This month Marvel begins another three comics, making a total of 16 new comics since March. It might seem like Marvel is expanding, but I regret to say that all three of the new comics flopped. This month's first new comic is the Cat, a savage bestial woman. Her costume and her mannerisms are uncannily similar to Woverine, a character who will be introduced two years from now. It seems that America wasn't ready for a savage female, so her traits were transferred to a male super-hero, who was more readily accepted.
This comic will only run for four issues. However, the character herself won't disappear after the end of the series. She'll remain part of the Marvel roster for years, though with a different name and a different costume.
The Cat #1
Title: Beware the Claws of the Cat!
Writer: Linda Fite
Artist: Marie Severin
Villain: Mal Donalbain (fitness fanatic)
Despite its clumsy overemphasising of women's rights, this is an excellent story. Greer Grant is a beautiful and intelligent woman, someone who ought to be a success in life, but she gives it all up for a man. Her husband Bill Nelson is a good man, an honest policeman, and he loves his wife, but he expects her to stay at home. She wants to continue her college studies, but he thinks a woman's place is in the home. The saddest thing about the marriage is that she agrees with him.
Then he's shot in the course of duty. Greer doesn't have much chance to get a good job as someone who dropped out of college to get married. She meets her old professor from college, Dr. Tumolo, who gives her a job as her lab assistant. Dr. Tumolo is working on a machine that can help any woman reach her full potential, both physically and mentally. Greer and another girl use the machine as test subjects, and Greer soon notices that her intelligence, strength and agility are steadily increasing. Unexpectedly, other qualities also increase, including her
woman's intuition. She just knows things without being told them, such as knowing that a squirrel has an injured paw.
Dr. Tumolo's research is being funded by Mal Donalbain, a man who wants to open a chain of fitness studios across the USA. He wants super-fit women to run his studios. That's not bad in itself, but he wants obedient super-fit women in his studios. He's invented an obedience collar that will make any woman obey his will. That's a male chauvinist dream. He gives the girls yellow pussycat costumes and claws.
The other girl dies because she doesn't live up to Mal's expectations. Greer Nelson defeats him and his muscle bound goons.
I know Greer Nelson from later comics in her new identity as the Cat, but today is the first time I've read her solo comics. This is a series that deserved a much longer run than four issues. It's ahead of its time? Definitely. Or maybe it was just lost in the middle of Marvel's over-expansion phase.
The second new comic this month is Night Nurse. It features Linda Carter, the star of Linda Carter, Student Nurse, which ran for nine issues starting in 1961. Her original series was written by Stan Lee – who else? – and was primarily a romance comic. The new series is written by Jean Thomas, the wife of Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas.
Night Nurse #1
Title: The Making of a Nurse!
Writer: Jean Thomas
Artist: Winslow Mortimer
Regulars: Christine Palmer, Georgia Jenkins
The three friends Linda Carter, Christine Palmer and Georgia Jenkins are only a few days away from graduation. It's about time! They've been student nurses since 1961. Well, I don't consider the early stories to be canon, so let's forget that. In this issue we read that they've been studying for three years, which would be 1969.
All three girls are facing a dilemma about their future careers. Linda's boyfriend is a rich industrialist, and he wants her to leave Metro General Hospital to marry him the day before graduation. 11 years for nothing. Or three years. It's still wasted time. Greer Grant only gave up two years of college for love.
Christine Palmer comes from a wealthy family that considers nursing to be below their social standing. She was thrown out when she said she wanted to be a nurse. Now her father returns and tells her he'll forgive her if she comes back home after graduation.
Georgia Jenkins comes from the slums that are only a block away from Metro General. Her neighbours consider that the hospital is part of the
white man's world, and they want her to come back to her own people. Can anyone really be that stupid? She uncovers a plot for the hospital to be blown up.
Needless to say, all three girls put their nursing careers first. You don't need to wear a cape and fly to be a hero. These three girls are the real heroes.
Sadly, this comic was also a failure. It was cancelled after four issues. I feel that it had promise.
The third new comic this month is Chamber Of Chills, the second new horror anthology comic after
Journey Into Mystery last month. Unfortunately the days of anthology stories are over. After seven issues it became a reprint magazine.
In addition to this month's three new comics, there's a fourth almost-new comic. Marvel's comedy comic Spoof began in October 1970, but
Spoof #1 didn't sell many copies because, to be honest, it wasn't very good. After a two-year delay Marvel has revived the series. I admit, this issue is better than the first. Instead of being a satire, it's a straight comedy comic. But it won't survive. It will be cancelled after four issues.
Avengers #105
Title: In the beginning was the World Within!
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: John Buscema
Avengers: Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Black Panther
Villain: Beast Brood (mutated swamp men)
Regulars: Jarvis
Guests: Sif, Hogun, Fandral, Hildegarde, Silas Grant, Tana Nile
This is truly a landmark issue. It's the first issue that Steve Englehart wrote for the Avengers. He'll write the Avengers comics for the next four years, and in my opinion these were the best stories ever written for the Avengers. My apologies to Stan Lee, but Steve Englehart did something magical with the series.
Steve Englehart is on a nostalgia trip and has even brought the Crazy Credits back. He says that his scripting is a surprise, which it must have been to anyone who picked up this comic at the time, expecting a Roy Thomas story. He says that John Buscema's art is dynamic, which it always is. But all he has to say about John Constanza's lettering is that it's legible.
There's a tightening of the continuity with the solo comics of the other Avengers. I don't know whether this is because of Steve Englehart as the new writer or Roy Thomas as the new editor-in-chief. I suspect the latter. Over the last year it's been practically impossible to sync the stories with one another. Every writer was sitting down and typing his own stories without bothering to ask the other writers what they were doing. This issue marks a return to common sense. I hope it will last.
We see Fandral, Hogun, Hildegarde, Tana Nile and Silas Grant in Avengers Mansion. Judging by the absence of Volstagg, this must have taken place during the early pages of
Thor #204. But who's the man on the right in the first panel? Is that the fake Captain America who infiltrated the Avengers Mansion in
Captain America and the Falcon #154? Probably.
The Black Panther says he's just visited Daredevil. That was in
Daredevil and the Black Widow #92.
The Scarlet Witch has spent the last ten days searching for her brother Quicksilver. Reports of strange men kidnapping scientists at the southern tip of Chile are treated as a lead.
T'Challa has given up the name Black Leopard, which he adopted in
Fantastic Four #119. Now he's the Black Panther again. Thank you, T'Challa. I never liked the new name anyway.
The Avengers, accompanied by Sif, find their way into Ka-Zar's Savage Land, and soon they reach Magneto's abandoned laboratory, which was blown up in
X-Men #63. Here's a slight error. Iron Man says that Tony Stark is no longer into armaments. That's not true. He's still creating weapons, but he's diversifying into other areas.
The Avengers fight and defeat the so-called Beast Brood, the swamp men mutated by Magneto. It was a false lead. Quicksilver isn't there. They return to New York. They hear about another possible lead on the radio, but Vision refuses to accompany them.
Captain America and the Falcon #155
Title: The Incredible Origin of the Other Captain America!
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Sal Buscema
Villain: Captain America, Bucky, Red Skull (flashback)
Regulars: Sharon Carter
Wow! The Captain America stories keep getting better!
Captain America – the real Captain America who we've known and loved since
Avengers #4 – is captured by the fake Captain America and Bucky. The Falcon arrives to help Sharon Carter, but they're also captured. Then the fake Captain America explains who he is. It turns out he's not so fake after all.
As we know from Avengers #4, Captain America was frozen in the ice shortly before the end of World War Two. This is when Timely's Captain America comics ceased being printing. He wasn't revived until 1964. However, in 1953 Stan Lee tried to revive Captain America, presenting him as a warrior against Communism. The comics continued until 1954. That's an obvious contradiction. What do we do? Do we just call the comics non-canon and deny they ever happened? That's what I would have done, but Steve Englehart is a greater man than me. He's written an intricate explanation.
An unnamed young man was a fan of Captain America. He was devastated when Captain America disappeared and was presumed dead. In 1953 he went to Germany to do research on Captain America, and he found the original super-soldier formula, which had been stolen from America. He used the formula on himself and became the new Captain America. He changed his name to Steve Rogers, and he even had minor cosmetic surgery to make himself look identical to Captain America.
He met a young boy who looked so similar to Bucky Barnes that he persuaded him to share the super-soldier formula. They weren't just pretending to be Captain America and Bucky, they really were Captain America and Bucky. They fought valiantly against the threat of Communism in the Cold War.
But then the new series of Captain America comics was cancelled in 1954. What happened next? Captain America 1953, as I like to call him, became an anti-Communist fanatic, like many other good men at the time. He saw Communists everywhere. Anyone who questioned American policy was a Communist in his eyes, including the underprivileged black people in America. The government realised he was doing wrong and feared he would tarnish Captain America's memory, so they put him and Bucky into suspended animation. That's where they've been from 1955 to 1972, until a fanatical anti-Communist decided they were needed again. Now they're back on the streets beating up black people. And he's also trying to get rid of the original Captain America, Captain America 1941, who he considers to be a fake.
Captain America 1941, the Falcon and Sharon Carter break free and prepare for the fight of their lives.
Fantastic Four #128
Title: Death in a dark and lonely place!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: John Buscema
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Susan Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm
Villain: Mole Man, Kala, Tyrannus
The Human Torch attacks the Thing, thinking that he's a monster. Mr. Fantastic recognises his old friend, whatever he looks like, and pulls the Human Torch away from him.
Sue Barton, Student Nurse? Who's that? I had to google, but I found her. She was the lead character in a series of seven novels written by Helen Boylston from 1936 to 1952. Shouldn't Sue be reading the adventures of Linda Carter, Student Nurse instead?
Kala frees Tyrannus from hypnosis, because she finds him more attractive than Mole Man. She has a point.
The Fantastic Four fight their way to Mole Man's throne room, but he manages to immobilise them. Then Mole Man is attacked by Tyrannus and Kala. After a few minutes Tyrannus turns on Kala, because she isn't beautiful enough for him. What??? I would have fallen into her arms straight away.
It's not just her beauty. Look at this one panel as an example. In the 128 issues of the Fantastic Four, no woman has been drawn with this much cleavage. It's not that Jack Kirby or John Buscema weren't capable of drawing female cleavage. It wasn't permitted by the Comics Code Authority. Now the rules are gradually being relaxed. Very gradually. Nipples are still taboo, even on men.
Mole Man frees the Fantastic Four, and Tyrannus flees. The Thing asks the Mole Man for a cure for blindness, which is the reason he visited the Mole Man's kingdom in the first place. He has no cure, so the Fantastic Four return home empty handed.
Amazing Spider-Man #114
Title: Who the heck is Hammerhead?
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: John Romita
Villain: Doctor Octopus, Hammerhead
Regulars: Aunt May, Gwen Stacy, Flash Thompson
Doctor Octopus flees. Spider-Man is taken prisoner by Hammerhead.
Spider-Man never gets an answer to the question in the title, but the reader gets a partial answer. Hammerhead was a gunman found in the street barely alive by a rogue doctor. The doctor healed him, then replaced his skull with steel alloy. Talk about a hard head!
Hammerhead and Doctor Octopus both want to take over the city's crime gangs now that the Kingpin lost his grip on power in
Captain America #148.
Check out Hammerhead's girlfriend Myrna. It must be cleavage month at Marvel.
Hammerhead's men track down Doctor Octopus. He's living in a mansion close to the city with an old lady. Spider-Man fears it might be Aunt May, because she found him charming when he was her lodger in
Amazing Spider-Man #54. Spider-Man goes to the house, and his spider sense fails to warn him that Aunt May is sneaking up behind him. She hits him over the head with a vase and knocks him unconscious.
Iron Man #52
Title: Raga, Son of Fire!
Writer: Mike Friedrich
Artist: George Tuska
Villain: Raga
Regulars: Marianne Rodgers
Tony Stark has rebuilt his armour to be reliant on solar power. After testing it, he takes a holiday, dancing and flirting with pretty girls. That's what millionaire playboys do.
A forest fire is started by a man who claims to have the power of volcanoes.
Meanwhile, Marianne Rodgers is suffering from hallucinations.
I enjoyed the first five pages of this comic, while everything is low key. It becomes less interesting when the villain reveals himself.
Sub-Mariner #55
Title: The Abominable Snow-King!
Writer: Bill Everett
Artist: Bill Everett
Villain: Torg
Regulars: Betty Prentiss, Namorita
Just look at the way Namor's little cousin is throwing herself at him! That's enough to make his pointy ears stand up straight.
A giant sea monster called Torg is sinking ships to steal their supplies and kidnap their passengers. Does he need them to found a new kingdom? It's not clear, but this is still a great story by Bill Everett. It has a distinct 1950's style, and I say that as a compliment.
The Incredible Hulk #157
Title: Name my vengeance: Rhino!
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artist: Herb Trimpe
Villain: Leader, Rhyno
Regulars: General Ross, Major Talbot, Betty Ross, Jim Wilson
The Hulk is back on Earth, but very few people know he's still alive. Glenn Talbot and Betty Ross are preparing to marry.
The Leader has been paralysed since the explosion in
Incredible Hulk #147. He summons his old ally (or rather servant), Rhino, who's been comatose since
Incredible Hulk #124. The Leader electronically transfers his brain into the Rhino, so that he can get revenge on the Hulk. He meets the Hulk in New Jersey and tells him that he intends to wreck the wedding of Glenn and Betty.
Thor #205
Title: A world gone mad!
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: John Buscema
Villain: Mephisto
Regulars: Balder, Sif, Hildegarde, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg
Thor battles Mephisto, who is possessing his friends to use them against him. What Mephisto wants more than anything else is Thor's soul, and he thinks he can get it by making Thor strike those he loves.
Thor wins and takes his friends back to Earth. Almost all of his friends. He forgets Tana Nile and Silas Grant. Or did Gerry Conway forget they were in Hell with him?
Daredevil and the Black Widow #93
Title: A Power Corrupt!
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Gene Colan
Villain: Damon Dran
Regulars: Ivan, Danny French
Daredevil is attacked by the Black Widow, who has obviously been hypnotised. A bomb has been attached to her belt, but Daredevil's keen radar senses spot it immediately.
The globe stolen from Project Four has made Damon Dran invincible. Daredevil rescues Danny French, but the battle isn't over yet.
This is a messy story. It still hasn't been properly explained what the globe is. Why does Damon Dran want to kill Daredevil, when it was the Black Widow who was involved with him. Am I the only one who sees how incoherent Gerry Conway's stories were in the 1970's?
Captain Marvel #23
Title: Death at the end of the world!
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: Wayne Boring
Villain: Megaton (Jules Carter)
Regulars: Rick Jones, Lou-Ann Savannah
Greetings to Marv Wolfman. He wrote an anthology story for Tower Of Shadows two years ago, but this is his first story as a regular Marvel writer. As I remember him, he was a great action writer, somewhat light on emotional content, and he wrote some great stories for Tomb Of Dracula. As I progress through Marvel's years I'll see if my memories are accurate.
It's revealed that Megaton got his powers after stumbling into a Kree outpost that was abandoned after the Kree-Skrull War. He's absorbing more and more energy, threatening to explode with devastating consequences. Captain Marvel carries him into space where he can explode without harming anyone.
The Captain Marvel series is still struggling to find its way. It needs a genius as a writer. Someone like Jim Starlin.
Marvel Feature #6
Title: Hellstorm!
Writer: Mike Friedrich
Artist: Herb Trimpe
Villain: Whirlwind
Regulars: Wasp
We find out that Janet Van Dyne – or is it Janet Pym? – is lying unconscious because she tripped and hit her head. That's an anti-climax. She's assisted and comforted by her chauffeur, who's also the super-villain Whirlwind. He was last seen in costume in
Avengers #83.
Henry Pym works to find a cure for the infection that's made him trapped at ant size. Janet uses the antidote on herself. What's that supposed to accomplish? She was never infected. The result is that she too is trapped at ant size... or wasp size, to be more accurate.
Whirlwind starts a fire. The lab burns down. The press assumes they're dead.
Why is the press so fast to jump to conclusions? No bodies were found. Under normal circumstances the Avengers would have rushed to the scene to check what happened. Unless, of course, they're still wandering around the Savage Land.
Marvel Premiere #5
Title: The Lurker in the Labyrinth!
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artist: Irv Wesley (Sam Kweskin)
Villain: Sligguth
Regulars: Ancient One, Wong, Clea
Ebora, the high priestess of the town of Stark(e)sboro, is sacrificing Doctor Strange to the reptilian creature called Sligguth. She says it's necessary, because Doctor Strange is the only one who can prevent the return of Shuma-Gorath, someone who ruled the Earth thousands of years ago but is now sleeping.
He frees himself and fights off Sligguth, who flees into an underground tunnel. Doctor Strange follows him, but the aura of evil surrounding the town makes him too weak to fight.
Doctor Strange asks the Vishanti for help. He's often invoked them over the years, but this is the first time an artist has drawn them. It's unusual that such important characters should be designed by a new artist. Irv Wesley (real name Sam Kweskin) was a regular artist for Atlas, Marvel's predecesor, from 1953 to 1958. After that he worked in the advertising business, and this is his first work for Marvel in 14 years. He was an unpopular artist with fans, and I agree with the consensus that he was
too cartoony.
Here's an example of his artwork during Doctor Strange's sacrifice in the town's church. The townspeople are supposed to be deformed and terrifying, but they look like comical characters. At least Ebora has deep cleavage, in keeping with Marvel's new artwork guidelines.
But getting back to the story, the Vishanti don't want to help Doctor Strange, apart from removing the aura of evil over the town. This is enough to allow Doctor Strange to defeat Sligguth. He says that when he returns he'll have the full power of Shuma-Gorath.
Doctor Strange's legs are caught in an underwater crevice. Ebora comes into the chamber to attack him. He needs to keep his eyes away from her cleavage if he wants to survive.
Last month John Constanza couldn't decide how to spell the town's name, calling it Starkesboro 13 times and Starksboro three times. For Sam Rosen there's no doubt: the town is named three times, and every time he spells it Starksboro.
Amazing Adventures #15
Title: Murder in Mid-Air!
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Tom Sutton
Villain: Griffin
Regulars: Vera, Patsy Walker, Buzz Baxter
Guests: Angel, Marvel Girl, Cyclops, Professor X
The Beast collapses into Patsy Baxter's room, badly injured after his battle with Quasimodo last issue. His advanced metabolism helps him heal, but before he gets that far he's delirious and gives away his secrets to Patsy. When he's recovered he tells her the rest and asks for her help.
The Beast's former team member, the Angel, comes to investigate where Hank McCoy has disappeared to. He arrives in the middle of a fight between the Beast and a flying villain called the Griffin. After the fight the Beast tells him everything that's been happening.
The Griffin returns, and the Angel and the Beast defeat him together.
Linda Donaldson, the woman Hank loves, is working for the Secret Empire. I didn't expect to see them again. I thought they were just a division of Hydra. I'll have to check the old comics again.
Tomb of Dracula #5
Title: Death to a Vampire-Slayer!
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artist: Gene Colan
Regulars: Frank Drake, Rachel Van Helsing, Taj
Kills: One woman, at least four men (total at least 9)
Embraces: None (total 3)
Dracula and Taj fall through the black mirror into a world full of demons. Dracula keeps Taj alive as his only source of nourishment. In this world he finds another black mirror. Passing though it, Dracula and Taj arrive in Transylvania shortly after Dracula was staked by Abraham Van Helsing.
Rachel Van Helsing and Frank Drake use a spell book to travel through the black mirror to Dracula's current (or rather past) location.
Dracula awakens an old companion called Lenore.
The villagers attack Dracula's castle, but he kills an unspecified number of them.
Dracula flees into the black mirror again.
The rules for Marvel's Dracula:
A stake made of white thorn wood completely destroys a vampire's heart; i.e. he won't revive when the stake is pulled out.
(I don't know what this wood is, but why aren't all stakes made of white thorn wood?)
Werewolf by Night #2
Title: Eye of the Beholder
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Mike Ploog
Villain: Cephalos
Regulars: Lissa Russell, Philipp Russell (flashback), Buck Cowan
A brilliant but terminally ill man called Cephalos wants to use the energy generated when Jack Russell becomes a werewolf to make him strong again. This succeeds, but the Werewolf kills him.
Non-canon comics published this month:
Marvel Team-Up #5 (Gerry Conway, Gil Kane)
Conan the Barbarian #20 (Roy Thomas, Barry Smith)
Kull the Conqueror #5 (Gerry Conway, Marie Severin)
My Love #20 (Gary Friedrich, Jim Starlin)
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #104 (Gary Friedrich, Dick Ayers)
Red Wolf #4 (Roy Thomas, Syd Shores)
Rawhide Kid #105 (Larry Lieber, Larry Lieber)
Creatures on the Loose #20 (George Effinger, Gray Morrow)
Chamber of Chills #1 (George Effinger, Craig Russell)
Spoof #2 (Roy Thomas, Marie Severin)
