Decades 1980's - Altered States!

By the 1980's  Marvel was far far away from the upstart company which had unseated long-standing superpower DC from the top of the comics publishing business. The low-points of the late 70's had passed and the economy was beginning to improve generally. Change, if not necessarily improvement was in the air and Marvel changed, or seemed to. The advent of the direct sales market for comics allowed publishers to effectively and efficiently target the fanboy in a way they'd never been able to do before, to make books just for that dedicated reader who couldn't get enough comics. Also the generation of comic book readers was on the cusp of taking full control of the industry as the original veterans continued to give way to the vagaries of time and tide. And so with the tunes and melodies of comics well established and an attentive audience in two, variation on themes became the order of the day. New spins on the classics and changes to the seemingly unalterable status quo. We got a new Iron Man when "Rhodey" Rhodes put on the armor, the Fantastic Four welcomed the She-Hulk to replace the Thing and she remained for a very long time, the mighty Thor was hurt and so wore new armor to protect and project, the incredible Hulk returned to his original color, a mopey gray which seemed more in keeping with a new dour mood, Steve Rogers walked away from the role of Captain America yet again, but this time he meant it more, and your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man got a nifty new black costume in the Secret Wars, a costume which turned out to be alive and nearly killed him before becoming one of Marvel's more popular heroes. (Is Venom the first time a costume got its own movie?) Oh and Spidey got married too.  Decades - Marvel in the '90s captures this period of change with glimpses of these alterations and more.

Here are the covers of the comics in this volume.

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Decades 1970's - Monsters' Ball!

When the Comics Code was amended in the early 70's and the long-standing prohibitions against horror tropes was lifted, the emaciated Code was unable to stop the horde of monsters which shambled forth. Marvel led the way with Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and even a Werewolf by Night. Also there was a revamped Ghost Rider and other variations on the classic themes such as Morbius and Man-Wolf. This tome doesn't capture all of the monsters who escaped to the newsstands but it does a worthy job of getting many of them. What Decades - Marvel In The '70s really becomes in many ways is a celebration of the lush artwork of Mike Ploog, a talent who drew comics in the style of Will Eisner. Ploog's distinctive oily lines gave Marvel's monsterverse a different vibe, a somber somewhat more realistic aspect. Gene Colan's Dracula struck a similar vein and that's what makes the Marvel monsters different than what had come before, a grounded sense of this could really be. The stories didn't happen in fantastic clashes atop the skyscrapers of NYC, but in the back alleys and in the shadows where people had to deal with real death, or at least as close as any comic book story can offer. Eventually the monster rally subsided but for a time in the early Bronze Age, the monsters were well and truly unleashed.

Here are the covers of the comics in this volume.

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Decades 1960's - Web Design!

Unexpectedly this volume of Marvel's Decades series has proven to be my favorite so far. Documenting as it does one of the most elegant aspects of the Marvel Universe, that it is indeed a universe, a mostly coherent environment in which heroes and villains live and fight on a landscape very similar to our actual reality. The linchpin in this tome is Spidey, the teenage hero who was incredibly successful and soon became the "Mickey Mouse" of the Marvel Universe. In Decades - Marvel In The '60s we get to see that happen as Spidey drops in here and there and seemingly everywhere to add his obnoxious observations to the struggles against evil. It's a trope that Marvel heroes always fight when they encounter one another and in these pages we see that's actually mostly true. Even if they are not strangers, they are led into some sort of conflict, which usually lasts a brief time before the real threat is confronted. Spidey for his part had a natural rivalry with the Human Torch from his earliest days and later he finds Daredevil more a man of his liking. The Avengers and Spidey never blended well I always thought and that is showcased as well. These days he's a key part of their success, but when I was reading comics, he was not a pubic hero in such a way as to make assembling a real possibility.

Here are the comics in this volume, a nifty collection which does a surprisingly fine job of showcasing what the Silver Age of Marvel was really like.

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Decades 1950's - Patriot Games!

There really was only one hero who was fit to confront the "Red Menace" and that hero was Captain America. When World War II came to an end, so too did the heyday of the superhero which had dominated the comic book landscape for several years. As the 50's loomed, all but a few such as Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman over at DC survived. At Timely all of them faded away as the company which was quite adept at riding new trends abandoned them for monsters and war and romance and arid western locales. But then a not-new menace was raised up in the popular consciousness and the heroes who had clashed with Hitler and Tojo were brought back to battle the "Red Menace" of the U.S.S.R. And at the forefront of that was Cap and Bucky too. It was a delightful revival but a brief one as artist John Romita among others tried to draw the heroes with a touch more realism than had been the norm in the Golden Age. The Atomic Age Cap was still Steve Rogers but he was now a teacher and the never-aging Bucky was his student or ward or something rather vague. They fought the Red Skull, now a stunningly well-named baddie and others from behind the Iron Curtain. All that is captured in Decades - Marvel In The '50s. 

When I first learned of this volume, I was immediately disappointed because to my fanboy heart Marvel had missed a bet by not including the story of this 50's Cap and Bucky which was revealed by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema in the pages of  Captain America in the 70's. We learned this wasn't the "real" Cap, and that changed the history of the character for all time. We get a newish story by Howie Chaykin but I'm not that interested in that. Sigh...what might've been. Here are the covers of the comics which hosted the Captain America revial.

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Decades 1940's - Golden Fury!

Marvel's Decades series has proven to be quite entertaining for me so far. I've gathered up all the volumes to date, though I admit that beyond the 80's my interest diminishes significantly. The first tome in this series Decades - Marvel In The '40s highlighted the Golden Age clashes of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner and his elemental opposite The Human Torch. Both these heroes debuted in Marvel Comics #1 (actually Namor technically was supposed to appear earlier) and during the Golden Age at least were the banner boys for Timely Comics. Alongside Captain America they formed Marvel's "Big Three". (Cap gets his limelight next time.) Given the natures of  Namor and the Torch it was almost inevitable that they discover conflict and they did again and again. Eventually they'd become allies, not only on the covers of scores of delicious covers by Alex Schomburg, but offically as members of the ill-fated All-Winners Squad. The two have quite a tempestuous relationship as the Sub-Mariner switches back and forth from defending mankind to invading the surface world from time to time. The battles between the Torch and Namor are not all of what Timely was about during the Golden Age of Comics, but those punch-outs do give a window into the era in a splendid manner.

Here are the covers of the comics from which the stories in this volume were taken.

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The Most Beautiful Girl In The World!

It almost impossible for me to believe that it has been two years since I lost my beloved Lizzie. She was the most beautiful girl in my world, my loving mate for forty years, and I miss her each and every day. I don't live in a bubble of gloom, nor do I deny myself the company of friends, but life is profoundly different as a widower (the word sounds strange still). As far as I'm concerned I'm still a married stiff, just waiting to rejoin his wife when that time eventually comes. Until that day, I'll work diligently to keep her bright broad smile and shining happy eyes and sweet tender touch in my memory. The Dojo will be on hiatus for a few days  -- look for more of the typical nonsense here next week.

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