell is still a wanted outlaw to the Kree and all attempts at contacting the Empire are being blocked. With no other option he asks Carol Danvers – now known as Avengers team-leader Ms Marvel – to have a heart-to-heart with her old friend and almost-lover…

Typically their intimate conversation is cut short when supposedly-dead Cobalt Man inexplicably attacks…

Later whilst Nathan attempts to infiltrate the ascendant Church of Hala and is caught by some extremely unpleasant acolytes, Iron Man personally tries to interrogate Mar-Vell but is interrupted by a team of attacking Kree commandos…

The marauders are far from what they appear and ‘Deep Background’ reveals the first hints of a deadly cosmic conspiracy with the time-lost Captain Marvel as its target. The not-Kree intruders are soon subdued and as Stark begins the laborious task of getting useful intel out of the survivors, across the country Nathan is now a convert to the Church of Hala.

The organisation has spread like wildfire around the globe and is now one of the most powerful charities and most effective providers of war and famine relief on Earth…

Agent Sante has also infiltrated the new church and discovered something terrifying lurking at its heart. She is in fear of her life even as the transplanted Mar-Vell is made painfully aware that his oldest foes are somehow involved.

Troubled and turbulent, the prospective Kree messiah begins to see Skrulls everywhere and demands that Carol prove herself human…

When a prisoner challenges everything the foredoomed warrior believes, the result in ‘Alien Hated’ is hardly what the duplicitous, mind-muddling shapeshifter expected. Mar-Vell goes on a brutal rampage, abandoning his superhero friends before flying off to meet with pious Mother Starr and involving himself in her relief efforts in Sudan.

Unfortunately when militant rebels attack the Mission all his pent-up frustration comes out in another murderous display of Kree military training, before he apparently accepts his destiny as saviour and publicly demands Earth end all war…

In climactic finale ‘Orthodox’, with the international crisis now threatening to become a global catastrophe, Stark orders Ms Marvel to deal with the tormented Kree warrior but the duel in Negative Zone goes badly wrong and Mar-Vell emerges even stronger with his memories restored. With knowledge that a Secret Invasion by the Skrulls is already underway the time-traveller joins with Agent Sante and begins a clandestine war against the hidden infiltrators that will eventually change Earth forever…

To Be Continued Elsewhere…

Thoughtful, suspenseful and wickedly clever, this Byzantine prologue to the Main Event is a powerful examination of the nature and motivations of heroes: a quirky, moving, and winningly low-key epic which is supplemented here with a striking cover and variants gallery by Ed McGuiness, Dexter Vines and Terry and Rachel Dodson.

Oddly although part of a massive story-event this quirky yarn actually has legs of its own and stands up quite well when read in isolation but although impressive and entertaining, this great Fights ‘n’ Tights will truly benefit from you checking out the collections Secret Invasion: the Infiltration, Avengers Disassembled, as well as the rather pivotal New Avengers: Illuminati graphic novel.
© 2007, 2008, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Incredible Hulks: Planet Savage


By Greg Pak, Dale Eaglesham, Tom Grummett, Drew Hennessy, Cory Hamscher, Rick Magyar & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5159-3

Once upon a time, Bruce Banner was simply a military scientist accidentally caught in a gamma bomb blast of his own devising. Thereafter, stress or other factors caused him to unpredictably transform into a gigantic green monster of unstoppable strength and fury. As both occasional hero and mindless monster he rampaged across the Marvel Universe for decades, becoming one of the world’s most popular comicbook features and multi-media titans.

As such, he has often undergone radical changes in scope and format to keep his stories fresh and his exploits explosively compelling…

In recent years the number of Gamma-mutated monsters rampaging across the Marvel landscape has proliferated to inconceivable proportions. There are now assorted Hulks, She-Hulks, Abominations and all kinds of alien affiliates and ancillary atomic berserkers roaming the planet, so be prepared to experience a little confusion if you’re coming to this particular character cold. Nevertheless these always-epic yarns are generally worth the effort so persist if you can.

During the all-encompassing ‘Planet Hulk’ storyline of 2006-2007, the Jade Juggernaut was exiled to space and crashed on distant, brutally primitive world Sakarr, where he was enslaved as a gladiator before rising to briefly become messiah-king of the entire place after defeating the terrifying Red King.

He married an incredibly powerful once-enemy with ancient, ancestral tectonic gifts dubbed Caiera the Oldstrong, unknowingly spawned a son, and lost his new wife when the ship that brought him to Sakaar exploded…

Bereft and enraged he made his way back to Earth, oblivious of what he’d left behind and inflicted a punishing World War Hulk on the heroes and homeworld which betrayed him. Eventually that blew over too – but not without horrific and lingering consequences. Now Banner has notionally taken charge of a cadre of his fellow gamma gargantuans…

This collection gathers The Incredible Hulks #623-629 – a tome of two halves covering April to July 2011 – written in its entirety by film director, screenwriter and comics-nerd Greg Pak; opening with the eponymous ‘Planet Savage’ illustrated by Dale Eaglesham & Drew Hennessy.

In a hidden lab a worried cohort of monsters and outcasts (She-Hulk, Red She-Hulk, A-Bomb, Skaar: Son of Hulk, Korg of Krona, No-Name of the Brood, Sakaarian Elloe Kaifi and mostly human scientist Kate Waynesboro) battle to save the transformed Banner-Hulk from succumbing to injuries incurred battling demons and almighty Grecian Skyfather Zeus.

No sooner has he barely passed that crisis than the original green giant – who currently possesses Banner’s intellect – is off answering a distress call from the fantastic antediluvian nature preserve dubbed the Savage Land.

After trying to restrain the recuperating hero, a cadre of comrades reluctantly join him, painfully aware that the only thing keeping their friend alive is the Hulk’s inner core of rage: if Bruce rests or even calms down, both will assuredly die…

The clarion call they’re answering comes from modern-day Tarzan and self-appointed wild-life guardian Ka-Zar. Something very nasty has gorily eradicated a small enclave of Sakaarian refugees and the jungle lord is in dire need of a little back-up.

Sadly, not all of the otherworldly asylum-seekers are victims or innocent and before long the Hulk’s heavy-hitters are battling to the death against an army of mutated horrors controlled by a former ally.

Most horrifically, Banner’s compromised state has made him easy prey for an insectoid infestation that could end his rampages forever…

Following the conclusion of that gorily bombastic battle the tone twists to wry and witty Spy-Fi in a light-hearted, tradecraft-tinted tale ‘The Spy Who Smashed Me’, limned by Tom Grummett, Cory Hamscher & Rick Magyar.

The sensational skulduggery starts as Bruce’s ex-wife Betty Ross vanishes. That’s a pretty big deal since she is also the Red She-Hulk…

After still-recuperating hubby asks Amadeus Cho (8th smartest brain on Earth and 2nd most aggravating kid in the world) for assistance in locating her, they jointly discover that Betty’s power-levels are fluctuating to the point that she’s on the brink of a most unwelcome and soon-to-be-permanent final transformation…

Man and boy track her to Italy where Bruce goes undercover in a very stylish tuxedo made of unstable molecules, but ‘When in Rome’ Betty is no mood to quit partying and refuses to come back to the med-lab. Perhaps it has something to do with mesmerising immortal arch-enemy Tyrannus who’s ensorcelled her into helping him steal the legendary Pandora’s Box from the Museo della Mitologia Antica…

Almost immediately the undercover part of the mission heads south and the artefact – still packing the destructive equivalent of “All the World’s Evils” – triggers global panic-alerts, prompting NATO to grudgingly accept the Hulk’s “offer” of assistance in ‘Live and Let Smash’.

Working with sultry Museum Director and antiquities expert Dr. Sofia di Cosimo, Hulk heads straight for Tyrannus’ subterranean realm to stop the former Roman Emperor from opening the most dangerous container on Earth…

And that’s when an unsuspected third faction busts in; snatching the doctor, the dictator and the hotly disputed relic, unleashing mythological madness and forcing Red and Green Gamma Gladiators to work together in a manic effort to halt a mystical meltdown and apocalyptic return of ancient atrocities in the spectacular showdown ‘License to Smash’…

If you’re still capable of being shaken and stirred this collection also includes a cover and variant gallery by Eaglesham & Hennessey, Jock, Doug Braithwaite & Sonia Oback, Frank Cho & Jason Keith, Eaglesham &Peter Steigerwald and Michael Del Mundo, plus a ‘Pencil Gallery’ featuring covers and full pages by Eaglesham.

An intoxicating rollercoaster of action and sheer fun with plot pared back to a bare minimum, there’s much to recommend in this blistering, romp, especially if you’re a fan of magnificent mindless graphic mayhem – and what follower of the Hulk isn’t?

© 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.