A Marvelous Neal Adams Gallery!

In his relatively short time at Marvel Neal Adams created some of the finest covers the company has ever produced. The masterpiece above with a spaceman descending in golden light before a gaggle of classic cavemen is probably my favorite Adams cover of the era, though it does have stiff competition. 

I think Adams drew the Man-Thing better than anyone. He drew the second Man-Thing story and created the wonderfully macabre image above for an early issue of Monsters Unleashed. There are some fantastic exploitation elements in this one, in particular the woman with the torn blouse and heaving bosoms. The gunshot which goes astray as the Man-Thing in all his shaggy awfulness dispatches the men.  

Dracula is a powerful creature who deserves a powerful artist, and Adams created three dandy covers starring the Lord of the Undead for Marvel. His cover for the debut issue of The Tomb of Dracula is amazing. The image of the vampire king cradling a helpless woman is used again for Dracula Lives, but this time with more background drama. I find the cold ferocity of the former to best effective. 

I used to not like this cover for Marvel Spotlight which featured the debut of Werewolf by Night that much. I was annoyed at the structure, but over the years its grown on me. Perhaps it takes longer for some of us to properly feel the power of lycanthropy. 

This Legion of Monsters cover is legend. What a mob. 

I'm not one hundred percent sure what's going on in this image, but that doesn't stop the ferocious power of it to seep in. One gets a glimpse of the power of the Neal Adams pencil Marvelmania Magazine offering. 

Space, girls, and gibbering monsters is a classic science fiction image and Adams delivers in spades for his Epic Illustrated outing. 

This is an interesting Marvel project Adams produced for another publisher. Back in those halcyon days before the internet, guides and indexes played a big role in my comic book life. 

I know it's culturally insensitive these days (was back then too) but I really like Red Wolf. He was introduced in The Avengers and quickly got his own solo feature in the debut issue Marvel Spotlight. The thing was Marvel decided to switch the setting to the Old West and that was fun, but not as much as seeing this brave warrior taking on modern villains in an urban setting. They eventually brought it back to the modern day, but the title was gone by then. Adams for his part drew a gangbuster cover for this first adventure. 

I know I said the Marvel Preview cover was my favorite but looking again at this Marvel Feature offering I change my mind. Neal Adams created an epic image with Subby, Doc Strange and Jade Jaws in excellent form. I remember the thrill of his new team whenever I see this fantastic debut image. I'm not sure they get better than this one.

But I'm looking at more Neal Adams work for Marvel later this month such as the stuff he produced for The Uncanny X-Men, The Avengers, The Mighty Thor, the Inhumans, and The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu so I might change my mind yet again. Also, I'll be taking a glance at his Sword and Sorcery work for Marvel and others later this summer. 

Rip Off

Atlas-Seaboard Comics - July 1975!

This is the mother-of-all-months for Atlas-Seaboard. Lots of titles, lots of changes of direction, and sadly lots and lots of cancellations. This month marks the great collapse of the edifice that Martin and Chip Goodman built to spit in the face of their former success story, Marvel. Let's begin.

IRONJAW #4 gives us the "origin" of the barbarian, and this tale by Gary Friedrich and Pablo Marcos is a somewhat overdone saga of a young minstrel who is tortured and maimed by some jealous thugs. A witch tries to save him at the cost of her own immortality, and she is the one who first gives the young man his new jaw and his new name. Ironjaw was the flagship of the Atlas line, the only character to appear in five stories, but this issue is the last. We will never know the second part of Ironjaw's origin. The Atlas-Seaboard tragedy begins to unfold.

GRIM GHOST #3 gives us a Tony Isabella script with more Ernie Colon artwork. This story introduces Brimstone, a demon from Hell who wants to take over the operation. He gives powers to two thugs the Ghost encounters, and the battle is on. Brimstone offers G.G. a role in his revolution, but Dunsinane sees the flaw in Brimstone's plan and rejects him. Satan gives the Ghost some help in the form of Lady Braddock, the same woman who betrayed him in issue #1. It's a clever twist, and it gives the story some real depth. The battle with Brimstone has some neat twists, and I wonder if a young Todd McFarlane ever read this issue. I heard whispers of Spawn throughout. Alas this was the last issue, as despite an excellent Russ Heath cover and a logo change, sales must have not been there. It won't be the last cancellation of the month.

WULF the BARBARIAN #3 offers a change of talent and direction. A Steve Skeates written story with superb Leo Summers artwork, gives us Wulf and his new partner Rymstrydle saving some nobleman and his beautiful daughter from Kangroo-riding Rat-Men (shades of Kamandi) only to find themselves drawn into a struggle between a Master of an Industrial-Wonderland city-state and Wulf's arch-enemy. There is some great derring-do, before the battle is won, and by tale's end Wulf is again alone looking for revenge. There is also a map of Wulf's world in this issue. There will be one more issue.

BRUTE #3 gives us a change of talent and direction as Alan Weiss under Jack Abel inks takes the art chores. The new story by Gary Friedrich (who seems to have taken over all of Mike Fleisher's assignments at this point) puts the Brute in conflict again with the police before he eventually meets up with an android super-agent named Doomstalker. The story ends in a cliff-hanger with the Brute (now possessed of the limited ability to speak) having taken a terrible and fall, and the Doomstalker threatening all of mankind. Alas this is the last issue, and as far as I know the Doomstalker is still standing there.

MORLOCK 2001 AND THE MIDNIGHT MEN #3 (formerly known as simply Morlock 2001) is the saga that gets one of the sharpest twists in direction. Steve Ditko with some Berni Wrightson inks gives the book a new look, and the story involves a scientist horribly burned who leads a revolution against the same oppressive government that gave birth to Morlock. Morlock is taken underground where the newly dubbed "Midnight Man" seeks to enlist him in the war. The Thought Police attack and the battle rages. Morlock seems to fall, even to be dead as the story closes with the Midnight Man vowing to fight on. Issue #4 might have been retitled I suspect, but this series ends with this issue.

PLANET OF VAMPRIES #3 features delicious Russ Heath artwork under a very bland cover. The story by John Albano broadens the saga beyond the limits of the city and gets our hero into the wilderness. The death count is brutal in this issue as of our five astronauts (one was killed in the first issue) only two survive by the last page of this story and they are not together. The wives of both Chris and Craig meet tragic deaths, and a two-page ad by Larry Lieber suggests they will be together again battling more vampires. But this is the last issue.

THE SCORPION #3 tells of the death of Moro Frost, the Scorpion of the previous two issues. The immortal hero has moved on into the then-modern world of 1975 and has become a superhero. This Jim Craig drawn issue is typical superhero stuff with the Scorpion doing a Daredevil thing across NYC battling neo-Nazis who want to revive assorted Nazi villains from the Big One. The battle takes place under the Twin Trade Towers, then new, but it does give the comic a poignancy that it otherwise lacks. This is the last issue of this totally transformed comic. The panic in the Atlas editorial offices is becoming apparent with this particular comic.

WEIRD SUSPENSE #3 featuring THE TARANTULA offers another good dose of Boyette beauty, but the story is a rambling mess with a villain who ineptly used mind-over-matter to battle the star of the book. There are threats and danger, but the book lacks emotional direction. Rich Buckler offers both the cover and the splash page as there seemed to be some rewriting of the original story along the way. This is the last Tarantula story despite the fact #4 is advertised with cover art. Apparently, the next story would have explained the Tarantula was part of some alien invasion early in man's history. But we'll never know for sure.

TARGITT #3 gives us another episode of his war against crime, this time finding him against a ghastly character named Professor Death, neatly drawn by Howard Nostrand. There's nerve gas involved and Targitt's exposure seems to give him some powers of some sort, though this is vaguely explained. There is also something about his outfit giving him mechanical abilities of strength, but again it's vague. By the end of this story Targitt is renamed Man-Stalker and he's left his Magnums behind. Like the Scorpion another superhero is born. But like some many titles this is the last issue. Even the Buckler cover doesn't help things.

TALES OF EVIL #3 gives us the MAN-MONSTER, an Isabella-Buckler effort that has an abrasive Olympic swimmer overcome by weird sparkly stuff and change into a big old monster. Some reporters save him, take him to a hotel, where a costumed villain assaults him and sets fire to the hotel. The hero's father is an equally abrasive rich guy who happens to own the hotel and the Man-Monster is accused by story's end of torching it and his own dad is ordering the cops to shoot him. What happens next? We'll never know. BOG BEAST shows up for another (and final) turn with good art by Romero. Tales of Evil pulls the hat-trick and offers a werewolf for him to battle, making three werewolves in three issues of the abruptly cancelled series.

SAVAGE COMBAT TALES #3 gives us the last SGT.STRYKER'S DEATH SQUAD tale as Goodwin and McWilliams offer up another somewhat tepid story of the usual WWII mayhem. The team goes after Rommel, but miss, though through a complicated network of mistakes by all sides they think they've succeeded. I don't want to be there when they discover they screwed up. But we won't as this is the last issue. The second story is a pretty good tale of WWII with Jack Sparling artwork. It tells of a black vet and a white raw recruit who pull dangerous duty on a dangerous ridge and overcome both danger and racism, if only for the moment. It seems to be the start of a new series, but it's unclear. And sadly it's moot.

THE COUGAR #2 is another tale of Hollywood stuntmen battling supernatural menaces. With worthy Frank Springer artwork, this is a rather bland comic book. Our hero is Jeff Rand, is a Louisiana boy we discover and there's a werewolf in his past. That werewolf might just be his own brother and further seems to be on the loose killing folks all around our hero. We learn the Cougar identity is the result of a failed starring vehicle for our wannabe stuntman, but little is shown beyond that. This a wide-ranging story with little direction, but it does offer a climactic battle and the potential for a change of direction in issue #3 as by story's end the Cougar is paralyzed. We'll never find out, as this is the last issue. Sigh.

The lone debut of the month is...

BLAZING BATTLE TALES #1 starring SGT.HAWK. Hawk is the usual hard-nosed battle-weary hero and he goes after his mission in this effective one-shot story with the stereotypical Native American and Jewish soldiers at his side. I think their names are White Cloud and Goldberg, but any cliche names would have done. There's some decent Jack Sparling art over what claims to be Pat Broderick layouts, though I don't see it myself. Sparling certainly dominates. The second story features a fighter pilot with a six sense about attack targets and might be the beginning of a series, but its unimpressive despite typically good McWilliams artwork. John Severin puts in a two-page offering detailing the heroic efforts of a real soldier. This issue has it all it seems for the war comic fan. Atlas seemed to be clutching at straws by the time this one hit the stands, and even a rather nice Frank Thorne cover doesn't help much.

That's July from Atlas-Seaboard. With this wave of final issues, it's pretty much all over but the crying. Atlas will linger for a few more months, but there will be precious few more comic books from this company that promised so much, but sadly delivered so little in the final analysis. August awaits.

Rip Off

Iulius!

It looks to be a hot summer, and I can think of no better way to endure it than to hide in my hovel and read books. This month the Dojo will take a look at the Marvel Comics work by Neal Adams. Adams wasn't with the company very long, but he made a big impression on books such as The Uncanny X-Men and The Avengers among others. He created a number of fantastic covers for Marvel in the Silver and Bronze Ages and most if not all of those will get a glimpse. Later work by Adams will get an examination as well. 

Captain America gets a good look as well, given that this is the month we celebrate the nation's birthday in arguably the most important year to the nation's internal welfare since the Civil War. I want to revisit some of my very favorite Cap yarns by Jack Kirby, Steve Englehart, and Sal Buscema, stories which speak to what has made the nation strong. 

Also, in the works this month are some posts about the vintage hero The Green Hornet. The Green Hornet broke into my world via the short-lived 60's TV show that, among other things introduced the world to the late great Bruce Lee. 

Created by Fran Stryker and George Trendle for radio, The Green Hornet shares a universe with the great western star The Lone Ranger. It's pretty obvious that given the success early 30's success of the Ranger, that Stryker and Trendle just took that formula and moved into a modern setting. A doughty and mysterious white hero assisted by an ethnic sidekick proved to be a formula that rang the bell for quite some time in decades past. While it's lost its cache for good reasons, there's no denying its legacy. Look for both the Hornet and the Ranger this month. 

July will see the finale of my looks at the Avon novel starring "The Ghost Who Walks". Lee Falk's creation knows worldwide success and these novels have been both entertaining and informative as to  what makes the Phantom so exciting and enduring. There will also be some reviews of the Phantom's brief but impressive stay at DC Comics. 

Likewise, we will put a wrap on The Wizard of OZ novels by L. Frank Baum. Baum found success with the OZ books and went back to them time and again because the audience wanted them. But his early death brought a stop to his work on the books, though the novels continued to be produced by various writers into the 1960's. I'll be stopping with Baum's books. And I'll be taking a glimpse at some of Baum's other fantasies as well. 

There might be time for another thing or two such as my ongoing look at the Atlas-Seaboard line, but that's a pretty hefty schedule. If this blog were not so much fun, I think I'd quit this job. But that's not in the cards anytime soon. Enjoy. 

Rip Off