This month Marvel releases another four new comics. Three are giant-sized versions of regular comics, while the fourth is a black and white magazine published under their Curtis Magazines Imprint.
The first new comic this month is Giant-Size Master Of Kung Fu . It's not quite in sync with the regular series. It takes place on Shang Chi's birthday, which would be one year after Special Marvel Edition #15, his 19th birthday. In his Complete Marvel Reading Order Travis Starnes suggests that this story takes place after Master Of Kung Fu #21, which will be published next month
This comic contains the first stories written by Doug Moench, who will go on to be the regular writer for the series.
The cover promises five all-new stories about Shang-Chi. Someone can't count. There are only three new stories. The issue also contains a reptint of a Yellow Claw story from 1956.
Giant-Size Master Of Kung Fu #1
Title(s): Death Masque
The Enemy Within
The Council of 7
Writer: Doug Moench
Artist: Paul Gulacy
Villain: Fu Manchu, Ducharme
The first story is a 24-page story split into three chapters with different titles.
It's Shang Chi's birthday, presumably his 20th birthday. His father Fu Manchu sends him messages that this is the day he'll die. He defeats the assassins sent to kill him. He goes to his father's headquarters and defeats his father's best warriors, but Fu Manchu escapes in a helicopter before he can reach him.
Title: Frozen Past, Shattered Memories
Writer: Doug Moench
Artist: Craig Russell
Villain: Fu Manchu
In the second story Shang Chi is in Miami searching for Fu Manchu. He sees a newspaper report about a valuable Buddha on loan to a local museum. He goes to see it, and he overhears a plot to steal it. He returns at night and easily overcomes the burglars, but while he's fighting with them the Buddha disappears, stolen by his father.
Title: Reflections in a Rippled Pool
Writer: Doug Moench
Artist: Ron Wilson
Villain: Fu Manchu
In the third story Shang Chi is still in Miami and is looking for somewhere to stay the night. He's refused entrance to a homeless hostel because he's Chinese. Three gunmen attempt to kill him. He defeats them, knowing that they were hired by Fu Manchu.
The second new comic this month is Giant-Size Dracula. It's a replacement for Giant-Size Chillers, so the numbering begins with #2. Whereas Giant-Size Chillers #1 was easy to sync with the regular series, I have absolutely no idea where this story fits in. It has to be after Tomb of Dracula #21, because that story is referenced. Dracula says that he's no longer being hunted, because the vampire hunters think he's dead. That also refers to Tomb Of Dracula #21.
Giant-Size Dracula #2
Title: Call them Triad, call them Death
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Don Heck
Villain: Y'Garon, Triad
Dracula reads in the newspaper omen in Northumbria are being killed. Vampires are blamed for the attacks, but Dracula knows of no vampires in that area, so he flies there to investigate.
The enemy is an ancient group of beings called the Triad, led by Y'Garon. Thousands of years ago they ruled the Earth as the Elder Gods. Y'Garon wants to use the blood of a psychic called Kate Harris to bring all three members back to Earth so they can rule again.
Kate looks identical to Dracula's dead wife Maria. In a trance, he thinks she's Maria and Y'Garon is the Turkish warlord Turac who killed Maria in the 15th Century. He doesn't realise who Y'Garon is until after he's killed him.
Dracula spares Kate because of her similarity to Maria, but he makes her forget him.
The third new comic this month is Giant-Size Conan. It tells stories that take place at the same time as the stories in the regular series. Since they're non-canon, I'll make no attempt to sync them.
Marvel's kung fu craze continues with the fourth new comic this month, a special edition of Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu. Even though I consider it non-canon, like all the Curtis comics, it's definitely worth reading. It's a 34-page story called "The Master Plan of Fu Manchu" divided into three chapters. In the first chapter Iron Fist faces Fu Manchu. In the second chapter the Sons of the Tiger face Fu Manchu. In the third chapter Shang Chi faces and defeats Fu Manchu. Even though it's a single story with a single enemy, the characters in the three chapters don't meet.
Man-Thing #9
Title: Deathwatch!
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Mike Ploog
Man-Thing watches Maybelle Tork, an old lady who lives in a house in the swamp. He frightens her, and she suffers a heart attack. Her husband Ezekiel takes a boat to civilisation to get help. On the way he's attacked by a demonically possessed tree, but Man-Thing saves him. Then the demon possesses an alligator, so Man-Thing saves him again. Finally the demon possesses the skeletons of criminals who've died in the swamp. Man-Thing destroys them, but not until after they've killed Ekekiel. Seemingly?
I can understand the controversy about Mike Ploog. His style is very cartoonish, unlike any other artist at Marvel. Personally, I think his style suits Steve Gerber's stories. What do you think?
Daredevil #113
Title: When strikes the Gladiator!
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Bob Brown
Villain: Gladiator, Death-Stalker
Regulars: Black Widow, Foggy Nelson, Candace Nelson
Guests: Shanna, Man-Thing, Richard Rory
I enjoyed Gene Colan as Daredevil's regular artist, but just look at this splash page drawn by Bob Brown. It's incredible!
We find out a bit more about Foggy's sister Candace. She's a journalism student. She discovers notes about a connection between her university (Empire State University) and the army. A scientist called Ted Sallis was working on a project to change men into pollution breathing monsters. We all know who Ted Sallis is, don't we?
Wait! Is this true? I thought Ted Sallis was working on the development of a super-soldier serum. The text box says that the pollution serum was mentioned in Adventure Into Fear #16, but I checked that issue and can't find anything.
The FBI come to arrest Candace to cover up the experiments. This anti-government line is typical for Steve Gerber. Before they can take her away, the Gladiator captures her from them. We last saw the Gladiator in Daredevil #85. He's a good villain, he should be used more often.
Matt Murdock goes to Florida to investigate Ted Sallis, who's been reported missing. He's assisted by the local disc jockey Richard Rory. Richard is captured by the Gladiator, assisted by someone called Death-Stalker. Matt changes into Daredevil, but he's knocked unconscious in the fight. Gladiator prepares to kill him as Man-Thing arrives.
Master Of Kung Fu #20
Title(s): Weapon of the Soul
Poison of the Soul
Writer: Gerry Conway & Doug Moench
Artist: Paul Gulacy
Villain: Korain
This is a single story divided into two parts with different titles. The first part is written by Gerry Conway, the second by Doug Moench.
Shang Chi is attacked by assassins on the beach. He easily defeats them. They say that they've been hired to kill him by Demmy Marston, the owner of an offshore casino.
Shang Chi boards the boat. The hired assassin Korain is waiting for him. He's an old samurai warrior who keeps himself young and agile with a potion. His strain in the battle makes him age again, so he needs more of the potion. He overdoses and dies.
Demmy Marston tells Shang Chi that he acted on his own behalf in hiring the assassins. He wanted to kill Shang Chi to gain Fu Manchu's favour.
Avengers #127
Title: Bride and Doom!
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Sal Buscema
Avengers: Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Swordsman, Quicksilver
Villain: Maximus, Ultron-7
Regulars: Mantis, Jarvis
Guests: Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Medusa, Susan Richards, Franklin Richards, Agatha Harkness, Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Crystal, Lockjaw
Gorgon arrives at the Avengers Mansion to ask if they're ready to attend the wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver. They know nothing about it, because Quicksilver hasn't invited them.
They go to the wedding in their costumes. Is that the usual super-hero dress code?
Quicksilver still doesn't accept his sister's relationship with Vision.
There's an uprising by the Alpha Primitives, led by Omega. It's not the same Omega that we saw in Fantastic Four #132. It's Ultron-7 in disguise, the latest upgrade of Ultron-6, who we last saw in Avengers #68. This story continues in Fantastic Four #150.
Captain America and the Falcon #177
Title: Lucifer be thy name
Writer: Steve Englehart
Artist: Sal Buscema
Villain: Lucifer, Aries, Morgan
Regulars: Sharon Carter
Captain America has quit, and the Falcon can't persuade him to return to duty.
Lucifer, who we last saw in Iron Man #20, manages to return to Earth with a Casadrax mineral, whatever that is. First he occupies the body of a common street criminal. This body isn't strong enough to contain all his energy, so he frees the Zodiac member Aries (last seen in Avengers #122) from prison and occupies his body as well. This means there are now two of him.
The two Lucifers defeat the Falcon, and they leave him unconscious. Then they're hired by Morgan to kill the Falcon.
The Incredible Hulk #179
Title: Re-enter the Missing Link!
Writer: Len Wein
Artist: Herb Trimpe
Villain: Lincoln (Missing Mink)
Regulars: General Ross, Betty Ross, Major Talbot
Guests: Recorder
The High Evolutionary gives the Hulk a rocket to return to Earth. Shortly before arriving he smashes a hole in the rocket and falls out. He lands in a small town called Lucifer Falls, where he falls asleep and turns back into Bruce Banner. He's taken in by a religious family, the Brickfords. They've also adopted a deformed monster. Bruce Banner doesn't recognise him, but it's the Missing Link, who fought the Hulk in Incredible Hulk #106. Didn't the Missing Link die? Don't take death too seriously, this is Marvel. He reassembled his body after it was destroyed in an explosion. Now he's tame and works in a mine. The Brickfords call him Lincoln.
One of the children, Jimmy-Jack Brickford, is taken ill. Bruce Banner recognises it as radiation sickness. With the help of a Geiger counter he finds the source of the radiation, Lincoln's body. Bruce tells Lincoln to leave to seek treatment, but Lincoln doesn't believe him, so he pushes Bruce away angrily. Bruce turns back into the Hulk, and they fight. Lincoln falls into a pit. Below the ground his radiation increases to critical mass, and he explodes. This time he isn't destroyed, but it expels his radiation, and he can go home safely.
This is a beautiful story by Len Wein, deep and meaningful.
Amazing Spider-Man #136
Title: The Green Goblin lives again!
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Ross Andru
Villain: Green Goblin (Harry Osborn)
Regulars: Betty Brant, Mary Jane Watson
Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson go on a date. Is Peter a kung fu fan, or did he only go to see the kung fu film because Mary Jane persuaded him? I wonder if he reads all of Marvel's new kung fu comics.
When they get back to Peter's apartment, his door has been booby-trapped, and there's an explosion. Mary Jane is badly injured and has to go to hospital. Peter suspects the Green Goblin, even though he died in Amazing Spider-Man #122. He's right. The bomb was planted by the Green Goblin, but it's a new Green Goblin, Peter's room mate Harry Osborn. He wants revenge on Spider-Man for killing his father.
After a close battle, the Green Goblin flies away, threatening to return soon. He knows Spider-Man's secret identity.
Peter asks J. Jonah Jameson for time off work to look after Mary Jane. JJJ refuses, so Peter quits his job as a staff photographer.
Once more, this is a very good story. Why are Gerry Conway's Spider-Man stories so good when everything else he writes is lacklustre?
Fantastic Four #150
This comic contains two short stories that take place after one another. Or are they two parts of the same story? I'll let you decide.
Title: Ultron-7: He'll rule the world!
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Rich Buckler
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Medusa
Villain: Maximus, Ultron-7
Regulars: Susan Richards, Franklin Richards, Agatha Harkness, Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak,Triton, Crystal
Guests: Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Swordsman, Mantis, Quicksilver
Ultron-7 threatens to destroy the brains of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans with his mental powers. Nobody can stand against him, until Franklin blasts him in his comatose sleep. This destroys Ultron-7, and it also removes Franklin's powers, making him a normal child.
By the way, why is Susan Richards wearing her Fantastic Four costume? Is she back with the group now, or is it just the super-hero wedding dress code?
Title: The Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver!
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Rich Buckler
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Medusa
Regulars: Susan Richards, Franklin Richards, Agatha Harkness, Black Bolt, Gorgon, Karnak,Triton, Crystal, Alicia Masters
Guests: Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Swordsman, Mantis, Quicksilver, Whizzer
After the threat of Ultron-7 has been removed, the wedding can take place.
Stan Lee doesn't gate crash this wedding. Or maybe he's still insulted that he wasn't allowed to attend the wedding of Reed and Susan Richards.
Thor #227
Title: In search of Ego!
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Rich Buckler
Villain: Galactus, Firelord, Ego
Regulars: Odin, Sif, Hildegarde, Krista, Heimdall
Guests: Hercules
Ego launches an attack and fires at Galactus' ship before it can land. Thor, Hercules and Firelord rush into battle, while Galactus remains behind.
Odin watches the fight. He tells Sif that he could intervene, but he doesn't want to. He says that if Thor is killed he'll mourn first, then take revenge. This is strange. Is he so confident that he can defeat Ego, after he was fearful of Galactus attacking Asgard in previous issues?
Here's another of Gerry Conway's infamous blunders. Odin saddles his horse to inspect Asgard's borders, and then he rides across the Rainbow Bridge. The bridge is at the entrance to Asgard, so he's riding the wrong way.
Thor and his companions fight their way into the heart of Ego where they find his brain. Thor attempts to destroy it. Continued next month.....
Tomb of Dracula #24
Title: A night for the living, a morning for the dead!
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: Gene Colan
Regulars: Sheila Whittier, Taj Nittal, Rachel Van Helsing, Frank Drake, Blade
Kills: None (total 31)
Embraces: None (total 9)
The vampire hunters are relaxed, because they think that Dracula was killed in Tomb Of Dracula #21. He's actually sitting on top of Big Ben watching them.
A dancer called Trudy is attacked by Dracula. She manages to ward him off with a cross. She runs to Blade's house for help. When Blade leaves his house to investigate, he's attacked by Dracula in bat form. He doesn't realise it's Dracula, because he too thinks he's dead. They fight in a clothing store. Dracula flees after Blade stabs him.
Dracula returns to Castle Dunwick, where Sheila Whittier is waiting for him. They're becoming affectionate to one another.
Werewolf by Night #21
Title: One wolf's cure, another's poison!
Writer: Mike Friedrich
Artist: Don Perlin
Villain: Lou Hackett
Regulars: Raymond Coker, Buck Cowan
Jack Russell locks himself indoors on the first night of the full moon, but the Werewolf is too strong and escapes. He finds Raymond Coker, who's also in werewolf form. They're now friends, so they go out to hunt together.
Lou Hackett visits Joshua Kan's lawyer to ask about the ring he's been given. The lawyer says that there were two, and Jack Russell stole the other. When he puts on the ring, Lou Hackett becomes a werewolf, and he kills the lawyer.
Then he goes to search for Jack Russell. Jack has trouble fighting him alone, but Raymond knocks him into a vat of molten metal in a steel works. This breaks Raymond's spell, and he's no longer a werewolf.
The Frankenstein Monster #12
Title: A cold and lasting tomb!
Writer: Doug Moench
Artist: Val Mayerik
Villain: Vincent Frankenstein (flashback)
A new writer, a new direction.
The Frankenstein Monster stumbles away from the castle where Vincent Frankenstein shot him. He expects to die, but he ants to be as far away from the castle as possible. He climbs to the top of an icy mountain peak. The ice breaks, and he falls into the sea. The cold preserves and heals his body. He's frozen in a block of ice for 84 years, until 1974. After being thawed out he's first put on display in a carnival freak show. Then he escapes, and his new adventures in the 20th Century can begin.
Doctor Strange #3
That's a beautiful cover, but this is a Dreaded Deadline Doom (DDD) issue. Without having further details, I put the blame on Frank Brunner. He's a wonderful artist, but he works too slowly.
Iron Man #70
Title: Who shall stop Ultimo?
Writer: Mike Friedrich
Artist: George Tuska
Villain: Sunfire, Mandarin, Ultimo, Yellow Claw, Black Lama
Regulars: Roxanne Gilbert, Happy Hogan, Pepper Hogan
Iron Man is unconscious and floating into space. His face armour seals, giving him 60 minutes of oxygen. He wakes up and returns to Earth.
Meanwhile, Sunfire is attacking the Mandarin, who is being defended by the giant android Ultimo. Mandarin is attacking his fortress, which is currently being occupied by the Yellow Claw. The Yellow Claw is preparing to battle other super-villains. The Black Lama, who I'd almost forgotten after his brief appearance in Iron Man #53, is offering a prize to the villain who can defeat the other great villains, and the Mandarin is only the first.
It does sound rather cool; a golden globe in which the combination ultimate power and inner peace lies. The text at the bottom suggests that this will happen all over Marvel, but it will remain in the pages of Iron Man.
Yellow Claw kills the Mandarin in battle. Seemingly. His servant Loc Do steals the power rings from the Mandarin's dead body.
Iron Man returns and helps Sunfire defeat Ultimo.
In Vietnam, Eddie March's brother Marty shows Roxanne Gilbert a secret city that he's discovered.
Captain Marvel #34
Title: Blown away!
Writer: Jim Starlin, Steve Englehart
Artist: Jim Starlin
Villain: Nitro
Regulars: Rick Jones, Lou-Ann Savannah, Carol Danvers, Drax, Mentor, Moondragon, Eros
Guests: Iron Man, Vision
A man called Nitro breaks into the air force base where Captain Marvel used to work in his guise as Walt Lawson. Nitro steals a vial containing Compound Thirteen (TM), a nerve gas so toxic that it can kill everyone on the planet. Nitro has the ability to blow himself up and reassemble his body.
Rick Jones has seen every episode of "Kung Fu", starring David Carradine. That's not enough. He needs to read Marvel's kung fu comics every month.
Captain Marvel defeats Nitro by telling Rick Jones to smash his nega-bands together at the moment Nitro is exploding. This gives his explosion too much energy, and he can't reassemble himself.
The vial with Compound Thirteen is damaged by the explosion. Captain Marvel seals it, but the small amount that he inhales knocks him unconscious.
In this issue Rick Jones breaks up with Lou-Ann Savannah.
Sub-Mariner #72
Title: From the void it came!
Writer: Steve Skeates
Artist: Dan Adkins
Villain: Slime-Thing
This is the last issue of Sub-Mariner, and it finishes on a low. The writer Steve Skeates is invited to write this issue. He was best known for writing comedy stories, but he was also responsible for riding DC's Aquaman, a previously successful series, into cancellation. Is it someone's idea of a sick joke that he was hired to hammer the final nails into Sub-Mariner's coffin?
This is a sci-fi monster story, not a super-hero story. A monster floating through space falls into the sea. It's just a floating head, but it builds itself a body. It fights Sub-Mariner, but it's not really evil, it's just someone or something who doesn't know what he's doing. This Slime-Thing defeats Sub-Mariner by blinding him, then leaves the Earth.
While flying through space the creature restores Namor's sight and brings back a man from the dead who was accidentally killed.
What a load of junk!
That's weird. A quote from Adolf Hitler is used to justify a full page drawing with hardly any text. That's not just weird, it's creepy.
Ka-Zar #5
Title(s): A Man-God Unleashed
Be this my destiny?
Writer: Mike Friedrich
Artist: Don Heck
Villain: Maa-Gor, El Tigre
Regulars: Bobbi Morse
This is a single story divided into two parts with different titles.
Ka-Zar fights against the re-animated Man-Apes, and he can't prevail. There are too many.
While Maa-Gor the Man-God is ranting about wanting to rule the world, El Tigre enters the Savage Land's mystic mists. This changes him so that he looks ugly. He throws himself off a rock to his death.
Maa-Gor comes to investigate. He deduces that the mystic mists cause evolution. He enters the mists again to further increase his power. He finds a machine at the centre. He tries to touch it, and he splits into two beings. One of them kills the other, and then devolves into Maa-Gor's previous primitive state.
It's announced that Mike Friedrich is leaving this comic. I'm glad. He didn't know what direction he wanted to take. He's had no feeling for Ka-Zar from the beginning.
Marvel Spotlight #17
Title: In the Shadow of the Serpent!
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artist: Jim Mooney
Villain: Kometes, Spyros (Adam)
Regulars: Katherine Reynolds
Daimon Hellstrom and his companions, Katherine Reynolds and Byron Hyatt, go to Atlantis to speak to Zhered-Na. She's no longer in the city; she's been exiled as a traitor for prophesying that Atlantis will sink into the sea.
They take a boat to the mainland to see her, but she already knows they're coming and makes mental contact. She communes with Daimon on the astral plane.
Zhered-Ma's a big girl. Daimon doesn't know where to look.
She tells Daimon that Kometes isn't the true enemy. He's only a tool of mankind's self-destructive evil. It's part of a cosmic balance. If Daimon wants to tilt the balance, he has to defeat Spyros, the defender of cosmic order. Spyros reveals that he's really Adam, the first man. Daimon fights grudgingly against him. When he defeats him, Kometes is destroyed 20,000 years in the future.
It's a weird story, but what else can we expect from Steve Gerber?
Marvel Premiere #17
Title: Citadel on the Edge of Vengeance
Writer: Doug Moench
Artist: Larry Hama
Iron Fist visits the headquarters of Meachum Industries to face Harold Meachum, the man who killed his father. He takes the elevator to the 20th floor, then progresses through a series of 13 traps to reach Meachum's office. While the story is enjoyable, it's very artificial. Why would a business tycoon devise such an elaborate series of traps to stop someone who might never come? While reading the story I couldn't help feeling that it has the character of a video game with a series of challenges, something that didn't yet exist in 1974.
Jungle Action #11
Title: Once you slay the Dragon!
Writer: Don McGregor
Artist: Billy Graham
Villain: Baron Macabre, Malice, Lord Kanaj
Regulars: Monica Lynne
Black Panther mounts an attack against Killmonger, but once more he only faces Killmonger's servants, Baron Macabre, Malice and Lord Kanaj. There are long flashbacks that give the battle an almost dreamlike quality. This is yet another excellent comic from Don McGregor.
Non-canon comics published this month:
Savage Tales #6 (Gerry Conway, John Buscema)
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #4 (Doug Moench, Mike Vosburg)
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Special (Doug Moench, Frank McLaughlin)
Dracula Lives #8 (Doug Moench, Tony DeZunga)
Tales of the Zombie #7 (Doug Moench, Pablo Marcos)
Haunt of Horror #3 (Doug Moench, Billy Graham)
Defenders #15 (Len Wein, Sal Buscema)
Marvel Team-Up #25 (Len Wein, Jim Mooney)
Marvel Two-In-One #5 (Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema)
Giant-Size Conan #1 (Roy Thomas, Gil Kane)
Conan the Barbarian #42 (Roy Thomas, John Buscema)
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