Here's a project that got my attention. Marvel and Upper Deck cards are joining up to put out sets of cards which will assemble into five stories that tell as-yet-untold-tales of the classic Kree-Skrull War from many decades ago. Here's a link with many of the details.
I probably won't be latching onto these, and mostly for one reason. There's no Goliath! Clint Barton was probably transformed in this classic battle more than just about any single other hero (with the possible exception of Rick Jones) but we don't get any behind-the-scenes information about him at all that I can detect from these promos.
Probably it's because trying to explain who Goliath II was might be more problematic from the editor's point of view than it's worth, but if any hero needed an untold story it's Clint.
I've been away from Marvel for some time now, and it just occurred to me that perhaps Goliath II has been excised from continuity. Is that the case? Lord I hope not.
And for the record, I seem to remember Defiant Comics offering up trading cards which assembled into Dark Dominion #0, with art by Steve Ditko no less. I like this kind of marketing myself, but without Clint I can't be bothered.
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Defiant's first project was the #0 issue of Plasm as a collectible card set that assembled into 9 card-per-page comics pages.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a separately-sold card album you could
Defiant later reprinted the cards as an actual comic...available only as an insert in Diamond Previews.
God, was that almost 20 years ago???
Poor Clint Barton always suffered from an inferiority complex.
Hanging out with gods like Thor and Hercules and perfectly-developed humans like Cap and the Panther and geniuses like Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath and Iron Man would be enough for any "glorifed archer", as he described himself.
So when the opportunity to up his power-level by taking over the Goliath role offered itself, it was perfectly in character for him to grab it...and then screw it up royally by becoming perhaps the least-effective Avenger ever!
Goliath II isn't erased from history,but I bet Clint doesn't like being reminded of his time in the role... ;-)
Oops! left out...There was also a separately-sold card album you could "put the cards into and make a 'comic book' ".
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Britt. I don't think I have the Plasm cards in an album, but I might. I do have the story in another format for sure.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. Twenty years since the Image bust out and all that. I was a huge Valiant fanboy, and so Defiant was a logical follow up, though in my opinion not as strong artistically.
Valiant was the anti-Image in many ways, with storytelling being the focus and not endless splash pages. They lost that focus a few years later, but the first several are sweet.
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I hate to be that guy, but...let's just say whoever drew the image at the top of this post has not done himself any favors by setting up comparisons with Buscema and Adams. Looking at the oages by various artists at that Newsarama link is also disappointing. If Marvel foolishly wants to attempt a followup/companion piece to a comic reputed for some of the finest art ever to appear in a Marvel book, they should at least try to find artists who are up to the challenge. I'm sorry, but these pages are strictly middle of the road, ordinary stuff. Cutting them up into trading card size won't change that.
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