Wednesday, August 31, 2022

The Deadly Dames Of Marvel!


The Black Widow was not alone at Marvel as we can see all too clearly above in this wonderful issue The Avengers which introduced the "Lady Liberators", a one-shot gang of Marvel's most dangerous dames led by the Valkyrie (who was in fact the Enchantress). 


Women in comics have always been a mystery of immense proportions. Comic books have almost always been the singular playground for young boys and later young men. Girls were allowed to read romance comics when those got invented and the MLJ line stays alive even today with its Archie line up. But comics are famously about superheroes and superheroes are for boys. We all know that.


So, when dames show up in the four-colored pages they are either damsels in distress or dames of great danger. This month has featured the latter, those women who are just as inclined to stand on the throat of any superpowered mope who might imagine she needed saving. Enjoy these exceedingly dangerous dames











































NOTE: This is a Revised Dojo Classic Post. 

Rip Off

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Black Widow - The Portfolio!


In 1982 two things were incredibly popular -- art portfolios and artist Paul Gulacy. These two things come together magnificently in Black Widow, a portfolio in which Gulacy gives us a simply gorgeous Natasha Romanoff, the sleek and deadly Soviet defector who is reputed by some to be the greatest spy in the world. After looking at the six plates below in addition to the handsome cover above, I'm too breathless to disagree. 

Plate One

Plate Two

Plate Three

Plate Four

Plate Five


Plate Six

What do you think? I thought so. That's a wrap to the Black Widow material this month. I've had a blast reading nearly four decades of comic stories featuring the delightful Ms. Romanoff. We've seen her as villain, victim, superhero, spy, lover, but most of all as a survivor, the ultimate survivor in the Marvel Universe. Her death in the Marvel films was for me the emotional highlight, more poignant than even that of Tony Stark, because like her life, her sacrifice was in secret, but a secret that saved the world and more. Magnificent! 

Rip Off