Clash Of The Avenging Titans!

Barry (Not-Yet-Windsor) Smith was something of phenom at Marvel when he landed there in the late Sixties. His powerful pencil art became more and more refined, even downright elegant as he developed issue by issue before our very eyes on a number of projects. Of course he's most famous for his Conan work, but he did quite a bit of other super-heroic material for Marvel too.

One of those stints had been a couple of potent issues of Avengers (66 and 67 to be exact), two wild issues which showcased the deadly return of Ultron. Inked by Syd Shores and then George Klein Smith's artwork evoked the power of Kirby, bristling with energy but lacking the subtle storytelling which is hidden in Kirby's deceptive page designs. Smith was replaced by Sal Buscema who debuted as a penciler and made true believers of us all.

Ironically it's Sal who inks Smith when he returns for a three-issue stint on the series several years later in a yarn which sets up the centennial celebration for the venerable comic. Avengers ninety-eight takes place immediately after the epic Kree-Skrull War and the Assemblers are meeting to figure out how to discover the fate of Clint (Goliath) Barton who has been missing since he boarded a Skrull space ship armed with a planet-killing atomic weapon. The device never made it to Earth so they know he completed his mission but his fate remains a mystery. As they split up to find clues a mysterious rabble-rouser named Warhawk whips up racist sentiment in the middle of NYC creating a riot. The Avengers seek to intercede but fall victim to the hatred themselves.

 

Only Thor and Vision seem unaffected and they wage a losing battle until a mysterious arrow appears to break the spell. They quickly learn Warhawk is actually Aries of Olympus and the arrow was supplied by a returning Clint Barton who has eschewed his Goliath role and returned to his familiar role as archer extraordinaire.

And he's brought along another former Avenger, the mighty Hercules who comes mouthing an enigmatic poem which portends a threat not only to Earth, but to Asgard as well.

In the very next issue, ninety-nine to be exact under another powerful John Buscema cover, Roy Thomas, Barry Smith and new inker Tom Sutton tell us more about Hawkeye's recent past and about Hercules himself.

What they learn is that the tough as nails Clint Barton had boarded the Skrull ship and used his wits and liberated parts to cobble together a bow and arrows outfit which enabled him to destroy the ship and escape in a shuttle. He crash lands on Earth, Yugoslavia in fact where he is helped by a traveling carnival show. In this show he meets a man named "Hercules" who in fact turns out to actually be Hercules, found by the carnies in Greece. He is suffering amnesia and Hawkeye uses the resources of Stark Industries to get him and Herc back to the United States just in time to help out in the battle in NYC against Aries. Just then two Titans named Kratos and Bia appear to kidnap Hercules and after a furious battle with the Assemblers do just that.

There is some question about the Vision's bravery when he elects to protect a fallen Wanda as opposed to helping save Hercules. Nonetheless the Avengers vow to follow and rescue their comrade.

But first they must take a moment to assemble for the one hundredth time as the centennial issue of the comic lands on the stands. Barry Smith is back in the saddle one last time inking himself but needing the help of both Joe Sinnott and Syd Shores to wrap it up. Smith also handles the cover, his first for the series. Roy the Boy's script crams a lot into a small space and this is one comic which I wish had been double-sized, the story sure warranted it.

It begins in England where the Black Knight has summoned the help of the Avengers. They slowly appear and by the time it's finished everyone who has ever been an Avenger in the hundred-issue run is accounted for save for Hercules. Even the Hulk and regular villain Swordsman show up to complete the set.

Thanks to the ghostly apparition of the original Black Knight they learn that Aries had come into possession of the Ebony Blade, thought destroyed by the modern Knight some issues before during a fracas with Arkon and the Enchantress. As the blade appeared on Olympus so did the Enchantress who teams with Aries to use the power of the blade to extinquish a magical flame which gives life to the pure Olympians turning them all to crystal. Only demi-gods remain and they take over Olympus under the rule of Aries. Hercules is beaten and literally thrown from Mount Olympus taking days to fall causing his memory to fail. Now Aries seeks a way to Asgard to vanguish it and sought to create war on Earth as a way to get there. The Avengers divide into to two teams, one to invade Olympus and save Hercules and confront Aries and the other to go to the heart of London and fend off the invading demi-gods who find Earth through a deadly portal to Olympus. The battle is ferocious and at times somewhat funny. The Hulk for instance is bemused by the music of some Satyrs and sits down beside them before snagging the escaping Enchantress. Iron Man is shot down and spends the fight recovering. Cap, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and others fight in the streets of London. Finally the Ebony Blade is recovered by the Black Knight and Aries is defeated. The demi-gods rush back to Olympus as the Avengers leave. Then Thor and Hercules use their might to seal the portal as the Avengers take stock of their immediate victory.

These are some wildly entertaining stories, but it's evident that Barry Smith has lost his interest in superheroes. His style which was still blossoming on the adventures of the Cimmerian has become almost too delicate for the rough and tumble of the antics of the Marvel Universe. His storytelling is pretty keen, but his lithe figures seem out of place in the potent and kinetic world defined by Jack Kirby and redefined by John Buscema. He was a better fit on the Doctor Strange revival in Marvel Premiere but he'd not last long there either. He left Conan the Barbarian and Marvel briefly and returned to work exclusively on Conan.  He'd eventually go on to a fantastic career away from mainstream comics.

And that concludes our look (for this year at least) at the Kree-Skrull War, its origins, events and aftermath. Maybe we'll get around to more of this in the future,  and as Criswell so masterfully put it, the future is where we will spend the rest of our lives.

See Ya! 

Rip Off

Zodiac - Who Remembers Scorpio?

When Scorpio shows up in the pages of the Defenders it's almost a legit question as to whether anyone remembers him. This Scorpio is Jake Fury, who has been thought dead since Avengers #72 when the Zodiac itself debuted.

The Defenders are at a transition when Scorpio shows up, Doctor Strange has temporarily quit the non-team and remaining members Nighthawk, Valkyrie and newbie Hellcat are joined by Moon Knight to form the basis of the Defenders through the multi-part Scorpio saga in Defenders #46-50. The story was written by David Anthony Kraft and Roger Slifer with a fill-in issue written by David Warner. The artwork in these issues is what makes them memorable in that we see a fledgling Keith Giffen in full-blown Kirby-copy mode with some potent inks by Dan Green among others.

The story ambles but essentially Jake (Scorpio) Fury seems to be suffering from depression and has been hiding out for many years since his seeming death at the hands of his brother at the end of Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #5. We learn that Jake was in fact the second Scorpio taking over after the first was killed in the debut SHIELD issue. While he's been hiding out in a very high-tech lair he's been using LMD technology to create a doppleganger of his brother as well as a complete set of Life Model Decoy Zodiac members for his own use. The Zodiac Key inexplicably and  literally falls out of the sky and eventually into his hands and he makes good use of this most powerful weapon.

The Defenders are drawn into the affair properly when they are simultaneously made aware that Jack Norris (the estranged husband of Valkyrie) has been kidnapped by Scorpio and are alerted by Moon Knight who has battled Scorpio and nearly been killed at his hands.

Moon Knight gathers up the ragtag team who trick the bellicose Hulk into chasing them to Scorpio's lair. The find Nighthawk trussed up having been captured when he went to save Norris.

In a ferocious fiftieth-issue fist-fight the hastily assembled Defenders battle two-thirds of the revived LMD Zodiac (three of didn't survive the activation and Libra doesn't feel like fighting).

The fight is kinetic and occupies most all the issue but in the end the Defenders are victorious when Scorpio uses a gun to seemingly end his own life. The LMD-Zodiac are trundled off to the care of SHIELD who show up at the end to clean up and Nick Fury is informed his brother is now well and truly dead, something he'd assumed was the case for a few years.

It's a hectic adventure with Scorpio's quixotic personality being the most interesting part. The writing seems a bit too self-aware at times as folks who followed Steve Gerber always seemed in this book to want to somewhat imitate his commentary style.  The LMD-Zodiac are distinctive Giffen creations but their advent marks a real downslide for the Zodiac cartel as real villains in the Marvel Universe. Going forward writers and artists will confuse the LMD group with the originals and it all becomes a bit of a mess, undermining the potential of a great gang of baddies.

And that wraps up our look at the Zodiac cartel. After this it all gets so confusing I cannot tell them apart anymore, and often don't care to try.

Rip Off

Zodiac - To Hell With Astrology!

The Zodiac reappears in of all places in the pages of Ghost Rider. Johnny Blaze famously sold his soul to the Satan in this series which was yet another effort by Marvel to take advantage of popular trends in the industry, the growth of horror comics as well as the popularity generally of motorcycle demonstrations by the likes of Evel Knieval and others.

This story even guest-stars Marvel's other cycle hero - The Stunt-Master, who debuted in the pages of Daredevil.

The story of the Zodiac II is quite a peculiar one. The city of San Francisco comes under siege by a battery of robberies and assassination committed by members of the Zodiac Cartel, but since the Zodiac had been famously imprisoned by the Avengers only a few weeks before, this series of crimes befuddles everyone. Johnny Blaze is brought into the case by a District Attorney whose unhinged son had been complicit in the kidnapping of Manhattan. His guilt over that event and the torture he suffered before he gave up important secrets which enabled Aries to commit the crime have made him a madman. He threatens Roxanne, Blaze's loyal girlfriend and Johnny wants nothing to do with the situation.

But he is forced to and soon investigates. He along with Stunt-Master who tags along after seeing Ghost Rider roll through the city, discover that this second Zodiac is actually the work of one member - Aquarius. Enraged at Cornelius Van Lunt when he was not bailed out of jail, he sold his soul to the demon Slifer for a year in which he had access to all the powers of the Zodiac cartel. He has been the one in the various guises of his former comrades who has been committing the brutal crimes which have ravaged the city. But he is foiled in his ultimate scheme when Slifer appears and claims his soul after he had assumed the role of all twelve of the Zoadic members, completing a Zodical year so to speak. (Those devils are tricky.) Despite his protests Aquarius is hauled away to Hell as the Ghost Rider stands by.

At about this same time Aries of the Zodiac cartel turns up in Captain America and The Falcon in a two-part tale featuring the villain Lucifer.

This comes at the time when Steve Rogers had stepped away from his role as Captain America after the Secret Empire affair and the Falcon was left to carry the superheroic load for a short time. His old foe a small-time hood named Rafe Michael is possessed by the alien Lucifer, a member of race called the Quist who has battled the X-Men and Iron Man in previous outings.

He grants Michael powers but at a great cost and soon it's apparent that the need is there to share the power, and they find Grover Raymond (Aries) in jail and the two villains split the power.

Now Falcon has to fight two Lucifers and does so with gusto and  eventually is victorious in a manner of speaking when the energy of the alien is too much and the two villainous humas die and Lucifer loses his connection to Earth. It didn't really work out for anyone. Later of course Captain America returns, but we already knew that.

All in all a very peculiar outings, though the direction connection in the Ghost Rider story to the Avengers was nifty.

Next though it might get even stranger when Scorpio returns. Or does he?

Rip Off

The Post Of Christmas Presents!

Well another Christmas holiday has passed and with the usual good will toward men and the typical humdrum of Christmas carols now safely tucked away until next year, it's time to savor and enjoy the loot that has came our way. Mine was a good haul, a rich bounty of TV shows and movie flicks which are filled with superheroic daring-do.

First up is Deadpool, a movie I've never seen but my daughters had heard was worth not only my time but theirs. We're going to try and watch this weird movie later before they have to go back home. Looking forward to it. I've never read a single comic showcasing this satiric version of the character but I hear good things from those who adore the character.

Next comes X-Men Apocalypse, a movie which I've reviewed here. I'm eager to see if my opinion has changed since last year and if the small screen makes a difference. It's been my experience that X-men movies hold up quite well.

A big surprise and a very pleasant one is Batman V Superman - Dawn of Justice. I loved this admittedly grim flick like I did the Superman solo movie which preceded it. It is not without flaws as this review reveals, but still I'm jazzed to have it at my ready disposal.

And finally the one gift I actually requested. Captain and the Soldiers of the Future was a kids show with a difference in the late 80's. It had some impressive computer graphics when such things were a relative rarity and the story was surprisingly rugged for a show which purported to be for youngsters. I've long wanted it but always balked for some reason and now am pleased as punch to have it in hand.

Add to all this a horde of new clothes, a trippy new sweater, as well as a sleek new coat (a little too stylish for my personality possibly) and I'm well fitted for the cold new year which is coming with plenty of protection and entertainment.

Happy Holidays to all.

Rip Off

Live Kree Or Die - The Death Of Captain Marvel!

Following the events of the epic Kree-Skrull War, Captain Marvel was once again awarded his own comic which picked up with the numbering of his old series.

This time the talents of Superman legend Wayne Boring were used in combination with new writing talent Marv Wolfman to attempt to kickstart the character, a character Marvel desperately wanted to succeed. (Maybe if Black Goliath had been named "Black Marvel" he'd have been given a few more shots at the big show.) But the series was clearly on a low simmer and going not much of anywhere when with nothing to lose the young up-and-coming talent Jim Starlin was given a stab at the Kree Captain.

Re-introducing his characters from the moon Titan, who had shown up briefly in the pages of Iron Man and Marvel Two-In-One, Starlin at long last had a worthy place to work and to showcase his epic story line featuring the mad god Thanos. And Captain Marvel had a  mission and an enemy worthy of the name. (It's worth a closer look sometime in the future all by itself, I've taken a glimpse here some years ago.) It saved the series and even after Starlin left, the arrival of Steve Englehart and Al Milgrom and later Pat Broderick, kept the title afloat for several more years. (Maybe it was the change of hair color from silver to gold.) By hook and by crook Captain Marvel kept on running throughout the 70's even showing up in a revived Marvel Spotlight after his own title was once again and for all time cancelled. After that there was only one story that Starlin wanted to tell -- the story of how Captain Marvel died.

This final story really began in Captain Marvel #34, the last by Jim Starlin who had done so much to revitalize the character. In that issue Cap must save the world from a deadly government-created nerve toxin named "Compound Thirteen". His opponent is the deadly Nitro a man who can explode his every atom and them recombine them with devastating effects. Defeating Nitro finally by overloading his power by combining it with the energy of the transformative Nega-Bands, Mar-Vell is able to end the threat of the nerve toxin but not without massive exposure which throws him for a loop short term. It turns out to have had long term consequences as well.

Marvel Graphic Novel #1 no less is the setting for the final Captain Marvel story titled "The Death of Captain Marvel". It begins with a reflective Mar-Vell recording his earliest adventures, creating a record of sorts of his life and times. He is traveling with Mentor and Eros to gather up the stony remains of Thanos (who had been killed in an epic battle with Adam Warlock).

They find that the calcified body of Thanos is being worshiped by his demented followers and have to fend off their attack. That attack isn't much but it causes Captain Marvel to reveal a weakness and he confesses to Mentor and Eros that he has cancer, or as the Kree call it "The Blackend".

Soon after Mar-Vell continues to reflect on his life, a life filled with enemies both dead and alive and some few who became allies. Then he begins the grim task of informing his loved ones especially the woman he's come to love -- Elysius. When he attempts to tell Rick Jones of the dire situation, in a precautionary effort to have Jones checked out by experts, he is met with anger and frustration by Jones, an orphan who has suffered a great deal of loss. Later still the greatest minds on Earth look for a cure and like Mentor and his scientists on Titan realize that Captain Marvel has lived so long because of the Nega-bands and their energy, but that same energy makes any treatment nearly impossible. Still they continue to search and reflect on why they have not to this point used their awesome intellects to solve this problem which afflicts all humanity.

As the end nears, the heroes of the Marvel Universe assemble on Titan to pay homage and get in a final visit with the Kree soldier who turned his back on his own people to save the people of Earth many times. It is a grim and reflective group of sundry heroes who gather. Even a representative of the Skrull Empire arrives to bestow a medal on Mar-Vell recognized as their greatest foe. The Kree remain silent, rejoicing it seems that the traitor Mar-Vell will soon be dead.

Finally Rick Jones appears and he and Mar-Vell are able to mend fences as Rick opens himself up to the grief which overwhelms him. The other heroes respect this special relationship and give them time.

The end comes as Mentor announces that Mar-Vell has slilpped into a coma. The heroes assembled in a somber watch for the final moments.

But strangely for the reader those moments expand inside the consciousness of Mar-Vell who is visited by his old foe, the ghost of Thanos who takes him on a journey in which he encounters old foes which he must quickly dispatch and eventually to meet Death itself. Mar-Vell has been coming to terms with the grim reality of his situation, deep in his soul and begins the process of death.

As he embraces Death once and for all, his heart ceases to beat and joining hands with Death and with his enemy-no-more Thanos, Mar-Vell prepares for his final journey.

As the trio travel into a nimbus of light, to a destination beyond human knowledge, Captain Marvel dies and back on Titan the machines are turned off. The heroes bow their heads as the great hero passes and is pronounced dead. The end has come indeed.

When I first encountered Captain Marvel I was a mere lad of ten, just hooking onto the grand mythos of the Marvel Universe and drinking it in totally. I followed the ups and downs of Mar-Vell's varied career for many years thereafter, always regarding him as my "favorite superhero".

When he seemed to find happiness on Titan it was a grand thing. When Jim Starlin returned in the early 80's and created this final story for a hero whose time had passed, it was powerful stuff indeed. I was an adult, a married man with one new daughter and another soon to appear in a few years. This story had impact indeed.

Now I read it again as a much older man, one nearing retirement alongside my lovely wife of forty years, and my two beautiful girls are long since adults who make their own ways into the wide world. I am a man who has since lost his father and who feels the sting of coming death more fiercely each day. This story of Mar-Vell's passing has never lost its potency, its elegance and its profound impact. 

The promise of what might be beyond the veil is a secret I more than ever want to know, and reading and re-reading saga of Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree is a splendid way to reflect on the path of life and its inevitable conclusion.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Be well. 

Rip Off